The node was still pulsing.
Still bleeding steam.
Still covered in meat.
I sat nearby, chewing on something that used to be a squirrel.
It wasn't good.
Wasn't even bad.
It just was.
I wasn't full.
I wasn't rested.
I was just... not bleeding anymore.
The rage had cooled again. Settled low.
Not gone, never gone, not anymore, just... banked. Like coals in a pit.
Ready when I needed it.
[TUTORIAL ENCOUNTER: 4/10 – WAVE 2/3 INITIATED]
Encounter Type: Mixed Hostiles (Ranged + Melee)
Objective: Protect Active Node [Node-47b]
Recommended Team Composition: 3–4 Classed Users (Defender + DPS + Support)
Estimated Difficulty: LOW
Engagement Context: Territory Defense Training Scenario
💡 Tip: Ranged enemies may prioritize environmental objectives over direct player engagement. Proactive interception is advised to maintain integrity score! 😊
Reminder: Early exposure to multi-threat prioritization is critical for long-term User survival.
Note: Environmental object loss may result in point penalties and reduced reward tiers.
There it was again, that fucking smile in text form.
Like the System thought this was all a game.
Like the last wave hadn't ended with five corpses draped like decorations on a murder shrine.
Six enemies came out this time.
Three with actual weapons, if you could call rusted iron and splintered wood "weapons."
Three stayed back, hurling things that might've once been javelins. One had a sling that looked like it came from a toy aisle. Real intimidating shit.
They came out neat, spaced just right, like they were following some ancient battle manual nobody had read in a thousand years. Formation crisp, movement clean.
I didn't move.
Let them throw.
The first javelin sailed in and struck dead center, not in me, but in the goblin I'd already skewered onto the spike. It hit with a thunk and stuck, vibrating like a tuning fork. The next one bounced off a squirrel torso and skidded harmlessly down the side of the crystal. Who would have thought a squirrel torso would be tough enough to do that?
They weren't even aiming at me.
They didn't care.
And somehow, that pissed me off more than anything else.
I stood up slowly.
Not dramatic. Not heroic. Just motion, deliberate, steady, final.
I was still bruised, still stitched together with fury, meat, and terrible decisions.
And as I rose, it hit.
Battlelust.
Not like a switch being flipped. Not like a roar.
More like pressure.
Like the whole arena took a breath, and held it.
Like the world leaned just slightly toward me.
The goblins felt it.
I saw it. In the way the first one faltered for half a heartbeat.
In the way the second gripped his weapon like it might save him.
But they didn't stop.
They couldn't.
The first charged with what I assume much have been a warcry.
I met it at a walk, let it swing too early, and buried my hatchet in its face like I was punching in a timecard.
It crumpled, legs folding under it like wet laundry.
I stepped over the body and pivoted with the swing, caught the second in the ribs hard enough to hear bone give. He collapsed, clutching his side, trying to breathe through it.
I think I heard something crack in the hatchet as well.
The third shrieked. Real, honest terror this time.
It aimed low, sloppy. I caught its wrist mid-swing, twisted until something gave, then brought a boot up under its jaw and stopped that hideous sound.
Three down.
None of it felt hard. I was barely even angry.
Now for the ranged ones.
Time to show them what happens when you pretend I'm not the problem.
They saw me coming.
And they hesitated.
Just a twitch.
Just a half-step backward, like maybe, just maybe, something primal had fired off inside the remnants of their shitty little goblin brains.
They didn't break formation.
Didn't scatter.
But they wanted to.
I felt it, like static in the air. Like heat rising off coals.
Battlelust was growing deeper.
Didn't even have to think about it anymore.
It was part of me now. Breathing when I breathed. Radiating out with every step.
They could feel it.
One threw a javelin, too early, too high. It clipped a corpse already hanging off the node, sank in up to the shaft, and stuck there like a grim little flag.
Another tried to angle left, like it might get a cleaner line of sight. It slipped on the bloody ground and barely caught itself.
The third, the slinger, had gone pale. As pale as green skin could get. At least I assume it's what happened, it turned kinda yellowish
He fired.
The stone bounced off my shoulder with a soft thunk.
