--
I held her gaze, staring straight into a pair of dark irises.
Slowly, my eyes drifted, tracing the details of her now-unmasked face.
She was… beautiful in a quiet, understated way. Her features were delicate—soft cheekbones, a slim jawline, and a small rounded nose. Dark lashes framed her eyes, and a faint dusting of tiny freckles dotted her cheeks and nose, softening the fierceness she usually carried and making her look unexpectedly young.
Her entire appearance held an unmistakably Eastern elegance—soft lines and a beauty that felt quietly effortless.
My focus snapped back as her already pale face drained even further of color.
Without thinking, I stepped closer, crouched down, and began wrapping the bandage around her waist.
She tried to lift a hand to stop me, but a single stern look froze the protest on her lips.
She watched my hands closely, flinching slightly when I tightened the cloth.
Silence lingered between us until I rose slowly. "Done."
We both stared at the bandaged wound—her expression heavy, mine sinking with grim realization.
We needed sterile supplies. Antibiotics. She had twelve, maybe twenty-four hours at most before severe infection sets in…
I scanned the room. It had been picked clean. Apart from some overturned beds and scattered, open drawers, this place was blank—nothing useful.
"Things aren't looking good," I muttered.
Hot pain throbbed in my ribs making my jaw lock. I wasn't as badly hurt as she was, but I was almost certain I had at least one cracked rib.
My thoughts were sinking deeper, spiraling until Nox's calm voice echoed in my skull.
{'If I may interrupt, sir—I suggest checking your system interface.'}
I blinked. "Huh?" The word slipped out, but Nox didn't elaborate.
Frowning, I let the command form in my mind.
'Status.'
The air shimmered. A familiar red panel glitched into existence, tilting slightly to meet my line of sight.
Two things hit me immediately.
A fully lit EXP bar, and the notification tab pulsing with an orange dot.
My attention locked on the bar.
EXP: 100 / 100
My eyes widened slightly. I've filled up the bar…
Then, like a sudden switch, something clicked in. My eyes widened further, snapping instantly towards my level display.
Level: 0
My gaze narrowed. Why was I still at level zero? I had just enough exp—
The thought cut off as I shifted my focus to the notification tab, mentally commanding it open.
A system message unfolded in front of me:
[Congratulations, Earthling --
[Do you wish to Level Up?]
[Yes] [No]
I stared at the glowing text for a moment, then shifted my attention to the pale woman beside me, who had been watching me stare into empty air.
"Open your status page," I said. "See if you received any notification."
She tilted her head slightly—confused, skeptical—but muttered the trigger word. A moment later, her eyes went distant, unfocused, as she stared into the empty space where her interface must have appeared.
I watched her quietly, my thoughts drifting.
'Nox,' I called out mentally, 'something about this doesn't make sense. We both know what the first level-up does. The system wouldn't bury that kind of message in a notification tab. It wasn't hidden last time. Did something I did change the outcome—some kind of butterfly effect?'
Her response came immediately.
{'Negative, sir. Your actions have not yet reached the scale required to alter the timeline. The reason you did not see the message earlier is because I muted all system notifications during your confrontation with the unevolved.'}
A small, embarrassed breath escaped me. "Oh."
…Thanks, I guess.
Nox didn't respond. Instead, I felt the fox lady's attention shift back toward me.
"It asked…" She swallowed, her voice rough. "If I wished to level up."
For a reason I couldn't explain, a silent wave of relief loosened my shoulders.
"Yeah," I said softly. "Go ahead. Level up."
She gave a faint, exhausted nod and turned her focus back to the empty space in front of her, lifting a shaky finger to interact with her interface.
I drew in a slow breath and faced my own panel, the red display hovering obediently before me.
With a steady exhale, I selected [Yes].
The effect was immediate.
The temperature around me plunged, cold enough to make every blood vessel in my body contract at once. Then—just as abruptly—the air warmed, thick and heavy, like I'd been lowered into a dense, heated fluid. My pores opened under the sudden shift, and a slow wave of warmth rolled through me, loosening every muscle, every cell, every hidden tension I didn't know I carried.
It was intoxicating in its subtlety—no pain, no blinding lights, just quiet, invisible adjustments rewriting the very blueprint of my body.
And unlike the sudden onset, the sensation faded gently, ebbing away inch by inch. I let out an involuntary sigh as the warmth receded, my entire body sinking into its lingering afterglow.
My hazy focus was gradually drawn back by the blinking glow of the interface as system messages flooded the panel.
[Congratulations, you have leveled up]
[System skills -> Unlocked]
[First Level-Up Gift Package Applied: All Debuffs Reversed (One-time use)]
[A-N-S Tag Lifted. Alias can now be set]
Other notifications flashed past, but my eyes skimmed over most of them, settling only on the crucial ones.
Skills unlocked.
'Finally.'
We could properly fight back, get stronger. The imbalance between us ordinary humans and the mutated creatures had finally shifted, turning a once-unfair fight into something manageable.
Then my gaze settled on the second-most important message.
All Debuffs Reversed.
Basically… all.
It didn't matter if you were a patient with terminal cancer, an amputee, blind, deaf, or mentally impaired—all of it was just gone. From this point on, anyone who leveled up for the first time had their body and health restored to a perfect baseline state.
'Everyone starts the same… health-wise.'
I let that thought sink in as my eyes slowly drifted toward the woman beside me, who had just completed her first level up as well.