Chapter 15: Sort Things Out

“Crap, crap, crap.” Yenna’s mind was a frantic mess. ’What is going on? I know Jolly and the others wouldn’t betray me… so what’s happening? Why is the Section Chief here?’

The silence from the other side of the door was worse than any threat. She knew Kell was still out there, waiting, her patience wearing thin.

’Should we run? Should I run away? Y-yeah, I barely know him. I can just turn him in. It’s my life or his.’

The thought was ugly, but survival was a powerful instinct. She hesitantly lowered her sword and started walking toward the door, her own safety winning out over the loyalty she barely felt for the stranger in her house.

“I’m sorry, Vell,” she whispered, not daring to look back at him. Seeing the look in his eyes would be too much. “I just can’t risk my life for you. I’m sure you understand.”

This was her fatal mistake.

“Yeah, I understand.”

His voice was right behind her, way too close, and the tone was completely wrong. It was flat, cold, and devoid of any emotion. She tried to spin around, but it was already too late.

A sharp, searing pain exploded in her stomach. She looked down and saw the tip of a blade sticking out from her gut. She gasped, her knees giving out as she fell to the floor. Vell stood over her, the short sword he’d pulled from the drawer now covered in her blood. His face was a blank mask.

She looked up at him, a storm of emotions churning inside her—rage, betrayal, but mostly, a strange, sad understanding. She had been about to betray him, after all. She had no right to be angry.

“…I’m sorry,” she choked out, her vision starting to blur. “I got scared… I can’t go back to that life. I just can’t.”

She gave up, her head slumping as her strength faded. ’I guess I’m going to die, huh? But I’m not angry. For the first time in a long time, I actually felt connected to someone. I know that probably says more about me than anything else, but I still had fun… I truly hope you survive, Vell.’

She collapsed onto the floor, blood pooling around her. He just stood there, looking down at her still form. For a moment, he felt a flicker of something—regret, maybe—but he pushed it down.

“I know you probably have your own sad backstory,” he said to her unconscious body. “But I can’t allow my life to get ruined here. I’m sorry.”

He picked up her fancy, 10,000-credit sword from the table, looked at it for a second, then tossed it aside along with the cheap one he’d just used.

“I guess expensive doesn’t always mean good. Or maybe she just got scammed.”

He walked over to the front door and pulled it open, coming face to face with Kell, the Section Chief. Her first instinct was to look past him, and her eyes widened in shock at the sight of Yenna lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood.

“Enough with the cat-and-mouse game,” he said, his voice dangerously calm. “Come on in. Let’s have a talk.”

Kell stared at him for a few seconds, her expression unreadable, then shoved him aside and walked in. She pulled a small, fancy bottle filled with a shimmering red liquid from her pocket and poured it all over Yenna’s wound.

“Okay, now for you.”

She turned toward him, and in a flash, she was on him, her hand gripping his throat with impossible strength. She slammed him to the floor, her face inches from his.

“Now then, special guy,” she whispered, her voice like ice. “You’re coming with me.”

She tapped him lightly on the head, a precise, calculated strike meant to knock him out.

But as his vision started to go dark, he felt a strange shift. His point of view suddenly changed. He was looking at his own body from behind. Kell was still holding him, but he was no longer in his body. He was… somewhere else. And he could still move.

Kell, thinking he was unconscious, started to lift him onto her shoulder. She gave one last glance at Yenna, whose wound was already starting to close, and then began walking toward the door. She didn’t even make it two steps.

Vell’s now-empty body suddenly went limp in her grasp, and at the same moment, the real him—the one who had just experienced that weird out-of-body moment—casually stepped out from where he’d been pinned. He landed lightly, like a predator, and wasted no time delivering a devastating kick that sent her crashing into the far wall.

“Hah, why are all players so dumb?” he said, stretching his arms. “What’s the use of all that strength if you don’t get a chance to use it?”

He closed his eyes, concentrating. The strange symbols that had burned themselves into his skin a few days ago began to glow faintly. He felt a new connection, a new power flowing through him. When he opened his eyes, Wren came scampering out from the living room, jumping onto his shoulder and rubbing her face against his.

“Haha, it’s all thanks to you,” he murmured, scratching her under the chin. “Without your new skill, I would have been in big trouble back there.”

’Right, the system went through a change too. Hey, you awake?’

[Waking up… Morning, master.]

“Look who finally decided to join us. Did you sleep well?”

[I wasn’t sleeping. I was evolving.]

“You literally said ’waking up.’”

[It seems your ears need to be fixed.]

He sighed, giving up. Arguing with the system was pointless. “So, what new features do you have now?”

[It’s nothing special, just a profile for you to keep track of your stats, skills, and slots.]

“Ah, I’ve been meaning to ask, what do you mean by slots?”

[The evolution forge has rooms, or slots in this case. Each slot is given to a beast when it’s tamed. It’s also how they are connected to you, as the forge—or in other words, me—is fused with your soul.]

“So it works like that. How many slots do I have?”

[At your current level, only three.]

“That’s bad. Looks like I still need to find my way into those dungeons.”

He glanced over at Yenna. The red liquid Kell had used had done its work; her wound had closed up completely. ’I was planning on helping her after I killed that woman, but it seems that won’t be necessary.’

[I am not sure what happened, but I am assuming you killed her in a sneaky way because her mana readings are off the charts. But what if that plan had failed?]

“Then Yenna would be dead, and I’d be rotting in an Association cell, being questioned like an alien.”

[It’s scary how you say that with a straight face.]

“Anyways, the profile.”

[Right. Here it is.]

A screen popped up in his vision.

[Name: Vell]

[Age: 21]

[Title: Beast Tamer]

[Rank: Human Rank]

[Forge slots: 1/3]

[Overall stats: F++]

[Skills: Taming, Resonance]

[Magic: None]

“Okay, not bad, though I’m pathetically weak. No wonder I broke my arm when I snapped her neck.”

[…You are really reckless.]

“There was no other choice. High risk for the best result, right? Now, what should I do about her?” He looked at Yenna, who was still unconscious. “Seems her ’friends’ got caught and threw all the blame on her. She’s so naive.”

[Master is acting like a veteran when he has only been a player for a few days.]

“Yes, but I’ve experienced the pain of being betrayed. It’s not something you forget easily. It can lead a lot of people to their death. I’m curious to see what path she will take.”

[….]

He picked her up, her body surprisingly light, and placed her on the sofa. Now it was time to visit her so-called friends and sort things out. He left a simple note beside her: I’ll be back. Stay here. Then he slipped out the back door, melting into the city’s shadows.

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