Beneath the immensity of the star-filled sky, the darkness of the forest seemed to protect the faint glow of the campfire.
The circle of light beneath their feet, surrounded by shadow and gloom, gave the clearing a warm yet ominous atmosphere, as if that small space did not fully belong to the outside world.
The night was not silent.
It breathed.
Leaves whispered with the wind.
The fire crackled with a hypnotic cadence.
The tiger watched without blinking.
The young man stood within the circle of light.
And for the first time since arriving in this world… he did not feel like he was negotiating.
He felt like he was about to be marked.
His mind, still exhausted, kept circling the situation.
He had awakened in the body of a malnourished young man, in a world where monsters devoured humans… and, according to her, at the very center of purgatory.
He had encountered a mysterious assassin. Cold. Precise.
A woman who would not hesitate to kill him the moment he stopped being useful.
And now she wanted to recruit him to kill someone he didn't even know.
He released a slow breath.
Memories of his previous life were blurry. Fragmented. Loose pieces. Sometimes useless thoughts invaded his mind without permission.
His life hadn't been perfect.
In fact, in many ways it had been a waste.
But after so much suffering, he had found something.
A family.
A group of thieves who, in their own twisted way, had accepted him.
Are they alright?
Are they still alive?
Will I ever see them again?
The thought dragged him away for a moment… before he violently returned to what mattered.
The spheres.
Those orbs that contained tiny galaxies within them.
Singularities, she had called them.
He lowered his gaze toward the leather sack.
The moment he saw their power, he understood.
If he wanted to survive in this world, he had to learn how to use them.
Not even a full day had passed since he had opened his eyes here… and he had already been pushed against the wall: learn or die.
He clenched his teeth.
He had always had the bad habit of getting himself into problems bigger than he could handle.
But this time… it hadn't been a mistake.
It had been destiny.
"Have you decided?" the woman asked coldly.
His mind was still spinning, but in moments like this he could not afford to hesitate forever.
He briefly remembered his grandfather.
He always repeated the same phrase whenever things went wrong:
Face bad times with a good expression.
And the times, right now, were terrible.
He slowly stood up and straightened his posture.
His black eyes showed a flicker of resolve. Inside he was still full of doubts, but he could not allow them to show.
A crooked smile appeared on his face.
"I'll assimilate the singularity. I'll become a real Seeker… and I'll help you kill Russet."
He paused briefly. The fire crackled between them.
"But only if this deal benefits both of us."
"heh…" the woman smiled as she rummaged through her leather bag.
She pulled out a dull green singularity.
The galaxy inside rotated slowly, lacking the intense brilliance of a level three, or the defined clarity of a level two.
She tossed it toward him carelessly.
"Let's start with the basics."
The young man caught it by reflex.
He inspected it carefully.
Inside the tiny galaxy he could see small branching lines, like sprouts or roots emerging from the core.
It felt fragile. Unstable.
"For a Seeker, the most important thing is staying alive," she said. "In this world, singularities exist in countless types. But just like humans… monsters can assimilate them too."
The fire crackled.
"That's why we kill each other."
The young man swallowed.
A cold idea began to take shape in his mind.
"When you kill a Seeker…" he asked cautiously, "does that person leave behind a singularity?"
The woman remained silent for a few seconds.
She hadn't expected that question so soon.
Her eyes glimmered with something new. Not annoyance.
Attention.
"Yes," she answered gravely. "Not only their personal singularity… they can also leave behind the most important ones in their arsenal."
She paused briefly.
"But that isn't information just anyone should be handling."
The young man nodded slowly, but his mind was no longer calm.
Two thoughts overlapped almost simultaneously.
If every Seeker possesses a personal singularity…
Then everyone is born with something inside.
And if killing them can leave that singularity behind…
Does she want to kill Russet for his?
He lowered his gaze to the dull green sphere in his hand.
The world had suddenly become clearer.
And far more dangerous.
"How do I know if I'm capable of assimilating them?" he finally asked. "When I touch it, I only feel the temperature… nothing else."
The woman smiled faintly.
"Any human willing to gamble their humanity can assimilate a singularity. Each one demands a price. The higher the level… the more humanity you leave behind."
She leaned back slightly.
"You'll understand in time. But for now, touch it with intention. Look at it like prey… or food."
Sacrifice my humanity? Look at it with intention?
The price sounded immense, and the world kept growing stranger.
He looked at the singularity with the intention of devouring it.
And immediately, a mechanical voice echoed inside his mind.
⟦ SYSTEM ⟧
Singularity detected.
Level: 1
Type: Consumable
Name: Nest of Hot Potatoes
Assimilation Requirement:
User must endure pulsating pain for 10 minutes.
Blessing: None
Curse: None
Secret: None
Description:
A valuable survival resource. A flower of cooked potatoes will emerge from the ground to feed the user.
Assimilate?
The information flooded his mind in a fraction of a second.
⟦ SYSTEM ⟧
Assimilate?
He raised his gaze.
The woman was watching him silently. There was no mockery in her expression this time… only faint anticipation, as if she were observing the result of an experiment.
The fire crackled between them.
He tightened his grip on the singularity.
"Assimilate."
There was no countdown.
No warning.
The dull green sphere dissolved in his palm as if his skin had absorbed it.
And then—
Black roots erupted from the center of his hand.
They spread violently across his wrist, climbing his forearm like the veins of a dead tree searching for fertile soil. They burrowed beneath his skin, drawing dark patterns that continued advancing without stopping.
The pain arrived a second later.
Sharp.
Brutal.
It wasn't a superficial burning sensation. It was as if something were drilling into him from the inside, driving microscopic needles into every nerve, pulsing in rhythm with his heart.
He tried to move.
He couldn't.
His entire body locked. His muscles betrayed him, stiff and useless. He couldn't even scream.
The world became distant.
The forest blurred. The fire turned into smears of light.
And the woman's voice reached him… far away, as if from the other end of a tunnel.
"Don't resist… just endure."
The pain pulsed again, deeper.
"You'll get used to it with time," she added calmly. "One day you'll be able to move while it happens."
Another pulse.
Stronger.
The edges of his vision began to darken.
Ten minutes.
Just ten minutes.