Chương 40: Chapter 39. Why Do We Fall?

Ghouls. Adom's elementary school teacher, Ms. Pobniev, had always told them to never say any creature is ugly. It was one of those lessons kind responsible adults impart, like "eat your vegetables" or "don't play with fire." She'd say God had crafted each being with purpose and intent. From the lowliest dung beetle to the most majestic griffin, all were part of the grand scheme of existence. Ms.

Pobniev would wax poetic about the dignity inherent in every living thing, how one should approach the world with respect and an open heart.

"There's beauty in every being, children," she'd say. Bless her heart. Ghouls were the most repulsive, nauseating, vomit-inducing abomination Adom had ever laid eyes on. They were revolting, hideous, grotesque, and utterly loathsome. Walking offences to every sense, an insult to the very concept of aesthetics. And the worst part? They weren't even natural deaths. They were monster parasites that sought out corpses, burrowing into dead flesh until they possessed it entirely.

They'd wear that rotting meat puppet until it literally fell apart around them, leaving trails of putrid flesh in their wake. The older the corpse, the more it decayed, the more of the parasite showed through tears in the skin - writhing, glistening things that had no right to exist. Ugh. BAM Adom's weighted-knuckled fist connected with the ghoul's jaw. The bone shattered like porcelain, sending the creature spinning through the air in a spray of putrid flesh and blackened teeth. [You have slain 01 Ghoul!]"Holy shit!" Valiant yelped.

"Did you just punch its face clean off?" [Boxing Mastery has advanced!] [Iron Lungs has advanced!] Time slowed. Adom's vision sharpened, [Flow Prediction] allowing him to notice weak points across the ghouls' bodies - loose jaw, exposed throat, rotting knee joint. He moved. The weighted knuckles were just an afterthought now. His footwork had changed - lighter, smoother, each step placing him exactly where he needed to be. A ghoul lunged.

Adom slipped left, his counter-punch crushing through its temple with mechanical precision. Two more came at him. He weaved between them, letting their clumsy swings pass through empty air. Left hook to the ribs - they crumbled like wet cardboard. Right cross to the jaw - bone fragments scattered across the floor. His breathing stayed steady, controlled. Four weeks ago, he'd have been gasping by now. But his lungs worked like bellows, feeding oxygen to muscles that moved with newfound efficiency.

Valiant was calling from somewhere behind him. Adom didn't answer. He was busy watching the blue highlights dance across three more ghouls. Their movements were transparent now - telegraphed attacks, obvious openings. Slow. So slow. Sweat ran down his back as he ducked under grasping hands. The stench of rot filled his nose. His fist found another jaw. Another throat. Another knee. Bodies dropped, one after another. When the last ghoul fell - skull caved in by a perfectly timed uppercut - Adom finally stepped back.

Eleven corpses lay scattered around him, properly dead this time. His knuckles ached. His shirt was soaked through. But his breathing... barely elevated.

"Okay," Valiant said into the silence.

"Never took you for the combat mage type. Always figured you for one of those scholarly types who'd rather read about fighting than do it." One of the fallen ghouls twitched. Without missing a beat, Valiant's boot came down on its skull, crushing its eye with a wet crunch.

"Take this!"

"There was a time I would've laughed at the idea myself." Adom wiped sweat from his eyes, studying the carnage with clinical detachment.

"Things change. Plus they're slow."

"They're also very, very dead. Which they weren't before you went all prize fighter on them."

"We should move," Adom said.

"The smell's going to attract more."

"And miss watching you punch more undead into pieces? I'm starting to enjoy the show." One of the ghouls gurgled, trying to crawl forward. Valiant's little boot came down hard, silencing it.

"Though I suppose we could find a better venue." Ten days. That's how long they had been travelling for. The journey from that first terrifying time at the dark lake felt like years compressed into days. The perpetual purple sky above them - not quite dark, never truly bright - had screwed with their sense of time from the start. They'd learned to navigate this twisted place. The map helped, showing safe zones marked in faded blue ink by whoever came before them.

They'd added their own marks too - here be murder birds, don't enter the crystal caves, wasp territory. Simple rules for survival. The monster chicken had been a godsend. Adom could store enough meat for weeks in his inventory, though the taste got old fast. Valiant barely ate - some quirk of whatever he was - which meant more for Adom. Their water supplies from the many water points were running low though. Three days left, maybe four if they rationed harder. They'd developed a routine.

Sleep in shifts in the safe zones. Mark new paths. Kill what needed killing. The stalkers had been the worst - silent things that followed for days, waiting for weakness. The murder birds were easier once they figured out they hunted by sound. Mimics... well, Adom had learned to punch anything that looked like treasure. Better safe than eaten. The dungeon spread out in every direction - not just caves and corridors, but vast open spaces. Dead forests with trees of stone. Lakes of black water that reflected nothing.

Mountains in the distance.

"Remember that field of giant mushrooms?" Valiant asked, probably thinking the same things.

"The ones that tried to eat us?"

"Remember that nest of wasps you disturbed?"

"Right. Sorry about that..." The map helped them avoid the worst areas, but even the "safe" zones weren't really safe. Just... survivable. Adom drank from his inventory. Water just dropping in his mouth as he willed the inventory to open. They'd need to find more soon. Or hope the map's promise of a way out wasn't just another trap.

"Seriously, how do you do that without any dimensional bag?" Valiant asked.

"Magic."

"Ha. Look at this funny guy." Ten days. And they were still alive. For now. Night phase was approaching - or whatever passed for night in this endless purple twilight. They'd found one of the safe zones marked on their map just in time, a small cave with natural formations that somehow dampened monster detection. The wounds from their earlier fights were mostly superficial, though Adom's knuckles still ached from punching through too many ghoul skulls. He needed to center himself.

So while Valiant took first watch, Adom settled into his meditation pose. He floated cross-legged, three inches off the ground, eyes closed as the safe zone's ambient mana hummed around them. Valiant tore another piece of monster chicken, chewing thoughtfully.

"Man, what I wouldn't give for a slice of hot buttered sourdough right now. The fancy kind, you know? With honey drizzled on top, and that aged mountain cheese from up north - the one with the herbs baked right in." One of Adom's eyes cracked open. His feet touched the ground.

"... is that good?"

"Good? It's..." Valiant sat up straighter.

"Okay, so imagine the bread is still warm, right? And the butter just starts melting into it. Then you add this specific honey - there's this place in the eastern forests where they keep these tiny blue bees, makes the honey taste like mint somehow. And the cheese, God, the cheese. They age it in caves with wild thyme and rosemary." The fire crackled between them. Valiant was gesturing now, fully animated.

"Uncle Cisco used to bring it back whenever he'd return from a job. He knew this old lady in the mountain villages who made it. Said she'd been making it the same way for sixty years, wouldn't tell anyone the secret. He'd always bring two wheels - one for eating right away, one for special occasions..." His voice trailed off. The enthusiasm drained from his face like water through sand. Adom stared at the fire for a long moment.

"I never got to say it before, but... I'm sorry about Cisco. Really. What happened to him. He didn't deserve that." The words felt heavy in his mouth. In another life, Cisco had survived for years more. Had become famous even. But Adom's presence, his choices, had changed things. Created ripples that ended with Cisco's death far too early. It was part of why he couldn't turn Valiant away when they met in the dungeon, though he'd never admit it aloud. Guilt had a way of making decisions for you.

"Yeah." Valiant poked at the fire with a stick.

"He always told me death could come from anywhere in our line of work. Anyone. Anytime. Drilled that into my head since I was eight, after my parents..." He shrugged.

"He raised me right. Taught me everything I know." The stick snapped in his hands. He tossed the pieces into the flames.

"I just try not to think about it too hard. Need to focus on getting out of here first. And then..." He stared into the fire, jaw tight.

"Well. Then." Adom said nothing. The Marco case would indeed have to be taken care of. Soon enough, after some time to rest, the duo arrived at their destination. The mantis nest. Which was odd. When did mantis ever live in nests? Then again, they were monsters. So, that was explanation enough. If they made it through that, there would be less than 2 hours before they reached the Throne Room. Adom was exited. Anxious, but exited. The cave mouth gaped before them, unremarkable among dozens of others they'd passed.

No signs warned of what lay within. No bones littered the entrance. Just another hole in another cliff face under the perpetual twilight sky. If they didn't have the map, they'd have walked right past it. Probably headed north, into some endless forest. Wander for months before dying of thirst or worse.

"I don't think this is a good idea," Valiant said, studying the crude drawings on their map.

"Even with the ledge route marked. Plus, if you use magic, they can sense you, according to the adventurer notes." Adom checked his knuckle weights, tightening the straps.

"We're here now. No point complaining."

"Yes, there is. There's always point in complaining. It's therapeutic."

"The map hasn't been wrong yet. We follow the narrow ledge, stay quiet, and the mantises won't even know we're there." Valiant folded the map with exaggerated care.

"I never had sex."

"..." Adom stopped adjusting his weights. Turned slowly.

"Of all the times. Of all the places. You choose now, here, to tell me this?"

"Well, if we're about to die-""We're not going to die."" If we're about to die, I wanted someone to know. It's been weighing on me." Adom sighed and started walking toward the cave entrance.

"Hey!" Valiant hurried after him, voice dropping to a whisper.

"Wait for me! Brother in arms! Hey-""Hush." The darkness swallowed them both.

The stench hit them first - sweet rot and something acidic that burned the back of their throats. Chittering echoed from below, a constant background noise of mandibles clicking and claws scraping stone. The ledge curved along the cave wall, barely wide enough for one person. Below, the cavern floor disappeared into darkness, but movement flickered in the depths - quick darting shapes and the occasional gleam of compound eyes. Adom pressed against the wall.

Valiant climbed onto his shoulders, gripping his head for balance. They'd figured it out earlier - the mantises hunted by sensing vibrations through the ground. The ledge, separated from the main cave structure by a hairline crack that ran its length, wouldn't transmit their movements. As long as they stayed quiet. Step. Pause. Step. Pause. A mantis screech pierced the darkness. Both of them froze. Something massive shifted below, joints creaking like old wood. The clicking grew louder, then faded.

