The Specter Rat Hunt

"Specter Rats?" I asked, skeptical.

Min-Soo nodded, his expression serious.

"They aren't normal rats. They're Aura creatures that formed in the academy's foundations, where the energy is unstable. They're fast, they can pass through walls, and their bites are painful. They aren't lethal, but they're very, very annoying to hunt."

He continued his explanation, like a professor.

"C-rank students or higher don't take this quest because 500 points is too little for the time and effort it requires. Lower-ranked students are afraid to deal with them. So, the quest just sits there, waiting to be taken."

"And you think we can do it?"

He looked me straight in the eye. "I can't. My power is useless against them. But you..."

He paused. "Your dagger absorbed Choi Jin-Woo's power. Specter Rats are creatures made of 100% Aura. According to my calculations, there's a high probability that your dagger is the perfect weapon to erase them."

There was a glimmer of excitement in his eyes. The first real emotion I'd seen from him. It was the excitement of a scientist before a promising experiment.

I was his experiment.

He was right. If my dagger could erase Aura, then these creatures were the ideal target.

"Tomorrow, after the opening ceremony," Min-Soo said. "While everyone else goes to their first useless class, we'll go hunt some rats."

He stood up, tray in hand. "Meet me at the entrance to Sublevel 3 at 9 a.m. Be on time."

And he left, leaving me alone with my empty tray and the promise of a monster hunt.

I went back to my room shortly after. The exhaustion of the day weighed on my shoulders. It had been the longest day of my life.

I closed the door, this time wedging a chair under the handle. An old habit from my former apartments. I didn't know if it would stop an Awakened, but it made me feel a little safer.

I lay down on the bed, hands behind my head, staring at the gray ceiling.

Lee Min-Soo. An alliance. A rat hunt.

Everything was happening so fast. Twenty-four hours ago, my biggest problem was figuring out how to pay the next electricity bill. Now, I was planning to hunt monsters in a basement to earn points at a superhero academy. It was absurd.

And yet, a part of me wasn't scared. It was... curious.

I summoned my dagger. It appeared in my hand. In the dim light of the room, it seemed even blacker.

I spun it between my fingers. It was light, perfectly balanced.

Min-Soo thought it was the perfect weapon for these Specter Rats. Maybe he was right. This was a chance to test this power. To understand what I truly had in my hands.

And then there were the points. 500 points. More than Choi's group had given me. It was another step forward. Another dose of medicine. A little more time.

That was all that mattered.

I made the dagger disappear. I closed my eyes. For the first time in a long while, it wasn't the image of my sick mother that appeared in my mind before I fell asleep.

It was the image of my dagger, erasing the Aura from those rats.

The next morning, I woke up before my terminal's alarm went off. The gray light of dawn was barely filtering through the small window.

I felt different. The knot of anxiety that usually sat in my stomach was still there, but it was smaller. Next to it, there was a new feeling. A kind of anticipation.

I took a quick shower in the communal bathrooms down the hall. The water was lukewarm, barely hot. Another luxury reserved for the higher ranks, I guessed.

I put on my uniform. It felt less strange on me today. It was the uniform of the lowest rank, but it was still an Apex uniform.

At 8:30 a.m., the opening ceremony began. It was the same as the day before, in the same auditorium. The man in white, the director, gave another speech. He spoke of honor, duty, and the responsibility that came with power.

I was only half-listening. His words rang hollow. The only responsibility I knew was paying bills.

When the ceremony ended at 8:55 a.m., the crowd of students stood up and began heading toward their assigned classrooms.

I didn't follow them.

I left the auditorium and went in the opposite direction. Toward the basements.

I arrived in front of the stairs leading to Sublevel 3 at exactly 9 a.m. Lee Min-Soo was already there, leaning against the wall, terminal in hand. He looked up when I arrived.

"On time," he commented with an approving nod. "That's a good start."

He pointed to the stairs that plunged into darkness. "Sublevel 4 is right below. Ready?"

I looked at the dark steps. The air coming from them was cold and smelled of dust and damp.

I nodded. "Ready."

We went down the stairs. The sound of our footsteps was the only sound. Sublevel 3 was already dark, filled with old machinery and stored crates. But Sublevel 4 was something else.

The staircase leading down to it was just a metal ladder, rusted in places. There was no light below. Just total darkness.

"The academy's system will register the start of the quest as soon as we enter the zone," Min-Soo said, his voice echoing slightly in the silence. "From then on, we'll have two hours to clear the nests. After that, the quest is a failure."

He tapped his terminal. "My memorization power allows me to map a place very quickly. I'll guide you. You handle the killing."

He pulled a small flashlight from his bag. "Stay close to me. It's a real labyrinth down there."

I nodded.

Min-Soo went down first. I heard his feet hit the concrete floor below. Then, it was my turn.

The air was even colder here. And heavy. There was a smell of mold and... something else. An electric smell, like the air before a storm. The smell of unstable Aura.

Min-Soo turned on his flashlight. The beam swept across the room. It was a huge basement, filled with pipes and ducts running along the walls and ceiling.

And everywhere, there were some sort of nests. Clumps of chewed-up cables, dust, and a black, shiny substance, stuck in the corners and along the pipes.

Just then, my interface lit up.

[Entering Quest Zone: Sublevel 4]

[Objective: Destroy 5 Specter Rat Nests]

[Time Remaining: 02:00:00]

"Okay," Min-Soo whispered. "Stay on your guard. They're sensitive to movement and light."

He had barely finished his sentence when a scratching sound came from one of the nests near us.

The flashlight beam locked onto the noise.

A figure emerged from the nest. It was the size of a large rat, but its body wasn't solid. It was made of a flickering black energy, with red eyes that glowed in the dark. It had no paws; it floated a few inches off the ground.

The Specter Rat.

It let out a small shriek, a high-pitched, electric sound. Then it shot toward us.

Min-Soo swore and took a step back.

I didn't move.

I summoned my dagger. It appeared in my hand, its deep black a contrast to the surrounding darkness.

The rat flew through the flashlight beam without slowing down. It was a projectile of pure Aura.

My body reacted instinctively. I didn't think.

I took a step to the side and swung my dagger horizontally.

The blade passed through the rat's body without the slightest resistance.

Just like the day before. No sound. No impact.

The Specter Rat continued its charge for another meter, then its form flickered. Its body of black energy dissipated into the air, like smoke in the wind.

There was nothing left.

Just behind me, I heard Min-Soo let out a breath he'd been holding.

My interface flashed.

[Specter Rat eliminated. +1 point]