The Fanged Woods was a simple name for a place with many trees. Some of them had sharp-looking branches. Luthra walked along the dirt path for a while, moving deeper into the forest where the sunlight was not as strong.
The air was the same as it was in the city.
’Okay, System. Time for a status report.’
[Acknowledged. What information do you require, Luthra?]
’My strength. After the level down and everything, how strong am I, really? Give me a practical comparison to the hunter ranks.’
[Calculating... Based on pure physical output, your strength and agility are comparable to a mid-tier D-rank hunter.]
’D-rank? That’s much higher than I expected. Then why was the assessment such a failure? And that fine...’
[However, in a real combat scenario against a registered hunter, it is estimated that you would have difficulty defeating even a high-tier F-rank hunter.]
’What? That makes no sense at all. Explain the logic. How can D-rank physicals lose to an F-rank? The power gap is enormous.’
[The reason is simple. You do not possess a Path.]
’A Path? I know the term. It’s what the high-rankers call their unique fighting styles or whatever. It’s just a fancy name for a collection of skills.’
[That understanding is incorrect and superficial. A Path is not a set of skills. It is a unique law of reality that a hunter imposes upon the world. It is the crystallization of their soul and their will to fight. You cannot defeat an opponent’s reality when you do not possess one of your own.]
He started walking again, processing the information.
’So it’s some kind of conceptual power. That spoiled brat Nora mentioned her ’Lurius Secret Art’. Was that part of her Path?’
[That is a correct assumption. The Lurius family’s techniques are a framework designed to accelerate the forging of their innate Path. You, however, have not even begun to forge one.]
’Tch. Always one more thing. Fine. How is it done? How do I get a Path?’
[A Path is not something you can get. It is something that is born. It is forged in the crucible of absolute despair, at the precise moment when an individual is pushed beyond all physical and mental limitations. It awakens when you are faced with certain, inescapable death.]
’...Are you telling me every hunter has faced death? Even that Varian guy who looked like he would cry if his hair got messed up?’
[No. That is the critical difference between you and them. Every human born with a mana circle is also born with a ’Closed Path’. It is like a seed, dormant within their soul. Their entire life as a hunter, their training, their battles, it is all the process of nurturing and forging that seed until it blooms.]
The system paused for a moment.
[You, Luthra, were born with nothing. Your soul is a barren field. You must first create the seed from absolute zero. For you, facing death is not a metaphor. It is the only way.]
’I see. So I’m at an even bigger disadvantage than I thought. I need to be on the verge of death just to get to their starting line. What a pain in the ass.’
He continued down the dirt path, the system’s strange words about having no Path echoing in his mind.
’So, to even get to the starting line, I have to almost die? What a completely unreasonable requirement.’
He looked down at the heavy industrial chain wrapped around his arm. He noticed something he had not seen before. Several of the thick, iron links were badly warped, and he could see thin, spiderweb-like cracks running through the metal.
The fight against the gate monsters had pushed it harder than he thought.
’Shit. This thing is about to break.’
He remembered watching his siblings practice in the family’s large training area. Leon could create huge fireballs, and Rebecca could make blades of wind that sliced through steel. The Lurius family secret arts were powerful, but they were not his.
’That’s why I chose this. It’s my own way.’
He ran his other hand over the damaged metal. It was just a piece of equipment, but he had spent five years mastering its weight and flow. It was a part of him now. To lose it would be a serious problem.
"System. Is there a way to fix this chain? And can I make it stronger?"
[Analyzing query... Yes. A method exists.]
[The Host’s weapon is a non-magical item. It cannot be repaired by normal means. However, the Host’s unique negative energy allows for an alternate method. You can evolve the weapon by directly infusing it with a compatible framework.]
’Framework? Another one of your weird terms.’
"Just tell me what I need to do. Make it simple."
[To begin the evolution process, two conditions must be met.]
[Condition 1: Acquire the skill [Negative Weapon Forging].]
[Condition 2: Gather the necessary materials.]
"Okay, how do I get the skill?"
[The skill [Negative Weapon Forging Lv. -1] can be purchased from the Unranked Shop. The cost is 100 Negative Points (NP).]
’One hundred NP? I have zero. You’re telling me I need a currency I don’t have to fix the only weapon I own? This is a scam.’
He let out a sigh. "What about the materials?"
[Required Materials for chain evolution (Stage 1):]
[1. Host’s Personal Weapon (Industrial Chain) x1]
Luthra read the list. They didn’t look too hard, F-rank monsters were common here.
’So, the materials are here, but the skill is locked. This is annoying.’
"System, how do I get Negative Points?"
[Negative Points are awarded for completing hidden objectives, achieving results that defy system expectations, or performing feats deemed ’impossible’ for the Host’s current status.]
"So, I have to do something crazy."
[That is a simplified, but accurate, interpretation.]
’Something crazy, huh.’
He had an idea what that meant, and it was a simple one. He needed to find a monster that was far stronger than the goblins from before. He began running, moving deeper into the woods.
He ran for an hour, but he found nothing. There were no monsters, not even a slime or a low-level beast. He stopped in a small clearing and looked around.
’This is weird. There should be strays everywhere in this area. Why is it so quiet?’
It felt wrong. An entire section of a monster-infested forest should not be this empty. It was like something had scared all the weaker creatures away.
That was when he felt it.
It was not a sound or a smell, it was a presence, a heavy pressure that pressed down on the air itself. His body moved on its own, his muscles tensing as he leaped backward, putting distance between himself and the trees at the edge of the clearing.
"Oh, you felt my presence? Interesting."