The first rays of morning light crept over the horizon as Kairo walked out of the dungeon, his knife still faintly stained with blood.
He hadn't slept. The night had been nothing but movement, fighting, dodging, killing, until exhaustion threatened to take him down. Yet his eyes still burned with focus.
He went straight to the Adventurers' Guild.
Inside, adventurers lounged over breakfast, laughing about their spoils. Kairo ignored them, walking directly to the quest board.
His eyes scanned quickly. Most required levels far beyond his reach.
One in particular caught his eye.
Collect 5 Kobold Teeth – Recommended Level 2+
He took it and walked to the advisor's desk.
Serin was there, sorting papers. She looked up as Kairo approached, "Back already?"
"I'll take this one." He placed the parchment on the counter.
Serin glanced at it, then at him, "No, this quest requires at least level two. You can't take it."
"I'm Level 2 now."
Serin chuckled, "Don't joke about that, Kairo. Leveling up isn't something you do overnight."
He met her gaze steadily. "I'm serious. Check my stats again."
The confidence in his tone made her pause. Her smile faded. She studied his face, the dark circles beneath his eyes, the set of his jaw, the blood still visible on his collar.
With a skeptical sigh, she slid a stats scroll across the counter. "Hand, please."
He pressed his palm against the parchment. A faint glow spread as his stats appeared in it.
Serin glanced at it casually at first, then froze. Her eyes widened.
"Level… two? In one night?"
She said it louder than she meant to.
Several adventurers turned to look.
"Wait, what?"
"Did she say level two in one night?"
"That's impossible."
"Must be a mistake with the scroll."
Kairo sighed softly, "Could you… not shout that?"
Serin flushed, lowering her voice, "I—I'm sorry. But this is unbelievable. You were level one yesterday! How did you—?"
"Got lucky."
"Lucky?" Her brow furrowed. "Kairo, gaining that much experience in a single night… what did you fight?"
"Beast rabbits. A lot of them."
Serin thought to herself, even if one had high potential, could they level up just by killing beast rabbits in a single night?
Usually, when 2 adventurers killed the same monster, the amount of XP each gained was based on their potential in his body. One with low potential would get 2 XP killing a beast rabbit; one with high potential, like Stein Dreadmour, killing the same beast rabbit could get 10 XP.
She stared at him for a moment longer. Finally, she pulled the parchment back and began processing the quest registration.
"Fine. You're eligible now." She stamped the quest form with more force than necessary. "Just be careful. Kobolds work in groups. They're smarter than rabbits."
Kairo nodded. "I understand."
She finished stamping the parchment and handed it back.
"Good luck out there."
Before leaving, Kairo reached into his pouch and handed her a smaller leather bag. "I'd also like to sell these."
Serin peeked inside—fifty-four Beast-Rabbit Mana Crystals.How did he get this many?
But she said nothing. She counted them methodically, her lips moving silently with each number. When finished, she withdrew five silver coins and placed them in his palm, minus the guild's standard cut.
Kairo nodded his thanks and left.
...
Back at the inn, he ordered a meal and ate quickly. His hands trembled slightly, not from fear, but from anticipation.
The night before, when he'd leveled up, the system had given him new skills. He hadn't tested them yet.
As the sun began to set, Kairo grabbed his knife and set out again.
...
Inside the dungeon, he encountered more beast rabbits and giant rats in groups, he dashed towards them, killing them.
[220 XP Gained]
But kobolds were his goal this time.
It took an hour before he found them. Two of them, standing guard near a stone outcrop.
They spotted him and advanced cautiously, not rushing.
Once in closer distance, a kobold lunged faster towards him. Kairo dodged it.
They are faster than the beast rabbits, but not fast enough. I will try one of the new skills now.
As he was thinking this, both the kobolds gathered and lunged together towards him furiously, their movements coordinated.
If this were the Kairo even last night, he could not have escaped from this. But he was different now.
