The Aegis Bolt was a blur of solid light. It wasn't graceful, but it was brutally efficient. It slammed into the Tecron Brute's bulbous eye with a wet, explosive pop. The creature let out a shriek that was more shock than pain, a high-pitched keen that clawed at their eardrums. It staggered back, black ichor spraying from the ruined socket, its massive fists flailing wildly.
"Again, Maya!" Leo shouted, already feeling the drain on his own energy. Forging and using his custom skills cost him something—a kind of mental and physical stamina he'd never known he had.
Maya, her face a mask of concentration, fired another [Arcane Bolt]. This one struck the brute's throat. It wasn't a killing blow, but it forced the monster back another step, giving Chloe a moment to let her flickering barrier drop as she gasped for breath.
"Hallway's clear to the intersection!" Luna called from outside, her voice tight with panic. "But I hear more coming! Lots more!"
That was all the motivation they needed. "Go! Everyone, move!" Mr. Davos roared, shepherding the terrified students through the shattered doorway.
Leo didn't need to be told twice. He grabbed his satchel, instinctively shoving a few half-crushed tubes of paint and a handful of metal tools—a palette knife, a wrench from a broken easel—inside. Components. He saw the world differently now; not as a place of objects, but of potential ingredients.
The group surged into the hallway, a frantic, disorganized mob. The once-familiar corridor was a warzone. Lockers were dented and torn from their moorings, fluorescent lights flickered and spat sparks, and the linoleum floor was slick with blood—some red, some black. The air was thick with the smell of ozone, copper, and something foully organic.
Chloe led the way, her [Aegis] springing to life whenever a scuttling, dog-sized Spawn appeared from a classroom door. Her blocks were becoming more confident, but each impact still made her wince. Maya provided covering fire, her weak Arcane Bolts at least enough to stagger the smaller creatures.
Leo brought up the rear with Mr. Davos, his eyes constantly scanning, analyzing.
[Appraise: Shattered Locker Door.]
[Material: Thin Steel. Low Durability.]
[No Skill Blueprint Detected.]
[Appraise: Fallen Student (Deceased).]
[Race: Human.]
[Skill: Keen Eye (F-Rank - Inactive). Mildly enhances perception.]
[Store Skill Blueprint? Y/N]
Leo's stomach turned. He looked at the lifeless body, a boy from his calculus class. This was a violation. But was it a greater violation than leaving a potentially useful tool behind? Survival won out over sanctity. Mentally, grimly, he selected Yes. The blueprint for [Keen Eye] was added to his growing collection. It felt like stealing a grave good.
"Left! Go left!" Luna shouted, blinking back into existence beside them, her chest heaving. "The right corridor is... it's a dead end. And it's full of webs. Big webs."
They swerved left, the group bottlenecking at the intersection. In the momentary chaos, a Spawn dropped from the ceiling vents, landing on a screaming girl. Its claws were raised for a killing blow.
Leo reacted. He had [Mirage Step] stored. He had [Aegis] stored. He couldn't use Luna's skill himself, but he could use its concept. He needed speed. He needed a weapon he could move with.
[Fuse Skill Blueprints: Mirage Step + Arcane Bolt? Y/N]
Yes.
The fusion was different this time. Less a merging of structures, more a violent collision. In his mind's eye, the elegant, flowing lines of [Mirage Step] were shattered and wrapped around the raw power of [Arcane Bolt]. The result was jagged, unstable. It chimed into existence with a discordant ring.
[Skill Forged: Phantom Dart (E-Rank)]
[A composite skill. The user projects a short, high-speed teleportation dash. Upon completion of the dash, a small, unstable arcane explosion is triggered at the point of origin. Soul-bound to Leo Vance.]
A point of origin explosion. That meant...
There was no time to think. Leo activated [Phantom Dart].
The world twisted. It wasn't a blur like Luna's movement; it was a nauseating lurch, a sensation of being pulled through a keyhole. He reappeared right beside the Spawn and the terrified girl. The moment he solidified, a concussive WHUMP of arcane energy detonated where he'd been standing a second before, knocking another Spawn off its feet.
