[Directive: Consume designated ‘resource.’]An arrow in his vision pointed at the half-eaten, rotten spirit fruit Jace had tossed.“Eat… that? It’s rotten! It has no spirit energy left!”[Correct. It contains trace minerals, fiber, and bacterial cultures. Nutritional value: Low. Primary benefit: keeping the host alive. The System will handle the rest. Do you wish to survive?]The question hung in his mind plain, direct, impossible to ignore.Did he? A few minutes ago, he’d been ready to end everything. And now some… voice, some System inside his head, was telling him to eat literal trash if he wanted to live.Kieran let out a shaky breath.A small, hot ember flickered inside him. The same stubborn spark that had pushed him to protect Liana. The same part of him that refused to bow to Marcus.“No,” he whispered. “I won’t die like this. Not if there’s even the tiniest chance.”His hand trembled as he picked up the slimy, half-rotten fruit. The smell hit him hard, and he almost gagged.“

CHAPTER 004 A young disciple ran back and forth, trying to calm a huge Stormcloud Lynx. The beast was normally beautiful silver fur flashing with tiny sparks of lightning but now its coat looked dull and dirty. It coughed weakly, a few sad sparks popping from its throat.An Elder from the Beast Taming Hall marched over, her robes swaying. Her face was tight with worry. She checked the lynx, placed a hand on its chest, then let out a slow breath.“It’s the Withering Flux,” she said. “Its core is corrupted. It could infect the others. Put it down. Take the body to the Rendering Vat.”The young disciple’s eyes went wide. “Elder, please! She’s my bond beast! Please don’t make me—”“The bond is already broken,” the Elder cut in sharply. “The core is waste. End it before nightfall.”The disciple choked back a sob as another handler guided him away.Kieran stood frozen. His System wasn’t.A bright red alert flashed across his vision:[ALERT: High-value catastrophic waste detected.]Subject:

CHAPTER OO6The two handlers closed in, blocking every way out. The lantern light stretched their shadows across the pen, making them look bigger, meaner. Davin’s eyes were fixed on the dark, pulsing core clutched in Kieran’s fist. Rory planted himself at the gate, arms folded like a wall.“Last chance, trash-rat,” Davin sneered, stepping closer. “Drop the core, and maybe we just break your other arm instead of both.”Kieran’s chest heaved. The 127 units of Primordial Essence inside him churned like a wild river. Raw power surged through his veins, but he had no control over it. He was still just Kieran crippled, scared, holding a stolen steel bar and a pounding heart.“It’s not a treasure,” he said, voice tight. “It’s poison. It’s what killed the lynx.”Davin laughed, dark and sharp. “You think I care? Condensed beast core corrupted or not is worth fifty spirit stones to the right alchemist. That’s more than you’ll see in your pathetic life. Now hand it over!”A warning flashed in Ki

CHAPTER 008The sound was wrong. Not wood on metal. A deep, shivering snap rolled through the yard.The oak of Marcus’s training sword splintered, the thin spirit-steel core inside shattered like glass. Kieran’s chaotic Essence had poured into the bar at the exact moment of impact, magnifying the force.Marcus froze. His prized sword the symbol of his skill and status was now nothing but a jagged stump of twisted wood and metal.Silence stretched.Then Marcus’s face darkened. Gone was the mocking cruelty. Replaced by something cold, dangerous, and murderous.“You… you broken piece of nothing…” he hissed, voice low, trembling with rage. “You dare?”He dropped the ruined hilt. He didn’t need it. His hands curled into fists. A pale blue ripple of air shimmered around them, faint but visible. He was calling on his Qi the spiritual energy Kieran had never been able to touch.“I’m going to put you in the ground myself,” Marcus growled, voice low and deadly.This wasn’t just a beating. This

CHAPTER 010The first lash hit without warning.It wasn’t like anything Kieran had imagined. The leather snapped against his skin with a sharp thwack, but that was just the start. In the next heartbeat, the tiny spirit-thorns dug in, burning like acid and fire at the same time. The poison seeped into his nerves, turning the line of impact into a river of pure, screaming pain.Kieran’s body arched hard against the post. A guttural scream tore from his throat.[Critical damage detected. Toxin spreading. Activating emergency mitigation.]The System’s calm, mechanical voice cut through the agony like a lifeline. The tiny, newly-fixed meridian cluster in his chest stirred, pulling in the faintest bit of ambient Qi. It didn’t make him strong. It barely made him human. But it did something isolating the poison, diverting the worst of the pain, shoring up torn tissue. He still hurt, but he could survive it.Thwack!The second lash landed just below the first. Fresh fire exploded across his b