Dev was on his hands and knees, his soul-form a tattered, leaking ruin. The sterile white floor of the Lobby was cold beneath his palms. He could feel the rents in his essence, the phantom wounds from the Blood-Sapper's needle, all leaking a faint, blue mist. His Soul-Integrity, a glowing red 40%, pulsed angrily in the corner of his vision. He wasn't just tired. He felt like he was unraveling.
The sharp, clean click of a heel on the floor echoed in the silence.
He looked up. Selina was approaching, her face a mask of cold, analytical curiosity. She stopped a few feet away, looking down at him not with pity, but with the appraising stare of a rancher inspecting damaged livestock.
"You look like hell, Dreg," she stated, her voice an icy clip. "But you're alive. I'll admit, that's… unexpected."
She began to circle him slowly, her grey eyes taking in his leaking wounds. "I watched your feed. The last five hours of it. You didn't just hide. You learned the law of the fodder. You used them. You sacrificed them to protect yourself. You… farmed them."
She stopped in front of him. "You're efficient. Nasty, brutal, but efficient. You might actually be useful."
Coming from her, the praise felt like a slap. It was cold. It was inhuman. It was the highest compliment he'd ever received.
She reached into a pocket of her impossibly black suit and pulled out a small, glowing crystal. It was a faint, milky blue, identical to the icon for the [Lesser Soul-Essence] he'd just earned.
"Now for your real lesson," she said. She didn't hand it to him. She tossed it.
The crystal clattered on the white floor, rolling to a stop right in front of his knees.
"Eat this."
Dev stared at the glowing rock. He looked from the crystal to her face, his mind clouded with pain and suspicion.
"What is this?" he rasped, his soul-form's throat feeling dry. "A test? More poison?"
Selina let out a sharp, impatient sigh that was almost a scoff. "It's a Soul-Essence, you idiot. It's what you just 'earned' from those bugs. It's raw energy. Your Soul-Integrity is at 40%. Look at yourself. You're leaking."
She crouched, not in a gesture of kindness, but like a predator, bringing her face closer to his. "That's a 'soul-wound.' It won't get better. The System doesn't give free handouts to Dregs. It will just… leak. Until you're at 30%, 20%, and then 'poof'." She made a small, dismissive gesture with her fingers. "Gone."
His breath hitched. "You mean... I'm still dying?"
"You're always dying, Dreg. This is the Nexus. Now, consume it. Heal yourself."
His hand was shaking as he reached out and picked it up. The crystal was surprisingly warm, and it vibrated with a low, thrumming energy. 'Eat it?' He didn't have a mouth, not really.
He brought it toward his face, then stopped, feeling stupid. He closed his hand around it and just... willed it. Willed it to become part of him.
The crystal dissolved.
It wasn't a gentle process. It was a flood. An icy-hot jolt of energy shot up his arm and slammed into his core, making him seize up. A silent scream ripped through his mind.
It wasn't just 'energy.' He felt a chaotic, primal flash of something else—the shrieking, mindless hunger of the Sapper he'd killed. He felt its fear, its pain, the agony of its head being smashed against the tree. He was absorbing its dying scream. It was vile. His soul-form heaved, and for a terrifying second, he thought he was going to be overwhelmed by the creature's pathetic, alien consciousness.
But then, his own nature, the S-Rank [Hunger] the System had seen in him, rose up. His soul crushed the Sapper's remnant, tore it apart, and assimilated the raw, purified energy.
A wave of pure, cool relief washed through him. The burning, tearing pain in his legs, his arm, his side—it all began to fade.
He looked at his status.
[Soul-Integrity at 45%... 50%... 55%...]
The leaks of blue mist sealed up. The tattered rents in his form began to mend. He wasn't fully healed, but he was stable. He slowly, painfully, got to his feet.
"Lesson one, Dreg," Selina said, already standing, her hands clasped behind her back. "The System is not your friend. We don't have 'healing potions.' We have that. Soul-Essence is your lifeblood. It's your food. It's your EXP. It's the only thing that heals soul-damage."
She stepped closer, her grey eyes boring into his. "If you hit 0%... you're not just 'dead.' You're expunged. Not a ghost, not a memory. Erased from reality. The Archons get your fragments. Your body on Earth? It just becomes meat. It rots in its bed. There is no resurrection from that. No second chances. That is the real death."
The finality of it hit Dev harder than any monster. This wasn't a game. This was a war for his very existence.
"You earned 28 units of Essence tonight," she continued, pacing like a teacher. "You just used one to stabilize. You have 27 left. What do you do with them?"
Dev was silent. His mind raced. 'I... I save them. For when I'm hurt again. That's the smart play.'
Selina must have seen the thought on his face, because she let out another sharp sigh. "No. That's a prey mindset. That's how you stay fodder. You're wounded now. Your CON stat is pathetic. You survived tonight on luck and a bit of nasty, low-level cunning. What happens when you fight something that isn't a mindless bug? What happens when you fight something that thinks? You need to get stronger, not just healthier."
She pointed. "Open your Status. See that 'Soul-Essence: 27' line? Will it. Push that energy into your CON stat. Now."
Dev was confused, but he did it. He focused on the [CON: 2] line on his screen and mentally pushed his remaining Essence at it.
A new screen appeared.
[Allocate Soul-Essence to CON?]
[Cost: 10 Soul-Essence per Stat Point.]
'Ten for one? ' he thought, a flash of anger cutting through his exhaustion. 'That's a ripoff! I nearly died for 28!'
[Allocate 20 Essence to CON? Y/N]
He did the math. He had 27. He could buy two points. He'd have 7 left over for an emergency. It was... an investment.
He confirmed Y.
[Soul-Essence: 7]
[CON: 2 -> 4]
The change was instant. A new, profound warmth and solidity spread from his core, filling his entire soul-form. The lingering aches vanished. He didn't just feel healed; he felt... denser. His tattered form looked more defined, less misty, his outlines sharper and more real.
Selina nodded, a rare, tiny flicker of approval in her eyes. "Good. You're still fragile as glass, but at least you're not broken glass. That, Dreg, is how you level. Not by some magic 'ding' from the System. But by hunting, harvesting, and investing. Every single point is earned in blood and pain."
She dismissed her invisible screen. "You did better than I expected. But those bugs won't be enough to get you to Level 2. They're Level 0. Their Essence is... watery. Weak. You need real prey. And you need to stop fighting with your bare hands."
She pointed to his other new stat.
[Nexus Shards: 127]
"That's your other resource. Shards. Currency. As a Provisional Member, you now have access to the Ebonguard Faction Store. A new prompt will appear when you're back in your body. Access it."
She held up two fingers. "Your 127 Shards can buy you one thing of any real use. A [Rusted Iron Sword (STR +1, 5% Bonus Damage)] for 120 Shards, or a [Padded Cloth Jerkin (CON +1, 5% Damage Reduction)] for 120 Shards. Choose wisely. Offense or defense. You can't afford both."
'A choice... '
"Your next sleep cycle begins in..." she checked a screen he couldn't see "...sixteen hours. Your physical body needs rest, even if your soul doesn't. Don't be late. If you are, I'll dock your Shards."
She turned to walk away, her heels clicking on the white floor.
"And Dreg?"
"My name is Dev," he said. His voice was raw, but it was steady.
Selina stopped. She looked back over her shoulder, her grey eyes unreadable.
"...Dev. Don't die. The paperwork is a nightmare."
The white world dissolved.