Chapter 52: Crashing the Economy (3)

The air in the Whispering Weald was thick with moisture and the coppery scent of freshly spilled blood.

Mira pressed her back against the damp bark of a massive ironwood tree, her chest heaving as she forced her breathing to slow. Sweat stung her eyes, matting her silver hair against her forehead. Her hands gripped the hilt of her curved blade tightly, the metal slick with a mixture of condensation and dark, viscous monster fluid.

She didn’t dare peek around the trunk. She didn’t need to. The heavy, rhythmic thudding of padded paws against the wet earth told her exactly where the remaining creature was.

[Monster Detected: Corrupted Razor-Claw]

[Level: 13]

It was a feline beast the size of a draft horse, its fur mottled with patches of rotting, corrupted flesh. Its front paws ended in jagged, bone-white scythes capable of slicing through standard iron armor like parchment.

Mira had already killed its mate, but it had cost her nearly half her stamina and a shallow gash across her left thigh. In Eternal Heaven, a Level 12 fighting two Level 13s was a calculated risk that often ended in a shallow grave. But she didn’t have the luxury of taking it easy. It was Day 23 of the Elimination Cycle. Seventy-seven days remained to reach Level 30.

The math was brutal. She couldn’t afford to rest.

The Razor-Claw let out a low, guttural snarl, the sound vibrating through the roots of the ironwood tree. It was circling her position, trying to catch her scent through the heavy fog.

Mira closed her eyes and activated her only talent.

Ding!

[Veil Step (B) activated.]

[Invisibility applied. Movement speed must remain below 30% to maintain concealment.]

The ambient shadows of the forest floor seemed to reach up and wrap around her, pulling her out of the visible spectrum. The camouflage wasn’t absolute—a high-level perception skill could pierce it, and moving too fast would shatter the illusion entirely—but against a Level 13 beast relying primarily on sight and smell, it was a lifesaver.

Mira stepped away from the tree, her boots sinking silently into the damp moss. She moved with agonizing slowness, circling wide as the Razor-Claw lunged around the trunk, its scythe-like claws sinking deep into the wood where she had been standing only seconds before.

The beast yanked its claws free, shaking its massive head in confusion as it found empty air.

Now.

Mira dropped the stealth, her body flashing back into existence directly behind the beast’s flank.

"Viper’s Kiss," she hissed.

A pale green glow enveloped her curved blade. It was a C-Rank active skill she had acquired three days ago, one that coated her weapon in a localized, fast-acting neurotoxin. She drove the blade upward, sinking it deeply into the softer, unarmored joint behind the Razor-Claw’s hind leg.

The beast roared, a deafening sound of pain and rage, and whipped around, its front claws sweeping in a deadly horizontal arc aimed at her torso.

"Shadow Dash!"

Mira triggered her D-Rank mobility skill. Her body blurred, sliding backward three feet in a fraction of a second. The bone-scythe missed her stomach by an inch, the sheer wind pressure of the swing tearing a fresh cut across her leather tunic.

The Razor-Claw tried to lunge forward to follow up, but the neurotoxin had already entered its bloodstream. Its hind leg buckled, the corrupted muscle spasming violently.

Mira didn’t hesitate. She stepped back into the opening, bringing her blade down with both hands in a brutal, practiced execution strike across the back of the creature’s neck. The blade severed the spinal cord, and the massive beast collapsed into the mud with a heavy, wet thud.

Ding!

[You have killed "Corrupted Razor-Claw (Level 13)" and gained 145 experience points.]

Mira staggered backward, dropping to one knee as the adrenaline finally began to recede. She let out a long, ragged exhale, wiping the sweat from her eyes. Her thigh throbbed where the first beast had grazed her, and her mana pool was sitting at a dangerous twenty percent.

"Too close," she muttered to herself, wincing as she pulled a basic linen bandage from her inventory and wrapped it tightly around her leg. It wouldn’t heal the wound magically, but it would stop the bleeding until her natural regeneration took over.

She sat in the mud for a moment, catching her breath, before swiping a hand through the air to summon her interface.

[Status]

Name: Mira

Role: Hybrid (Scout/Assassin)

Level: 12 (8,400 / 12,000 EXP)

Rank: Initiate

HP: 280 / 310

MP: 45 / 150

[Attributes]

STR: 18

AGI: 28

CON: 14

INT: 15

Stat Points: 0

[Role Talent]

Veil Step (B)

[Skills]

Shadow Dash (D)

Viper’s Kiss (C)

She stared at the glowing blue text. Twelve days of non-stop, grueling combat since she had left the Eastern Checkpoint. Twelve days of sleeping in trees, eating dried rations, and fighting for every single point of experience. She had gained three levels. It was a phenomenal pace for a solo player without a guild funneling them resources. She was currently ranked within the top five percent of all surviving players in Sector 4.

But looking at the numbers, she didn’t feel elite. She felt exhausted.

She dismissed the panel, pushing herself back to her feet with a grunt of effort. She walked over to the dissolving corpses of the two Razor-Claws.

Ding!

[Loot acquired: 45 Eternal Coins, 2 Razor-Claw Scythes, 1 Corrupted Beast Core.]

She stored the items in her inventory, her expression grim. It was a decent haul for an hour of work. In the old economy, two intact Level 13 weapon-grade scythes and a beast core would have netted her at least a thousand Eternal Coins at any merchant stall. Enough to buy high-grade healing potions, repair her damaged leathers, and maybe even afford a minor stat-boosting consumable.

But the old economy didn’t exist anymore.

Mira sheathed her blade and began the long, two-mile trek out of the Whispering Weald toward the nearest player encampment.

Ten days had passed since she had left the Lotus Rest hotel. Ten days since she had left Leon soaking obliviously in a luxury hot spring.

Outpost Oakhaven was a makeshift settlement erected by independent players on the border of the Level 10-15 zones. It lacked the towering stone walls and magical Safe Zone wards of the Eastern Checkpoint, relying instead on wooden palisades and a rotating militia of players to keep the monsters at bay. It was gritty, muddy, and smelled perpetually of woodsmoke and unwashed bodies.

As Mira walked through the wooden gates, she pulled the hood of her jacket up. The atmosphere in the camp was oppressive. Players sat around sputtering campfires, sharpening rusted swords and staring blankly into the flames. There was a distinct lack of the usual boisterous trading and shouting that defined player hubs.

Mira navigated the muddy paths until she reached a large canvas tent near the center of the camp. A wooden sign hung above the entrance, painted with the emblem of the Iron Coin trading guild—a mid-tier merchant faction that operated outposts for players who didn’t want to make the multi-day journey back to the Eastern Checkpoint.

She ducked inside the tent. Behind a wooden table sat a tired-looking NPC merchant, flanked by two heavily armored NPC guards.

"Welcome to the Iron Coin," the merchant said, his voice lacking any real enthusiasm. "Buying or selling?"