The first strike with the active hacks hit Kai in the chest.

He didn’t dodge it.

He blocked it with his crossed forearm.

The blue energy on the administrator’s arm transmitted through Kai’s forearm to his nervous system.

His left arm stopped responding for two seconds.

Kai shook it out. It responded.

’Two seconds. The transmission lasts two seconds before the body processes and discards it.’

’If it reaches the torso, the neck, the head — it lasts longer.’

’It can’t reach there.’

The second strike was a kick to the right side — the administrator using the documented Aethon combat system, movements Kai recognized from watching A-rank hunters in Valdris.

He dodged it inward.

The third strike was the left arm in a downward arc.

Kai used the dodge momentum from the second to already be on the administrator’s flank when the third arrived.

The arc passed through where Kai had been.

Elbow to the side — the point of the previous distortion that was now erased but where the administrator’s internal structure had proven different from the rest.

The blue energy from the administrator’s arm didn’t reach him because Kai had struck from the flank, where the angle of the arm couldn’t transmit the energy without the administrator turning first.

The administrator turned.

Kai was no longer there.

---

[DraconicLegacy: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ TWO SECONDS OF TRANSMISSION. KAI TIMED IT ON THE FIRST HIT ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Dr_Snow: Kai established the rule in silence and is already applying it]

[Drakeking: struck from the flank to avoid the energy transmission angle. on the third exchange.]

[Jack_Moore: the admin uses documented Aethon combat. Kai recognized the A-rank hunter kick. he already knows the catalog.]

[Brandon_Haddan: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[RagingMutant: ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛ REAL-TIME ADAPTATION ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛]

[Jesse_Williams: Kai identified the blue energy mechanic, the rule to avoid it, and the admin’s weak point in three exchanges.]

---

[System — update]

[Active combat against superior-level entity — survival points accumulating]

[External Qi — Level 1 consolidated → progression detected]

[New application registered: Flank Evasion — use of opponent’s blind angle to nullify range advantage]

[The system notes Kai developed this in direct response to the administrator’s transmitting energy]

[System updates projection of locked abilities]

[Locked abilities remaining: 21 → 20]

The administrator saw Kai’s system notification.

It stopped.

"Did you just unlock an ability?"

"Looks like it."

"In the middle of combat."

"Yes."

"By adaptation."

"Yeah... Didn’t you hear me or what?"

The administrator looked at its own panel.

[User Kai Reno log — automatic update]

[Active abilities: 6]

[Abilities unlocked during active combat: 3]

[Progression through survival points: continuous]

[Qi level: increasing — rate of increase: unclassifiable]

[The administrative system cannot project the ceiling of this user’s capabilities]

"Your system," the administrator said, "updates your capabilities automatically while you fight me."

"Yes."

"I still can’t project how far it goes. It’s impossible."

"Well, you’re seeing it now."

The administrator closed the panel.

"That’s a problem."

"For you."

---

[DraconicLegacy: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ "THAT’S A PROBLEM" "FOR YOU" ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Dr_Snow: the administrative system cannot project Kai’s ceiling. the admin read it on its own panel.]

[Drakeking: every tough fight unlocks abilities. the admin is the hardest opponent so far. the progression is going to be huge.]

[Jack_Moore: locked abilities dropped from 23 to 20. three unlocked. in this fight alone.] 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

[Brandon_Haddan: "me neither" — Kai admitting he doesn’t know his own ceiling with the same calm as always]

[RagingMutant: ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛ THE SYSTEM CANNOT PROJECT THE CEILING ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛]

[Jesse_Williams: the admin has active hacks and still the problem is it can’t project how far Kai goes. correct.]

---

The administrator changed its approach.

It left hand-to-hand and opened distance — three meters, enough to use its energy-covered arms as projectile sources again, but this time not currents or columns.

Traps.

The blue energy came out in specific patterns — not toward Kai, toward the floor, the walls, the chamber ceiling. It adhered to each surface like glowing paint, forming a network of points that Kai recognized the second the first one activated when his foot brushed it.

The floor point emitted an extreme discharge.

Kai dodged it to the right.

Another point on the right wall.

Dodged downward.

Point on the floor beneath him.

Rolled.

Point where his knee landed.

He got up before it fully activated — the margin was tenths of a second, enough for the discharge to graze his left foot instead of his knee.

His left foot went numb.

Kai kept moving with his right foot bearing more weight while the left recovered.

"The labyrinth traps," he said, without stopping moving between the points. "But in real time."

"With the advantage that I can place them wherever I want while fighting."

"And the disadvantage that you have to place them while fighting."

The administrator didn’t respond.

Kai used that second of non-response.

He lunged straight — over the floor points, not between them, using the shortest distance between his position and the administrator which was also the one with the most traps in the way.

Qi concentrated in his feet — the same principle he’d used to run up the guild wall — held him a second in the air above each point before landing on the next clean space.

Four steps over traps without activating them.

He reached the administrator.

Palm strike to the chest — not Resonant Impact, a direct one, with Qi concentrated on the external contact point.

The administrator stepped back one meter.

The :D didn’t change but the blue points of light where the eyes should be glowed brighter for a second.

---

[DraconicLegacy: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ RAN OVER THE TRAPS ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Dr_Snow: the same Qi in the feet he used at the guild. applied to the administrator’s traps.]

[Drakeking: "the advantage is X / the disadvantage is Y" — Kai analyzing out loud while dodging. zero pressure.]

