The humid air inside the subterranean chamber seed to freeze solid as Kai stood over Leo Vance. The faint, ambient violet light refracting off the Abyssal Steel Shortsword cast long, monstrous shadows against the jagged cavern walls. Leo was pressed flat against a jagged boulder, his breathing shallow and rapid, his fingers clawing uselessly into the loose dirt. The absolute arrogance that had defined his entire life had been completely stripped away, leaving behind nothing but a fragile, trembling boy terrified of the dark.
"You... you wouldn't dare," Leo whispered, his voice cracking as he looked up at Kai's emotionless face. "The academy instructors have tracking arrays on our survival badges. If you do anything to , they’ll know instantly. My uncle will have you thrown into the abyss dungeon before sundown."
Kai didn't blink. He raised the black blade slightly, letting the tip hover just inches from Leo’s pristine, soot-stained collarbone. "You still don't get it, do you, Leo? You think the world revolves around your family na and your little A-Rank spark. But inside a dungeon, none of that matters. The monsters don't check your lineage before they tear out your throat."
Behind Leo, the two surviving vanguard students were completely frozen, their hands locked onto their shields as if moving a single inch would draw the reaper's attention to them. They had spent the last year riding Leo's coattails, bullying weaker students, and treating the academy like their personal playground. Now, facing an F-Rank student who had just single-handedly butchered an E-Rank Boss, their entire worldview was shattering.
"Please, Raven..." one of the cronies whimpered, dropping his dented shield entirely. It clattered loudly against the stone floor. "We didn't see anything. We won't say a word to the instructors. Just let us leave."
Kai shifted his gaze to the side, his violet eyes piercing through the dark to analyze the speaker. The cold, chanical accuracy of his SSS-Rank talent offered no comfort—it simply calculated variables, threats, and efficiency.[Entity: Standard Academy Student]
> Threat Level: Zero.
> Morale: Broken.
"Pick up your shields and carry your dead," Kai said, his tone devoid of any malice, which sohow made it even more terrifying. "If I see any of you trailing behind , I won't be as accommodating as the Chieftain was."
"Yes! Yes, right away!" the two students scrambled forward, lifting their unconscious teammates by their armpits. They didn't look back once as they dragged the dead weight toward the upper levels, their heavy boots echoing frantically down the tunnel until the sound finally faded into the distance.
Now, only Kai and Leo remained in the bloody chamber.
Leo swallowed hard, his eyes darting toward the cavern exit, but Kai stepped into his line of sight, blocking the path entirely. "What do you want, Raven? Gold? Cores? My family can buy you whatever you want. Just na your price."
Kai let out a short, humorless chuckle. "Gold? Cores? You think so small. I don't want your family's charity, Leo. I wanted to see what an A-Rank prodigy looked like when everything was taken away from him. It turns out, you're remarkably ordinary."
With a swift, fluid motion, Kai sheathed his shortsword back into its standard scabbard. The sudden cessation of the weapon's ominous hum allowed Leo to finally draw a full breath, though his chest still heaved with adrenaline.
"The trial ends in three hours," Kai said, turning his back to Leo without a hint of fear. "You have exactly that long to crawl back to the surface and tell your uncle whatever lies you need to protect your fragile pride. But rember this face, Leo. Because the next ti you cross my path, there won't be a dungeon boss to take the bla."
Without waiting for a response, Kai stepped forward, his Shadow-Tread Boots making absolute zero sound as he vanished into the deepest, unmapped eastern tunnels of the Goblin Caves.
Leo lay against the boulder for several long minutes, his hands shaking as the silence of the cave closed in around him. The humiliation burning in his chest was hotter than any fire spell he had ever cast. "Kai Raven..." he hissed through gritted teeth, his fingernails drawing blood against the dirt. "I will ruin you. I swear on the Vance na, I will see you broken."
anwhile, Kai moved deeper into the dark, his mind entirely detached from the drama he had left behind. The eastern tunnels were narrow, damp, and lacked the bioluminescent moss that illuminated the upper levels. To any ordinary student, this was a pitch-black labyrinth filled with lethal pitfalls. But to Kai, his SSS-Rank talent mapped out every pebble, every moisture drop, and every hidden entity with flawless clarity.
He halted in a small, secluded grotto. The air here was perfectly still, far removed from the hunting parties of the academy. It was the perfect spot to finalize his gains.
System, Kai thought, opening his interface. Display available evolutions.
The familiar translucent purple screen flickered into existence before his eyes, illuminating his face in a soft, ethereal glow.
INFINITE EVOLUTION SYSTEM
>Current Status:
> Evolution Points (EP): 24
> Available Materials: 1x Dark Crystal (E-Rank)
> Target 1: [Abyssal Steel Shortsword] -> Requires 25 EP & 1x Dark Crystal.
> Target 2: [Shadow-Tread Boots] -> Requires 25 EP & 1x Wind Elent Core.