Adom's foot found a loose stone. It shifted. His heart stopped. Valiant's fingers dug into his scalp, both of them clenching their jaws shut against the instinct to gasp. The stone settled without falling. One breath. Two. They exchanged quick nods and kept moving. Then... came a laugh. It echoed through the cavern - high, thin, almost childlike. But wrong. Like someone trying to remember how laughter should sound. Adom's pulse hammered in his ears. Of all the times, of all the places... Helios. It had to be.

Valiant's fingers tapped rapidly against his head - faster, go faster! The clicking below changed pitch. Grew urgent. Whatever was down there was waking up. More laughter, closer now. The mantis sounds rose to a fever pitch. Step. Step. Step. No more pausing. No more careful movements. Just the ledge and the wall and the desperate need to reach the other side before- Something vast suddenly rose from the darkness below. They couldn't see it. Didn't want to see it. But they could hear it breathing.

A soft humming drifted through the darkness. The hair on Adom's neck rose. His fingers went cold against the stone.

"Hmm hmm hmmmm..." Footsteps echoed, moving between shadows. Not below. Not above. Somewhere else.

"Little boy, why do you cry?" Adom's nose flared.

"Lost your way in darkness deep?" Valiant's tapping became frantic. The mantises below were fully awake now, their clicking rising to a crescendo. Something massive scraped against stone.

"Tell me all your troubles sweet..." [Fluid Control] They ran as Fluid emerged all over Adom's body. Just blind movement along the ledge, fingers scraping rock, feet finding purchase by instinct alone. A shadow passed through shadows. The temperature dropped.

"... I'll make sure you go to sleep." The voice was closer now. Much closer. Adom's heart pounded against his ribs. Each breath felt like ice in his lungs. The ledge seemed endless, stretching into darkness while that voice - that damned voice - drifted around them like smoke. Helios was playing with them. Had probably been following them for days. And now, trapped on this ledge, they were exactly where he wanted them.

"Found you," the voice whispered, right behind them.

"[PUSH]!" Mana surged through Adom's body, launching them off the ledge just as massive claws shattered the stone where they'd stood. Valiant's scream echoed through the cavern as they shot upward. One mantis emerged from the darkness. Then another. Then a third.

"LOOK OUT!" Valiant's warning came just in time. A blade of chitin larger than Adom's body scythed through the air. A fourth mantis emerged from the darkness like a nightmare - its head alone was the size of a wagon, mandibles dripping with caustic fluid that sizzled against stone. Plates of organic armor shifted and clicked as it moved and its compound eyes seemed to track them independently. Adom twisted mid-air, but not fast enough. The edge of its foreclaw caught his leg, tearing through cloth and flesh.

Hot pain shot up his thigh, but adrenaline dulled it to a distant throb. Two more mantises crawled from the shadows, their movements jerky and wrong, like puppet joints controlled by invisible strings. Each one was as large as the first, their bodies house-sized abominations of chitin and muscle.

"They're so fucking big! Why are they so fucking big?!" Valiant shrieked, clinging to Adom's shoulders. The Dagger of Night's Edge materialized in Adom's hand. Time slowed as [Flow Prediction] activated. He could see it all - attack paths, weak points, trajectories. A mantis lunged, its bladed forearm whistling through the air. Adom twisted mid-flight, using the momentum to slide beneath the strike. The dagger flashed. Chitin split. The creature's limb separated cleanly at the joint, dark ichor spraying in an arc.

They were still rising. Another mantis struck from the left. Adom kicked off its head, gaining more height. The ceiling was close now. Just a few more seconds- The staff appeared in his free hand. Lightning crackled between his fingers, amplified by the staff's 30% boost. Fire gathered in his other palm. Double spell weaving. The spells merged, becoming something new, something devastating- [You have slain a Giant Mantis!] [You have slain a Giant Mantis!]"Hello, mage!" It was too sudden.

Cold fingers wrapped around Adom's throat. The world blurred. His back slammed into the cave ceiling, the impact sending waves of pain through his body. [+2 White Wyrm Body] [+3 White Wyrm Body] [+1 White Wyrm Body] It just kept piling up as his Life force kept lowering.

"Look how you've grown," Helios purred, pinning Adom against the rock.

"Such power. Such potential." His grip tightened.

"Such waste."

"Law!" Valiant's fingers were slipping. The ground was impossibly far below. Blood filled Adom's mouth. Each breath sent daggers through his ribs. Helios's face loomed in the darkness, pale and perfect and terrible.

"I've been searching for you, you know. Hard to locate." The vampire's smile widened.

"Were you using magic to hide from me all this time?" Valiant's grip failed. [Indomitable Will] [Spiteful Fighting Spirit] Adom felt the Fluid surge. The staff ignited with raw power, pressed between their bodies. Helios's eyes widened - too late. [Firestorm] [Aegis Barrier] The explosion threw them apart, slamming Helios into the ceiling as Adom dove after Valiant's falling form. The vampire's laughter turned to a snarl of pain. [+5 White Wyrm Body] [White Wyrm Body has advanced!] [Physical Resistance increased] Adom's ribs screamed in protest as he streamlined his body, reaching for Valiant's outstretched hand. The ground rushed up. Another mantis scuttled beneath them, mandibles clicking in anticipation.

"Any time now!" Valiant shouted. Their fingers touched. Locked. Adom pulled him close and twisted mid-air, staff already moving in the pattern for another spell. But Helios was there again, blood streaming from a crack in his perfect face, eyes burning with fury.

"Clever boy," he hissed, reaching for Adom's throat again.

"But not clever eno-""WHY DO YOU TALK SO DAMN MUCH?!" Adom's Fluid enhanced weighted knuckles connected with the vampire's jaw. The crack widened. Helios's head snapped back. Without missing a bit, Adom immediately weaved another elemental spell. [Earth Spike] The spell ripped from Adom's core, amplified by the staff. The stone floor erupted, jagged spears of rock punching upward. The mantis tried to dodge - too slow. Three spikes burst through its carapace, lifting it off the ground with a wet crunch.

[You have slain a Giant Mantis!] But they were still plummeting. Adom twisted, keeping Valiant above him as he calculated angles, speeds, possibilities. The impaled mantis created a new problem - and a solution.

"Hold tight!" He swung Valiant around, using their momentum to aim for the mantis corpse. Its body would break their fall, if they didn't impale themselves first on the spikes. The timing had to be perfect. A shadow fell over them - Helios, diving after them like a bird of prey, face contorted with rage.

"[Push]!" The spell sent them sideways, barely avoiding the vampire's grasp. They hit the mantis at an angle, sliding down its chitinous shell. The impact rattled Adom's teeth, but the corpse absorbed most of the force. They rolled to a stop on the cave floor, gasping. Above them, Helios hovered near the ceiling, his perfect face now a mess of cracks and fury.

"You can't run forever, little spider," he called down.

"I am the hunter. You are the prey. And when you tire-" [Fireball] He blasted the vampire. And used [Push] and [Levitate] to fly away immediately, bouncing off the walls and trying to avoid the mantises. They burst out of the cave mouth into the purple sky, Adom's legs nearly buckling as the adrenaline began to fade. Each step sent waves of fire through his body. His vision swam, darkening at the edges. [Life Force: 198/500]"Are you al- HOLY FUCKING SHIT!" Valiant's voice cracked.

"Your back..." Adom tried to focus on moving forward, one foot in front of the other. The cold sweat on his face felt wrong somehow. Too cold.

"There's no skin left," Valiant's words came fast, panicked.

"I can see- there's white stuff, tendons or... fuck. We need to hide, find somewhere to-""No." The word came out as a rasp. Adom could feel it now - the raw exposure of muscle and tissue where Helios had ground him against the cave ceiling. Each breath pulled at the wound.

"He'll... he'll come back." His knees betrayed him. His leg hurt. He caught himself against a rock, leaving a smear of red on the stone. The world tilted sideways.

"You're literally falling apart!" Valiant grabbed his arm.

"There's a ravine half a mile east, we could-""Can't." Adom blinked hard, trying to clear his vision. Dark spots danced in front of his eyes.

"He's hunting now. Really hunting. If we stop..." A distant laugh echoed from the cave. Musical. Terrible. Adom pushed off the rock, nearly falling again. His heart hammered against his ribs, too fast, too irregular. But they had to move. Had to keep moving.

"The map," he gasped.

"How far to the... to the..."

"Two hours," Valiant said.

"But you won't last two minutes like this!" Another laugh, closer now. The temperature dropped. [Indomitable Will] Adom's legs found new strength born of pure desperation.

"Then we better run fast." Trembling fingers found the last red potion in his inventory. The glass was cold against his palm.

"This will hurt," he warned, mostly to himself. The liquid splashed across his ruined back. Fire erupted under his skin. Adom's scream echoed across the wasteland, his vision whiting out as the potion seared into exposed muscle and nerve endings. His knees hit the ground hard. [Minor Healing Potion applied] [Bleeding stopped] [Pain Resistance has increased by 1]"Fuck fuck fuuuuck," he gasped, tears streaming down his face. The wound still gaped open, but at least it wasn't dripping anymore.

The white potion came next. His hands shook so badly he nearly dropped it. The seal broke with a pop, releasing a smell like ozone and burnt sugar.

"Last one," he muttered, and drained it in one desperate swallow. The taste hit like lightning - metallic and sharp and impossibly cold. His heart stuttered, then began to race. The world sharpened into brutal clarity, colors too bright, sounds too loud. His pupils dilated until the blue of his iris was just a thin ring.

"Holy shit, your eyes," Valiant started to say, but Adom was already moving, muscles crackling with artificial energy.

"Run!" he shouted, the potion singing in his veins. They could outrun a vampire. They had to. Behind them, Helios's laughter turned to a snarl of frustration as his prey found new speed. Adom weaved a gravity spell, aided by the staff, warping space around them. His feet left the ground, Valiant clinging to his shoulders as they shot forward. The wasteland blurred past in streaks of purple and gray. Every thirty seconds, they'd touch down just long enough for Adom to gather more power. Push off. Soar. Land. Repeat.

