Eni flung the front door open and lunged onto the porch, nearly bowling over a lamenting Captain Joe. The Archon was already reaching for the Obelisk, muttering curses under his breath about the "inky doom" awaiting him for losing the child.

  "Hey, pipsqueak!" she shouted at his back, making the Archon jump and spin around. "Mind telling me how I’m supposed to sink these Skill Points, and more importantly, where?"

  Joe froze, his face twisting into a grimace of sincere agony at being distracted by such amateurish questions. "Women, women... always needing a roadmap! Listen here, Caramba!" He waved his tricorne militantly, nearly poking his own eye with the feather. "Points work on the principle of Wild Cards—except unlike them, you can’t control the flow directly. Your soul decides! Your actions, your nature, your inner darkness—they steer the energy to where your body needs it most. Now, leave me be! I’ve already got a noose tightening around my neck because of that girl!"

  Screaming this for the whole neighborhood to hear, Captain Joe touched the stone and vanished into the radiance. Eni remained standing in confusion, staring at the empty platform.

  "Right... and how does that actually work?" she asked the Voice, feeling a restless itch beneath her skin from the surplus of unallocated power.

  The Voice responded with a saccharine, almost irritating parental tenderness, as if explaining how to tie shoelaces: "Of course, Eni, I’ll guide you. To activate these points, you must close your eyes and focus on what you truly want from your physical form. Try to visualize something dense and warm rising from your chest and flooding your veins. Skill points are essentially fragments of the formidable souls you’ve siphoned. As long as they sit in your inventory, they’re just dead weight. But once your body digests them, you’ll become a cut above the fodder crawling around below."

  To Eni, the description sounded visceral and even macabre, but there was no alternative. She took a deep breath, squeezed her eyes shut, and visualized the siphoned Taint of the Krampus and the blood of the Cyclops transmuting into raw energy. She felt a strange thrum in the center of her chest; breathing suddenly became effortless, and the mental weight that usually pressed upon her shoulders seemed to evaporate. When she opened her eyes and approached the Obelisk, activating its interface, a display of her updated metrics hovered before her:

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  Vitality: +140%

  Defense: +30%

  Natural Armor Bonus: +10

  Attack Potency: +35%

  Speed: +10%

  Taint Accumulation: +5%

  Resource Harvesting Speed: +25%

  "Uh..." Eni frowned, squinting at the numbers. "The percentages for potency make sense, but what does '+10' to Natural Armor Bonus mean? Is that a lot or a little? How does that even translate in a real fight?"

  "Oh, that’s... complicated to explain," the Voice chuckled. "The system operates on highly specific algorithms that don't always follow linear logic. Just know this: you’ve become physically denser. Strikes that used to leave bruises will now feel like a friendly pat on the back. You’ve grown stronger, Eni."

  Returning to the house, Eni locked herself in her study. She needed to prepare for the next excursion; the Living Atlas was already twitching on the desk, clearly signaling a new objective. She was checking the fastenings of her corset and the tension of her stockings when a short, unceremonious knock sounded at the door. Without waiting for an answer, Vee walked in. The little kitsune seated herself atop the massive oak desk as if she owned the place, swinging her legs in her sneakers.

  "Why are you doing this again?" she asked, watching pensively as Eni sharpened a dagger. "Why go on this dangerous journey? You have this island—a literal paradise by the standards of our world. You have people who cherish you... or at least, people you cherish. You could easily squeeze money and resources out of bandits; you’re already stronger than twenty buff men put together.

  Yet you keep leaping into the furnace."

  "I have to," Eni grunted without looking up.

  "‘I have to...’" Vee mimicked mockingly, narrowing her heterochromatic eyes. "Or maybe you’re just a destructive, full-blown masochist who only thinks about pain, adrenaline, and how much tighter you can cinch those magical rags around yourself?"

  Eni froze. She slowly raised her gaze to the girl, her voice sounding unusually steady, cutting through any hint of humor: "Listen here. You’re barely out of diapers; don't speak to your elders with such disrespect."

  "I am speaking to you with maximum respect," the daughter of Nick replied, completely unfazed. "If you think otherwise, then I apologize—everyone has their own upbringing. But still, it’s illogical. To have these living conditions and still continue this bloody crusade... according to Coalition statistics, every single Hero eventually dies in the field. The only exceptions are Zombvi, Abdi, and Doc, but they’re absolute maniacs with no human attachments. But you, Eni... you should be able to understand me."

  Eni stood up abruptly, her stockings pulling taut and creating a rigid, disciplining framework. "You don't have enough life experience, Vee. There’s a lot you don't understand. Yes, they are dear to me," she nodded toward the door, beyond which were Mina and the children. "But I also understand that I cannot stop traveling. It’s necessary for their safety and for my goal. When you grow up, you’ll realize that life isn't a game of Monopoly with your dad. It’s not as simple as you think."

  With that, the dialogue was over. Eni turned, walked out of the room, passed a frozen Mina in the kitchen, and stepped out under the open sky. A fresh wind ruffled her hair, and the Obelisk was already waiting for her touch. A moment later, she vanished in the blinding rays of the teleport, leaving behind only silence and the thoughtful gaze of the little kitsune.