## Chapter 10: The world Gate Reaction
Elara slid her phone back into her jeans pocket, the plastic case clicking softly against the worn fabric. The forced cheer in her voice as she ended the call with Kelvin still echoed in her ears, clashing violently with the knot of anxiety tightening in her stomach. *Resting. Reading. Quiet.* The words felt hollow, brittle. The image of that flicker of dark light near his hand last night, the unsettling intensity in his eyes sometimes, the *impossible* speed of his physical recovery... it all churned inside her.
"Everything okay with Kelvin?" Sasha Chen, her best friend since high school, materialized beside her as they shuffled out of Professor Hendricks' lecture hall. Sasha's dark eyes, usually sparkling with mischief, held genuine concern. She knew the basics – the betrayal, the injury, the grim prognosis Kelvin had initially faced.
Elara forced a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Yeah, he says he's fine. Just resting." She hesitated, the words tumbling out before she could stop them. "It's just... weird, Sash. He stood up yesterday. *Walked* a few steps. The doctors said maybe *never*... and now..." She trailed off, shaking her head. "And sometimes, he just seems... different."
Sasha linked her arm through Elara's, offering silent support as they navigated the bustling hallway. "Hunter stuff is always weird, El," she said, trying to sound reassuring. "Remember that article last week? About the B-rank who regrew his *entire arm* after that Chimera bite in the Amazon Gate? Took months, but he did it. Mana, adrenaline, sheer stubbornness... they say it rewrites the rules." She steered them towards the student lounge.
"Yeah, but that was a B-rank," Elara countered, the worry sharpening her voice. "Kelvin's F-rank. Barely registers on the mana scale. How does *he* bounce back like that? And the way he looked last night..." She shuddered.
Sasha squeezed her arm. "Maybe he just got lucky? A fluke in the nerves? Or maybe," she lowered her voice conspiratorially, gesturing towards a group of students huddled around a news feed on a large wall screen, "maybe it's got something to do with *that*."
The screen displayed urgent banners: **"S-Rank Containment Team Deployed to Baltic Anomaly!"** A map highlighted a region near the Baltic Sea, overlaid with swirling, unstable energy signatures. **"World Gate Stability Fluctuating - Increased Dungeon Breach Risk!"**
"World Gates acting up again," Sasha murmured, her usual levity gone. "My cousin Jin's in logistics for the Association. He says the readings from Gate Theta-7 are spiking erratically. They're scrambling high-ranks just in case. Maybe... maybe the ambient mana fields are fluctuating everywhere? Doing weird things, even to low-rankers?" It was a wild theory, born of desperation to comfort her friend.
Elara stared at the screen, the swirling energy patterns mirroring the turmoil inside her. Could it be? Some global instability affecting Kelvin's recovery? It sounded fantastical, yet no more so than him standing up days after being told he might never walk. The constant, low-level fear instilled by the Gates and the monsters they birthed made anything seem possible. "Maybe," she whispered, clinging to the flimsy hope Sasha offered. "God, I hope it's just that. And not... something else." The unspoken fear – that Kelvin was tangled in something darker, something *unnatural* related to his betrayal – hung heavy between them.
Back in the silent apartment, "something else" was manifesting in terrifying clarity.
Kelvin stood in the center of the cleared living room, breathing slowly, deliberately. The air crackled with latent energy. Today's quest notification pulsed ominously in his vision:
**<< NEW DAILY QUEST AVAILABLE >>**
* **Quest:** Blood Dance
* **Objective:** Manifest *both* Blood War Chains simultaneously and execute a sustained offensive/defensive drill against designated targets (pillows arranged as dummies) for 10 minutes.
* **Reward:** 500 EXP, +2 Agility, +1 Perception, Skill Fragment: [Chain Mastery]
* **Warning:** High MP Drain. Bloodlust amplification likely. Maintain absolute control. Structural damage prohibited.
* **Failure:** Loss of control, Bloodlust rampage, significant property damage, Observer detection.
* **Accept?** [Y/N]
---
It was a massive leap. Both chains. Sustained combat simulation. The warning about amplified Bloodlust was a crimson beacon of danger. But the rewards... *Chain Mastery*. The next step in wielding these primal weapons. He needed it.
