The forest had thinned by dawn, its shadows curling into mist. Asher kept walking, eyes sunken but alert, the events of the night buried under layers of numb survival.
Parasight's interface hovered quietly in his mind's eye.
> [Kill Points: 95]
[Available Skills:]
Minor Healing – 50 KP
Shadow Flicker – 100 KP
Adrenal Surge (Consumable) – 20 KP
Shadowform – 500 KP (Locked)
No new tasks. No voices. Just a quiet hum under his skin, as if the system was breathing with him.
Even silence felt like a warning now.
He passed a broken trail sign. Behind it, a rusted shack—old, forgotten, half-eaten by vines. Shelter. Temporary.
He pushed the door open. Darkness inside. He stepped in anyway.
---
He needed to think.
The system was vast—he knew that now. Not just a HUD or a skill tree. It reacted. It watched. It guided him like it wanted something. And it had rules.
Rituals. Traits. Perks. KP. Tasks.
And something else—Entropy.
> [Entropy: 4%]
[Integration Progress: Minor]
[System Note: Entropy increases through significant acts—violence, rituals, and fate-defiance.]
He didn't know what full Integration meant. But he had a feeling it wasn't reversible.
He sat in silence, remembering his old life.
Normal.
Classes. Friends. Chores.
A dog that used to bark at shadows.
That life was real. He wasn't born a monster—he was made into one.
By his parents.
By the cult.
By the system.
---
He needed a disguise. If he wanted to move through towns, find supplies, observe his environment—he couldn't look like a walking crime scene.
He checked the shack. Old clothes in a torn duffel. Work boots. A long, dark coat. A cracked motorcycle helmet—mirror visor intact.
He washed in the rain barrel, covered the blood as best he could.
Then, with slow fingers, he pulled the helmet over his face.
Not a killer.
Not Asher.
Not yet.
Just a shadow passing through.
---
> [Task Generated – Equipment Use Detected]
Objective: Acquire a weapon.
Reward: 10 KP + ???
---
He stepped back outside. The wind caught the coat, fluttering like torn wings.
He didn't speak. But inside, something whispered:
"You want to survive in a world of monsters? Be one."