The arena where the Floor Guardian fell has already begun to heal—cracks sealed with glossy black stone, drifting cinders swallowed by the dark. Kael sits cross-legged on the warm rock, glaive across his knees, while four auras breathe around him: sovereign flame, tidal calm, quiet dawn, and hungry night.
The Skill Store window blooms again, runic categories unfurling like shelves in an invisible library.
[Skill Store – Notice]Tier access limited by Summoner level.Currently Available: F, E, D.Unavailable until higher level: C, B, A, S, SS.Skill Points Available:102
Kael exhales. "No point hoarding all of it. We have forty-eight hours—and a world to invade."
1) Kael — Hunter's Insight (F) — 10 SPUtility technique. Party EXP gain +10% while Kael is conscious. Cannot be rank-upgraded with SP; ranks increase only by proficiency gained from kills.
SP: 102 → 92Proficiency: 0/100 (Rank-up to E at 100)
2) Kael — Quickstep (E) — 20 SPShort burst footwork. Dash, cancel recovery frames, improved gap-close/escape.
SP: 92 → 72
3) Kael — Mana Reinforcement (E) — 20 SPChannels mana into muscle and bone. Small boost to resilience and striking power; increases weapon stability for heavy skills.
SP: 72 → 52
4) Kael — Summoner's Link (D) — 30 SPActive bond lattice. For 10s, linked summons gain +10% ATK/RES and Kael shares 5% of received damage. Cooldown: moderate.
SP: 52 → 22
5) Umbra — Shadow Step (F) — 10 SPShort-range blink between overlapping shadows. Great for flanks/last hits.
SP: 22 → 12
6) Aquara — Aqua Ward (F) — 10 SPPassive film of water that auto-refreshes after not taking damage for 5s; converts a small chunk of incoming damage to non-lethal stagger.
SP: 12 → 2
Remaining SP:2 (banked)
Kael closes the store. "That's enough to change how we fight. Now we test it."
He rises. The team forms up—Pyraflame (Rare, Assault) prowling forward, Aquara (Uncommon, Defense/Support) to the left, Luminara (Common, Support) behind, Umbra (Common, Assassin) already melting into shadow.
The corridors beyond the arena have repopulated: the Abyss breathes fast. Fungal sconces ooze violet light; chittering echoes bounce off bone-like ribs grown into the stone. The next floor is a world, the System said. This one is the lung that feeds it.
[Hunter's Insight (F): Party EXP +10% — Active][Countdown to Forced Descent: 46:21:05]
A dozen Abyssal Skitters pour from ceiling vents, blade limbs clicking.
"Open." Kael sweeps an arm.
Pyraflame inhales—Inferno Burst detonates down the hall in a cone, vaporizing the front rank. Aquara plants her trident—Aqua Ward glimmers over Kael as a skitter lands on his back; its claws skate harmlessly, and Kael Quicksteps sideways, Mana Reinforcement tightening muscle and grip for a brutal pommel strike. Luminara flicks a Radiant Bolt through two skulls in a line. Umbra appears inside a shadow cast by Pyraflame's wing, Shadow Step snapping it behind the biggest skitter; Shadow Fang carves, Devour drinks.
[Group EXP: 880][Hunter's Insight Bonus: +88][Total Distributed: 968]
Kael +242 (25%)
Summons +726 (75% split among participants)
Umbra — Devour Count: 37/50Hunter's Insight Proficiency: 9/100
Kael rolls his shoulders. "Clean. Again."
A ribbed tunnel opens over a sluice of black water. Three Abyssal Broodlings crawl along the ceiling membrane while a Brood Matron heaves up from the sluice, swollen with eggs.
"Shield," Kael says.
Aquara's Tidal Barrier flowers outward; Matron bile spatters and hisses harmlessly. Kael snaps Summoner's Link—a web of sigils binds him to his summons. Pyraflame's talons glow hotter. Luminara's Guiding Light raises their precision; Umbra tracer-lines appear on vital spots.
Pyraflame carves the Matron's skull with Molten Claws; Umbra trips from shadow to shadow, Shadow Step → Fang last-hits two broodlings; Aquara lances the third with Aqua Lance and immediately pulses Soothing Current over a nick on Kael's forearm.
