The line sharpened, it didn't grow brighter. it didn't grow thicker.
It simply became precise and strong.
The faint glow hovering in the air compressed inward inward as if reality was tightening its grip around that thin, straight boundary Kael had drawn.
The surrounding air bent unnaturally, sound dulling, pressure warping. Even the dust floating in the chamber seemed reluctant to cross it.
Kael felt it, the power surging but its draining his energy and mana.
His breath came slow and steady despite the pain screaming through his body. Muscles torn, ribs aching, blood warm against. None of it mattered in that moment. For the first time since entering the tower everything felt... clear.
The Warden noticed.
The towering dormant entity halted mid step its massive blade hovering above Kael's head. Its single eye which was cold, ancient forged from something far older than mana focused entirely on the line.
Of course The Warden could not see the line but it could feel something is getting stopped and the power surging its making the blade stop unnaturally.
The Warden is making a threat assessment.
Something the tower had not intended.
"Good, so you are feeling too"
The eraser reacted, still not activated, still untouched.
Yet something deep within Kael's chest stirred like a sealed mechanism clicking into the place. He felt it not as power but as permission as if something that had been watching silently had finally decided to lean closer.
The line vibrated and then Kael moved.
He didn't swing, he stepped forward and pulled.
The line moved with him.
The moment it passed through the Wardens Armour there was no resistance, no clang sound, no impact. Just a sound like paper tearing underwater.
The Warden froze.
For half a second nothing happened.
Then its massive blade slid apart, it didn't shatter, not broken.
But separated.
The cut was flawless, too flawless. As if the concept of together had simply had been erased from the section of the existence.
The eraser pulsed.
A dull colorless ripple spread outward from the line and the Warden staggered back. Its chest split open revealing not flesh but layered mana structures collapsing inward on themselves.
[Dealt 6000 damage to Warden of Silence]
The boss's HP shaved by half
"What in the world, I didn't even....."
The Warden roared.
The sound shook the entire floor, stone cracking as dormant runes ignited violently. The entity swung its remaining arm releasing a crescent of compressed mana that tore through pillars like wet clay.
Kael reacted on instinct, He drew another line but not a wall not for barrier but a curve.
The mana wave hit the line and split half deflected upward, half curving a trench into the floor beside him. Kael skidded back his boots scrapped but stayed standing.
His heart pounded.
It worked not perfectly not cleanly but it worked.
The line was no longer just stopping things.
It was defining how they were allowed to move.
The Warden charged.
Fast, too fast.
Kael felt danger spike violently his instincts screaming as the entity closed the distance in a blink. He barely had time to draw another line before the Warden slammed into it. The impact sending shock waves rippling through the chamber.
This time Kael felt it the recoil damage.
His vision blurred as pressure slammed into his mind, like trying to hold back a collapsing building with a single thought. He gritted his teeth, blood dripping from his nose.
"Tch still too strong" Kael muttered.
The Warden raised its remaining arm, mana gathered.
Kael's thought raced.
Walls wouldn't be enough, barriers wouldn't last and he didn't have strength to keep trading blows.
Unless...
Unless he must strike using the line as sword once again , but its making massive toll on his body.
Kael exhaled slowly.
He drew the line again, but this time, he held it once again in his hand.
The glow wrapped around his fingers light bending as the boundary condensed narrowing further until it resembled a thin invisible blade, there was no weight, no hilt.
Just Intent.
The eraser responded fully. It didn't activate but synchronized and the line sword stabilized.
Kael stepped forward as the Warden's attack descended.
And he cut.
The motion was simple.
Horizontal and clean.
The line passed through the Wardens torso.
The world paused.
Then....
[Dealt 6000 damage to Warden of Silence]
The upper half of the Warden slid forward and collapsed, dissolving into fragments of unstable mana. The lower half stood for a moment longer before crumbling inward erased piece by piece as if reality itself was undoing the mistake of its existence.
Silence fell.
Kael stood there, breathing hard the line dissolving back into harmless glow before vanishing entirely.
He stared at his empty hand.
"...So it really can" he whispered "A line can be a sword hahaha"
The air around him trembled.
A massive golden window exploded into existence.
[RARE EVENT CLEARED: DORMANT FLOOR WARDEN]
[CONDITION: 95% MONSTER ERADICATION CONFIRMED]
[SOLO CLEAR: FIRST SINCE TOWER INITIALIZATION]
Kael blinked.
"....First???"
Another message followed far larger than any before.
[Anomaly Confirmed]
[Interaction Detected Between Talents: Line Drawer + Eraser]
[Processing...]
The air grew heavily.
Kael felt the tower watching him not passively this time but actively and with intense. Something deep within the system was recalculating, restructuring and adapting.
Then.
[NEW SKILL GENERATED]
[SKILL NAME: DELIMITED EDGE]
[TYPE UNIQUE: SYNTHESIZED]
[DESCRIPTION: A BOUNDARY GIVEN INTENT. A LINE THAT DEFINES SEPARATION ABSOLUTELY]
Kael swallowed.
"Wow a completely new skill and its not mentioned in Alphabets but Unique!!"
More lines appeared.
[Delimited Edge - Proficiency 1%]
[Note: Skill Effectiveness Scales with User Comprehension and Control]
[Warning: Excess use may destroy or Erase your Own Body. Use it well]
"...it could destroy my body, I should use wisely".
The reward notification continued.
[Level Up] [Level Up] [Level Up] [Level Up] [Level Up]
[Level 10 -> 15]
[Attributes Gained +15]
[New Title: First Cutter]
[Reward: Warden Core (Dormant)]
[Reward: Architect Residue x1]
[Reward: High Grade Mana Crystals x6]
[Line drawer Proficiency +10%]
[Eraser Proficiency +12%]
[Tap Proficiency +6%]
Kael stared at the list and his mind struggling to catch up.
"Wow so many rewards for defeating the Unique boss and my level is 15 and gained so many stat points"
"I will see the rewards after I exit the tower and take rest"
After leveling up Kael recovered Quickly and his Mana restored, All the Pain, bruises, scars, damage to his brain was vanished. Kael felt refreshed.
The Warden's remains finished dissolving leaving behind the crystalline core pulsing faintly with the restrained power. Kael approached cautiously and picked it up.
It was warm and not dangerous but dormant.
"..You were guarding something weren't you?" he said quietly.
The floor rumbled.
The hidden staircase began to emerge from the floor, runes glowing softly as the tower acknowledged his victory.
Kael exhaled and finally allowed himself to sit down.
From realization.
Line Drawer, tap, eraser individually were not necessarily trash.
But together....
He laughed weakly leaning back against a cracked pillar.
"So that's the trick huh? You don't give power, you give pieces".
The tower did not respond.
But somewhere deep within the system something had changed.
The rules had been bent.
And Kael Ardent...
The Late Awkener.
F- rank joke.
Delimiter, the Architects chosen.
Had just drawn his first real cut into the tower itself.