The timer hit zero.
The Rift Wind Slash inscription faded from The Pages, the ink dissolving away — as if it had never been there. I watched for a second, no particular feeling about it. It had sat in my Codex for a full twenty-four hours without finding a chance to make it permanent.
Six in the morning. The Second Floor corridors were three shades darker than the First, the moss-light glowing blue-white.
[Codex Status]
Rank: F-Rank Scribe
Permanent Inscriptions: 2 / 3
Slot 1: Pierce (F+) — single-point penetration, range 3 meters
Slot 2: Swift Thrust (E) — high-speed close combat, cast time 0.1 seconds
Slot 3: Empty
Two slots. One more to go.
I crouched at the outer junction and waited.
Spine Lizards didn't always travel in packs. They scattered when foraging — three to five minutes between groups. Waiting for a straggler was a lot easier than taking on three at once.
Eleven minutes. A lone one emerged from the left corridor.
Swift Thrust to the left neck, Pierce to finish the right eye — it dropped. Skill Copy: Spine Lizard · Rending Bite (E-Rank) — timer 23:59:58.
Useless. I wasn't planning to bite Ink Beasts. But I kept it and moved on.
"Still here."
Xie Chong's team appeared from the right corridor — three people, fast pace, clear direction. He led the front, the old scar running from his right eye to his jaw sharp and clear in the blue-white light. Yesterday at the entrance he'd said one thing — "A Scribe actually came to the Second Floor?" — not mocking, just confirming. Then he left. I didn't.
Now he stood in front of me, looking at the back of my hand. "How many slots."
"Two."
"Still two. Spent a whole night here and still two."
"Just arrived," I said. "Today's."
Xie Chong was silent for three seconds. The axe-type behind him muttered something low — I didn't catch it. Xie Chong didn't turn. His eyes stayed on my face.
"What are you planning to fill the third slot with."
"Steal a D-rank skill first, then use it to kill a C-rank. That makes it permanent."
He heard me out. No expression, but something shifted in his eyes. Just for a moment.
"A D-rank skill," he said, "to kill a C-rank."
"Yes."
"Do you know what a C-rank is."
"Brush Wraith," I said. "Shows up occasionally along the mid-ring boundary. Ink-corrosion type. Three seconds to pierce E-rank defense. Six legs. High-risk at close range."
Xie Chong looked at me for a moment, then stepped to the side. "Don't block the main path."
They kept walking — deeper in, pace unchanged.
The axe-type glanced back as he passed me. Not mocking. The look that says you have no idea what you're talking about.
I waited until they disappeared, then headed the same direction. A little slower.
The slope appeared at the seventy-second meter — downward, stone walls shifting from gray to deep brown, moss-light turning from blue-white to deep blue.
D-rank territory.
The map description for Pages Ink Beasts read: thin Ink Beast, open-book form, edges have cutting properties. The map didn't mention they could fly. It also didn't mention that their flight height was exactly beyond Swift Thrust's reach.
It spread open and charged.
Pierce into the spine — it slowed, a page shooting out. I sidestepped; the blade edge shaved across my left arm, cutting a half-centimeter groove into the stone wall.
Sidestep. Spine Lizard · Rending Bite — bit down on the lowest-hanging page. Material penetration; it froze for 0.5 seconds. Pierce into the spine again — it dropped.
Six minutes. Seven casts. A bit of effort. The approach felt strange even to me. But effective was effective.
Skill Copy: Pages Blade Wind (D-Rank) — Spread pages into a rotating blade field, range 5 meters, duration 8 seconds. Timer: 23:59:57.
I read the description once. Then read it again.
A Brush Wraith's six legs — each about a meter and a half long. If I could trigger it the instant it shoots a page, four legs would be inside the blade field.
One C-rank target left.
The Brush Wraith was at the seventeenth meter past the mid-ring boundary, around a corner.
Humanoid upper half — a massive open tome for a torso. Lower half: six slender legs, each ending in a calligraphy brush tip.
I had no E-rank defense.
It sensed me. Turned a page. The page shot out — twice the speed of a Pages Ink Beast.
I sidestepped. The paper blade shaved across my right arm; skin immediately traced with a black edge. Not blood. Ink.
Swift Thrust into the gap between the side pages. Pierce into the spine — it paused for 0.2 seconds.
Enough. Pages Blade Wind — released.
The rotating blade field expanded, five meters. Four of its six legs caught inside, two out. The cutting sound was crisp; two legs lost function. The Brush Wraith's body tilted right. Another page shot out at an angle. I'd already moved. Pierce into the remaining spine. Pages Blade Wind had four seconds left — I pulled it tight to my left side.
The Brush Wraith dropped.
I looked down at my right arm.
The black edge was spreading. Almost to the wrist.
Pages Blade Wind (D-Rank)
Permanent Inscription conditions met — target rank C-rank
Slot 3 activating... complete
Permanent Inscriptions: 3 / 3
F-rank inscription cap reached
Rank-up confirming...
"Rank-up confirming" — the words sat on the panel, still spinning.
The back of my hand warmed faintly, like something rewriting itself inside the bone. My sister. A-rank. Third Floor and above.
I pressed that thought down. Not now.
Footsteps from deeper in the corridor.
Xie Chong stood at the corner. His gaze fell on the Brush Wraith's body beside me first — two seconds — then onto the back of my hand.
He read the panel text quietly. "Rank-up confirming."
"What did you kill it with."
"Pages Blade Wind."
"Pages Blade Wind. D-rank."
He was quiet for a moment. The two behind him stopped as well. The axe-type stared at the Brush Wraith's body, expression strange — not surprise. The face someone makes when they've recalculated a number and realized they got it wrong.
The other one — bow-type, hadn't spoken once — glanced at my right arm. "Black edge."
"I know," I said.
"Three seconds through E-rank defense," Xie Chong said. "You're F-rank. Took it straight to the skin. Deal with it fast."
"I have neutralizer in my pack."
"Then apply it."
I opened the left outer pocket of my pack. Neutralizer applied — the black faded within two seconds. Xie Chong didn't leave. His gaze moved from my right arm to the back of my hand, watching the panel still spinning.
His team didn't rush him.
"You studied the Brush Wraith beforehand," Xie Chong said. "Leg length. Range. Weak points."
"Yes."
"A Scribe's skill is copying." He paused. "Were you studying the Brush Wraith, or were you studying your own skills."
I didn't answer.
Xie Chong gave a single nod, turned, and kept walking. The axe-type followed. As he passed me, he said one word under his breath: "Ballsy."
Then disappeared into the corridor.
The panel kept spinning. A long time.
Then it stopped.
Rank-up complete
Rank: E-Rank Transcriptionist
Inscription Slots: 3 / 5
[Archive Certification: Editor's Accord verification in progress... 07-Ω]
That last line wasn't standard format.
I'd looked through every rank's documentation across all panel descriptions. It appeared in none of them.
I saved a screenshot to the Codex log, stood up, and walked back.
At the slope exit, someone was leaning against the stone wall, waiting for me.