All Chapters of Awakening In The Trash Pile{My System is Cosmic Scavenger}: Chapter 21
- Chapter 30
80 chapters
You Do Not Belong
Kieran moved on, following a faint, crystalline shimmer his System detected pulsing from deeper in the fog. It led him into a narrow canyon. The fog here was thinner, and the walls were strange they seemed to hold faint, ghostly after-images of two cultivators locked in a centuries-old duel, their movements repeating on a loop.At the canyon’s end was a small alcove. On a natural stone pedestal rested a ‘Reflection Shard.’ It was a jagged piece of crystal, glowing with a soft, internal light, reflecting the ghostly duel on the walls around it.He was ten steps away when a voice spoke from behind him.“I knew you’d go for the isolated ones. Too cowardly to fight where anyone can see.”Kieran turned. Three outer disciples stood blocking the canyon entrance. They weren’t from Marcus’s group. They looked older, harder. Opportunists. The leader, a sharp-faced youth with a scar across his chin, smiled.“The custodian. The free token. Hand over your participation medallion and crawl back th
Reflection Rejection
The shadow-construct pulled itself fully from the crack, standing between Kieran and the canyon entrance. It had no weapon, but its hands ended in long, sharp shards of solidified darkness. The three disciples who'd attacked Kieran scrambled backward, their faces masks of primal terror, before turning and fleeing into the fog, abandoning the fight entirely.The construct ignored them. Its shifting, composite face settled for a moment into a blurry reflection of Kieran’s own but twisted with the anger of the ancient duelists. The voice of the Chasm echoed again, not in the air, but directly in his bones."Anomaly. Absence given form. You break the cycle of memory. You will be assimilated or erased."This wasn't a fellow competitor. This was the trial itself, manifesting a personalized nightmare. The Chasm saw his "Root of the Hungry Earth" not as a technique, but as a disease, a vacuum threatening its resonant ecosystem. It had created an immune response.Kieran gripped the Reflection
A Calculated Blade
The murmurs on the ledge rose to an outright buzz. Alistair Reed. The name carried weight. He was the tall, handsome disciple who’d been speaking with Marcus. He was also a top contender for promotion, a 4th Stage Qi Condensation cultivator known for his precise, elegant swordsmanship and icy composure. He was the last person a ragged custodian should face in the first duel.Kieran watched as Alistair stepped gracefully into the designated fighting circle drawn on the stone. He drew his sword with a soft, clear ring a blade of pale blue spirit-steel that seemed to hum with contained frost. His expression was serene, but his eyes held the sharp focus of a predator.This was no accident. The System’s prediction was right. Marcus’s fear had driven him to use his influence, and Alistair, for reasons of his own, had obliged.Elder Willem gestured for Kieran to enter the circle. “No fatal strikes. Yield or incapacitation ends the match. Begin.”Kieran stepped into the ring, the heavy Slag
The Moss That Grows On Stone
The name meant nothing to Kieran. He scanned the other qualifiers, looking for the girl who had smiled. She was gone.Elder Willem gestured toward the fog-shrouded path leading back down into the Chasm. “The second round duels are not held here. They are conducted within designated zones deeper in the Chasm. The environment is part of the test. Your zone is the ‘Grove of Echoing Moss.’ Your opponent is already en route. Proceed.”No rest. No recovery. Kieran’s leg was still stiff from Alistair’s frost, his side ached where the sword had grazed him, and his mind felt raw from unleashing the Chasm’s chaos. He turned and limped back toward the fog.As he descended the familiar path, the oppressive, memory-laden atmosphere closed around him again. But this time, he followed a faint, glowing trail of runes on the stone that led away from the main areas, down a narrow, damp gorge.The air grew cooler, wetter. The sound of dripping water replaced the distant echoes of combat. The stone wall
The Heart of the Grove
The moss-giant towered over him, a titan of compressed vegetation and stagnant water. Its single human eye, Sylvia’s eye, blazed with a pain that had curdled into fury. The Grove’s whispers were gone, replaced by a deep, grinding roar of roots and rushing sap.“YOU TAKE. YOU SILENCE. YOU ARE A CANCER IN THE MEMORY.”It took a step forward, the ground trembling. A massive, root-and-moss fist the size of Kieran’s torso swung down.He couldn’t block that. He dove sideways, the fist smashing into the stone where he’d stood, cratering it and sending up chunks of rock and dead grey moss.The problem was the sheer scale. His nullifying touch worked, but it was like trying to put out a forest fire with a cup of sand. He could kill a patch of moss on contact, but the giant was constantly renewing itself, drawing from the concentrated life-force Sylvia had merged with.He rolled to his feet, circling. The giant was slow, ponderous. But it was also relentless, and the grove was a closed circle
