The Piercing Eye

Raven held the catfish’s tail in one hand. “Eat up.” He offered it to Kkachi, whose eyes sparkled as they stared at his fingertips. He felt like a mother bird regurgitating food for her chick. ‘Now that I think about it, Kkachi really is tiny.’

Whether the year spent in Terraforming applied here or not, Kkachi ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠remained the size of his palm while the contractor had grown a mere 0.5 cm since they first met. It might have been selfish, but Raven hoped Kkachi would stay this small. They were at their cutest right now.

“Kkyu-kkyu?” (Father. Is it really all right for me to eat this?)

Kkachi, in the prime of their cuteness, let out a small cry, eyes glittering. The way they tilted their head suggested they couldn’t tell if Raven’s offer was a joke or serious. It was obviously a joke, so they should stop swallowing their drool already. Sion’s wrath was terrifying.

“Lord Raven, if you speak like that, the innocent Lord Kkachi will take it seriously.”

At the contractor’s suspiciously perceptive remark, Sion, who had been baiting a hook, flinched and whipped around.

“Nyang!? Kkachi! You absolutely mustn’t eat it, nyang! Do you even know how much that’s worth, nyang!”

Giant catfish were prized both as medicinal ingredients and cooking materials. If in good condition, the rare species fetched between three and four and a half million dallant. Raven briefly considered switching from adventurer to professional angler.

“Kkyuu.” (I see. That’s a shame.)

Kkachi let out a low cry, clearly disappointed they couldn’t eat the giant catfish. Yuri and Hans hurried to console them.

“Lord Kkachi, please don’t be too sad. I’ll work a little harder.”

“Kkachi! I can’t promise anything, but if I catch my first fish, I’ll offer it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to you!”

—Leaving me behind to offer tribute to another demon’s familiar? Have you finally lost your mind, Hans?

“Kkyu!” (Thank you all for your generosity!)

Yeah, don’t be too disappointed, Kkachi. Big brother will share one with you once he catches something decent. Though he had no idea when that would be.

Raven, the baby Raven, was a complete novice at fishing. Still, with guidance from the fishing goddess Sion, he could only hope for decent results.

‘Hup.’

After storing Sion’s freshly caught giant catfish in Kkachi while it was still fresh, Raven took the fishing rod from the familiar’s tentacles and settled into the folding chair.

‘Pretty comfortable.’

It was the same chair left behind by the clinical trial subject of the horror vaccine who had once extorted two hundred thousand dallant from the contractor back in the slums. Surprisingly sturdy and comfortable. ‘Well, that guy was pretty big.’ A folding chair that had supported someone of that size was bound to be tough.

Kiiing.

Shaking off the pointless thought, Raven switched his black lenses back to scope mode and checked the float drifting near the center of the lake. The colorful stick showed no movement, meaning the fish weren’t biting. The rod in his hands gave no special feedback either. He wondered if the bait had already been stolen when he left it with Kkachi, but he didn’t reel it in. Reeling was a hassle, and more importantly, there was something he wanted to check first.

He had leveled up, hadn’t he? Time to see what had changed.

“Hans, how about we compete to see who catches a fish first? Of course, if you’re afraid of losing to me, you don’t have to.”

“…The loser has to speak casually to the winner.”

“…!?”

“What, can’t do it?”

—Ooh, you finally landed a hit, Hans!

“Hah. Fine, let’s do it.”

Smiling faintly at the sight of Hans and the contractor, now brimming with fighting spirit after Sion’s giant catch, Raven leaned back in the folding chair and quietly called up his status window.

“Status Open.”

‘A lot of new stuff appeared.’

The most striking change was his level, which had undergone explosive growth from 2T to 4T. They really did grow fast. He felt like he had graduated from baby Raven and skipped kindergarten straight to elementary-school Raven.

‘Still, the leveling is stingier than I expected.’

He had hunted two boss-level entities and over a hundred other creatures, yet only gained two levels. The leveling was so miserly it reminded him of that suspiciously cute mushroom-and-slime game.

