Aggro Litrpg || Progression Fantasy

Okay, so I guess my first question now was what, exactly, counted as 'environmental hostility' when it was at home? Because while I was perfectly happy to get cracking on 'stabilising the Threshold bleed,' it would've been nice to have a little more data to work with. A map. A field report. Hell, I'd take a badly formatted PDF at this point. Something that told me what I was up against. Because as far all I could tell, all I had going for me at the moment was Well, a wounded teammate, and a whole lot of damp moss that didn't seem especially talkative.

I gave myself permission to step away from the Medical Hut, just a little as I circled the Well once more, my boots finding the natural spiral worn into the ground around it. This time, though, I didn't fight the sense of pressure that built up behind my eyes.

I leaned into it.

The Well wasn't just scenery, it was the point where two realms converged. It was where reality got all pliable. So I reached towards it the same way I had when the Medical Hut had answered me, and the Well responded.

There was a pull, like a magnet catching on a nail and then came the feeling of reality flexing, then realigning, just slightly, around where I stood.

[System Synchronisation Detected – Threshold Anchor Active]

> Title Pathway: [Warden Channel]

> Anchor Node: [Well of Ascension]

> Integration Pulse: Triggered

A small area in the top right-hand corner of my vision flashed brightly, before resolving itself into a hazy dome overlaid with glowing notches. The whole thing flickered and then locked down into a recognisable mini-map.

[New Feature Unlocked: Warden's Map]

As a Warden, you are now authorised to view local spatial anomalies. The Veil has thinned. The world is listening.

> Map Range: 1km Radius (Adjusts with Stability Index)

> Active Detection Protocols: Shadow Entities | Residual Anomalies | Unresolved Influx Events

[Warden's Map Activated]

- Threat Signatures Detected: 7

Clustered (3): North-West Quadrant (Possible Nesting or Patrol)

Scattered (2): Southern Tree Line (Faint, Mobile)

Dormant (1): Ruined Cairn – Approx. 400m (Non-reactive)

Proximity Alert (1): 140m – Eastern Ridge (Status: Closing)

Well. I guessed That answered that. And then a final message popped up.

System Commentary:

You asked what environmental hostility looked like.

This is it.

Don't blink.

The projection hovered in the corner just above my eyeline, semi-translucent and slightly off-centre. It wasn't clean and it wasn't pretty. But it was better than nothing. It showed a one-kilometre radius, mapped out in a slow-rotating disc of terrain with threat markers showing on it—tiny red motes drifting like embers across the edges. Apart from one of them, which appeared to be heading straight for me, it they were moving slowly and without purpose.

It reminded me less of a satellite scan or tactical overlay and more of a minimap. The kind you never looked at unless something started growling in your left ear. It even rotated slightly as I shifted, like it was anchored to my perspective. Except I couldn't zoom out. The range cut off at a thousand metres, everything beyond that fading into abstract haze like the fog of war.

It didn't have a legend or a compass rose. It was just a slowly updating sweep of the immediate terrain and whatever horrors happened to be walking through it.

Still.

It was enough to tell me something from the east was running straight at me. I twisted, orienting myself in the direction the marker had indicated, just as it vanished. It was too far out for my Aggro Magnetism to have tripped it, which meant this wasn't something I'd provoked. It was an intentional, directed strike.

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I glanced back at the Medical Hut. Had building it sent out some sort of ripples? Had it coming online activated some threat? Or had whatever I'd stirred up by stabilising the Threshold had a few leftovers to deal with? Right now, it didn't matter, because I didn't get time to ponder further.

Something dark and fast exploded out of the eastern treeline.

I barely had time to shift. It wasn't a roar or a hiss, it didn't bother making noise. Just a flicker of motion and then a searing pain bloomed across my ribs and it was gone. Vanished back into the opposite trees as quickly as it had come.

I staggered, one hand clamped to my side.

> [System Notification: Incoming Damage Registered]

→ Shadow Contact: Glancing Blow

→ Health: -10 [Current: 32/42]

→ Shadow Debuff Attempt Detected: Suppressed

→ Passive Effect: [Shadow Resistance] Triggered

→ Status: Stable – No Effects Applied

Well, that sucked. I didn't even know what the thing that hit me was, but its glancing blow still took off a solid quarter of my health. And that wasn't even a crit Just one blurred shadow racing through the clearing and opening me up as easy as anything.

