'How many times have I been in this room? Five? Six?'
On floor one of the dungeon closest to the city of Precipice, Rune stood facing the same three crystalline spiders he had struggled against nearly every day since arriving in this world.
'I'm going to do this. And I'm going to do it fast. Time to put my new skills to the test.'
He charged straight at the spiders, shadow climbing up his body as he activated Shadow Reflexes.
The creatures met him head on, spreading into a loose half circle around him.
Their strikes and snapping bites that had once nearly torn him apart and pushed him to the edge of death were now easily avoided.
The world seemed to lag a fraction behind Rune's movements, as if his body was acting before reality could keep up.
Shadows peeled off him as he moved, thin afterimages trailing each step, each twist, each dodge.
His feet struck the ground faster than they should have, faster than muscle alone could manage.
Every lunge, every bite, every leg came in slow, readable fragments.
Rune slipped through the gaps instinctively, his body guided by shadow rather than thought, moving where darkness already knew he would be.
'I don't fully understand it yet, but it feels like the shadows show me where they're going to be.'
After a few minutes of getting the hang of the movement, Rune went on the offensive.
The first swing of Triple Judgement stunned the spider, locking it in place for a brief moment.
When the second strike landed, instead of shattering armor like before, cracks splintered across the crystalline body, light bleeding through every fracture.
Rather than following with the third blow that would have triggered an explosion, Rune drove upward with his knee.
The spider shattered apart completely, splitting cleanly along every glowing crack.
'HA! That worked. I don't need to use the moves I've remembered exactly, I can improvise.'
Rune rushed the next spider, leaping into the air and raising both axes overhead. Light flooded into the blades as he brought them down in a single, heavy motion.
The spider crumbled under the impact. No fancy techniques. No new memories unlocked. Just the raw force of Rune and his element combined.
He turned toward the last spider and began walking forward, casual and unhurried, a new confidence settling into his stride.
A crystal leg lashed out toward his head.
Rune shifted a fraction to the left, letting it pass by. As it did, he lifted one axe with almost no effort, shadow flooding the blade, and severed the leg cleanly.
Another strike came from the opposite side. Rune stepped aside without even looking, swinging the second axe up and cutting it off just as easily.
'I don't know if it was fighting those thugs with my life on the line, or if this element is coming naturally to me,' he thought. 'But this is so much better than before.'
The spider screeched in pain after losing two of its legs and lunged forward, snapping its crystal fangs as it tried to bite Rune.
He channeled light into his axes, but this time not into the blades. Instead, he fed it into the bases of the handles, then brought both axes crashing down onto the creature's head before leaping aside.
As they struck, small explosions rippled outward, slamming the spider's head into the floor. It went still for a brief moment, stunned, its side fully exposed.
Triple Judgement came fast.
Stagger.
Break.
BOOM!
Crystal chunks shattered into tiny fragments, spraying across the cavern.
"Well… crap," Rune muttered. "Not getting paid for that one."
[Physical Power increasing… +3]
'Let me try something. Show Summary.'
[Status Summary]Name: RuneAge: 22Race: Human+Element: LightElement: ShadowElement power: 26Physical power: 24Stored Money Value: None
[Perks]Memories of the WorldOne That Has Started to Remember
[Qualifications]None
Rune exhaled slowly, letting the last of the adrenaline fade. For the first time since he'd started coming here, the room felt finished. Not survived. Finished.
He looked toward the back of the chamber, where a narrow tunnel waited. He'd seen it every day. Walked past it every day. Until now, it had always felt out of reach.
A grin tugged at his face as he stepped into the passage.
The tunnel wound tightly, forcing him to duck and turn sideways in places, the crystal walls pressing in close. It twisted longer than he expected, just enough to make him wonder if this was all there was.
Then it opened up.
A massive cavern stretched out before him. Jagged rock outcroppings jutted from the floor, narrow trails carved along the walls, and countless small holes dotted the stone.
Crystal webbing spread everywhere, glinting softly in the light.
And spiders.
A lot of spiders.
At least twenty of them.
Rune stared for a long moment.
'Oh. Had I made it back here before, I would have died quick.'
He stepped forward, and his foot snagged on something. He glanced down to see a cluster of crystal webbing stretched across the floor.
He looked back up.
Every spider in the cavern had turned to face him.
"Oh. Hello," Rune said lightly. "I have a delivery for…ah, forget it. No time for jokes."
Element surged around him, flooding into his axes.
'I'm actually glad this happened,' he thought. 'Because I only know how to do things loud.'
Rune charged forward with a grin spreading across his face. Shadow wrapped around his body, letting him move faster, slip between strikes, and cut as he went.
One spider shattered. Then two. Three. Four more fell as he tore through the swarm rushing him.
The momentum was his. He'd found his rhythm at last, sliding across the cavern floor with ease, every movement flowing into the next.
THWAP!
Something sticky slammed into his arm, binding it tight against his side before hardening instantly. Rune glanced down to see crystal webbing locking his arm in place.
He followed the line of it upward.
Smaller, unfamiliar spiders clung to a high ledge along the cavern wall, their mouths open as they fired more webbing straight at him.
"Well, that's new."