Mason exhaled quietly beside me. "Guess you're off his radar. For now."
"Lucky me," I said, gripping my shovel tighter.
The work started like every other day; mechanical, endless. The clang of metal, the scrape of rock, the distant grind of machines. But beneath it all, I could hear the system again: steady, pulsing, alive.
[Daily Task progress : Strengthen the Body - 10%]
Each swing counted. Every ounce of effort fed something growing inside me.
"Guess we're both working for someone," I muttered under my breath, setting the shovel deep into the stone.
Mason glanced over. "What?"
"Nothing," I said, forcing a grin. "Just talking to myself."
The rhythm of the dig settled in fast: swing, lift, heave, breathe.
Dust filled the air, coating every breath with grit. The sun climbed higher, bleaching the world in gray heat.
Mason worked beside me, his shovel hitting the rock in short, efficient strokes. Around us, the rest of the crew dug like machines. Driven not by pride, but by the fear of falling behind.
[Daily Task progress : Strengthen the Body - 23%]
Sweat rolled down my neck. My arms should've been burning by now, but they weren't. Not really. Every swing landed harder, cleaner. The shovel bit deeper into the packed soil like it weighed nothing at all.
"Damn, man," Mason said, straightening to wipe his forehead. "You been hiding steroids or something?"
I forced a laugh. "Guess I'm just motivated."
"Yeah? Well save some for the rest of us."
He went back to work, but his eyes lingered a second too long.
[Task Progress : 41]
The system pulsed brighter now, syncing with the rhythm of my heartbeat. Each movement was smoother than the last, reflexive, almost instinctual. My body wasn't just working; it was learning. Adapting.
A crate clattered somewhere behind us, followed by Vargas's voice.
"Pick it up! You fall behind, you don't eat tonight!"
His words carried through the pit, cutting through the sound of shovels and strained breathing. I kept my head down, but I could feel his gaze sweep across the line again, stopping briefly on me.
[Task Progress : 58]
The ground shifted under my next strike, the shovel's blade sparking against something solid. A few workers paused, curious. I leaned down, brushing away the dust and exposing a vein of darker stone that glimmered faintly beneath the dirt.
The HUD flickered.
[Unidentified Material Detected]
System Analysis Pending
I blinked. "What the hell…"
Mason leaned over. "You find something?"
Before I could answer, the light vanished, and the system went silent again, like it had swallowed the alert.
"Nothing," I muttered, shoveling the dirt back over it. "Just a rock."
[Task Progress : 73]
But something about that pulse stayed in the back of my head, familiar, almost alive.
The day stretched on. The heat burned. The others slowed. But I didn't. Couldn't.
By the time the final bell rang, my arms still felt strong, my breathing calm, steady. The system's hum faded back to a quiet whisper.
[Daily Quests Completed]
"The flesh adapts. The form endures." +10 exp
The text pulsed once, then split apart into new lines of data.
Total Experience: 30/25
Level: 2 (+1)
Pending Rewards :
+1 Attribute Point
Unlock 1 skill
I stared at it, breath shallow.
"Finally."
The HUD shifted as I focused, opening a translucent interface, like glass shards rearranging in midair. My stats hovered before me, glowing faintly blue.
[Host : Terry Holt ]
Level 2
Health: 100/100
Stamina: 100/100
Strength: 6 (+1)
Endurance: 5 (+1)
Perception: 4
Instincts: 3
Available Points: 1
Experience Points : 5/50
And beneath that, new options glowed faintly at the bottom of the interface:
[Skill Tree — Stage 1]
Unlocked Skills: Hunting Instincts
Locked Skills: Regeneration, Enhanced Senses, Blood Conversion (???)
A faint hum vibrated behind my eyes as the interface hovered closer, waiting for input. My fingers twitched like the system expected me to touch something, choose something.
But Mason was watching. Vargas was still pacing the ridge.
The last thing I needed was someone seeing me staring at empty air like I'd lost my mind.
"Not now," I muttered.
I reached out and mentally swiped the HUD away. It folded like smoke, vanishing into a faint shimmer at the edge of my vision.
Later. I'd look at it later when I wasn't surrounded by people who'd start asking questions I couldn't answer.