The white potion kept his mind razor-sharp despite his body's protests. [Mana: 342/900] [Life Force: 198/500] They covered impossible distances. Valleys and dead forests swept beneath them. The throne room's spire grew from a distant needle to a looming monolith. When they finally landed at its base, Adom's legs gave out. He caught himself against the obsidian wall, chest heaving as he fought for air. The white potion's fire was starting to fade, leaving him shaky and over-sensitized.

"Map," he gasped, wiping sweat from his eyes.

"There's a... safe zone. Behind those rocks." He pointed to a cluster of black stone formations about fifty yards from the throne room's entrance.

"We need... need to plan. Can't just rush in."

"You need to rest," Valiant said, studying Adom's pale face.

"You look like death warmed over."

"Ten minutes." Adom pushed off the wall, stumbling toward the safe zone.

"That's all we can risk. Before he realizes... before he figures out where we're headed." The marking on the map glowed faintly as they crossed into the safe zone's boundary. Adom collapsed against the cool stone, every muscle trembling with exhaustion.

"Ten minutes," he repeated, forcing his eyes to stay open.

"Then we move. Have to... have to be smart about this." The soles of his boots were completely worn through, leather splitting at the seams. Each landing sent jolts of agony through Adom's injured leg. Push off. Land. Push off again. The white potion kept him moving, but his heart was racing too fast, vision blurring at the edges. A massive waterfall appeared through the purple haze, hundreds of feet high, thundering down the cliffside.

The water glowed with a faint bioluminescence, casting strange shadows on the rocks.

"THERE!" Valiant shouted over the roar.

"Behind the falls!" Adom's legs buckled on the landing. He stumbled, caught himself. The cave entrance was barely visible through the curtain of water.

"Hold on!" [Push] They shot through the waterfall. Ice-cold water slammed into them. Then darkness. Rock walls rushed past. Adom's injured leg gave out completely as they hit the cave floor, sending them rolling. Then the white potion wore off. Adom's scream echoed off the cave walls as every nerve ending fired at once. His muscles seized, back arching off the ground. It felt like his blood had turned to acid. The artificial strength that had kept him going vanished, leaving only raw, screaming pain. His leg.

His back. Everything. He curled into a ball, shaking violently. Aftereffects of the emergency white potion - the kind you only took when the alternative was death. The kind that let you ignore your body's limits, at a price. Valiant's voice came from somewhere far away: "Breathe. Just breathe." Adom tried. His heart was still racing, irregular, too fast. Cold sweat soaked his clothes. Every breath felt like swallowing glass. Through the haze of pain, Helios' laugh echoed in Adom's mind.

The blood trail they'd left... Adom dragged himself toward the water curtain.

"What are you doing?" Valiant asked.

"Stop moving!" Adom tried to speak, but his throat was too tight. He gestured weakly at the entrance, at the blood pooling beneath him.

"Se... secure..." The word came out as a rasp. Understanding hit Valiant.

"Concealment runes? Like the other safe zones we used?" Adom nodded, trembling. His fingers dipped into the blood from his back. The first rune came out messy, shaking. Blood was stronger than chalk or ink - it carried life force, made the magic deeper, more real. They'd used simple concealment runes before, but this... His hand slipped. More blood spilled. Good. He needed it. The runes took shape - crude, desperate things drawn in crimson. Hide. Obscure. Barrier. Protection.

Each one tied to the next, forming chains of power around the cave entrance. His vision blurred. Keep going. Had to keep going. Blood from his leg for the ground runes. Blood from his back for the walls. Layer after layer of concealment - sight, sound, smell. Helios wouldn't find them. Couldn't find them. Not if the runes held.

"Hey..." Valiant's voice shook.

"Almost..." The word came out as a wheeze. The final barrier runes were the hardest - circles within circles, each line precise despite his trembling hands. The cave floor looked like a slaughterhouse. Last rune. Just... one... more... Adom pressed his palm against the central sigil. Pushed his mana into the bloody marks. The runes pulsed once, deep red to black. Sound died. The waterfall's roar cut off like someone had thrown a switch. The air grew thick, heavy with magic.

Adom collapsed, chest heaving, focusing on his breathing while his body screamed at him from a dozen different places. After a few minutes...

"First things first," he managed, eyes closed.

"Status check. I'm in bad shape. Mana's regenerating. No potions left. Staff's okay. How are you?" Valiant paced the perimeter, scanning the darkness.

"I'm fine. But we've got bigger problems. That door's at least thirty yards of open ground from here. Helios catches us there, we're done."

"He won't expect a frontal assault." Adom opened his eyes, studying the throne room's entrance.

"Too obvious. He'll be checking the side passages, hidden routes. Looking for us to be clever."

"So we're going with stupid?" Adom let Valiant's question hang in the silence. His fingers traced one of the blood runes, mind drifting to the pain in his back, the way his leg trembled even while sitting. He was barely able to stand. [20 days, 01 hour, 02 min] Each number felt like a nail driven into his skull. The runes would hold. He'd need to maintain them every few hours, feed them more mana, maybe blood if they weakened. Helios might pick up traces, but breaking through all the layers would take time.

If they even had time.

"... I will not make it in time," Adom muttered, the words slipping out before he could stop them. Reality was crushing him. His back was destroyed, leg wounded. No potions. No help coming. Even if he recovered enough to walk properly, it would take days. Maybe weeks. Time he didn't have. The disease would come back. He could feel it waiting, like a weight in his chest. The coughing would start first. Then the fever.

Then everything else, piece by piece, until he was back to being that broken thing in the bed, watching the ceiling, waiting to die. Something hot and unfamiliar burned behind his eyes. He blinked hard, but the tears came anyway. Stupid. Stupid to think he could...

"Hey..." Valiant shifted uncomfortably.

"Come on, don't be like that." Adom wiped his eyes roughly with his sleeve.

"Look, I know things are bad, but-""You don't know anything." The words came out harsher than intended. Valiant was quiet for a long moment, just the sound of water dripping in the cave despite the barrier. Then he sighed.

"Okay. Story time. You know why my uncle named me Valiant?" Adom didn't respond.

"Everyone thought it was a joke at first." Valiant settled against the wall, close enough to talk, far enough to give space.

"I was this tiny thing, even for a mouse beastkin. Scared of everything. Used to be this massive cat in our district - mean old bastard, bigger than any alley cat had a right to be." He picked at a loose hair on his fur.

"Would chase me every chance he got. I was too slow, too weak to fight back. Kids started calling me 'Coward' instead of Valiant. I'd come home crying, begging Uncle Cisco to change my name."

"One day, after a stupid bet with some kids I thought were my friends, that cat cornered me bad. I managed to scramble up onto our roof but..." A soft laugh.

"God, I was terrified. Wouldn't come down even after he left." Adom glanced over. Valiant was staring at nothing, lost in the memory.

"Uncle Cisco found me there, huddled behind the chimney. Sun was setting. I kept telling him I couldn't do it, wasn't strong enough. Better to just stay up there forever than face what was waiting below. That I had enough." Something in his voice made Adom turn fully toward him.

"He just looked at me for a minute. Then he walked over..." Valiant's tail twitched.

"And pushed me right off the roof."

"What?"

"Yeah. Straight off. What a heartless bastard, am I right? I landed in Farmer Reed's hay cart. Scared his horse so bad it bolted halfway down the street." A faint smile crossed his face.

"I was... God, I was so angry. Screaming, crying. Called him every name I knew, which wasn't many back then. Asked him why he'd do that to me." Valiant met Adom's eyes.

"'Being valiant isn't about not being afraid, little tail,' he told me.

'It's about what you do when you're terrified.'" The cave fell silent except for the steady drip of water.

"I didn't get it then. Was too busy being mad. But next time I saw that cat... I didn't run. Still got scratched up pretty bad, but I didn't run. Time after that, I got away clean. And the time after that?" He shrugged.

"Well, let's just say that cat learned to find easier prey."

"What's your point?" Adom's voice was hoarse.

"My point is..." Valiant stood slowly, joints popping.

"Sometimes the scariest part isn't the falling. It's convincing yourself to get back up afterward." Adom stared at the cave wall for a long moment.

"What... what does that have to do with getting back up?" Valiant opened his mouth to respond, then seemed to catch himself.

"No, I mean..." Adom turned to look at him, genuinely confused.

"Your story was about facing your fears, about being brave. But your point was about..." He trailed off, waiting for an explanation. Valiant's whiskers twitched. He ran a hand through his fur, frustrated.

"It's... look, it's the only tragic story I have that's even slightly about not giving up, alright? Just... work with me here." Something shifted in Adom's chest. A small bubble of... something. He tried to hold it back, but when he looked at Valiant's earnest, desperate attempt to help... The laugh came quietly at first. Then it grew, shaking his shoulders despite the pain that shot through his back. Each new wave made his wounds scream, but he couldn't stop.

"Hey!" Valiant's tail bristled.

"I'm trying to help here!"

"I know," Adom managed between breaths, tears - different tears now - rolling down his face.

"I know you are."

"Then stop laughing at me!" Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Adom took a shaky breath, wincing as the laughter subsided.

"I think... I think the question you were trying to answer was 'Why do we fall?'" Valiant's ears perked up.

"Yes!" He blinked.

"YES! That's exactly what I... wait, are you still laughing?" The laughter slowly faded, leaving Adom exhausted but somehow lighter. He leaned back against the cave wall, careful of his wounds.

"Thanks," he said quietly.

"I needed that."

"Sure," Valiant muttered, looking anywhere but at him.

"Whatever."

"And... you're right." Adom sighed.

"It would be stupid to go out there now. Not in my condition."

"Then... do you have a plan?" Adom fell silent, thinking.

"Because Helios is strong," Valiant continued, words tumbling out faster.

"Like, really strong. If he catches us out there, we're dead. And these runes won't hold forever. He'll find us eventually, and then-""He's strong," Adom interrupted.

"But not that strong." Valiant stared at him.

"He's the reason we're stuck here in the first place!"

