Kael sat cross-legged in the corner of his dark cell, the image of Barrett hitting the wall still fresh in his mind. He had shown too much. The Silver-rank Overseers would be coming soon to "evaluate" the Copper-ranker who had overpowered a Bronze.
"I need to disappear," Kael whispered.
He closed his eyes and looked into his Dantian. The orange lake of Copper Prauna was swirling, restless from the fight. He reached out with his mind, trying to grasp the liquid-heavy energy.
Sink, he commanded.
In the vision of the Sovereign, Kael had seen the Zombie Ancestor. The Ancestor's Essence wasn't a flame; it was an abyss. Kael tried to mimic that coldness. He began to pull his Prauna out of his muscles and skin, forcing it deep into the center of his bones.
His body began to tremble. His 5x Copper strength started to drain away as the energy left his limbs. His skin grew pale, and his body temperature dropped.
Lower. Make it still.
Suddenly, the "hum" in his ears stopped. The internal vibration that every Awakener felt—the sound of their own life force—fell silent.
Kael felt... hollow.
A rat scurried across the floor of his cell. Normally, the creature would avoid an Awakener due to the pressure of their Prauna. But now, it ran right over Kael's foot as if he were a piece of cold stone.
It works, Kael thought, though even his thoughts felt slow and heavy.
Suddenly, heavy boots echoed in the corridor. Three men stopped outside his gate. Kael didn't look up, but his 7-Star intuition felt the "flare" of their energy. Two High-Bronze guards and one Low-Silver Overseer.
The Silver-ranker narrowed his eyes, peering through the bars. He held a Sensing Stone—a device used to measure Prauna output.
"This is the one?" the Overseer asked, his voice dripping with boredom. "The reports said a Copper-ranker emitted a Gold-level pressure in the Pits."
He held the stone toward Kael. The gem remained dark. It didn't even flicker.
"He looks like a corpse," one of the guards muttered, kicking the bars. "Hey! Dreg! Wake up!"
Kael didn't move. He kept his Prauna locked in his marrow, his heartbeat slowed to once every thirty seconds.
The Overseer frowned, tapping the stone. "There's no energy here. Not even a 1-Star spark. The witnesses must have been exaggerating. Probably a freak accident with a faulty Bronze-shield."
"Waste of time," the guard spat.
As the footsteps faded away, Kael slowly let the energy flow back into his veins. A surge of warmth rushed through him, and his Copper-toughness returned. He gasped, his lungs burning as they resumed a normal rhythm.
He had hidden from the City, but he knew he couldn't stay. To reach the Bronze Realm and beyond, he needed more than just a hidden talent. He needed the Martial Arts of the ancient world.
And there was only one place to find them: The ruins of the Surface Libraries, guarded by the very monsters he had just learned to hide from.