**"Accept."**
Focusing his will, he called upon the darkness bound to his soul. Twin streams of liquid shadow and seething crimson energy erupted from his wrists, coalescing into six-foot lengths of the Blood War Chains. The hum was instantly louder, deeper, vibrating the air itself. The chains felt *alive* in his mental grasp, heavy with violent potential, the barbs glinting with hungry light. The Bloodlust surged, a roaring pressure in his skull, whispering promises of rending flesh and stolen vitality. His MP gauge began a rapid, visible descent.
*Control. Absolute control.*
He launched into the drill. The chains became extensions of his fury and discipline. One whipped forward like a striking serpent, slamming into a pillow propped on the armchair with a muffled *thump*, the barbs snagging the fabric. The other lashed out defensively, intercepting an imaginary projectile aimed at his flank. He spun, chains blurring, creating a whirling cage of shadow and crimson light. They cracked against pillows, coiled around chair legs (gently!), snapped back to guard position.
The drain was immense. Swep poured down his face and back, stinging his eyes. His muscles burned, not just from exertion, but from the sheer mental strain of wrestling the chains' innate savagery. The Bloodlust roared, demanding a *real* target, urging him to shatter the flimsy barriers of the apartment, to *hunt*. Images flashed – Vincent's sneer, Evelyn's averted eyes. The chains responded, lashing out with increased ferocity, one gouging a shallow scratch into the wooden leg of the coffee table.
*NO!* Kelvin slammed his will down like a hydraulic press. He forced the chains back, reining in their momentum, pouring every ounce of his Level 5 Intelligence, Perception, and the cold logic of Combat Acumen into dominance. He regulated his breathing, matching it to the chains' rhythm, forcing *his* tempo onto *them*.
**<< Blood Dance: Progress: 8:15/10:00 >>**
He was a maelstrom contained. Chains snapped and coiled, striking pillows with precision, deflecting imaginary blows, moving with a deadly grace that was beautiful and horrifying. The air smelled of ozone, sweat, and the faint, metallic tang of blood – his own, from where the chain's violent recoil had nicked his forearm during a moment of strained control. The scratch stung, a visceral reminder of the razor's edge he walked.
**<< Progress: 9:50/10:00 >>**
The final seconds stretched into an eternity. The chains felt like live wires, vibrating with pent-up violence. The Bloodlust was a physical weight, threatening to buckle his knees. His MP was dangerously low. He focused on the last pillow target, visualizing the strike – controlled, precise.
*WHIP-CRACK!*
Both chains struck simultaneously, spearing the pillow and pinning it to the back of the armchair with a muffled tear. They held it there, quivering, the crimson veins within the dark metal pulsing rapidly.
**<< DAILY QUEST COMPLETE! >>**
**<< Blood Dance >>**
**Rewards Claimed:**
* **+500 EXP**
* **+2 Agility**
* **+1 Perception**
* **Skill Fragment: [Chain Mastery] Acquired!**
---
**<< SKILL ACTIVATED! >>**
**<< Chain Mastery (Level 1) >>**
* **Effect:** Significantly enhances fine control, manipulation speed, and efficiency when wielding the Blood War Chains. Reduces MP cost per activation by 10%. Improves resistance to Bloodlust feedback.
* **Cost:** Passive (Scales with Skill Level)
---
The chains dissolved back into his wrists as the System chime echoed. Kelvin collapsed to his knees, gasping, trembling violently. Not from weakness, but from the sheer, adrenalized aftermath of wrestling a hurricane. The scratch on his arm burned. The apartment bore subtle scars: the gouge on the table leg, the torn pillow, faint scuff marks on the rug. The air hung thick with spent power and the lingering echo of violence.
He pulled up his Status. Level 6 (42%). Agility and Perception surged further. The new skill, Chain Mastery, felt like cool water poured over the raging fire in his nerves, dampening the Bloodlust's edge, making the chains feel less like wild beasts and more like lethal instruments he could *almost* command. Almost.
He looked at the damage – the scratch, the gouge, the torn pillow. Evidence. He needed to clean it up before Elara returned. The mundane task felt jarringly trivial after the blood dance. As he moved to find a cloth, the chains on his wrists pulsed once, a satisfied thrum. They had tasted exertion, brushed against the edge of control. They wanted more. And Kelvin knew, with chilling certainty, that soon, they wouldn't be satisfied with pillows. The Forsaken Architect had danced with his demons and survived. But the whispers of the world gates and the echoes of his chains promised that the real dance was yet to come.