Mist pooled around their boots as the doors sealed behind them.The chamber swallowed all sound from the outside world, replacing it with a suffocating stillness.Cold air drifted through the darkness.Metal grated beneath the mist—gears shifting far below the floor.
The simulation was awakening.
Jarek cracked his neck loudly.
"Tch. This is perfect," he muttered."I'll handle the monsters. You two stay behind me."
He thumped a fist against his chest.Mana flickered under his skin, swelling muscles, thickening veins.
A brute.One who believed power was measured by how loudly it moved.
Aria didn't look at him.She simply observed the room with an unreadable calm, eyes narrowing slightly as if she were already dissecting every angle.
Elias stood between them without a word.
He didn't need to speak.The chamber spoke first.
A grinding noise echoed overhead.Pipes extended from the ceiling, releasing streams of shimmering silver dust.It drifted downward like metallic snow, sinking into the mist-covered floor.
A cold System message appeared before Elias.
Rift Simulation — Tier D activatedThreat level: ModerateGenerating spiritual constructs
The mist began to move.
Shapes formed within it—hunched silhouettes, crawling on jointed limbs that clicked softly against metal.Thin bodies.Elongated skulls.Hollow, rust-red eyes.
Constructs.Simulated monsters, but deadly enough to tear flesh from bone.
Jarek stepped forward, cracking his knuckles eagerly.
"Good. I'll show you weaklings how a real fighter—"
Aria raised a hand.Quiet.Efficient.Precise.
"Don't rush."
Jarek blinked, face twisting with offense."What did you just—"
"They're not ordinary constructs."Her voice was cold and level."Look at the way the mist binds them. Their formation will shift once you enter their radius."
Jarek scoffed."I don't need tactics for fake monsters."
Aria didn't argue.She simply looked away, her silence sharper than any retort.
Then she spoke to Elias instead.
"What do you think?"
Jarek froze, disbelief etched on his face.
"You're asking him? The Torch Bearer?"He barked a laugh."Don't waste time."
Aria's eyes flicked toward Elias.They held no warmth.No interest.Only calculation.
Elias met her gaze calmly.
"They're anchor-bound constructs," he said softly."Kill one and the others reinforce. The pattern is recursive—if he charges in first, he'll be surrounded."
Aria nodded once, expression unchanged.
Jarek's face tightened."What? You think I can't handle—"
But he didn't finish.
Because the constructs moved.
They surged forward in a synchronized lunge, razor-edge limbs slicing through the air.Not toward Elias.Not toward Jarek.
Toward Aria.
She reacted instantly.
Mana flared around her irises.Her pupils contracted.Her expression didn't change as her mind accelerated.
Elias saw the shift—subtle, invisible to anyone else.
She was reading time.
Two steps forward.Turn right.Lean.Strike.
Her movements followed a perfect pattern she had predicted half a second earlier.
She slid between the first two constructs, placed her hand on the third's elongated skull, and twisted with a sharp motion.
A crack.Its head snapped.Its body dissolved into mist.
The remaining constructs adjusted instantly—redirecting all aggression toward her.
Exactly as Elias had said.
Anchor-bound aggression.
They reinforced the nearest threat.
Aria prepared to dodge again—but before she could act, the System flared before Elias.
Echo Absorption — Opportunity detected
Mana sharpened behind his eyes.
His pulse slowed.
Spiritual fragments.Experience.Growth.
He moved.
Silent.Precise.Unremarkable in appearance—but his steps carried purpose.
Jarek, stunned by the unfolding scene, barely noticed Elias passing him.
"What the— Ward?"
Elias didn't answer.
He bent low, his hand closing around a shard of broken metal lying on the ground—a discarded part of the simulation chamber that had come loose.
A crude weapon.Unpolished.Perfect.
The constructs lunged toward Aria.
Elias intercepted the nearest one with a smooth, calculated strike, driving the metal shard between its eye sockets.
A sharp crack split the air.
The construct disintegrated into dust.
A cold message flickered across his vision.
Spiritual fragment acquired
His heartbeat remained steady.
The second construct swung a serrated arm toward his throat.He leaned just out of reach, turning his body with a fluid twist.His elbow snapped upward, colliding with the creature's jaw.
Another crack.
Another burst of dust.
Aria stepped back, momentarily taken aback—not by the constructs, but by the precision of Elias's movements.
Jarek blinked in disbelief.
"What… how… he's just a Torch Bearer—"
He never finished.
The third construct lunged at him.
Jarek roared, smashed his gauntleted fist forward, and shattered the creature in one blow.
Aria dispatched the fourth with a clean strike.
Elias finished the final one with a sweeping cut across its neck.
Silence settled as the mist retreated.
The constructs dissolved fully, leaving only metal floors and cold air behind.
Jarek stared at Elias like he'd never seen him before.
Aria's expression remained still—but her eyes held a flicker of interest.
Not admiration.Not suspicion.Something sharper.
Assessment.
She watched him the way predators watched each other, quietly deciding how dangerous he truly was.
Elias ignored them both.
A new System window pulsed softly in his vision.
Echo Absorption — Fragments integratedMinor physical reinforcement obtainedMinor combat memory obtained
A faint warmth spread through his limbs.
Growth.
He exhaled, breath steady.
This was only the beginning.