Holden lowered his sword, expecting the side door to open. He had passed. The examiner had said it herself. But as he took a step toward the exit, he caught the examiner's eye. She wasn't moving to let him out. She was staring down at him with a strange, calculating intensity, her hand hovering over a secondary lever on her console.
Don't tell me it's over, her expression seemed to say. Show me what you really are.
Clank.
The holding gate on the far side of the ring suddenly rose. It wasn't the exit.
The first beast came through.
Then a second.
Then seven more after that.
"Nine Feral Hounds!" Cormac's laugh echoed down from the viewing deck. "They're not even giving him a chance! They're just feeding him to the pack!"
Feral Hounds. These beasts were skinny, looking like dogs that were built for fighting. Each one was the size of a big wolf with glowing, wire-like fur. They ran into the ring together, but then they all stopped at the same time and stared at him.
They had nine pairs of eyes and teeth.
Holden exhaled slowly.
Outside the ring, he could hear the crowd reacting, placing bets on how fast he would be torn apart.
Holden looked at the Feral Hounds. Each one of them was worth ten kill points, and he didn't see this as a punishment.
He saw ninety KP.
The nearest hound attacked.
Whoosh.
Holden moved to the side smoothly. He spun around and swung his blade in a wide circle. The hound crashed to the ground and stayed down.
[+10 KP. Total: 20 KP.]
The pack rushed to attack.
They were much faster than the boar and smarter too. Instead of running straight at him, they spread out and surrounded him.
One faked its attack from the left while two others moved in low from the right.
But his footwork was Master tier now.
His feet just knew where to be. That was the only way to describe it.
CLANG.
A hound's claws scraped off his sword as he deflected it mid-leap.
Another hound hit the cage wall behind him, having misjudged where he'd be by the time it attacked him.
Whoosh.
[+10 KP. Total: 30 KP.]
His boot slipped on a damp spot and he went down on one knee. He had to roll sideways to avoid the hound's jaws snapping at his shoulder.
But he kept moving.
[+10 KP. Total: 50 KP.]
Four down. Five to go.
[+10 KP. Total: 60 KP.]
[+10 KP. Total: 70 KP.]
Only three were left. They stopped attacking him one by one and moved to surround him in a triangle. Each one was waiting for another to make the first move.
Holden turned slowly in place, keeping all three beasts in his sight so none of them could surprise him.
Come on, he thought. I need thirty more points.
The one directly ahead of him made the decision for him. It snarled and ran out of the group, and the other two attacked just a second later.
He took the one in front first, stepped into it, and put it down clean. Then he spun fast to the left, slipped under the second one's swipe, and opened its throat with a clean horizontal cut.
[+10 KP. Total: 80 KP.]
[+10 KP. Total: 90 KP.]
One left.
The last hound had stopped. It stood about six meters away, watching him.
Holden rolled the sword and looked at the system screen.
[Current KP: 90]
[System Notice: 100x Multiplier Upgrade available at 100 KP.]
He needed ten more to hit one hundred.
He looked at the hound.
"Come on then," he said quietly.
It came.
And the moment it began its run, Holden gave the command in his mind.
Upgrade the multiplier.
The system responded instantly.
[Confirm Upgrade: Spend 100 KP to unlock 100x Multiplier?]
Yes.
The hound was four meters away.
[Upgrade Queued. Awaiting sufficient Kill Points.]
Three meters.
Two.
Holden struck.
Whoosh.
His sword went deep into its throat, ending the beast's life in a spray of blood.
[+10 KP. Total: 100 KP.]
[Condition Met. Multiplier upgraded to: 100x.]
And something inside his mind clicked. It wasn't a flood of random memories. It was a foundation. One perfectly executed kill, multiplied by a hundred. Suddenly, he understood the exact weight of a blade, the precise millisecond to rotate his wrist, the geometry of every angle. It wasn't theory anymore. It was pure, wired instinct, as natural as drawing breath.
The hound was already on the ground.
Holden stood in the middle of the arena, surrounded by nine dead hounds.
He gradually became aware of the crowd outside the cage.
"This is rigged!" Cormac yelled, leaning over the railing. "He's cheating! There's no way a slum rat moves like that! Check his sword! He's using enchanted gear. He has to be!"
Holden didn't even look up at him. He just stared at his screen.
[System Stats]
[KP: 0 (Spent: 100)]
| Multiplier: 100x |
Fighter Rank: Rank 1 (1-Star)
He'd spent all of his kill points on the upgrade.
The Bronze Chest from earlier was still floating over the Gore-Boar's body, waiting.
Now nine more small lights were gathering above each dead hound. They were smaller chests, more copper-toned than bronze.
Holden took a breath.
He turned back toward the examiner's stand.
And then a sound came from the side gate of the arena.
It was a loud, scratching noise, like something was broken. It sounded like the lock had failed or someone had opened it too soon. For some reason, the third holding cage on the wall was opening all by itself.
The crowd noise changed again, but this time it didn't sound like surprise. It sounded like pure panic.