I was grinning like an idiot.
Screwing over that goddamn witch felt good.
My head, though? Not so much.
"Ah..okay, ow ow ow....what the hell—"The backlash hit like a broken dam. My eyes felt ready to pop out of my skull. Every nerve screamed. Molten lava pouring through veins—yeah, that's about right.
"F—fuck, fuck, fuuuck—"
So that's the price for pulling an ability way above my rank. Nice going, me. Let's not do that in the future, eh?I clenched my teeth and tried to ride it out. I knew I'd pass out soon, so I climbed the nearest tree. Don't ask why. Felt safer up there, like the ground wouldn't come for me if I wasn't touching it.
Before everything went dark, I remembered something from earlier: if I pulled my aura tight—like sucking my stomach in...I could almost vanish. Aura Suppression. That's the word. When I did it, everything got quiet. It seems my sense that comes from essence also gets suppressed, but in return others can't sense me either.I don't have proof—it's just a feeling. Haven't you watched anime, man?
Good trick. Shame I blacked out right after using it.
I woke to the sound of wolves howling. For a hot second, I thought I was about to be breakfast, but turns out they were far away. Lucky me, for now.
The fog had thinned, silver light leaking through the branches. I sat up, groaning. My body felt weird—too light, too steady. No hunger, no exhaustion. Maybe awakening fixes the whole "human limits" thing.
Still, I wasn't about to test it by waiting for round two of witch nonsense.
"Alright," I muttered, rubbing my face. "Before another picture-book horror shows up, let's see what this [Hunt] stuff can really do."
I closed my eyes and stretched my aura. The world fuzzed into colors and lines—currents flowing through everything alive. The air shimmered with tiny sparks. Up above, something flickered. Bats.
Perfect.
"Baby's first hunt," I whispered.
I crept toward a fat little bat hanging upside down on a branch. It looked like it was doing yoga. Half a breath later, it let out a screech that stabbed straight into my brain.
"Motherf—!"
I lost balance and fell. Reflex kicked in. [Blink].
The world hiccuped. I disappeared mid-fall and reappeared halfway up the branch, my hand grabbing the shocked bat.
"Ha! Gotcha!"
The thing squirmed and shrieked like I'd insulted its ancestors.
"Alright, buddy," I said. "You're gonna help me test some science."
I called up that strange grit again. Aura turned wrong in my palm, crawling like static under skin. "Defile."
The bat shivered. I could feel its essence twist—like watching smoke go backward into the fire. Then I focused, trying to see the weave underneath. Too much pressure. Essence bled out of me like a leaking faucet.
"Crap. Gotta visualize it…"
I imagined a small viper made of my corrupted aura, slithering through the bat's soul-thread. The viper hissed and bit down.
Something clicked—a flash of cold inside my mind, like touching live wire with wet fingers.
"Oh… that's the circuit," I breathed.I could feel it now. Like tracing a shape with one hand while drawing it with the other. Hard to describe. It wasn't easy; it felt wrong, like the weave didn't want me there.
Guess I can't just bully every living thing into giving me powers. The witch's bell was special—it was a part of her that got cut off. Artifacts like that might be easier; they don't have will. But real creatures? They fight back.
Still, progress.
I tried again with a rat I found scuttling near a root. Defiled. Felt for the weave. Got a flicker of something—but when the rat died, it faded fast.
"Huh… so it only lasts while their essence's still hanging around."
I thought for a moment. "So, thirty minutes for small ones maybe? More for bigger stuff?"
I jotted the mental note and kept testing. Each time, the viper slithered out from my palm—illusory, translucent, glowing faint blue—and wrapped around the target's essence. The weaker the creature, the easier it stuck. The moment something struggled, it started to shake the corruption off.
"So I need 'em tired or distracted."I grinned. "Good thing I'm annoying."
By the end of my experiments, I had one working pattern: the bat's circuit. When I triggered it, I could use that mental screech attack too, and it seemed even more effective—maybe I was pumping more essence than these creatures ever could."Heheh. Stand proud little bat —you were a useful one."
But the bad part is I have to keep physical touch, otherwise the circuit disappears in me too. Annoying, but I guess something I can work with. Or maybe I can kill one, and when the essence runs out of the dead body, get another one?
No, let's keep 'em alive. Man, I sound creepy. What am I, a plague man? But a boy's gotta do what a boy's gotta do to survive.
"But no XP, huh?" I sighed. "Figures. Guess this system's more about lessons than levels."
Still, I noticed something: killing creatures refilled a little bit of my essence. So maybe that's how I keep going.
"Alright. Moment of truth."
I stood, cracked my neck, and said, "Status."
[Status Window]
Name: Aren
Rank: 1
Rune: [Nestbreaker]
Description: A rune granted to one who excelled at nothing. A man too tired to live, yet too stubborn to die. He wished for the world to end with a comet—and when it did, his soul refused to follow.
Born from fracture, [Nestbreaker] is a defiant will stitched from what remains after collapse. It feeds on broken order, blooming where stability rots.
It awakened when its bearer, in his arrogance, dared to defile Rāka Jhakri, the Soul-Snare Witch.The miserable fool not only survived—he fed on her, stealing a piece of her being. A blasphemy that made even a witch swear to hunt the scoundrel who tricked her.
Ability: [Hunt]The instinct to unravel what others call whole. To defile, fray, usurp, and echo—to make another's weave your own. Every link is a scar. Every scar, a lesson.
"Damn," I said. "That's new."
The last description was vague and mysterious. This one? Way too personal.
"What's with the insult about being good at nothing, huh? Real professional, you goddamn system."
I squinted at the floating text. "And calling me arrogant? I was literally shitting my pants while fighting that witch!"
Silence. Of course. The Will—or whatever cosmic HR department ran this Trial—never answered.
I sighed. "Fine. Let's see what else you've cooked up."
Name : Bell of Rāka Jhakri, The Soul-Snare Witch
Type : [Partial Remembrance]
Description:To spread her power farther, the witch cut a part of herself and left behind a will—a remote vessel she could control. Unfortunately for her, the bearer of [Nestbreaker] not only severed the link but also stole the weave, turning it into his own mockery. A bold move that truly angered the Witch of the Sullen Hollow.
Ability: [Blink] — a short-range phase step that folds space along an anchor thread.Originally used by the witch to slip between her illusions. Now limited to a pocket circuit that [Nestbreaker] can use.
Note: Cannot be equipped or used.
"Man, even the item description's talking smack now."I pinched the bridge of my nose. "You all really hate me, huh?"
By the way ..partial remembrance? It's like the drop you get when you kill a boss, but since this one's alive and kicking, it's partial. Can't be used. Well, it's not like I need the bell anyway; all I need is the circuit and Echoprint. Though, yeah, it gives me migraines—but definitely useful. I wish I could kill that witch so I could use [Blink] via item directly, without the extra ten-thousand steps and the headache tax.
Still… the idea of the real witch being out there somewhere, furious, made me grin a little.
"Guess I made an impression."
I pocketed the small bone-and-hair bell. Its crack had sealed halfway, pulsing faintly like a heartbeat. Creepy—but mine.
"Alright," I said, stretching. "New plan: find shelter, hunt small stuff, figure out new tricks. Maybe stack a few abilities—bat for scouting, rats for something nasty."
I looked up. The fog parted just enough to show the sky, pale and thin like washed-out milk.
"Hey," I muttered to it, "I might be a 'miserable fool,' but I'm your miserable fool now."
A wind stirred the trees, whispering through the branches.Sounded a lot like laughter.