The blade had a clean, elegant shape, shorter than a full longsword but longer than a dagger, which made it look quick and precise rather than heavy and brutal. The metal was polished well enough that I could see a faint reflection of the forge light along the edge. The hilt was wrapped in dark leather, and the guard curved outward in a way that made the whole thing look balanced and comfortable to swing. It looked like something a skilled fighter would actually trust in combat.

Curious, I checked its stats too, and my expectations immediately dropped.

╔═══════════════════════╗

> Nimble Sword (Rare)

╠═══════════════════════╣

> Type: Weapon - Shortsword

> DMG: 14-27

> Durability: 30 / 30

> Req. Level: 5

────────────────────────

> Upgrade Level

> □ □ □ □

────────────────────────

> [ UPGRADE ] [ UNEQUIP ] [ BACK ]

╚═══════════════════════╝

I stared at the screen for a second and then let out a quiet breath. There was no way I could afford this thing.

"How much?" I asked anyway.

Jengo held the sword out toward me for a moment like he already knew the answer would hurt. "Ten gold. But because I like Ken, I can let it go for eight."

I looked up at him and shook my head. "I do not have that much."

Jengo gave a short shrug. "Then the dagger it is."

"Yep. Three and a five?"

"Yes, sir."

Ken, who had been watching from beside me, immediately leaned forward with a grin.

"Come on, big man," he said. "Do it for flat three gold."

Jengo snorted. "No, kid."

"That’s cruel."

"That’s business."

I sighed, opened my hand, and withdrew the coins directly from the system. Three gold and five silver appeared in my palm with that faint golden glow the inventory always gave off when I pulled items out of it. I could feel their weight immediately, a lot more tangible than simply reading the number on a screen. I handed the coins over to Jengo and took the dagger from him, slipping it into my inventory without wasting any time.

At least now I had a real weapon to my name. It was not legendary or anything ridiculous like that, but an uncommon dagger was still better than the cheap junk I had been carrying before.

╔═════════════════╗

> INVENTORY

╠═════════════════╣

> Decent Work Dagger

> EMPTY

> EMPTY

> EMPTY

> EMPTY

───────────────────

> Coin: 40S

╚═════════════════╝

Jengo tucked the coins into his pouch with a satisfied nod.

"Pleasure doing business," he said. "Anything else?"

"I think that’s it for now," I replied.

Ken had already started eyeing the rest of the weapons around the shop like a kid staring at candy in a window.

"I want some armor. A light one." Ken said.

Jengo heard him immediately and pointed a thumb over toward the side room. "I have a few decent sets in the back if you want to look. Nothing high-class, but solid enough for students who do not want to bleed too much."

Ken brightened. "Now you’re speaking my language."

The old blacksmith chuckled and stepped away from the counter.

"Come on then. I’ll show you what I’ve got."

Eh. Could’ve gone worse.

Even if the whole world was falling apart outside, at least I had managed to upgrade one of my weapons without getting completely robbed in the process.

ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎

Another quest completed. Nice.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead and exhaled slowly. These daily quests were easy enough on paper, but they still left me exhausted because they forced me to swing a weapon for ten straight minutes without stopping. If I slowed down even for a few seconds, the timer reset and I had to start all over again.

╔═══════════════════════╗

> Ace | LC: 156 | EXP: 266/490 | LVL 6

╠═══════════════════════╣

> HP ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ 115/115

> MP ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ 85/85

> STA ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱ 80/100

────────────────────────

> Class: ROGUE

> Known Abilities:

• Dead Lantern

• Mirror Knifel

• Shadow Leap

────────────────────────

> PERKS

• +15% Magic Damage

• +10% Critical Chance

• Backstab Damage

• Light of the Believer

╠═══════════════════════╣

> [ BAG ] [ MAP ] [ SHOP ] [ QUESTS ]

╚═══════════════════════╝

"Forty-eight EXP," I muttered while lowering myself onto the dirt.

Across the other side of the arena, Ken was still experimenting with his own abilities. He kept aiming his bow at nothing in particular, then releasing imaginary shots before actually firing one. After that, he would cast a gust of wind to alter the arrow’s path, but the spell kept throwing the shot off course in weird ways. Sometimes it pushed the arrow too far to the left, and sometimes it ruined the momentum completely.

"Ah, man," Ken muttered while lowering his bow. "This is hard."

