Darkness filled the inside of the Veil-Class Ruin as Atlas walked through the narrow stone corridor.
His footsteps echoed lightly against the cracked floor. Weak silver runes flickered across the walls at irregular intervals, but most of them had already faded after countless years beneath the forest. The ruin was old, but not powerful. Compared to the Eternal Ruin, this place felt almost calm.
That did not an it was safe.
Atlas moved carefully beneath his black hood, observing the corridor, the walls, the ceiling, and the ground in front of him. Broken pillars lined several sections of the passage. Old bones lay near collapsed parts of the wall, mixed together without clear order.
So were human.
So were monster.
That was enough to prove the point.
Even a lower-ranked ruin killed careless explorers.
Atlas continued deeper at a controlled pace.
He was not here only for money.
He was here to learn.
The Codex had given him power too quickly. Strength, Agility, Stamina, and Spirit had all changed his body within a short ti, but that did not an he knew how to use them properly. In the Eternal Ruin, raw power had been enough to survive for a few more seconds. Outside that kind of ergency, raw power beca a problem.
If he moved too fast, he crashed into walls.
If he touched sothing too carelessly, it broke.
If his Spirit reacted to emotion, the ground shook.
That was dangerous.
Not because of the damage itself.
Because people could notice.
Crack.
A faint sound echoed ahead.
Atlas stopped imdiately.
His breathing slowed, and his gaze fixed on the dark corridor in front of him. A second sound followed a mont later.
Heavy breathing.
Hooves scraping against stone.
Atlas shifted his posture.
Several seconds later, a large black creature erged from the darkness. At first glance, it resembled a muscular bull, but the details were different. Its eyes glowed crimson, faint Spirit flowed beneath its skin, and its curved horns shimred with unstable silver light.
Condensed Spirit gathered across the horns in small pulses.
Atlas narrowed his eyes.
’Horned Bull.’
The na ca from the Guild information he had read before taking the mission.
A near E-Rank monster.
Dangerous for beginner explorers, especially because of the Spirit beam released from its horns. A normal rookie who reacted too slowly could be pierced or blasted against the wall before landing a single hit.
The Horned Bull lowered its body.
Then charged.
Boom.
Its hooves cracked parts of the stone floor as it rushed forward. Spirit gathered across its horns while it charged, and a thin silver beam shot toward Atlas a mont later.
Atlas moved sideways.
Too quickly.
His body nearly slamd into the corridor wall before he stopped himself at the last mont.
Boom.
The Spirit beam struck the wall behind him and shattered part of the old stone.
Atlas glanced at the damaged wall.
Then frowned.
’Too fast.’
Not the monster.
Himself.
Even now, his reactions carried more force than he intended. His Agility made him move quickly, but his control was still catching up. If he used this kind of movent in a city or near other explorers, he would stand out imdiately.
The Horned Bull charged again.
This ti, Atlas stepped forward.
His right fist tightened beneath his sleeve.
Then he punched.
Boom.
The monster’s head exploded under the impact.
Blood, bone, and flesh splattered across the corridor walls as the Horned Bull collapsed lifelessly onto the stone floor.
Silence followed.
Atlas stared at his own fist.
Then at the corpse.
"...Again."
Too much force.
He had tried to hold back, but the result was still excessive. Against weak monsters, the difference between his current body and theirs was too large. If he kept destroying every enemy this way, he would not learn anything except how to make a ss.
Atlas exhaled and crouched beside the corpse.
The Bloodbound Codex reacted imdiately.
A faint crimson glow ford beneath his chest. The Sanguis Stylus erged silently and floated beside him. The blood inside the stylus stirred before thin crimson threads extended toward the dead Horned Bull.
The corpse’s blood rose unnaturally from the wounds and entered the stylus.
The Horned Bull dried quickly.
Atlas watched the process carefully.
"So it really only reacts to Spirit creatures."
That was useful confirmation.
Ordinary animal blood had caused no reaction. A Spirit creature’s blood was different. The Codex did not absorb blood only as liquid. It reacted to the Spirit quality inside it. That ant the value of monster blood depended on the monster’s rank, type, and energy density.
The stylus finished absorbing the blood and dissolved back into his chest with the Codex.
Atlas stood.
Then continued deeper into the ruin.
Hours passed gradually.
During that ti, Atlas fought several Horned Bulls.
So appeared alone in narrow corridors. Others attacked in small groups inside wider chambers. None of them were strong enough to threaten him directly, but that was not the main issue. The real difficulty was controlling himself.
