The cavern was still. Whatever hands were left had gone back to being creepy static rock formations. No echoing laughter. Just me, knee-deep in cold water, catching my breath. I rolled my shoulders, flexing New Arm with a satisfied nod.

  "Not bad," I muttered. "Really getting the hang of this."

  I beat the Shadow Beast, but, of course, no level-up screen greeted me. It was weird to consider it, but Levels didn’t come from battle experience like a game. Levels came from the Checklist.

  I made New Arm disappear. It was nice to have my left arm back in some capacity, but I needed to get used to being down an arm, just in case there came a time where I couldn’t use New Arm. Walking around armless could probably give me an advantage too. New Arm appeared with just a thought, so it was an effective surprise weapon to pull out on some arrogant bastard.

  I gave myself a metaphorical pat on the back. It wasn’t a clean victory, but I did something villagers could never dream of–I traded blows with a Shadow Beast. Who would have thought? Some of these things were within reach of us, after all.

  Just having Levels improved survivability, and now with the weapon? We could actually hurt them, beyond just hitting them in the eyes…

  There were somethings I could use improvement on. It took me a little too long to snap into gear this time, for example. I was lucky that these enemies seemed to be balanced to this low-level status.

  If I thought about it, though… If the HP hadn’t nulled some injuries… I would be dazed for longer than I was… And I would still be bleeding out. The pain would also be distracting. Activating the Levels also impacted how much damage I ultimately received at times.

  The Flicker approach’s weakness was unexpected attacks. If I wasn’t careful, I could one day take some nasty damage.

  There were a lot of things to think about, but I couldn’t let my time in the terminal make me believe that I suddenly had the luxury to stand around, lost in thought.

  My gaze drifted over the battlefield. Some stone hands lay in shattered chunks, half-buried in the water. There were still ripples propagating across the cavern, as if the water hadn’t gotten used to disturbance yet.

  As I shifted my weight, something caught my eye. I walked toward the far corner of the chamber, initially in disbelief. But as I got closer, it my disbelief was dispelled–my eyes were definitely working.

  Here in this far corner, cloaked by shadows, was a skeleton, slumped against the wet wall.

  Not like the ones from my Trump Card. This one was old—bone-white, brittle… human… and draped in the tattered remains of what might’ve been a cloak. Its arms were wrapped tight around something, like it had died refusing to let go.

  If it was a weapon, it sure was an artistic one.

  I could see the components of a rifle, slightly. The design was jagged, sharp, like a bolt of lightning had been frozen in midair and had been gutted and had the rifle components jammed into it.

  I didn’t pay too much attention to the actual designs of some of the bases I saw, but there were definitely some that looked inspired by the elements–swords that looked like frozen flames or a drop of water, for example. I was pretty sure there was a lightning-bolt-shaped gun somewhere, too.

  It had definitely seen better days, though. It was all scuffed and dusty, with some bits of moss on it.

  I prayed the way we would in the village and settled my gaze on the weapon.

  I reached out, prying the weapon free from the skeleton’s grasp. The bones barely resisted, crumbling slightly at the force, and I felt a strange pang of guilt—like I was disturbing something that had been at peace for a long time, as odd as that thought was in this place.

  Up close, the rifle had an undeniable presence. The jagged shape of it, the harsh edges, the sheer outlandishness of its design. It was more lightning bolt than rifle. Really, it was just the handle, the trigger, and the inch of barrel sticking out at the tip that was rifle-like.

  I turned it over in my hands, frowning. "Not a Signature Weapon, right?" I muttered. “According to my knowledge now, Signature Weapons can’t last long in another’s hands, to say nothing of it surviving this long.”

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  This thing felt like something more at home on Earth than at the village. There was no way anyone could put together something like this when we’re still in the age of bows and crap swords made of crappier metal. Maybe whoever put together the Terminal put this thing together–

  A single, resounding ding echoed in my mind.

  ***

  ? Gain a God Arm.

  +1 Level.

  ***

  My grip tightened on the weapon as I processed that.

  “Wait. What? When did I get that!?”

