The Magic Creation laboratory had become a chamber of exquisite agony.
Ren was no longer fighting; he was merely enduring. The B-Rank Devil was a hurricane of obsidian flesh and primal malice. Every strike from the creature felt like being hit by a collapsing building. Ren's Intelligence (142), usually his greatest asset, had become a localized hell. Because his brain processed information at such a high velocity, he felt every micro-second of the impact. He felt the exact moment his radius snapped against the Devil's forearm. He felt the rhythmic grinding of his fractured ribs against his lungs with every shallow, bloody breath.
He was a ragdoll in a storm. The Devil grabbed him by the throat, slamming him into a stone pillar with enough force to crack the enchanted masonry. Ren's head snapped back, his vision exploding into a kaleidoscope of white and red. He fell, but before he could hit the floor, a heavy, scaled tail whipped across his midsection, launching him across the room.
He skidded through shattered glass and spilled alchemical reagents, his Shroud of the Night Stalker torn and soaked in a mixture of his own blood and glowing green fluids. His left eye was swollen shut, and a deep gash across his forehead poured crimson into his remaining field of vision. His Rapid Healing (Lv. 3) was screaming, burning through his stamina to close wounds that were immediately reopened by the next blow.
'Nine hundred and eighty-eight...' Ren counted internally, his mind detached from the screaming of his nerves. 'Nine hundred and ninety...'
The Devil loomed over him, its white eyes glowing with a frenzied light. It raised both clawed hands, bringing them down in a double-fisted hammer strike meant to turn Ren's chest into a crater.
BOOM.
Ren took the hit directly. The floor beneath him shattered. His heart stuttered, nearly stopping under the sheer kinetic pressure.
[PING!]
The sound was louder than the Devil's roar. It was the sound of a world-breaking glitch.
[Hidden Task: Strong Head — Completed!]
[Objective: Receive 1,000 blows from a superior entity and remain conscious.]
[Analyzing User Performance... Willpower: Absolute.]
[Rewards Issued:]
[Summoner's Key (Rank: ???)] — Item stored in Inventory.
[100,000 Yen Awarded.]
[Follow-up Task Generated: 'The First Counter'. Reward: 1,500 Yen.]
Ren's blood-slicked fingers twitched. 100,000 Yen.
In the eyes of the world, he was a dying boy. In the eyes of the System, he was a customer with a massive line of credit.
'System...' Ren coughed, a glob of dark blood hitting the floor. 'Open Stat Allocation. Convert all 100,000 Yen. Now.'
[Transaction Complete. +100 Stat Points Acquired.]
The Devil shrieked, sensing a shift in the air, and lunged for a final bite.
'Allocate 45 Points to Speed. 30 Points to Strength.'
'Shop! High-Grade Healing Potion! Purchase!'
[Speed: 29 -> 74 (+15 from Boots = 89)]
[Strength: 76 -> 106]
[Stat Points Remaining: 25]
[Purchase: High-Grade Healing Potion (-25 Points)]
A vial of shimmering, liquid gold materialized in his hand. Ren didn't drink it; he smashed it against his own chest. The glass shattered, and the concentrated mana-solution soaked into his pores instantly.
The transformation was violent. His bones snapped back into alignment with the sound of a hundred dry branches breaking at once. The internal bleeding ceased as his organs re-knit themselves. The fog of shock lifted, replaced by a cold, predatory clarity.
The Devil's jaws snapped shut on empty air.
Ren was gone.
He appeared ten meters away, his silhouette flickering like a bad transmission. At 89 Speed, the Devil's "rampage" looked like it was happening underwater. Ren could see the individual scales on its hide, the way its muscles coiled before a strike, the erratic pulse of the mana in its chest.
"Round two," Ren whispered. His voice was no longer raspy; it was a blade.
He blurred forward. He didn't use Eclipse. He wanted to feel the weight of his new Strength. He drove a straight punch into the Devil's solar plexus.
BOOM.
The Devil was lifted off its feet, its obsidian chest-plate cracking under the 106 Strength impact. It hit the far wall, but Ren was already there, waiting. He delivered a flurry of strikes—Martial Arts (Lv. 1) allowing him to target the joints and nerve clusters.
The Devil shrieked in genuine pain for the first time. It tried to retaliate, its speed gradually increasing as its biological "Rampage" forced its body to adapt. It began to match Ren's movements, its white eyes turning a faint, angry pink.