‘Does that mean none of the events so far were particularly difficult trials for me?’

Sharp. He might have to start pretending things were a little harder from now on.

Shifting his gaze down from the upper sheet that showed no other changes, he checked the skill section.

‘Two new skills.’

Well, he had leveled twice at once, so this was normal, right? According to the appraiser grandpa, when you leveled up—meaning when you ranked up—existing skills and magic were strengthened and you gained at least one new skill or spell. Raven had obtained one active skill and one passive skill, for a total of two. Average results, nothing special.

‘Let’s check the active one first.’

Until now, his only active skills had been pulling the revolver from his chest and creating Kkachi and fear bullets. But not anymore! The one-tool Raven who only had Injector and Kkachi was dead. Now was the era of “Lord of Fear” Raven!

…Right?

The name sounded impressive. Hoping it was a ridiculously powerful skill that would free him from being a mere fear-bullet dispenser, he checked the description with trembling anticipation.

‘What the hell does that mean?’

There was no further explanation. But that was fine. He hadn’t expected much anyway. All his skills were like this. The lack of courtesy had become so familiar it was almost endearing. As always, Raven began to “deduce” the skill’s effect.

After glancing away from the cryptic sentence that felt more like the goddess’s commentary than an explanation, his eyes landed on the two commands written below.

‘Two skill commands, just like Fear Collector?’

Just like his main passive skill responsible for collecting fear bullets, this one also had two commands.

‘Declare and Intimidate, huh.’

Given that all his skills revolved around fear, he could roughly guess the effects. It was probably a skill that literally “intimidated” the opponent by instilling fear. It was a bit odd that a skill that felt like it should be passive was listed as active, but that seemed tied to the “Declare” command. Likely, you designated an area with “Declare” and then used “Intimidate” within it.

No need to see it to know. ‘Feels like a wide-area crowd control skill?’

He had been a little disappointed at not having any skills to suppress enemies. This wasn’t bad. Well, whether it was good or bad, he’d have to test it in actual combat.

‘Should I take a stroll through the frog cave tomorrow?’

Moderately satisfied with the active skill, he moved on to the passive one.

As expected, a meaningful description (?) paired with a simple, clear command. He didn’t even need to deduce this one; the feeling was already there.

He had no idea what it disrupted, but it was clearly the counterpart to the skill that was always diligently disrupting something. It was probably a skill that “pierced” weaknesses or hidden information.

‘Is it already active?’

The world he had possessed was a god-tier JRPG that even supported passive toggle functions. Therefore, whenever he obtained a passive skill, he had to check whether it was always active or toggleable first. He had become quite the veteran without realizing it.

“Pierce.”

‘…It’s off by default?’

A bead of cold sweat trickled from his black beak. No, it was just water from when he pulled up the giant catfish. Still, the tension was real. If the default state was inactive, that meant activating it would cause something very unpleasant for him.

The memory of first activating 【Indescribable Fear】, one of his main passive skills, resurfaced vividly. Back then, his body had completely melted. ‘I wonder what it’ll be this time.’

Since the skill had “eye” in the name, maybe his eyes would burn like they were on fire? Or perhaps they would transform into eyes capable of “piercing” things, accompanied by pain or disgusting sensations. Even someone as desensitized as him from rolling around in Terraforming didn’t want to feel pain. Just because he was used to herbal medicine didn’t mean he enjoyed the taste.

He wanted to use partial anesthesia out of fear of the pain before activating it, but the lovely Plague Doctor mask made that impossible.

‘…No choice, then.’

He had no choice but to take the gamble again.

“Accept.”

…

‘What changed?’

Some time had passed since activating the skill, but unlike 【Indescribable Fear】, there was no dramatic change to his body. His eyes didn’t hurt either.

‘It doesn’t seem particularly harmful to the human body. Why is the default off?’

“Kkyu-kkyu!”

While blankly staring at the lake with that question in mind, he noticed Kkachi hopping back and forth between him and the contractor. And then—

“Oh?”

He could see quite a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lot. Interesting.