The air hung lazy with sunlight.
While I still sat exactly where I'd devoured those stakes, legs sprawled, back against the same tree, the scent of seared fat still hanging in memory, reviling in the feeling of a full stomach.
It had been five years since I'd eaten until I couldn't anymore.
I rested my head against the tree, looking up at the sky beneath the gentle shade of the leaves while the stream ahead gurgled slowly.
Birds had long come back, cautious little things hopping between branches.
And with a flick of my thought, the system opened.
Blue light shimmered across my vision as I started scrolling through the Bloodline tab again.
Rows upon rows of names drifted past.
Serpent, Wyrm, Titan, Raijin, Dragon, you name it.
"Thunder this, storm that," I muttered.
And that's when it hit me.
[I hadn't seen a single Bloodline tied to Time.]
"Hey," I said aloud, eyes still on the glowing list, "I'm not seeing any bloodlines related to Time."
–Ding!
{Because there are none. Time is not something one inherits.}
"What do you mean?"
–Ding!
{Time Affinity cannot be inherited. Hence, there are no bloodlines for it.}
"Yeah, you just said that…"
I dragged a hand down my face with a sigh.
"Everything's so damn expensive anyway," I grumbled, rubbing my eyes.
And then the words jammed in my throat.
Because across the stream, maybe fifteen meters out, a massive shadow moved.
It rose behind the line of trees.
And when it stepped out, my brain refused to believe it for half a second.
A bear.
No, not a bear.
This thing was a walking slab of nightmare fur.
Pitch black, broad as a carriage, easily four times the size of any normal bear I'd ever seen.
Its body wasn't round and heavy like an animal built for winter sleep.
That thing was stacked.
All muscle and malice pressed into a shape that shouldn't move this quietly.
Its fur looked coarse and burnt at the tips, clumping like someone had doused it in tar and ash.
When it breathed, the air seemed to waver around its maw in a faint shimmer of heat.
Then it rose.
The trees behind it bent as it lifted onto its hind legs, towering high enough that I actually had to tilt my head back just to keep its face in view.
Every exhale wrapped the air around its maw in a shimmer of heat.
Then -
-Fwoom!
A small surge of purple fire spilled out, licking the air like a serpent's tongue.
It growled as it just watched me through those amber eyes rimmed with that same violet glow burning faint behind the iris.
I felt every hair on my body rise.
"Holy-"
It wasn't just any bear.
It was a Violetflame Direbear.
Late-stage Tier 1, dual-circuited.
I'd read about these things in the old bestiaries back when I still had access to the village library.
They were known for their strength, their heat tolerance, and the wonderful little detail that it usually took an early-stage Tier 2 offensive class to bring one down.
Or, you know… an entire squad of men on its level.
And me?
I had one spear, two circuits, and bad luck… and some cool affinities I could barely use.
My body moved before my brain did.
I scrambled to my feet, boots skidding on grass, and a heart hammering in my chest.
The interface flared into view the instant my thought hit it.
MP: 36 / 36
Full tank.
"Okay…" I muttered, forcing a breath in through my teeth. "Let's try this."
I reached into the air, and a blue shimmer answered.
The partisan spear slid into existence as my hand closed around it.
While the bear huffed once, violet flame still dancing between its fangs.
I flicked my focus inward.
{Skill Activated: Precognition.}
And MP drain surged to life.
But this time, I didn't settle for the bare minimum.
I cranked it up to five MP per second, not two.
And instantly, the world began to bend.
The ripples in the stream became predictable.
The wind curled around leaves in perfect arcs.
I could feel what was about to happen before it happened. Not a second ahead now, but three.
It was instinctual memory from the future bleeding backward.
And damn, did it feel good.
A grin cracked across my face as I cut the Precognition off I got what I wanted to know.
While the bear roared that low. I didn't even flinch.