"Incorrect. Gale did most of the work there." Adom shifted, wincing.

"I've fought Helios more than once. The first time, I beat him. Barely, but I did."

"What about last time then?"

"Again, Gale did most of the work. If he hadn't disrupted the golem's crystal, if he hadn't held onto it between jumps..." Adom shook his head.

"Helios wouldn't have been that big of a problem. His greatest advantage isn't his strength - it's his regeneration. No matter how many fireballs, thunderbolts, or devastating spells I throw at him, he always heals. Comes back angrier. If he'd been human, he would have died in our first encounter. Or even during the jumps with the golem, he would have definitely..." Adom's voice trailed off. His eyes widened.

"What?" Valiant leaned forward.

"Why'd you stop talking?" Adom thought carefully. Twenty days until the illness took hold. Just enough time for his wounds to heal enough to attempt an escape through the portal in the boss' territory. But not nearly enough time to gather ingredients, craft the cure from scratch, and take it before the symptoms began. He had nothing here - no equipment, no ingredients, nothing. But there was a vampire out there. The thought made him pause. Not because he wanted to become one - God no.

Despite what stories said, a vampire's bite was full of bacteria, and was more likely to kill you with infection than turn you. No, what interested him was something else entirely. Something that had been staring him in the face this whole time. Vampires don't get sick. Their bodies reject all illness, heal from any wound. Even... even life-drain syndrome wouldn't affect them. Their regenerative abilities were beyond anything natural, beyond even most magic. And Helios... Helios had that same ability.

Every spell, every wound, every attack - nothing stuck. He always came back, stronger and angrier than before. Adom had never considered it before because... well, vampires were rare, for one thing. And it was a crazy idea. The alchemy involved would be incredibly complex. And it was a really crazy idea. Alchemical transmutation. In a sense, it was the art of taking properties from one thing and giving them to another. The most he'd ever done was turn water into milk, and later, turn water sweet. But this...

this was different. He didn't need to understand how Helios's whole body worked. He didn't need to transmute everything. He did not need him to be alive by the end of the process. Just one thing: that incredible regeneration. He remembered the illness. The burning in his veins, the feeling of his own body turning against itself, the slow, inexorable drain of life. Was playing it safe worth going through that again? Worth dying over? A slight smile crept across his face.

"Oh, hey. Wow, wow, wow.." Valiant's tail puffed up nervously.

"Are you having another breakdown? Because I don't have any more inspirational stories, and that last one didn't even make sense-""No," Adom said quietly.

"No, I'm not having a breakdown." His smile grew stronger.

"In fact, I'm picking myself up." He reached into his inventory, movements careful to avoid jarring his injuries. From it, he withdrew a worn leather grimoire - Paracelsus's Incomplete Works.

"What are you doing?" Valiant asked, peering at the pages as Adom opened it to page 394. Instead of answering, Adom closed his eyes, focusing. A thin stream of mana flowed from his fingers into the page's core, making the paper glow faintly. Then, with practiced precision, he spread the energy outward like a spider weaving its web. Pulse. One, two, three. Pulse. One, two, three. Slowly, ink began to bleed onto the previously empty margins.

Hundreds of cramped notes appeared, flowing between diagrams and formulae that hadn't been visible moments before.

"Magic?" Valiant whispered, whiskers twitching in amazement. Adom smiled through the pain in his back and legs.

"You're goddamn right."

[Time remaining: 19 days, 15 hours, 34 min] Adom woke with a start, momentarily disoriented by the constant diminished sound of falling water. His face was pressed against the cold stone floor - he'd fallen asleep on his stomach, the only position that didn't make his shredded back scream in protest. Even so, pain radiated through his body in dull waves, making him acutely aware of every injury. He hadn't meant to fall asleep. Hadn't even realized he was that exhausted until... well, until now.

The cave was dim, lit only by their small fire. Another cave. This dungeon seemed to have an endless supply of them, each one blending into the next. The runes were safely etched on the driest part of the cave wall, well away from the waterfall's mist. There wasn't much light filtering through the cascading water - just endless sheets of darkness beyond their shelter. A soft snoring caught his attention. Valiant lay curled in a tight ball near the cave entrance, tail twitching occasionally in his sleep.

So much for standing guard. Adom couldn't really blame him - the past few hours had been exhausting for both of them. Beyond the waterfall, there was nothing. No movement, no shadows of pursuit. They were safe, for now. But for how long? Helios wasn't stupid. The blood trail they'd left behind was like a beacon, leading straight to the waterfall. Once there, it wouldn't take much for him to sense something was off about this particular section of rock wall. And yet...

Adom's hand went to his inventory, pulling out the clover Bob had given him. As he held it, another leaf detached and drifted to the ground, leaving just two remaining. The plant glowed a soft green before fading back to normal. Was that it? Were they surviving purely on borrowed luck? The thought should have been more concerning, but Adom had more pressing matters to consider. If luck was on their side, even temporarily, he needed to make the most of it. He turned his attention back to Paracelsus's book.

Time to get to work. [Time remaining: 16 days, 15 hours, 34 min] Three days blurred together in a haze of reading, healing, and more reading. The margins of Paracelsus's work were a maze of cramped annotations, diagrams, and half-finished theories. Some notes contradicted others, while many trailed off mid-sentence, as if the writer had been struck by a new thought and hurried to capture it elsewhere. Every three hours, like clockwork, Adom would set the book down, close his eyes, and focus on healing.

The spells weren't much - battlefield medicine at best - but combined with regular meditation, they were slowly knitting his back together. The pain had dulled from searing agony to a persistent ache. His leg was healing faster, though he still couldn't put his full weight on it. Their days fell into a pattern. Wake up, read, heal, read, heal, sleep. Repeat. The waterfall provided surprisingly clean water - something about the mineral content of the rocks, Adom suspected, though he hadn't bothered to analyze it.

Their food consisted entirely of the chicken Valiant conjured - bland but filling. At least they wouldn't starve. Valiant, for his part, was driving Adom slowly insane.

"But what if-""No."

"You didn't even let me finish!"

"I don't need to. The answer is no." This had become a common exchange. Valiant would suggest increasingly ridiculous plans to escape or fight Helios, each more likely to get them killed than the last. When he wasn't doing that, he was pacing. Or tapping his claws against rocks. Or humming off-key. Or asking what Adom was reading about every five minutes.

"Is that one about vampires?"

"No."

"The one before looked like it had fangs drawn on it."

"Those were crystallization patterns."

"Are you sure? Because-""Valiant."

"Right, right. Shutting up." The silence would last approximately three minutes before something else caught his attention. But despite the annoyance, having someone else there helped. Someone to take watch while the other slept. Someone to bounce ideas off of, even if most of those ideas were terrible. Someone to remind him to eat when he got too absorbed in his reading. The runes held steady, requiring only occasional maintenance. No sign of Helios, though that didn't mean he wasn't out there, searching.

The two-leaf clover remained unchanged after that last leaf fell, sitting on a nearby rock like a silent guardian. Three days of study had given Adom a foundation. It was, as he felt, time for practice.

Adom held the crystal up to the firelight, frowning as he noticed another hairline crack running through its core. The fissure caught the light like a thread of spider silk - barely visible, but potentially catastrophic if left unchecked. This was the second time he'd noticed such damage forming. The constant teleportation must be putting more strain on the crystal than he'd anticipated. Without hesitation, he pricked his finger with one of his daggers.

The golem remained motionless as Adom traced the length of the crack with his blood. He focused his mana with practiced precision, guiding it through his blood to seal the microscopic fissures in the crystal's structure. One wrong move in the mana manipulation and the whole crystal might shatter.

"What're you doing?" Valiant asked, peering over his shoulder.

"Is that blood magic? I heard blood magic was dangerous."

"Not blood magic. Just magic." Adom didn't look up from his work.

"But sometimes dangerous is necessary. The crystal's structural integrity needs to match exactly, down to the smallest imperfection. My blood carries my magical signature - it'll bind better than any external source." The blood sank into the crystal, disappearing completely. Adom held his breath, waiting. After a moment, the crack sealed itself with a faint gleam.

"Now for the concealment runes." He turned the golem around, examining its metallic surface.

"These need to be perfect. No room for error." Working methodically, he inscribed the same runes he'd used on the cave walls, but modified for mobility. Each stroke had to account for the golem's movement, the way the magic would flow around its form. By the time he finished, his finger had gone numb from the repeated cuts needed to supply the blood.

"There." He sat back, wiping sweat from his forehead.

"That should keep you hidden from most monsters. Even Helios will have trouble tracking you beyond visual range." While the blood-runes dried, Adom turned his attention to the floor. The book lay open beside him as he began sketching circles in more blood, occasionally pausing to reference specific passages.

"What's all this for?" Valiant asked, tail twitching with curiosity as he watched the precise geometric patterns take shape.

"Tests." Adom's voice was distracted as he double-checked a particular rune sequence.

"I need to understand how properties transfer between living things before I can attempt anything more complex."

"Properties?" Valiant's ears perked up.

"Like what kind of properties? Are you going to make something explode? Because I really think we should not make something explode." Adom sighed, adding the final touches to the outermost circle.

"Not everything needs to explode. I need to understand how certain traits pass between creatures. How they combine."

"That sounds... less exciting than explosions." Valiant flopped down beside the circles, careful not to smudge them.

"But what are you actually going to do?"

"First, I need specimens." Adom picked up the talisman he'd prepared, its runes matching those on both crystals.

"Remember the Copper Halls? Those lizards we saw?"

"The glowy ones? That tried to zap you?"

"Those exactly." Adom secured the direwolf hide bag to the golem's back, checking the stitching one final time.

"They've developed an interesting way of processing electricity. If I can understand how they do it..." He let the thought trail off as he activated the talisman. A little more than sixty kilometers. The copper-veined walls came into view. Other creatures skittered at the golem's approach - cave rats, blind bats, even a small pack of fire foxes that watched warily from an alcove. The concealment runes were working, but not perfectly.