I gave him a small nod. "Hey, this Shadow Leap spell. Is it really that hard to cast?"

"I’d say so," he replied, turning toward me. "The casting itself is easy enough, but knowing exactly where you will end up is the hard part."

"Really?" I asked. "So everybody can cast it?"

"Yeah," he said with a shrug. "Even a Ranger like me can cast spells outside my class. I’d just be terrible at them. Here, let me show you."

"Alright."

Ken took a step forward and stretched one hand out in front of him. Then he clenched his fist and pushed his arm back. Immediately, his body turned into a cloud of black dust that drifted forward through the air toward me. It looked strange, almost like smoke with a shape attached to it, and for a second I could see exactly where the spell wanted to send him. The black cloud moved in a straight line, marking the path he would appear on if the spell completed properly.

But it did not finish in time.

Ken reappeared halfway through the movement while his body was still sliding through the air, and because the spell ended too early, all that momentum carried him forward instead of stopping cleanly. He hit the ground face-first, rolled twice across the dirt, and came to a stop right in front of me with a groan.

"Bleh," he muttered. "I think I swallowed some dust."

I reached a hand down to him. "I’d say you did pretty well."

He grabbed my hand and got back up. "Really? I do not know, man. Shadow Leap seems pretty difficult."

"Let me try."

I copied his movement, stretching one hand forward and focusing on the space ahead. Just like before, the same black dust appeared in front of me. It showed me the place I would end up like a trail of smoke, hovering ahead of me while shifting as I moved my hand. It was almost like the spell was drawing the destination in the air. Every time I adjusted my hand position, the smoke shifted too, letting me know where I would appear if I committed to the cast.

Once I was satisfied with the direction, I clenched my hand and pulled my arm back.

The world turned into black smoke.

My body vanished completely, and the smoke rushed through the air in a smooth line. Less than a second later, I appeared exactly where I had aimed without any trouble.

That was useful.

Ken smiled at me. "Look at that. You’re actually good at it."

"Guess I am."

"Another attack!" a student suddenly shouted as he came running toward us. "Gods, Gods, GODS! TERRIBLE!"

He did not even slow down when he reached the arena exit. Instead, he kept charging for the dormitory building while yelling the same thing again, his face pale and twisted with panic.

"Wait," I said immediately, standing up. "What attack?"

"Jelda!" he shouted back, his voice breaking. "It is terrible. It is really terrible."

Ken and I exchanged one look, and then we immediately ran out the arena.

The moon was already up, and the street lamps lining the circular road cast weak pools of yellow light across the stone path. By the time we reached the dormitories, chaos had already swallowed the area.

I looked left and immediately froze.

Jelda was in the window of her room.

Half her body was hanging out of it, and the sight was so wrong that my stomach turned instantly. Her head had been split open, and blood and brain matter were spilling down onto the street below. Her hair moved slightly in the wind while the rest of her body remained caught inside the room. The girls around the dormitory were screaming in horror, and some of them had already started crying.

Holy shit.

The scene was disgusting. It was the kind of thing that made your skin crawl just looking at it. Whoever had done this had earned a permanent place on my list.

Right at the top.

Even the guards were grimacing. A few of them stood at the base of the building staring up in complete shock while the teachers nearby looked just as stunned, their hands on their heads as if they could not process what they were seeing. This had happened in the girls’ dormitory, in a room where nobody should have been sleeping peacefully, and somehow the attacker had still gotten in.

"Shit," I muttered.

As I moved closer, a girl sprinted past me and bent over near a tree to vomit into the dirt. Guards rushed toward the building from every direction, and a few of them ran out toward the road to alert their superiors. Everything had fallen into complete panic.

"JELDA!" one student screamed as I passed her. Her eyes were full of tears. "No, no, no!"

"Everyone calm down!" Professor Kroua yelled while storming out of the dormitory. "Stop screaming and back away!"

Then I saw him.

A man had appeared in the window beside Jelda, as if he had been waiting there the whole time. He wore a dark robe with a hood pulled low over his face, along with a black mask that covered most of the rest. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and I could just barely make out the outline of a dirty beard beneath the mask.

"Oh, you bastard," I muttered. "You are not running away."

"You!" Professor Kroua shouted at the man. "Stop right there!"

"This is only the beginning," the man called back, his voice calm and unnervingly steady. "I will not stop."

"Stop!"

I rushed toward the building.