Chapter 46: Breakthrough

Chapter 46: Chapter 46: Breakthrough

"The harder the conflict, the greater the triumph." — George Washington

The morning sun broke through the canopy as Riven entered the Adventurers’ Guild.

His coin pouch felt noticeably heavier than it had a few days earlier. The goblin nest contract had paid well, and he had already begun thinking about how to spend the money.

For today, however, he wanted something simple.

He wasn’t interested in another dangerous expedition or a large monster nest. He had spent the past several weeks pushing himself through training and increasingly difficult contracts.

He approached the bounty board and began examining the available contracts.

Iron fang rat extermination.

Riven pulled the notice from the board.

He remembered fighting these creatures during his first evaluation. Back then, even a single rat had been a serious threat. Now, he was confident he could handle five without much trouble.

After registering the contract, he gathered his equipment and left the Guild.

The journey to the western tree line took a little over an hour.

Riven followed the familiar forest trails, occasionally stopping to examine tracks and broken branches. The rats were known to inhabit rocky areas, particularly places with enough cover to hide their nests.

He eventually found a narrow ditch surrounded by boulders.

Several sets of tracks crossed the damp earth.

Riven crouched and examined them.

Five, perhaps six.

He drew his short sword and continued forward.

It didn’t take long for the rats to appear.

The first lunged from behind a rock, its sharp, iron like teeth snapping toward his leg.

Riven simply stepped aside.

The creature’s jaws closed on empty air.

Before it could turn around, he struck it with his sword. A thin layer of shadow covered the blade, allowing it to cut through the rat’s thick hide.

The creature collapsed.

Another emerged from the ditch, followed by two more.

Riven barely changed his expression.

He moved between them, avoiding their snapping jaws with practiced footwork. His boots muffled his movements, though stealth was hardly necessary against such predictable opponents.

One rat lunged at his side.

Riven shifted his weight, letting it pass before bringing his sword down across its back.

Another tried to bite his ankle, but he stepped over it and drove his blade into its neck.

The remaining rats hesitated.

Riven didn’t give them time to regroup.

Within minutes, all five lay dead.

He wiped his blade clean and examined the bodies.

It had been almost embarrassingly easy.

Months ago, a fight like this might have left him bleeding and exhausted. Now, he had barely broken a sweat.

His training under Aiden and Vesper had clearly paid off.

Riven collected the required proof, placing the rat tails into his spatial bag. He also checked the bodies for usable materials, but there was little worth taking.

Once he was finished, he began the walk back to the settlement.

He had expected the rest of the journey to be uneventful.

He was wrong.

The forest trail was quiet.

Sunlight filtered through the branches, casting shifting patterns across the ground. Riven walked at a steady pace, his sword secured at his side.

He was already thinking about what he would practice when he returned to the Guild.

Perhaps Vesper would let him work on increasing the range of Umbral Needle. He had become more consistent with the spell recently, but he still struggled to maintain its shape over longer distances.

A sudden crunch interrupted his thoughts.

Riven stopped.

The sound had come from somewhere behind him.

He turned sharply, his hand already reaching for his sword.

A massive figure stepped out from between the trees.

It was an orc.

The creature stood nearly seven feet tall, with scarred grayish green skin stretched over thick muscles. Two yellowed tusks protruded from its lower jaw, and its small eyes were fixed on Riven.

A crude iron club rested in its hands.

Riven’s expression hardened.

He recognized the creature immediately.

An orc scout.

And judging by its size and the density of mana he could sense coming from it, this one was at least D tier.

His grip tightened around his sword.

He had fought goblins, rats, and smaller beasts. He had even cleared an entire goblin nest alone.

But this was different.

An orc was physically stronger than anything he had fought so far. Even an adult adventurer would have to take one seriously.

Riven slowly stepped backward.

The orc snarled.

Then it charged.

Riven barely had time to react.

The creature crossed the distance far faster than he expected, raising its club and swinging with enough force to crush a grown man’s skull.

Riven threw himself sideways.

The club struck the ground where he had been standing.

The impact sent dirt and small stones flying. The shockwave caught Riven and threw him off balance, sending him tumbling across the forest floor.

He rolled several times before slamming into a tree.

Pain exploded through his ribs.

For a moment, he couldn’t breathe.

He forced himself upright, coughing as he tried to recover.

The orc was already approaching.

Riven raised his sword and coated its edge with Shadow Veil. At the same time, he gathered mana in his free hand.

Umbral Needle.

A jagged spike of shadow formed in his palm.

He released it at close range.