Kai frowned slightly. He was exactly one single Evolution Point short of upgrading his primary weapon to the next major tier. He needed one more kill, one more extraction, to break through the barrier.
As if answering his desire, a low, wet clicking sound echoed from the ceiling of the grotto.
Kai looked up. Clinging to the jagged stalactites forty feet above him was a creature vastly different from the standard forest goblins. It was skeletal, its skin a translucent, sickly white that revealed the dark, pulsing veins beneath. Its fingers ended in elongated, obsidian-like talons, and its face was completely devoid of eyes, relying instead on a pair of oversized, twitching ears to navigate.
[Entity: Cave Stalker Goblin]
> Rank: E-Rank (Level 4)
> HP: 180/180
> MP: 10/10
> Strength: 13
> Agility: 18
> Endurance: 10
> Weakness: Noise.
An E-Rank regular monster. Its Agility was eighteen—higher than Kai's current effective Agility of seventeen. In a straight footrace or a blind ambush, an ordinary student would be decapitated before they could even draw their weapon.
The Stalker shifted its weight, its obsidian talons scraping against the stone. It had heard the faint rustle of Kai’s cloak, despite his boots being completely silent.
Eighteen Agility is fast, Kai thought, his grip tightening on the hilt of his shortsword. But speed ans nothing if your path is entirely predictable.
The Stalker launched itself downward like a falling stone, its claws extended to rip Kai's face open.
Kai didn't move. He stood perfectly still, tracking the creature’s descent through his system vision. Thirty feet. Twenty feet. Ten feet.
At the absolute last second, just as the cold wind of the creature's descent brassed against his forehead, Kai violently dragged the edge of his shortsword across a jagged rock formation beside him.
SCREEEEEECH!
A horrific, high-pitched tallic shriek tore through the small grotto. The sudden, agonizing volu exploded inside the Stalker's oversized ears, completely shattering its sensory perception. The creature let out a pathetic, garbled shriek, its orientation failing mid-air as it violently twisted off balance.
It crashed heavily into the dirt floor beside Kai, tumbling wildly.
Kai didn't give it a single mont to recover. Stepping forward with the precision of a practiced executioner, he drove the Abyssal Steel Shortsword down into the soft spot at the base of the Stalker's skull.
THUD.
The blade sank deep into the central nervous system. The Stalker’s legs twitched violently once, its translucent white skin rippling before going completely limp.
[System Notice]
> Gained 120 EXP.
Kai didn't waste a second. He held his left hand over the fresh corpse, his heart thumping with anticipation. *Extract.*
A bright gray orb floated into his palm, instantly dissolving into his skin.
[System Notice]
> Extraction successful.
> Acquired 3 Evolution Points (EP).
> Total EP: 27
A cold, calculating smile spread across Kai's face. He finally had everything he needed. He looked down at the dark crystal resting inside his inventory—the core he had ripped from the Chieftain’s skull.
System, Kai commanded, his voice echoing softly in the empty grotto. Evolve the Abyssal Steel Shortsword.
[System Notice]
> Expending 25 Evolution Points (EP)...
> 1x Dark Crystal (E-Rank) detected. Consuming material...
> Ultimate weapon evolution initiated. Please hold the weapon firmly...
Suddenly, the grotto was flooded with an overwhelming, blinding vortex of midnight-purple energy. The cosmic light was so dense it felt physical, pressing against Kai's skin like a heavy tide. The Abyssal Steel Shortsword in his hand began to vibrate violently, lting down into a floating mass of liquid obsidian that spun rapidly in the air.
The Dark Crystal dissolved into a fine, starry mist, injecting itself directly into the molten tal. The liquid hissed, reshaping itself into a longer, dangerously curved blade. A jagged, serrated edge ford near the guard, designed to tear flesh, while the rest of the blade remained impossibly sharp, absorbing the light around it until the weapon itself looked like a tear in reality.
When the light finally snapped out of existence, a profound weight settled into Kai's hand. The system interface overlayed the new weapon, its text glowing with a dark, ominous crimson tint.
[Item: Desolation Blade - Harvester]
> Grade: Cursed Obsidian Weapon (D-Rank)
> Durability: 250/250
> Attributes: 15 Strength, 5 Agility when equipped.
> Passive Skill: [Life Drain] – Every successful strike heals the user for 5% of the damage dealt.
> Evolution Available: Requires 100 EP and 1x Chieftain's Heart Core to upgrade.
Kai swung the weapon once. The blade moved so fast it bypassed the air entirely, leaving a faint, dark violet trail in its wake without making a single sound. No sound, no vibration. Just absolute, silent lethality.
With a D-Rank weapon equipped on day one of his awakening, his effective Strength had just skyrocketed to twenty-nine. He had officially surpassed the graduation requirents for upperclassn before his first day of classes had even officially concluded.
Kai looked up toward the upper tunnels, his eyes glowing with an intense, predatory light. "The real trial begins now."
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