The golem's form wavered slightly, like heat ripples over stone, but it wasn't truly invisible. Still, it was enough to avoid drawing too much attention. There - a familiar green glow ahead. The lizards clustered around a particularly rich vein of copper, their scales pulsing with bioluminescence. Each one was roughly the length of Adom's forearm, with delicate frills around their necks that flared when agitated. As the golem approached, one of them noticed, raising its head in a warning display.

The creature's scales intensified their glow, and electricity began to arc between the small horns on its head. These lizards had evolved to process copper into both light and electrical energy - a fascinating adaptation that Adom hoped to understand better. Before the lizard could release its charge, the golem's hand shot out with precise timing. Fingers wrapped carefully around the creature just behind its head, immobilizing it while avoiding injury.

The lizard thrashed, its tail whipping uselessly against the construct's arm as Adom directed it to secure the specimen in the Dire wolf skin bag Adom made. Now for the second specimen. Adom guided the golem toward a large, flat rock he remembered from their previous passage through these halls. The rock was partially embedded in the floor, but the construct's strength was enough to lift it. Beneath it, exactly as he'd hoped, writhed clusters of pale, maggot-like creatures.

Most dismissed these as simple carrion feeders, but they are their use. Each was about the size of his thumb, perfect for his purposes. The golem carefully selected one of the larger specimens, adding it to another bag beside the still-thrashing lizard. With both creatures secured, Adom activated the teleportation crystal and in a flash of pale light, the golem materialized back in their cave.

"Now," Adom said, directing the construct to place the squirming bag near his runic circles, "we can begin the actual work." He paused for a moment, steadying himself against the wall as a wave of lightheadedness washed over him. He'd used more blood than intended between the crystal repairs, the runes, and the circles. Still, he couldn't afford to wait. He shrugged off his outer robe, tearing it into sturdy strips.

The circles he'd drawn pulsed faintly in the firelight, each rune perfectly placed according to the fundamental laws.

"Hold this." He handed one end to Valiant.

"And stay back. At your size, these lizards can discharge enough electricity to stop your heart."

"Sounds fun," Valiant said, retreating several steps. The golem released the lizard into the primary circle. The creature bolted instantly, but Adom's hands moved with practiced efficiency, wrapping the cloth around its body while avoiding the crackling horns. The lizard thrashed, its scales flaring brilliant green as electricity arced between its horns.

"Careful!" Valiant yelped as a stray bolt scorched the cave wall.

"I've got it." Adom secured the final restraint, pinning the lizard's tail. The creature hissed, its frill fully extended. He positioned it precisely within the outermost circle, where the containment runes would help suppress its more aggressive tendencies. The maggot went into the inner circle, its translucent body glowing with processed mana, pulsing in rhythm with its movements. Adom adjusted his glasses, the Riddler's Bane revealing layers of magical resonance he'd otherwise miss.

A flaw in his third circle - he corrected it with a fresh drop of blood. Each ring had to be perfect for what he planned. He placed his hands on opposite sides of the outer circle, beginning to channel mana. The runes brightened, blood-red light pulsing through the patterns. The lizard's scales began to pulse more rapidly as the transmutation took hold. Through the Riddler's Bane, he could see its electrical generation pattern - a complex, crystalline structure of magical energy.

A dangerous harmonic built in the second ring. With careful precision, he adjusted his mana flow, damping the resonance before it could disrupt the pattern. The maggot in the inner circle began to glow more intensely, its natural mana processing creating interference patterns with the incoming transfer. This was the delicate part. Extracting just the electrical generation properties while keeping both creatures alive would push the limits of what was possible within alchemical laws.

"Ooh, is it supposed to glow like tha-""Valiant." Adom turned.

"If you speak during this, I might accidentally turn you into something very small and very electric. Quiet." Valiant's ears flattened. He made a small squeaking sound, then mimed zipping his mouth shut. Turning back to the circles, Adom took a deep breath and began. The transmutation process was delicate - like trying to isolate a single strand from a complex weave without unraveling the entire pattern.

The lizard's electrical properties were fundamental to its being, inseparable from its life force, mana circulation, and basic cellular structure. As he channeled mana through the circles, the runes pulsed in sequence. Each ring served as a filter, a control mechanism in the complex dance of energies. The outer circle isolated the desired property - electricity generation - while the inner rings maintained the balance required by fundamental law.

Too much pull would drain the lizard's life force; too little would fail to transfer anything at all. Through Riddler's Bane, Adom could see his first mistake forming - a slight imbalance in the elemental harmony. The fire aspect was overwhelming the air, causing the electrical energy to become too concentrated. He adjusted his mana flow, redistributing the elements more evenly. The maggot began to glow brighter as the transfer progressed.

Its natural mana processing abilities were fighting against the incoming changes, trying to convert the electrical properties into pure mana instead of integrating them. Adom hadn't anticipated this interaction - a oversight in calculating the resonance between the creatures' natural abilities. He could see the transfer beginning to work - thin strands of electrical energy spanning between the two circles - but something wasn't quite right. The pattern wasn't holding.

The maggot's body began to spark erratically, while the lizard's scales flickered uncertainly. Adom gritted his teeth, trying to stabilize the process. But the Law of Providence was clear - you couldn't force a transformation beyond a creature's natural limitations. The maggot's simple biological structure wasn't designed to handle electrical generation. He could see through Riddler's Bane exactly where the pattern was breaking down - the cellular structures weren't compatible, the mana pathways too different.

With a controlled release of energy, he carefully dismantled the transfer before it could harm either creature. The circles dimmed, the electrical arcs faded, and both animals slumped in exhaustion but very much alive.

"Well," he muttered, studying the pattern echoes still visible through his glasses, "that was educational." He could see exactly where the resonance had failed, how the elemental balance had shifted wrong, why the transfer pattern hadn't held. Next time, he'd need to modify the inner circles to account for the maggot's natural mana conversion... Valiant made an inquisitive sound, still maintaining his enforced silence.

"Yes, you can talk now."

"Did it work?"

"No." Adom adjusted his glasses, already making mental notes for adjustments.

"But I know why it didn't. And that's almost as valuable."

Days blended together in the cave. Every creak of stone, every whisper of wind had them reaching for weapons. Helios never came. Adom sketched complex geometric patterns in a worn notebook he kept in his inventory, calculations filling the margins. Routine became their armor. Every eight hours, they checked the perimeter. Eight hours after that, they planned. The rest was for sleeping in shifts, always one keeping watch.

The dungeon's eternal twilight made time blur, but Adom's interface kept perfect count of each passing hour.

"Another day," Valiant would say occasionally, and Adom would nod, not mentioning how he knew it had been exactly sixteen hours and forty-three minutes since their last meal. Adom's new reality started with learning to sit up without falling. His back screamed with each movement, vertebrae grinding against each other as damaged muscles slowly knit themselves back together. The wounded leg was getting better too.

"You're bleeding again," Valiant said one morning, watching Adom try to do push-ups.

"Just a little." He managed three before collapsing. Progress. The golem needed work. Its missing arm wasn't the only problem - joints had crystallized, power circuits were failing. Adom spent hours with it, fingers tracing damage, making repairs with scraps of magic. Minimal power. Had to be careful with that now.

"What are you working on?" Valiant asked one evening, watching Adom trace intricate circles in the dirt.

"Just testing some theories," Adom replied, noting how the runes glowed faintly before fading. They planned escapes over bird bones and cave mushrooms. Drew maps in the dirt. Calculated odds. Meanwhile, Adom's notebook filled with measurements - distance calculations, energy requirements, geometric progressions. Late at what they considered night, when Valiant slept, Adom would test small-scale versions of his runes. The cave walls would illuminate with brief flashes of contained power.

Each failure taught him something new. One week. Seven days of the same walls, same conversations. Following Adom's will, The golem grew more aggressive in its hunting, bringing back not just lizards but anything it could find.

"Seems excessive," Valiant commented, watching it return with another load.

"Need to test something," Adom replied absently, marking something in his notebook. During his watch shifts, Adom would send the golem out for hours at a time, claiming reconnaissance.

"Those runes you keep drawing," Valiant said one day, gesturing to the cave walls where faint magical residue still glowed, "they're containment circles?"

"Among other things, yes." Adom answered. He closed his notebook, studying the patterns that had emerged from his research. If he was right about how properties could transfer between creatures, then it was time for more practical tests. His back twinged as he shifted position, but the pain was duller now. The meditation sessions were helping, along with whatever healing magic he could spare. He could also walk, albeit with a noticeable limp, and most movements only caused minor bleeding.

"We need more specimens," he announced. Valiant, who had been batting at dust motes in a shaft of crystal light, perked up.

"More zappy lizards?"

"Among other things." Adom turned to the golem.

"Three days of intensive testing. We'll need a variety. Different sizes, different abilities." The first day's specimens arrived in waves. Cave crawlers with their natural armor. Blind bats that navigated through echo-location. More of the copper lizards. Each creature went into separate bags, carefully labeled with their properties and potential uses.

"Why do we need so many?" Valiant asked, watching the golem return with another load. Adom was already setting up his circles, using blood from the specimens themselves to draw the patterns.

"The transmutation process is complex. We need to understand how different traits interact." The first attempt was simple - trying to transfer the cave crawler's armor to one of the maggots. The circles glowed, the runes pulsed, but nothing changed. The maggot remained soft, the crawler's shell unchanged. Both creatures convulsed violently during the process, the maggot's soft body nearly liquefying before stabilizing at the last moment.

The crawler's breathing became so shallow Adom thought it had died before it suddenly gasped back to life.

"That's one," Valiant counted helpfully. By sunset - or what passed for it in the eternal twilight - they'd attempted three more transfers. All failures. Each test left the creatures on the brink of death - one lizard's scales blackened and flaked away, a bat's wings withered to nearly nothing before slowly regenerating, and a particularly large crawler had hemorrhaged a viscous blue fluid from every joint before somehow clinging to life. Adom spent the night hours reviewing his notes, adjusting calculations.

