The Northwest Industrial District of Orario was the city's soot-stained lung. Here, the air was thick with the smell of coal dust, molten slag, and the relentless clangs of hammers shaping the dreams of adventurers into steel.
Aiden and Lyra walked past the storefronts of the Goibniu Familia, where pristine weapons gleamed in glass cases, priced in the tens of thousands. They kept walking until the paved road turned to gravel, and the shops became open-air forges run by independent smiths—the ones who repaired the gear the big Familias threw away.
They stopped at a shack with a sign that read: BORD'S SCRAP & REPAIR.
Bord was a dwarf who looked more like a boulder with a beard than a living creature. He was hammering a dent out of a breastplate, sparks flying into his leather apron.
"We don't buy broken trash," Bord grunted without looking up.
"We need a modification," Aiden said, stepping into the heat of the forge. He hefted the sledgehammer onto a workbench. The iron head was scarred from the Killer Ant's carapace, and the hickory handle had a hairline crack near the neck.
Bord stopped hammering. He looked at the sledgehammer. "That's a mining tool. Not a weapon."
"It's a weapon now," Aiden said. "But the handle is splitting. I need it reinforced. Iron banding. And I need the grip wrapped in leather so it doesn't slip when covered in blood."
Bord picked up the hammer, testing the balance. "Heavy. You swing this thing?"
"I break things with it."
"And for the lady?" Bord looked at Lyra.
Lyra placed the red Killer Ant mandible on the table. The sight of the raw, serrated chitin made the dwarf's eyebrows twitch.
"Killer Ant," Bord muttered. "Floor 7 material. Sharp as hell, brittle as glass if you hit armor. You wrapped the hilt in... rags?"
"It works," Lyra said defensively. "I need a sheath. Something that won't get sliced open when I draw it."
Bord scratched his beard with a callous-thickened thumb. "Reinforcing the hammer handle with iron bands... 400 Valis. A custom sheath for that curved nightmare... I have some scrap wyvern leather. Tough stuff. 600 Valis. Total 1,000."
Aiden checked his pocket. 1,370 Valis. That would leave them with 370. Enough for one meal and a cheap potion.
"Do it," Aiden said.
Bord nodded. "Come back in an hour. Don't die before you pay me."
An hour later, they emerged from the district.
The sledgehammer looked meaner. The neck of the handle was now encased in a collar of black iron, preventing the wood from splintering under impact. The grip was wrapped in rough, boiled leather. It felt solid. Indestructible.
Lyra had a dark gray leather sheath strapped to her thigh. It held the red dagger securely. When she drew it, the blade hissed against the leather.
"We have 370 Valis," Lyra counted the coins. "We are officially broke again."
"Then we fill the bag," Aiden said, turning toward Babel.
They descended. Floor 1 and 2 were a blur. With Aiden's increased Strength (I-14) and the reinforced hammer, the Goblins and Kobolds were barely speed bumps. Aiden didn't even use [Render]. He just smashed them.
They reached the stairs to Floor 3.
The environment changed. The blue walls gave way to a duller, gray stone. The corridors twisted more sharply, creating blind corners.
"New enemies," Lyra whispered, her hand hovering over the dagger hilt. "I sense... anxiety. Fast anxiety."
HOO-HOO!
A screech echoed down the hall.
"Silverbacks," Aiden identified the sound from the System lore. "Dungeon Apes. Fast, strong, agile. They don't block like Kobolds. They dodge."
Two shadows swung from the ceiling stalactites, dropping in front of them with a heavy thud.
They were white-furred apes with armored plates on their chests and forearms. Their eyes were red beads of aggression.
[Threat: Silverback (Level 1 - High Agility)]
"I can't hit them if they move," Aiden said, tightening his grip on the hammer. "They're faster than me."
"Then I'll slow them down," Lyra stepped forward. She didn't use the bell this time. She drew the red dagger.
The Reverie Devil pulsed.
Lyra channeled her mana into the blade—not to cut, but to project. The dagger acted as an antenna.
"Heavy limbs," she whispered.
[Magic: Gossamer - Burden]
A violet haze clung to the Silverbacks. It wasn't a sleep spell; it was a sensory distortion that messed with their proprioception. They felt like they were moving through water.
The left ape roared and lunged at Lyra.
"Switch!" Aiden shouted.
He stepped in, swinging the hammer horizontally.
The ape saw the hammer coming. Even slowed, its reflexes were insane. It ducked under the swing.
Aiden missed. The momentum of the heavy hammer pulled him off balance, exposing his side.
The ape capitalized instantly, swinging a massive fist at Aiden's ribs.
CRACK.
Aiden grunted, stumbling back. His Endurance I-5 saved his ribs from shattering, but the air left his lungs.
"Aiden!" Lyra moved.
She didn't retreat. She lunged at the ape while it was focused on Aiden.
She thrust the red dagger.
The Silverback tried to swat her away, its armored forearm intercepting the blade.
Lyra didn't aim for the flesh; she aimed for the gap in the armor. But her aim was off. The blade hit the bone plate.
Normally, a knife would bounce off.
But this was a Killer Ant mandible. And Lyra was channeling the Reverie.
The blade bit into the bone plate. Lyra twisted her wrist, pouring her intent into the wound.
Feel the pain of a thousand cuts.
[Effect: Phantom Pain]
The Silverback shrieked—not from the physical wound, which was shallow, but from the sudden, overwhelming sensation that its arm had been severed. It clutched the limb, distracted.
