I didn't move right away.
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The pain in my shoulder and back was no longer just throbbing. It had become a muffled scream, reminding me that my body was still human—no matter how high the numbers climbed. Every time I tried to ignore it, it came back, reminding me I hadn't walked away from that fall unscathed.
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I lifted my left hand slightly. Then lowered it.
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My shoulder protested in silence, as if the bone itself was asking for a truce.
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Okay. First, this needs treatment.
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I made my way to the kitchen, steps slower than I wanted. The floor was still littered with shards of broken dishes. I had to pick my way through carefully, balancing so I wouldn't put more pressure on my back.
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The upper cabinet.
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I knew exactly where it was without thinking. I reached it, and with trembling fingers, pulled open the wooden door that hung from a single hinge. There. The first aid kit.
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I pulled it out and set it on the cold marble counter. As I opened the plastic latch and took out the antiseptic and bandages, a lump formed in my throat. The sharp smell of antiseptic wasn't just the smell of medicine. It was a key to a memory I had locked behind the walls of my mind.
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---
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One Year Ago
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"Arya! How many times have I told you not to go near the frying pan when it's on?"
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Maryam's voice was sharp, but it dripped with fear. She was holding my small hand under cold water while the red burn stung my skin.
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"I just wanted to help you make dinner..." I mumbled, tears held back.
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Maryam laughed softly as she dried my hand with gentle care, then pulled out this same kit. She applied the ointment with feather-light touches, as if afraid she might break me. "Scars, Arya, aren't marks of weakness. They're stories of battles we've fought. But next time, leave the battles to the kitchen, and let me do the worrying about you."
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She pressed the bandage down and kissed my forehead. "It's over. You're okay now."
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---
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I snapped back to the present at the sight of a drop of blood falling from the cut on my forehead onto the marble.
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"It's over..." I whispered, my voice strangled. "But I'm not okay, Maryam."
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I cleaned my wounds with cold, mechanical detachment, as if I were treating a stranger's body. I wrapped the bandage around my shoulder and pressed down hard to muffle my own cry of pain.
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As the silence closed in around me, I heard a low gurgle rising from deep in my stomach. Faint but insistent. A reminder that my body needed energy. Badly. I sighed, feeling the sharp burn of hunger inside, as if my body was demanding attention now. I raised a hand to my chest, trying to push back the dizziness creeping in with every hungry heartbeat.
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I looked around the kitchen. Everything electronic was dead. The phone didn't work. The overhead light was just a lifeless decoration. Every modern electrical device had become a piece of décor.
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Is this what the system meant by the fading of everything? It starts with electricity... then what?
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I moved in swaying steps toward the fridge and opened it slowly. A last, dying breath of cold met me. The fridge was steeped in a gloomy darkness; the small light inside, which used to glow with a friendly touch whenever the door opened, had gone out too.
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No fresh food tempted the eye. Just half a bottle of milk, its smell beginning to turn, and wilted vegetables that seemed to have foreseen the end of the world before anyone else. But my eyes locked onto a piece of wrapped white cheese and a small plastic container holding leftover pasta from the night before.
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I took out the pasta, my other hand brushing the cold marble. Out of years-old instinct, I reached for the microwave. It stayed silent. A metallic corpse.
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No electricity. All the food will rot. What do I eat when that happens?
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I took a cold bite. The pasta was tough, the sauce had lost its taste—but I felt every mouthful slide down into my gut like vital fuel rebuilding my exhausted cells.
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While I ate in silence, my eyes fell on the Status Board still floating at the edge of my vision. I noticed something I hadn't caught before, lost in the noise of my thoughts.
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---
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[Status Update]
Health: 85/100
Strength: 9.5/10.1
Spirit: 30/50
Stability: 80%
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---
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Good. My health is coming back, and my Spirit is starting to recover just from eating. Even my strength rose slightly.
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I whispered it to myself, watching the numbers begin to climb. It looked like the system linked my biological state to my digital capabilities in a tight bond. But the satisfaction didn't last.
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Stability was still at 80%.
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Why didn't it increase? What does that even mean?
