Three days after the goblin incident, I was back on the clock.
The job was simple: loot the starting area of an E-rank dungeon just outside Shinjuku.
Translation: pick up whatever shiny junk the raiders dropped while they were busy flexing for each other.
No danger. No excitement. No reason for my pulse to go above bored to death.
That was the plan.
The first room was exactly what I expected, scattered monster corpses, a couple broken crates, and one suspicious puddle I refused to step in.
The second room?
That's where things got weird.
It started with the smell.
Not the usual rot. This was hot, metallic, fresh blood.
No, my Blood Scent flared like a warning siren.
Somewhere deeper in the dungeon, something was moving.
I should've left.
Instead, I followed the scent.
Half an hour later, I was standing in the dungeon's core chamber.
Surrounded by corpses.
Not mine.
Apparently, the local monster population had decided to reenact a medieval civil war. I just cleaned up the survivors, which, in this case, meant stabbing anything still twitching.
The last one, a one-armed ogre, still breathing but barely, tried to get up as I approached.
"Don't strain yourself" I told it, "I'll make this quick. Well… quicker than your insurance would."
One spear thrust and it was over.
[Ogre Marauder defeated. Choose one skill to assimilate:]
• Brute Force — Temporarily increase physical strength by 40%.
• Stonehide — Harden skin to reduce incoming damage by 30% for a short duration.
Brute Force is tempting, hit harder, end fights faster. But honestly? If I'm relying on raw muscle, something's already gone wrong.
Stonehide... yeah, now that's survival insurance. A little extra durability never hurt anyone. Well, it hurt everyone else.
[Skill acquired: Stonehide.]
A faint tingling spread across my skin, like I'd just stepped into a cold shower and refused to get out. Solid. Reliable. Not flashy, but I had enough flash already.
When I finally stepped back into daylight, the Ebon Claw Clan was waiting outside. Their raid leader, a brick wall of a man with a greatsword the size of my torso, looked me over like he'd just found a rat wearing a crown.
"You cleared it?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. Monsters went berserk. Started killing each other. I just finished the leftovers."
He squinted. "...Right."
I walked past him without breaking stride.
A few hours later, I was on a park bench downtown, watching pigeons fight over a dropped bag of chips.
The Status Window blinked into view when I called for it:
[Status Window]
Name: Rian Wale
Class: Transcendent (Hidden)
Level: 7
Skills:
• Transcendent (Passive): +300% Experience Boost
• Blood Scent (Passive): Detect injured enemies within 20 meters
• Spatial Rift Step: Instantly move short distances through space
• Stonehide: Temporarily harden skin, reducing incoming damage by 30%
"Huh. Guess I gained a bunch of experience."
That's when I heard it, my name, spoken with that half-surprised, half-curious tone you only get from people you haven't seen in years.
I turned.
Aya Mori.
Same age as me, though she'd aged a lot more gracefully. Shoulder-length brown hair, eyes the color of wet cedar, dressed in a fitted jacket and jeans that suggested she wasn't here for a fashion show, but still turned heads anyway.
"Rian? It's been... wow, years."
Her voice still had that careful softness I remembered from school, like she was always worried about saying too much.
We talked or rather, we stumbled our way through the awkward "what have you been up to" small talk dance.
Somewhere in there, she took my phone right out of my hand.
"Here" she said, tapping quickly before handing it back. "Now you've got my number. Don't lose it."
Before I could reply, she glanced at her watch.
"Sorry, I've gotta run. We'll catch up soon, okay?"
"Yeah" I said, but she was already halfway down the path.
I leaned back on the bench, tilting my head until I was staring up at the blue Tokyo sky.
"Guess life is going to change now."