They became two streaks of lethal energy—one blood-red, one shadow-black—clashing across the laboratory. Every collision sent a shockwave that turned the remaining equipment into dust. Ren was pushing his new limits, his Mana fueling his strikes, while the Devil fought with the desperation of a cornered beast.
They met in the center of the room for a final exchange. Ren channeled his mana into a concentrated point at the tip of his dagger, preparing a lethal thrust. The Devil opened its maw, dark energy swirling into a sphere of destruction.
CREAK.
The massive, iron-reinforced double doors swung open.
"Stop."
The word wasn't a shout. It was a calm, authoritative vibration that seemed to rewrite the laws of physics in the room.
Ren's body locked up instantly. His momentum was cancelled mid-air, and he tumbled to the floor, his muscles turning to stone. Across from him, the Devil crashed down, its dark energy sphere dissipating into harmless smoke. It lay rigid, unable to even twitch a claw.
The timid girl from the hallway, Reina, stepped into the room. She looked at the wreckage—the shattered vats, the blood-stained floor, and the two combatants frozen by her will. Her chestnut hair was slightly messy, and her eyes were no longer downcast. They were burning with a cold, golden radiance.
[Appraisal Successful]
[Target: Reina]
[Class: Sovereign Tongue]
[Rank: B]
[Trigger: Spoken Words]
She walked past the frozen Devil, her boots clicking softly on the tiles. She looked at Ren, and for a moment, the "cool" persona flickered. She saw the state of his gear and the sheer amount of blood he had lost before the potion.
"Oh dear," she said, her voice returning to that soft, stuttering tone. "I-I am so sorry! You... you really shouldn't be in here. This is a private research area. It's very dangerous!"
She looked at Ren, then realized he was still under her command. "U-um... can you move? Oh, wait! I forgot!"
She cleared her throat, her posture straightening again.
"Free."
The weight vanished. Ren collapsed forward, catching himself on his hands. He gasped, his muscles twitching as the command was lifted.
"What... what is that thing?" Ren asked, nodding toward the rigid Devil.
Reina bit her lip, looking timid again. She began to fidget with her sleeves, her large chest heaving as she reverted to her "shy" self. "It's... it's a secret experiment. The Academy is trying to study the biological limits of mana-beast hybrids. I'm the only one who can... um... keep them quiet. I'm the 'Safety Valve'."
She looked around at the destroyed lab and sighed. "The professors are going to be so cross with me. Please, Dragon Slayer Ren-san... you have to leave now. If they find you here, they'll think you were trying to steal the research."
Ren stood up, sheathing Eclipse. He looked at the Devil, then back at Reina. She was Rank B, yet she had neutralized a rampaging anomaly with a single word.
"A secret experiment," Ren repeated, his Intelligence cataloging the lie. The Academy wasn't just training heroes; they were breeding monsters that required "Sovereign" level containment.
"I'm going," Ren said.
He walked toward the door, but as he passed Reina, he paused. "Your class... Sovereign Tongue. Don't use it too much today. Your throat is bleeding."
Reina's eyes widened. She reached up, touching a small smear of blood at the corner of her mouth—the backlash of commanding two powerful entities at once. By the time she looked up to respond, Ren was already gone, a shadow merging with the darkness of the hallway.
Ren moved through the academy, his mind racing. He reached into his mental inventory, his fingers brushing against the cold, ornate surface of the Summoner's Key.
The item was a bridge between classes. It granted the user the power of a Summoner, but only for a single, permanent Contract-Beast. The mechanics were simple yet brutal: the quality of the summon depended entirely on the user's current Rank and their mental Will.
A Rank C user with a weak mind might only summon a Rank E pet. But a user with an iron Will—someone who could endure a thousand blows without breaking—could potentially pull a Rank A or even a Rank B entity into existence. It was a gamble of the soul.
Ren reached his dorm room and pushed the door shut. He needed to process the day, to analyze the Devil and the girl who could silence it with a breath.
But before he could even remove his cloak, a sharp, rhythmic chirping echoed from the communication crystal on his desk.
Ren's eyes narrowed. Only one person had the frequency for this room.
He tapped the crystal. A flickering, translucent projection of Lord Zilton appeared in the center of the room. The official's face was twisted into a mask of cold, self-righteous fury.
"Dragon Slayer Ren," Zilton hissed, his voice dripping with venom. "We need to talk about your 'tour' of the academy. Now."