Black Coin

V

[Chapter 5: Snow and Iron, Spirit Points]

The massive iron gates of the settlement groaned as they swung open. Creak-clank! Seven stepped out, and the air immediately slapped him in the face. It wasn't just cold; but it was biting. The temperature was far below freezing level.

Everything was white. The ground was covered in a thick layer of frost that was crunched under his boots. Crunch. Crunch.

"Great," Seven muttered, his breath turning into a thick cloud of steam. "Of all the places, I get the giant freezer."

He looked around at the icy wasteland. To his left, was a massive snow-capped mountain poked through the grey, swirling clouds like a jagged tooth. He decided to head that way. He walked for what felt like hours. His toes started to feel numb, and his lungs burned every single time he took a deep breath of the frozen air. There were no spirit beasts anywhere. No birds, neither were there any insects. Just the sound of the whistling wind. Whooooosh. The entire area seemed to have been picked clean by other cultivators hunters.

He kept pushing, his legs feeling like lead weights as he climbed toward a narrow valley. The snow here was deeper, coming up to his shins. Seven felt like going back, and re-prepare for this next time. Huff. Puff.

Snap!

Seven froze. That wasn't the sound of wind.

Suddenly, the snow to his right exploded. Pshhh! A blur of white and grey fur dived at his throat.

"Whoa!" Seven barked. Because of all his years of training his reflexes, his body moved before his brain did. He twisted his torso and threw himself to the side. Thud. He landed hard in the snow.

The creature landed where he had just been standing. It was an Iron Fang Snow Wolf. It was the size of a small car, with fur that looked like needles and two massive, metallic teeth that glinted in the dull light. Its eyes were hungry, while glowing blue.

Grrrrrrr.

The wolf didn't wait. It immediately lunged again. Snap! Its jaws missed Seven’s arm by an inch. Seven scrambled back, while pulling his steel dagger from his belt. "Come on then, doggy!" he yelled, while his heart was drumming against his ribs. Thump-thump-thump.

The wolf was fast. It quickly circled him, its paws making almost no sound in the snow. Then it leaped. Seven tried to stab, but the wolf swiped its heavy paw. Slash! "Agh!" Seven gasped. The wolf’s claws tore through his sleeve and ripped into his shoulder. Red blood sprayed onto the white snow. Drip. Drip. The pain was hot and sharp, making his arm feel weak. Then He realized he was in real danger.

The wolf smelled the blood and instantly went wild. It tackled Seven, and pinning him into the deep snow. Oof! Seven smelled the creature’s stinking, and frozen breath. He held his dagger up with both hands, while blocking the wolf’s iron fangs as they snapped toward his face. Clink! The metal teeth scraped against his blade.

"Get... off... me!" Seven roared. He jammed his knee into the wolf's soft stomach. Oof. And The wolf hesitated for a split second.

That was the opening. Seven rolled, while throwing the heavy beast off him. As the wolf tried to stand back up, Seven lunged forward. He didn't go for the head; instead he went for the neck. He drove the steel dagger in with all his weight.

Squelch!

The blade sank deep into the wolf's throat. Skreeeee! The wolf let out a high-pitched, gurgling whimper. It thrashed around, while kicking Seven in the chest and sending him flying back into a snowbank. Seven hit the ground hard, the wind was knocked out of him. Wheeze.

He watched as the wolf stumbled, with blood pouring out of its neck, staining the snow a deep crimson. It shivered once, twice, and then it went still.

Seven lay in the snow, while clutching his bleeding shoulder. His whole body was shaking from the adrenaline and the cold. "I did it," he whispered. Cough. "I actually killed one."

Ding!

The golden screen flickered into existence right in front of his tired eyes.

[Notice: Iron Fang Snow Wolf (Normal Rank) has been slain.]

Seven sat in the red-stained snow, while clutching his mangled shoulder. Haaa... haaa... Every breath felt like inhaling ground glass. The Iron Fang Snow Wolf lay still, with its massive car-sized body already losing its heat to the frozen ground.

Then, something happened that made Seven’s heart skip a beat.

A shimmering, silver-white dust began to rise from the wolf’s corpse. It looked like tiny diamonds that were floating in the air. Tinkle. It was a very beautiful sight. Seven’s eyes went wide. He knew exactly what this was from his school books. It was a Spirit Armament.

"No way," Seven whispered, his voice cracking. "First kill... and I got a drop?"

Getting a Spirit Armament was pure luck. For a normal rank beast like this, the chance was barely 10%. The silver dust started to drift toward his chest, ready to merge with his soul.

Seven reached out a shaky, but blood-covered hand. "Come to papa..."

Vrummm!

Suddenly, the black coin that was hanging from his neck jerked forward. It turned into a swirling vortex of purple and black shadows. It looked like a miniature black hole had opened right over his heart. Whoosh! The silver dust didn't touch Seven. Instead, it was violently sucked into the center of the coin.

