A few days later, we finally managed to reach the top of the mountain.
It took far longer than we expected. Day after day we kept climbing, falling, climbing again, collapsing from exhaustion, and trying again the next morning. Our bodies hurt constantly, and every muscle in our legs screamed in pain.
But eventually…
We did it.
We stood at the very peak of the mountain, breathing heavily while the wind blew around us. The entire forest stretched endlessly beneath us like a green ocean.
For a moment, none of us spoke.
After everything we had gone through just to reach this point, it felt… strangely quiet.
But the strangest part was something else.
Even though we had trained so hard for those days, it felt like nothing had changed in our bodies.
Lucas stretched his arms.
"…That's weird."
"What is?" I asked.
"I thought we'd feel stronger or something."
I nodded.
"Yeah… same."
At least, that's what we thought at first.
But when we checked our daggers again, something surprising had happened.
Several new abilities had unlocked.
Some of them were interesting.
Some of them looked strong.
But one ability stood above all the others.
Teleportation.
Lucas looked at the description and whistled.
"…You're kidding me."
I grinned.
"Try it."
I threw my dagger forward.
The moment the blade touched the ground—
My vision distorted.
And instantly—
I appeared exactly where the dagger had landed.
"…WHAT?!"
Lucas burst out laughing.
"That's insane!"
We tested it again and again.
Every time we threw the dagger, we could teleport directly to its location. It felt almost unfair how powerful it was.
But the moment we climbed back down the mountain…
Everything suddenly went dark.
Exactly ten seconds after reaching the ground, both of us collapsed.
Our bodies hit the dirt.
And we lost consciousness.
When we woke up again, Mirei was sitting nearby.
She looked calm, but slightly annoyed.
"You two finally woke up."
Lucas rubbed his eyes.
"…What happened?"
"You slept for three days."
"THREE DAYS?!"
Neither of us understood why.
But Mirei simply sighed.
"Touch your palm."
We looked at each other.
"…Our palm?"
But the moment we did—
A memory suddenly returned.
We remembered something from before.
When we had entered the strange tree with glowing roots, two small points of light had appeared there.
Lucas suddenly snapped his fingers.
"Oh! Wait!"
He looked at me.
"Do you remember something from before… back when people used those weird systems?"
"…What do you mean?"
"You know… those games where people used something called a skill tree to unlock abilities."
I stared at him.
"…You think that's what this is?"
Lucas scratched his head.
"Something like that… but way weirder. And probably stronger."
Mirei nodded slightly.
"Right now there should be several glowing points."
She continued explaining calmly.
"Imagine that you are standing next to that tree again. Imagine it clearly."
Lucas shrugged.
"Alright… let's try."
I closed my eyes and pictured the giant tree.
The roots.
The glowing points.
Then suddenly—
The world shifted.
In the next moment, we were standing in front of the giant tree again.
"WHOA!"
Lucas laughed.
"Okay that's actually cool."
We walked closer to the glowing points.
One of them shined red.
The moment we approached it—
Our surroundings changed again.
We suddenly appeared near the roots of the tree.
And this time we could see everything clearly.
There were many abilities there.
Ten… maybe more.
Each one glowing softly.
But the moment we tried to unlock one—
A message appeared in our minds.
Only seven abilities can be unlocked.
Lucas frowned.
"…Seriously?"
We looked again.
There were fourteen abilities total.
Which meant we could only unlock half of them.
When we examined them carefully, we realized something else.
All of these abilities were connected to Taijutsu — physical combat techniques.
The moment we unlocked one—
A surge of power rushed through our bodies.
It felt like our muscles were suddenly stronger.
But there was a rule.
Every ability had three phases.
The first phase was the basic technique.
For example:
A jumping kick.
Just a simple strike performed in the air.
The second phase changed depending on the ability.
One example we saw was something like Stone Kick.
In that phase, your leg would harden like stone, making the strike far more powerful.
The third phase improved the ability even further.
For example, it could increase the height of your jump or amplify the power of the attack.
But there was a catch.
If your body wasn't strong enough to handle it—
The system would refuse to unlock it.
Lucas sighed.
"…This thing is strict."
Eventually we both chose the abilities that suited us best.
I'm not going to list all of them.
Honestly…
I'm too lazy.
But one thing was clear.
Those three days of sleep hadn't been pointless.
Our muscles had been recovering.
And something inside us had been refilling.
Our inner power was returning.
After a while, Mirei started speaking again.
Her tone became serious.
"Every person in this world has energy inside them."
She placed a hand over her chest.
"That energy is called Soul… or Sol."
Lucas tilted his head.
"Why Sol?"
"Because your power is connected to your spiritual energy. If your spirit is weak, your Sol will also be weak."
She raised her hand.
"There are two forms of Sol."
"Light… and Dark."
She looked at us.
"Today I will teach you how to see it."
Lucas crossed his arms.
"Alright… what do we do?"
"Imagine that you are holding your soul inside the tree you saw earlier. Then open your hand."
We followed her instructions.
Slowly…
We opened our palms.
Light appeared.
Golden light.
Mirei's eyes widened slightly.
"Light Sol…"
Since Lucas and I were twins, our energy was identical.
Both of us possessed Light Sol.
We didn't understand what the difference between Light and Dark really meant.
But when Mirei saw the golden glow in our hands…
She looked strangely happy.
Lucas leaned closer to me and whispered,
"…Why does she look so relieved?"
I shrugged.
"We should probably ask."
We still didn't know what the difference between Light Sol and Dark Sol truly was.
But one thing had become clear.
Our journey was only just beginning.
And the power hidden inside us…
Was far greater than we had ever imagined.