Returning to her human body after years as Thraka felt like shedding a suit of lead armor. Dawn gasped as she sat up in her bed, her limbs feeling strangely long and fragile. The oppressive weight of her massive orcish shoulders lingered for a moment before fading into the familiar surroundings of her apartment.

  ?She reached for her phone, her heart racing. She needed to see the results.

  ?The Cosmo app opened with a soft chime. She landed on the home page first:

  ?Incarnate Profile

  Legend Name: Phantom

  Rank: F

  Successful Clears: 9

  Status: Active

  ?She navigated to her Stash. Seeing the three items listed brought a small, satisfied smile to her face. She was no longer the girl with no resources.

  ?

  ?Phantom Arc Bow Glove Rank A – The signature of a silent hunter.

  ?Magician's Quiver Rank A – Endless utility, boundless potential.

  ?Starfall Great Hammer Rank C – Forged from the peice of a fallen star.

  ?The hammer was a heavy reminder of Matthew and the time hunting boars. Finally, she swiped to the Stats page. The green numbers next to several stats flickered, indicating the conversion of the beast trophies she’d claimed before leaving the orc realm.

  ?Attributes:

  ?Strength: 92 +4

  ?Agility: 89 +2

  ?Endurance: 91 +5

  ?Resistance: 85 +3

  ?Arcane: 82 +1

  ?Perception: 88 +2

  ?Dawn stared at the numbers. High eighties and low nineties. She felt she had grown a lot stronger in a short time. In terms of raw power, she was basically seventeen times stronger than when she started.

  ?She leaned back against her headboard, mentally running through Xander’s checklist. Hand-to-Hand? Done. Various Weapon Training? Done. Her list of weapons she could use in combat was growing. Her years as an orc taught her many new types. She felt confident with a blade, a mace, and several polearms now. But she knew she wasn't a master yet. Her archery still felt basic compared to her physical strength, and her daggers—the weapons she hasn't had a chance to use yet—needed a foundation. And, of course, the big one, the one she looked most forward to. She still hadn't found a Great Mage to help her truly understand better control behind her abilities and what they really could be capable of.

  ?A rumble in her stomach interrupted her thoughts. "Human food," she whispered. "Real, non-orcish food."

  ?She stood up and walked into the living room. The apartment was still, bathed in the quiet mid-morning light. Xander’s door remained shut. It had been days—or at least, it felt that way to her. She wondered what kind of high-rank hell he was currently traversing. She briefly considered knocking, but curiosity was quickly replaced by respect for his privacy.

  ?She made herself a simple meal—eggs, toast, and coffee. To anyone else, it was a mundane breakfast; to Dawn, who had spent a decade eating charred beast meat and raw potatoes, it was a five-star feast.

  ?Once satisfied, she headed back to her room. She wasn't finished. She wanted to test the system.

  ?She opened the Intervention tab. As she scrolled, the lack of detail was as frustrating as ever. Most entries only showed a vague environment tag. She found an Island Biome and paused. Are you going to let me go this time, or are you going to force me into the mountains again? she thought.

  ?She tapped the entry.

  ?F-Rank Intervention

  Environment: Coastal Island

  Start situation?

  Yes? No?

  ?She clicked Yes.

  ?The white void of the Lobby enveloped her. This time, the menu didn't change and she was off to an island situation like she wanted. The species list offered Humans, Elves, and Dwarves.

  ?A dwarf, she decided. She had just spent years crafting; the shorter, sturdy build of a dwarf felt like a natural transition, plus dwarves are known for crafting.

  ?Then came the ability section. She scrolled past fire, ice, and wind until her eyes snagged on Electric Manipulation. Her mind flashed back to her duel with Isaac—how effortlessly he had dismantled her with lightning.

  ?"Let's see how it feels from the other side," she murmured, selecting the power.

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  ?The white light intensified until it was blinding. Dawn squinted, her eyes watering as the smell of salt spray and the sound of crashing waves filled her senses.

  ?As the light faded, she found herself standing on a pristine white-sand beach lined with towering palm trees. She looked down. Her legs were short and thick, her hands calloused and broad.

  ?"Hello, hero," a voice called out. "May I ask which great hero it is I summoned?"

  ?Dawn looked up. A short, blonde man stood a few paces away, looking at her with wide, hopeful eyes.

  ?"I go by Legend Phantom," she said, her voice sounding deeper in this new form. She didn't waste time. "Please, give me the recall crystal before we speak of your need for help."

  ?The man blinked, taken aback by the blunt request. "Oh! Of course. Forgive me." He reached into his tunic and handed over a small, unlit crystal.

  ?Dawn tucked the crystal into her stash and nodded. "Now, make your request."

  ?"Our island has been at peace for generations," the summoner began, his expression darkening. "But within the last year, bird-lady creatures called Harpies, have made our lives a living hell. They’ve settled on a neighboring island of high, jagged mountains. They raid us every few days, stealing livestock and tormenting our people. We need them gone so we can live in peace again."

  ?Dawn scratched her head, feeling the coarse hair of her dwarven avatar. "Do you have a way for me to get to this island?"

  ?The man tilted his head. "Well... kind of. We have boats, but the cliffs of their island start far too high for us to climb onto land from the water. It’s a natural fortress." He paused, looking at her dwarven stature. "Phantom... do you have a ranged attack?"

  ?"I have a few," Dawn replied, thinking of the Phantom Arc and the lightning now humming beneath her skin. "Prepare a boat. I’m ready."

