?The morning light was thin and cold, reflecting the quiet resolve in Dawn’s eyes as she sat on the edge of her bed. In her mind, she remembered the list Xander had given her—a roadmap to becoming the best Incarnate she could be. Hand-to-Hand. Archery. Various Weapon Training. Lastly a Great Mage to further my understanding of these abilities.

  ?She had the raw power, but she lacked technique if several areas. She was tired of relying on brute force and feeling like she was just getting lucky. If she wanted to help the people across these realms. She knew she needed to learn more.

  ?Dawn picked up her phone and opened the Cosmo app, selecting a Rank F intervention situation.

  ?The world dissolved into the familiar, sterile white of the Lobby.

  ?"Welcome, Legend Phantom," the robotic voice of Cosmo intoned.

  ?Dawn didn't hesitate. She navigated the menus with ease. She chose a High Elf avatar, prioritizing the race's natural grace and speed. For her ability, she selected Dark Manipulation. If she was going to find a mage to teach her, she wanted to be prepared with an element that she was comfortable with—just in case she had to "convince" a teacher to take her on.

  ?"Loadout complete," Cosmo announced. "Initializing situation."

  ?

  ?The white void fractured, replaced by the high, vaulted ceilings of a stone cathedral. Standing before Dawn was the summoner—a Cleric of the Kingdom, his white robes stained with travel grime and his face etched with worry.

  ?He looked at the elegant High Elf before him and bowed deeply. "Thank you for answering, Legend. Our village is in dire need. A Spore Bear. This massive bear corrupted by fungal rot, has made its den in the nearby woods. It’s covered in moss and toxic mushrooms. Every breath it takes releases spores that are poisoning our crops and sickening our children. We need it removed before the rot spreads to the valley."

  ?Phantom felt the hum of dark energy beneath her elven skin. "I’ll take care of it. But first i need the recall crystal." she said, her voice calm and focused. The cleric gives a short bow before handing over the crystal.

  ?

  Phantom set off into the forest in search of the bear.

  ?Tracking the beast was a somber affair. The forest around the village was dying; the leaves were coated in a sickly yellow film, and the air tasted of damp earth and decay. Phantom moved through the brush with the precise silence from her elven form.

  ?She found the Spore Bear near a stagnant pond. It was a mountain of matted fur and shelf mushrooms, its eyes glowing with a dull, feverish light. As it shook itself, a cloud of spores billowed out like mustard gas.

  ?Phantom didn't go for a spectacle. She aimed her fist, channeling a thin thread of Dark energy into the attack. She waited for the moment the wind died down, then released. The arrow sped through the air, a silent streak of shadow that pierced the bear’s skull instantly. The dark energy flared for a micro-second, neutralizing the toxic spores within the beast's lungs before they could release in a death roar.

  ?Clean. Simple. Easy.

  ?

  ?After reporting the kill to the Cleric, Phantom watched the recall crystal begin to glow. Usually, she would crush the crystal and head back to the comfort of her bedroom.

  ?Not this time.

  ?She stayed in the realm, using the kingdom as a base of operations. For a full year of the realm's time, Phantom traveled from one remote corner of the kingdom to the next. She hunted lesser beasts to raise her stats more, filling her Stash with rare parts: shimmering scales, enchanted fangs, and the preserved hearts of magical creatures.

  ?But her primary mission—finding a teacher—remained unfulfilled. She sought out reclusive hermits in the mountains and visited the ruins of ancient academies, but every "Great Mage" she found was either a fraud or lacked the depth of knowledge she required to truly understand her own growing abilities.

  ?After twelve months of solitude and a growing pile of beast trophies, the frustration finally outweighed her patience. Standing atop a windswept cliff overlooking a land she had protected but failed to learn from, Phantom sighed.

  ?She opened her stash and crushed the crystal she had been ignoring for a year. In a flash of light, the forest vanished, and Phantom returned to Earth.

  Dawn wasted no time reopening the Cosmo app. After a quick look she was pleased to see most of her stats nearly seventy points. With the exception being resistance and Arcane, which was about fifty points. A wide childish smile spreads across Dawn's face as she realizes just how much she has gotten stronger.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  ?Dawn switched tabs but hesitates before clicking the intervention category. She had subconsciously fallen into the habit of always picking intervention. But people need help in many ways. Dawn taps the containment situation option. She starts looking at the various situations. No information showing except the rank and a general description of the biome. Dawn taps on a F Ranked containment situation and everything blurs to white.

  ?In the lobby Phantom was beginning to feel more comfortable and confident setting up her avatar. She selected a human avatar that mirrored her Earth appearance, keeping her movements familiar and grounded. For her ability, she remembered Xander’s advice about the flexibility of elemental forces. She scrolled through the list and selected Ice Manipulation.

  ?"Legend Phantom, loadout ready. Start situation?" Cosmo’s mechanical voice intoned.

  ?"Confirm," Phantom said.

  ?The white dissolved into a world of damp earth and ancient, towering trees. The air was thick and smelled of rot and pine. Phantom materialized on a dirt path leading toward a fortress-city in the distance.

  ?A man in ornate, courtly robes was waiting for her, flanked by two nervous-looking guards. He introduced himself as Elias, a Court Mage. He spoke with a clipped, urgent tone about a "monstrous plague" deep in the woods—a colony of giant spiders that had begun targeting the kingdom’s magical elite.

