By the time I pried open the floor panel beneath the altar, Qin'er was awake and clutching her sleeves like a lifeline.
"You shouldn't go down there, my lady," she whispered. "That level… even the rats won't go."
"Perfect," I muttered, tying the last knot of rope around my waist. "That means no witnesses."
The stone panel groaned as it gave way, revealing a vertical shaft that plunged into stale darkness. My breath caught. The energy here was different—denser. Older.
[Location Unlocked: Shen Li's Abandoned Alchemy Lab – Sublevel -3]
[Threat Level: Moderate. Unknown energy signatures detected.]
[Objective: Retrieve Star Array Lens. 0% complete.]
I adjusted the makeshift vest beneath my robes and dropped a small glow crystal down the shaft. It vanished, flickered once, then dimmed. At least twenty meters.
No turning back.
I climbed down slowly, pressing boot to stone, blade tucked at my side.
The further I went, the colder it became—less like temperature and more like a vacuum sucking out sound. Every scrape, every breath sounded… wrong. Muffled.
I reached the bottom and stepped into pitch blackness.
Then the door opened by itself.
The lab hadn't just been abandoned—it had been erased.
Cracked glass tanks lined the walls, their contents long evaporated. Charred symbols marked the floor—part of an unfinished teleportation array. A central dais, shattered. Shelves of scrolls and crystals, all slashed or shattered.
Yet the energy still pulsed beneath it all. Ancient. Furious.
[Residual Spirit Signature Detected: Shen Li, Original.
Secondary Signature: Unknown. Match probability—84.6%.]
So she had been here. Probably in her final hours before arrest.
I stepped into the center of the room.
[Initiating System Recall Mode. Trigger: Resonant Signature Match.]
Suddenly, memory overwhelmed me—not mine, not recent. A replay.
Shen Li stood in this very chamber, robes tattered, eyes bloodshot. She dragged the Star Array Lens from a containment vault, whispered a code I couldn't hear, and began aligning the array.
Then someone else entered.
Not a guard.
A man cloaked in imperial white.
I couldn't see his face—but I saw the blade.
He didn't kill her. He took the lens… and said something before he left.
"The Emperor was never yours to save."
Then the memory snapped shut like a blade.
[Partial Reconstruction Complete.]
Star Array Lens: No longer on site. New Lead: White Cloaked Man – Identity Unknown.]
I cursed under my breath. "So I came all this way for dust?"
[Negative. Hidden Item Detected. Accessing…]
[Hidden Cache: Unlocked.]
A portion of the dais shifted. A panel slid open. Inside sat a smooth black orb—no larger than a marble—but it pulsed with power so dense it made my fingers ache to touch it.
[Item Acquired: Void Seed (Unstable)]
Use: Amplifies spatial techniques. Enables short-range teleportation.
Warning: One use only.]
I pocketed the orb.
Then I froze.
Footsteps. Echoing from above. Heavy.
Too slow for Qin'er.
Too rhythmic for rats.
[Threat Detected. Combat Imminent.]
Enemy Type: Unknown. Vital Signs: Non-human.]
I slid into the shadows just as the figure stepped into the doorway.
It was tall, armoured in bronze. No face—just a mask etched with old runes.
A guardian golem. Designed to kill intruders.
And now it saw me.
[Mini-Boss Encounter Initiated: Moon Warden Prototype V1]
[Weak Point: Rear core panel. Requires precision strike.]
I didn't hesitate.
The golem charged with shocking speed, slamming a blade-staff into the ground and sending shards of stone flying. I dove left, rolled behind a column, and pulled the rusted guard blade from my belt.
This wasn't Earth anymore. And this wasn't physics class.
But vectors still mattered.
It lunged again—I ducked and redirected its arm using all my strength and a twist of my hips. Its own momentum carried it past me—and I slammed my blade into the back of its knee.
Sparks.
No collapse.
I needed height.
I ran—straight up a broken support beam—kicked off the wall, twisted mid-air, and activated the Void Seed.
Time slowed.
Space warped.
[Spatial Shift: Executed. Target Offset: 3.1m]
I reappeared behind the golem—just long enough to drive my blade into the glowing panel at the base of its spine.
A sound like grinding thunder filled the room.
The golem froze—then collapsed, piece by piece.
Silence.
[Mini-Boss Defeated.]
+3% Core Sync
+Basic Combat Art Unlocked: Shadow Orbit Step (Level 1)]
I stood panting in the ruins, trembling, the blade nearly slipping from my fingers.
But I was alive.
And the system was evolving faster now.
I looked back at the shattered array. Useless without the Star Lens.
Still, I'd gained something more valuable.
Knowledge.
Shen Li hadn't failed.
She'd been betrayed.
And whoever that man in white was—he had ties to the Emperor.
[Objective Updated: Track Down Cloaked Man. Possible Location: Capital Outer Ring – Hall of White Vows.]
I began climbing back toward the surface, the whisper of spirit threads dancing at my fingertips.
Let the palace think I was still a broken exile.
Let the stars believe I'd died on the moon.
I would return.
Not as a concubine.
As their reckoning.