Kerry tried to move, but the sheets tangled around his legs. He shoved them back, his skin hitting the cold air of the room, and then he stopped.
"What the—?!"
He was naked. white skin, stark against the hospital linens. His mind raced, trying to piece together how he'd ended up stripped bare in a room that smelled like bleach.
"How the hell… did someone see me?"
He grabbed the blanket, twisting the heavy fabric around his waist until it was tight enough to bruise. The latch on the door clicked. A nurse stepped in, her eyes fixed on a tray of syringes.
Kerry went rigid. His back hit the headboard.
"Hey!"
The nurse jumped, the tray rattling.
"Where's your sense of manners?" Kerry's voice was a jagged edge, sharp with a heat he didn't know he still had. "Can't you see I'm naked here? Get me some clothes. Now!"
The woman's face went scarlet. she spun around, her gaze fixed firmly on the doorframe. "Oh—I—sorry! I'll bring some right away," she stammered, her heels clicking a fast, frantic rhythm as she fled the room.
Kerry rubbed his face, his palms feeling like sandpaper against his skin. "Unbelievable."
The wait was short. The door opened just a crack, and the same nurse slid back in. She was carrying a bundle of fabric and a small, hand-held mirror.
Kerry groaned, the sound vibrating in his chest. "Seriously?!"
"I just… the clothes," she whispered, her head down.
"Drop them and leave."
She didn't argue. The clothes hit the chair, and the door clicked shut behind her.
Kerry reached for the bundle. It was a simple set—dark blue trousers, a white shirt, and a heavy blue hoodie. He pulled them on, the fabric feeling strange and restrictive against his skin. Then, he picked up the mirror.
He stopped breathing.
The boy in the reflection wasn't the boy from Frostveil. His hair, once a jagged split of red and white, was now a shock of pure, dead white, with only a few stray crimson strands left like old bloodstains. His face had sharpened, the jawline clean and hard, the soft edges of childhood gone. He looked older—nineteen, maybe twenty. His frame had filled out, the scrawny limbs of a Null replaced by lean, athletic muscle that seemed to hum with a quiet, suppressed tension.
"The system changed my face too?" he whispered. He traced a finger along his jaw. It felt real. It felt permanent.
He shook his head, shoving the mirror into his pocket. "Doesn't matter. I just need to move."
He went to the window. The latch was cold.
He pushed it open and dropped into the hospital courtyard, his boots hitting the pavement with a soft thud. The morning air was a bite against his face. He scanned the area, it was a quiet square, shielded by high walls and stone statues that looked like they hadn't been touched in decades.
The blue interface flickered into existence, hovering in the center of his vision.
[Daily Quest — Strength of the Dead]
* Push-ups: 0 / 100
* Sit-ups: 0 / 100
* Squats: 0 / 100
* Run: 0 / 3 km
* Time Remaining: 23:17:03
"Let's get it over with."
He dropped. His palms hit the cold concrete.
"One… two… three…"
Every movement felt like a slow burn. His muscles tensed, pulling at the half-knit tissue in his chest.
[Push-ups: 12 / 100]
Sweat began to sting his eyes, soaking into the white shirt.
[Continue. Muscle Reinforcement in Progress.]
He grit his teeth. He didn't think about the numbers; he thought about the wolf. He thought about the smell of the forest and the sound of Claude's leg snapping.
30… 40… 50…
At fifty, his arms turned to lead. They shook with a violent, uncontrollable tremor. His vision swam, the grey stones of the courtyard blurring into a smudge of shadow.
[Push-ups: 50 / 100]
He paused, his chest heaving, his forehead resting against the cold ground. His body wanted to stop, to crawl back into that white bed and disappear. But the timer was still ticking. The blue numbers were a countdown to a place he didn't want to see.
[Time Remaining: 22:45:26]
"Not stopping," he hissed.
He pushed again. One rep. One more.
67… 74… 82…
His palms tore, blood mixing with the dust of the courtyard, but he didn't feel the sting. The cold in his veins was overriding the nerves.
[Push-ups: 100 / 100 — Complete]
A faint, pale light pulsed in the air.
[Strength +1]
Kerry collapsed, his face pressed into the grit. He panted in a rough, uneven rhythm. But the system was a machine; it didn't care about his lungs.
[Next Task: Sit-ups — 0 / 100]
He rolled onto his back. He wiped his face with a bloody hand and started again.
1… 2… 3…
The motion tore at the wounds on his chest, reopening the scabs. He felt the warm slide of blood under his shirt, but it wasn't suffering. It was proof. He was still here. He was still moving.
By the time the first real light of dawn bled over the walls, he was done.
[Sit-Ups: 100/100 — Complete]
[Squats: 100/100 — Complete]
[Run: 3.0km/3.0km — Complete]
[Daily Quest Completed]
+2 Strength | +1 Agility
1 × E-Rank Gate Key (Trial of the Fangs) obtained.
Kerry fell flat. He stared up at the sky, his heart or whatever was left of it—thudding against his ribs like a trapped bird. His entire body ached as if he'd been dismantled and put back together by an amateur.
A black mist began to coil around his fingers, heavy and freezing. Something solid began to form in the air beside him, piece by piece, until a key dropped into his palm.
It wasn't metal. It was dark, jagged, and shot through with pulsing purple veins that seemed to throb with a life of their own.
[Gate Key Identified]
* Item Type: Dimensional Key
* Rank: E
* Designation: "Trial of the Fangs."
Kerry stared at the glowing runes etched into the key's edge. "Trial of the Fangs…"
The ground beneath him gave a sudden, violent lurch.
The morning light vanished. Shadows twisted across the courtyard, spiraling toward him like smoke. A wind erupted from the center of the square, cold enough to turn his breath into mist.
[Gate Activation Detected.]
Warning: Non-human presence approaching.
A black fissure tore through the air in front of him, jagged and raw. The temperature plummeted. Beyond the rift, the world was wrong, grey trees, a sky made of ash, and a mist that tasted like copper.
[E-Rank Gate "Trial of the Fangs" has been opened.]
Objective: Eliminate the Fang Devourer Beast.
Failure Penalty: Soul Fragment Loss (-1)
Kerry's heart gave a single, hard thump. He should have been terrified. Instead, he felt a cold, hollow calm spreading through his limbs. He stood up, his fingers tightening around the jagged key.
A voice drifted from the rift. It was low, like the sound of grinding teeth. "Come, little Necromancer… let's see if your soul belongs to the living or the dead."
Kerry didn't answer. He stepped forward, the black mist catching his ankles and pulling him into the grey.
The courtyard vanished.
When he opened his eyes, he was standing on a carpet of white bones. The sky was a sheet of lead. Far ahead, in the thick of the fog, something massive shifted. Two crimson eyes locked onto his.
[Trial Begins.]