The forest had no mercy.

Four hours of trudging through mud, roots, and the occasional pile of what Jax hoped was animal shit.

Four hours of Queen Adelina complaining about her feet, the cold, the bugs, and literally everything else.

Four hours of Jax killing anything that moved.

Slash.

A wolf-like beast with three eyes collapsed, its body dissolving into particles.

[+100 EXP]

Thud.

A serpent with crystalline scales hit the dirt, its head rolling away.

[+150 EXP]

Crack.

A bird-thing with too many wings fell from the sky, split clean in half.

[+120 EXP]

Adelina watched from a safe distance, arms crossed. "You're showing off."

"I'm farming," Jax corrected, flicking blood off his blade. "There's a difference."

"You just spun your sword three times before killing that last one."

"Style points."

She huffed but said nothing.

By the time they cleared the forest, Jax had slaughtered thirty beasts. His level crawled up painfully slow.

[LEVEL UP! 2.4 → 3.0]

[LEVEL UP! 3.0 → 3.2]

[CHAMPION STATUS: JAX RAYNE]

[LEVEL: 3.2 / 50.0]

[EXPERIENCE: 2,101 / 10,000]

'Fuck. This is going to take forever.'

The cool evening breeze hit him the moment they stepped into the clearing.

Jax's body betrayed him instantly. His teeth chattered. His arms wrapped around himself.

"Cold?" Adelina asked sweetly.

"No."

"You're shivering. And you look like a wet cat."

"Fuck off."

She laughed, raising her hand. A soft green glow emanated from her palm.

Warmth flooded through Jax's body like a shot of whiskey. His muscles relaxed. The shivering stopped.

"Better?" she asked, smug as hell.

Jax blinked. "You're a healer?"

"Phase 2 Healing Mage, yes. Why do you think you recovered so fast after fainting?"

He thought back to the fish broth. The mouth-to-mouth. The fever breaking overnight.

'She's been healing me this whole time.'

"That's... actually useful," he admitted.

"High praise from the man who called me useless an hour ago."

"I said your magic is useless in a fight. Which it is."

"Healing keeps people alive!"

"Yeah, after the fight. Which makes you dead weight during it."

Adelina's eye twitched. "One day, I'm going to let you bleed out just to prove a point."

"Looking forward to it, Your Majesty.

Then they saw a village.

The dwarf settlement was smaller than expected. Stone buildings with rounded doors. Chimneys puffing smoke. The sound of hammers on anvils echoing through narrow streets.

Short, stocky, bearded people everywhere. Even the women had sideburns.

Adelina approached the guards, spun some traveler story, flashed a precious gemstone, and suddenly they were honored guests.

Until the Mayor showed up.

A fat, greasy dwarf with a beard that looked like it hadn't been washed in months. His eyes locked onto the gemstone like a hawk spotting prey.

"One night," he rasped. "And a carriage in the morning. But that stone stays with me."

Adelina's jaw clenched. But she handed it over.

As they were led to a bench near the town square, she leaned in. "We're pretending to be mother and son. Not royalty. Understood?"

"Why mother and son?"

"Because you look young and I look responsible."

"I'm literally taller than you."

"Shut up and play along."

Jax smirked. "Yes, Mommy."

Her face turned red. "I will end you."

Jax sat alone on the bench, watching dwarves go about their business.

It was surreal. A fantasy race living like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Then he saw it.

A dwarf boy. Maybe ten years old. Surrounded by four bigger, meaner kids.

Push.

The boy hit the ground hard.

The dwarves laughed, their voices high and cruel. They chased him, throwing rocks, shouting insults.

The boy ran, face streaked with tears.

Jax watched, expressionless.

The boy circled back and collapsed onto the bench beside him, clutching his bleeding knee. He dusted it off with shaking hands, then blew on it like that would help.

"So," Jax said flatly. "You came running back. Why?"

The boy looked up, startled. Then his anger flared.

"They never let me play with them! I stopped trying ages ago, but they won't even let me have friends! If I talk to anyone, they ruin it! Spread lies! And they won't even let me play alone!"

He pointed toward where he'd run from. "My father bought me a ball. I was so happy. I was just playing by myself. And they—" His voice cracked. "They destroyed it. Then they beat me."

Sob. Sob.

Jax's expression didn't change. "I didn't ask for your life story, you little shit."

The boy froze.

"I asked you a simple question. Why did you run away?"

The boy opened his mouth. Closed it.

Jax leaned forward, eyes cold. "You think someone's going to save you? Feel sorry for you and make it all go away? You think the gods are watching, ready to say, 'Child, I am with you'?"

Silence stretched.

"If you think that," Jax said quietly, "then fuck off. Go cry somewhere else."

The boy flinched like he'd been slapped.

But then Jax's tone shifted. The anger drained away, replaced by something distant.

