Hours passed, and Levi's nerves felt as tight as a stretched rubber band. How much time had passed exactly? It was impossible to tell. At some point, his cleaver-wielding hand had tired. Not only that, it got cold.

It turns out that if god decides to be a dick and turns the lights off, the temperature dropped below freezing. During the night, every breath he took was one creating a mist cloud. He had to find spare blankets from the other rooms to pile on top of him to stay warm. Barely. If it wasn’t for the adrenaline coursing through his veins, maybe he’d have already died of hypothermia.

He had to keep rubbing his hands, blowing hot air onto them to stave off frostbite.

But, it didn’t last forever–even though it felt like it. Light shone through the cracks of the boarded up windows. Bright light. A light that was bright enough to bring with it an embracing warmth.

Slowly, and carefully, Levi unlocked the door, and peeped out. The sun’s rays assaulted his eyes. Blinking, squinting, the town appeared before him in a haze light. Only after a few moments did his vision return.

The building he was in was on one long street. On the other side of the road, was another row of buildings. It travelled for a good while, making it known that the town was a rather large one. Stalls of all kinds lay abandoned on the street. Some were tipped over, their innards scattering across the grey cobbled road.

What is going on with this place?

Thankfully, it was warm. It was a great reprieve from the frigid night. Dropping the blanket tucked over his shoulders, Levi rested his tensed blade. There were no monsters. Yet. He wasn’t too sure if there were day-time variants of the one he saw last night, so he made sure to be careful.

Despite the fear and lack of sleep dragging on his mind, Levi forced himself to scout the area. It was no good holding himself up in a house for weeks on end. The only food the house held were of the tinned variety. And most of them came with a sort of jelly. Just the thought of it set his gag reflex off.

As Levi stalked down the street with tensed shoulders, he now knew the cause of the people’s disappearance. Monsters. Monsters of the nightly variety. But as time passed, from minutes to hours, it became clear that there were no monsters lurking in the town. They only came out at night. A dark, all encompassing night.

Levi had never seen anything like it. It was as if God himself placed his mighty hands over his eyes, blocking all vision completely. It warped his sense of understanding. Well, as much as it could anymore, anyway.

Only that strange lantern appeared to battle the light. But was it? He had to test it tonight to make sure. If that was his only light source during the night, he’d have to protect it as if it was a part of his own life.

The rest of the day was spent walking around the whole town. He found some places of note. The blacksmiths, butchers, and library, to be exact.

His first goal was to find out what these so-called ingredients were all about. And it wasn’t as difficult as he first thought it was going to be. Literally the first item he looked at in the blacksmith’s had given him a prompt.

Birthright Ingredient (Common) — Short-sword: A short sword made of common metals.

| Class: Warrior

| Path: Blades

That wasn’t the only one he found, either. There were weapons and armour that had even reached Uncommon. Just like the rpg games he had played in the past. Although he had yet to find a Rare Ingredient yet.

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And it was the same with literally any item in the world, as he soon found out. He could feed his Birthright soil, grass, paper, rocks. The list was endless. He just had to focus his eyes on it, and the description would appear. Each one granted a Class and a Path, never one without the other.

That brought with it a hard choice: should he use the Ingredients he had found right now to evolve his Birthright, or should he search for the best Ingredient he could find?

The former would most likely give him a good boost in power to help him survive the long night. The latter would give him more potential for the future.

Stuck with that decision, Levi had returned to a new building different from the other house. Or should he say–his home.

The light was already beginning to dim. But he had accomplished a lot. There were two new mounds sitting at either side of his home. Laying in a pile on one side of the living room was a huge amount of potential Ingredients. The other side had numerous supplies of wood, nails, metal sheeting, etc. Those were to reinforce the building he was residing in. He had even set up a trap above the door. It was made of oil. One spark and it would ignite. If the monster broke through the door, it would be covered in volatile liquid.

Now that the monster knew there was a human covered in juicy flesh, it would come back for revenge. Or at least that’s what Levi thought it would do. He wouldn’t leave it to chance. He had no clue what the monster was capable of. So that’s why he decided to leave his home for another.

Of course, he brought the lantern with him. But he also had numerous other light sources to test with.

He got to work while he still had light left. Barricading the windows, doors, even installing spears in front of each so that if they forcefully entered–they’d be met with a sharp point.

With all of that done, it was almost dark. Dark enough that soon, the world would be cast in all devouring darkness.

But there was something Levi had to know. Why was it turning so dark? A solar eclipse every night, perhaps? Driven by curiosity, he drew the curtains on the first floor, and peeked out at the moon above. His mind turned numb, something sunk in his stomach, it felt like he’d just lost a piece of himself.

What he saw was a titanic pitch black hand covering the moon…

***

Levi sat in the middle of the floor as if he’d lost his mind. Was it a god? Shit, it was terrifying.

One thing at a damned time.

He forced his mind to get that image out of his head. And the best way to do that was to work, just like he always did to forget about things.

First, he tested the other light sources he had on him. Candles, torches, lighter–none of them worked. Indeed, it was only the magical lantern that provided light.

Sitting in the middle of the floor with his lantern by his side, Levi moved his attention to the light source in question. He focused on it fully.

Birthright Ingredient (Rare) — Piercing Lantern: A light source capable of piercing the Deep Dark. An old magic resides within.

| Class: Mage

| Path: Enchanter

Levi sucked in a breath. It was the first Rare Ingredient he had discovered during his time scouring the town.

Should I use it, or try and find something better? Levi gnashed his teeth. If he used it, he wouldn’t have a light source. He’d be surrendering himself to the shadows.

Also, the possibilities of finding something better were extremely low. He had even looked in the wealthiest of buildings. Still, he couldn’t find an Ingredient of Rare quality. That told him everything he needed to do. But Levi didn’t lose hope for something better.

Levi turned his attention to a smattering of books that he had gathered from within the library. They ranged from history, medical, fiction, to… magic.

He gingerly grabbed one of the books, afraid to make any unnecessary noise, and placed it in front of his crossed legs.

Mysteries of Mana Mastery were the words embossed into the hardwood cover of the book. He peeled it open and–

Just at that moment, he heard a loud crash, followed by a wretched, beastly scream. The hairs on his nape rose, his heartbeat quickened. The monster had broken into his old home. Was he going to be next?