Aiden had recovered. He roared, pivoting on his heel.
He brought the hammer down on the distracted ape's skull.
SPLAT.
Ash.
The second ape, seeing its partner vanish, hesitated. That hesitation was fatal.
Aiden didn't stop his momentum. He spun, turning the vertical smash into a backhand swing. The hammer caught the second ape in the chest. The armored plate crumpled like tin foil.
Two piles of ash. Two medium stones.
Aiden dropped to one knee, wheezing. He clutched his side. "Fast... they're too fast."
"You took a hit," Lyra knelt beside him, checking his ribs. "Bruised again. Aiden, we can't trade blows like this. Your HP is going to hit zero before your Stamina does."
"I need Agility," Aiden spat a glob of saliva mixed with blood. "Or I need to predict them."
"Or," Lyra looked at the dagger, "we need to stop fighting fair."
They collected the stones. They were worth 300 Valis each. A good haul.
They pushed deeper into Floor 3. The grind was brutal. Aiden learned to use the narrow corridors to limit the apes' mobility. Lyra grew bolder with the dagger, using it to harry enemies, forcing them into Aiden's kill zone.
They reached a large open chamber near the stairs to Floor 4.
The air grew cold.
The torches on the walls flickered and died.
"Light," Aiden commanded. "Lyra, do you have a light spell?"
"No," Lyra whispered. "But... I see something."
In the center of the dark room, a shadow detached itself from the floor. It was humanoid, tall, with long, clawed fingers. It didn't have a face, just a void where a head should be.
A War Shadow.
[System Alert: Anomaly Detected.]
[Enemy: War Shadow (Level 2 Potential)]
[Spawn Error: Floor 3 (Normally Floor 6+)]
"Level 2," Aiden's blood ran cold. "We can't fight a Level 2."
The War Shadow moved. It didn't run; it flickered. One moment it was twenty meters away, the next it was ten.
"Retreat!" Aiden shouted.
They turned back to the corridor.
The Shadow was there. It had teleported—or moved so fast it looked like teleportation—to block their exit.
"It's playing with us," Lyra's voice trembled. "It feeds on fear. I can feel it drinking me."
Aiden looked at the creature. It was made of darkness.
The Severance Devil.
The concept stirred in Aiden's mind.
Darkness is just the absence of light. A shadow is a connection between the object and the surface. Sever the connection.
"Lyra," Aiden said, his voice strangely calm. "Flashbang."
"What?"
"Overload the bell. Create a burst of sound and mana. Disorient it. I need one second."
"I... I'll burn out," Lyra warned. "I'll hit Mind Down."
"If you don't, we die."
Lyra nodded. She raised the bell. She closed her eyes.
"WAKE UP!" she screamed.
She slammed the pommel of her dagger against the brass bell.
DING!!!
She poured every ounce of her remaining mana into the sound. The air exploded with a violet shockwave. It wasn't light, but it was a sensory overload so intense it mimicked a flashbang to any creature with senses.
The War Shadow screeched, its form destabilizing, flickering like static.
Aiden charged.
He didn't have the speed to catch it normally. But right now, it was frozen in sensory agony.
Aiden gripped the hammer.
[Skill: RENDER] [Target: The Shadow's Anchor]
He didn't swing at the monster's chest. He swung at the floor beneath its feet.
The Severance Devil roared. Aiden poured his life force into the swing.
Sever the shadow from the ground.
The hammer struck the stone.
BOOM.
The floor didn't just crack; a shockwave of "separation" rippled out. The shadow connected to the War Shadow's feet was violently severed from the physical world.
For a creature made of darkness, losing its anchor to the physical plane was catastrophic.
The War Shadow shrieked as it was torn upward, untethered from gravity and physics. It flailed, its form unravelling like smoke in a hurricane.
Aiden spun the hammer, using the recoil of the floor strike to launch himself upward.
"Die!"
He smashed the hammer into the dissipating smoke-torso of the monster.
The impact was wet, like hitting heavy mud.
The War Shadow exploded. Not into ash, but into a cloud of black mist that rapidly evaporated.
A large, jagged magic stone dropped to the floor with a heavy clack.
Aiden landed, stumbling. He fell onto his back.
"Lyra?"
Silence.
He scrambled up. Lyra was slumped against the wall, the bell rolling from her limp hand. Her eyes were closed.
"Lyra!"
He checked her pulse. It was there, fast and thready.
[Status: Mind Down.] [Cause: Mana Depletion.]
She was unconscious.
Aiden looked at the massive magic stone. Then at the dark corridor leading back to the surface.
He sheathed his hammer. He picked up Lyra's dagger and sheathed it for her. Then he picked her up, slinging her small frame over his shoulder.
He grabbed the stone.
"We're leaving," Aiden growled at the darkness.
He carried her out. Every step was a battle against his own exhaustion. The dungeon threw Goblins at him, but he crushed them one-handed with the hammer, fueled by a cold, protective rage.
He didn't stop until he saw the sky.
[Achievement: "Shadow Breaker" - Defeated a War Shadow as Level 1.]
[Status Update: Aiden Cross]
[Str: I-14 -> I-19] [Dex: I-2 -> I-4] [Proficiency: Render 8.5%]
Aiden emerged into the Babel plaza, gasping. He was carrying a girl and a stone worth a month's rent.
He looked at the setting sun.
"We survived Floor 3," he whispered to Lyra's sleeping form. "Tomorrow... we get you a staff."