Ronan stared at the bodies. The street was eerily quiet except for the distant city thrum and the buzzing in his own ears. Five lives, extinguished with less effort than snuffing candles. They’d been enemies, but they were also just people following orders. Now they were cooling meat on asphalt, and Silas was smiling.“Why?” The word was torn from Ronan’s throat.Silas’s smile didn’t waver, but his eyes hardened. “Lesson five, repeated: Sentiment gets you killed. Their scanners had you. In thirty seconds, your facial profile and Aura signature would have been uploaded to the Obsidian network. You would have been hunted by every bounty hunter and junior scion in the city. This was the cleanest solution.” He nudged a corpse with his foot. “And now, they’re looking for a ghost—a high-level cultivator who kills with a touch. Not a Skin Refining street kid. Your trail just got much, much colder.”It was ruthless. It was logical. It made Ronan’s stomach turn.[Target Silas: Efficiency ratin

The sewer air was heavy and foul, like breathing through a wet rag soaked in rot and chemicals. Ronan stayed low, moving slow and careful. Every step was placed exactly the way Silas had taught him.Dim green light pulsed from glowing fungus stuck to the brick arches above. It flickered just enough to show shapes, never enough to feel safe.Silas was behind him somewhere. Ronan couldn’t see him. Couldn’t hear him. Still, he knew Silas was there, watching, judging.This one’s on you.A quiet signal flashed across Ronan’s vision.[Target location: roughly 200 meters ahead. One life sign. Big. Angry.]Ronan swallowed and kept moving.The Voidfang Serpent skin hung over his shoulders like a cloak. It didn’t make him vanish, but it muted his steps and smeared his Aura until it blended into the damp air.“Stay calm,” Ronan whispered to himself. “Slow wins.”Then he heard it.A wet snort. Over and over.Something scraped hard against concrete.Ronan froze.He edged forward until the tunnel

The river wasn’t water. It was freezing, thick, and full of things Ronan didn’t want to think about.The second he jumped into the pipe, it took him.The current slammed him under and dragged him forward, spinning him in pitch black chaos. The noise was everywhere. The pressure crushed his chest. He couldn’t tell which way was up.Don’t panic. Don’t panic.He held his breath and braced. His Skin Refined body absorbed the worst of the hits as he bounced off the pipe walls, but it still hurt like hell.Warnings flashed in his head, sharp and urgent.[Oxygen critical.][Navigation impossible.][Distance to exit: 3.2 kilometers.]Three kilometers.That’s not survivable, he thought.His lungs burned. His side burned worse, the open wound screaming as filth rushed into it. He couldn’t see. He couldn’t slow down. He was going to die here, drowned in darkness like trash flushed away.So this is it. Fitting.Then something else kicked in. Not the system. Something older. Deeper.The Earthroot

The river wasn’t water. It was a freezing, grinding mess of things Ronan refused to think about.The second he jumped into the pipe, the current grabbed him.“Shit”It yanked him under and slammed him around in total darkness. The roar was so loud it felt like it was inside his skull. He couldn’t see. He couldn’t breathe. The pipe walls smashed into him from every side.Don’t panic. Don’t panic.He clenched his jaw and held his breath. His Skin-Refined body took the hits, bone and muscle barely holding together as he bounced through the tunnel. Pain tore through his burned side, sharp and screaming.The system went wild in his head.[Oxygen levels critical.][Path mapping impossible.][Current velocity: extreme.][Estimated distance to outflow basin: 3.2 kilometers.]Three kilometers.“No way,” he thought wildly. “I’m not making it.”His chest burned. His lungs begged. Filthy water forced its way into his mouth. He was going to drown down here, alone in the dark perfect. A rat’s endi

The tree slammed down.It wasn’t loud. It wiped sound out completely, wood splitting, roots ripping free, raw pressure trying to hammer Ronan straight into the ground.He didn’t try to stop it.He took it.His boots sank deep into the mud. Dirt exploded around his ankles. He crossed his arms over his head just as the trunk hit. The shock ripped through him, rattled his teeth, buzzed his bones.But nothing broke.The weight settled, huge, dead, unforgiving. Like a fallen mountain. His muscles shook hard, screaming for mercy, but his bones didn’t give. They locked in. Solid. Final.Ronan stood there, holding up a tree.Inside him, something new answered the strain. His bones felt thick. Heavy. Alive. Power hummed through them, low and steady, like steel under pressure. [Marrow Refining Level 1 confirmed. Bone integrity: stable. Load status: acceptable.]From a safe distance, Silas started clapping. Slow. Sharp.“Well done,” Silas said. “You didn’t fold. That’s a win.”Ronan grunted.