[Countdown: 4:05]
[Countdown: 4:04]
[Countdown: 4:03]
The Drake beneath my hand was still.
I pulled my arm free slowly. The sound it made was something I was going to work very hard to forget. Dark blood coated my hand up to the elbow, steaming faintly in the cool morning air.
260 lbs of compressed gravity driven through a single point.
Turns out scale armor, no matter how thick, was still breachable.
[Stamina: 9%]
I stared at that number for a long moment.
[Countdown: 3:51]
[Juvenile Drake ★★★★★★★ has been defeated]
[EXP gained: +75]
[Congratulations Host — You have ascended to Initiate ★★★★★★]
Initiate Six-Star.
The ceiling of the Initiate rank in the Birthbound Realm.
I sat with that quietly for exactly one second before ChatZero chimed in.
[Well, well, well. Someone is aura farming.]
"Now that I've been transmigrated into this world, I might as well flex from time to time."
[Don't get ahead of yourself over a puny victory against some lizards.]
"Every victory counts, my dear Zero."
[...Zero?]
"That's your nickname from now on. Suck it up whether you like it or not."
ChatZero went silent after that.
A rare and beautiful occurrence.
[Countdown: 3:04]
Something massive tore through the air above my head.
I looked up in time to see the second seven-star Drake sailing overhead in a wide arc before crashing into the treeline outside my territory with an impact that shook the ground under my feet.
I turned.
Kaira stood where the Drake had been, arm still extended from the throw, her hair completely wrecked — wild and ash-grey from meteor debris — her expression carrying the mild satisfaction of someone who had just done something they'd been wanting to do for a while.
She lowered her arm and dusted her hands off against each other.
"Felt right," she muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear.
"How far did it go?"
"Far enough."
I had no follow-up to that.
Sweeping my gaze across the clearing, I found Aldric — sitting on top of the six-star Drake he'd killed, blood smeared across most of his visible surface, his rune-blade resting across his knees with the glyphs completely dark. He was breathing in the careful, deliberate way of someone taking inventory of their own damage and deciding what to feel about each item.
He caught me looking.
"Still alive," he called out.
"Good."
"Barely."
"Still counts."
He made a sound that might have been a laugh if it hadn't hurt too much to commit to it fully.
[Countdown: 0:00]
[Minor Disaster Defended!]
[Reward: 1 Epic Summon Ticket]
[Exceptional Performance Bonus: +100 SP]
[Achievement Unlocked: "Against All Odds"]
[Achievement Unlocked: "Gravity Tyrant" — First confirmed kill via Gravity Compression]
[EXP Distribution — Team Calculation Complete]
[Napoleon, Initiate ★★ → Initiate ★★★★]
[Timber, Initiate ★★★★ → Initiate ★★★★★]
[Pride, Juvenile ★★★★ → Juvenile ★★★★★]
I looked at the notifications quietly.
Napoleon had jumped two stars.. the Rallying Cries, the direct combat support, the absolutely unhinged moment of crowing directly into a Drake's ear canal had apparently all counted. Timber had jumped one despite his attacks being neutralized entirely by the Drake's heat — the system valued saving my life as meaningful contribution. Pride had gained one star despite fighting at Juvenile tier the entire battle.
"ZERO!"
[WHAT DO YOU WANT?]
"Did you hate the nickname Zero?"
[Absolutely. However, it's none of your business.]
The dude sounded genuinely angry. Oh well! none of my business indeed.
I stood up slowly, with visible effort. My legs were trembling but ultimately cooperated. The blood on my arm had begun drying to a rust color that was going to require serious scrubbing later.
Kaira was watching me from across the clearing with a look that screamed she had many questions pending.
I walked toward her.
Taking a brief glance at my hand, she muttered, "Your hand... it went through the Drake's face?"
"It did, and it's fine."
She looked at me with wide eyes. "How? I tried and I never could. So how did you do it? What rank are you, really?"
"I'm cursed, remember? Dark magician. Very complicated situation. No stars anywhere on this body to confirm anything."
I held up my arms and turned them over helpfully, displaying the complete and total absence of soul stars on any visible surface.
