Chapter 3: FIRST BLOOD
The tunnels twisted deeper than I expected.
Three more days of rehabilitation had brought me to something like functional. Not combat-ready—nowhere near that—but capable of moving without collapsing, of running if I had to, of doing more than crawling on my belly through ancient stone.
[MOTOR FUNCTION: 89%]
[COMBAT READINESS: 34%]
[RECOMMENDATION: AVOID ENGAGEMENT UNTIL FULL RECOVERY]
The system's recommendation was noted and filed under "things I'd love to follow if the universe cooperated."
I moved through the darkness with my new senses fully engaged. Every footstep calculated. Every breath controlled. The clicking sounds had been getting closer over the past day—whatever lived in these tunnels was either curious or hunting.
Probably both.
The architecture changed as I went deeper. The natural cave formations gave way to worked stone—Elder construction, if my memory of the first chamber was any indication. Runes carved into walls. Alcoves that might have held something once. Doorways leading to rooms I didn't have time to explore.
And then I rounded a corner and found them.
Three creatures. Insectoid bodies covered in chitin plates the color of dried blood. Mandibles that clicked together as they fed on something I didn't want to identify. Multiple legs, each ending in a pointed tip that scraped against stone with that familiar sound.
[THREAT DETECTED: ENDREGA WORKER x3]
[THREAT LEVEL: MODERATE (CURRENT STATE)]
[KNOWN WEAKNESSES: FIRE, SILVER, UNDERBELLY]
Endrega. The name surfaced from memories I hadn't known I had—not game knowledge from my previous life, but something older, something that came with this body. Monster lore. Hunt patterns. Kill techniques.
Great. The body knows how to fight these things. Now if only the body could actually fight.
I held completely still. My breathing went shallow. The endrega hadn't noticed me yet—too focused on their meal.
Back away. Find another route. You're not ready for this.
One step backward. Then another.
My foot caught on a loose stone.
The sound echoed through the tunnel like a gunshot.
Three heads snapped toward me. Mandibles opened. A sound somewhere between a hiss and a screech filled the corridor.
So much for avoiding engagement.
The first endrega charged.
I didn't think. The body moved on instinct—sidestep, pivot, avoid the snapping mandibles by inches. My hand grabbed for a weapon that wasn't there.
No sword. No knife. Nothing.
The second endrega flanked right. I saw it coming, twisted to avoid, and took a claw across my left forearm. Fire lanced up to my shoulder.
[HP: 62/250]
[DAMAGE RECEIVED: SLASHING]
[WOUND: LEFT FOREARM — MODERATE]
Blood. My blood. Dripping onto ancient stone.
The third endrega lunged low, going for my legs. I jumped—actually jumped, higher than I'd thought possible—and came down on its back. Chitin cracked under my boots but didn't break.
These things are armored. I need something to punch through.
Desperation clawed at my chest. The first endrega was already spinning for another attack. The second circled, looking for an opening. The one I'd jumped on was bucking, trying to throw me off.
Fire. The system said fire.
I didn't have fire. I didn't have anything except two empty hands and a body that was running on determination and not much else.
The body has magic. Will-based casting. The system said—
The mandibles closed on empty air as I rolled off the third endrega. I came up in a crouch, hands raised, and reached for something inside myself that I didn't know how to find.
Fire. I need fire. FIRE.
Heat built in my palm.
At first, I thought I was imagining it. Wishful thinking. Desperation playing tricks on my mind.
Then flames erupted from my hand.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: IGNI (INSTINCTIVE)]
[SP: 85/120]
The fire engulfed the nearest endrega. It screamed—an awful, high-pitched sound that made my enhanced hearing spike with pain—and thrashed, chitin blackening, legs curling.
Holy shit.
I didn't have time to appreciate the moment. The other two were already attacking.
I dodged the first, barely, and threw fire at the second. The aim was terrible—the flames went wide, scorching the wall instead of the target.
[SP: 50/120]
Burning through stamina too fast. Need to end this.
The burned endrega was down but still twitching. The other two had learned caution—they circled now, staying out of my direct line of fire, working together.
Okay. Think. What do you have?
The body. The instincts. The fire. And the environment.
I grabbed the nearest loose stone—fist-sized, rough-edged—and threw it at the endrega on my left. It bounced off the chitin harmlessly, but the creature flinched.
That flinch gave me the opening I needed.
Fire again, but focused this time. Not a spray of flames but a concentrated burst aimed at the underbelly—the weak point the system had mentioned. The endrega reared up on its back legs, and the fire hit home.
[SP: 25/120]
The second endrega died screaming.
The third hit me from the side.
