🌪️ Descent into the SpiralThe moment Lin Fei crossed into the Hollow Spiral, reality changed.
The mist swallowed him whole—thick, weightless, humming with psychic static. His footing remained sure, but every step echoed like a bell toll in a forgotten temple. The world here wasn't broken; it was paused. Like the memory of something too painful to relive, yet too powerful to die.
[Location: Hollow Spiral Subdomain – Deep Echo Zone][Status: Unstable – Spiritual Interference Level: 84%][System Sync: 11.2% — Functionality: Partial]
The Veinfield was distant now, like a heartbeat muffled behind a wall. Lin Fei pressed forward, senses strained. His domain-thread still anchored him—barely—but this place didn't want him here.
And something within it had already noticed his intrusion.
💀 Awaken the Deep EchoHe reached the center of the spiral: a depression in the earth where the mist coalesced into a still pool of silver light. Floating above it was a jagged shard of obsidian root, pulsing like it was alive.
And beneath it, half-submerged in the silver—
—a body.
No.
A corpse? A statue?
No… an Echo.
[Warning: Deep Echo Identified – Rank: ???][Designation: "The Forgotten Progenitor"][Status: Fragmented — Hostile Potential: Extreme][Engagement not recommended without Domain Stabilizer or Echo Anchor]
Lin Fei narrowed his eyes. "So this is the mission…"
The mist thickened, as if reacting to his realization.
Then the Echo rose.
It wasn't violent—not yet. But its form was… distorted. A figure wrapped in chains of root-metal, its face hidden by a mask of glass and runes. Its limbs flickered, caught between flesh, bone, and smoke. And when it moved, Lin Fei felt a pressure behind his eyes—a migraine birthed from ancient pain.
The Echo spoke.
But not in words.
You are not ready. You are not true. You are not him.
Then the spiral screamed.
🌀 The Trial of ReflectionLin Fei was thrown into the air as the ground fractured beneath him, roots writhing upward like grasping hands. His system flickered—
[Emergency Sync Lock Engaged][Trial Construct Initiated – "Echo of the First Bloom"][Objective: Survive. Understand. Endure.]
The mist congealed around Lin Fei's body—and suddenly, he wasn't in the spiral anymore.
He stood atop an ancient battlefield—one from another life. Cities shattered. Skies black with ash. And in the center of it all: the Progenitor.
The same Echo, but clearer now. Not bound. Not broken.
He wielded a Veinfield like a blade, cleaving reality in arcs of divine light.
This… was a recorded memory.
And Lin Fei was its prisoner.
Figures rushed at him—cultivators, beasts, revenants—each more broken than the last. They weren't real, but their pain was. Every blow they struck whispered of failure. Every movement echoed with grief.
Still, he fought.
Using the Spineburst Qi Art he'd gained. Using his instinct, his pain, his will.
Until he stood alone.
And the memory shattered.
🌒 Truth in the ShardsLin Fei collapsed to one knee, panting. The spiral was back—the mist curling gentler now. The Deep Echo no longer floated.
It watched.
[Trial Completed – Partial Synchronization Achieved][Echo Bond Possible: Conditional][Options Available:]– Bind (Stabilize and Integrate as Servitor Spirit)– Cleanse (Destroy and extract condensed essence)– Offer (Sacrifice Echo to System for Favor)
Lin Fei considered.
Destroying it might give power… but the Broker had said: "The deeper you go, the more the system watches."
And this Echo—this Progenitor—was more than an enemy.
It was a key.
"I choose… Bind."
He placed his palm on the obsidian shard.
🌱 A New Root GrowsChains of light wrapped the Deep Echo, pulling it downward into the mist. Its form buckled—then reformed—until it was no longer a towering spirit, but a dormant root-node embedded into the earth. A new anchor.
[Deep Echo Bound – Classification: Guardian Relic Spirit][Veinfield Expansion Achieved: +1 Node][New Feature Unlocked: Ancestral Root Interface][Servitor Name: Forgotten Progenitor][Function: Memory Archive Access + Combat Projection][Current Trust Level: 1%]
Lin Fei stood slowly.
The Hollow Spiral still whispered—but it no longer resisted him.
A golden thread pulsed from the anchored node, extending back toward the edge of the Veinfield.
A connection.
A sign:
This place was his now.
📦 System Reward Claimed[Minor Contract Complete – Reward Dispensed]→ +1 Bound Credit→ "Echo Gift" Acquired: ??? (View in Domain Nexus)
He looked toward the swirling sky overhead.
Something was changing.
The system was paying attention.
And whatever the Bloom Broker really was—he knew more than he let on.
💭 Reflection at the Spiral's EdgeAs Lin Fei prepared to leave, the Progenitor's voice whispered in his mind for the first time—not thunderous, but soft. A flicker of clarity amid madness.
"The Veinfield remembers. But not all memory is truth. Some is… warning."
He turned, casting one last glance at the Hollow Spiral.
The mist parted, just enough to show a path forward.
A new contract.
A deeper secret.
A darker war.
And Lin Fei was already walking into it.