Garren spun the wooden stick once more, letting it slap against his open palm. The sound was deliberate. Cheap intimidation theater.
Kai’s new body reacted the way weak bodies always did—heart hammering, muscles tightening, a cold trickle of sweat sliding down his spine. His brain, however, stayed disgustingly clear.
Three of them. One stick. I’m built like a library book. Lira is still standing three steps to my left. If I run, they catch me. If I freeze, they beat me. If I talk, maybe I buy enough time for the arousal bar to finish me off before they do.
The System window pulsed in the corner of his vision, almost cheerful.
[Arousal Progress: 81%]
Host is experiencing elevated stress + proximity to potential claim target.
Efficiency rating: Excellent.
Kai wanted to tell the System to go fuck itself. Instead he kept the ugly little smile on his face.
"You talk a lot for someone holding kindling," he said.
Garren’s eye twitched. One of the lackeys—shorter, rat-faced—snickered. The other just cracked his knuckles.
"You’ve got a mouth on you now," Garren said. "Fever must’ve cooked whatever sense you had left. I’m gonna put it back in place."
He stepped forward and swung.
It wasn’t a trained strike. Just a big kid putting his weight behind a stick. Kai still barely avoided it. He twisted sideways; the wood whistled past his shoulder and cracked against the practice post hard enough to send a shiver up the old wood. Splinters flew.
Lira flinched.
Kai’s back hit the post. His breath came short. The weak body was already complaining.
Too slow. Too light. If that lands clean I’m eating dirt and maybe losing teeth.
Garren reset his grip, grinning now. "Stand still, little rat."
He swung again—horizontal this time. Kai dropped into a crouch that his old life’s gaming posture somehow made instinctive. The stick passed over his head. He felt the wind of it ruffle his hair.
While he was down there, his eyes flicked to Lira.
She hadn’t run. She was still watching, booklet clutched tight against her chest, hazel eyes wide but calculating. Not screaming. Not freezing completely. Measuring distances. Exits. Odds.
That quiet competence did something unfortunate to Kai’s wiring.
[Arousal Progress: 89%]
Note: Host’s preference for composed, intelligent targets confirmed.
I am going to get my ribs broken while sporting a half-chub because a girl is good at assessing danger. This is peak degeneracy. Rudeus would be proud.
Garren raised the stick for a third swing—overhead this time, committed. The kind of blow that didn’t care about control.
Kai moved on pure spite.
He lunged forward instead of back, inside the arc of the swing, and drove his shoulder into Garren’s gut as hard as the malnourished body allowed. It wasn’t strong. It was unexpected. Garren’s breath exploded out of him in a surprised wheeze. The stick’s momentum carried it into the post again with a sharp crack.
Kai didn’t waste the opening. He grabbed the stick with both hands while Garren was still folded and wrenched sideways with everything he had.
For a second it was pure tug-of-war.
Then Garren’s grip slipped.
Kai stumbled back with the stick in his hands, chest heaving, arms trembling from the effort. The two lackeys stared. Lira’s lips parted in quiet surprise.
Garren straightened, face darkening from shock into real anger.
"You little—"
Kai pointed the stick at him like it was a sword and he knew how to use one. He didn’t. But the posture was borrowed from a thousand hours of watching protagonists bluff.
"Next person who steps forward gets the sharp end of the kindling," he said, voice steadier than it had any right to be. "I’m having a very educational morning and I’d prefer not to end it bleeding."
Silence stretched across the courtyard.
One of the younger kids who had been watching from a safe distance actually stopped running to stare.
The System window flared brighter.
[Dominance Display Registered]
Arousal Progress: 96%
Desire Points pending...
Secondary Objective nearing completion.
Garren’s face was purple. He took one step forward.
Kai’s arms shook, but he didn’t lower the stick.
Lira’s voice cut through the tension, quiet but clear.
"Miss Helga is coming back from the storage shed," she said. "She went to get more grain. If she sees this, latrine duty becomes the least of your problems, Garren."
Garren froze.
The threat of actual adult consequences landed harder than the stick ever could. His jaw worked. He looked at Kai, at the stick, at Lira, then at his two friends who suddenly found the dirt very interesting.
"This isn’t over," he snarled.
"Obviously," Kai replied. "You’re very committed to the bit."
Garren spat on the ground, turned, and stalked toward the main building. The lackeys followed like unhappy shadows.
Only when the door slammed behind them did Kai let the stick drop to his side. His hands were trembling. His shoulders burned. The weak body was informing him, in no uncertain terms, that it had not appreciated any of that.
He looked at Lira.
She was still watching him, expression unreadable.
"You’re going to get yourself killed," she said.
"Probably," Kai answered. "But not today."
The System window exploded with light and a soft chime that only he could hear.
[Secondary Objective Complete]
Arousal Threshold Reached.
Tutorial Quest Progress: 1/2
Desire Points Gained: 50
Starter Package Unlocked.
Full System Interface Available in 10... 9...
Kai stared at the countdown, then at the girl who had just helped him survive his first real confrontation in this world, and felt the familiar, filthy grin stretch across his face.
Fifty points and a starter package for getting hard while almost getting my skull caved in. Yeah.
This System and I are going to get along just fine.
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