Instead…
{Skill Activated: Red Lightning Reinforcement.}
Red arcs began to crackle across my skin, dancing along my arms, up my shoulders, and then spilling over onto the spear until the whole thing was drenched in lightning.
The numbers were brutal…
5 MP for the body, 2 for the spear's channel.
Then I shoved another 3 just to be sure.
Bringing my total output to 10 MP/Sec.
My circuits screamed, but held.
[So that's the limit of two circuits, huh… 10 MP a second.]
Good to know.
The spear thrummed in my hands like it wanted to be thrown.
Every strand of hair on my body rose as mana and lightning wove together into a single red pulse that crawled down to the tip.
"Let's see what you've got."
And then, I threw.
The air cracked as the spear tore through the space between us.
And the next beat -
- Boom!
The spear punched through its chest with a deafening detonation of red lightning, blasting a hole straight through its ribcage.
Lightning exploded outward, charring fur and flesh in a burst that probably flash-fried even the fleas in its fur too.
For one blinding instant, the forest stank of burnt hide and ozone.
The spear's light flickered once as its charge spent before it embedded itself deep into a tree trunk ten meters behind the beast.
And a single heartbeat later, the Violetflame Direbear fell backward like a felled tower, shaking the ground as it hit the dirt.
And I just… stood there.
Still frozen in my throwing stance.
Through Precognition, I knew the throw would connect.
I just hadn't expected it to obliterate the damn thing.
The silence that followed was brief, yet electric.
My breath came out slow before a laugh bubbled up, half-disbelieving, half-shocked.
And the system chimed.
–Ding!
{Violetflame Direbear slain. 300 EXP Received!}
I stared at the panel for a few seconds, blinking.
Three hundred.
That thing was no joke.
A late-stage Tier 1, and from what I remembered, each Tier had four stages: Early, Mid, Late, and Perfected.
And there were ten Tiers total.
I was probably still Early Tier 1 at best.
Yet I'd just downed something two stages above me.
Didn't make sense.
Didn't feel like it should be possible.
"Well… Red Lightning was an Epic-grade affinity," I muttered under my breath, watching faint trails of smoke curl off my forearm.
The skin tingled, but not from pain, but from raw mana feedback.
"Hey, System," I said aloud, eyes on the floating text. "So what's the snag here? It can't be this perfect."
–Ding!
{Correct. Controlling this affinity is extremely difficult.}
I frowned. "Mind elaborating on that bit?"
The system stayed silent.
The floating interface just blinked once and faded, leaving me talking to the wind.
"Right…" I chuckled, shaking my head. "Control, huh."
My eyes drifted back to the panel as the familiar exhaustion hit like a brick wall.
MP: 1 / 36
Checks out.
Two seconds of Precognition at 5 MP/sec, and about 2 seconds of Red Lightning Reinforcement at 10 MP/sec.
"Man… it's gonna take forever to actually level up," I sighed, dragging a hand down my face.
The smell of scorched fur hit again as I walked toward the fallen beast.
The Direbear's hide still radiated heat.
I crouched beside it, staring at the massive carcass, still slightly steaming.
"Let's see what you're worth, big guy…"
I flicked my focus to the interface again, calling up the Shop tab.
{Shop}
{Buy} {Sell}
A grin crept up on my face.
"Alright," I murmured. "Let's see what that sell option's all about."
–Ding!
{Advisory: Processed monsters will sell for much more. Example: Hide, Bones, Cores.}
I blinked up at the notification, the glowing text hovering just above my field of vision.
"Processed?" I muttered, brow arching. "Dude, it's the first time I've seen a Direbear this close. You think I'd know how to butcher it?"
I actually laughed, short and breathless, the kind that's equal parts exhaustion and disbelief.
"Yeah, sure, let me just carve it up all pretty for you while it's still smoking. The Royal Association guys can wait."
Still grinning, I crouched and placed a finger against the bear's charred hide.
And that familiar blue shimmer followed.
And with just a thought, the colossal corpse vanished.