  ?"Contain the threat," Elias said, his eyes darting toward the treeline. "The King demands their numbers be thinned before they breach the walls. If we keep their numbers thin they don't seem to attack the castle. Help us keep their numbers low, while we try to figure out the source."

  ?Phantom set out alone. Without Xander there to provide a distraction or a secondary plan, the silence of the woods felt heavier. She tracked the trail by the webbing; it started as thin, glistening threads, but soon the trees were being swallowed by thick, gray silk.

  ?When the first group of giant spiders lunged from the shadows, Phantom didn't flinch. She felt the cold pull in her chest and threw her hand outward. A wave of frost pushed through the spiders, freezing the beasts mid-leap. She noticed something strange: the spiders weren't hunting for food. They seemed to be guarding a specific path.

  ?As she pushed deeper, the canopy grew so dense it blocked out the sun. Then, she saw it.

  ?High above, a massive shadow shifted. It was larger than any spider she had killed, but the silhouette was horrifying. A pale upper body, complete with arms and a head, grew atop a bloated spider’s frame. The creature turned, and for a fleeting second, Phantom saw a woman’s face looking down at her with eyes full of a cold, calculated hatred.

  ?A primal jolt of fear hit Phantom. She wasn't mentally prepared for a sight like that. She turned and ran, her boots thudding against the damp earth until she reached the safety of the kingdom’s stone gates.

  ?By the time she reached the city, Phantom had recomposed herself as she shook off her disgust. Elias was waiting near the barracks, his hands hidden in his long, velvet sleeves.

  ?"You're back," Elias said, walking toward her. "Is the task finished?"

  ?"I thinned the colony," Phantom reported, her eyes searching his face. "But there’s something else in there. A creature… it had the body of a woman, Elias. A woman growing out of a spider."

  ?Elias’s face went pale, his expression twisting into a mask of forced disbelief. He cast a quick, anxious glance around the courtyard to see if any guards were listening. "Nonsense," he hissed. "You’re exhausted, Hero. You probably saw a spider eating its last victim. The forest air is thick with spores; it causes hallucinations. You need rest."

  ?He didn't wait for her to argue. He guided her toward a nearby inn, the Golden Loom, and slapped a gold coin on the counter for the innkeeper. "She’s exhausted. See that she isn't disturbed. No visitors."

  ?Phantom lay in her bed, staring at the dark ceiling, but she remained perfectly still, her mind trying to figure out what she saw. Hours passed until the inn fell quiet, except for the muffled voices of the owner and a maid cleaning the lobby below.

  ?"Did you hear?" the maid’s voice whispered, the sound carrying up through the floorboards. "The 'hero' saw her. The drider."

  ?"Hush!" the innkeeper snapped. "You want the mages to hear you? If you speak ill of the court, they’ll have your tongue for slander. Remember what happened to the last man who asked too many questions."

  ?"But it’s been weeks since Mina disappeared," the maid continued, her voice trembling. "The Royals say the spiders took her, but why is it only the Court Mages get attacked unless provoked? They don't touch the common folk. It's like the spiders are being told who to kill."

  ?"I told you to be quiet!" the innkeeper hissed. "I bet it’s Elias. He’s always been the one messing with the creepy magic—spiders and curses. If he finds out we’re talking, we’re as good as dead." The maid whispered her last thoughts before the innkeeper gave her a death glare.

  ?Phantom sat up in the dark, her eyes narrowing. Could Elias be the cause of the spider attacks? If he or someone else was giving them orders, it would explain the actions of the spiders.

  ?The next morning, Phantom went over Elias’s head. She requested a private audience with the King, reporting her suspicions of a traitor within the court. The King, already wary of the mages' secrecy, agreed to set a royal spy on Elias.

  ?Days passed. Phantom returned to the woods daily, methodically killing the lesser spiders to keep up appearances, but Mina never showed herself again. The city remained quiet, and Phantom began to wonder if Elias had halted his operation.

  ?She was returning to the city to report her progress when the bells began to scream.

  ?Spiders—hundreds of them—were pouring from the treeline. They ignored the livestock and the peasants in the fields. They scrambled up the vertical stone walls of the kingdom like a black wave, headed straight for the castle. Only a few stayed behind to intercept Phantom. She dispatched them quickly, her hands glowing with frost as she shattered their carapaces.

  ?"Elias!" she shouted, sprinting toward the castle gates.

  ?She found him just outside the main courtyard. He wasn't hiding; he was backed against a stone pillar, his robes torn, desperately casting flickering shields as three giant spiders lunged at him with a frenzy she hadn't seen before.

  ?Phantom slowed, her eyes narrowed. Is he faking? Is this a show for the King’s spy?

  ?She watched, hesitant, until a spider’s serrated leg found a gap in Elias’s defense. It drove deep into his side, and the mage let out a raw, agonized scream, collapsing to the cobbles as blood stained his fine robes.

  ?The sight broke her hesitation. Whatever the truth was, she couldn't watch a man be slaughtered in front of her.

  ?"Get back!" Phantom yelled, her hands erupting in a frost-chilled mist as she rushed into the fray to save the man she suspected of being a murderer. She sent ice spike after ice spike making the spiders look like pin cushions, before dropping dead. Phantom places her hand on Elias’s side and temporary freezes the wound to stop the bleeding. Phantom looks Elias in the eyes as she grits her teeth. She thought she had it figured out. Is Elias the bad guy or is he really not behind the spider attacks?