I bent, found one of the thicker fallen branches left from the Balethor brawl, and hefted it in one hand. It had a decent weight to it and a fair bit of length. It wasn't perfect, but I'd won uglier fights with worse kit. The minimap flickered in my periphery and I saw the dot moving around the edge of the clearing at a tremendous speed.

I led it by what felt like a sensible distance and then hurled the branch with all the spite I could muster. And missed. No satisfying thunk. No cry of impact. Just a swish into the trees and I lost the creature for a moment. It was gone in the foliage . . . and then it was back. This time coming at me from the right.

I twisted just in time, bringing my trusty stick around. It wasn't at all elegant - a block born of desperation and good instincts - but I got it up and in the way just in time.

The creature—small, black-furred and impossibly wiry—clawed across my forearm and shrieked as my block connected with it.

[System Alert: Health –5]

→ Shadow Damage – Nullified

→ Passive Effect: Shadow Resistance Triggered

→ Aggro Magnetism: Activated

→ Rage Debuff Applied

The effect of my Magnetism hit it like a wall—an invisible, silent pressure that turned its skittering momentum into pure fury. I could see it in the way its whole body tensed. There was no hit-and-run plan anymore. It was all about the rage. It howled and rather than vanish back into the trees like it had before, it launched at me again. A straight-line charge with none of its earlier finesse. It wasn't designed for this. I could tell. It was a predator built for the blitz—get in, carve something soft, get out before the target could recover. It wasn't set up to trade blows with something my size.

And it wasn't just the Rage tethering it to me now—it was the 15% hit to its Endurance, bleeding into everything it tried to do. Not slowing it in the way that meant it couldn't move, but making every move cost more. Each lunge, each strike, was burning through its Stamina like it was sprinting in place. The grace it had shown in that first ambush was gone now, peeled away by what looked to me like growing exhaustion.

What remained was something raw and off-tempo. Wild, yes. But less like a predator, and more like a cornered thing fighting the gravity of its own limits.

And I was still standing.

It leapt and clawed at my chest, shoulders, and arms, trying to hammer me down with its speed. The blows came too fast to parry cleanly, so I ducked what I could and let the rest land against leather and bone. Don't get me wrong, they stung, for sure. One raked through a strap and another bit into the edge of my shoulder plate, but they weren't going to drop me.

Not this time.

The creature's claws scrabbled and its footwork stuttered. The thing was flailing now, not fighting. It wanted out, but the Rage Debuff kept it locked to me like a magnet to iron. Like the System had handed me its leash and said, "Hold tight."

Then it paused. Hands clawing at the air with a purple glow appearing at the tips of its talons. Triggering an Ability, maybe? But then the light fizzled out as fast as it came.

[Target: Rage Debuffed]

→ Ability Miscast reducing Stamina to 0

It gawped at that. I didn't.

I surged forward and slammed my branch across its jaw with a dull crack. The creature spun away.

[Skill Level Up: Weighted Argument – Lvl 3]

I dismissed the notification as this thing wasn't dead, yet. However, it was clearly out of gas. Which was all the opening I needed to grab hold of it and go to town. My attack wasn't graceful—this wasn't any martial arts anyone would recognise. This was what Griff called 'winning ugly'. Close work. Street fight logic. Elbows. Leverage. Weight.

[Skill Level Up: Closed Circle – Lvl 2]

The creature's final act was to snap at my forearm giving it one last bite, teeth slick with venom.

[System Alert: Health –8]

→ Venom Status Attempted

→ Shadow Affliction: Suppressed

→ Stubborn Constitution + Shadow Resistance Applied

→ Status: Rejected

I felt it—the venom slither into my system like oil into water—and then stop. My blood turned it back. Burned it out. Somewhere deep inside me, the System kicked. Or maybe it was just how stubborn I was now. The creature sagged. Collapsed. Dead.

And the System pinged one last time.

[New Trait Acquired: Shadow Marked – Lvl 1]

I stood there for a beat longer, watching the body steam in the cold air. My breath came ragged, the branch snapped in my grip. Rain began to fall even heavier.

"Well," I said, "glad I'm making friends."