The projectile struck the orc squarely in the chest.

It shattered against the creature’s thick hide.

The orc barely reacted.

Riven’s eyes widened.

The spell had worked against goblins, but the orc’s body was far more durable. Its dense mana reinforcement had absorbed most of the impact.

He didn’t have time to think about it.

The orc lunged again.

Riven tried to dodge, but the creature was too fast. Its massive foot came down on his shoulder, pinning him against the ground.

A sharp cry escaped his throat.

Pain spread through his entire arm.

He struggled beneath the creature’s weight, but he couldn’t move it.

The orc raised its club.

Riven forced himself to bring his sword up.

The weapon caught the next strike, but the impact nearly tore it from his hands. His arms shook violently, and pain shot through his wrists.

He was completely outmatched.

The orc leaned closer, its foul breath washing over him.

Riven tried to push himself free.

His shoulder screamed in protest.

Blood filled his mouth.

He had survived the slave camp, escaped the quarry, and fought his way through countless difficult days. He had spent months training, improving his swordsmanship, and learning to use magic.

Yet here he was.

Pinned beneath a monster he couldn’t defeat.

His strength was fading.

His mana was nearly depleted, and his body was beginning to fail him.

’I won’t die here.’

The thought came without hesitation.

’Not after everything.’

He pushed against the orc’s foot, but it barely moved.

More and more mana was pushed into his sword to keep the orc at bay.

Riven’s vision blurred.

Then something changed.

Deep within his chest, his core began to tremble.

The familiar warmth of his core intensified, spreading through his body. The faint hum he had grown accustomed to became louder, almost painful.

For weeks, his core had been developing.

He had felt it growing stronger, slowly approaching some unseen threshold.

Now, that threshold was finally within reach.

The pressure of the orc’s attack, the strain on his body, and the desperate effort to survive pushed him beyond his limits.

A sharp crack echoed inside his chest.

Riven froze.

His Level 1 core fractured.

For one terrifying instant, he thought it had been destroyed.

Then the broken pieces began to move.

Dense shadow mana surged through the cracks, filling them with dark energy. The fragments shifted and reformed, expanding as the core transformed.

A wave of mana erupted from his chest.

The energy spread through his body in a violent torrent.

His mana channels expanded, and the pressure that had been building inside him suddenly released. The familiar limitations of his Level 1 core seemed to vanish as an entirely new reservoir of mana opened within him.

The orc recoiled.

It stumbled backward, releasing Riven as the wave of shadow mana rolled across the forest floor.

Riven dropped onto his side, coughing and gasping for air.

His chest burned.

His entire body trembled.

But beneath the pain, he could feel something new.

His core.

It was larger, denser, and filled with far more mana than before.

He slowly pushed himself upright.

The orc growled and raised its club again.

Riven looked at it.

For the first time since the fight began, he didn’t feel completely helpless.

He could feel the mana flowing through his body. It responded more readily than before, and the pressure inside his chest was no longer an obstacle.

He stood.

The orc charged again.

Riven moved.

His body felt lighter, his movements more responsive. He ducked beneath the orc’s club and stepped to the side, narrowly avoiding the impact.

The creature swung again.

This time, Riven was already moving.

He slipped past the attack and entered the orc’s blind spot.

His short sword was covered in shadow mana.

But the Shadow Veil he had used for months was no longer the same.

The mana gathered along the blade in a thick, volatile layer. Darkness seemed to cling to the steel, extending its edge slightly as Riven poured more energy into the technique.

He struck.

The sword bit into the back of the orc’s knee piercing through bone.

The creature roared and buckled, dropping onto one leg.

Riven retreated before it could grab him.

He could feel the difference in his mana reserves. The spell had consumed a considerable amount, but his core still held plenty of energy.

The orc tried to stand.

Riven raised his free hand.

Shadow mana gathered in his palm.

The projectile formed more quickly than before, drawing from the expanded capacity of his new core. He compressed it into a jagged spike, denser and larger than any he had created previously.

The orc turned toward him.

Riven released the spell.

The projectile struck the side of its head, piercing through the creature’s mana reinforced hide.

The orc staggered.

Its club slipped from its hands.

Then the massive creature crashed face first into the dirt.

Riven remained still, watching it carefully.

He waited several seconds before approaching.

The orc didn’t move.

It was dead.

Riven lowered his sword.

Only then did he realize how badly he was shaking.

The pain in his shoulder was severe, and his ribs hurt with every breath. His body was exhausted from the fight, even after the sudden surge of mana.