His back ached from sitting hunched over, but he pushed through it. The pain was manageable now, as long as he didn't make any sudden movements. The second day brought more attempts. Larger circles, more complex patterns. Trying to merge a bat's echolocation with a lizard's electrical properties. The resulting reaction left scorch marks on the cave ceiling. Both creatures seized violently, the bat's heart stopping completely for nearly thirty seconds before suddenly restarting.

The lizard's eyes had bulged, nearly bursting from their sockets before receding again, its tiny body trembling for hours afterward.

"Five!" Valiant announced cheerfully, having appointed himself official failure counter.

"Not failures," Adom corrected, wiping monster blood from his glasses.

"Data points." By the third day, Adom's limp was more pronounced from the constant movement, but his mind was sharper than ever. Each attempt had revealed something new about the fundamental laws governing transmutation. The patterns were becoming clearer, though the cost was evident in the collection of barely-living specimens recovering in small cages around the cave perimeter. For the eighth attempt, he chose his specimens carefully. A lizard, young but strong.

One of the larger maggots, its mana circulation particularly vivid through Riddler's Bane. The circles he drew were more intricate than ever, incorporating everything he'd learned about resonance and resistance.

"Lucky number eight?" Valiant asked, watching from his self-designated safe distance. Adom didn't respond, focusing entirely on the transfer. The runes began to glow, blood-red light pulsing through the patterns. He could see the energy flow, could trace how it moved between the creatures. Everything looked perfect, exactly according to his calculations. And then... nothing. The lizard's scales dimmed. The maggot remained unchanged. Another failure. Adom sighed, turning away to study his notes.

Where had he gone wrong this time? Everything was perfect, the patterns aligned...

"Wait," Valiant said. Adom turned slowly, his notes forgotten. The lizard lay quiet in its circle, scales dim but chest still rising with breath. But the maggot...

"I swear I just saw it..." Valiant leaned closer, whiskers twitching.

"There! Did you see that? Like a little spark or something." Adom adjusted his glasses, studying the maggot through Riddler's Bane. The creature's natural mana patterns had shifted, crystalline structures forming where none had existed before.

"Interesting."

"Poke it with something," Valiant suggested, tail swishing with excitement.

"That stick there." Adom picked up the stick but hesitated, watching the maggot's movements. Its translucent body seemed to pulse with an unfamiliar rhythm.

"Oh come on, I'll do it." Valiant reached forward.

"I think it glowed for a second there, right at the tip-" CRACK!

"OUCH!" Valiant yanked his paw back, fur standing on end.

"Son of a bi-""Language," Adom said automatically, but he couldn't keep the smile from spreading across his face. Through Riddler's Bane, he could see it clearly now - the lizard's electrical generation structures, perfectly miniaturized and integrated into the maggot's simpler form. The property transfer had worked exactly as intended, scaling down to match the recipient's size. The lizard, still alive, showed no trace of its former electrical abilities. A complete transfer, not just a copy.

"You did it!" Valiant was still shaking his paw.

"Though did it have to work right when I was touching it?"

"Perfect timing, I'd say." Adom replied. Success after seven failures. The pattern was complete. As he bent to pick up his notebook, a soft white glow emanated from the outer edge of the transmutation circle. Delicate white flowers, resembling tiny star-shaped lilies, began sprouting from the bare cave floor, forming a perfect ring around the experimental setup. They grew rapidly, unfurling pristine petals that seemed to glow with an inner light. Valiant's eyes widened.

"Uh... what's with the glowy flowers? Is that supposed to happen?" Adom stared at the blooming ring, perplexed. He hadn't incorporated any plant-based components in his transmutation circle.

"That's... unexpected."

"Did you mess something up?" Valiant asked, keeping a safe distance from both the electric maggot and the mysterious flowers. Adom carefully examined the runes through Riddler's Bane. The mana flow was stable, perfect even, but there was something else—a faint resonance pattern he hadn't noticed before, vibrating at frequencies he'd never seen in his previous work.

"I may have done something I didn't intend," he admitted, kneeling to inspect one of the flowers without touching it.

"The core transmutation worked exactly as designed, but this..." he gestured at the flowers, "this is something else entirely."

"Should we, I don't know, pull them up?" Valiant suggested. Adom shook his head firmly.

"No. I don't want to alter anything about this configuration until I understand it better. For all we know, disturbing the flowers could destabilize the entire transmutation." He was already smiling when a screen appeared: [Path Discovered Through Study and Practice] Through dedicated research and successful experimentation, you have achieved true understanding of fundamental alchemical principles. Path of the Alchemist (Novice) has been recognized. Current Paths: - Runicologist (Expert) - Alchemist (Novice)"Hah."

And so, the next phase could begin.

[Time remaining: 06 days, 12 hours, 21 min]"You know what I miss?" Valiant asked one 'night', poking at their small fire.

"A good cup of coffee." Adom made a face.

"Coffee. Of course you'd like that bitter sludge."

"Better than your fancy leaf water."

"Tea is an art form. Coffee is just... violence in a cup."

"Says the man who's never had proper coffee." Valiant grinned.

"Dark roast, fresh ground beans-""Tastes like someone burned dirt and decided to drink it."

"At least it has character. Tea's just hot water that got nervous around leaves." Adom clutched his chest in mock horror.

"You barbarian. There are hundreds of unique blends, each with their own-""Fancy words for plant juice."

"When we get out," Valiant said, "we're settling this properly. You try my coffee, I'll try your precious tea."

"Deal. But when I win-""When you what?"

"You'll have to admit tea is superior."

"In your dreams, kid." Valiant smirked.

"I could fight dragons. Face down armies. But admitting tea beats coffee? That's where I draw the line."

"You're just afraid of the truth."

"Says the one who probably puts milk in his tea."

"I do not- okay, sometimes. But only with certain blends!"

"Heathen." They shared a quiet laugh, and for a moment, the cave felt less oppressive.

"When we get out," Valiant said again, more softly this time.

"Yeah," Adom agreed.

"When we get out." During meditation, he thought of multiple scenarios. Tunnel collapse variations. Spell combinations. Combat formations. Discard, recalculate, adapt. The plans piled up like dead leaves. His back and leg kept healing. Slowly. Too slowly. But enough to start proper training.

"Again." Valiant steadied him as he practiced standing on one leg.

"You're favoring your right side."

"Because that's the side with a functional leg," Adom grumbled, but adjusted his stance. Had to get out. Had to try. Step by step. Day by day. Until finally, after 4 days of effort, Adom looked at their latest escape plan and didn't immediately see three ways it could kill them.

"Are you sure it's safe?" Valiant asked, adjusting his belt for the third time in as many minutes. The flickering torchlight caught Adom's sardonic smile.

"Valiant, it's a dungeon. Nothing about this place has ever been safe." He ran his fingers over the nearest wall, tracing a faint runic pattern that pulsed briefly at his touch.

"Though we did manage a few relatively peaceful days."

"Yeah, about that..." Valiant frowned.

"It was strange, wasn't it? No much attacks, rare monsters..."

"Not strange at all." Adom gestured to the barely visible markings encircling their shelter.

"These runes have been redirecting attention away from us. Simple misdirection, really. Make something seem uninteresting enough, and most creatures will ignore it."

"Oh? So that's what you've been working on all this time?"

"Among other things." Adom checked his notebook one final time before tucking it away.

"You remember the plan?"

"I think so-""You think so?" Asked Adom, one eyebrow raised.

"This isn't a training exercise, Valiant. Either you know the plan, or we're not leaving this cave."

"Fine, fine." Valiant held up his hands.

"Northern tunnel to the first junction. Wait for your signal. If we see monsters, we backtrack to point B. If we get separated-""We don't." Adom's tone left no room for argument.

"Under no circumstances do we separate. That's how people die in dungeons."

"Says the kid who keeps sending his golem off alone."

"The golem can't die. You and I can." Adom checked his staff turned crutch, testing its weight.

"Continue."

"Right. Stay together. Move to the secondary route if primary is compromised. No magic unless absolutely necessary because-""Because?"

"Because we need to reach point A before letting Helios track us." Valiant's eyes flickered to the grey streak in Adom's hair.

"Happy now?"

"Ecstatic." Adom turned to the golem, which stood silently in the corner. Its collection of gathered materials had grown impressively over their stay. Adom took a deep breath.

"Remember, if everything goes wrong-""Stay close to you, don't look back, don't stop running." Valiant finished.

"Though I still think that's the part that sounds most like suicide."

"Better than the guaranteed death of staying here." Adom started moving toward the cave entrance, each step measured and careful.

"The runes' effect will start fading soon. We need to move."

"Why now?" Valiant fell into step beside him, ready to catch Adom if his balance failed - a somewhat amusing thought given their size difference.

"Why not wait another day?" [Time remaining: 01 day, 12 hours, 21 min]"Because I can feel it in my bones, friend. Literally. One more day might be one too many." They paused at the threshold of their temporary sanctuary.

"Last chance to back out," Adom murmured. Valiant snorted.

"And let you have all the fun? Not likely. Besides, someone has to carry you when that leg gives out."

"I won't slow us down."

"Sure you won't." Valiant's tone was gentle.

"Ready, Law?"

"Adom."

"Huh?"

"My name. It's Adom." Valiant's confident stride faltered for half a step as he went silent. His whiskers twitched - once, twice.

"If you're about to share another detail about your sexual life, please don't."

"What- come on, you think I'm some kind of pervert?" Valiant's tail bristled.

"Pshh." The tunnel stretched before them, dark and uninviting. Their footsteps echoed in the silence - the uneven tap of Adom's crutch, Valiant's measured stride, the golem's clicks against stone.

"Hey." Valiant's voice was quieter now.

"That tea of yours? I really want to try it later. So let's make it out alive, yeah?"

"Yeah." Adom adjusted his grip on the staff, double-checked his notebook.

"Stay close."

"Like glue." They moved through the tunnels like ghosts - or at least, that's what it felt like inside the concealment bubble Adom had spent days preparing. The world outside had a dreamlike quality, edges blurred and sounds muffled as if underwater. Light from the crystals scattered strangely through the barrier, creating odd patterns that made depth perception tricky.

"Third time I've nearly walked into a wall," Valiant muttered, his whiskers twitching as he tried to gauge distances.

