Saint:My Daily Routine Became My Superpower

Kael dreamt of fire again.

Not the hungry kind that devoured homes. No, this was colder. Quieter. It curled in the corners of his mind like smoke from a smothered flame.

He stood alone in a burning field. Above him, the sky blinked. Not stars—eyes.

He woke before they opened.

---

The world outside was no longer adjusting to chaos. It was chaos now.

Kael packed his supplies with practiced calm: purified water, ration pills, cloth wraps, and his dagger. The once-glowing edge no longer burned his fingers, but the memory made him grip it tighter.

Today, he would test something new.

> [Notification: New Daily Task – Negotiate a Pact]

"Attempt to form a mutual pact with another survivor. Bonus if pact survives the day."

Reward: Communication Beacon (Single Use) + Trust Signal (+10% rapport with pact-bound for 24h)

> [Weekly Task Progress: 1/3 Elite Creatures Defeated]

Kael scowled at the task.

Pacts meant vulnerability. Exposure. Risk.

But also… opportunity.

---

He returned to the ruined city's northern edge by noon. That's where he'd seen them yesterday—a ragtag squad fighting off rabid dogs with desperation and sharpened rebar.

He observed. How they moved. How they shouted. Who took control.

One stood out: a girl with sunburned arms, a calm stance, and a short shock of dirty-blonde hair. She moved with muscle memory—trained, not just lucky.

Kael approached slowly.

They didn't lower their weapons. But they didn't raise them either.

"Name's Elle," she said. "You the one who took down the horned freak?"

Kael nodded.

"You looking for a team?"

"No."

"Then why are you here?"

He raised his interface.

> [Pact Initiation Option Available]

Her eyes widened. She glanced at her own interface, then gave a knowing nod.

"Tasked too?"

Kael simply said, "We don't have to like it. Just survive it."

They both accepted.

> [Temporary Pact Formed – Kael & Elle]

Duration: 24 Hours

Shared Awareness Radius Increased by 10 Meters

---

The ruins smelled of mold and old smoke. They said little, but moved like gears in a machine.

When a mutated ape burst from a side alley—eight feet tall, patchy fur hanging from rotting muscle—it roared and lunged.

Kael ducked right. Elle slid left.

The ape's claws scraped sparks from a rusted car as it missed Kael by inches.

Elle spun, planting her hook-spear low. It caught the creature's leg and yanked—it stumbled. Kael moved in, boots silent on cracked asphalt, and drove his dagger into its neck, twisting as it howled.

It thrashed, throwing Elle back. Blood sprayed Kael's face.

The ape reached for him—but a second jab from Elle pinned its arm against a crumbling wall.

Kael climbed its back like a shadow and rammed the blade through its eye.

It shuddered, fell.

> [Elite Mutant Defeated: Tier B-]

[Weekly Task Progress: 2/3]

They paused, breathing hard.

"I thought it'd be tougher," Elle muttered.

"It's only the second."

---

Later, deeper in the city, they heard it. A skittering. Metal on concrete. Then silence.

Then—

CRASH.

A centipede the size of a motorcycle burst from beneath the pavement. Its chitinous body gleamed with acidic green fluid, jaws twitching like sawblades.

Kael didn't wait.

He hurled a chunk of rebar to bait it left. It hissed and lunged—right into Elle's strike. Her spear glanced off its armored plates.

"I'll distract—go for the underbelly!" she yelled.

Kael dashed, weaving through rubble.

The centipede coiled, then sprang. He slid beneath it as its tail whipped over his head. In one fluid move, he buried his dagger between its plates—once, twice, three times.

It shrieked. Acid dripped from its maw.

Elle leapt from a broken wall, driving her spear downward into the soft hinge behind its skull.

With a wet crack, the creature collapsed, twitching.

> [Mutated Predator Defeated: Class C+]

Kael stood, breathing heavy. Acid steamed around his boots.

"No notification," he said.

"Not elite," Elle answered. "Just angry."

---

That night, they found shelter in a half-collapsed bookstore. The second floor had crumbled, but the walls still stood.

Elle lit a small flame. Kael sat across from her, sharpening his blade with slow, practiced strokes.

"You don't act like the others," she said.

"I'm not trying to be like anyone."

She nodded. "Most people who survive this long… start turning into monsters."

Kael didn't look up. "We always were. Judgment just gave us permission."

She didn't argue.

---

> [Daily Task Completed – Pact Survived the Day]

Reward: Communication Beacon (x1) + Trust Signal (x1)

Kael lay on the concrete, dagger in hand.

He stared through a hole in the roof.

The stars blinked again.

Watching.

Waiting.

And Kael blinked back.

> Next: Chapter 24 – The Eyes Above