Left a mark. Didn't slow me. I felt like the terminator.
I didn't run.
Didn't need to.
Just walked.
One step. Then another.
Hatchet loose in my hand.
Eyes on them.
Aura pressing down like a weather front.
Or maybe not the terminator, I'm probably more like Jason fucking Voorhees rising out of the lake.
That thought made me snort, just a little giggle under the breath.
Hell of a thing to laugh at, but it fit.
The slinger tried to reload. Fumbled.
Dropped the stone.
I got to him first.
Grabbed the arm, twisted, broke the grip.
Then backhanded him hard enough to knock his feet out from under him.
He hit the stone with a yelp and didn't get up.
The second went for a knife.
My knee hit his chest before the blade cleared his belt.
He coughed blood.
I caught him by the throat.
Cracked him into the floor.
Once.
Twice.
Done.
The last one?
He actually ran.
Too late.
I closed the gap with a short burst.
Grabbed him by the ankle and dragged him across the floor, screaming and kicking the whole way.
He tried to grab the base of the spike.
Tried to hold on.
Didn't matter.
I hauled him up, just enough to hang him forward, and dropped him.
The node did the rest.
Skewered clean through.
Wait maybe I'm more like Vlad the Impaler?
I stepped back. Breathing heavy, but steady.
The shrine was taller now. Seven high, maybe eight if you counted the arms still dangling.
I didn't feel tired.
Not yet.
This was starting to feel easy.
I was in control now.
And I don't care how many disgusting little gobbos they throw at me, they won't be able to do a goddamn thing.
🎉 WELL DONE, USER! 🎉
You have successfully completed Wave 2/3 of Tutorial Encounter [4/10]!
This defensive scenario was designed to promote:
Threat Differentiation SkillsPriority Target AcquisitionBackline Engagement Awareness
Typical Completion Time: 90–150 seconds
Average Party Size: 3.4 Classed Users
Node Integrity Loss Threshold: Acceptable
Reminder: Minor node damage is a normal part of the learning process!
Consider reviewing the Role-Synergy Handbook [v4.7.3] for additional teamwork tips.
⏳ (Rest Period: 5 minutes remaining)
Would you like to proceed to Wave 3?
→ YES
→ NO
[ROOT RESONANCE: Ragebound – Norse Line: 13% → 14%]
✦ RESONANCE EVENT DETECTED ✦
User has initiated connection with Root: [Ragebound – Norse Line]
Response classified as: Symbolic Synchronization
Resulting Adaptation: Minor physiological reinforcement
Body has been nurtured by mythic resonance.
+1 Strength
Because I could.
Five minutes of peace.
Or whatever passed for peace when your legs were sticky with someone else's blood and your last meal had twitched when you bit into it.
I leaned back against the stone and let my breathing slow.
Twelve Strength.
Eleven Vitality.
Seven Dexterity.
Two Intelligence.
Presence: Four.
Fifty percent more Strength and Vitality since the first goblin tried to gut me.
Not a single goddamn point of Intelligence.
Figures.
The System still thought I was an idiot.
Maybe it wasn't wrong.
I did eat half a squirrel without cooking it.
I rolled my shoulder. The soreness was already fading.
Not just naturally, I could feel it happening.
Flesh Forged by Fury.
Not a skill. Not something I activated.
Just a truth now, that pain bends when I don't.
That rage stitches what the System won't.
Slow. Steady. Ugly.
I wasn't at full health.
But I wasn't bleeding anymore.
And compared to what I'd crawled through in the squirrel pit, this was a spa day.
Then there was Battlelust.
Didn't have to trigger it.
Didn't even think about it.
It just knew.
Like a vent in the soul, it came roaring open the second I saw something worth killing.
And they felt it, the goblins, the squirrels, all of them.
Even if they didn't know what it was.
They hesitated.
Just for a moment.
That's all I needed.
It wasn't fear. Not exactly.
More like instinct trying to slam the brakes while everything else said go.
That heartbeat of indecision?
That's mine now.
That's power.
But the thing that surprised me most?
I wasn't losing control.
I wasn't frothing.
Wasn't blacking out.