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I stared at the number. It hadn't budged, despite my full stomach and calmer breath. Then I remembered. The moment I had absorbed that Core Shard. The searing heat that crept through my veins hadn't felt like construction. It had felt like invasion. That energy hadn't merged with me smoothly. It had carved out a space in my inner quiet and camped there.
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The Stability dropped because my human soul was now trying to contain something foreign. Something wild. Predatory.
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But...
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I ran my hand over my chest, where I could feel the pulse of my Core.
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This drop is a heavy price. Even though I haven't felt much yet—barely a mild headache—what happens if it drops further? And how do I restore it?
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I finished the last cold bite of pasta. As warmth began to seep back into my bloodstream, I picked up the kitchen knife from the marble counter. I looked at it coldly. Sharp blade. Short. It seemed ridiculous next to the memory of the sinewy body and tough hide of the monster I had faced moments ago.
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Can I even fight monsters with this knife? My body isn't strong, even with that increase. Yeah... that's what happens when you skip PE.
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I thought it bitterly, remembering all the times I had dodged gym class to stay glued to my computer. But this wasn't the time for self-blame.
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Relying on my injured, weak body and a fruit knife is pure suicide.
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So I summoned my Shadow.
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I looked at it. I no longer saw it as a separate thing. I felt it as a tool. A third hand I could extend where my injured legs didn't dare go.
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"Scout. Go."
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I sent it moving, its lithe body flowing toward the kitchen window, which was still slightly ajar. It leaped up, light and sure, claws steady on the ledge. Then it slipped out into the side garden. In that moment, my consciousness split. I saw the kitchen through my own eyes, and I saw the withered grass and the garden fence through the low perspective of the Shadow Cat as it crept toward the street.
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I started testing its physicality. I guided it past a broken flowerpot near the corner of the garden. I tried to make it nudge the pot—and noticed it required effort. Effort from my Spirit. Giving commands from a distance wasn't easy. But it was possible.
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[Spirit: 28]
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So it can interact with physical objects. It's not just a phantom. It's a tangible extension of my will.
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I was starting to understand. The Shadow wasn't just my power. It was an extension of my intent. And the more in tune I was with it, the more effective it would be in combat.
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The Shadow Cat reached the main street, where the standalone houses stood in a row. The real test began.
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I had the cat move through the shadows of parked cars, luring weak monsters—Rank F—with deliberate noise. It scraped its claws against metal mailboxes. When a monster drew close, the cat pounced on its throat with lightning speed, real claws tearing through flesh.
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---
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[Target Eliminated: Common Monster — Rank F]
[Experience Gained: +5 XP]
[Reward: 3 Bronze Coins]
[Material Drop: Core Shard — Rank F]
[Equipment Drop: Rusty Dagger — Rank F]
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---
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Equipment!
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Through its eyes, I saw the dagger fall from the monster's remains. I ordered the Shadow Cat to carry it. It clamped the weapon between its jaws, and I felt its weight in my awareness—as if I were carrying it in my own teeth.
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Can I transfer it to me?
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I thought it and tried it immediately. To my surprise, it worked. I stared at the dagger as it materialized in my hands, as if the air itself had spat it out. It wasn't just a weapon. It was a piece of pure horror. The blade was made of dark gray bone, serrated at the edges as if ripped from a predator's jaw. The handle was wrapped in coarse hide, its texture like the skin of the monsters I had killed.
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The moment I touched it, a system window opened before my eyes.
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---
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[Equipment: Rusty Dagger — Rank F]
Attack Power: +1
Durability: 10/10
Description: A primitive melee weapon crafted from monster bone.
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---
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Just a rusty dagger...
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I whispered it with mild disappointment. But I tightened my grip. It was, at least, a system weapon—designed for killing in this new world, not for chopping vegetables.
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+1 attack power?
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I did the math in my head. My base Strength was 10.1. With this dagger, my strikes would hit harder. But the low durability—10—meant the weapon might break or dull after a few brutal encounters with tough monster hides.
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I set the dagger on the table in front of me. The bone wasn't smooth. It had small ridges and protrusions that would make its thrusts vicious, tearing tissue instead of cutting it cleanly.
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I did the same with the Core Shard and the coins.
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Good. The Shadow having this skill is a massive advantage.