He turned his gaze to the sky. "You know... I was in a similar situation when I was a kid."

The boy said nothing, too stunned to speak.

"My mother died when I was young. Left me with my sister. My father thought money could fix everything. And me? I was starving for someone to see me."

He paused. "So I made myself strong. Stronger than everyone. And you know what jealous people do when you're better than them?"

The boy shook his head.

"They destroy you." Jax's smile was bitter. "I was bullied. By classmates. By people older than me. By people I beat at everything. Every. Single. Day."

He looked at the boy. "I begged for help. Prayed to a god that never answered. And one day, I realized something."

"What?" the boy whispered.

"The only thing that matters in this world is power." Jax's voice went cold. "The power to stand your ground. The power to make them remember your name."

He leaned back. "They called me their boots. So I became one, a boot that never even touches the dust, the dust those people are."

The boy's eyes widened.

"I trained. Gungame.. I mean Archery. For a year, I isolated myself. When I came back, they thought I'd gone crazy, a depressed case. A few pretended to care. But most of them laughed."

"What did you do?" the boy asked, trembling.

"They came to pick a fight. Thought I was still that scared kid." Jax's eyes gleamed. "I grabbed a wooden practice sword and I broke them. One by one."

He mimed the swing. "Blood everywhere. Noses shattered. Teeth scattered. The only ones who survived were smart enough to run."

The boy stared, mouth agape.

"And when I walked off that field, I walked with my head high. For the first time in my life, I felt alive."

He leaned closer. "They tried revenge later. So I pulled my father's gun, aimed at one of them, and put a hole clean through his shirt. Didn't touch him. Just tore the fabric."

Jax laughed, sharp and bitter. "Should've seen his face."

The boy didn't understand everything. But he understood the feeling.

"Trust me, kid," Jax said softly. "The moment you make them realize who they messed with? The moment you show them their place?"

He looked the boy dead in the eye. "There's no better feeling in the world."

The boy's fist clenched. "Uncle... should I train? Get stronger? Beat those guys?"

Jax snorted. "Train? For what?"

The boy blinked, confused.

"You're already strong enough," Jax said simply. "You just don't know it yet."

The boy stood. His legs shook, but he stood.

He walked toward the group of dwarf kids. They saw him coming and laughed.

"Back for more, runt?"

The boy didn't answer.

He swung.

Crack.

His fist connected with the first kid's jaw. The dwarf stumbled back, eyes wide.

The second kid charged. The boy met him with a wild haymaker. Blood exploded from the kid's nose.

Thud.

The third kid tackled him. They hit the ground hard, rolling in the dirt.

But there were four of them.

They pinned him down. Kicked him. Over and over.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

His nose broke. His clothes tore. Dirt and blood covered him head to toe.

Then they left, laughing.

The boy lay there, bleeding and broken.

Jax watched it all from the bench.

"You gave that boy confidence," a voice said behind him. "Then you let it die in front of you. Maybe you should have helped."

Jax didn't turn. "Then what's the point of the lecture, Adelina?"

She stepped into view, expression soft but sad. "This is cruel."

"This is reality." Jax's voice was flat. "Not even your own blood shows up when you need them most."

Adelina smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Then why did you stand when you saw him getting outnumbered? Like you were about to help?"

Jax paused. She'd caught him.

He sighed. "I would've helped. But then I saw his face."

"What about it?"

"The first punch showed him he wasn't powerless. The second showed him he could fight back." He pointed at the boy. "And the beating?"

Adelina looked.

The boy's lips were curled into a small, broken smile. Blood dripped from his nose, but his eyes were bright. Alive.

"He learned something," Jax said quietly. "Pain fades. Fear fades. But that feeling? The feeling of throwing the first punch?"

He stood. "That stays forever."

He walked away without another word.

Adelina watched him go, arms crossed. "A monster forging another monster, huh?"

Jax glanced back, expression unreadable. "The monster in front of you can't be forged. Can't be reproduced."

He smirked. "Trust me."

Late at same night. The mansion the Mayor provided was modest. A guest room with a single bed. A guard stationed outside the Mayor's door.

Jax's mind wandered to his new skill.

'Soul Thief.'

He focused on the guard. "Soul Thief."

[TARGET FOUND]

[NAME: UNDEFINED]

[CONFIRM? YES / NO]

"Yes."

The world flipped.

Gasp.

Jax was standing. Looking down at his own body, collapsed on the ground like a puppet with cut strings.

'Holy shit. It actually works.'

He grabbed his original body and propped it on a bench in the hallway.

Then he heard it.

A sound. Wet. Rhythmic. Breathy.

Kissing.

Jax followed the noise to the Mayor's room.

He peeked inside.

The fat dwarf Mayor lay on his bed, surrounded by three dwarf women. Two kissed his chest. One straddled his face, lips pressed to his.

Jax grinned.

"Jackpot."

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