"Wait! No!" Seven screamed. Gasp. He grabbed the coin, but the suction was too strong. The silver sparkles had all vanished into the black metal. Slurp. As the last bit of spirit dust was swallowed, the wolf’s body began to shrivel. Crackle. Pop. It was a grotesque sight to behold. The massive beast, which had been the size of a car, had started shrinking and folding in on itself. The muscles withered, and the bones snapped and grew smaller. In seconds, the terrifying predator had shrunk down until it was the size of a small rabbit.

"Are you kidding me?!" Seven roared, while shaking the coin. Clink. Clink. "Give it back! You ate the weapon and you ruined the meat! You are a greedy piece of junk!"

He hammered his fist against the coin, but there was no response. His luck had just flipped into a nightmare. He had fought for his life, and now all he had left was a tiny, rabbit-sized wolf carcass. He felt like crying, but he didn't have the energy.

The adrenaline was wearing off, and the cold was moving now in.

"Dammit..." Seven groaned. Ugh. His shoulder was now throbbing. The stinging pain of the ice gave him a small jolt of energy. He grabbed the tiny, shrunken wolf by its tail and tossed it into his shoulder. At least it was easy to carry now.

"I’m... going... back," he wheezed, with his teeth chattering. Clatter-clank. He left a trail of blood in the snow as he stumbled toward the distant lights of the human settlement.

Seven limped through the massive gate of the human settlement. His boots dragged against the metal plating. Scrape. Scrape. He looked like a mess. His shoulder was a dark, frozen red, and his face was pale from the biting cold. In his hand, he dangled the shrunken carcass of the Iron Fang Snow Wolf.

A few group of experienced hunters stood near a fountain of glowing liquid. One of them, a man with a heavy axe, looked over and snorted. Pffft. "Check out the newbie," the man laughed. "Hey kid! Did you hunt a puppy? Or did that wolf just die of old age and shrink in the washing machine?"

The others chuckled. Heh. Heh. They didn't see the blood on his shirt as a sign of a hard fight; but they just saw a teenager holding a tiny, rabbit-sized beast. To them, he was a joke.

Seven didn't even bother to look at them. He really didn't have the energy to argue. He just kept his head down and walked through the plaza, past the stalls that were selling giant monster hearts and shimmering armor-type spirit armament. He reached the corridor of doors and found the one marked Núll 7. He pressed his hand against the scanner. Beep-click. The door slid shut behind him, while cutting off the noise of the settlement. Seven collapsed against the wall. Thud. "Finally," he wheezed. Sigh. He couldn't go to a doctor right now. He didn't have the credits. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a small first-aid kit and his hyper-griller. It was a flat, circular device that used focused heat to cook meat in seconds. He cleaned his shoulder with a stingy antiseptic. Ssssss! "Ah! Dammit!" He gritted his teeth until the pain began settled into a dull throb.

He took his knife and began to butcher the tiny wolf. Even though it was small, the meat was incredibly dense and tough. It felt like cutting through rubber. Squelch. Slice. He laid the small strips of meat onto the hyper-griller. Tsssss! The room was instantly filled with a rich, and gamey smell.

He started eating. The meat was chewy and tasted like iron and salt. As he swallowed the first piece, a warm sensation spread from his stomach to his fingertips. Ooh. Even his injuries improved by a tiny bit.

[Notice: You have gained 1 Normal Spirit Point.]

Seven’s eyes lit up. He kept eating, and shoving the hot meat into his mouth. Munch. Munch.

[Notice: You have gained 1 Normal Spirit Point.]

[Notice: You have gained 1 Normal Spirit Point...]

He didn't stop until the tiny carcass was nothing but a pile of small, and white bones. He leaned back against his bed, while breathing heavily. He was shocked. Usually, a beast that small wouldn't give more than one or two points. But he had gained ten. Ten points from one tiny beast, maybe because it was once large.

"Status," Seven whispered into the quiet room. This was how everyone could check their status.

A golden screen flickered into life, while floating in the center of the dark ore walls.

[STATUS]

Name: Mo Seven

Cultivation: Mortal

Divine Essence: None/Null

Spirit Points: Normal Class (10/100)

Spirit Armament: None]

Seven stood up and stretched body. Crack. Pop. He felt different. It was a very small change, but he could feel it. His muscles felt a bit tighter, and his reaction time felt a millisecond faster. When he jumped in place, it felt like the gravity of the room had loosened its grip on him just a tiny bit. He felt lighter, like he was walking on thick carpet instead of cold stone.

"Ten percent, in the normal class" Seven muttered, looking at his hands. "Only ninety more to go before I finish the normal class. My teachers said there are other classes of beast and once I kill them for the first time, their point slot will appear on his status'."

He looked at the black coin that was around his neck. It was silent now, but he knew it was to thank for everything that had happened today. Entering the spirit dimension without a divine essence, stealing his divine essence, The shrunken wolf, the extra points. it was all connected to that dark piece of metal.

[End of Chapter]