"Empty, huh?"

Elaine rolled her eyes as a soft white glow spread across her body—Lightwork, a skill that slightly enhanced her speed and reaction time. A brighter light flared around her rapier, and without another word, she launched herself straight at the oncoming swarm of Barkspawns.

Isaac chuckled but didn't follow right away. Instead, he reached into his Storage Brand and pulled out one of the items waiting inside. He had waited long enough anyway.

In a brief flash of light, the vial containing the Essence of Blood landed in his free hand. He uncorked it, and after a deep breath, he downed it in one go. Not that there really was a lot to drink. It was just a single drop of blood, after all.

Still, the effects were instantaneous.

For a short moment, the noises around him faded into the background as a drumbeat of war echoed from the core of his being. It was his heart and Origin beating in sync, drumming faster and harder with each second. Not even Symphony of Blood could push past it, and soon, it vanished, leaving him alone with a brand new song.

A song that ended without a warning, snapping him back to reality.

Isaac blinked.

What?

There was still something burning deep inside him, something closer and more tangible than before—like his Origin had inched forward, extending a hand. But aside from that? The powerful drumming and the closeness to his heart were gone. Only a faint echo remained.

At the very least, the Interface didn't leave him without an explanation. Small mercies.

Origin reawakening failed. Essence of Blood is too weak. The chance of reawakening in the future has been slightly increased. Good luck next time, Host.

Connection to Origin of Blood has been temporarily boosted. Use this opportunity to improve your skills. Time left: 1 hour.

So that's how it works, Isaac hummed even as he rushed forward to assist Elaine. He had left her alone for long enough. Even if reawakening fails, it stacks toward future attempts. Nice.

In the end, though, he wasn't even hoping for this 'reawakening' today. He just wasn't that lucky. What he had been aiming for was the temporary boost to his Origin. And now he had it.

Let's play.

With naught but a thought, a salvo of Blood Daggers appeared above him. They weren't any bigger or stronger than normal, but they definitely manifested a bit faster than usual. The Essence of Blood had to affect more than just skill progression. Not surprising, in hindsight.

And so, after dismissing the Root, Isaac joined the battle with two Blood Daggers in hand while more hovered around him. The Barkspawns, just like those outside, stood no chance as he and Elaine crushed them like a wrecking ball.

Every now and then, he got ahead of himself, earning a nick or a shallow cut from a stray branch—but nothing serious. Even with Toughness being his weakest attribute, it was still more than enough to negate most of the force behind Barkspawns' lucky shots.

Starting area indeed. Isaac grinned, cutting through the gnarled 'face' of yet another beast. Its branches shattered, and he pushed onward, another round of Blood Daggers clearing the path for him.

Before long, though, the Barkspawns stopped coming out of the walls, while those that remained tried to escape. Neither Isaac nor Elaine allowed them, but that left them with an empty corridor and no monsters to fight.

He clicked his tongue and turned to his companion. "Collect as many gems as you can. I will try to contact the others. See if they had to deal with the same thing."

Elaine nodded and crouched, her body almost disappearing in the mist. Isaac, meanwhile, unclipped the radio from his belt and raised it to his mouth. "James? Marie?" he called out. "Can you hear me?"

At first, only static answered him. But after a couple of seconds, a familiar voice finally came through. "We can," Marie answered. "Bit busy, though."

"Ambush?" Isaac asked to make sure.

"Yeah," the woman said. "We're wrapping it up now."

"Got it." He nodded. "I won't distract you then. Talk later."

To no surprise, he received no answer, so he just returned the radio to its previous position. Then, without a delay, he also dived into the mist. The gems were just too important to be left behind, even if they barely offered him any progress at this point.

Better be quick. The clock is ticking.

More ambushes followed. Almost every corridor they explored had one waiting. Barkspawns remained the most common threat, but whenever the tunnels widened into large oval chambers, Hollowbeaks joined the swarm. Then, there were also a few instances where they had to get past Rotgrub-infested areas, but neither Isaac nor Elaine wanted to talk about it.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

The smell alone was traumatic enough.

Still, at the very least, the deeper into the nest they ventured, the stronger the monsters became. Which, honestly, still wasn't saying much, as level six beasts got slaughtered almost as fast as level fours. Level progression should be faster, though, so Isaac wasn't complaining.

About thirty minutes into their dive, they came upon a particular corridor—or hall, maybe was the better word. It was wide, at least thrice the size of most corridors around here. The mist also seemed thicker, rising all the way up to the middle of his chest. For Elaine, it was even worse, and only her head and a bit of her shoulders stuck out of the fog.

"I don't like this," she muttered, waving a hand in a futile attempt to clear the air.

It didn't work.

Isaac nodded. "Same… Think your grenade trick might work again?"

"I can try," she said before grimacing. "But I swear if there are Rotgrubs here, I am running straight back to the exit."