  I barely had time to make sense of it before the Checklist popped open and showed me my collection of tasks.

  ***

  ? Escape a Shadow Beast’s grasp.

  ? Drink fresh water.

  ? Eat a Strobe Berry.

  ? Discover the Laughing Passage.

  ? Kill a Shadow Beast.

  ? Discover a Trial Terminal.

  ? Activate a Trial Terminal.

  ? Visit a foreign settlement.

  ? Activate a Nascent Terminal.

  ? Extinguish a Torch of Preserving Shadows.

  ? Gain a God Arm.

  ? Kill 10 Shadow Beasts (2/10).

  ? Discover 10 Hidden Treasures (1/10).

  ? Punch 10 types of Shadow Beasts (1/10).

  ? Use a Core Key

  ? Catch sight of a fairy.

  ? Cook a Cool Water Leech.

  ***.

  “I got new Checklist items. When did that happen?”

  Maybe it was tied to the milestone. That would be my best guess. This was welcome. It meant more chances to increase my Level, and a few of these new tasks actually seemed really doable.

  I spun the weapon in my hands. “God Arm, huh? Is that just the name for the type of weapon you are?”

  I let out a slow breath, looking back at the skeleton.

  “You died with something called a God Arm in your hands?” I grimaced. “That must have been rough… Where did you come from? We’re pretty far from the village. Did you get hauled off by a Mauler too?”

  I looked around. The chamber felt untouched, like no one had set foot in here in a long time. Actually—now that I thought about it—there weren’t even any little creatures skittering around, unlike the other chamber. No bugs, no scuttling things. Just… nothing but the Shadow Beast.

  For how long had this corpse been here?

  Keeping those thoughts in mind, I positioned myself in front of one of the banana rocks and took aim with the God Arm, equipping New Arm so that I could hold the thing properly.

  “Kind of hard to aim without some sort of crosshairs…”

  I lined up my shot as best I could. No crosshairs, no iron sights—just me, and what I thought were good eyes. I adjusted my grip, positioned the flat of the bolt against my shoulder, and pulled the trigger.

  A deep, thrumming hum built up in the God Arm’s bolt. It was like the weapon was waking up—like something inside it was whirring after a long, long nap.

  Then, with a sharp crack, a jagged arc of lightning erupted from the barrel.

  I flinched as the blinding streak of energy shot forward, bridging the gap between me and the banana-shaped rock in an instant. The whole cavern flashed white-yellow for a heartbeat.

  The air hissed where the bolt had passed, like water particles the bolt passed by were evaporating. My eyes settled on the target.

  “Oh.”

  The banana rock sat there, completely unscathed. I went closer to inspect it. I could feel the heat and make out some scorch marks. No chunks blasted off, though. I was left to conclude that it was Elemental Damage. The “Lightning” element was a thing in this world, so that made sense.

  I slowly turned the God Arm over in my grip. "Yeah. Yeah, I’m keeping you."

  And just as I said it, the weapon vanished from my hands.

  Gone. No smoke, no flash, no sound. One second I was holding it, the next, I was clutching at empty air.

  For a second, I thought I’d just imagined it. Maybe the skeleton had given me some weird fever dream disease. Maybe I’d stood in the water for too long and started hallucinating odd guns.

  But no—I knew it was still there. Information had been beamed into my head. There was a system to the God Arms.

  I focused, reaching for the God Arm I could see in my mind.

  With a snap, the God Arm reappeared in my grip.

  I huffed out a breath. "Okay. That’s cool."

  I made a fist and let the weapon vanish again, then summoned it back. Gone. Back. Gone. Back.

  A grin tugged at the corner of my lips. "This is way better than a crappy sword made of crappy metal."

  Just then, a new screen flickered into view.

  ***

  God Arm

  Level 3

  Shots per Day: 11/12

  ***

  "Heh. Pretty barebones screen, but alright." I gave the rifle a light spin in my hand. "Even more options to use against the Shadow Beasts..."

  I looked forward. There was no telling what was waiting for me further down this path. I opened up my Checklist and nodded.

  “Let’s go get an easy Level first.”