After the chaos in the basement, Nightborne knew he couldn't dive straight into the mountain climb. He needed real prep. So he gave himself two weeks—fourteen days of nothing but relentless training, exploration, and getting every last tool and trick nailed down.
Day 1: Getting a Feel for the Daggers
He woke stiff as a plank, every muscle reminding him he'd fought a leviathan not long ago. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he strapped on his pack and headed into the forest with the Flying Shadow Daggers strapped to his belt. The plan was simple: find a wolf pack, practice until he never missed.
He tracked the howls to a small clearing. Three wolves circled a carcass under a moonlit tree. Perfect. He melted into the shadows, heart pounding. Blink, he teleported behind the first wolf, drew both daggers, and threw in a single, fluid motion. The blades flew true—one bit through the scruff of its neck, the other spun back into his hand. The wolf collapsed instantly. He slid it onto the forest floor and pocketed the Tier 1 Energy Crystal.
Two more wolves charged. This time, he simply spun sideways, letting the daggers ricochet off a nearby rock before planting clean strikes in each beast's throat. Two more crystals. By sunrise, he'd downed six wolves and collected their energy gems. His hands shook from adrenaline and the pain of the Blade's curse but—hell—he was hooked.
Days 2–7: Wolves, Wolves, and More Wolves
Every dawn, he repeated the routine. Three wolves per outing, then back to camp to stash the crystals. He experimented with angled throws, mid-teleport tackles, double ricochets off trees—anything to push his limits. By the end of Day 7, over two hundred wolves lay where he'd struck them. That meant roughly 200 Tier 1 Crystals in his bag, plus a handful of Tier 2s from bigger or rare beasts.
During those days, he only missed a throw once—an embarrassing deflection off a branch—but he learned more from that one failure than from any flawless kill. He fine-tuned his distance calculations, noticed how wind currents altered a dagger's flight, and learned to pivot on a dime once the blades hit.
He got so confident that a single dagger could fell a Tier 2 monster before it even had time to roar.
Day 8: Mapping and Logistics
He needed more than raw skill—he needed strategy. That morning, he followed the river inland until he spotted the silhouette of the hill from the map. He sketched the route in his mind: forest edge, marshland, then a rocky ridge spiraling up.
He paused to set up hidden caches—small piles of dried meat, extra flasks of water, and some Tier 1 crystals—for emergency use. If he got into trouble halfway up the slope, he wouldn't have to crawl all the way back.
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Days 9–11: The Abandoned Village
On Day 9, Nightborne looped back toward the hill's base and found something unexpected: an abandoned village tucked into a valley. Moss-covered rooftops poked through undergrowth. Cracked stone bridges arched over stagnant canals. He paused on the cobblestones, imagining a bustling town.
Drawing his daggers, he moved cautiously through shattered doorways. Ghoul-forms—once human, maybe—lunged from the shadows. Their hollow eyes tracked him as he teleported and struck, each kill a silent echo in the empty hallways. Within an hour, the village was silent. He'd gathered another 30 Tier 1 crystals from the ghouls, storing them away.
Exploration revealed hundreds of dwellings—easily a thousand people had lived here. Stone towers reminded him of medieval castles; wooden balconies and faded banners hinted at a proud, civilized past. In every hut he found faded murals: a radiant figure wielding a flaming sword, banishing pitch-black tendrils.
The largest building—a ruined cathedral—held the clearest image. He climbed the fractured steps and found a headless statue draped in tattered robes. A steel plaque, still gleaming, read:
"He who protects us from the darkness,
Who saved us in our time of need,
And brought light to our land:
Cesar, God of Light."
Nightborne snorted. "Could've fooled me." Eternal darkness, endless night—whatever power Cesar had wasn't enough. He knelt, running a finger along the scorch marks at the statue's base. Was the head burned away? Or ripped off by some greater force?
Eager for answers, he stepped outside and discovered a wide expanse of churned earth—trenches carved deep, shattered siege engines, broken shields strewn like autumn leaves. This had been a battlefield.
Someone—or something—had come from beyond. Likely knocked Cesar off his pedestal, quite literally.
He found nothing salvageable: no weapons, no journals, no clues to Cesar's real fate. Just blood-soaked ground and the hollow memory of a lost civilization.
Exhaustion hit him hard. His legs shook, and his lungs burned. He'd been exploring for fifteen hours straight. He found a small courtyard and lit a fire, roasting a piece of dried meat.
"Alright, time to rest," he muttered, wiping sweat and grime from his face. He didn't bother with "goodnight." Sleep was a luxury.
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Elsewhere…
In the depths beneath the island, a grand chamber pulsed with dark energy. A robed figure—The Master—hovered above a black altar. His lieutenant knelt on a stone dais.
"Master," the lieutenant whispered, "he has reached the old city."
The Master's shadows shifted. "Has he seen the statue?"
The lieutenant bowed lower. "He scoffed at the power of that so-called 'god.'"
A ripple of amusement passed through the Master's form. "Good. Let him mock it. He must break every illusion before the final trial."
He raised a hand, and tendrils of shadow curled around a waiting portal. "Prepare the gateway. His true test awaits next time."
The lieutenant vanished into smoke. The island trembled in answer.
Nightborne stirred by the dying embers of his fire, dreams of headless gods and battlefield scars swirling in his mind. Tomorrow, he would climb the hill. Whatever lay at the X would test everything he'd learned.
He picked up his pack and stood, strapping on his Flying Shadow Daggers.
"Alright," he said, voice hoarse but determined, "let's go see what they're hiding up there."
To be continued…