Chapter 15 – Night Hunt
The night was quiet, but it was the kind of quiet that never felt safe. The ruined city seemed to breathe with him, every gust of wind whistling through rusted pipes and broken windows like a warning.
Seth crouched low, eyes locked on his prey.
Perched on a moss-coated wall was a grotesque insect — an oversized beetle, its body glistening like polished obsidian. The moonlight bounced off its crystalline-black carapace, making it look as though it had been carved from glass. Smooth, flawless… and impenetrable. Seth judged it at a glance: ordinary blades would probably skid off that hide without leaving so much as a scratch.
Good thing his wasn't ordinary.
Moving with practiced silence, Seth tiptoed across the rubble. His heightened physique made the effort almost natural — no clink of metal, no crunch of stone beneath his boots. Every muscle worked in rhythm, breath shallow, heartbeat steady.
When he came within reach, the beetle's antennae twitched. Its wings shuddered as it sensed danger, preparing to take flight.
Too late.
A silver arc cut through the air — his sword slicing clean and effortless. The beetle split into two halves, its body collapsing before it could even buzz.
A soft golden orb lifted from the remains, drifting lazily before sinking into Seth's chest. His vision flickered with the familiar notification.
[You have absorbed the soul of a Level 3–initiate being.]
Seth exhaled, lowering his blade. His swordsmanship had sharpened frighteningly fast after just a day of wielding the Weapon Mastery trait. Each strike felt like instinct rather than effort.
Still, what caught his attention wasn't the kill — but the numbers that followed.
He summoned his panel.
NAME: Seth
TRAIT(S): Weapon Mastery [+]
CORE: Initiate — Level Four
SATURATION: 6%
STATS—
Physique: 9.0 [+]
Spirit: 8.0 [+]
ITEMS—
Soul Weapon: Sword
SP: 10.9
His eyes narrowed. He had grown stronger again. In raw numbers, he was already brushing close to Level 9 standards.
But it wasn't that simple. After leveling up three times, Seth realized stats weren't everything. Numbers increased strength, yes, but the act of leveling itself carried something deeper — a refinement of body, spirit, and soul. A force that had not been replicated by simply dumping SP into his panel.
Still…
His SP had increased to over ten points. Enough to make a change.
He crouched, pried the beast's core from its remains, and tucked it into his pouch before moving on. Tonight's hunt wasn't over. His goal was clear —have enough cores to reach Level Six by dawn.
And with his confidence in group fights growing, he no longer avoided clustered prey.
He hunted for a while before he felt it…..
The ruins shifting from quiet to violent without warning.
The ground shook. Dust rained from fractured walls as something massive barreled through the wreckage — a boar, but monstrously twisted. Its hide was plated in bark-like armor, every slab of flesh rippling with unnatural strength. Tusks as long as swords gleamed, tearing trenches into the earth with every charge.
Opposing it, lurking in the skeletal remains of a collapsed house, was a spider the size of a hound. Its legs were lean and bladed, moving with unsettling speed, tapping against stone with an erratic rhythm. Eight glowing eyes locked onto the boar as its body pulsed with venomous anticipation.
The spider struck first.
With a hiss, it spat a jet of sticky silk, threads slicing through the night like silver cords, aimed for the boar's eyes.
The boar roared, head snapping, muscles flexing. The webbing tore apart like paper against its raw strength.
The spider darted sideways, movements sharp and jittery, and lunged — fangs dripping green venom, aiming for the soft flesh between tusk and throat.
But the boar twisted with terrifying speed for its size. Its tusks lashed out, catching the spider mid-flight. The impact cracked chitin with a sickening crunch, launching the arachnid into a shattered wall. Bricks and splinters exploded outward as it writhed back to its legs, staggering, slower than before.
Thunder followed. The boar's hooves hammered the ground as it charged, a living battering ram. The tusks found purchase again — one impaling straight through the spider's thorax, pinning it against twisted vines. The creature convulsed, venom pouring uselessly onto the soil, before the boar shook its head violently.
The body split apart.
Silence returned. The victor stood, chest heaving, before snorting once and lowering its tusks.
From the shadows, Seth had watched it all. His breath caught as a golden orb slipped free from the spider's corpse — and drifted not into the boar, but into him.
[You have absorbed the soul of a Level 8–initiate being.]
His eyes widened. Level eight?
That spider was already terrifying — and the boar had crushed it. What kind of monster was he looking at?
The boar lingered, snorting, before lumbering away into the ruins. Seth stayed crouched in silence, every instinct screaming at him not to move. Only when it disappeared did he release the breath he'd been holding.
He should have left. But then he remembered.
The core.
A Level 8 core. A single one brought him through an entire level—with left over. That was worth the risk.
Keeping low, he crept toward the spider's corpse. The carcass was small enough — barely larger than a cat — and it didn't take long to dig the core free. Cold and faintly pulsing, it went into his pouch with the others.
Satisfied, he resumed his hunt, though his thoughts lingered.
Just by being near a death… and I can absorb the soul?
If that was the case then it changed everything he knew or rather, thought he knew about the system.
The night stretched on. Seth carved through lesser beasts, tallying cores, his pouch growing heavier with each kill. He had searched but the ruins yielded no water supply — pipes corroded, reservoirs long dry. Only one hope remained. The old Waterhouse. He would have to search it soon.
But not tonight.
For now he would continued with his hunt.
By the time the first light of dawn touched the skyline, Seth had chosen a new shelter. Settling against a cracked wall, he let the clinking of cores in his pouch reassure him. Gains made. Goals closer.
Sleep pulled at him, heavy and irresistible.
As his eyes closed, one final thought lingered. Something he had been observing for a while now.
The nights were longer now. The days too.
He had felt it the day he woke up. Normally a day would not be enough to search through the town and even have time to take a light look at the forest. Which was where he picked the berries from.
But then again it was probably just his imagination—right?