Chapter 12: No Rest for the Strong
Seth had barely slept two hours when his enhanced senses dragged him awake.
"Squeak… squeak…"
A thin, piercing sound cut through the night, grating against his ears like nails against glass. The enhancement, it seemed, was both a blessing and a curse.
At first, he tried to ignore it, but the sharp cries only grew more irritating. With a sigh, he pushed himself up. If I don't deal with this, I'll never sleep.
It seems he has to teach his new neighbor not to disturb other people's sleep.
He stepped outside into the night. The darkness no longer felt oppressive—his vision was sharper now, clearer. Though nowhere near his daytime sight, it was still far beyond what it used to be.
Under the pale glow of the half-moon, he followed the sound to the back of a collapsed house. There, stretched across the broken earth, was a massive black mouse, its body the size of a dog. Its sides heaved, trembling. It was… in labor?
Seth froze. He hadn't expected this. For a moment, it felt almost wrong to interrupt. But then the thought cut in like a cold blade—these same pups would likely grow to hunt him one day.
As if to drive the point home, the mother staggered upright, blood dripping down her flanks, yet her red eyes still blazed with killing intent. Even in the throes of childbirth, she wanted him dead.
"…well in that case."
His hand moved without hesitation. With a sharp thought, the One Sword appeared in his grasp, erupting into existence with a faint shower of sparks. The black blade gleamed under the moonlight, as though hungering.
The mouse lunged, snapping its jaws, but Seth stepped forward and swung.
One clean arc.
The beast's head tumbled across the dirt, eyes frozen in their fury, while the body collapsed into silence.
An orb of light rose from the corpse and flowed into him. The notification echoed in his mind:
You have consumed the soul of a Level 5 Initiate Being: +0.5 SP.
Seth glanced at the severed head. The glare it carried even in death gave him pause. Perhaps it hadn't been malice after all—just a mother defending her unborn children.
But then again…. Better them than me.
He bent down, splitting the skull with a swift strike, retrieving the glowing core within. Then his breath hitched.
From the corpse, more orbs emerged—eight of them, a single thought echoed. The unborn. They drifted into him like wisps, absorbed just the same.
For a fleeting moment, guilt weighed on him. But he didn't regret it. Not when his own survival had always been one thin thread away from snapping.
With a sigh, he pocketed the core and returned to his shelter. His eyes fell to the corner where the Level 8 core rested by the fire.
This was it. The step forward.
Seth sat cross-legged, moonlight pouring in through the shattered window, washing over his frame in silver hues. He held the core, let instinct guide him, and absorbed it.
The surge was immediate. His core was flooded, saturated to the brim, with excess energy left to dissolve into nothingness. It would seem the energy contained in it was too much for his level three core. No carryover… a waste.
Closing his eyes, he turned inward, visualizing the world within him. Once more, he began the cycle—gathering energy, striking the walls of his core, enduring the pain as it cracked, then reveling in the relief as it healed stronger.
Break. Repair. Break. Repair.
Pain. Relief.
Round and round, until finally—
A shudder ran through him. The wall broke fully, and something beyond shifted. His core expanded, strengthened.
Level Four.
He exhaled slowly, steady. Unlike before, there was no surge of wild elation, no feeling that he could fight the world. He was calmer now, his excitement tempered. Tamed.
But in truth, he was already itching to fight.
Seth absorbed the mouse's core, watching his panel tick upward—6% saturation. A small step. Understanding that as he leveled up lower tier cores would no longer be too effective. Even the core that gave him 25% saturation now only gave 6%. But even then it was still easy to level… but too hard to gather SP. The disparity gnawed at him.
Shaking off the thought, he stood. Sleep had fled from him completely, his body humming with energy. The night sky stretched wide, and the world under it full of unseen dangers.
Perfect. After all….
"That mouse wasn't even a warm-up."
A grin crept onto his lips. The beasts seemed more active at night. Good. That only meant more prey.
With his blade dissolving into light at his call, Seth stepped into the darkened ruins, eager for the hunt.