[Group EXP: 1,220][Hunter's Insight +10%: +122][Total: 1,342]
Kael +335
Summons +1,007
Hunter's Insight Proficiency: 21/100
Kael eyes the sluice. The water stinks, but it hums—faintly cleaner where Aquara's steps touched it. "This whole floor's a circulatory system," he mutters. "Pumping fodder into the world below."
A Stalker-class Elite drops silently behind them, blade-tail poised. Luminara's halo flares—Shield of Dawn intercepts the ambush. Kael pivots with Quickstep, glaive thrust like a piston; Mana Reinforcement turns the hit into a crack that buckles carapace.
"Finish," Kael snaps.
Umbra dissolves into the Stalker's shadow and reappears within its ribcage. Devour blooms like starless fire.
[Group EXP: 1,600][Hunter's Insight +10%: +160][Total: 1,760]
Kael +440
Summons +1,320
Hunter's Insight Proficiency: 35/100
They push deeper, clearing nests, collapsing cyst-tunnels, harvesting cores. The rhythm becomes a machine:
Kael tags in first, draws lines, dashes out.
Pyraflame erases clumps, roars to stagger packs.
Aquara patches and hardens the formation, her Aqua Ward catching stray spikes like raindrops.
Luminara keeps the light steady, guides blades to soft places.
Umbra eats the parts the Abyss can't imagine losing.
Three narrow bridges arch over a chasm of rippling black. On each, a spawn knot swells—Tri-Spawn: two Skitter packs and one Elite Butcher.
Kael flips his glaive into a forward grip. "Two minutes."
He kicks off. Quickstep → leap, glaive drags a crescent across the first pack; Summoner's Link snaps again, and the formation sings. Pyraflame saturates bridge two with flame; Aquara braces the central span with Tidal Barrier, absorbing the Butcher's shockwave. Umbra blinks past a falling stone and takes the Butcher's hamstring; Luminara peppers its eyes, then layers Shield of Dawn on a groaning bridge as Pyraflame slams down like a meteor.
The Butcher totters.
"Umbra," Kael says.
The assassin doesn't answer; its answer is a mouthful of darkness.
[Group EXP: 3,300][Hunter's Insight +10%: +330][Total: 3,630]
Kael +907
Summons +2,723
Umbra — Devour Count:50/50 (Complete)Condition 2: Devour Floor Guardian's Heart (Complete)Condition 3 (Easy): Consume remnant shadow of a fallen abyssal beast — 1/1 (Complete)→ Evolution Ready (safe area recommended).Hunter's Insight Proficiency: 63/100
Kael grins, feral. "Hold evolution until camp. We're not making a cocoon on a rope bridge."
They finish the loop. The Abyss doesn't so much retreat as… recalculate. When they emerge into the now-quiet arena, the air tastes cleaner; even the fungus dims.
[Sweep Complete]Kael:Level 17 → 18Pyraflame: 13 → 14Aquara: 12 → 13Luminara: 10 → 11Umbra: 13 → 14 (Evolution Ready)
Skill Points Earned this session
Kael +16 SP (Lv 18 bracket)
Total SP now: 2 (banked) + 16 = 18 SP
Hunter's Insight (F) Proficiency:63/100(At 100/100, auto-ranks to E. Still cannot be raised by spending SP; only by kill-earned proficiency.)
Kael dismisses the windows, satisfied. The party's gains weren't flashy, but they were clean: stronger footing, smoother rotations, safer pressure. More importantly, the machine works—his machine.
He looks up at the ceiling ribs. Somewhere above them, a floor the size of a continent is waiting, studded with mini-bosses and crowned with fifteen real ones. The Abyss isn't a cave anymore. It's a country.
"Camp," he says at last. "We evolve Umbra next, then plan for the world. We still have time to choose where those last eighteen points go."
[Forced Descent in: 44:58:12]
The lights dim. The team settles. And in the hush between breaths, Kael feels the shape of a war he can actually win.
One kill at a time. One floor at a time. Until the ones who tossed me into the dark learn what it raised in me.