The moment the kobolds thought they reached Kairo, he whispered, [Sonic]
The world blurred. His body moved faster than thought, leaving afterimages. The kobolds' claws pierced empty air.
Kairo reappeared behind them, before they could turn, he kicked one hard in the spine. The impact sent the creature flying, it crashed into the stone wall.
The other turned too late, Kairo's knife cut across its throat.
The fallen one tried to rise, claws scraping stone. Kairo vanished again, reappearing in front of it. He drove his knife into its neck, killing it before it could scream.
[50 XP Gained]
Panting, he flexed his hand. This skill is handy; it allows me to move extremely fast, but it's draining my mana for every use.
He crouched beside the corpses as they began to dissolve. Two yellowed teeth materialized, kobold's tooth, proof of the kill.
He took the teeth, storing them in his pouch, and went deeper.
As he walked, he saw multiple large silhouettes and thought of large monsters…
Kairo's grip tightened on his knife. His muscles tensed, ready to activate [Sonic] at the first sign of danger.
The silhouettes moved closer. But when they approached, it wasn't monsters, but adventurers.
Kairo relaxed his stance slightly.
They waved as they neared. "How's the hunt?" the leader called.
"Nothing much," Kairo replied.
The man grinned and extended a hand, his smile wide and friendly. "I'm Modrich, Level 3. These are Shin and Darik, Level 2. You alone?"
Kairo studied the offered hand for a moment before shaking it, "Kairo. New here."
"Alone, huh? That's rough." Modrich's grin widened. "Come on, why not join us for a bit? Easier to grind together."
"I can manage," Kairo said, pulling his hand back.
"Don't be like that," Modrich laughed, slinging an arm over his shoulder before Kairo could step away. "We adventurers stick together!"
Kairo felt they were too friendly for a first meet, he didn't resist much and walked with them.
...
They soon encountered a pack of kobolds.
"Shin, Darik—let's move," Modrich barked.
The moment the kobolds rushed towards them, Modrich and his party dashed forward with their weapons raised.
Modrich's sword cleaved through the first kobold's chest before it could even swing. Shin's axe buried itself in another's skull with a wet crunch. Darik moved his axe, sweeping low to hamstring a third before finishing it with a downward strike.
The remaining two kobolds barely had time to screech before they fell.
Kairo hadn't moved. Hadn't needed to.
They are skilled. Is this combat experience?
Modrich returned to Kairo with a laugh, clapping him on the shoulder. "Didn't kill anything? You are too slow!"
Kairo said nothing.
"Just kidding," Modrich added, his grin never faltering.
"Can you collect the loot? We can split it later," Modrich said, gesturing at the dissolving kobold corpses.
Kairo frowned. "But I didn't do anything!"
Modrich waved dismissively. "We are a party now! We share everything."
He waved to his teammates. "Come on, we'll scout ahead."
The three of them disappeared down the passage, their footsteps fading into the darkness.
As Kairo crouched to gather the mana crystals and teeth, Serin's warning echoed in his mind: Inside the dungeons, the dangerous things are not only monsters but humans also. When alone, there will be adventurers who use others as bait and kill for their equipment.
His eyes tracked the direction they'd gone.
Quietly, he crept after them, keeping his footsteps light, he followed their trail, pressing himself against the wall whenever their voices grew louder. Finally, he stopped when he heard them clearly ahead, just around a corner.
...
Shin snickered. "He looks so innocent and dumb. The world is not fair for everyone."
"We can use him as bait to harvest some crystals from the next floor."
Darik laughed. Modrich's voice cut through, "He doesn't seem to have any useful equipment. We don't have to retrieve even his body when he is stuck with the monsters."
"We can quickly escape with crystals."
"Let's not spend too much time here. Let's go back, or he could be suspicious of us."
Kairo's jaw tightened.
He turned back, moving silently through the corridor. He quickly returned to where the kobold corpses had been, gathering the remaining loot.
They were planning to bait and kill him.
