Chapter 13 The Silence of the Sky

The blue numbers in the corner of Jack’s vision showed twenty-nine months remaining. He was deep in the second level of the crypts, a place where the air felt like needles against his skin. The ground here was covered in a thick layer of white frost that cracked under his heavy boots.

For three days, Jack had been tracking a pack of frost lizards. They were small, quick monsters with hard scales that looked like blue ice. They didn't have much mana, but they moved in groups of five or six, using the dark corners of the tomb to hide before they jumped.

Jack walked into a large, round room with a high ceiling. He stopped near a broken pillar, his hand resting on the hilt of his shortsword. He did not draw the blade yet. He closed his eyes and listened.

A soft scratching sound came from his left. Then another from his right.

"Six of them," Jack said quietly to himself.

The first lizard lunged from the shadow of the pillar. It was three feet long, its mouth open to show rows of small teeth. Jack did not step back. He waited until the creature’s face was a foot away, then he swung his left fist in a short, straight line. His knuckles hit the lizard’s nose with a loud thud. The creature tumbled across the frost, its legs shaking.

Two more lizards jumped at his legs from behind. Jack shifted his weight, lifting his right boot and stamping down hard on the head of the closest monster. The hard scales cracked under his heel. He turned his body smoothly, using his shortsword still inside its scabbard to hit the third lizard across its ribs, throwing it against the wall.

[Target Defeated: Frost Lizard]

[Reward: 3 EXP]

The blue text flickered in his eyes, but before he could read the next line, the light did not just fade—it snapped.

The blue grid vanished. The small glow from the dead lizards’ scales disappeared. The absolute darkness came all at once, heavy and thick, pressing down on his face like a wet cloth. The cold air grew completely still, and a deep, dead silence filled the tomb.

Being X was trying a new tactic. The god had taken away the light.

Jack stood perfectly still in the center of the dark room. He did not scream. He did not reach out his hands to feel for the walls in a panic. He knew that when you lose your eyes, moving too fast is how you break your bones.

He slowly lowered himself onto the cold dirt, crossing his legs. He placed his right fingers against his left wrist, finding the steady, quiet throb of his heart.

"One," Jack whispered into the black air. "Two. Three."

He kept counting, using his own pulse to measure the passing hours. Days blended into weeks, and weeks turned into months. He was entirely alone in a dark hole where no sound could reach.

He did not let his mind go soft. Every single day, he stood up and worked his muscles. He did push-ups on the cold dirt, ran in small circles within the small room, and stretched his long limbs until his bones popped.

Without his eyes, his other senses began to change. He could hear the tiny drops of water falling from the ceiling a hundred feet away. He could smell the dry dust moving when the air shifted. Most importantly, he began to feel something else. The cold air wasn't just cold; it was full of tiny, moving currents. It was the raw mana of the crypts.

Most importantly, he began to feel something else. The cold air wasn't just cold anymore; it was full of tiny, moving currents. It was the raw mana of the crypts, moving through the halls like invisible water.

On a night that felt like the third month of darkness, Jack felt a shift in the air behind him. A crawling creature was moving slowly across the floor, its soft body dragging over the dirt. It made no sound, but the raw mana around it moved like water.

Jack did not need his eyes. He stayed perfectly still, listening to the shift in the air.

"You are on my side of the room," Jack said quietly.

The creature stopped. Then, it lunged forward with a sudden burst of speed.

Jack did not draw his shortsword. He simply reached out his bare hand into the pitch-black air, moving his fingers exactly where the mana felt thickest. His hand clamped tight around a cold, slimy neck. He pressed his palm down, letting his power flow.

A soft blue flash lit up the room for a split second, showing the dead eyes of a shadow bug before its body went limp.

"Still too slow," Jack muttered, tossing the bug aside.

Suddenly, a loud, ringing sound echoed in his head. The absolute darkness vanished as a bright, flashing red light filled his eyes. The system screen was back, glowing brighter than before.

[ALERT: TRANSMISSION FROM BEING X.]

"Do you taste the true weight of your insignificance now, Jack? Three months in the void. No status. No guides. You are nothing without the light I gave you. Cry out my name, beg for my mercy, and the light will stay."

The red words flickered, waiting for a broken man to fall to his knees and weep.

Jack did not blink against the bright glare. He remained sitting cross-legged on the dirt floor. He had a small, flat piece of metal in his hand, which he had been using to scrape against the solid ground during the long days of silence.

He looked up at the red text, his face completely blank.

"You talk too much," Jack said. His voice was a bit rough from months of disuse, but it was perfectly steady.

He moved his legs aside, showing the section of the floor right beneath him. Using the metal scrap, he had spent the last month carefully carving a large, perfect image into the flat ground. It was a giant hand with the middle finger held high toward the sky.

The red screen went completely still.

"I didn't miss your little screen," Jack said, leaning back against the wall. "My heart beats seventy times a minute. I know exactly how many days have passed. Your little trick didn't change my numbers. It just gave me peace and quiet to practice my grip."

The red lines of data began to shake, turning a dark, angry purple.

[TRANSMISSION CRITICAL ERROR.]

[SYSTEM RESTORING TO DEFAULT BLUE STATUS.]

The angry colors faded away, turning back into the calm, quiet blue grid he was used to seeing.

[Level Progress: C-Rank (55 / 100)]

[Time Remaining: 29 Months.]

Jack looked at the blue numbers and nodded. He stood up, shaking the dirt from his gray cloak, and looked down the dark hallway ahead. The god had tried his best, and it hadn't been enough. He had twenty-nine months left, and he was ready to see what else the dark had to offer.