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I ordered it to repeat the process on four more monsters. By the end, I had gained: 5 Rank F Core Shards, 15 Bronze Coins—added to the 3 from before, making 18 Bronze Coins—and the Rusty Dagger. It seemed every monster carried a Core Shard, but the drop rate for equipment was maybe one in five. Though I couldn't be sure until I fought more. The process caused a sharp drop in my Spirit, but it was worth it.
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[Spirit: 20]
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---
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I continued the scouting run until the Shadow Cat reached the alley where I had first seen Ra'ad the dog. The cat paused. It tilted its head, searching on instinct, sniffing air heavy with rot.
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The place was empty.
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No sign of him. Just the remnants of torn bodies and filth on the ground.
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Where did he go? Do these monsters have enough intelligence to switch hunting grounds? Or are they drawn to something bigger?
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While I was watching through the cat's eyes, the vision suddenly shook.
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From behind a parked SUV, a massive creature lunged. This wasn't one of the ordinary human monsters. Its body was covered in a gray, crusted hide. Its limbs ended in long, sharp claws.
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[Warning: Human Monster — Rank E]
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---
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The monster charged at the Shadow Cat with terrifying speed. The cat tried to evade, using every ounce of its agility. It leaped onto the roof of the car, but the monster shattered the window with a swing of its powerful tail. In the moment of impact, the monster sank its claw into the Shadow Cat's shoulder.
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I felt it.
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A cold, sharp sting in my own shoulder. As if the spiritual link was transmitting the physical pain directly into me.
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The Shadow Cat gathered itself. On pure instinct—my will driving it—its dark body coiled in the air and struck at the monster's neck. It drove its claws into the gaps between the gray crusted plates and tore. The monster staggered, a muffled cry escaping it. But before it fell, it lashed out with one final blow that sent the cat smashing into the wall of a nearby house.
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With immense effort, the Shadow Cat managed to stand. But its black body was already starting to fade. Turning translucent.
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I ordered it to retreat. Now. Before it vanished completely.
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The cat dragged itself across fences and through shadows until it collapsed inside the kitchen and melted back into my shadow.
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I focused on the entity icon, needing to understand why the sudden weakness. Its full Status Board opened before me.
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---
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[Shadow Status Board — Shadow Cat]
Level: 1 | Experience: 80/100
Strength: 13
Constitution: 10
Agility: 18
Health: 5/100
[System Note]: This entity requires 3 hours and 52 minutes to regain the ability to materialize. Spirit consumption for the summoner during restoration: 0.8 Points/hour.
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---
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I stared at the numbers, stunned. The Shadow Cat's Agility—18—was what had saved it from certain death against that monster. But its low Strength and Constitution had made a fight against a Rank E creature feel like a suicidal gamble.
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It almost dissipated...
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I whispered it, touching my own shoulder. The pain there was fading now. The price I had paid was steep. I was unprotected in a silent house, while the system whispered coldly in my mind about the long recovery time.
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But at least it gained Experience. And some loot, despite everything.
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I wiped the sweat from my forehead and looked at the Rank E Core Shard and the 7 additional Bronze Coins. It had been a risk. But it had paid off.
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I focused again on the Shadow Cat's Status Board, specifically on its Experience bar. The gain was double what I would have received. Its Experience had jumped significantly after that fight. I realized the Shadow's growth didn't depend only on my training. It needed real situations. That last fight, as brutal as it was, had refined its harmony with me. It was closer now to understanding my combat will.
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If it reaches Level 2, will its weak endurance stats increase?
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Then—a clear rustling sound reached my ears.
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From outside.
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Not from the street. From the back garden.
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The air froze in my chest. I stopped breathing for a second longer than I should have. This sound wasn't random. It was deliberate. Close. Like something dragging its body slowly across the ground.
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Before I could move, the system panel flashed open before my eyes on its own.
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---
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[Warning]
Hostile entity detected within residential perimeter.
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---
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My fingers tightened around the handle of the Rusty Dagger. The cold bone bit into my palm. I tried to summon the Shadow, desperate instinct driving me—
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The icon stayed gray.
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The rustling stopped.
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Then...
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A soft tapping on the glass.
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---
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and then Add to home screen.