Wasn't getting swallowed by the red.
Because somewhere in the middle of all that heat, I had something else.
A blue flame.
Small. Focused. Cold.
Not System-certified. Not labeled.
Not yet.
But I could feel it coiling through the rage, taming it, narrowing it.
It didn't stop the fire.
It shaped it.
A trick, not a skill, or maybe something older than both.
Like watching the fight from the back of my own skull.
Like letting the body move while the mind stayed sharp.
I could be angry.
I could be savage.
But I could still be me.
And that?
That was the scariest part.
I was getting good at this.
Something was off.
No roar. No scream. No tutorial pop-up telling me to stretch first.
Just a change in the air. Like the arena exhaled something it'd been holding in.
Then the System chimed in, chipper as ever:
[TUTORIAL ENCOUNTER: 4/10 – WAVE 3/3 INITIATED]
Encounter Type: Reinforced Elite (Local Construct – Tier 1 Adaptation)
Objective: Defend Node Integrity [Node-47b]
Estimated Difficulty: MODERATE
Recommended Party Composition: 4 Classed Users (Tank + AoE DPS + Support + Crowd Control)
💡 Tip: Group coordination and position cycling are key to sustainable defense! Don't let your frontline collapse. 😊
📊 Average Completion Rate: 95% (Team Mode)
Reminder: This encounter introduces structural threat endurance. Efficient defense relies on staggered aggression and proactive mitigation.
Note: This wave is considered the final warm-up before Tier 1 adaptive challenge content.
Right.
Of course.
Because obviously I had a full raid team hidden up my ass, just needed to rotate the cleric out, let the archer pull aggro, maybe pop a group-wide shield cooldown while we were at it.
I pushed to my feet.
That's when I heard it.
Not goblins this time. Not chittering or snarls or the frantic little shuffle of something with too many teeth.
Just weight.
Thud.
Pause.
Thud.
Closer. Heavier. Like someone taught gravity how to walk.
Then it stepped through the far gate, tall enough to scrape the arch, wide enough to blot the light behind it. Its shoulders looked carved from siege towers, arms like stone pilings pulled from the foundations of old cities. Smooth. Unbroken. No eyes. No mouth. No personality.
A golem.
Not magical. Not flashy.
Just designed to withstand anything four level-four players could throw at it.
All of them with skills.
All of them with gear.
All of them with classes.
I had a dull goblin hatchet. A half-healed leg. And an aura that made squirrels hesitate.
It didn't even look at me.
Its attention locked on the node, or what was left of it under the corpse-totem I'd built. Goblin bodies. Squirrel meat. Javelins lodged in ribs. Everything I'd killed, stacked and draped like a funeral offering to spite.
It had worked.
Against weak enemies, the meat soaked impact. The bodies blocked line of sight. Javelins hit bone. Daggers stopped just shy of the crystal.
But this thing wasn't going to chip away at anything.
It was going to walk through it.
All that blood and bile and labor I'd turned into armor? It would just add splash damage when the golem hit.
And it was hitting soon.
One step. Then another. Each one steadier than the last.
I tightened my grip on the hatchet. The wood creaked. The edge was already nicked. My knuckles ached from old breaks.
I braced.
Battlelust surged, that pressure behind the eyes, that thrum behind the ribs, and I felt the weight of my presence drop across the arena like a curtain.
The golem didn't even twitch.
No hesitation. No pause.
It didn't flinch.
Didn't adapt.
Didn't even notice.
Because it wasn't here for me.
Designed for a party.
Optimized for synergy.
Balanced for people who were never alone.
And me?
I was just the guy too stubborn to say no.
If that node breaks, I probably don't die.
Not technically.
But the tutorial ends.
And somehow... that feels worse.
Because it's not personal. It's not even malicious.
It's just indifference.
I'm not part of the plan.
Not part of the design.
I was never supposed to make it this far.
And now the System's moving on, with or without me.
No buffs.
No backup.
No plan.
Just me.
And the dumb, angry thought that if I let this thing win, then maybe I really was just background noise all along.
I took a breath.
Stepped forward.
Not because I thought I could win.
But because something in me refused to leave quietly.