Outskirts — The Closest Bonfire to the Depths

More than three months had passed since the hunters entered Old Ashvarn in hopes of purifying it and freeing it from the curse that had ravaged the city for countless years.

The city resembled a colossal labyrinth, so vast that cleansing the outskirts alone had required an absurd amount of time due to the sheer number of districts spread throughout it.

And after three months of endless fighting—

Ethan had finally begun reaping the results of that relentless battle.

Sitting alone before the burning bonfire, Ethan quietly opened his system interface and began inspecting it.

...

Name: Ethan Heart.

Class: No Class.

Level: 41

Current Souls: 12,500 Souls.

Souls Required for Next Level: 25,000 Souls.

..

Vigor: 15 (Increases Health Points)

Mp: 15 (Increases Mana)

Endurance: 10 (Increases Stamina)

Strength: 26 (Increases Heavy Weapon Damage)

Dexterity: 10 (Increases Speed-Based Weapon Damage)

Intelligence: 10 (Increases Magic Power)

Faith: 10 (Increases Holy Spell Power, Incantation)

Arcane: 25 (Increases Luck, Bleed)

...

Legion Arm: Level Two.

Souls Required to Reach Level Three: 10,000 Souls.

...

After reviewing his current stats and level, Ethan let out a faint sigh and raised his head toward the false sky overhead.

"So... Elite rank."

After hunting for three entire months, while consistently remaining among the top five hunters in terms of monster kills—

He had only managed to level up six times.

Only six.

Because the monsters inhabiting the outskirts were not strong enough to provide many souls.

Leveling had become increasingly difficult lately, especially with the absurd rise in required souls, which had already doubled compared to ordinary hunters due to the price of the blessing Class Change at Will.

And even without that blessing’s restriction—

The soul requirement increased drastically after surpassing level forty.

At this point, nearly every remaining hunter had either already broken past that threshold or stood right on the verge of it.

Which meant everyone’s progress had slowed significantly. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Ethan had gathered slightly over ten thousand souls.

Nowhere near enough to level up.

But it was enough to unlock the next feature of the Legion Arm.

And that was exactly what Ethan intended to do.

’The grappling hook and explosive stake saved my life countless times.’

’The Legion Arm has already proven its worth... and I’m certain the third feature won’t disappoint either.’

Taking a deep breath, Ethan poured ten thousand souls into the Legion Arm, finally upgrading it to Level Three.

The mechanical arm glowed in response.

Then it began trembling and shifting before Ethan’s eyes as he carefully observed every tiny detail.

Its design changed.

And a small screen appeared near the end of the arm.

A number was displayed upon it.

0/10

It resembled a gauge—

Or perhaps a meter used to track a certain value.

Once the evolution finished, the Legion Arm returned to normal as if nothing had changed at all.

Yet the new information appearing before him proved otherwise.

Beside the Grappling Hook and Explosive Stake—

A third ability had now appeared within the Legion Arm’s list.

...

Legion Arm: Level Three.

Souls Required for Next Level: 100,000 Souls.

Grappling Hook.

Explosive Stake.

Overcharge 0/10:

Each direct hit landed upon an enemy stores powerful electrical energy within the Legion Arm. The stored electricity may either be released instantly or accumulated up to ten charges.

The power of the electricity increases with each additional charge. All accumulated charges are lost if the player receives damage during the charging process.

...

Ethan carefully read the description and immediately found himself intrigued.

"Electrical power that grows stronger the more successfully I strike my opponent... but disappears the moment I take damage."

At first glance alone, Ethan understood just how difficult it would be to fully charge the ability.

To reach the perfect ten-stack Overcharge—

He would need to hit his opponent ten consecutive times without suffering a single blow in return.

"Its usefulness depends entirely on how strong the charge itself is..."

He wanted to test the difference between a single charge and a fully stacked ten-charge release in order to properly gauge the ability’s destructive power.

But he could not test it.

Unlike the Grappling Hook or Explosive Stake—

Overcharge required an actual enemy target.

So Ethan abandoned the experiment for now and decided to wait until the next battle.

Once finished, he chose to make use of the remaining time by training.

