Kael didn't linger.
No longer willing to tempt fate, he left the rocky fissure that had shielded him for days—a narrow gash in the cliffs now etched into memory as the place of his rebirth. He stepped out into the ever-thickening fog, breath steady, heart resolved.
The long trek through the Fogveil Ring to the Greyveil town had begun.
Armed with a growing knowledge of the terrain and the predatory habits of Soul Beasts, Kael navigated with calculated caution. He moved between twisted tree trunks, and followed the winding paths etched by old hunters, and traced the faint signs of beast migration. Each step was deliberate, each decision informed by instinct sharpened by survival.
But something felt… off.
As the days passed, Kael noticed strange anomalies.
The fog had thickened unnaturally, pressing closer with every mile. It clung to his skin like damp silk and moved like it was watching him. Soul Beast activity grew erratic. Packs that once traveled in twos or threes now numbered six, even ten. And they weren't wild—there was… order in their movement.
The Fogveil Ring was changing.
No, Kael thought. It's mutating.
But he didn't turn back.
He hunted.
Not recklessly—never that—but with purpose. He selected lone Soul Beasts and smaller pairs, targeting the weak to test the strength that came with his Dim Soul potential. His scythe, once sluggish and unbalanced in his hands, now moved faster and sharper as though it breathed with him.
In one encounter, a Duskgraze Hound leapt at him from behind a thicket. Kael twisted mid-air, shadows lashing around his frame like a veil. His blade cleaved through the beast mid-pounce, and its dying screech was swallowed by the fog.
A Dark mist spiraled from its corpse into Kael's body.
[Chaos Energy Extracted: +10 CE Units]
Each kill was followed by the same influx—chaos energy drawn from the core of the fallen beast, converted by the system into CE Units. Kael felt it each time—like a heartbeat pulsing stronger within him, like a tide slowly rising.
With each kill, his presence deepened. Even without using affinity-based techniques, the very essence of his shadow affinity stirred around him—shifting the light, dimming the world by mere inches.
Predators began to hesitate.
By the fourth day, Kael had changed.
The scythe no longer trembled. It gleamed with confidence, pulsing darkly in his hand. The shadows clinging to him no longer flickered—they coiled.
Then it happened.
A pair of Shadow-Tusk Boars charged him near the base of a dried-up riverbed. Each weighed over 600 pounds and bore bone-plated snouts capable of splintering trees. Kael dodged the first with a sidestep so precise it looked like he blurred from existence.
And leapt above the second, twisted midair, and brought his scythe down in a spinning arc. One tusk shattered as blood erupted in a crimson spray. The first boar bellowed and gored forward, but Kael ducked beneath the sweep and slammed his blade through its thick neck.
Its body collapsed with a final wheeze.
Kael dropped to one knee, quickly pressing a palm to the still-warm core.
He channeled the soul energy in.
Then—boom.
A surge erupted within him.
His soul core flared—light bursting from his chest like a sunrise tearing through night. His vision went white, his body spasmed.
Bones cracked, but not from injury—they reshaped. His lungs expanded, breathing deeper. Muscles refined themselves with unnatural precision. Soul energy flooded him like a storm seeking a vessel.
[Cultivation Breakthrough Achieved: Second Rank Reached]
CE Units Gained: +20
Total: 170 / 1000
Kael gasped, sweat glistening on his brow. His body pulsed with new power—senses sharpened, reflexes heightened. He could feel the environment now. The fog itself had weight. His scythe vibrated slightly, responding to the change.
Another chime.
A new interface flickered to life:
[Affinity Skill Unlocked]
Shadow Flicker – Affinity Skill I
A basic defensive/evasive technique. Uses a burst of shadow energy to slightly blur movements. Creates a faint afterimage. Ideal for dodging or disorienting enemies.
Kael's lips curled into a grin.
The skill wasn't flashy—but it was practical. He immediately saw its potential. In battle, a moment was everything. A feint, a flicker… could be the difference between life and death. And now, he had the ability to manipulate those moments.
The hunger within him wasn't for domination, Not for pride.
Not for glory or revenge—it was for growth. A climb and a way to rise above the fate that had shackled him from the day he awakened.
He continued forward, eyes sharper than before.
He didn't challenge the Feral soul beasts—not yet. For now he had to avoid them.
But the grind didn't stop. Lesser Soul Beasts still fell to his blade, and each core was carefully collected. Some he absorbed. Others he saved.
He would need funds once he reached the town.
Above all, he was beginning to understand who he was when stripped of the world's limits.
When the weight of fate no longer chained his soul.
On the seventh day, the veil began to lift.
The fog thinned. The trees grew sparser. Familiar scents filled the air—burnt wood, the iron tang of civilization. And then, as he crested a gentle ridge, he saw it.
Lowlands stretched out before him, rolling toward the distant silhouette of his hometown.
The sun, burning gold and crimson, dipped low across the horizon and its rays cutting through the mist behind him like a blade.
Kael stood still, his silhouette framed by fading light. His scythe rested at his side, casting a long shadow across the dirt.
He looked at his hands.
Hands that once trembled.
Now, they pulsed with strength.
He had entered the Fogveil a nobody, a footnote in someone else's tale. But the boy who walked out was no longer forgotten.
He was forged in chaos, Molded by purpose and tempered by will.
And deep in his chest, something whispered again:
This is only the beginning...
He turned toward the road ahead, eyes glinting with quiet resolve.
"Let them see me now".