The walk from Babel to the Guild Hall was a blur of noise and light. Aiden dragged the sledgehammer, the iron head grinding against the cobblestones with a sound like a dying engine. People stared—not out of awe, but out of confusion. A ragged boy dragging a construction tool and a pale girl clutching a bug leg like a holy relic.
They reached the counter. The same werewolf receptionist was there. She looked at Aiden, then at the hammer, then at the clock.
"You're alive," she noted dryly.
"Barely," Aiden hoisted the sack of stones onto the counter. "Exchange."
She weighed the small stones first. "Eighteen from the upper floors. 720 Valis."
Then Aiden placed the Killer Ant stone on the tray. It was larger, glowing with a dense, muddy purple light.
The receptionist paused. She picked it up, holding it to the light. "Killer Ant. Floor 7 spawn. Or a rare anomaly on Floor 2. You killed this?"
"We broke it," Aiden corrected.
"Value: 2,500 Valis," she stated, her tone shifting from dismissal to professional curiosity. "And the drop item?"
She looked at the serrated red mandible in Lyra's hand.
"Not for sale," Lyra said, her voice raspy but firm. She gripped the chitin tight. "I'm keeping it."
"Suit yourself," the receptionist shrugged. "Raw chitin is brittle without a smith to treat it, but it's sharper than iron. Be careful you don't slice your own fingers off."
She counted out the coins. 3,220 Valis.
Aiden swept the money into his pocket. It felt heavy. It felt like life.
"Thank you," Aiden muttered.
They walked out. They had 3,870 Valis total now. In the grand scheme of Orario, it was pocket change for a Level 3 adventurer. For them, it was a fortune.
"Food first," Aiden said. "Real food."
They found a tavern called The Hostess of Fertility. It was loud, crowded, and smelled of stew and ale.
[Canon Check: Mia Grand (Owner) - Retired Level 6.]
[Canon Check: Syr Flova (Waitress) - Status: Active.]
Aiden froze at the entrance. "Not here," he whispered, pulling Lyra back. "Too many high-levels. Too many eyes. If Freya is watching through Syr..."
"Right," Lyra nodded, understanding the danger. They weren't ready to be noticed by the Goddess of Beauty.
They went to a cheaper, nameless stall down the street and bought two large bowls of "Dungeon Stew"—a thick broth made from monster-meat byproducts and root vegetables. It cost 300 Valis total, but it was protein-dense.
They sat on a crate in an alley, eating voraciously.
"The mandible," Aiden said, pointing to the red blade Lyra had set on her lap. "It needs a handle."
"I can wrap it," Lyra said, tearing a strip of cloth from the hem of her ruined shirt. She began winding the cloth tightly around the base of the chitin curve. "It fits my hand, Aiden. It's light. The bell... the bell is good for control, but this... this is for when they get too close."
"You're adapting," Aiden noted.
"I have to," Lyra tied off the knot. She looked at him, her violet eyes reflecting the streetlights. "I saw you shatter that ant. You didn't just hit it hard. You deleted its armor. If you keep doing that, your body is going to break before the monsters do."
"I know," Aiden flexed his trembling hands. "My Strength stat is I-9. The output of [Render] is acting like I have Strength D. The recoil is tearing my muscles apart."
"We need armor," Lyra said. "And I need a way to restore Mana without sleeping for ten hours."
"One step at a time," Aiden stood up, grabbing the hammer. "Now, we pay the piper."
The Soma Familia base was rowdier tonight. The "cannibals" were celebrating some small victory, likely robbing a newbie group.
When Aiden and Lyra walked in, the noise dipped slightly. The sledgehammer scraped across the floor.
Chandra was there, drinking from a wooden mug. He saw them and grinned, his gold tooth flashing.
"Look who's back! I thought the ants got you."
Aiden walked up to the table. He didn't sit.
"Interest," Aiden said, dropping 200 Valis.
"Good, good," Chandra reached for it.
"And principal," Aiden dropped a second bag. Heavy.
Chandra froze. He opened the bag. 2,000 Valis.
The dwarf looked up, his eyes narrowing. "Two thousand? You rob a merchant?"
"We killed a Killer Ant," Aiden lied by omission—it was technically true, but he left out the how. "Floor 2 anomaly."
Chandra whistled low. "An ant? With that hunk of iron?" He looked at Aiden with a new expression. It wasn't respect. It was calculation. A dairy farmer realizing his cow produced more milk than expected.
