13 Heavens: Rise Of The Bloodline Dreg

An Offer You Cant Refuse

The inside of the Aetherius transport was silent and cold. It was a sleek, armored vehicle that hummed with barely contained power.

Leo sat across from Analyst Cora and the silent guard, his mind racing. His new Zephyr Lungs pulled in the sterile, filtered air, analyzing it instinctively. It was pure, devoid of any scent or impurity. It felt like the air of a lab.

He had been caught. The one thing he needed to avoid. And not by the brutish Ironbloods, but by the most cunning of the Families. The ones who valued knowledge above all else.

"Who am I cultivating for?" Leo repeated, buying time. "Myself. Isn't that the point?"

Cora's stormy eyes held his, a faint, knowing smile on her lips. "For most, yes. But a talent like yours doesn't emerge from nothing. A Reclaimer dreg, from a fallen house, suddenly displaying physical prowess that defies his level and causing energy signatures we can't classify?"

She shook her head slowly. "No. That is not a solo act. You are an asset. We simply wish to know who holds the deed."

"I don't belong to anyone," Leo said, his voice firm. It was the truth, but he knew she would never believe it.

"We shall see," she said softly.

The transport glided to a halt. The doors opened not onto a street, but directly into a stark, white lobby of a towering skyscraper.

This was Aetherius Tower, their seat of power in New York. The air here was thick with concentrated Qi, so pure it made Leo's new lungs sing with pleasure even as his nerves screamed in alarm.

They led him to a room with no windows. A single table, two chairs. It was an interrogation room, but a clean, sophisticated one.

"Sit," Cora said. The silent guard took up a position by the door, his presence a clear message: there is no escape.

Cora sat opposite him, placing a small, crystalline device on the table. It glowed softly.

"This is a resonance scanner," she explained. "It will tell us the nature of your cultivation. It will reveal the 'flavor' of your power. Every Family's methods leave a distinct mark. Ironblood energy is heavy, metallic. Sylvan energy is organic, fluid. Ours is precise, structured. Yours... we shall see."

Leo's heart hammered against his ribs. The System was a secret he couldn't afford to lose. What would this scanner see? A blank slate? A chaotic mess? Or something that would mark him as the most valuable lab rat in the world?

"Place your hand on the device, Mr. Kaelen."

He had no choice. Refusal would be an admission of guilt. He slowly reached out and placed his palm on the cool crystal.

The device glowed brighter. A low hum filled the room. Cora watched a readout on the wall, her expression one of academic curiosity.

The hum grew louder, more intense. The light from the scanner began to strobe, shifting through colors erratically. The readout on the wall was a mess of conflicting data, graphs spiking in impossible directions.

Cora's calm demeanor finally cracked. Her eyes widened. She leaned forward, her brow furrowed in utter confusion. "This... this is impossible. It's reading everything and nothing at once. It's as if your foundation is... perfect. But not a static perfection. A dynamic, evolving one. It's rejecting the scan."

Leo kept his face neutral, but inside, he felt a surge of relief. The System was protecting itself.

The scanner let out a sharp ping and the light died. A thin wisp of smoke rose from its surface.

The device was broken.

The silent guard shifted his weight, the first sign of unease he'd shown.

Cora stared at the scorched scanner, then back at Leo. The look in her eyes had changed. The cold analyst was gone, replaced by something hungrier, more intense. She looked like a scientist who had just discovered a new law of physics.

"You are not working for a rival Family," she stated, her voice filled with awe. "You have access to something... older. Purer."

Leo said nothing. Silence was his only weapon.

Cora stood up and began to pace. "The Five Families have a treaty. A balance of power. We do not openly steal each other's rising talents. But you..." She stopped and pointed at him. "You are an unaffiliated anomaly. A resource. According to our laws, finding you is like finding an unclaimed spirit vein. It belongs to whoever can secure it."

She leaned on the table, her face inches from his. "So, I am going to make you an offer, Leo Kaelen. And you would be wise to listen."

Leo met her gaze. "I'm listening."

"Join the Aetherius Clan. Become one of us. You will be given a stipend, a secure residence, access to our libraries and training facilities. In return, you will submit to periodic... examinations. We wish to study your growth. To understand the path you are walking."

It was a gilded cage. They wanted to lock him up and watch him, to unravel the secret of the System. He would be safe, fed, and powerful... but he would never be free. He would be their experiment.

"And if I refuse?" Leo asked, though he already knew the answer.

Cora's smile returned, colder than ever. "Then we cannot allow a weapon of unknown power and allegiance to roam free.

If you are not an asset of the Aetherius, you are a potential threat to the Aetherius. And we neutralize threats."

The choice was stark. Slavery or death.

He looked at the broken scanner on the table. He thought of the System, of the Path of the Perfect Foundation. He had come too far to become someone else's pet.

He took a deep breath, his Zephyr Lungs filling with the room's potent Qi. He felt the power in his bones, in his skin, in his chest. He had faced a Razor-Wing Queen. He wouldn't be intimidated by a bureaucrat in a white room.

"I need time to consider," he said, his voice calm.

Cra studied him for a long moment, then nodded. "Very well. You have until dawn. You will be our guest here for the night. Think carefully, Leo. Your next breath may depend on it."

She and the guard left, the door sealing shut behind them with a definitive hiss of pressurized air.

Leo was alone in the sterile room. A prisoner.

He closed his eyes, reaching out to the System.

[User is in a high-security containment field. Qi-dampening measures are in effect.]

[Analysis: Direct escape is impossible with current capabilities.]

[Calculating optimal survival strategy...]

He was trapped. The full weight of the Aetherius Clan was bearing down on him. He had one night to find a way out, or his journey would end here, in a lab or a grave.

He opened his eyes, a grim determination settling over him. He had until dawn.

[Strategy Calculated: Deception and Leverage.]

[Sub-Objective: Feign acceptance. Use their resources to gain a critical advantage.]

Leo almost smiled.

The System wasn’t backing down. It wasn’t begging.

It was giving him a challenge.

“Play along,” it whispered in his mind.

“Act weak. Act loyal. Become the Trojan horse.”

Leo slowly raised his eyes to the blank white walls of his cell. Cold. Empty. Silent.

“They really think they’ve trapped me,” he muttered under his breath.

The Aetherius Clan believed they were in control.

They believed he was helpless.

They believed he had no way out.

Leo let out a quiet laugh sharp, humorless.

“Hunters?” he said softly. “You have no idea what you just brought into your own den.”

Outside, the first light of dawn crept in, faint and pale. Most prisoners would feel fear at sunrise.

Leo felt something else.

Purpose.

As the sky brightened, he sat up straighter and whispered to himself:

“Fine. I’ll take your offer.” He smirked. “But I’ll use it to break you from the inside.”