Fighting all three at the same time would be suicide, even with the [Refuse to Die] skill; he didn't know how it worked or its limit. What if it just saved him only 2 times, or 3 times, or what if it sent him back to the lake at the graystone village?
He did not have any idea how the skill worked, so he didn't want to recklessly test it against someone he was sure he would die if he fought face-to-face with them.
They'd handled those kobolds like professionals. He kept thinking, running through scenarios, calculating.
When they returned, Modrich smiled as if nothing had happened. "Done already? Let's move deeper."
Kairo nodded silently, slipping the crystals into his pouch.
...
As they descended further into the dungeon, Modrich asked Darik, "Do you have any booze with you?"
"Nah," Darik replied.
"You cheeky bastard, you always hide it," Modrich laughed, his voice echoing ahead of them as they kept walking.
Kairo hung back slightly, watching the space between Modrich's shoulder blades. The gap in his leather armor where the straps met.
Suddenly, Modrich's laughing stopped.
The silence was abrupt, wrong.
Shin casually looked back and his face went white. He screamed.
Darik turned and saw blood dripping from Modrich's neck, the man's mouth working silently, hand reaching forward as he fell.
As Modrich collapsed, they saw Kairo behind him, knife dripping red.
"Bastard! What have you done? I will kill you!" Shin roared, dashing towards Kairo with his axe raised high.
Kairo raised one finger, flicking his wrist to the left, saying [Gravitas].
The air shimmered. Shin's body jerked sideways as if grabbed by an invisible hand, then crashed into the left dungeon wall with heavy force.
Darik's eyes widened. Before he could shift his focus back to Kairo, Kairo was already standing in front of him, having used [Sonic] to close the distance.
Darik's mouth opened to shout.
Kairo stabbed upward, driving his knife through Darik's chin. The blade punched through soft tissue, tongue, palate. Darik's eyes rolled back.
Kairo twisted and pulled the blade free.
Then he walked towards Shin, who was trying to get up from the crash, one arm hanging at an odd angle, blood streaming from his nose.
As Kairo approached, he lifted his hand forward, then swung it downwards. [Gravitas]
Instantly, a heavy gravitational force slammed onto Shin, crushing him flat against the stone floor. His ribs creaked. He gasped for air that wouldn't come.
Kairo stepped on Shin's head, applying just enough pressure to keep him pinned. "How many people have you killed?"
Shin trembled, his voice breaking. "It—it was Modrich! He made us! Please, have mercy!"
Kairo's face remained cold, emotionless. He raised his knife.
"The world is not fair for everyone."
The blade came down.
...
Kairo wiped his knife clean on Modrich's cloak before searching the bodies. He took their coin pouches, their weapons, and the mana crystals they'd collected. Everything.
He muttered to himself, "The new skills are good."
The [Gravitas] skill had worked perfectly, but only because he'd killed Modrich first, bringing the highest-level target down before engaging the others. Against someone higher level than him, the skill would fail.
He needed to remember that.
Kairo opened his system interface. A notification blinked at the top.
[Reward – Merciless (400 XP, +5 Free Attribute Points)]
His expression didn't change. He dismissed it and opened his status screen.
---
[STATUS SCREEN]
Name: Kairo
Age: 16
Race: Human
Level: 2
Experience: 770 / 5000
Class: Unbound
Sub-Classes: -
+++
Health: 100
Mana: 55
Stamina: 105
+++
Attributes: Strength 32, Agility 21, Vitality 20, Magic 11, Dexterity 24, Luck 0
Free Attribute Points: 5
Skills: [Refuse to Die], [Sonic], [Gravitas]
---
Kairo stared at the numbers. "A single level up granted me this many attribute points, and also new skills the system gave me are powerful."
The [Gravitas] skill could only be used on equal or low-level targets—that was why he'd killed Modrich first, eliminating the Level 3 threat before the others could react.
He closed the status screen, slipping the interface away.
This was the first time Kairo had killed humans.
But he moved on like he'd just killed monsters, feeling no guilt, no hesitation.
He turned and walked deeper into the dungeon.