[Jack_Moore: the admin’s eyes glowed brighter. first involuntary reaction from the admin the whole fight.]

[Brandon_Haddan: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[RagingMutant: ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛ THE EYES GLOWED ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛]

[Jesse_Williams: the admin had an involuntary reaction. it’s the first. Kai is affecting it in ways the hacks don’t cover.]

---

[System — update]

[Survival points: threshold reached]

[New ability unlocked: Qi Step — concentration of Qi in the soles for temporary surface adhesion]

[System updating records]

[Locked abilities remaining: 20 → 19]

The administrator saw the update.

"Another one."

"Yes."

"Unlocked by using a technique you were already using instinctively..."

"How is that possible?"

"What can I say... It’s like I’m the protagonist of a web novel."

"Or a playable character in a medieval video game... That would be fun."

The administrator looked at the chamber ceiling — where it had also placed traps, which Kai hadn’t activated because he hadn’t been on the ceiling, but which were still there.

"How many do you think you’ll unlock in this fight?"

Kai considered it.

"Depends on how long it lasts."

"And if it lasts a long time?"

"Then a lot."

The administrator lowered its arms a degree.

Not much. Enough for someone who’d been watching its posture for several minutes to notice.

"You’re improving while fighting me."

"Yes."

"Which means the longer this fight continues, the harder it becomes for me."

"That’s how it seems."

"And less for you."

"Well, yeah."

---

[DraconicLegacy: THE ADMIN REACHED THE LOGICAL CONCLUSION]

[Dr_Snow: "the longer it lasts, the harder for me / less for you" — the admin understood the problem.]

[Drakeking: Kai said all that with three one- or two-word answers. maximum efficiency.]

[Jack_Moore: the admin’s arms lowered a degree. Serah and Lira saw it.]

[Brandon_Haddan: the admin is calculating if it can win before Kai unlocks enough abilities]

[RagingMutant: ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛ TIME PLAYS AGAINST THE ADMIN ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛]

[Jesse_Williams: 19 locked abilities. if each one requires the kind of situation this fight is creating... the admin is right to worry.]

---

With Serah and Lira.

As they both watch the combat, seeing Kai adapt easily to the administrator, Lira couldn’t help analyzing it.

"Can you notice that, Serah?"

"He’s adapting too fast."

She observed Kai with curiosity and happiness. "He used what you taught him before coming in and still deciphered it in seconds without realizing."

Lira saw it and unknowingly smiled.

"More importantly... With my magic at a hundred percent, I would have had no problem facing that thing."

"But with what he’s doing now and the pressure it’s exerting at this moment, it would be very difficult, maybe impossible, and he’s acting like it’s nothing."

"What kind of creature is he?"

Serah looked at Kai with a warm smile.

"He’s Kai Reno... My alpha... and my beloved."

---

The administrator attacked again — combination of energy and physical, the same structure as before but faster, with the floor trap points redirecting to cover the dodge angles Kai had used in the last exchanges.

Kai read them.

Not all — four of eight he read well. The other four landed.

Right shoulder. Left side. Right knee that was already protesting. Right forearm.

He kept standing.

The administrator stopped.

"You’re still standing."

"Lira, can you tell him?" Kai said without looking at her.

"I already told him," Lira replied from the edge.

The administrator looked at her.

Looked back at Kai.

And the blue points of light where the eyes should be moved toward Serah.

Then toward Lira.

Then back to Kai.

"Fine," the administrator said.

The tone was different from any it had had during the whole fight — not the practiced kind one, not the curious analysis one, not the one of someone who’s found an interesting problem.

The one of someone who has decided to use the most direct solution available.

The traps on the floor, the walls, and the ceiling stopped targeting Kai.

They reoriented.

Toward Serah.

Toward Lira.

---

Serah’s markings reached maximum intensity.

Lira looked at the trap points now oriented toward her and briefly considered the zero percent magic available.

Kai looked at the administrator.

"That," Kai said, with a completely flat voice, "is a bad decision."

"Why?"

"Because if you use them as bait, it stops being a fight between you and me."

"Correct."

"And it stops having the rules it’s had until now."

The administrator tilted its head — the goat horns changing angle, the pointed ears forward.

"What rules?"

Kai looked at it.

"The ones I set without saying them..."

"No killing."

---

[DraconicLegacy: (ಠ_ಠ) "THE ONES I SET WITHOUT SAYING THEM" (ಠ_ಠ)]

[Dr_Snow: Kai was holding something back the whole fight. and the admin just took away his reason to hold back.]

[Drakeking: it used the girls as bait. that changed the rules Kai had imposed on himself.]

[Jack_Moore: Serah’s markings at maximum intensity. Lira calculating her zero percent. Kai completely still.]

[Brandon_Haddan: (°ロ°) (°ロ°) (°ロ°) WHAT RULES]

[RagingMutant: (╬ Ò﹏Ó) (╬ Ò﹏Ó) THE ADMIN MADE A MISTAKE (╬ Ò﹏Ó) (╬ Ò﹏Ó)]

[Jesse_Williams: "the ones I set without saying them" — Kai has been holding back something the whole fight. the admin doesn’t know it. we don’t either.]

[System — notification]

[Survival points: accelerated accumulation detected]

[Cause: first combat against administrative-level entity]

[The system notes that Kai has locked abilities requiring specific conditions to unlock]