A few moments passed—maybe a few minutes, or hours, or even days?
Rayne's body lay limp like a corpse. Nothing had changed after that unbearable pain… except for one thing: his arms and legs had returned to normal.
After regulating his breathing slowly, he tried moving his fingers, then clenched his hand. His hand truly worked again. He then lifted his leg and straightened his body slowly.
"Amazing," he muttered with a faint smile. "If this is the result, then the pain was worth it."
{DING! Your body is now entirely a weapon, Master.}
Rayne frowned slightly. "Entirely a weapon, huh? Then… how strong must bones be to be called weapons?"
{DING! Try punching the big tree beside you.}
Rayne turned to the right. A large tree stood tall not far from where he stood. Out of curiosity, he rotated his body, stepped forward slowly, then got ready.
Swoshhh—
Buuaaakk!!
Krekkkk…
That seemingly ordinary light punch made the entire tree trunk tremble violently. Leaves that weren't supposed to fall yet dropped all at once.
Rayne pulled back his hand, staring at his uninjured palm. Then, without hesitation, he struck again.
Buuaakk!
Buaakkk!!
Krrrkkk…
Boommm!!
A barrage of continuous punches smashed the massive tree's trunk until it shattered at the base. A loud cracking sound echoed as the gigantic tree finally collapsed.
"Hoshh… hoshh…"
Rayne panted, staring at his hand wide-eyed. "I don't even feel any pain…"
He smiled faintly. "This power…"
{DING! Strong bones make your body more stable and resistant to extreme pressure, allowing the muscles to exert full strength without damaging the skeleton.}
"In other words," Rayne looked at his fist sharply, "my foundation has started to form?"
{DING! Precisely, Master.}
Rayne gave a small smile and took a deep breath. "By the way… that battle with the monsters was incredible," he said, glancing at the three monster corpses lying not far from him.
He clenched his fists, his eyes gleaming with an uncontainable thrill.
"Oh, right," he continued suddenly. "During that battle, I heard you talking several times. Your voice was too faint for me to understand clearly."
{DING! The system gives notifications whenever you achieve something, such as killing monsters or increasing your power.}
"Power increase?"
{DING! Correct, Master. It refers to a stat increase. Please open your status by saying 'Open status.'}
Rayne straightened his posture and firmly said, "Open status!"
In an instant, a blue panel appeared in midair, floating before him. Its gentle light reflected in his golden eyes.
---
{Status}
Name: Rayne Voltare
Species: Human
Age: 14
Main Stats
Strength (STR): 69
Endurance (END): 67
Agility (AGI): 61
Intelligence (INT): 25
Vitality (VIT): 65
Synchronized Weapons
Sword: 5
Gun: 4
Bow: 1
Bone: –
Active Skills: –
Passive Skills: –
Weapon Core: Upgrade (35/1000)
Nameless Eyes: Upgrade (35/100)
Hunting Points: 35
---
"Ughh… help me understand these one by one," said Rayne.
{DING! Of course, Master. Starting from the Main Stats:
Strength is your raw power.
Endurance is your body's resistance to damage.
Agility covers speed, dexterity, and balance.
Intelligence determines thinking ability, analysis, and efficient control of energy.
Vitality represents life force, recovery ability, and body regeneration.
You should know that the normal human stat limit in this world is 50.}
{Synchronized Weapons show your proficiency with each weapon type.
Active skills are abilities you can use directly.
Passive skills activate automatically when needed.
Weapon Core and Nameless Eyes are not skills but can be upgraded using Hunting Points.
Hunting Points can be used to improve anything—from stats to skills, etc.}
---
Unknowingly, Rayne's eyes began to gleam sharply. A kind of flame burned within him. He bit his lower lip, suppressing the surging desire. He wanted to shout right now—somewhere between awe, joy, and hunger for power.
"…So this is what it feels like to become a living weapon."
{DING! System mission triggered.
Swing your sword ten thousand times within twenty-four hours.
Reward: Death Step skill — increases swordsmanship by 200%, slows time perception, and allows the user to read enemy attack directions while nullifying pain and physical limits temporarily.
Note: can only be used when the chance of death exceeds 90%.
Penalty for mission failure: loss of one limb.
Do you accept this mission? Yes/No.}
Rayne fell silent for a moment, staring at the blue panel without blinking.
"Hahaha! That skill is insane!" he shouted without a hint of hesitation or curiosity as to why a mission appeared out of nowhere.
{DING! The system interprets that enthusiasm as 'Yes.'}
{DING! Mission has begun.
Sword swings: –
Time remaining: 23:59:59}
"Hey! You shortened my time on purpose!"
Not wanting to waste any time, Rayne looked around. In this unknown place, he knew there was no such thing as safety. But at the very least, he had to find a slightly hidden area.
He moved forward with a sword and a gun in his hands—he didn't even realize when they appeared there. Passing the monsters' corpses, he walked away from the cliff's edge.
Rayne pushed through the bushes, avoiding paths without grass. Moving silently and carefully, he slashed through and carved a new trail. Before long, he stopped before some strange tall plants that blocked vision in every direction.
He cleared a small space just enough to move, then set up several deadly traps around him—of course, the kind of traps that count as weapons. After that, he took a stance and…
Swoshh…
Swoshh…
Both his hands gripped the sword, swinging swiftly and almost simultaneously.
{Sword swings: 1/10000
Time remaining: 23:27:45}
"Eh? That counted as one?"
Rayne dismissed the sword in his left hand and gripped a single sword with both hands.
Swoshh…
But this time, he didn't swing with full force. Seeing that the mission panel didn't change made Rayne realize he had to swing with all his strength.
Swoshh...
{Sword swings: 2/10000
Time remaining: 23:27:15}
Minutes passed, hours changed. His breathing grew heavier. Rayne didn't underestimate this mission—ten thousand swings in such a short time was beyond reason.
He slashed madly. His muscles tensed, sweat drenched his entire body.
"Haaah… haaah…"
He regulated his breath, gripping his sword tighter. Every second, he could swing his sword twice. Not because he was overly strong or agile, but because the motion had become second nature. He had long grown tired of swinging his sword thousands of times day and night.
Rayne didn't know how long he could endure. He only thought of one thing: swing as much as possible before time ran out.
After a while, his sword stopped midair. His entire body was soaked in sweat, and his breathing was already out of control.
{DING! Endurance increased +1}
Instead of resting, Rayne raised his sword again.
But before he could swing—
…the ground beneath him trembled.
Rayne looked up quickly.
From within the fog between the trees, a large silhouette appeared with glowing red eyes. A deep growl shook the air.
"Monster?" he whispered.
But this time, it wasn't an ordinary one.
Three pairs of eyes appeared at once.
No footsteps—only trembling ground, followed by the stench of rot and burning flesh.
Rayne smirked faintly. "Hah… good. Time to test my new foundation."
The sword in his hand vibrated slightly, and the system chimed again—
{DING! Threat detected: three monster entities, levels 4–6, approaching.}
He took a deep breath, lowering his head slightly.
When he lifted his face again, his golden eyes were gleaming sharply.
"In that case… let's begin the next round."
{DING! System recommends retreating immediately, Master. You are currently on a timed mission.}
"Well, too bad. Even if I run now, they've already noticed me. I'm not running anymore!"
Those three pairs of eyes stared straight at him, moving closer—slowly, very slowly.
Rayne glanced at the mission panel.
{Sword swings: 3,875/10,000
Time remaining: 19:21:59}
Though not yet free from exhaustion, he dashed forward with his sword and gun in hand.