Chapter 7: The Geometry of Pain

Lucian lay back against the infirmary bed, staring at the cracked ceiling as a slow, dangerous smirk crept onto his lips.

Rule 45… huh?

The words surfaced unbidden, etched into his memory like a scar.

Lucian exhaled slowly.

Three days.

His fingers curled into the sheets. “How the hell am I supposed to beat Raellis…” he muttered. “He’s Rank 7. I’m not even close to Rank 2.”

The answer came without mercy.

The crimson screen bled into existence above his chest.

≡ DAILY QUEST ≡

– 100 Push-ups
– 100 Pull-ups
– 10 km Run 
– 100 Squats
– 100 Sit-ups

Failure will result in ???

Reward: ???

Accept the Daily Quest? Y / N

TIME LEFT: 5… 4…

Lucian stared at it, unimpressed.

“Tch.” He turned his head away. “I’m going to sleep.”

The timer reached zero.

The world collapsed.

The infirmary vanished.

Lucian stood suspended in an endless crimson expanse. No sky. No ground. Only a vast, rippling sea of blood stretching into infinity beneath his feet.

His breath caught. “What the—”

The blood moved.

Grotesque black-red tendrils erupted upward, piercing into him from every direction.

“GHH—!”

Pain detonated through his body as they impaled his limbs, his torso, his throat. The sensation was absolute—white-hot, all-consuming.

Then—

His wounds healed.

And the tendrils struck again.

He screamed. Begged. Thrashed.

It didn’t matter.

A timer hovered before his eyes.

28:59… 28:58…

The pain never faded. It reset.

Over and over.

Then—

Silence.

Lucian jolted upright in his infirmary bed, drenched in cold sweat, lungs dragging in air like he’d been drowning.

His hands shook.

The crimson screen returned, steady and unforgiving.

≡ DAILY QUEST ≡

– 100 Push-ups
– 100 Pull-ups
– 5 km Run
– 100 Squats
– 100 Sit-ups

Failure will result in your torture.

Reward: ???

Accept the Daily Quest? Y / N

TIME LEFT: 5… 4…

You have been given a chance.

"What the fu*k was that!! , " Lucian in horror and disbelief.

Lucian didn’t hesitate.

He slammed his palm into Y.

≡ DAILY QUEST ACCEPTED ≡

0 / 100 Push-ups
0 / 100 Pull-ups
0 / 5 km Run
0 / 100 Squats
0 / 100 Sit-ups

TIME REMAINING: 24:00:00

Training Grounds — Viremont Estate

Lucian dropped to the dirt and began doing push-ups.

His arms screamed in protest after the first one.

1 / 100

The number flashed into existence.

He froze… then let out a low, breathless laugh.

“So it’s real.”

He kept going.

Each movement was forced. Mechanical. Obedient. His body burned, sweat soaking into the ground beneath him as the counter climbed.

Whispers spread across the training grounds.

“Wasn’t he crippled yesterday?”

“How is he moving like that already?”

“That’s not normal…”

Lucian ignored them.

He didn’t look proud. He didn’t look determined.

He looked cornered.

Three days.

Rule 45.

Raellis.

Lucian pushed himself up again, teeth clenched, eyes dark.

I don’t need to win honorably, he thought.
I just need to dominate.

The crimson counter ticked upward.

With every push-up, the memory of Raellis’s face became less of a nightmare and more of a target.