  ?"We will need to wait a day or two," the man said nervously. "The Harpies are due for a raid soon. I cannot leave the settlement unprotected until they've come and gone. Please, rest in our village until the time is right."

  ?Dawn looked toward the distant, misty silhouette of the mountain island on the horizon. "Fine. I’ll be ready when they arrive."

  ?As the sun began to dip toward the horizon, painting the sky in bruised purples and deep oranges, the air grew heavy. This was the "edge-light"—the time when the world was dim enough for predators to hide, but bright enough for prey to feel a false sense of security.

  ?Phantom didn't wait in the village. She sat in the tall grass of the grazing fields, her short dwarven frame completely concealed. Around her, the cattle bellowed nervously, sensing the shift in the wind. She waited, her heart beating in a slow, rhythmic thud.

  ?Then came the shrieks.

  ?From the direction of the mountain island, dozens of silhouettes appeared against the twilight sky. They moved with a jagged, frantic speed—part woman, part vulture, their feathered wings beating the air into a frenzy. The Harpies.

  ?Phantom didn't stand. She simply reached into her stash and equipped the Phantom Arc. As the glove shimmered into existence over her hand, she felt the new spark of electricity humming in her veins. She drew the mana-string, a jagged bolt of blue-white lightning flickered into life.

  ?The Harpies plummeted toward the herd, talons outstretched.

  ?The electricity zipped through the air then a loud thunderous boom was heard.

  ?The first bolt took a Harpy directly in the solar plexus. The electricity didn't just pierce; it expanded, charring the feathers and stopping the creature’s heart instantly. It fell like a stone, hitting the dirt with a dull thud.

  ?Phantom was a blur of efficiency. She didn't have the strength of the orc, but she had the range she needed. She charged up shot after shot. Three more fell in quick succession, their bodies smoking as they hit the grass.

  ?The lead Harpy, a hideous creature with a lighter tint of jagged feathers, banked hard. She stared down at the grass, her multifaceted eyes catching the glow of the dwarf’s bow.

  ?"Kin of Zeus!" the Harpy shrieked, her voice a terrifying mix of a woman’s scream and a hawk’s cry.

  ?The name caught Phantom off guard, but she didn't stop. The remaining Harpies turned instantly, filled with terror and desperately trying to claw their way back into the sky. Phantom managed to clip two more, sending them spiraling into the field, but the majority vanished into the growing darkness.

  ?Silence returned to the fields, broken only by the smell of ozone and burnt feathers.

  ?Phantom stood, her bow flickering out. She walked to each fallen creature, methodically taking a trophy—a jagged talon or a primary wing feather—and placing them into her stash. By the time she reached the summoner, the man was trembling, looking at the charred corpses with a mix of awe and terror.

  ?"The raid is over," Phantom said. "We need to leave at first light. Right after a raid should be the best time to go."

  ?The next morning, the tropical sun turned the ocean into a sheet of sparkling sapphire. Phantom stood at the prow of a small sailboat, her eyes fixed on the horizon. The crew—four sturdy men from the settlement—worked the sails in silence, stealing nervous glances at the dwarf who had zapped the "daughters of the wind" out of the sky.

  ?For a little over a hour, the trip was beautiful. Vibrant, neon-colored fish darted through the crystal-clear salt water, and a warm, gentle breeze carried the scent of hibiscus and salt. But as the silhouette of the Harpy island grew larger, the beauty began to rot. The fish disappeared. The breeze turned cold and jagged, whistling through the high peaks of the mountain island.

  ?Eventually, the boat drifted into the shadow of a massive, vertical cliffside. There was no beach here, only gray stone that rose hundreds of feet into the air.

  ?"This is as close as we can get," the lead boatman whispered, fighting the choppy current. He looked up at the heights and then back at Phantom. "Hero... do you have a plan to get up there? There are no paths."

  ?Phantom looked at him, a small, knowing smile tugging at her lips. "Before I go, I have a question. What are Harpies known for? Are they strong? Durable maybe?"

  ?The boatman looked at his crew, confused. "I... I suppose they are known for their speed, mostly. And their ability to command the wind to attack their enemies. Why?"

  ?Phantom’s smile widened. Speed and wind. That meant a major boost to her Agility and Arcane stats if she collected their parts.

  ?"Now," she said, looking back at the cliff. "I have a decent climb ahead of me, don't I?"

  ?The crew let out a collective, nervous chuckle. "Hero, with all respect... you are a dwarf. That cliff is a couple hundred feet of sheer granite. You can't possibly—"

  ?Phantom didn't answer. She walked to the center of the boat and bent her knees. She felt the ninety-plus points of Strength and Endurance coiled in her dwarven legs like compressed springs.

  ?"Hold on to something," she warned.

  ?Then she jumped.

  ?The boat didn't just rock; it jerked a few feet away from the cliffside. The force of her liftoff sent a shockwave through the timber, nearly capsizing the vessel and throwing the entire crew flat onto the deck.

  ?Phantom soared twenty feet into the air, her fingers digging into a narrow crevice in the stone with bone-crushing strength. She didn't pause. She began to scale the wall with terrifying speed, her hands and feet moving in a rhythmic blur, punching holds into the rock where none existed.

  ?The crew scrambled to their feet, staring upward in stunned silence. High above, the small, sturdy figure of the dwarf was already a hundred feet up, moving like a spider toward the nests of the wind-walkers.