I went down hard, stone cracking against my skull, mandibles snapping inches from my face. Only my hands between those jaws and my throat, pushing, straining—
[HP: 41/250]
[SP: 22/120]
[WARNING: CRITICAL STAMINA]
No more fire. No more stamina for fire.
The endrega's weight pressed down on me. Its mandibles clicked and gnashed. I could smell its breath—rot and chitin and something acidic.
Not like this. I didn't survive the car crash and the chamber and three days of rehabilitation to die on my back in a cave.
I released one hand from the mandibles—felt them snap closer, scratching my chin—and groped blindly for something, anything.
My fingers closed on a rock.
I brought it up with everything I had left.
The first blow cracked chitin. The second punched through. The third went into something soft.
The endrega spasmed. Its mandibles locked open. Fluid—ichor, blood, I didn't know—poured out over my chest.
I hit it again. And again. And again, until the clicking stopped, until the legs went still, until I was certain—absolutely certain—that nothing else in this tunnel was going to try to eat me.
[COMBAT COMPLETE]
[ENEMIES DEFEATED: ENDREGA WORKER x3]
[EXPERIENCE GAINED: +85]
[LEVEL UP: 1 → 2]
[HP RESTORED: +25]
[SP RESTORED: +15]
[STAT POINTS AVAILABLE: +5]
[SKILL UNLOCKED: IGNI (BASIC)]
I lay there, covered in monster ichor, gasping for breath, while the system cheerfully announced my progress like a video game celebrating a boss fight.
The dead endrega was heavy. I shoved it off me and rolled onto my side, coughing, every muscle screaming.
I just killed three monsters with fire I didn't know I could make and a rock.
The laugh that escaped me sounded wrong. Too high. Too close to hysterical.
"Fire hands. Good to know."
I sat up. The motion sent fresh pain through the claw wound on my forearm—still bleeding, not as badly as before, but definitely needing attention.
Torn cloth. Pressure. Basic first aid. Don't let it get infected.
I ripped a strip from the ancient clothing I was wearing—the fabric crumbled in places but held together enough to work as a bandage. My hands were shaking as I wrapped the wound. Adrenaline crash. Post-combat tremors. I'd felt this before, after my first firefight in Afghanistan.
Different universe. Same biology.
The dead endrega lay around me. Three kills. My first kills in this world.
The one I'd burned first was barely recognizable—charred chitin and curled legs. The second had died from the underbelly strike. The third... the third had most of its head caved in by repeated blows from a rock.
That was messy. That was desperate. That was almost the end.
[COMBAT ANALYSIS COMPLETE]
[PERFORMANCE RATING: POOR]
[NOTES: INSTINCTIVE MAGIC USE EFFECTIVE BUT INEFFICIENT. CLOSE-QUARTERS GRAPPLING SUCCESSFUL DESPITE LACK OF TRAINING IN HOST BODY. RECOMMENDATION: ACQUIRE WEAPONS, IMPROVE STAMINA EFFICIENCY.]
"Yeah, thanks for the performance review."
I pushed myself to my feet. The level-up had restored some health and stamina—enough to keep moving, at least. The stat points could wait until I was somewhere safe.
But first.
One of the endrega's mandibles had broken off during the fight. I picked it up, tested the edge. Sharp enough to cut. Curved like a knife. Not pretty, but functional.
First weapon acquired.
The corpses had nothing else worth salvaging. I left them where they lay and continued down the tunnel, moving slower now, more carefully. The fight had taught me something important.
I can win. But only barely. And barely won't be enough if something worse comes along.
The wound on my arm throbbed with each heartbeat. The system noted the injury and offered helpful advice about infection risk and recommended treatment.
I found another alcove and sat down to rest. The mandible-knife sat in my lap, ichor still drying on its edge.
[CURRENT STATUS:]
[LEVEL: 2]
[HP: 95/265]
[SP: 37/125]
[ACTIVE INJURY: CLAW WOUND (LEFT FOREARM) — MODERATE]
[SKILL: IGNI (BASIC) — COST: 15 SP — RANGE: 3M — DAMAGE: FIRE]
Igni. The Witcher sign. That's what I just used.
The body knew how to do it instinctively—whatever magic was built into this ancient weapon-prototype had survived eight centuries of sleep. But instinctive wasn't the same as controlled. I'd burned through stamina like water through a sieve.
Practice. Efficiency. That's next.
But not today. Today, I wrapped my wound, cleaned my new knife on dusty stone, and rested.
Tomorrow, I'd keep climbing toward the surface.
The Witcher world waited above me. Monsters and magic and wars that burned continents. A girl named Ciri that this body was apparently designed to either protect or kill.
I intended to find out which.
The endrega mandible caught the faint light from distant runes. Curved. Sharp. Stained with the blood of its former owner.
First weapon. First kills. First level.
I tightened my grip on it and started walking.
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