I opened the Sell tab.
The inventory unfolded before me, all neat blue panels and glowing outlines comprising of everything I'd accumulated since the system decided to ruin and upgrade my life at the same time.
{
Amara Hale's Crossbow (Common): Amara Hale's old weapon. Weathered wood, worn string, and the weight of everything that still hurts to remember.
Sell Value: 0 Credits.
Sentimental value: infinite.
Short Sword (Uncommon): Laro's personal sidearm, a standard Windket Guard issue blade. Still bears the faint stain of its last sin.
Sell Value: 15 Credits.
Coin Pouch: A worn leather pouch carrying 3,755 bronze coins, roughly equal to thirty-seven silvers. Feels heavier than it should for something worth so little.
Sell Value: 3 Credits.
Towel (Common): Damp, faintly smelling of ozone and victory.
Sell Value: 0.2 Credits.
Toothbrush (Common): Do you really need a description?
Sell Value: 0.1 Credits.
Soap Bar (Common): Half-used, the last trace of normalcy in a world that stopped being clean a long time ago.
Sell Value: 0.1 Credits.
Direbear Carcass (Late-Tier 1): Sell Value: 10 Credits.
}
"Grown a sense of humour, System?" I muttered as I stared at the list, eyes dragging back to that last line.
Ten Credits.
"Ten…?" I repeated under my breath. "Are you serious?"
I looked back at where the Direbear had been, at the flattened grass and the pool of its blood.
"That thing almost roasted me alive, and you're telling me it's worth ten credits? Might as well shove a gun up my head and rob me while you're at it."
The system didn't respond.
Just blinked once, quietly judging me from the corner of my screen.
Still, what the hell else was I supposed to do with it?
Let it rot?
Ten credits.
That was basically five Wagyu steaks.
Just the thought made my mouth water again.
I caught myself, shaking my head like I could rattle the gluttony out of my skull. "No, no… focus."
Sighing, I walked back toward the spear still embedded halfway into the tree trunk, 10 credits richer.
It took a grunt and a twist to wrench it free, and the shaft came loose with a faint crack, bits of charred bark falling away.
And then the familiar fatigue hit me.
"Now what…" I muttered, leaning the spear against my shoulder. "I'm spent again."
I flicked open the panel for confirmation:
MP: 1 / 36.
If I were to activate both Precognition and Red Lightning Reinforcement together again…
2 MP/sec + 5 MP/sec, that's 7 MP a second.
That gave me exactly 5 seconds before blackout.
And that too if I run these at their bare minimum.
"This isn't sustainable…" I whispered, sliding the spear back into the inventory.
My hand went to my neck, rubbing absently as I thought it through.
[If I wanna make this work… spamming lightning is out of the question.]
But that came with its own set of risks.
I was still in the body of a fifteen-year-old.
Weaker than a grown man, weaker even than most boys my age back in Windket.
Even with Precognition, there's a limit to what reflexes can do when the muscles themselves aren't fast enough.
Knowing what's about to happen doesn't mean you can move fast enough to stop it.
And on top of that, this was the first day I'd ever even held a spear.
No technique. No drills. Just wild instincts, panic, and luck.
Five years spent trying not to starve or get beaten half to death didn't exactly leave time for martial training.
I exhaled, rubbing my forehead.
[But still… it's worth the risk. Hell, it's the only choice I've got if I wanna be worth something by the time those Royal Association guys show up.]
The words echoed in my head as I turned and started walking back toward the tree where I'd eaten earlier.
Each step felt heavier as the adrenaline finally bled out of my limbs.
The light had gone softer now, stretching long golden bars across the forest floor.
By my calculations, I'd need roughly six minutes to hit full mana again.
36 MP total, regen rate 0.1 per second.
So yeah.
Six minutes of sitting still.
Six minutes of pretending I didn't just fry a monster that would've caused alarm bells to start ringing back at Windket.