My Overpowered Bunny Girls

Chapter 27: 27. The Ring Upgrade and the Challenge

The TCA forge wing smelled exactly as Nathan remembered... metal and ash, with something sharper underneath that he still couldn’t identify. As he walked forward, the iron doors stood partially open, with heat radiating outward in visible waves.

ForgeMaster Vex was exactly where he had left her. Hunched over a workbench, tinted goggles down, a half-finished blade glowing orange beneath her hammer. The rhythmic clang of metal on metal didn’t pause as Nathan entered.

"You again." She didn’t look up. "What? did you break the ring already?"

"Good morning to you too, ForgeMaster" Nathan walked to her workbench and began laying out materials. "I brought you something."

Vex lifted her goggles. Her red eyes moved across the items: Shadowsteel Ingot, Echo Shard, Rusted Commander’s Gauntlet, Golem Core Fragment, Storm Eel Scale...

and her expression shifted by degrees. Dismissive, Curious, then Genuinely interested.

"Rare material." She picked up the Echo Shard, turning it over in her scarred fingers. The fragment hummed faintly, catching light as she titled it "Tower drop?"

"Floor 5 of the tower of beginnings, from a Mirror Wraith."

"And this?" She set the shard down and lifted the Shadowsteel Ingot. The dark metal seemed to drink the forge’s orange glow.

"Floor 6. A Dread Knight."

Vex’s eyebrow rose. "You cleared a Dread Knight?"

Nathan didn’t answer. "What can you do with them?"

She set the ingot down and studied the full spread of materials with the calculating eye of a professional who’d spent two decades making impossible things possible. "Shadowsteel’s good for capacity. It’s absorbent... your ring will hold more mana, and the excess won’t bleed off as waste. The Echo Shard..." She tapped the humming fragment. "This improves regeneration speed. Your ring already recovers mana faster than baseline. This makes it faster."

She picked up the Rusted Commander’s Gauntlet and the Golem Core Fragment. "These two aren’t rare, but they’re solid. The gauntlet’s iron has good structural integrity... I can use it to reinforce the ring’s band so it doesn’t crack under the upgrade load. The Golem Core works as a stabilizer during the forging process." She glanced at the Storm Eel Scale. "This one’s for conductivity. Helps the new components integrate smoothly."

"Uhuh, uhuh" Nathan nodded unsure about what she was talking aboit. "So you can do it?"

Vex snorted. "Of course I can do it. Question is whether you want to pay for it." She named a price. Nathan winced internally but transferred the credits. Most of his remaining stipend, gone in a single transaction.

"Good." Vex rolled her shoulders. "This’ll take a few hours. You can wait or come back."

"I’ll wait."

She shrugged and turned to her forge. "okay buddy."

What followed was something Nathan had never seen before.

Vex raised her hand, and from the forge’s hand emerged a creature of living flame—m: a Molten Sprite, its body shifting between orange, white, and gold as it danced through the air. B-Rank. Her contracted summon. It circled her wrist once, trailing embers, then hovered expectantly.

"Same routine, Ember." Vex muttered. "Precision work. Don’t get too excited."

The sprite pulsed in acknowledgment and dove into the forge, stoking the flames to a precise temperature. Vex placed the Leyline Ring on her anvil and began.

She didn’t just hammer metal. She wove mana through the materials with the practiced ease of someone who’d done this ten thousand times before. The Shadowsteel Ingot dissolved into dark threads that she pulled through the ring’s band, layering capacity into the silver. The Echo Shard became liquid light that she poured into the inner socket, where it settled with a resonant hum. Ember darted in and out of the process, its flames sealing bonds and stabilizing reactions at temperatures no human tool could achieve.

The Rusted Gauntlet she melted down to its purest form, drawing thin strands of ancient iron around the ring’s circumference to reinforce its structure. The Golem Core she crushed into powder and pressed into the seams. The Storm Eel Scale became a conduit, its electrical properties smoothing the integration until all five materials functioned as a single system.

When she finished, the Leyline Ring floated above the anvil, humming with power.

[Ding! Leyline Ring Upgraded!]

[Mana regeneration rate significantly increased.]

[Mana capacity increased by 30%.]

[New Effect: After defeating a floor boss, regenerate 10% of maximum mana instantly.]

Nathan slipped the ring back onto his finger. The cool silver was warmer now, and the mana current flowing into his reserves felt less like a trickle and more like a steady stream. The difference was immediate.

