[Conditions met…—Skill partially unlocked:
Kael blinked.
It wasn't the first time one of those strange screens appeared. They came at key moments, and always appeared with that broken look, as if the system itself was on the verge of collapsing.
This time, the notification had come when Marie, exhausted from everything that had happened, had fallen deeply asleep on his chest. He had wanted her to rest, to recover her energy… and was surprised to see the system react at that exact moment.
The gentle warmth of Marie's body on his, her soft breathing, the light and familiar weight of her arms wrapped around him… Everything about that moment felt strangely calm, strangely perfect.
Kael had considered going out to hunt some monsters, find some magic stones that might help Marie recover faster. But just when he tried to lay her down on the floor, trying not to wake her, he felt a tug on his shirt.
"Marie… doesn't want you to go," she said softly, looking at him with those beautiful green eyes that, even in her state, shone with crushing honesty.
Kael didn't stand a chance against that gaze.
"…Alright."
And so, without a single trace of resistance, he ended up leaning against the cave wall, with Marie on top of him, her head resting on his chest, sleeping peacefully. She was even smiling in her sleep.
With nothing better to do, Kael allowed himself to think. To reflect. To remember.
About many things.
About his broken "system," for instance.
He'd never put much thought into it. It only appeared when something important happened. Like a broken AI that barely functioned. But there was a pattern. Every time he unlocked a skill, the system would announce it with one of those glitched screens.
And those abilities… they were all powerful. But something had been bothering him for a while.
They were all… only partially unlocked.
That unsettled him.
He felt they were already absurdly overpowered as they were. And yet, the system seemed to suggest there was more. Something locked. Something he hadn't reached yet.
It didn't help that most of the texts were full of errors, blank spaces, or meaningless symbols. But at least the names of the abilities hinted at their function.
The first had been
He got it after absorbing that goblin on the fifth floor. It was obvious. Absorb. Simple. But powerful.
His main source of energy came from this skill. Though he had never tested its limits… Could he absorb anything? How much energy could he store in his body? And more importantly… were there consequences beyond the small traits he seemed to copy from the monsters he absorbed?
The second was
That one had activated for the first time on the 17th floor, when he was on the verge of collapse. It was different. A wild and… automatic force. Before he knew it, he had entered that state, his body moved on its own. Fast. Chaotic. Destructive. But also… out of control.
He felt that in that state he wouldn't distinguish between friend or foe. Only blood. Only survival. And that side effect made it a dangerous option. It was a skill Kael promised himself not to use unless absolutely necessary.
Then there was
He unlocked it the first time he drank blood. Not out of necessity… but by choice. And the result was terrifying.
That transformation was different from
He remembered every detail. Every action. Every movement. That version of him felt cold and insensitive, as if nothing mattered to it. As if it were detached from everything. And that… terrified him.
During the transformation, his body had only partially changed. One wing, one horn, a black eye with a blue pupil. Black claws with glowing blue edges. A long, thin tail. It was incomplete. A half-formed version of something greater.
But the power… was real.
Dix, a peak-level 4, had been nearly completely overwhelmed. Kael, who at most barely qualified as a peak-level 1, had outmatched him at every turn.
But the price was terrifying.
His body had been left on the brink of collapse. No blood. No energy. No consciousness.
And as if that weren't enough... there was a forced "hibernation" that triggered shortly after the ability ended. And he suspected that the longer he remained transformed, the longer the period he would be unconscious.
According to Marie, he had slept for several hours even after she had healed all his wounds.
Without her, and in his condition at that time, who knows how long he would have been "hibernating" before he could wake up… days? Weeks? Perhaps even months. Without energy to heal his wounds… who knows how his body would have recovered.
'High rewards… high risks, right?' he thought with a bitter smile.
He also remembered how much he had regretted using that ability. Losing control. Becoming a killer.
But then he looked at Marie.
Her peaceful face. Her calm breathing. Her arms around him.
Kael raised his arms and gently hugged her, careful not to wake her. A small smile formed on his lips.
'Maybe before… but not anymore.'
He had accepted that killing in this world was inevitable. Sooner or later it would've happened. Dix had the bad luck of being the unfortunate one. And if he hadn't done what he did… he would never have met Marie.
He hadn't fully forgiven himself. But he had taken a step. And that was enough. For now.
Then he thought about the recently acquired skill —
He got it a few hours earlier, when he managed to restore energy to Marie. It had been the first time he tried to manipulate "energy," and he even managed to channel it into someone. At first, it was hard, but then it became… natural. As if the energy wanted to obey him.
'So… what energies can I control? Just those two? Or any kind of energy?' his eyes seemed to glow with excitement at the thought.
He closed his eyes and focused.
Everything around him vibrated. The air. The stone. The water. Marie. Himself. Everything was alive. Everything had magic.
He raised his hand.
Tried to manipulate the magic in the air.
Nothing.
Tried with the water.
Nothing again.
He wasn't dumb enough to try to manipulate the dungeon itself… much less Marie.