The Spawn on the girl shrieked, distracted. Leo didn't have a skill ready to fire. Instinct took over. He swung his satchel, weighted with metal tools, in a wide arc. The heavy wrench inside connected with the creature's head with a sickening crunch. It wasn't a clean kill, but it was enough to knock the monster aside. The girl scrambled away, sobbing.
Leo stood panting, the after-effects of the teleport making his head spin. The cost was immense. Using [Phantom Dart] had drained him far more than [Aegis Bolt]. He'd maybe have two, three more uses of any skill before he was completely tapped out.
"Leo! Behind you!" Chloe screamed.
He turned. The Spawn he'd knocked down with the origin explosion was already back on its feet, leaping at him, claws extended. He was too drained, too disoriented to react.
A hexagonal pane of light—Chloe's [Aegis]—sprang up between him and the creature. The claw shattered it, but the delay was enough. A precise [Arcane Bolt] from Maya struck the Spawn in the neck, and it went down, twitching.
Chloe was at his side in an instant, her face etched with worry and exhaustion. "Are you okay? What was that?"
"A mistake," Leo gasped, leaning against the wall. "A costly one. I can't just fuse things randomly. The mana cost... it's tied to the complexity."
Maya nodded, her theorist's mind whirring. "The System has rules. Your power operates within them, even if it bends them. There must be an internal logic, a synergy between components. Mirage Step is a spatial manipulation. Arcane Bolt is pure energy. Forcing them together created a chaotic, high-cost result."
"So I need to be an artist, not a mad scientist," Leo muttered, pushing himself upright. The lesson was brutal but vital. Creation had a cost. Poor design was a death sentence.
They reached a relative calm in a wider section of the hallway near the main stairwell. The group huddled together, maybe twenty survivors in total. The initial adrenaline was fading, replaced by a bone-deep weariness and the gnawing fear of what came next.
"We can't keep running blindly," Mr. Davos said, his voice gravelly. "We need a destination. This 'Heart of the School'."
"The auditorium?" a student suggested.
"The gym?" offered another.
Leo closed his eyes, trying to think. The "Heart of the School." It was an artifact. A focal point. His [Appraise] was passive, constantly feeding him data. He looked at the walls, the floor, the air itself. He saw nothing.
Then he remembered the new blueprint he'd stored. [Keen Eye]. A skill that enhanced perception. He couldn't use it as it was, but its blueprint was a component. It was a concept of sight, of noticing.
He looked at the [Aegis] blueprint. A concept of protection, of warding.
What if he fused perception and protection? Not to make a weapon, but to make a tool for finding what was hidden?
[Fuse Skill Blueprints: Keen Eye + Aegis? Y/N]
He held his breath and selected Yes.
This fusion was subtler. The blueprints merged not with a clash, but with a soft hum, the defensive matrix of [Aegis] forming a kind of resonant filter around the perceptive core of [Keen Eye].
[Skill Forged: Ward-Sense (F-Rank)]
[A composite skill. Allows the user to passively sense the direction and relative strength of nearby protective enchantments, wards, and focal points of defensive energy. Low mana cost. Soul-bound to Leo Vance.]
A compass. He'd forged a compass.
He activated it. Immediately, a new, faint layer of information overlaid his vision. Most of the school was a dull, menacing red—the ambient, hostile energy of the dungeon. But from somewhere below them—the basement level—he could feel a gentle, pulsing, blue-green glow. A beacon of safety. A sanctuary.
"It's downstairs," Leo said, his voice firm with newfound certainty. He pointed towards the stairwell door. "The Heart of the School. It's in the basement. I can feel it."
The group stared at him, their expressions a mixture of hope and disbelief.
"How can you know?" Mr. Davos asked.
"Because I made a skill to find it," Leo said simply. He looked at his exhausted, battered party. Chloe was leaning against a locker, Maya was rubbing her temple, and Luna looked like she was about to be sick. They were his components, his protectors, his scouts. And he was their forger.
The path was clear. The cost had been high, but the blueprint for their survival was finally taking shape. Now, they just had to fight their way to the foundation.