"How long will these runes last?"

"Long enough. Theoretically." Adom limped alongside the golem. The arrays would burn themselves out after a certain point due to the amount of movement they were making. A shadow moved in their peripheral vision - something large, with too many legs. The creature paused, head tilting as if catching a scent. Through the distortion field, its form wavered like heat rising from stone. Valiant froze mid-step. Adom's fingers tightened on his staff. The monster's mandibles clicked once, twice...

then it skittered away, apparently deciding whatever it had sensed wasn't worth investigating.

"That's the fourth one," Valiant whispered once it was gone.

"Getting pretty good at this invisible thing."

"Not invisible," Adom corrected automatically, resuming their careful pace.

"Just... unremarkable. As long as we move slowly and-" A ripple passed through the barrier, making the world shimmer like disturbed water.

"What was that?" Valiant's tail puffed up.

"Nothing. Expected." Adom's jaw clenched.

"The runes are degrading faster than calculated. The movement..." They encountered three more close calls in the next hour. A pack of cave wolves that nearly crossed their path - Valiant had to clamp his hand over his mouth to stop a squeak of terror when one passed close enough to feel its breath. A floating eye that hovered nearby for heart-stopping minutes before drifting away. Something that moved too fast to identify but left deep gouges in the stone as it passed. Each time, the bubble held. Barely.

But nearly two hours in, the degradation became impossible to ignore. The barrier flickered visibly now, edges becoming unstable. The world outside would snap into sharp focus for split seconds before blurring again.

"Adom..." Valiant's voice had an edge of panic.

"We're still at least twenty minutes from Point A, and this thing is-""This is Point A."

"Already?" Valiant's whiskers twitched nervously.

"Thought we'd go deeper in before-""This is where Helios spends most of his time. When I was searching with the golem, I spotted him here more than anywhere else." Adom gestured at their surroundings.

"He feeds off lesser monsters in this area. If we want him to notice us properly, it'll be here."

"Right, right." Valiant's eyes scanned the tunnel junctions.

"Just got my timing mixed up. Thought we had another section to go." Another flicker, longer this time. In the distance, something roared.

"Remember," Adom said quietly, "when the bubble fails, stay close to me. No matter what happens."

"Wouldn't dream of wandering off now." Valiant moved closer, his fur brushing against Adom's leg. They waited in tense silence as the barrier flickered more frequently, the dreamlike distortion becoming unstable. The golem's runes were beginning to fade, their power almost spent.

"Wouldn't dream of wandering off now." Valiant moved closer, his fur brushing against Adom's leg.

"Actually... I should probably climb up. Hold onto your shoulders." His claws flexed meaningfully.

"If he gets too close, I can always go for the eyes."

"Haha, good idea." They waited in tense silence as the barrier flickered more frequently, the dreamlike distortion becoming unstable. The golem's runes were beginning to fade, their power almost spent. The concealment bubble shimmered one final time before dissolving completely, leaving them exposed in a vast open space. Gone were the confining tunnels and twisting passages.

Under normal circumstances, this area would be teeming with the dungeon's more peaceable denizens: crystal-horned grazers that fed on moss, floating jellies that drifted on underground currents, six-legged creatures that scuttled between the stalagmites searching for mineral deposits. But not anymore. Helios had made sure of that. Adom had watched him during the scouting runs with the golem. Vampires weren't what the stories claimed. No elegant neck-biting, no careful feeding on blood alone.

Helios tore into his prey like a starved beast, ripping chunks of meat, cracking bones for marrow. Blood was just part of the mess, spilling everywhere as he feasted. The weaker monsters didn't stand a chance.

"I feel... naked," Valiant whispered from Adom's shoulder.

"Not the time, Valiant. Please." Adom shut his eyes. Valiant went quiet. The runes on the golem had Adom's blood in them. Helios would certainly smell it. Just had to wait now. Wait. Wait. Adom focused, listening. Stone creaking. Air moving. Something else. A whisper of movement- The golem's arm shot up, metal ringing as it blocked something fast and deadly that would have taken Adom's head off. And so it begins.

"MAGE!" [LIGHTING BOLT]. [Flow Prediction] slowed the world just enough for Adom to savor every detail. The spell caught Helios square in the chest, electricity arcing through his body. Muscles seized, spine arching unnaturally. The impact lifted him off his feet, sending him flying backward like a broken doll. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air. For what felt like years, Adom had dreamed of this moment. The way Helios's fangs cracked against each other as lightning coursed through him.

How his claws spasmed, useless. For a split second, their eyes met. All that smugness, all that superiority - gone. Just raw, impotent fury. Beautiful. Helios hit a boulder hard enough to crack it, body still twitching. He tried to stand, muscles refusing to obey. [Indomitable Will activated] [Spiteful Fighting Spirit activated] [Fluid Control] This was long overdue.

"Hey, fangface! How's that tan coming along?" Valiant called out, his bravado barely masking the tremor in his voice. Helios laughed, muscles knitting back together with sickening pops and cracks.

"Got me there, mage." Adom adjusted his grip on the staff.

"You've become quite predictable." Helios rose slowly, joints cracking back into place. His burned flesh was already healing.

"Why are you still talking?!" Valiant shouted at Adom.

"Blast his ass!"

"Because he's smart," Helios said, rolling his shoulders.

"He knows how this ends. The hunter always eats its prey."

"Agreed." Adom's staff began to glow blue as the golem shifted into a combat stance.

"Saw that construct of yours, you know. Skulking around." Helios's grin widened.

"Tried to track you down, but couldn't get a fix. Grateful you came to me instead."

"Before we start-" Adom began.

"YOU'RE STILL TALKING WITH HIM?!" Valiant's claws dug into Adom's shoulder.

"ARE YOU FUCKING WITH ME?!"

"Why the obsession?" Adom continued, ignoring Valiant's outburst.

"What's your problem with me?"

"You DARE?" Helios's fangs gleamed under the purple sunless sky.

"After that stunt you pulled in the Undertow? You humiliated me. Made me crawl out of there naked like some common beast, in front of people that used to fear me." His voice rose with each word, carrying across the open space." Me - a Child of the Moon - reduced to that! And now you think you can just waltz in here with your pet rat and that construct, acting like-" Unbelievable. The vampire's rage-filled speech cut off as Adom's lips twitched, just slightly. Here we go again - Helios and his monologues.

You'd think after the Undertow incident he'd have learned that talking just gives your opponent time to act. But no, vampires and their theatrical tendencies... [Fireball].

Something about that almost-smile must have finally registered in Helios's brain, because he hesitated mid-rant. Too late. Again. The spell erupted from Adom's staff without warning or flourish, a roaring sphere of concentrated heat that caught Helios mid-word. No dramatic wind-up, no shout - just pure, efficient violence.

"Sweet merciful SHIT!" Valiant yelped as Adom immediately followed up with [Push]. The spell launched them forward, straight toward the flames still engulfing Helios. Above them, the golem leaped in a perfect arc, its flamebrand sword leaving ribbons of light in its wake. The coordinated attack had been thought of countless times - Adom low, the construct high, perfect positioning for a pincer move. Through the flames, Helios's hand shot out like a striking snake, aimed for Adom's throat.

But Adom's hand was already on the crystal. This was transportation crystal 101, but it was so important. The harmonics of paired crystals were tricky things. When perfectly balanced with one mana signature, they created stable teleportation points - one anchor, one jump point. But deliberately destabilize that harmony, starve one crystal while feeding the other, and something interesting happened.

The imbalance created a constant swapping effect, instantly exchanging the positions of anything touching either crystal. Like, say, a mage and his golem. Reality hiccuped. That familiar lurch of instant displacement hit Adom's stomach as he found himself suddenly above, watching his golem - which had been above him a heartbeat ago - drive its blazing sword through Helios's back. The vampire's claws sliced through empty air where Adom's throat had been.

The construct was already pulling back, executing the perfect retreat. Adom didn't waste the opening, even as his stomach rolled from the crystal-swap. [LIGHTNING BOLT]. The spell crashed down just as the golem cleared the area. Electricity met flame met steel, with Helios caught in the middle of it all.

"Still talking too much," Adom muttered, trying to ignore how the world seemed to tilt sideways after the swap. Some sensations you just never got used to. At least Helios made it easy - get him angry enough and he'd forget everything except his own voice. Some people never learn. Adom watched the chaos of fire and lightning subside.

"Point B. Now." He cut through Valiant's panicked screaming.

"We managed to catch him off guard. It's time." The golem's flamebrand sword moved. The first sweep took Helios's legs at the knees. The vampire's scream of rage turned to pure agony. [Fireball]. The spell caught him mid-howl, but Adom was already working on the crystal, fingers dancing across its facets, pushing his mana into it. The golem's next strike removed both arms at the shoulders, each cut cauterized by the blazing blade.

"YOU INSIGNIFICANT-" [Fireball]. The air reeked of burning vampire flesh.

"Hold him!" Adom commanded. The construct grabbed what remained of Helios, its grip unrelenting despite the vampire's thrashing. The crystals hummed in perfect attunement - everything was ready.

"Hold on tight, Valiant."

"I am hol-" [Push]. The spell launched Adom and Valiant forward with devastating force, sending him hurtling through the purple sky. Three kilometers. Point B. Where everything would end. Behind him, the golem's crystal activated, vanishing with its screaming cargo. The wind whipped past Adom's face as he soared toward the destination, knowing his construct would be waiting. Helios had talked too much, fought too little, and now... Now they'd finish this properly.

Adom's landing was anything but graceful - a stumbling roll that somehow ended with him on his feet. The golem was already there, its metal fingers wrapped around what remained of Helios. New flesh was knitting itself together where limbs had been, accompanied by wet, sickening sounds and the vampire's stream of curses.

"Get off, Valiant. Far back." Adom's voice was steady despite the rough landing.

"Okay, okay. Just... try not to die?" Valiant muttered, leaping down. The mouse beastkin scurried behind a massive oak, peering around its trunk.

