The announcement dropped like a lead pipe across the room.
"Live field trial. Ten minutes. Squad assignments posted."
Dylan glanced up from the bench he'd claimed near the back of the assembly hall. Reeva Talin was already standing, expression unreadable. Everyone else scrambled.
He didn't move.
Not because he was lazy—he just preferred to watch first.
Trial.
Day three, and they're already throwing us into combat.
The digital board near the front of the hall updated with three-man team lists. Dylan's name was easy to spot. Dead center, bottom third.
Squad #19:
— Dylan Hayes
— Erin Vale
— Bran Corl
No idea who they were. But he'd find out in about five minutes, whether he wanted to or not.
The transport zone wasn't fancy. A plain door, gray steel, with a retinal scanner and a single guard. Every squad filtered through in order.
Erin found him first.
"You better not slow me down," she snapped. "I don't carry deadweight."
She was tall, sharp-eyed, hair cropped short. Her uniform had personalized additions already — red flames stitched along the cuffs. Elemental user. Great.
Dylan just nodded once. "Not planning on dying."
Bran Corl said nothing when he arrived. He was shorter, barrel-shouldered, carrying a large metal shield slung over his back. His eyes stayed on the floor. Good. Quiet guy. That made one of them.
"Team 19, move."
The door slid open.
The zone wasn't a true wilderness — more like a controlled dome simulation. But whoever designed it had a twisted sense of humor. It looked like an overgrown forest after a drought: cracked ground, gnarled trees, and dry underbrush that crackled with every step.
They had 15 minutes to locate a supply crate and bring it to the extraction point. Other squads were competing for the same crate. No killing. Non-lethal combat only. But still real powers. Real injuries.
And… monsters.
"I take point," Erin barked. "I can burn through anything. You two cover flanks."
Dylan glanced at Bran, who just gave a small shrug. Not worth arguing. Not yet.
They moved forward in a loose triangle. Dylan kept his eyes peeled for movement, but nothing pinged his danger sense — no shadows felt out of place. Not yet.
Then everything went sideways.
A deafening crack split the silence. Something exploded through the trees ahead — not fire, not energy, just mass. Huge. Fast. Wrong.
A bear.
Or what had once been one.
Now it was half-muscle, half-metal, with patchwork fur and a grotesque jaw. Glowing veins pulsed along its ribs. A failed experiment, maybe. Or a test subject gone rogue.
"Shit—MOVE!"
Erin threw up both hands. Fire erupted, wild and hot. The beast barreled through it like steam.
Another team was already nearby — Squad 12. One of their members barely turned before he was slammed sideways into a tree, spine bending the wrong way.
Blood. Screaming. The rest scattered.
Bran rushed to Erin's side, raising his shield. Dylan stayed behind, eyes wide, breath steady.
It's hurt already… not fresh. But dangerous.
The beast lashed out again. Another student screamed. Erin fired blast after blast, flames licking up the bear's side, finally catching — but not enough.
Then it buckled.
A final, gurgling growl, and the monstrosity crashed to the ground, twitching once, then still.
Everyone froze.
Silence, except for ragged breathing and a few distant yells.
Dylan moved before anyone else.
He ducked low, skirting the side of a burnt log, and knelt next to the corpse.
Dead. Fresh. No one watching.
His pulse slowed.
Now.
[Shadow Extraction – Activated]
[Target: Eligible]
[Extraction in Progress…]
[Success]
[Shadow Created]
It wasn't loud. It wasn't flashy.
The ground beneath the beast's body rippled, and from the blackened soil, a figure rose.
Same shape. Bear-like. But sleek. Shadow-dark. Eyes glowing blue like coals in a forge.
It looked at Dylan.
He didn't speak aloud.
Obey.
The creature dipped its head… and sank back into the ground. Gone. No trace. Not even a print.
By the time Erin turned around, he was already stepping away from the corpse.
"What the hell was that?" she snapped. "Did someone summon something?"
Bran looked around, eyes wide. "I… thought I saw…"
"That thing didn't die from fire," Erin added. "Something else hit it."
All eyes turned toward Dylan.
He kept his face still. Calm. Dry.
"That was me," he said. "I think."
Erin blinked. "You?"
"I didn't do it on purpose," he lied. "It just… reacted. Might be a real awakening this time."
A beat of silence.
Then:
"Huh," she muttered. "Figures. Tamer types are weird like that."
Bran said nothing, but his expression changed. A hint of caution.
Back at the observation platform, Captain Vesh said nothing either. Just adjusted his clipboard slightly.