Lately, Ethan had been throwing himself into every kind of training imaginable.

Brutal physical conditioning under Jackson, who forced him to strap heavy weights onto his body while running, or pile massive stones on top of him to strengthen his ability to endure pressure.

Beyond physical training—

Ethan also continued practicing Asterion Heart’s sword style with Moon from time to time, exchanging blows against her.

And even now—

She still surpassed him.

Then came magic training with Luna, who taught him the fundamentals of mana manipulation while helping him learn several weak offensive spells as a starting point.

His schedule remained endlessly packed.

He was constantly occupied—

Either training...

Or fighting.

Despite the overwhelming pressure placed upon him, it kept his mind away from the negative thoughts that had begun consuming the other hunters one after another.

The moment Ethan began searching for his training partners, he immediately noticed just how dreadful the camp’s morale had become.

It was written clearly across most of their faces—

Faces that had slowly begun losing hope.

And honestly, no one could blame them.

Three entire months had passed.

Some of them had already died within the weak outskirts alone.

And now they stood on the verge of entering the depths.

Yet no help had come.

Not even after lighting dozens upon dozens of bonfires.

Among everyone present, only a small handful had managed to preserve their resolve.

Almost all of them belonged either to the First Squad or the Third Squad—

With the sole exception being the witch who had helped them before...

Schierke Heart.

She looked exactly the same as the first time Ethan had ever seen her.

That strange witch was far from ordinary.

Even now, Ethan still kept an eye on her constantly.

But aside from her bizarre behavior and the fact her name resembled one of Balance’s followers—

She appeared completely normal.

Even her magic was nowhere near monstrous enough to compare to someone like Luna.

As a result, Ethan’s suspicions toward her had lessened somewhat.

"Ah... the moment I think about her, I end up finding her."

After wandering around the camp for a while, Luna was the first person he found.

She sat isolated from everyone else, quietly wrapping a clean strip of cloth around her wrist.

Though she clearly was not doing a very good job.

Using one injured hand to wrap the other made the process difficult, especially while trying to hide the countless cuts covering her skin.

Cuts that made Ethan feel somewhat guilty.

After all—

She had injured herself every single time in order to suppress his curse.

To the point where her blood had stained the back of his neck countless times.

"What are you staring at?"

She spoke without even looking up from what she was doing after noticing Ethan staring for too long.

Ethan remained silent for several seconds before slowly approaching and apologizing.

"Sorry... it’s just..."

"I feel guilty about those wounds."

A faint smile appeared on Luna’s face.

"You should."

"Because of you, my arms are scarred, my fingers are swollen and ruined, and my nails are cracked..."

"They don’t even look like a girl’s hands anymore."

Ethan sensed the sarcasm in her voice immediately.

He knew she was not truly blaming him.

Even so—

She was not lying.

Her fingers looked thin and trembling, permanently reddened as though blood had remained trapped beneath the skin from constant pressure and biting.

The tips of her fingers were covered in tiny sores and torn flesh, while parts of several nails had completely disappeared, exposing raw pink skin beneath.

What remained of her nails were nothing more than uneven broken edges, bitten down so violently they looked ready to crumble apart at the slightest touch.

As for her wrists—

They were covered in long intersecting scratches stretching across pale skin.

Some were fresh, burning crimson in color.

Others had already faded into shallow pale scars embedded into the flesh.

The wounds were not deep enough to tear through the wrist—

But there were far too many of them.

Some random.

Others strangely parallel.

The damage was not fatal.

But it had left scars behind.

Ethan let out a quiet sigh before sitting down beside her.

Then he gently took the bandage-like cloth from her hand after noticing how difficult it was for her to properly tie it using only one hand.

"I’ll wrap it for you."

"So give me your arm."

Ethan offered to help after growing uncomfortable watching her struggle to hide those scars.

And because—

Deep down—

He truly felt guilty.

Normally, Luna would have refused.

But after staying beside one another for the past several months due to his curse...

Their relationship had improved enough for Luna to silently extend her arm toward him, allowing him to wrap it for her.

So Ethan carefully wrapped her wrist while the two sat together in silence within one corner of the camp.