So he turned his attention inward.
And he felt it.
That dark energy. Chaotic. Repulsive.
But his.
He called it, and it responded instantly.
It moved even before his command was clear. As if it had been waiting for his will. As if it could read it. As if it could read him.
Kael moved the energy toward his hand.
A faint sound was heard.
He opened his eyes.
His hand, once white like porcelain, was now a black claw up to the elbow. Similar to when he transformed, though with one small difference —the edges were red, not blue.
He observed it. Turned it. Closed his fingers. Then, with a thought, it vanished.
'So… that's how I did it.'
He remembered that his wings had also come out when he wished. The black energy didn't need him to actively control it. It responded to his desires. To his whims.
Then he tried something else.
Threads of red blood emerged from his fingers, now partially black, forming a floating sphere the size of a ball in front of him. He shaped it. A square. A star. Then… a knife.
He grabbed it. It was firm. Solid.
And when he tested it against the cave floor…
'…Are you kidding me?'
The knife had cut through the stone like butter.
Kael was stunned. With this ability, he wouldn't need to buy weapons anymore. Maybe not even armor. The energy molded, fused, didn't get consumed. It was… perfect.
He let the knife dissolve. The blood returned through his fingers. Everything was intact.
But there was one important detail.
That energy didn't regenerate. It didn't grow with time. Not even when he absorbed monsters.
He could only obtain it… by drinking blood. Purifying it. Turning it into that white energy he had seen before, and then his body transformed it into that dark energy.
And that… was a problem.
Because every time he drank blood… he lost control. Partially. So far, he had only drunk the blood of that Xenos… and Marie's. With the Xenos, it had been manageable thanks to Dix's pressure that forced him to stay calm. Along with the small amount he had drunk.
But with Marie…
Thinking about it made him glance again at the little mermaid sleeping.
He didn't want that to happen again.
Not ever.
He sighed. He was going to keep testing a few things, but something caught his attention first.
The shadow beneath him… moved.
It was erratic. Darker. Almost like… it was alive. And he remembered.
He remembered how his other self had passed through Dix's supposedly unbreakable door —as if it were nothing. As if it wasn't even there. As if that simple structure… meant nothing to his eyes.
He tried to move it. Nothing. But when he tried to touch it…
His hand sank.
It was like reaching into another reality. It felt very strange. He wanted to explore further but…
A soft, warm hand touched his left cheek before he could.
It wasn't the time to explore more.
Beside him, Marie stirred.
Kael snapped out of his trance and looked at her.
Marie was watching him with curiosity.
"Kael… what are you doing?"
Kael smiled a little.
"Just testing some things, Marie. Nothing important. In any case… how do you feel?"
Marie looked at him silently for a few seconds.
"Marie's fine now. No need to worry about her."
"Of course I worry, what if that monster shows up again and instead of escaping you freeze up again, silly mermaid."
Marie, hearing herself called silly, pouted and said in a small voice—"That only happened because Marie didn't want to leave Kael behind and… Marie didn't know how to react."
Kael teased her a bit more, and finally stood up.
He picked her up and carried her to the water. Gently, he laid her on the surface.
"Come on, try moving. Let's see how well you're doing."
Marie dove and began swimming quickly underwater. She did flips, spins, moved with energy and grace.
Kael smiled.
'I thought she'd take longer to recover… but I'm glad she's okay.'
Still, Kael was confused. The body wasn't supposed to regenerate blood that fast, not in those quantities, even for someone like Marie, that was strange.
'Could it be that the energy I gave her… helped her body somehow?'
It seemed possible. He hadn't absorbed her life energy, just her blood. And when he returned it in energy form, her body looked much healthier than it normally did.
And now… after resting, her body full of life energy, had regenerated almost all her blood.
But before he could keep thinking…
An attack hit Kael in the face.
A jet of water that soaked him a little.
Marie.
She was frowning with a pout.
"Marie doesn't like being ignored—Hmp."
Kael scratched his neck.
"Sorry, sorry. I was thinking. Happens sometimes."
Marie looked at him in silence for a few seconds and then spoke—
—"Marie forgives Kael if he lets her sleep on top of him again."
"…Isn't there anything else you want?"
"NO!"
Kael sighed.
"Alright, alright. But this time use my shirt… at least."
He didn't know if he could survive another "assault" from a naked Marie in the morning.
Though… Marie probably wouldn't mind doing it again.
Marie, happy to have gotten what she wanted, swam again, almost like she was trying to get Kael to praise her.
But Kael's thoughts were elsewhere… again.
'…I… have lived this before.'
He stood still. As if searching for a memory. An echo.
When? Where? With… who?
And just as he felt he was about to remember…
Another jet of water hit him.
Marie.
Again.
Pouting. Again.
'Shit… she seems more annoyed this time.'
And Kael—now completely soaked—let out a small chuckle.
For now… he would stop thinking about complicated things.
He would focus only on the mermaid in front of him.
Everything else… could wait.