Air tore into Lucas’s lungs like jagged ice.He bolted upright, his chest heaving, fingers clawing wildly at frayed cotton sheets. Sweat drenched his throat and collarbone. The memory of the cold blade plunging between his ribs was still so fresh, so violently real, that he slammed a trembling hand against his chest to stop the bleeding.There was no blood.No crimson pooling on polished marble. No cold concrete floor of a rain-slicked alleyway. No fading echo of mockery cutting through the dark.Lucas stared at his hands. They were smooth. The jagged scar across his right palm—the one he had earned two years ago during the docks ambush—was gone. His breathing rattled in the quiet room as his gaze swept across the cramped space.Low, water-stained ceilings. A single rusted iron radiator clanking in the corner. Stacks of cheap textbooks piled on a warped wooden desk next to a cracked desk lamp. A tiny, single-room apartment that smelled faintly of damp concrete and old coffee.This was

"Get out of the car, trash," a voice barked into the damp night air.Three dark sedans slammed their doors shut at once, blocking both ends of the narrow alley behind the Imperial Hotel. Six heavy boots crunched on shattered glass as men in leather jackets stepped into the dim yellow glow of a single flickering streetlamp. Metal pipes scraped against concrete with a shrill, grinding screech, and the dull glint of switchblades cut through the shadows.Lucas stood near the overflowing dumpster, his breath forming small white clouds in the cool air. His ribs still throbbed with a dull ache from his previous life, a ghost pain of failures he refused to repeat.[System Notification: Hostile entities detected. Hostile count: 6. Threat level: Low. System integration active.]A blue light flashed directly in his vision, casting a faint haze over the figures advancing on him. He did not step back. He locked his jaw until his teeth clicked together."Lancelot sent you to clean up his mess?" Luc

"Look at this pathetic fraud!" Damon shouted, his arm sweeping across the packed waiting room of the community clinic.Patients sitting on plastic chairs shuffled back, whispering among themselves. Neighbors from the surrounding district pressed closer to the glass entrance, craning their necks to watch the scene unfold."He does not even have a valid license!" Damon sneered, stepping closer to Lucas. "He is running an illegal operation, scamming sick people out of their hard-earned cash!"Lucas stood behind the front desk, his hands resting flat on the scuffed counter. He did not blink. His pulse stayed slow and deliberate."You should leave, Damon," Lucas said calmly. "You are disturbing people who actually need medical attention.""Leave?" Damon laughed bitterly. He turned to face the crowd, raising his voice so every person in the building could hear him clearly. "I am saving you all from a crook! This useless trash got kicked out of the main hospital network for incompetence. Now

The sky over the eastern district did not just turn gray; it split open with a physical shockwave that rattled every window from the slums to the inner-city cultivation towers."Did you feel that ground tremor just now?" a vendor shouted near the station, dropping a tray of copper coins onto the wet pavement."That was not a tremor, you fool," a low-tier mercenary answered, gripping his steel sabre as his spiritual veins throbbed against his wrists. "That was a core eruption. Someone in this city just broke through a barrier that should not exist."Street corners erupted into frantic murmurs within minutes. Low-level cultivators gathered outside the merchant guilds, checking their spiritual tracking talismans only to find the needles spinning in circles. Ordinary citizens pulled their coats tight, shivering from the sudden drop in air temperature that followed the energy surge. Reports flooded the local comms networks about a hidden expert emerging in the lower sectors. Nobody knew a

"You think you can just walk away with everything, Lucas?" Damon roared, his finger pressing hard against the trigger of the silver pistol.The gunshot shattered the air inside the dimly lit office.Lucas did not even flinch. He leaned his torso two inches to the left as the lead bullet ripped through his dark jacket, grazing the skin of his right shoulder with a searing heat. A thin line of blood welled up, burning hot, but the System’s blue notification flickered instantly at the edge of his vision.[Damage Taken: 2 HP. Passive Skill: Physical Hardening Activated.]Before the spent shell casing could even hit the carpet, Lucas surged forward like a coiled spring.Step one: Lucas closed the five-foot gap instantly, his left hand clapping against Damon’s wrist to lock the firearm’s direction away from his chest.Step two: He drove his right palm hard into Damon’s elbow joint with a dull, sickening crack, forcing the gun to drop into his free hand.Step three: Lucas slammed his boot in