The Shadow-Stalker's jaw was inches from my throat when it happened.
I expected the searing pain of teeth tearing through muscle. I expected the cold realization of my own death. Instead, the beast froze. Its hot, metallic breath puffed against my skin, but the aggression was gone. It didn't bite. It didn't even snarl.
It whimpered.
The massive creature, a Tier 4 monster that could shred a squad of knights, began to shake. It backed away from me, its belly scraping the cave floor in a submissive crawl. It looked at me not as prey, but as something terrifying—something that had been asleep for a thousand years and just opened its eyes.
"What... what are you doing?" I whispered, my voice sounding like it was being layered with a low, vibrating hum.
[Initialization 40%... 70%...]
The golden text in my vision wasn't a hallucination. It was as real as the blood on my face.
[Error: User's "Void" vessel is currently empty. Initiating Dragon Essence conversion.]
Suddenly, the "nothingness" I had felt my entire life—the hollow pit in my chest that the mages called a defect—began to spin. It wasn't a lack of mana. It was a vacuum. A black hole that had been waiting for the right fuel.
Then the pain hit.
It wasn't the dull ache of a beating or the sharp sting of a cut. It was my very biology being rewritten. I felt my bones snap and lengthen, then fuse back together denser than steel. My muscles tore and re-knitted in seconds, packing themselves with a lean, explosive power I didn't know a human could possess.
I screamed, but no sound came out—just a shockwave of invisible pressure that sent the trembling Shadow-Stalker tumbling backward.
[Integration Complete: Progenitor Dragon Bloodline (Dormant Stage).]
[New Attribute Unlocked: Dragon's Eye.]
The darkness of the cave vanished. It didn't get "brighter," but rather, I began to see the world in its true form. Everything had a pulse. I could see the thick, purple veins of mana flowing through the cave walls. I could see the flickering, panicked energy core inside the Shadow-Stalker.
And then, I saw it—a faint, golden trail of "Old Blood" leading deeper into the pitch-black tunnel behind the beast.
The monster didn't even try to fight as I walked past it. It stayed pressed to the ground, its eyes squeezed shut. I felt a strange urge to reach out and end it, but the System's voice—cool and calm—intervened.
[Note: A Sovereign does not swat flies unless they buzz too loud. Save your energy.]
I followed the golden trail. The air grew colder, more ancient. After a few minutes of walking through a passage that shouldn't have existed on the Academy maps, I reached a hidden chamber.
In the center of the room sat a throne of jagged black rock. And on that throne was a skeleton.
It wasn't a normal human skeleton. It was massive, nearly seven feet tall, with ribs reinforced by what looked like obsidian plating. In its lap lay a shattered shield and a simple, black iron ring.
[Ancient Relic Detected: The Sovereign's Vault.]
[Identity Confirmed: Silas Reed. The First Dragon Knight. Your direct ancestor.]
I stared at the name. Reed. My last name wasn't just a label the orphanage gave me. It was a legacy.
"So, we weren't just trash," I muttered, my voice finally returning to me. It sounded deeper now, more resonant. "We were just waiting."
I reached out and picked up the black iron ring. The moment it touched my finger, it shrank to fit perfectly. My mind was suddenly flooded with images of a vast, empty space—a pocket dimension. It wasn't just a storage bag; it was an abyss. I could feel that it had enough room to house a small army, or perhaps, a kingdom's worth of secrets.
I turned back toward the cave-in where Albert had left me. The fear was gone. The desperation was gone. In its place was a cold, calculating clarity.
I walked back to the main chamber. The Shadow-Stalker was still there, guarding the pile of rubble as if it were my loyal hound. I ignored it and looked for the one thing I had left: my father's sword.
The rusted hilt was buried under a layer of dust. The blade was snapped, a pathetic piece of junk that Albert had laughed at. I picked it up.
As soon as my hand closed around the grip, the "Void" in my chest pulsed. A wave of pitch-black Dragon Essence flowed down my arm and into the metal.
The rust didn't just fall off; it consumed itself. The jagged, broken edge of the sword began to grow, the metal knitting together with a low, metallic hiss. In seconds, it wasn't a rusted relic anymore. It was a straight-edged blade of obsidian-black metal, so dark it seemed to suck the light out of the air. It felt light as a feather but heavy with the weight of a thousand years of slaughter.
I swung it once. The air itself seemed to whistle in protest.
[Weapon Synced: The Remorseful Fang.]
[Current Tier: Growth-Type (Level 1).]
I walked up to the wall of boulders that blocked my way out. I could still hear the faint, distant sound of the mages' celebratory horns above. They were already back at the surface, telling stories of the "heroic" loss of a nameless apprentice.
I placed my palm against the cold stone. I didn't need to punch it. I didn't need a high-tier explosion spell. I just needed to let the "Void" breathe.
Boom.
The shockwave wasn't loud, but the vibration was absolute. The massive boulders, tons of solid rock, didn't just move—they disintegrated into fine grey sand.
I stepped out into the main tunnel, the fresh air from the surface hitting my face. I looked down at my hands. They were clean, but they felt dangerous.
"I'm coming home, Albert," I said, looking up toward the distant glimmer of the surface.
I thought about the mud. I thought about the way he'd ground his boot into my hand while the world laughed. He wanted a show. He wanted a world where he was the sun and I was the dirt.
I gripped the obsidian hilt of my sword.
"But I'm not coming back as your slave. And I'm certainly not coming back for revenge."
I started walking up the incline, my footsteps silent on the stone.
"I'm coming back for my peace. And if I have to burn your kingdom to the ground to find it... then I hope you like the smell of ash."
As I climbed, the golden screen flickered one last time before fading into the back of my mind.
[New Quest: The Ghost in the Slums.]
[Objective: Establish a base of operations. Recruit your first Shadow.]
The hunt was officially on.