I Level Up By Making Enemies

Night in the secondary root hollow was long and mean. Lin Feng sat with his back against the thickest root wall, legs stretched out carefully so the half closed gash on his thigh wouldn’t pull open again. The Bone Flesh Mending Salve had done real work, the deepest tears had sealed enough to stop constant bleeding but the healing tissue still felt tight, hot, and fragile.

Worse than the injuries was the bind. It never went quiet. The creature lay at the edge of the hollow, eyes open and fixed on him through the dark. Every time Lin Feng’s concentration drifted toward sleep or pain, the wire tightened and a spike of pure resentment drove through his head hard enough to make his vision white out for a second. He had to keep a piece of his attention locked on the bind at all times. There was no full rest. Only a shallow dozing interrupted by sudden mental shoves from the beast testing whether he was still holding on.

The hollow itself was quieter than Yu Mei’s shelter area. Residual hostility drained outward through the three root pillars instead of pooling, just as she had said. The mist moved slower here. Small swamp creatures stayed far away, clearly sensing the bound beast. Occasionally something larger passed in the distance but nothing came close. Even so, Lin Feng never fully relaxed.

He tried three separate qi recovery cycles during the night. Each one was short and careful. The first barely moved the needle and left his meridians aching. The second went better, he managed to pull in a thin thread of the local dense qi and settle it without aggravating the strain. The third almost got away from him when the beast suddenly spiked its hatred mid cycle. Lin Feng had to abort, clamp down on the bind with raw will, and wait for the trembling in his hands to stop. By the time the mist began to lighten toward morning, he had clawed back enough qi to keep his foundation from feeling hollow, but nowhere near enough to fight.

He spend the night like that and eventually Dawn came. Lin Feng forced himself to stand and his legs started shaking immediately. The bound beast rose the moment he did. The link between them burned.

He started with simple tests.

”Stay.”

The beast’s eyes narrowed and hatred surged. Lin Feng pushed back through the connection until the creature locked in place, muscles tight, clearly furious at the command. The effort left a thin line of blood in his mouth from how hard he had clenched his jaw.

”Left.”

It moved, slow and resentful.

”Stop.”

It stopped.

Each successful command cost him. The bind was obeying, but only under clear, forceful pressure. There was no acceptance in it. Only the thin, burning fact of the forced connection. Lin Feng ended the tests early when he felt his limited qi starting to dip again. He sat back down, breathing carefully, and opened the system.

[Rage Points: 10,262 ]

[Bind Status: Unstable ]

New reinforcement options had appeared in the shop after the first successful bind, temporary resentment dampeners, integrity stabilizers, even a costly permanent reinforcement method. All of them were expensive. He stared at the prices for a long time, then closed the interface without buying. Spending now would make him feel safer for a day. Understanding the bind and recovering his body would keep him alive longer. He needed control more than another temporary patch.

By mid morning he could no longer ignore water and food. He took the waterskin and knife and started toward a thinner section of mist where he had heard running water during the night. The beast followed when he pulled on the connection, staying several paces back, eyes never leaving him. The short journey became another running test. Twice the creature shoved hard against the bind when Lin Feng had to climb over a slick root cluster and his concentration slipped. Both times he had to stop, plant his feet, and force the connection back into place through pure spite while his injuries throbbed in protest.

He found a narrow stream that looked clean enough. Filling the waterskin took longer than it should have because he kept one part of his mind locked on the beast. A patch of dull green fruit and pale edible roots grew nearby. He took only what he was sure wouldn’t try to kill him, cut them free, and started back.

Halfway to the hollow a cluster of reed spines sensed weakness and lashed out. Lin Feng cut them down with irritation as blood from a shallow new scratch running across his knuckles. The extra effort made the bind connection shudder. The beast growled and took one step closer before he slammed will through the wire hard enough to stop it. By the time he returned to the hollow and sat down again, his hands were shaking and fresh sweat had soaked through the bandages.

He ate slowly, drank, and checked the wounds. The salve had held and nothing had torn fully open. That was the best he could say.

Afternoon settled over the hollow in heavy gray light.

Lin Feng leaned his head back against the root wall and finally let himself look at the full situation.

He was Level 4 with a foundation that still felt scraped raw. He had one powerful bound beast that hated him and would kill him the moment the connection failed. The new milestone demanded three more forced binds,three more fights at least as bad as the last one. Yu Mei had given him directions and a temporary window, nothing more. The swamp had already shown it would send stronger responses. Every major disturbance painted a brighter target on him.

He could not keep surviving by the edge of his teeth. Short term goal settled into place with cold clarity. For two days, no new fights and no new bind attempts. Nothing except recovery and slow, controlled pressure on the existing connection. He needed the first bind stable before he even thought about the next three.

Lin Feng closed his eyes, locked his attention on the burning wire in his head, and began the first deliberate session of steady pressure. He did not try to dominate the beast again. He simply held the connection with unyielding presence constant, stubborn, refusing to give any ground. The creature’s hatred rose in waves. It growled and shifted. It shoved against the bind again and again. Each time he met the pressure and did not yield.

The work was mental and exhausting. Time blurred and sweat ran down his back. His injuries pulsed in time with the beast’s spikes of resentment. But gradually, fractionally, the link began to feel less like it might snap at any moment. The integrity edged upward by the smallest measurable degree.

When evening came he was drained again, muscles trembling, vision slightly blurred at the edges. The bind was still listed as Unstable, but the constant risk of sudden rupture had lessened. The beast lay in its spot radiating the same pure hatred as before, yet it no longer tested him every few minutes. It had learned, at least for now, that pushing cost it effort without reward.

Lin Feng wiped sweat from his face with a dirty sleeve and stared at the creature through the dimming light.

He let his head rest against the root, kept the thinned but stronger link locked in his mind, and settled in for another long night of constant vigilance.

The second day in the hollow started better than the first.Lin Feng woke with the usual jolt of the bind tightening, but the spike of hatred from the beast was duller than before. The link in his head still burned, yet it no longer felt like it might snap if he blinked too long. He sat up slowly.

The wounds across his thigh and shoulder pulled, but the tissue held. The deep bruise along his ribs had faded from sharp pain to a heavy ache. His qi reserves had climbed from critically empty to merely low.

He stood and stretched carefully. The bound beast rose with him, eyes locked on his, resentment still thick enough to taste. Lin Feng pushed a simple command through the connection.

”Stay.”

The creature’s muscles tightened. Hatred surged. But the resistance was shorter this time. After a few seconds it locked in place, trembling with suppressed violence. The cost to Lin Feng was noticeable but no longer staggering.

He released the command and sat again, breathing through the residual tremor in his hands.He spent most of the morning on controlled pressure again. Holding the connection open and refusing to give ground whenever the beast shoved against it.

The random, vicious tests grew less frequent. The constant risk of sudden rupture eased and by midday it was much better.

Lin Feng opened the shop.

[Rage Points: 10,262]

Bind reinforcement options sat near the top. A mid grade stabilizer promised to push integrity higher and dampen resentment for several days.

[Cost: 3,200 RP]