[Ding! Magic Aptitude (MA): F-Grade++]

[Ding! Mana Reserves now On Par with E-Grade]

"Not bad." he said.

Vex wiped her hands on her rag. "Not bad? That’s the best ring upgrade you’ll see outside the Top 100." She paused, and her tone shifted... still gruff, but with something underneath. "You know, in twenty years, I’ve seen maybe three climbers bring me materials like this after their first climb."

Nathan paused.

"One died in a Tower break five years ago." She didn’t look up at him. "The other two are in the Top 100 now. Try not to be like the first one."

Nathan met her red eyes. "I’ll keep that in mind."

He left the forge with the ring humming on his finger and the weight of her warning settling somewhere behind his ribs.

---

The TCA main lobby was busier than Nathan had met it when he arrived. Too busy. The crowd from yesterday had thinned, but the energy in the room was different... charged, expectant, like the moment before a fight broke.

He spotted the reason quickly.

Derek Stone stood near the center of the lobby, Tyler and Reid flanking him like the loyal shadows they were. Beside them stood a TCA official Nathan didn’t recognize, a woman in pressed grey robes holding a sanctioning tablet.

A small crowd had already gathered. Climbers, guild staff, a few academy students who should have been in class. At the edge of the circle, Nathan caught a flash of silver hair. Elise. And beside her, lounging with disinterest, Dillon Briggs.

Derek’s voice cut across the lobby like a blade.

"Nathan fucking Cross!"

The crowd parted. Nathan stopped walking.

"I’m invoking my right as a registered Climber..." Derek announced, his voice pitched loud "...to challenge you to a sanctioned duel."

The TCA official stepped forward. Her expression was professionally neutral. "Climber Stone has filed a formal challenge under TCA Duel Regulations, Article Seven. The terms are as follows: party-format Tower, minimum four climbers per party. Tower-observed and publicly streamed. The challenged party has the right to set the date within a thirty-day window. Refusal is permitted but will be recorded permanently on the challenged party’s climbing record."

Derek’s eyes were cold, Smug and Calculated. "What’s wrong, Cross? The Bunny King can clear a Tower solo S-Rank but can’t handle a party duel?"

The trap was elegantly simple. Refuse, and Nathan looked like a coward who could only perform without witnesses. Accept, and he’d need party members he could trust... party members who would see Mirko fight in humanoid form, party members who would be inside the Tower when the public broadcast went live.

His mind raced through the options. Garrett was a possibility... loyal, grateful, and he’d already seen enough to suspect. Elise was another, though asking her would mean owing a Winterhart a favor. And then there was the system itself. The second Bunny Girl. Could he summon another before the duel? What were the requirements? He’d need to question the system directly when he got home.

The crowd was watching. Waiting. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

"Two weeks," Nathan said.

Derek’s smile didn’t waver. "Two weeks, huh?"

"I need time to assemble a party."

"Of course you do." Derek’s tone dripped with satisfaction. "Two weeks. Try not to run before then."

The TCA official tapped her tablet. "The duel is registered. Party-format, Tower to be selected by the TCA Duel Committee. Date: fourteen days from today. Climber Cross, you are required to submit your party roster no later than forty-eight hours before the duel. Failure to submit will count as a forfeit." She looked between them. "Do both parties accept these terms?"

"Yes," Derek said.

Nathan met his eyes. "Yes."

The official’s tablet chimed. "Registered. Good luck to both parties."

Derek turned and walked away, Tyler and Reid scrambling after him. The crowd began to dissolve, conversations buzzing with speculation. Elise lingered for a moment longer, her icy blue gaze meeting Nathan’s across the lobby. She didn’t approach. She didn’t nod. But something passed between them... an acknowledgment, maybe. Or a question waiting to be asked.

Then she turned and disappeared into the crowd, Dillon trailing behind her with a lazy wave.

Nathan walked out of the TCA into the midday sun. Mirko’s presence stirred in the back of his mind, a warmth that had been silent during the confrontation but was very much awake now.

’Master.’

’Yeah?’

’Two weeks is not much time for a loner like yourself.’

Nathan snorted softly. "No. But it’s enough."

’Do you have a plan?’

He thought of the Leyline Ring humming on his finger, its upgraded mana current a constant reassurance. Of Mirko’s sword, tested and proven against the Dread Knight. Of Garrett and Elise. Of the system’s promise... more Bunny Girls, more classes, more potential waiting to be unlocked.

"I’ll think of one," he said. "I always do."