Chapter 6: First Battle

Rael kept his voice even. "Oh. I forgot my ring."

Nathan stopped walking and stared at him. "You forgot your ring? How is that even possible? It’s the most important thing during the first awakening. Everyone knows that. Huhhh."

Alex shifted his weight, spear resting against his shoulder. "Seriously? No storage ring at all?"

Suzy glanced between them, concern flickering across her face. "Did something happen before you transferred? You look like you came straight from... well, nowhere ready."

Rael met their eyes one by one. "I have higher base stats than most. I can fight without a weapon for now. Close range if I have to."

Nathan rubbed the back of his neck, still frowning. "Oh. We can do that, I guess. Just... stay close until we find something better."

Lila said nothing. She watched Rael with quiet attention. She was bright enough to catch the hesitation in his answer, the way his gaze had slid aside for half a second. The story about forgetting the ring felt thin. She decided, without speaking, that caution around the newcomer would be wise. Handsome face or not, something about him did not line up.

They moved into the forest together. The trees grew denser, the light filtering down in broken shafts. The goal was simple: find the gate that marked the end of the beginner stage, and level up along the way. Everyone knew the first transfer offered the safest window for growth. The monsters here stayed within a predictable range if you were careful. Rael had read every public article and academy text on the tutorial stage. Horned rabbits. Goblins. Dire rats. Wolves. Giant spiders. Venom snakes. Those names appeared in nearly every guide. Yet every experienced awakener repeated the same warning: never trust the sources completely. The Dream Realm followed its own rules. Logic that worked on Titan often failed here. Rael walked ready for whatever the forest decided to show them.

They had not gone far when the trees opened into a small clearing. Four goblins stood in a rough circle, short blades in their hands. In the center lay a girl who could not have been older than they were. Her academy uniform was torn open. One of the goblins had already begun peeling the remaining armor away from her body. The others watched with flat, hungry eyes.

The sight hit the party like a physical blow. Suzy turned and vomited into the grass. Nathan followed, then Alex, then Lila. The sound of retching filled the quiet space between the trees. Rael alone remained still. He looked at the dead girl and felt no surge of grief or horror. Only a cold, clear thought: she had died because she was incompetent. Traveling alone on the first transfer was the choice of a fool. If he ever became like her—isolated, unprepared, finished before the real climb began—he would rather not live at all. The goblins disgusted him for a different reason. They killed, then treated the body as something to ravage and later eat. No basic decency. Creatures that existed only to take.

He kept his voice low. "Guys. Are you ready?"

They wiped their mouths, faces pale, and nodded. Rael bent and picked up a heavy stone from the ground. His plan was simple: create an opening, take one of the goblin blades, and fight from there. Lila climbed a nearby tree with quick, quiet movements, settling onto a branch that gave her a clear line of sight. Suzy stayed at the rear, hands already glowing with the first threads of healing light. Nathan moved to a safer distance where he could cast without drawing immediate attention. Alex and Rael slipped forward through the undergrowth.

Alex struck first. He came from behind the nearest goblin and drove the spear straight through the back of its skull. The creature dropped without a sound. At the same moment Lila’s arrow took a second goblin through the eye. It staggered, howling, one hand clapped over the ruined socket. Rael stepped in and smashed the stone against its temple with everything he had. Bone gave way. The goblin collapsed. He wrenched the short blade from its slack fingers and turned on the third. The steel slid between ribs before the creature could raise its own weapon.

The last goblin spun toward Nathan, mouth open in a snarl. Nathan’s fireball struck it square in the chest. Flames licked across green skin and scorched the crude leather it wore, but the creature kept coming. Alex lunged and finished it, driving the spear up through its belly until the point exited near the spine.

Silence returned, broken only by heavy breathing. Four goblin bodies lay still. The girl in the center of the clearing remained exactly as they had found her.

Rael wiped the blade clean on the grass. He looked at Nathan. "Can I borrow the wand for a minute?"

Nathan hesitated, questions clear on his face, then handed it over without speaking. Rael pointed the wand at the girl’s body. The word left his mouth steady.

"Fireball."

The flame that bloomed was larger and hotter than anything Nathan had produced earlier. Rael’s bloodline had already begun its quiet work. The D-rank skill burned with a force closer to something higher. Fire consumed the body completely, reducing everything to ash and blackened soil. No one spoke while it burned.

Notifications appeared in Rael’s vision, crisp and sequential.

[Level up]

[Level up]

[Soul +10]

[Soul +10]

He had risen two full levels in the single fight. The Absolute—no, the Abyssal Sovereign bloodline had doubled every reward. Twenty souls instead of ten. He called for his status.

STATUS

Name: Rael

Race: Human

Class: Copy (F-Rank) (Upgrade)

Copied Class: Flamecaller (D-Rank)

Level: 1 → 3

Souls: 0 → 20

Bloodline: Abyssal Sovereign (+100% Multiplier) (Dormant)

Strength: 24

Agility: 24

Mana: 24

Vitality: 24

Additional Stats: 4

Skills: Fireball (Apprentice), Ignite (Expert)

Two attribute points per level, plus two additional points he could assign later. The numbers settled into place. Around him the others still looked shaken. Lila climbed down from the tree without a word, her earlier suspicion now mixed with something harder to read. Suzy kept her eyes away from the ash. Nathan took the wand back slowly.

Rael closed the status window. The beginner stage had shown its first real face. He intended to meet the rest of it the same way—ready, cold when he needed to be, and moving forward.

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