Every dodge was too wide.
Every step carried too much force.
Every punch damaged more than the target.
At one point, Atlas misjudged his strength and launched a Horned Bull through a stone pillar.
Boom.
The pillar cracked apart, and part of the chamber ceiling collapsed afterward.
Atlas stood beneath the falling dust and sighed.
"...This is ridiculous."
But slowly, the pattern began changing.
He stopped trying to overpower every movent.
He reduced the size of each step.
He shortened his motions.
He focused on breathing before moving.
Instead of punching monsters directly, he redirected their charges.
Instead of crushing their skulls, he targeted joints, necks, and lower jaws with smaller strikes.
The destruction decreased.
Not perfectly.
But enough.
Another Horned Bull charged toward him inside a long corridor. Spirit gathered across its horns again, and a silver beam ford.
This ti, Atlas moved only slightly sideways.
The beam passed inches away from him and struck the wall behind.
Atlas stepped in.
His hand rose.
Then he struck the creature beneath the jaw.
Crack.
The Horned Bull collapsed instantly.
Dead.
Its skull remained mostly intact.
Atlas looked at the corpse.
Then flexed his fingers slowly.
"...Hmm, this is Better."
It was a small improvent.
But it mattered.
For the first ti since gaining his power, his body felt less foreign. Strength still sat inside him heavily, and Agility still responded faster than expected, but the gap between his intention and movent had narrowed.
The deeper corridors changed after that.
The Spirit density rose slightly.
The walls beca darker, and old claw marks stretched across several sections of the underground structure. The ruin was still low-ranked, but the inner area clearly held stronger creatures than the entrance.
Atlas slowed.
A sound ca from ahead.
Wet breathing.
Uneven.
Several mouths breathing at the sa ti.
Atlas’s eyes narrowed.
Four creatures erged from the darkness.
Their bodies were gray and distorted, with long arms dragging across the floor. Their heads were oversized, and each face held four separate mouths. Each mouth moved independently. One laughed softly. One growled. The other two breathed heavily through jagged teeth.
Atlas recognized them imdiately.
’Crolled Jefrox.’
D-Rank monsters.
Far stronger than Horned Bulls.
They were not only physically tougher. Their screams could shake a target’s senses, and their mouths made close combat dangerous. Beginner explorers who treated them like ordinary beasts usually lost limbs first, then their lives.
The creatures noticed Atlas.
Then attacked.
Screech.
A distorted scream erupted from one mouth while another Jefrox lunged forward at the sa ti.
Atlas moved backward.
Too quickly again.
Boom.
His back struck the wall hard enough to crack the stone.
The first Jefrox reached him imdiately.
All four mouths opened and bit downward.
Atlas raised his arm defensively.
Crunch.
Teeth pierced through his sleeve and dug into his shoulder.
Pain shot through him.
Atlas’s expression darkened.
His fist moved.
BOOM
The Jefrox flew sideways and crashed through a broken pillar.
But it did not die instantly.
Atlas’s eyes sharpened.
The remaining three attacked together.
One ca low.
One leaped from above.
The last released another distorted scream that shook the corridor.
Atlas narrowed his eyes.
Then sothing inside his body reacted.
Warmth moved through his veins.
His movents beca lighter.
Sharper.
His body stepped sideways before he fully thought about it.
This ti, the motion was smooth.
The claws missed him by a narrow margin.
Atlas’s fist moved imdiately.
Crack.
One Jefrox’s neck snapped sideways.
Atlas’s eyes widened slightly.
’That was Spirit.’
Not full control.
Not technique.
But Spirit had reinforced his movent for a brief mont.
That changed the situation.
Until now, Spirit had felt like a deeper pressure inside him. Sothing present, but difficult to use directly. During the exchange, it responded to his need for precision and made his body move more smoothly.
That ant Spirit was not only raw amplification.
It could also support control.
The fight continued.
Atlas still took injuries. Claws tore parts of his clothes. One mouth nearly ripped into his side before he countered with a strike to the skull. Another scream made his balance falter for a mont.
But he adapted.
Not perfectly.
Not cleanly.
Enough.
He started using smaller movents again. He let the monsters co close, shifted only enough to avoid the main line of attack, then struck at weak points. The more he reduced unnecessary movent, the easier his body beca to control.
Eventually, the final Crolled Jefrox collapsed heavily onto the stone floor.
Silence filled the corridor.
