The Greater Rift Spawn appeared on Jak's fourth week as specialist.
He was in rift zone seven. Routine mapping assignment. Eastern sector. Nothing unusual expected.
Shade alerted him first. Through the bond, alarm. Real danger.
Not normal rift spawns. Something bigger.
Jak moved to investigate. Found the tear immediately.
Large rift. Eight feet tall. Stable. Not closing.
And something was pushing through from the other side.
The Greater Rift Spawn emerged slowly. Dragging itself through reality. Twenty feet tall. Roughly humanoid. But wrong in every way.
Limbs too long. Joints bending backward. Head a smooth oval with vertical mouth. Lined with crystalline teeth.
B-rank equivalent threat. Maybe higher.
Jak was C-rank. Outmatched.
He should retreat. Call for backup. Let B-rank adventurers handle it.
But the spawn was between him and the zone exit. And it had noticed him.
No retreat. Only forward.
Jak drew his blade. "Shade. Flank left. I'll take right. Aim for joints."
The spawn moved first. Impossibly fast for its size. One step covered twenty feet.
Jak barely dodged. Claws raked past his head. Missed by inches.
Shade attacked from behind. Jaws finding the spawn's leg. Tearing. The spawn stumbled.
Jak moved in. Blade aimed for the knee joint.
The spawn's tail whipped out. Caught Jak across the chest. Sent him flying.
He hit the ground hard. Ribs screaming. Definitely cracked.
The spawn turned on Shade. Both hands reaching. Trying to grab the fox.
Shade disappeared into shadow. Reappeared on the spawn's back. Claws raking across its neck.
The spawn reached backward. Grabbed Shade. Threw the fox.
Shade hit a rock formation. Went limp.
Through the bond, pain. Injury. But still alive.
Jak forced himself up. Ribs protesting. Blade still in hand.
The spawn advanced on him. Slow. Confident. Knowing its prey was wounded.
Jak's mind raced. He couldn't win this fight. Not head-on. The spawn was too strong. Too durable.
But void energy saturated this zone. Thick in the air. And according to the journal, his body should be able to use it.
Should be able to adapt.
He just needed to force the adaptation.
Jak charged. Not away. Toward.
The spawn's claw caught him across the side. Tore flesh. Deep.
Pain exploded. Jak's vision went white.
But he didn't stop. Drove his blade into the spawn's throat. Where Shade had damaged it earlier. Weak point.
The blade sank deep. Found something vital.
The spawn screamed. That glass-shard sound. Deafening.
It backhanded Jak. Sent him flying again.
Jak hit the ground. Couldn't get up this time. Too injured. Ribs broken. Side torn open. Blood everywhere.
He was dying.
Through the haze, he saw the spawn stumbling. His blade still lodged in its throat. It was dying too.
Just slower than Jak.
Then Jak felt it. Void energy flooding into his wounds. Not from outside. From inside. His body was pulling it in. Using it.
The journal had described this. Void regeneration. Forced adaptation during critical injury.
Jak's wounds started closing. Not healing. Reforming. Flesh knitting back together with purple-blue energy woven through it.
Impossible. But happening.
The spawn collapsed. Dead. Jak's blade had found something critical.
Shade limped over. The fox's wounds were closing too. Mirrored regeneration. What happened to Jak happened to Shade.
Jak lay on the ground. Breathing. Alive.
His side was scarred. Ugly. But closed. The ribs still hurt but weren't broken anymore.
He'd survived. Barely.
And he'd gained something. Void regeneration. Active now. Permanent.
The second technique.
♢♢♢♢
Jak reported the Greater Spawn to the guild immediately. Emergency beacon. B-rank response team arrived within an hour.
They found Jak sitting beside the spawn's corpse. Alive. Injured but stable.
"What happened?" the team leader asked.
"Greater Spawn came through a rift. Caught me during mapping." Jak gestured to his wounds. "Barely survived."
The team leader examined the corpse. "You killed it?"
"My beast and I together. Got lucky. Found a weak point."
"Lucky." The team leader didn't sound convinced. "Greater Spawns are B-rank threats. You're C-rank. You should be dead."
"Shadow fox bond. Void affinity. It helped."
The team leader studied Jak. Then Shade. His expression unreadable.
"You're going on mandatory rest. Three days minimum. Get those wounds properly treated." He marked something in his notes. "And you're being reassigned. No more solo specialist work. Too dangerous."
"I can handle it—"
"You almost died. That's exactly what I mean." The team leader's voice was firm. "The guild can't afford to lose tamers. There's too few of you. You'll work with teams from now on."
Jak wanted to argue. But couldn't. Not without revealing too much.
The truth was he'd wanted that fight. Needed it. To force void regeneration to develop.
He'd succeeded. But paid for it.
And now the guild was restricting his access.
That was a problem.
♢♢♢♢
Back at the guild medical ward, a healer examined Jak's wounds.
"These should have killed you," the healer said. Mage class. Restoration specialist. "Broken ribs. Deep lacerations. Massive blood loss."
"Shadow fox bond kept me alive. Void affinity."
"That's not how void affinity works." The healer poked at the scars. "These wounds closed on their own. Before you got here. That's not normal healing. That's something else."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying your wounds show signs of void energy integration. Like reality knitted them shut instead of natural healing." The healer's expression was concerned. "That shouldn't be possible. Void energy damages living tissue. It doesn't repair it."
Jak said nothing.
The healer continued examining. "I'm reporting this. The guild will want to study this. Understand what's happening."
"Is that necessary?"
"A tamer showing impossible regeneration? Yes. It's necessary." The healer finished his examination. "You're cleared for light duty in three days. But expect follow-up examinations."
Jak left the medical ward. Thinking.
The guild was noticing. His regeneration was too obvious. Too impossible to ignore.
He needed to be more careful. Hide the obvious signs. Only cultivate in private.
Or he needed to get strong enough that it didn't matter if they noticed.
Strong enough that they couldn't stop him even if they wanted to.
That was the real goal. Reach B-rank before they understood what he was doing.
Then they'd have to acknowledge it. Officially. And once he was B-rank, he'd have access to restricted zones they couldn't take away.
Protection through rank. Through verified capability.
Jak had maybe two months. Three at most.
Before the guild's suspicion turned into investigation.
Before they tried to stop him.
He needed to use that time well.
Push harder. Cultivate faster. Cross the threshold before they could interfere.
Through the bond, Shade's agreement.
They'd survived the Greater Spawn. Gained void regeneration. Permanent technique.
Two down. More to come.
The path was clear. Just dangerous.
But danger was the point. Danger was growth.
Jak would keep walking forward. Whatever the cost.