Ben and Elara stared at Kai, their expressions a mixture of awe, disbelief, and a healthy dose of fear. The bloody, makeshift bandage lay on the asphalt, a stark reminder of the wound that, moments ago, had threatened to kill him. Now, there was nothing but clean, unbroken skin.
"You... leveled up?" Ben finally managed, pushing his glasses up his nose as if trying to get a clearer look at reality itself. "The System... it has a biological regeneration component triggered by a significant increase in your metaphysical... level? The energy expenditure must be colossal."
"I just know it heals me," Kai said, giving his perfectly fine leg a final, experimental stomp. The newfound strength and vitality flowing through him was intoxicating. "And we can't stay out here talking about it."
The burning library in the distance served as a grim punctuation mark to his words. The campus was eerily quiet, but it was the kind of quiet that felt like a held breath, an anticipation of violence.
"The science building," Elara said, shaking herself out of her stupor and pointing towards the sleek, modern structure. "You're right. Let's go."
They moved quickly and quietly across the quad, a tight, alert formation. Kai took the lead, his saber in hand, his eyes scanning every window and doorway. His increased Endurance made him feel solid, more grounded, and the weariness from their journey in the tunnels had been completely erased by the level-up.
The glass doors of the Atwater Science Center had been shattered. They stepped through the broken frame into a grand, sterile-looking lobby. A large Foucault pendulum hung motionless from the high ceiling, its cable snapped, the heavy brass bob half-buried in the tiled floor. White lab coats were scattered about, some stained with something dark and rust-colored. The place was abandoned, but the signs of a panicked evacuation were everywhere.
"Upstairs," Ben whispered, pointing towards a wide staircase. "A chemistry lab on a higher floor would be most defensible. Reinforced doors, few windows, and potentially useful materials."
They took the stairs two at a time, their footsteps echoing in the cavernous building. They found what they were looking for on the third floor: a large organic chemistry lab. The heavy door had a keycard scanner, but it had been left ajar. Inside, rows of black-topped lab benches were covered in beakers, Bunsen burners, and complex glassware. A chemical smell hung in the air.
Kai and Ben shoved a heavy steel preparation table against the door, jamming it shut. Elara checked the windows, which looked out over the burning campus from a safe height. For the first time since they had entered the tunnels, they were in a secure, defensible position.
Elara let out a long, shuddering breath and slid down the wall to sit on the floor, her tire iron clattering beside her. Ben leaned against a lab bench, finally taking off his pack. The adrenaline that had kept them going for hours was finally draining away, leaving a bone-deep exhaustion in its wake.
Now that the immediate danger was gone, the questions returned. Elara and Ben both looked at Kai, their eyes full of a hundred unspoken queries.
"Okay," Elara said, her voice quiet but firm. "Explain. Explain everything. What is this 'System'? How did your leg just... grow back?"
Kai leaned against a bench opposite them, the cavalry saber resting by his side. He took a breath and started from the beginning. He told them about the moment he picked up the saber, the first blue boxes, the stats, the skills, the quests. He explained how killing monsters gave him experience points, and how enough points made him level up, making him stronger and healing his wounds.
Ben listened with rapt, intellectual intensity, nodding occasionally. "It's a user interface for reality itself," he murmured. "A gamified layer of metaphysical law. Your stats are tangible, quantifiable representations of your physical abilities. The skills are... applications. Subroutines you can run. This is world-changing."
"It's terrifying," Elara countered, looking at the dried blood on Kai's jeans. "You have to get hurt, almost killed, just to get stronger?"
"It seems that way," Kai admitted. "But it's also the only thing that's kept us alive."
He reached into his hoodie and pulled out the Wayfinder. The small, compass-like device was warm to the touch, and its silver needle was glowing faintly, quivering with a steady, insistent pull. He placed it on the black lab bench.
All three of them stared at it. The needle wasn't pointing east or west. It was pointing directly at the window.
Directly at the burning library across the quad.
"No," Elara whispered. "The quest... it wants us to go in there?"
Ben walked to the window and looked out. "The primary structure appears to be stone. The fire is concentrated in the eastern wing, likely the 'Special Collections' section, where the oldest and driest books and manuscripts would be stored. That's probably where the next Echo is."
"So our next mission," Kai said, his voice grim as he stared at the needle, "is to walk into a burning building full of monsters to find another magic artifact."
He looked at his friends. The fear was still there, etched