By sunset, Grey was Level 5.
Slimes weren't glamorous.
But they were profitable.
He now had:
18 copper
2 slime cores
Mild acid burns
Growing confidence
They sat on a fallen log as light faded.
"You adapt quickly," Lyra said.
"Trial and error."
She studied him again.
"Most people specialize early. You're building wide."
"Is that bad?"
"No."
She hesitated.
"Just uncommon."
Grey checked his status.
Level: 5Luck: 10Perception: 10Agility: 11Intelligence: 11
A notification blinked.
[Hidden Condition Met.][Luck Alignment Lv. 2]Hidden Effect Revealed:Critical events have a 5% increased chance to become "Fortunate Variants."
"…That sounds broken."
Lyra's head snapped toward him.
"What changed?"
"Nothing," he said quickly.
Her eyes narrowed.
Emotion: Suspicion.
"Grey."
He looked at her.
"You're not normal."
He laughed.
"I got hit by lightning after winning the lottery."
She didn't laugh.
"That's not coincidence."
The wind shifted.
For a moment, the air felt heavier.
Lyra stood slowly.
"We're not alone."
Grey triggered Emotional Insight.
Predatory hunger.
Multiple sources.
From the treeline.
Shapes emerged.
Not slimes.
Larger.
Lean.
Clawed.
Dire Wolves – Lv. 7
Four of them.
Grey swallowed.
"That's above my pay grade."
Lyra's hand hovered near her blade.
But she didn't draw it.
Instead, she looked at him.
"This is a growth moment."
"That's ominous."
"If you survive this alone, your system will respond."
"Alone?"
She stepped back.
"I will intervene if you're about to die."
"That's not reassuring!"
The wolves lunged.
Grey's heart pounded.
He dodged the first barely.
Claws tore through his sleeve.
He rolled, grabbing a stone.
Think.
Micro-Analysis.
The lead wolf favored its left side slightly.
Old scar.
He threw the stone.
It missed.
Hit a tree.
The tree branch snapped.
Fell.
Struck a second wolf mid-air.
They tangled.
Grey didn't waste it.
He grabbed a broken branch, sharpened end exposed.
Agility surged.
He drove it downward—
Critical hit.
The wolf howled and dissolved.
[Dire Wolf Defeated][Level Up!]
The remaining wolves hesitated.
Emotion: Uncertainty.
Grey felt something shift inside him.
Focus sharpened.
Fear dulled.
The world slowed slightly.
Luck wasn't random chaos.
It was tilt.
Momentum.
The wolves attacked again.
One slipped in mud.
One collided with another.
Grey moved through openings he didn't consciously create.
When the last wolf fell, he collapsed to his knees.
[Level Up!][Level Up!]
Level: 8
Lyra approached slowly.
Emotion: Awe.
"You crossed a threshold," she said quietly.
A new window appeared.
[Evolution Available at Level 10.]Choose Path:— Fortune Walker— Probability Breaker— Stormbound
Grey stared at the last option.
Stormbound.
Lightning flickered faintly in distant clouds.
Lyra saw his expression.
"What do you see?"
He looked at her.
"I think the lightning wasn't random."
For the first time since he met her—
Her emotional state spiked.
Concern.
And something else.
Recognition.
Because far beneath the mountains, ancient seals began to fracture.
The world had accepted Grey.
But something else had claimed him.
And at Level 10—
It would answer.