Dawn's pale silver light seeped through the narrow window of Ella's quarters, rousing her from a sleep that was calm—no nightmares of sacrifice, no whispers of "broken vessel," just the steady thrum of psyche power in her veins, a reminder of how far she'd come.
She rose in one smooth motion, her fingers brushing the worn leather of the pack she'd packed the night before: dried rations, a vial of healing salve, a warm cloak for the valley's cold nights, and nothing more.
No enchanted weapons, no special protections—Lord Odin's order was clear. Survival in Blackspine Valley would be forged by her own strength, not borrowed magic.
She'd spent the final hours before dawn poring over Forbidden Library scrolls, memorizing every detail of the valley's dangers: shadow wolves with mana-fueled fangs that drained life force, vine serpents whose thorns carried Nether-tainted venom, and high-rank void stags whose antlers could shatter even reinforced psyche shields.
She didn't trust luck—she trusted preparation, the same pragmatism that had kept her alive as a data analyst in New York, and now as an awakened Oracle Vessel in Asgard.
A soft knock at her door interrupted her thoughts.
It was Samuel, his broad frame filling the doorway, his sword strapped to his back, a tattered map of Blackspine Valley clutched in his hand.
His dark eyes held no trace of the cold distrust that had once defined him—only a quiet resolve, the same guilt and determination she'd sensed in him since the council hall.
"Ready?" he asked, his voice low. He'd refused to let her face the valley alone, even though Odin had made it clear he couldn't fight her battles.
Ella summoned a small wisp of silvery psyche power to her palm, watching it flicker steady and strong. "Ready." The fear that had once gnawed at her—fear of weakness, of uselessness, of the dark fate written for her—was gone, burned away by the truth of her lineage, by the power that had always been hers.
They walked through Asgard's hallways in silence, the academy still stirring to life around them. Disciples who had once sneered or stepped around her now moved aside, their whispers filled with awe rather than contempt. "That's the Oracle Vessel who exposed Leah…"
"She's going to Blackspine alone?" "Did you see her split the stone dummy with just her mind?"
The words washed over her, no longer stinging, just a faint reminder of how drastically her life had shifted since she'd woken up in this world.
At the northern gate, Lord Odin waited, his starlight eyes sharp with anticipation.
He nodded once, no grand speeches, no last-minute warnings—he already knew what she was capable of, and what she needed to prove. "Three days," he said. "Return when the sun sets on the third night, or not at all. Remember: this trial is not about defeating every beast. It's about mastering the power within you."
Ella bowed her head, not in deference, but in acknowledgment.
Then she turned, and with Samuel at her side, stepped through the gate and into the winding path that led down to Blackspine Valley.
The air changed the moment they crossed the border. The crisp, holy breeze of Asgard faded, replaced by a thick, damp scent of pine and damp earth, tinged with the faint, acrid tang of magical energy—wild, untamed, and dangerous.
The path narrowed, winding through jagged rocks and tangled underbrush, the trees growing denser until their branches blocked out most of the sunlight, casting the valley in a perpetual twilight.
Samuel tapped the map, his finger hovering over a marked ridge. "We'll stick to the western edge first," he said. "Shadow wolf packs hunt the eastern valleys at dawn.
But vine serpents nest in these rocks—their scales are thick, but your psyche power can pierce them. Aim for the core, right between the eyes."
Ella nodded, her psyche power spreading outward like a silent net. She could feel every living thing around them: small rodents scurrying in the brush, birds nesting in the trees, and something larger—something with a mana signature that hummed with malice, lurking just beyond the trees.
"Wait," she hissed, grabbing Samuel's arm.
He froze, his hand flying to his sword hilt.
"What is it?"
"Something's watching," she said, her eyes scanning the shadows. Her psyche locked onto it—a pair of glowing red eyes, hidden in the underbrush, its mana coiling like a tightly wound spring.
A shadow wolf, but not a low-rank one—this was a high-rank beast, its power amplified by the valley's dark magic, its fangs dripping with venom that reeked of the same Nether taint she'd sensed in Leah.
Before Samuel could draw his sword, the wolf lunged.
It moved faster than lightning, its body a blur of black fur and glowing mana, its jaws gaping wide enough to snap her neck in one bite.
But Ella didn't flinch. She'd spent years being hunted—by Kael's cruelty, by Leah's lies, by the fate that had labeled her a sacrifice. She wasn't running anymore.
She focused, channeling the same precise psyche power that had split the stone dummy on Asgard's training grounds.
No fanfare, no glowing aura—just a thin, sharp thread of silver energy, drawn from the seventy percent of her mana that had been nurturing her soul all along.
She drove it into the wolf's core.
A sickening crack echoed through the valley. The wolf's momentum shattered mid-air, its body going rigid as the psyche thread pierced its mana core.
It yelped—a high, pained sound—then crumpled to the ground, its red eyes fading to dull black, its mana dissolving into the air.
Ella exhaled, her chest heaving slightly, but her hands steady.
She stared at the fallen beast, then at her palm, where the wisp of psyche power still flickered.
This was what the scrolls had promised—what her lineage had destined her for. Not a battery. Not a sacrifice.
A warrior, born of psyche and spirit.
Samuel stared at her, his jaw slack with awe. "That was… precise. More controlled than the training grounds."
Ella smiled, sharp and victorious. "I've got a lot to prove. To them. To myself." She glanced toward the deeper valley, where the shadows grew thicker, where stronger beasts lurked. "Three days. Let's make them count."
As they stepped over the wolf's body and into the heart of Blackspine Valley, Ella felt the system's familiar chime in her mind:
[DING!]
[Trial of the Blackspine Valley – First Objective Progress: 1/3 High-Rank Beasts Defeated]
[Psyche Power Level Increased: Lv.2]
[New Skill Unlocked: Psyche Lure – Draw targeted beasts into open terrain without alerting others]
She grinned.
The trial had only just begun.
And this time, the broken vessel was the hunter—not the prey.