[Congratulations! You have leveled up.]
[Level 3 reached.]
[2 Enhancement Points obtained.]
Jay's breath still came in short bursts, but the message filled his vision with a strange sense of reward. His heart pounded against his ribs as the notifications blinked away, and a brief smile tugged at his lips.
Level 3.
He'd done it.
He had fought, survived, and gotten stronger.
He took a shaky step forward, standing over the demon's corpse.
That's when Nathan's voice snapped him back.
"Jay!"
Jay turned, the smile slipping from his face.
Nathan stood a few meters away, tense, his daggers already in his hands again. He wasn't looking at Jay—he was pointing.
Jay followed the direction of his finger.
Two more demons.
Exactly like the first one—lupine bodies, feathered skin, writhing tentacles across their backs, glowing crimson eyes that burned with animal hunger.
They stood just beyond the ruined pillars of the bridge, watching. Waiting.
Then, without warning—
They charged.
"Guess the level-up break's over," Jay muttered, lifting a thick metal rod off the ground.
Nathan didn't reply. He was already moving.
The two friends split—Nathan dashing left into the shadow of the bridge supports, Jay running straight ahead to meet the first creature head-on.
The first demon leapt with unnatural speed, tentacles whipping out to strike. Jay rolled beneath the attack, using the momentum to slide across the gravel and swing his metal rod upward at the creature's jaw.
[Weapon Mastery: Activated]
The hit connected with a dull crack, snapping the demon's head to the side. It staggered, snarling in pain, but didn't fall.
Tentacles lashed out, one catching Jay across the ribs and knocking him back into a broken wall. He coughed hard, tasting blood.
Meanwhile, the second demon lunged toward Nathan—but Nathan vanished.
Shadow bloomed where he stood, and he reappeared directly behind the beast, slashing both daggers across its back.
Blood splattered the ground.
The demon spun, roaring, but Nathan danced out of reach, his movements clean and practiced. He was faster now—more precise.
"Jay, move!" Nathan shouted.
Jay barely rolled aside as a tentacle smashed down where he'd just been.
He scrambled to his feet and stabbed the rod deep into the demon's leg. The creature shrieked again, but before it could retaliate, Nathan appeared beside him.
"Focus on one!" Nathan ordered.
Jay nodded.
Together, they turned their attention to the first demon.
Nathan darted forward, slicing through tentacles with swift strikes, forcing the creature to defend.
Jay circled around, dodging lunges and swings, waiting for an opening.
There.
A brief pause—just one heartbeat.
Jay surged forward and drove the rod into the demon's chest.
[Weapon Mastery – Activated]
The rod pierced through, sinking deep. The demon's body convulsed.
Nathan didn't wait—he jumped onto the creature's back and plunged both daggers into its neck. With a final, gurgled roar, the beast collapsed, its limbs twitching.
Dead.
Jay backed away, panting.
One down.
But there was no time to rest.
The second demon stood a few meters away, watching its fallen kin with eyes full of rage.
It roared—and charged.
[Congratulations! You have reached Level 5.]
[2 Enhancement Points obtained.]
The second demon roared as it charged, its claws tearing through the cracked pavement, tentacles snapping like whips in the air. But Jay and Nathan were no longer the same fighters they had been mere minutes ago.
They had leveled up.
They had adapted.
They had become predators.
Nathan struck first, his figure flickering into a trail of mist-like shadow before reappearing behind the demon in a split-second blur. His daggers, no longer just blades of darkness, had gained form and weight. One gleamed like black steel, the other rippled like a shadow turned liquid.
He slashed both across the demon's spine—then vanished again.
Jay rushed in from the front, ducking under a lash of tentacles and smashing his metal rod straight into the demon's snout. The creature reeled back, its roar cut short by the impact. Jay didn't let up—he spun low, sweeping its legs, then brought the rod down onto its chest with a brutal strike.
Bones cracked. The demon shrieked in pain, struggling to rise.
Nathan reappeared above it, conjuring a massive blade of pure shadow mid-air and launching it downward. The blade hit with the force of a falling star, pinning the beast to the ground.
"Tag in!" Nathan called.
Jay didn't hesitate.
He leapt forward and drove the rod into the demon's throat—twice, three times, then spun and slammed the end of it into one of the tentacles trying to grab him. The tentacle snapped with a wet crack.
The demon writhed in agony, completely overpowered.
Nathan landed beside Jay, now wielding dual weapons—one like liquid smoke, the other like hardened crystal.
Jay, bloodied but burning with momentum, locked eyes with him.
"Finish it?"
"Together," Nathan replied.
They moved in unison.
Jay struck the demon's face, disorienting it, while Nathan spun behind and stabbed both blades into its heart.
A guttural, dying growl escaped the creature's throat—and then it went still.
Its monstrous body slumped to the ground.
Dead.
[Congratulations! You have reached Level 7.]
[2 Enhancement Points obtained.]
Jay stood over the corpse, breathing heavily, his rod hanging loosely at his side. Nathan exhaled slowly, eyes focused on his weapons, which now shimmered slightly in the fading shadows.
"I can feel it," he murmured. "The shadows… I can control their form now. Liquid… solid… even mist."
Jay nodded. "You're evolving."
"So are you."
Jay opened his system, his eyes scanning the translucent blue screen in front of him.
[Name: Jay Orlen]
[Level: 7]
[Enhancement Points: 6]
[Skills: Weapon Mastery (F)]
[You can upgrade skill ranks by using enhancement points.]
[Skill: Invisibility – Locked]
[You gain a new skill slot every 10 levels.]
[Inventory: 10 potions]
Then came the prompt:
[Do you want to evolve Weapon Mastery (F) to Weapon Mastery (E)?]
[Cost: 5 Enhancement Points]
[Yes No]
Jay clicked Yes without hesitation.
[Congratulations! Your skill Weapon Mastery has evolved from Rank F to Rank E.]
He felt it immediately.
The rod in his hands no longer felt like scrap metal—it felt like an extension of himself. His movements became more fluid, more lethal. He could sense the angles, the weak points, the rhythm of battle in a way that hadn't been possible before.
A smile crossed his face.
"Feels good," he muttered.
Nathan chuckled. "You look like a kid with a new toy."
"Not a toy," Jay corrected. "A weapon."
The two shared a look of mutual pride—and understanding. They were no longer amateurs. They were awakening.
Nathan stretched, his daggers dissolving into mist. "Let's grab the awakening stones. Those demons should've left cores behind."
Jay nodded. "Right. Let's check the bodies."
They turned toward the corpses.
But stopped.
There were no corpses.
Just empty space.
The ground was marked where the demons had died—blood splatters, deep impact craters, broken stone—but the bodies were gone. As if they had never existed.
Jay froze.
"What…?" he whispered. "Where did they go?"
Nathan stepped forward cautiously, scanning the area. "They were here. I saw them. I—"
Jay crouched, touching the ground. Still warm. Still stained with blood.
But no trace of the demons.
Nathan's voice dropped to a whisper.
"This… isn't normal."
Jay stood slowly, eyes narrowing.
"No, it's not."
And then, without warning, the air around them shifted. A faint hum, like distant static, tickled the edges of their senses.
Something… was watching them.