He snorted. "I will be right behind you. Trust me on that." He stepped out of the way. "Ladies first."

Elaine rolled her eyes as she raised her hand above the mist. An orb of light manifested upon her palm and continued to grow larger and larger with each second. The process only stopped when it reached the size of a melon.

"Better close your eyes," she warned.

Isaac didn't need to be told twice. He turned away and snapped his eyes shut. A few seconds later, an explosion rocked the place, followed by the usual wave of heat that felt much hotter than usual.

"Not bad." He heard Elaine mutter, and so he opened his eyes again.

Sure enough, a large section of the mist in the center of the hall had burned away. The grenade didn't hit any monsters, but maybe that was for the best. Another incident with Rotgrubs was the last thing they needed.

"How many of those do you think you have in you?" he asked, stopping at Elaine's side.

She frowned. "Three? Maybe four? That took a—"

Only she never got to finish what she wanted to say.

A low, demonic howl echoed through the hall, cutting her off. A moment later, over a dozen monsters burst out of the fog, their crimson eyes burning with hate.

Potential Threat: Low

Isaac barely had a second to summon and raise the Root to stop the downward slash from the ghost-like being before him. The monster howled as its bladed arm collided with his weapon, then swung its other limb to retaliate.

Only Isaac was faster.

He pivoted, materialized a Blood Dagger in his free hand, and plunged it into the beast's half-transparent, featureless silver face. Its scream of rage turned into one of agony. Another stab to its torso silenced even that as the monster faded into nothingness.

[Fog Wisp (LVL. 6) slain.]

But Isaac barely paid attention to that message. Instead, he rushed toward Elaine, who was being chased around by four floating Wisps. Unlike his former enemy, they had different weapons in place of their hands—axes, hammers, and pikes, among other things. Their coloring also didn't follow any pattern.

That said, one thing stayed consistent with those monsters. They were all just large blobs of energy, with crimson eyes as their only distinctive feature. And they didn't bleed, so there was that too.

They were fast, though. Not on his or Elaine's level, but still fast. His Blood Daggers, normally reliable, missed more than they hit. Little bastards were quite good at dodging.

Melee it is then, Isaac decided as he faced another Wisp. The Root clashed against a hammer-hand and sank a few inches into the energy weapon. The beast shrieked and disengaged, flying higher to get in a better position.

Only it never got a chance to do much more.

Before it could descend, Elaine shot out of the mist and soared right above Issac with her rapier poised to strike. The stronger white glow around the weapon confirmed the use of another skill, and the Wisp could do nothing when the woman shot through its body like a spear. A moment later, she disappeared in the fog again.

Show-off.

Isaac snorted, ignoring the begging of the Root to unleash a Blood Draw or two. For now, he wanted to focus on evolving Blood Dagger. Once that was done, maybe he would revisit the skills that supposedly couldn't evolve.

Not even two minutes later—he checked—the last of the Fog Wisps vanished. As it died, the dense fog in the corridor began to dissipate, sinking back to its usual waist-level.

"That was… interesting," he commented, glancing at the timer of his increased connection to Origin.

Still over twenty minutes left.

"They were harder to kill without a skill," Elaine noted, frowning. "Felt like my sword went through them without doing any damage."

"Huh," Isaac hummed. "Didn't notice."

She huffed. "Of course you didn't. Your sword is overpowered, and you're mostly using those daggers of yours."

"Fair enough." He shrugged. "So you think they are immune to pure physical damage?"

"No." She shook her head. "Just more resistant. Which makes sense, I guess. Their bodies were made out of energy—Viron, maybe. Fight fire with fire."

Isaac nodded and squinted, trying to see the ground beneath the mist. Usually, Virality Gems gave out a weak glow that made them quite easy to locate, but here, there was none of that.

"No gems, huh?"

"I didn't see any drop," Elaine admitted, joining him in the search. "You?"

"Same," he muttered, letting out a sigh. "Let's move. No time to waste."

Warning! You're nearing the chamber of the nest guardian. Proceed with caution.

Both Isaac and Elaine froze when the notification appeared in front of them. They were still inside a short, narrow corridor, empty of monsters. But ahead, they could see it opening into a much larger room.

The two glanced at each other and, after sharing a nod, proceeded forward as quietly as they could. Soon, they reached the exit of the corridor, where they stopped again.

Okay, that's new… Isaac thought as he scanned the chamber ahead.

It was easily large enough to fit three or four of his old apartments. The roots that made up the walls of this place were also darker and thicker than any other. Add to that, the glowing moss here came in all kinds of colors, bathing the room in an unnatural blend of light.

The guardian, though, was nowhere to be seen. However, that might be due to the mist that once more rose a bit and became thicker than anywhere else. If Isaac didn't know any better, he would have thought it was solid.

"Might need another of your grenades here," he whispered to Elaine.

She nodded. "Probably. But maybe let's contact the others first?"

"Right..."

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