---
Kai returned to the city at sunrise…
But the city he entered was no longer the same as he had left it the night before.
The underbelly was in chaos.
People were running.
Soldiers were shouting.
Shardhunters were swarming the alleys as if searching for buried treasure.
Or… someone.
Kai pulled his old cloak tighter around him as he walked calmly, trying to appear normal, even though his chest still pulsed with that hidden light.
"Did they sense me…? Impossible, so soon."
But his eyes caught something strange.
Men in black leather, carrying silver claw emblems on a red background.
A guild.
And from their appearance… they weren't the friendly kind.
---
🐺 Hunters
"Clear the area!" one of them shouted.
"The energy reading was right here!"
Kai froze inwardly.
Reading a cap… they search for the shrapnel.
He walked past them slowly, head bowed.
"You!"
He froze.
A huge man, a scar running across his face, stared at him.
"You were outside the walls last night?"
A second of silence.
"I was working at the port…" Kai said quietly, gesturing to the empty bread bag in his hand.
The man moved closer… very close.
Then—
A faint light appeared around his eyes.
A shrapnel was revealed.
Kai felt his heart pound.
"If he saw what's inside me… I'm finished."
The light swept across his body… then vanished.
"Weak," the man muttered disdainfully. "Not what we're looking for."
He pushed him away.
Kai walked… not running.
But he didn't breathe… until he turned into a side alley.
---
🩸 The Painful Truth
He hunched over a crumbling wall, panting.
His hand on his chest.
"Why didn't they detect me...?"
Suddenly, the words reappeared:
---
[First Star Core — Passive Concealment Activated] Energy not classified as a shard
Undetectable by conventional sensing methods
---
His eyes widened.
"So... I'm a ghost to them?"
A faint smile appeared... then vanished.
"A ghost that dies every time it fights."
---
💥 Chaos Begins
A scream pierced the street.
"Monster! A monster came out of the East Gate!"
People ran.
Shops closed.
Hunters rushed toward the source.
Kai looked toward the rising smoke.
"Not my problem..."
One step.
"I'm no hero..."
Two steps.
He remembered the eyes of the children in the neighborhood.
The old woman who sometimes gave him bread.
The boy who followed him every day, asking if he wanted to be a hunter.
He sighed heavily.
"Damn it…"
And he ran toward the danger.
---
🐗 The Iron Beast
In the shattered market square, the beast roared.
An armored boar, the size of a cart, its skin covered in shrapnel, its eyes bloodshot with fury.
Two hunters tried to stop it…
One lay bleeding.
The other barely managed to fend off an attack.
"Get out of the way!" someone shouted to the civilians.
But a little girl stood frozen in place… crying.
And the beast charged at her.
---
⚡ The Choice
The world shrunk before Kai's eyes.
The voice of the system whispered inside him:
[Intervention = Lifespan Consumption]
He closed his eyes for a moment.
Then he opened them—
In them was the same light that had fallen from the sky.
He rushed forward.
Time slowed down.
He saw the monster's path.
He saw a weak spot behind its front leg.
He leaped, rolled beneath its body, and touched its skin with his glowing hand.
The light exploded.
A metallic scream tore through the air.
The monster stumbled… then fell with a force that shook the earth.
Silence.
---
⏳ The Price
Kai knelt, his breath ragged.
The words appeared before him:
[Iron Shard Absorbed — Temporary Physical Enhancement]
Remaining Age: 19 years, 2 months, 27 days
He stared at the number.
"Days… gone for just one hit."
He raised his head—
To find dozens of eyes staring at him.
Hunters.
Civilians.
And a guild soldier… watching him intently.
A tall man, his hair pulled back, with the Dawn Claws emblem on his shoulder.
He smiled faintly.
"Hmm… an interesting boy."
Kai felt a chill run down his spine.
For the first time…
He wasn't a ghost anymore.
Someone… had seen him.
---