Lightning cracked again outside the tower, casting Kaelion's shadow across the stone. The pain in his chest hadn't faded—it pulsed, constant and alive. But it was no longer agony. It was a warning.
> [Trial One: Survive.]
[Condition: Defeat a Tier-3 wild beast alone before dawn.]
[Failure: Core fracture. Host termination likely.]
His breath came slow. Controlled.
"A Tier-3 beast," he whispered. "With nothing but my hands."
> [Correction: With your will. Your Core is active. Primitive, but unbound.]
[Combat protocol uploaded: "Void Flow – Basic Form."]
[No weapon. No allies. No retreat.]
Kaelion stood.
The warmth in his chest steadied. His heartbeat synced to something deeper—ancient and mechanical. He didn't fully understand it, but he didn't need to.
He wasn't asking questions anymore.
He was moving forward.
---
By midnight, Kael was gone from the palace.
He left no note, gave no warning. No one stopped him.
His cloak dragged across the dirt road as he crossed the old forest beyond the stronghold. He followed nothing—no trail, no instruction. Just the System's internal map, flickering silently in the back of his mind.
The air grew heavier the deeper he went, filled with the rot of old blood and beasts.
> [Location confirmed: Feralwood Ravine.]
[Tier-3 target detected: Graveback Alpha. Proximity: 1.2 kilometers.]
Kael tightened his cloak. Gravebacks were war-wolves—bone-plated, muscle-dense creatures bred for chaos. Even trained knights only took one down in units.
He didn't hesitate.
He descended the hill quietly, footsteps steady. No fear. Just focus.
---
He found it at the riverbed—huge, hunched over the carcass of a boar, jaws soaked red. A dozen feet long. Plates like gray iron covered its back, spines rising from its shoulders. Its eyes glowed faint gold.
Kael crouched low in the brush. He didn't have a sword. He had no armor. No backup.
Just his body.
And a system that had only given him a name for a martial style.
> [Activating: Void Flow – Basic Form.]
[Body synchronization: 12%… 39%… 78%… Complete.]
His breath slowed.
The world stilled.
He rose silently from the shadows—and launched forward.
---
He moved like shadow and wind—no wasted motion, no extra sound.
The beast reacted too late. Kael slid beneath its first lunge and struck—palm open—right at the Graveback's exposed rib.
Crack.
Bone dented. The beast shrieked, spinning wildly to catch him.
But he was already gone.
He ducked under the second strike and drove his heel into the back leg joint. The Graveback collapsed sideways, roaring in fury, blood spurting from the crack in its plating.
Kael's body screamed with every motion, muscles pushed beyond mortal limits. But he didn't stop.
> [Vital signs critical. Core heat rising.]
[Void Flow Limit Reached: New Path Unlocked.]
> [Skill Gained: Core Shatter Strike.]
He dodged a brutal tail swipe and surged upward. The system lit up behind his eyes. Time didn't slow—but Kael's focus sharpened until the beast's movements felt sluggish.
He lunged.
His fist slammed directly into the Graveback's skull—guided by the system, powered by sheer instinct and will.
BOOM.
Bone cracked. The beast dropped with a final, wheezing cry, blood pooling beneath its head.
Kael stood over the corpse, shaking from exhaustion. The silver light in his chest pulsed faintly beneath his tunic.
> [Trial Complete.]
[Tier-3 Beast eliminated.]
[Primordial Core Progress: 9% ➝ 18%]
[Reward Unlocked: Martial Memory – "Void Pulse Step"]
[Vital signs stabilizing.]
He breathed in, slow. Deep. Steady.
No one applauded. No voices cheered. No siblings watched from balconies above.
But in the quiet darkness of a monster's den… Kaelion had taken his first step.
Alone.
---
Dawn broke blood-red across the hills when Kaelion returned to the outer gates of the palace, cloak torn, limbs bruised, his boots stained in drying gore.
The guards stepped back when they saw him.
They didn't recognize the look in his eyes.
Not weakness. Not sorrow.
Just a quiet, steel-hard truth:
He would not need saving.
He would never bow.
And if this world wanted him forgotten—
He would force it to remember.