"I'm alive."

  The line wasn’t heroic. It was a check.

  Kai stood still, breathing hard, the air coming in short, rough pulls. The club trembled in his hands.Not from fear.From the charge still running through his muscles, like his body was still fighting even though the skeletons weren’t moving anymore.

  The corridor fell silent.

  Katherine was behind him, pressed to his back, breathing like she’d been holding her breath through the whole fight.Her ears were still upright, and her tail was stiff, like she still didn’t understand they could lower their guard now.

  Kai felt relief.

  "For a moment I thought they were going to split me in two," he sighed.

  The screen appeared in his vision, fast, like a blink of light.

  [System][Mission Cleared][Reward: +100 XP obtained][You reached level 3][Skill acquired: Body Fortitude]

  Kai felt the change before he processed the words.

  Heat.

  First in his chest.

  Then it slid down his shoulders and sank into his arms like someone had poured boiling water under his skin.It wasn’t pain.It was something else… heavier. Like his body was tightening itself from the inside, tightening screws that had been loose.

  His skin prickled.

  His ribs creaked.

  Not like they were breaking.

  Like they were lining up.

  Kai inhaled deeply.

  And breathing came easier.

  The pain in his side, where the skeleton had hit him with the handle, dropped. It didn’t vanish. But it became bearable. Less sharp. Less urgent.

  "Finally, something decent."

  He ran a hand over his side, pressing. Before, he would’ve let out a groan. Now he only felt pressure and a dull ache, like an old bruise.

  Katherine took a step to peek beside him.

  She looked at him like she was seeing him for the first time.

  "You were… crazy," she said, with a strange mix of fear and admiration. "You threw yourself at them."

  Kai let the air out slowly.

  "I didn’t have a choice."

  She lowered her gaze.

  "I’m sorry. I didn’t help."

  Kai turned his head slightly toward her. His expression was serious, but not hard. Not entirely.

  "You stayed alive," he said. "That already helps."

  Katherine blinked, like that sentence didn’t fit the image she had of him. Like she expected a scolding. Or contempt.

  But Kai wasn’t in the mood for that.

  "I’m tired of bming other people. They did it to me, and look how I ended up."

  Katherine swallowed. Her ears lowered a little, not from shame. More from relief.

  "So… what now?" she asked, looking at the bones scattered across the floor.

  Kai studied the remains.

  Some skeletons had gear.

  That meant loot.

  And loot meant advantage.

  "Now we check."

  Kai crouched carefully. He felt the new toughness in his body even in the motion. Before, after a fight like that, his back would’ve screamed. Now it only compined.

  "Body fortitude… sounds like I can take more hits. Good. I need that."

  He started with the obvious.

  The rusty short sword.

  He lifted it with one hand. The bde was stained, old, uneven. It wasn’t a noble sword. It was a killing tool made in a hurry.

  But it was a sword.

  Kai turned it, testing the weight.

  It was lighter than the club, and that mattered. With the club he could break bones, but he’d tire fast. With a sword, if he found where to cut, he could end fights sooner.

  "If I have to fight again, I want something that lets me breathe."

  He tested the edge with a finger, carefully.

  It cut.

  Not much.

  But it cut.

  "It works."

  Katherine stepped closer with caution, avoiding stepping on bones. She watched them like she was afraid one might get up again if she moved wrong.

  "Is that… yours?" she asked.

  "Yeah."

  She nodded quickly, like accepting that calmed her. Like the idea of Kai having a weapon made the world a little less hostile.

  Kai kept searching.

  Near the wall, where the shield one had fallen, he saw old rags and dust piled in a corner.Something was folded there, separate from the rest, like someone had hidden it—or like it had just been sitting there for years.

  Kai grabbed it and shook it out.

  Dark cloth.

  Pants.

  Dirty, damp, smelling like old stone. But intact.

  Kai held them up and stared for a second.

  "First real drop. Pathetic."

  He gnced at Katherine.

  She turned her face away instantly, blushing. Ears down.

  "I… I’m not looking," she said quickly, like that accused her of something.

  Kai almost ughed.

  Almost.

  It wasn’t the time for jokes, but the scene had something ridiculous about it.A new world, a dungeon, old blood and broken bones… and she was worried about giving him privacy.

  "Thanks," Kai said, almost letting out a chuckle.

  He put the pants on right there, no ceremony. The fabric was rough and scraped his skin like sandpaper. But it covered the basics. And that mattered more than comfort.

  Kai adjusted the waist as best he could.

  He felt… less exposed.

  More ready.

  More real.

  "First achievement in the new world," Kai thought. "I got clothes."

  "You can look now, Katherine," Kai said.

  He turned toward her.

  Katherine looked at him after a few seconds, like she could breathe better now. Her golden eyes moved fast, judging him, and then stopped.

  "You look… less vulnerable."

  Kai didn’t comment.

  Because it was true.

  And because it annoyed him a little that it was true.

  "Vulnerable is the word they use right before they step on your head."

  Kai tightened his grip on the sword and looked toward the stairs descending. The darkness below looked thicker, like the air itself was different.

  The runes flickered like a tired heart.

  "Let’s go," he said.

  Katherine followed close behind, soft steps, her tail moving nervously, brushing his leg sometimes without meaning to.

  "Do you think there are more?" she asked.

  "Yes," Kai answered without hesitation.

  She swallowed.

  "And if we can’t…?"

  Kai opened his mouth and what came out first was the raw truth.

  "Then we die."

  He said it, and regretted it.

  Katherine’s ears dropped.

  "I’m sorry."

  Kai tightened his grip on the sword.

  "I’m learning," he thought. "Not to fight. To talk. The isotion messed me up."

  They reached the nding of the next level.

  Kai took the first step.

  Then the second.

  The air changed again.

  Warmer.

  Denser.

  And then they heard it.

  A ugh.

  Low.

  Raspy.

  Like someone was enjoying this.

  Ha.

  Katherine froze.

  "Did you hear that?"

  Kai raised the sword a little.

  "Yeah."

  The ugh came again.

  Closer.

  Ha.

  Ha.

  Ha.

  Kai couldn’t see anything.

  But he could feel it.

  Something big.

  Something aware.

  Something that didn’t walk like bones.

  "Great," Kai thought. "Now the game actually starts."

  And in the dark, the ughter continued, like it had been waiting for them.