Atlas stood beneath his torn hood, breathing slowly while blood dripped from a few shallow wounds across his arms and side.
His body hurt.
But it was manageable.
Compared to the Eternal Ruin, this was training.
Atlas looked at his hands.
Then flexed them slowly.
"...At least I’m learning."
This ti, the words felt true.
The Sanguis Stylus erged again afterward and absorbed the blood from the dead Crolled Jefrox corpses. Atlas watched carefully as the stylus filled with darker blood than the Horned Bulls had provided. That also confird another point.
D-Rank monster blood carried higher quality than near E-Rank monster blood.
The Codex did not explain this directly.
But the differences were visible if he paid attention.
Several more minutes passed before Atlas reached the deepest section of the Veil-Class Ruin.
A small chamber waited beyond the final corridor.
It was old, dust-covered, and circular. Ancient silver runes glowed faintly across the walls, and a single stone pedestal stood at the center of the room.
Atop the pedestal rested a small silver locket.
Atlas approached carefully.
The mont he neared it, the Bloodbound Codex pulsed faintly beneath his chest.
Not violently.
Only slightly.
As if acknowledging the relic’s existence.
Atlas stopped for a mont.
The Codex had not reacted this way to ordinary stones, bones, or ruined structures. It reacted to Spirit creature blood and now to a relic. That ant the Codex could identify certain valuable Spirit-related objects even while hidden inside him.
Another useful rule.
Atlas slowly picked up the locket.
Soft Spirit Energy flowed from within it.
Stable.
Refined.
Different from the chaotic energy inside monsters.
Atlas observed the locket for several seconds.
"I should evaluate this at the Guild."
His gaze moved briefly toward the ruined corridors behind him.
Broken stone.
Dead monsters.
Collapsed pillars.
Then he added quietly:
"At least I learned to control this strength sowhat."
Not perfectly.
But enough that he no longer felt like every movent might expose him.
The return journey began shortly afterward.
By the ti Atlas exited the ruin, evening sunlight had already started falling across the forest outside. The ancient double doors closed behind him while cold wind brushed against his damaged hood and torn black attire.
This ti, he did not feel fear after leaving a ruin.
Only calm exhaustion.
Atlas followed the sa route back toward Ormolio with monster materials wrapped carefully in a cloth over his shoulder. Horns, teeth, and several valuable pieces had been taken cleanly enough to sell.
The city lights appeared ahead as night settled across the horizon.
But Atlas did not head to the Guild first.
He went to the familiar shop near the lower district.
The old shopkeeper looked up lazily from behind the counter.
Then froze.
His eyes widened slightly when Atlas placed the wrapped monster materials heavily onto the counter.
"...Where did you get these?"
Atlas remained calm beneath the hood.
"Veil-Class ruin."
The old man unwrapped the materials imdiately.
His expression changed slowly.
Horned Bull horns.
D-Rank flesh.
Jefrox teeth.
The old man stared silently for several monts.
This amount should not belong to a rookie explorer.
Atlas sensed the suspicion forming.
So he shifted his voice slightly lower.
"...How much?"
The old man looked at him carefully.
Then finally spoke.
"...Twenty gold."
Atlas almost reacted.
Twenty gold.
That was far more than he expected.
But outwardly, he remained calm.
"...Okay."
His tone stayed controlled.
"We have a deal."
The old man still looked suspicious, but Atlas took the gold and left before more questions could begin.
Only after that did he enter the Guild.
The receptionist noticed him approaching almost imdiately.
Her eyes moved over his damaged clothes, torn hood, and the small silver locket in his hand. Her expression changed slightly.
Atlas placed the locket onto the counter.
"I found this inside the ruin."
The receptionist picked it up carefully.
Then her eyes widened.
"Oh..."
She examined the relic more closely before looking back at Atlas.
"You found a Rare-Grade relic."
Atlas stayed silent.
The receptionist continued carefully.
"This is called Condor’s Locket."
Soft Spirit Energy flowed across the relic as she explained.
"It creates a Spirit barrier with roughly a ten-ter radius around the user."
Her gaze sharpened slightly.
"And it can be used three tis before the stored Spirit fully depletes."
Atlas listened quietly.
Then asked:
"...Its value?"
The receptionist inhaled faintly.
Then answered calmly.
"If priced according to the current market..."
She placed the relic carefully onto the counter again.
"...around one hundred gold."
Atlas froze internally.
His throat moved slightly beneath the hood.
One hundred gold.
That amount alone was enough to change an ordinary commoner’s life.
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