She stared at my blank skin for a long moment before muttering almost to herself.
"Liar. They could even be somewhere private."
Napoleon chose this moment to walk between us, pecking at something in the dirt with complete indifference to the conversation happening above him.
Kaira watched him for a moment, then went after him. Napoleon dodged every attempt with practiced ease.
I walked to the well, drew up a bucket of clean water, and sat beside it.
Timber appeared beside me shortly after — moving slowly, his self-repair ongoing, the grinding sound of cracked bark settling back into place with each careful step. He lowered himself to the ground nearby with the controlled dignity of something that refused to simply collapse despite having every reason to.
He looked at the cleared territory. At the Drake corpses. At the hole in the Chief's House roof.
"Master... Timber fix house?"
"Rest first, fix later. You've got to look after yourself as well. No need to work all the time."
He considered this with great seriousness.
Then sat back.
[Loyalty: 80% → 84%]
I pulled up my status window to check the spoils of the Special Quest.
[SP: 297]
The Epic Summon Ticket sat in my interface as well.
I'd use it later — first came the repairs, then the expansion. After that, when I had both the time and the stamina for a summoning, I'd pull it.
Though there was an unsettling feeling settling in my chest right now. It was an Epic-tier Summon Ticket, which meant it would likely reveal an Evolved beast. After all, Normal Summonings granted Initiate and Juvenile beasts. An Epic pull was something else entirely.
I swiped past it for now.
[Territory Expansion Available]
[Current Radius: 50m → 100m]
[Requirements: All Met ✓]
[Confirm?]
I shifted my gaze toward the area designated as unlockable.
It was mostly swamp.
Of all the terrain the system could have assigned as my next expansion, it had to be a swamp.
Either way, I'd have to deal with the Drake corpses before anything else.
I closed the status window and walked toward them.
"Zero, how much would these sell for?"
[Calculating... Drake materials are significantly more valuable than Hellhound. Shall I break it down the same way I did with the Hellhounds?]
"Go ahead."
[Six-Star Juvenile Drake:]
[Scales — heat resistant, premium crafting material: 80 SP]
[Core — alchemical grade: 70 SP]
[Fangs x12 at 25 SP each: 300 SP]
[Meat... edible, but I wouldn't recommend it. However, you're welcome to try it ... just like how you once wanted to taste your own piss lol. If you'd rather not, it's worth 10 SP.]
[Six-Star subtotal: 460 SP]
[Seven-Star Juvenile Drake x1 — on the verge of evolution:]
[Scales: 150 SP]
[Core — evolution-threshold cores carry significantly higher alchemical potency: 200 SP]
[Fangs x14 at 35 SP each: 490 SP]
[Meat: 15 SP]
[Seven-Star subtotal: 855 SP]
[Grand Total: 1,310 SP]
"Damn... that's a lot for a beginner like me." The words escaped before I could stop them.
At the same time, a pang of genuine regret hit me over the flying Drake that Kaira had thrown into the treeline. Gone. Along with its scales, core, fangs — all of it, somewhere out there in the Great Jura Forest.
To be honest, this sum was both large and small at the same time.
Currencies of any kind were fleeting. Abundant one moment, gone the next.
Either way, I had already decided what to do with these corpses the moment I'd brought them down.
"Zero, sell everything except the seven-star's core. Send that to my inventory.. I want it preserved."
[The Mortal is finally using his brain?]
[Calculating... Selling the goods.]
[Process complete.]
[Thank you, dear Seller. We hope to purchase more of your fine ingredients... sigh.]
I stared at the interface with quiet satisfaction.
The store sounded genuinely gloomy this time. As if it had wanted the core as well.
"Tough luck. I'm keeping it for as long as I can."
I checked my SP.
[SP: 1,397]
I was whistling softly to myself as I stared at that number.
Currency, fleeting as it was still managed to make a person happy just by sitting there.
And I myself was the kind who loved money!
Before I could fully rejoice,an unsettling ache seized my head without warning. My breathing grew heavy and labored.
"Fuck...."
[Stamina: 1%]
I thought I could at least manage to stay upright...
My vision faded.