The air in the Gray Zone was heavy, tasting of ozone and wet iron. It was a stark contrast to the filtered, recycled air of the city sectors. Here, the mana was wild, chaotic, and thick enough to coat the back of Sebastian's throat.
Sebastian crouched behind a twisted oak tree, its bark blackened by decades of mana exposure. His heart hammered against his ribs, a rhythmic thudding that seemed deafening in the silence of the forest.
Fifty meters away.
The target was massive. A Steel-Hide Boar.
It was the size of a small compact car, its body covered in overlapping plates of natural organic steel. Its tusks were jagged spikes of iron that tore through the earth as it rooted for mana-infused tubers.
[Scanning...]
[Target: Steel-Hide Boar]
[Rank: Level 3 (Common)]
[State: Aggressive / Hungry]
[Weakness: Underbelly (Heavily Armored), Eyes.]
Sebastian gripped the handle of his Rusty Iron Dagger. The leather wrapping felt rough against his sweating palm.
"Level 3," he whispered, his breath hitching slightly.
In the Academy, the instructors drilled it into them: A Level 1 Awakener never engages a Level 3 Beast solo. The physical stat gap is too wide. The hide of a Steel-Hide Boar can deflect small-caliber bullets.
But Sebastian wasn't a normal Level 1 anymore.
He closed his eyes for a split second, engaging Void Respiration.
Whoosh.
The ambient mana in the forest rushed toward him, pulled into his lungs like water down a drain. His fatigue vanished. His muscles, reinforced by the rapid upgrade to Level 2 earlier that night, coiled with kinetic potential.
"Let's test this trash talent," he muttered.
He stepped out from behind the tree.
Snap.
A dry twig broke under his boot.
The Boar's head snapped up instantly. Its eyes, glowing with a feral red light, locked onto Sebastian. It let out a snort, blowing a cloud of steam from its metallic nostrils.
"SQUEAL!"
The sound was piercing. The ground trembled as the beast kicked up dirt, lowering its head to charge.
It didn't hesitate. It launched itself forward, a ton of muscle and iron moving at forty miles per hour.
Sebastian stood his ground. His instincts screamed at him to run, to climb a tree, to do anything but stand in the path of a living tank.
But the System interface glowing in his peripheral vision gave him a strange, cold confidence.
[Corrosion Intent (Level 50) Active.]
"Come on," Sebastian grit his teeth.
The Boar closed the distance in a heartbeat. Ten meters. Five.
Sebastian didn't use a skill. He didn't have any movement techniques yet. He simply relied on his enhanced Agility—stat 18, three times that of a normal human.
At the last possible second, Sebastian pivoted his hips.
The Boar's tusk grazed his tunic, the wind pressure alone nearly knocking him off balance.
Now.
Sebastian swung the Rusty Dagger.
It wasn't a graceful strike. It was a desperate, horizontal slash aimed at the thickest plate of armor on the Boar's shoulder—the spot that would normally shatter a blade.
Clink.
There was no loud ring of metal on metal. There was only a soft, wet sound, like a knife cutting through rotten fruit.
The Rusty Dagger passed through the steel hide.
Sebastian felt zero resistance.
"What?"
He stumbled back, regaining his footing.
The Boar skidded to a halt, turning to charge again. But then, it stumbled.
"SQUEAL?"
The beast looked confused. It took a step, and its front leg gave way.
Sebastian watched in horror and awe.
Where the dagger had touched the steel hide, a patch of gray rot was spreading. It moved visibly, like a time-lapse video of decay. The shiny steel turned brown, then flaked away into orange dust.
The corrosion didn't stop at the armor. It ate into the muscle underneath.
The Boar shrieked—a sound of pure agony. It tried to stand, but its bone snapped with a sickening crack. The Tetanus Aura had turned the creature's iron-infused skeleton into brittle chalk.
[Critical Hit!]
[Effect: Shield-Break applied.]
[Effect: Necrosis applied.]
The massive beast collapsed, thrashing in the dirt. Its entire left shoulder dissolved into a puddle of foul-smelling sludge within seconds. The "trash" dagger hadn't just cut it; it had unmade it.
Sebastian walked forward, his hand trembling, not from fear, but from adrenaline.
The Boar looked at him, the red light in its eyes fading as the necrosis reached its heart. It let out one final, gurgling breath and went still.
[Ding!]
[Target Eliminated: Steel-Hide Boar (Level 3)]
[Experience Gained: 150 EXP.]
[Skill Points Gained: 50.]
[Current Level: Awakener Level 2 (150/500)]
Sebastian stared at the corpse. A creature that required a tactical team to defeat had died from a single scratch.
He looked at the dagger. The green aura pulsed faintly, as if satisfied.
"They called you garbage," Sebastian whispered, wiping a speck of black blood from his cheek. "They called me a scrap collector."
He laughed, a dry, harsh sound in the quiet forest.
"Well, they were right about one thing. I am going to collect a lot of scrap."
He knelt beside the carcass. With a few precise cuts—careful not to let the corrosion spread to the valuable mana core—he carved into the chest cavity.
The dagger sliced through ribs like they were butter.
He pulled out a small, jagged crystal. The Mana Core. It pulsed with a weak gray light.
[Item: Beast Core (Level 3)]
[Market Value: 500 Credits.]
500 Credits. That was enough to buy food for a month. It was enough to buy a basic healing potion for Elara. And he had earned it in ten seconds.
"System," Sebastian said, standing up. "Show me my progress."
┌──────[ Profile ]──────┐
│ Name: Sebastian Vance
│ Talent: Rusty Iron Dagger (F-Grade)
│ Level: Awakened 2
│ Experience: 150/500
├──────[ Attributes ]───┤
│ Strength: 15
│ Agility: 18
│ Mana: 98/100
│ Spirit: 10
├──────[ Skills ]───────┤
│ 1. Void Respiration (Level Max)
│ 2. Corrosion Intent (Level 50) - [Passive/Active]
├──────[ Assets ]───────┤
│ Skill Points: 540
│ Inventory: Beast Core (x1)
└──────────────────────┘
He still had 540 points. He could save them, or he could reinvest them.
"Strength and Agility are good," Sebastian mused, holstering the dagger in his belt loop. "But Void Respiration is doing the heavy lifting for my stats right now. I need utility."
He looked deeper into the Gray Zone. The mist was thickening.
This was just the edge. The real monsters were further in.
"I need to move faster," he decided. "One boar isn't enough. I need to clear the forest."
He took a step forward, his boot sinking into the soft earth. The scent of blood was strong now. It would attract predators.
Good.
Let them come.
He checked the sharpness of his dagger. It hadn't dulled a bit. In fact, after killing the boar, the rust seemed to shift slightly, revealing a microscopic glint of black metal beneath the orange crust.
"You're hungry too, aren't you?"
The dagger hummed.
Sebastian grinned, his eyes adjusting to the gloom. He broke into a run, diving deeper into the shadows of the Wilds.