The Voids Embrace
The world dissolved into a silent, grey haze. The nullifying energy of the plateau didn't attack Kieran's body it erased his connection to everything that made him more than a body. The river of Essence in his core became a stagnant trickle, then dried up. The System’s interface flickered and vanished, leaving a terrifying silence in his mind. Even the muted emotions in his archive were smothered, leaving him hollow.He was sinking. Not into stone, but into a profound, spiritual void. He couldn't feel his limbs. He couldn't hear his own heartbeat. He was becoming a blank space in the world.His only anchor was the physical sensation of the ‘Void-Hearth Staff’ in his hand. Its cold, rough texture was the last real thing.This is it, a detached part of him thought. The Chasm wins. I end as I began as nothing.But the thought itself was a spark. A memory of defiance. He had been nothing in the pit. He had chosen to eat the rotten fruit. He had chosen the Nightmare Ember.He couldn't fee
The Monsters Bargain
The silence was broken by Elder Willem clearing his throat, the sound unnaturally loud. “Victory to Kieran. The Trials are concluded. Top rankings will be posted by dawn.”There were no cheers. No applause. The remaining disciples looked at Kieran as one might look at a natural disaster that had, by some miracle, spared them. Garrick was helped to his feet by two others, his face pale and hollow, unable to meet anyone’s eyes.Kieran stood alone in the center of the ledge, the Void-Hearth Staff cold in his hand. The rush of stolen Essence from Garrick still hummed in his veins, a sickeningly sweet power. He felt strong. Invincible, even. And deeply, profoundly wrong.He had crossed a line he hadn’t even seen. He hadn’t just defended himself or outlasted an opponent. He had consumed their cultivation, their hard-won strength, as if it were trash. He was no longer just a scavenger of waste. He was a parasite of progress.An inner sect disciple in finer robes approached, his face carefull
The tears of Memory
The cave's weeping turned to a storm of icy grief. A thousand needle-sharp droplets, each carrying the weight of centuries of sorrow, shot toward Kieran. It wasn't an attack meant to kill the body, but to drown the soul in despair.Kieran didn't raise the staff to block. He didn't activate the Root. Instinct, sharpened by Alistair’s note, screamed that those would be the worst things to do. This wasn't an energy to consume; it was a feeling to acknowledge.He dropped the staff. It clattered on the wet stone. He stood still, and let the tears hit him.They didn't pierce. They soaked through his robes, cold as a mountain stream. But with the cold came the memory. Not his own.A young man, a disciple of the Verdant Cloud Sect in ancient robes, laughing as he nurtured the small, young spirit vein, singing to it. The cave glowing with shared joy.Then, the clang of swords. Invaders in dark armor. A brutal, short fight. The disciple falling, his lifeblood soaking the cave floor, his last wh
The Leash Pulls Tight
The three figures vanished into the trees as soon as Kieran moved toward his door. A message, not an attack. We are watching. We have not forgotten.Sleep was impossible. The vast sorrow from the Weeping Caves was a quiet ocean inside him, and the sharp, jagged fear of Marcus was a needle pricking his skin. He spent the night sitting on the floor, the Void-Hearth Staff across his lap, cycling the dense Essence in his core just to feel the familiar, cold power. It was a comfort, even if it was born of poison.At dawn, Hall Master Vex arrived without ceremony, a scroll tucked under his arm. His expression was grimmer than usual.“Change of plans,” Vex said without greeting. “The mining outpost contamination is on hold. You have a new assignment. Urgent.”He unrolled the scroll on Kieran’s small table. It was a map of the sect’s western border, marked with a red X near a place called the ‘Blighted Thicket.’“A patrol of three outer disciples failed to return two days ago,” Vex explained
The Shadow at the Border
The next two days were a blur of preparation under Vex’s watchful, grim eye. Kieran was given a new set of robes still the grey of an anomalous disciple, but of finer material, with subtle silver trim that marked him as part of a diplomatic detail. He felt like a prized wolf being dressed for a dog show.He saw Alistair once, across the training grounds. The refined disciple gave him a slow, deliberate nod, his expression unreadable, before turning back to his sword forms. There was no further communication, no more helpful notes. The game had changed.On the morning of departure, Kieran reported to the main courtyard. A small caravan was assembled: two covered carriages for envoys and supplies, a dozen inner sect disciples as guards, all looking sharp and disciplined. Elder Willem stood at the head, his severe face like carved stone. He looked at Kieran as one might inspect a necessary but unsightly tool.“You will ride in the second carriage,” Willem said, his voice clipped. “You w