"You're rising fast," Chandra murmured. "Soma-sama likes strong children. But be careful. The nail that sticks out gets hammered."
"I have a hammer," Aiden said flatly.
"Heh. Indeed you do." Chandra scribbled in his ledger. "Remaining debt: 8,000 Valis. Keep this up, and you might actually buy your freedom in a year."
"Or a month," Aiden turned to leave.
"Wait," Chandra called out. "Since you're... earners... now. You can take a room upstairs. 100 Valis a night. Better than the floor. And a lock on the door."
Aiden looked at Lyra. She nodded imperceptibly. Security was worth the coin.
"We'll take it."
The room was small, smelling of old pine and dust, but it had a bed with a mattress that wasn't rotting, and a sturdy wooden bar for the door.
Aiden dropped the sledgehammer in the corner with a heavy thud. He sat on the bed and groaned as his adrenaline crashed.
"Shirt off," Lyra commanded.
Aiden complied. His torso was a map of bruises. His ribs were purple from the Goblin scratches, and his right shoulder—the one that took the recoil of the hammer—was swollen and angry red.
Lyra inspected the damage. "You have micro-tears in your pectoral and deltoid. If you swing that hammer tomorrow, you'll tear the muscle completely."
"I have 1,370 Valis left," Aiden calculated. "A basic potion is 500."
"Save the money," Lyra said. She sat behind him. "The Reverie Devil isn't just for attacks. Dreams can heal... or at least, they can make the body believe it's healing, which accelerates the natural process."
She placed her hands on his shoulders.
"The body is a memory," she whispered. "Remember when you were whole."
[Magic: Gossamer - Inversion] [Effect: Placebo Acceleration]
A cool sensation washed over Aiden's back. It wasn't true healing magic like a high-level Healer would use. It was a trick of the mind, convincing his nervous system to stop inflammation and prioritize cell repair.
The pain dialed down from a shout to a whisper.
"That helps," Aiden exhaled, his shoulders slumping. "Thank you."
Lyra leaned her forehead against his back. "We're going to die here, aren't we?"
"No," Aiden said, looking at his hands. "We're going to change this place."
He pulled up the System interface.
[State Update]
[Aiden Cross]
[Strength: I-9 -> I-14] [Endurance: I-3 -> I-5] [Skill: Render - Proficiency 6.1%]
"My Strength jumped," Aiden noted. "The System rewards pushing past limits. I-14. That's... barely decent for a Level 1. But it's progress."
Lyra moved around to sit beside him, holding her new dagger. She unwrapped the cloth handle and began re-wrapping it tighter, weaving a small charm into the hilt—a strand of her own hair.
"What are you doing?" Aiden asked.
"Binding it," Lyra murmured. "The Reverie needs a medium. If I bind a piece of myself to the weapon, I can channel mana through it without holding it. Like a conduit."
She held the red blade up.
"If I stab something with this," Lyra said, her eyes dark, "I want to inject a nightmare directly into their blood."
Aiden looked at her. The sweet, playful girl from his memories of their old life was fading. In her place was something sharper. Something necessary.
"We need a party name," Aiden said suddenly. "Even if we're technically Soma."
"We're not Soma," Lyra scoffed. "We're... The Lost."
"Too edgy," Aiden smiled faintly.
"The Dreamers?"
"Too soft."
Aiden looked at the sledgehammer, then at the red dagger. One brute force, one psychological horror.
"Eclipse," Aiden said. "We block out the light."
Lyra smiled. It was the first genuine smile in three days. "Eclipse. I like it."
[System Notification]
[Party Established: Eclipse]
[Member 1: Aiden Cross (The Breaker)] [Member 2: Lyra Vale (The Weaver)]
[Synergy Bonus Unlocked: "Blind Faith"]
[Effect: When fighting within 5 meters of each other, Fear Resistance +10%.]
"A party buff," Aiden blinked. "Small, but useful."
He lay back on the bed, staring at the wooden ceiling.
"Tomorrow," Aiden said, "we don't just grind. We find a blacksmith. I need this hammer modified. And you need a sheath."
"And then?"
"And then," Aiden closed his eyes, "we go to Floor 5. We find the path to the middle floors."
"You're insane," Lyra whispered, blowing out the candle. "Floor 5 has War Shadows."
"Good," Aiden murmured into the darkness. "I wonder if shadows bleed."