Behind him, Reeva Talin leaned forward.
"Subject Dylan Hayes… shadow manipulation. Not standard Beast Tamer behavior. Request flag for further observation."
Later, in private, Dylan opened his interface again.
[Shadow List – 1 Entry]
— [Unnamed Shadow – Rank E+]
— Shape: Quadruped
— Loyalty: Absolute
— Intelligence: Low
— Status: Dormant
He stared for a while.
Not bad for a first attempt. Stronger than expected.
"Not mine," he whispered, "but I made it mine. Close enough."
The screen flickered off.
And far below the training zone, a creature stirred… waiting for its Monarch's call.
It wasn't supposed to be loud.
The forest looked quiet. Sparse trees, dry ground, nothing green. Just brittle bark, stripped branches, and the faint crunch of dead grass underfoot.
Dylan wasn't even running.
He walked slow. Careful. Straight back. Eyes flicking between trees like a hunting cat, even though he was the one being hunted.
The boar creature had disappeared behind a thicket five minutes ago. But the memory stuck.
It wasn't just a beast. That thing was warped. Long tusks, glowing cracks along its shoulder, too many joints in its legs. No fur. Just thick, scale-plated hide and something pulsing beneath it.
Whatever passed for a heartbeat.
"Level 1 player. No weapons. Let's not go toe-to-toe with that."
He wasn't joking out loud. Just calibrating.
Scan had picked up some of the beast's stats — too much for now. Definitely above his pay grade.
He crouched near a low ridge and opened his inventory again.
Still nothing. No drops. No items. Just the torn shirt and default pants he'd woken up in. Not even listed as gear.
"No beginner armor. No defense. Guess that's one way to test survival."
He didn't complain. Complaining didn't do anything here. The system wasn't listening. It was just… there. Functioning. Cold.
His eyes narrowed as he spotted something across the field — a shimmer. Like heat distortion.
He moved toward it, low to the ground, quiet.
It was faint. Barely visible. Like light bending around something.
A skill trap? An invisible monster?
He slowed, crouched low, and triggered Scan.
[Scan Activated]
No MP cost. Just focus.
The shimmer solidified.
Not a creature. Not a trap.
A marker.
Faint blue rune glyphs etched in the dirt.
Ancient language? Or maybe just a system-coded interface for something hidden.
The scan result flashed again — this time with extra lines:
STRUCTURE IDENTIFIED
FUNCTION: CAMP NODE (Deactivated)
STATUS: Unclaimed
ENERGY RESONANCE: 0%
ACCESS: Open
"Okay…" he muttered.
His eyes scanned the surrounding trees. No monsters. No sound. Just the dry wind pushing against thorn-twisted bushes.
He stepped into the circle.
Nothing changed.
But new text appeared.
CLAIM CAMP NODE?
[YES] / [NO]
His hand didn't move.
This isn't a game.
This is a world pretending to be one.
He said nothing. Just thought the answer.
Yes.
A soft vibration ran through his feet. Like static buzz from an old power line.
The glyphs glowed briefly — barely visible.
Then died.
NODE CLAIMED
SHELTER UNLOCKED
BASE INTERFACE: MINIMAL
A faint blue rectangle shimmered in the air behind him. A half-formed doorway appeared — stone, cracked, barely large enough to stand in.
Inside? Darkness. Cold. Bare earth floor.
"Not luxury. But better than thorns."
Dylan stepped inside.
Walls thick. Noise reduced. The outside wind faded.
No system voice told him what to do.
He sat, back to the wall, eyes on the door.
He checked the camp screen — just a rough sketchy blueprint layout overlaid in the air. Upgrade slots. Storage. Expansion grid.
"So it does build. Good."
Nothing would auto-upgrade. No quests. No gold. Just resource slots and lock symbols.
He stared at the faint "Shadows: 0 / ∞" line on his Status again.
Still empty.
"Need a corpse first."
Outside, the wind carried something new — not sound. Not smell.
A presence.
Something big was circling the ridge.
The same boar-beast?
Maybe.
He didn't move.
"Let it come closer. Let it drop first."
No one had told him how Shadow Extraction worked. But Dylan had read enough fiction to get the rules.
He couldn't create shadows.
But he could claim them.
And claiming required death.
He slid lower against the wall, one hand on the dusty ground, breath slow.
"Come on. Just one monster. Just one kill."
If it walked into the camp perimeter and died here, the body might count.
If he could turn it…?
That was where things would start.