"Let him go." The golem released its grip, stepping back as Helios slumped to the ground. Valiant scrambled onto the construct's shoulder as it withdrew. Adom faced the regenerating vampire, watching flesh and bone rebuild itself. Surreal didn't begin to describe it. Every step, every moment had aligned perfectly. [01 day, 9 hours, 49 minutes] One chance. That's all he'd get. Helios pushed himself up on half-formed limbs, coughing and spitting. His eyes found Adom's small smile, and his face contorted with rage.

"What are you smiling at, you worthless-" He broke off into another coughing fit.

"I'll tear you apart for this, I'll-" Adom planted his staff in the earth. Exhale. Inhale. The vampire's rant died in his throat as lines of light began spreading across the ground, connecting tree to tree. Runes carved into the bark a few days ago by the golem, under Adom's careful instructions, flared to life, creating a perfect circle around them. First, a barrier. It rose, rose, rose some more, until there was no escape possible.

"... M-Mage. What are you doing?"

"You're supposed to be smart, aren't you?" Adom's voice was almost gentle.

"Tell me, Helios... what's a vampire that can't heal?" His eyes widened.

"No..."

"Prey." Adom brought his hands together in a sharp clap." You were prey all along." The runes pulsed. Chains of pure mana erupted from the earth, wrapping around them both. Helios thrashed, but his newly reformed limbs were still weak. The binding circle had been waiting here for days, waiting for this exact moment. The last line of the giant circle connected. Mana surged through the bloody sigil. For a heartbeat, everything went still.

Then the space exploded with light and wind, a shockwave that would make a Titan's footsteps feel like gentle taps.

White radiance erupted from the pattern, burning away the dust and darkness. Waking up in a monster-filled dungeon with the timer of an incurable disease would break most people. But delusion is a powerful thing. It kept Adom moving, crawling through dark caves, fighting through pain. Until the familiar ache in his chest brought reality crashing back. Shadowfade syndrome. The same illness that had taken everything from him in his past life.

Not the quick kind of death - this was the type that stole life piece by piece. First, the simple pleasures would fade. No more morning runs along the beach, no salt air in his lungs. No magic at the risk of accelerating the progression. A hear attack whenever you'd get too angry. Or happy. Or sad. Or any intense emotion really. Even food would lose its taste, everything turning to ash on his tongue. He'd lived through this once already.

Watched the world end while his body betrayed him, too weak to do anything but witness the collapse. Now he knew exactly what was coming. Every horrible detail. Every loss. Every death. To put it mildly, it wasn't funny. At all. Getting out of this dungeon meant nothing if he couldn't actually live afterward. It would be just another slow death, watching helplessly as everything fell apart again. But then there was Helios. Ah, Helios. For having watched a vampire heal, Adom found it to be fascinating.

A cut closes before the blood can even fall. Broken bones snap back into place like they're made of rubber. Disease? They laugh at it. Their bodies simply refuse to be anything but perfect. This crazy idea would have made Professor Mirwen throw him out of her classroom. Using the golem's ability, he mapped zone B and the surrounding zones. The monster patterns were predictable - seventeen minutes between waves, each group following fixed paths.

The golem traced the runes during the gaps, vanishing whenever creatures approached. The circle had to encompass the zone completely. Each rune was placed to intersect these flows, creating a network that could channel two distinct essences: Vampire and human. Adom let his mana roar, and at that moment, every being in and out of the circle froze. A deafening roar from the vampire cut through the air. The creature strained against invisible bonds, muscles bulging.

"Please... don't..." Helios's voice cracked.

"I beg of you, n-" The quintessences began to flow - visible streams of power moving through the blood runes. Fire and Water balanced each other, Earth and Air maintained form, while mana bound it all together. The Law of Equivalent Exchange activated first - two lives freely given would fuel the transformation The Law of Conservation channeled their essence through the circle, nothing wasted. The world began to blur at the edges. It was normal, his body was going through a major change.

Adom forced his eyes to stay open, jaw clenched against the growing pressure in his chest. He couldn't pass out - not now. The transmutation required both elements to remain conscious, aware. Both the source and the recipient had to endure. Through darkening vision, he watched the streams of essence circle through the runes. Helios fighting against the transformation, while Adom's body struggled to accept it. Nausea rose. His heart fluttered erratically, each beat more painful than the last when... Thump-thump. Ah.

That was to be expected. [-10 Life Force] That familiar squeeze in his chest. The pressure he'd felt fifty-seven times before. Not now. Thump-thump. [-12 Life Force] His left arm went dead. Cold sweat ran down his spine. The circle pulsed, drawing essence from all of them. [-7 Life Force] Thump-thump-thump. Can't fall. One slip and the backlash would tear everything apart. Blood trickled from his nose, metallic on his tongue. His heart stuttered, rhythm broken. [-15 Life Force] Through darkening vision, he saw her.

Right. That's what she looked like. Standing by a tree, same as always. That smile. That warm, patient smile. He'd hoped to avoid meeting her again so soon. The world began to fade to white. Adom met her eyes and all he could do was smile back.... Not today. [Indomitable Will] He screamed, forcing power through the circle. Two essences - immortal, mage - flowing together, breaking down, becoming something new. Through the blinding radiance, a silhouette moved toward him.

Muffled screams echoed - Helios's sweet cries of agony? Or was that Valiant? His senses were too scrambled to tell. Light consumed everything.

Darkness. This was perhaps less than ten times now since he came back. But it was getting old. Adom was getting tired of waking up confused and disoriented. At least he was thinking, which meant he was... well, something. Being dead hadn't felt much different last time, so that didn't really narrow it down. The sound registered first - water falling, but gentler than before. The air felt different too - lighter, less like breathing soup. Mana danced around him, playful instead of oppressive. Almost... friendly.

He opened his eyes to spots of light. Everything was blurry. Adom patted his face, finding his glasses exactly where they should be. Frowning, he pulled them off - and the world snapped into crystal clear focus.

"Huh." Something moved beside him. He turned his head to see Valiant's mouth moving at incredible speed. The mouse beastkin's words came through like he was underwater - muffled, distant, incomprehensible. Valiant's paws were gesturing wildly, his face a mix of relief and fury. Did it work? The transmutation... His leg didn't protest as he shifted. That constant, familiar ache - gone. Adom ran his hand down where the injury had been, pressing experimentally. Nothing. No pain, no stiffness.

Still half-dazed, he reached behind himself, fingers searching for the network of scars that had mapped his back for decades. Smooth skin met his touch. Just... smooth skin. No ridges, no rough patches. Like they'd never existed at all. Did it actually work? Through his clear vision, he spotted the clover lying in the grass beside Valiant, who was still ranting at full speed. Only one leaf remained on its stem now. He'd really have to thank Bob properly when they met again.

His eyes drifted to where Death had stood by the tree. Empty space now.

"Oof." The breath left him in a long exhale. Adom's hearing slowly cleared, sound trickling back in waves.

"-and then the light just- are you even listening? Adom?"

"Hmm? Yeah. Yeah." He turned around, looking toward where Helios had been during the ritual. Where the vampire should be... [System Recalibrating...] A groan suddenly cut through the air. Not Adom's. Which prompted him widen his eyes, then narrow them. He sighed, looking at the roses scattered around him.

"Of course it couldn't be that simple." Adom followed the sound while valiant stayed back, each step testing his leg. Helios lay in a patch of white roses, his body breaking apart into motes of light. Their eyes met. Golden irises, dulled with pain but burning with hate, locked onto Adom. Helios tried to speak, but only managed a wet snarl. His fingers dug into the earth as he dragged himself forward, leaving a trail of dissolving flesh. Even dying, even falling apart, the vampire's only thought was to reach Adom.

To bite. To kill. Adom watched him approach, face impassive. There was no pity in his eyes, no satisfaction either. Just cold observation. Only sunlight could kill a vampire - not because of any mystical weakness, but because something in it drained their vital energy faster than they could regenerate. The sacrificial circle had taken that vital energy completely. Helios's fingers brushed Adom's foot. His mouth opened, fangs gleaming one last time. Adom extended his palm.

"You're one stubborn fellow, huh?" His voice was soft.

"Goodbye." Light erupted from his hand, and Helios's form shattered completely. [You have slain Vampire: Helios Nasso!] The motes of light danced upward as Adom stood still, watching them disappear into the sky. [New Skill Acquired!] [Healing Factor (Very Rare) - Level 1] Description: Your body now regenerates at an accelerated rate. Healing speed and efficiency increase with skill level. Progress achieved through surviving damage. Current regeneration: 5x normal human rate.

Note: Accelerated healing reduces recovery time by 80%. Minor cuts heal in hours instead of days. Moderate injuries recover in days instead of weeks. Does not provide visible regeneration or restore lost limbs at your current level. And then: [Quest Updated!] [The Race Against Time] Find a cure for Lifedrain Syndrome before visible symptoms manifest Status: COMPLETED Reward: Lifedrain Syndrome removed Adom stared at the notification for a long moment.

His fingers traced the spot on his chest where the familiar ache had lived. Nothing. Just smooth, steady heartbeats. He took a deep breath - his first in weeks without that underlying tension, without counting the seconds between beats. The air tasted sweeter somehow probably an aftereffect of the large mana manipulation that ocurred here. That, and the sudden flowers. A small smile tugged at his lips. Not exactly how he'd planned it, but then again, when did anything ever go exactly as planned?

Valiant padded up beside him, clearing his throat.

"Love the new style, by the way." Adom turned to him, brow furrowed.

"What?"

"The hair." Valiant gestured vaguely toward Adom's head.

"The white streak. Very dramatic."

"Really?" Adom reached up, running fingers through his hair. Probably another effect of the transmutation. Magic always seemed to have a flair for the theatrical. Valiant grunted, shifting his weight.

"Look, hate to break the mood and all, but..." He glanced around at the scattered roses, the scorched grass, the lingering motes of light still drifting skyward.

"Maybe we should get moving? Find that gate and get out of here before someone comes to investigate all this..." He waved his paw at the general devastation around them.

"... commotion?"

"That," Adom said, taking one last look at where Helios had been, "is a very good idea."