He sat down beside a tree and tried to steady his breathing.

He had won.

But only because his core had evolved at the exact moment he needed it.

Without that breakthrough, he would have died.

Riven looked at the orc’s corpse.

He had no idea how much the creature’s core would be worth, but it was clearly more valuable than the small cores he had collected from goblins and rats.

He would need to recover it.

After resting for several minutes, he carefully approached the body removing its core.

He began the long walk back to the settlement.

Every step hurt.

He moved slowly, keeping his injured shoulder close to his body. His ribs were bruised, and he suspected he might have cracked one, but he couldn’t be certain.

By the time he reached the settlement, the sun was already beginning to set.

He headed directly for the Guild’s healing annex.

Sister Elena looked up as Riven entered.

Her expression changed immediately.

"Good heavens. What happened to you?"

"An orc."

She stared at him.

"You fought an orc?"

Riven nodded.

"Where?"

"Western tree line."

Elena hurried over and guided him toward a nearby bed.

"Sit down. Let me see your shoulder."

Riven obeyed.

She carefully examined the injured area, her expression growing more serious as she inspected the bruising and swelling.

"You’ve done a number on yourself."

"I know."

"Clearly not well enough."

She removed the damaged part of his clothing and began examining his ribs. Riven winced as she pressed against them.

"Bruised, at the very least. I don’t believe anything is broken, but you’ll need to rest."

She placed her hands over his shoulder and began channeling restorative magic.

A gentle green glow spread across the injured area.

The pain gradually faded as the damaged tissue began to heal. His shoulder still ached, but the worst of the injury was gone.

Elena continued working until she was satisfied.

"That should keep you stable. You’ll still need to take it easy for a few days."

Riven nodded.

She gave him a stern look.

"And no fighting until I say otherwise."

He didn’t argue.

He knew better than to ignore a healer’s instructions although that had never stopped him.

After paying for the treatment, he left the annex and headed toward the Guild’s main hall.

The material exchange was still open when Riven arrived.

The clerk looked up as he approached, then frowned at his bloodstained clothes and bandaged shoulder.

"What happened to you?"

Riven placed the five iron fang rat tails on the counter.

"Completed the contract."

The clerk began counting them.

"Five. Good."

Then Riven took out the large orc core and placed it beside the tails.

The clerk stopped.

She stared at the core for several seconds before looking up at Riven.

"Where did you get that?"

"From an orc."

The clerk’s expression became serious.

"An orc?"

Riven nodded.

"By yourself?"

"Yes."

The clerk looked at him as though he had just said something absurd.

"You’re five years old."

Riven didn’t respond.

The clerk examined the core carefully, checking its density and magical properties. After a few moments, he called over another Guild employee to confirm the assessment.

The two spoke quietly before returning to the counter.

The clerk began calculating the payout.

The rat bounty was straightforward. The orc core, however, was worth considerably more.

After a few minutes, he slid a stack of coins across the counter.

Riven collected them and placed them in his pouch.

The payment was substantial, enough to replenish much of what he had spent on his recent equipment.

He didn’t linger.

He was exhausted, injured, and eager to get back to his room.

By the time Riven returned to the inn, evening had settled over the town.

He climbed the stairs slowly, entered his room, and shut the door behind him.

After setting his equipment aside, he sat on the edge of his bed.

His shoulder still hurt, but the healing magic had made the pain manageable.

He took a long breath and closed his eyes.

"Status."

The familiar window appeared before him.

[STATUS]

Name: Riven

Age: 5

Core: Level 2

Affinity: Shadow

[SKILLS & TECHNIQUES]

Shadow Veil: 97%

Intermediate Swordplay: 6%

Umbral Needle: 52%

Riven stared at the display.

His core had finally reached Level 2.

The change was enormous. He could feel the difference in his mana capacity, and the spells that had once strained his limits now felt considerably easier to use.

His swordsmanship had also advanced.

After months of training, his basic techniques had finally developed into something more refined. His movements were still far from perfect, but he had crossed an important threshold.

His Shadow Veil was nearly mastered, while Umbral Needle had passed the halfway point.

He closed the status window.

Then he looked down at his bandaged shoulder.

He had nearly died today.

If his core hadn’t evolved when it did, the orc would have killed him. His new strength had saved his life, but he couldn’t rely on another breakthrough whenever he encountered an enemy beyond his abilities.

The frontier didn’t care about his age, his training, or how carefully he planned.

It only cared whether he was strong enough to survive.

Riven leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes.

He was getting stronger.

And he was only just beginning.