2025-09-14 15:27:12The wilderness was merciless.
Arin stumbled through a tangle of thorn-bushes. His breath ragged and his ribs ached from another close encounter. His clothes were torn and streaked with blood. The moon hung cold above him. Silver light poured over a land teeming with beasts.
Every direction was like death itself
Yet, the system would not let him stop.
“Ding! Survival Quest Update.
Objective: Endure wilderness trial, Shelter, food, water secured within 24 hours.
Time Remaining: 2 hours, 17 minutes.
Penalty: –10 years lifespan.”
Arin’s pulse hammered. He had secured water from a muddy stream, but food and shelter? He had seen nothing. His stomach clawed at itself in hunger.
If he failed and if the timer struck zero, he would lose years of his life in an instant.
He staggered onward. Growls echoed in the distance. Every rustle of leaves whispered in the darkness.
“Is this how they expect me to die?” he muttered, clutching his mother’s cloth at his wrist.
The night deepened, getting colder by the hour. His body shook and his vision blurred.
“Ding! Passive Quest Triggered.
Objective: Endure cold until dawn without fire.
Reward: Frost Resistance +1.
Penalty: –3 years lifespan.”
He bit back a curse. ‘Fire?’ He had no flint and no tinder. The system was merciless. If he failed, it would take away his life span piece by piece.
But it was also the only reason he was still alive.
A yellow rustle gleamed in the dark.
Arin turned just as a spirit-beast leapt from the undergrowth. It was a wolf with its fur lined with frost and fangs like shards of ice.
“Ding! Combat Trial Initiated.
Objective: Survive encounter with Ice Wolf.
Reward: Minor Meridian Repair Fragment.
Penalty: –5 years lifespan.”
The beast moved.
Arin ducked. He rolled through the leaves with his fists trembling. He clenched them letting out the dragon Vein Fist he had practiced until his bones screamed. The system pulsed in his vision.
“Now!” His fist lashed out.
The wolf’s jaw cracked sideways. It howled, staggering back. Arin staggered too, gasping. His body screamed in pain. But he stood gallantly.
The system chimed coldly.
“Quest Complete.
Reward: Minor Meridian Repair Fragment Acquired.”
The glow pulsed faintly in his chest. But he had no strength left. His knees buckled.
He collapsed near a frozen ravine. The bitter wind gnawed at him. Darkness pressed in.
The wolves closed in. A pack this time around. Their breath misted and their growls rumbled. Arin’s arms hung limp at his sides. He could barely raise his head.
When suddenly, a flurry of snow and a glint of light fill up the atmosphere.
“Frost Petal Bloom.”
The air cracked with frost. Shards of ice burst from the ground, spearing through two wolves instantly. The rest yelped, retreating into the dark.
Arin blinked with surprise wondering who owned that power.
A girl stood above him. She was pale with hair flowing like snow in moonlight. Her eyes were as cold as glaciers. She wore traveling leathers and white fur lining her cloak. Her palm shimmered with a frost qi.
She looked down at him with disdain. “Pathetic. You’ll die out here if you keep stumbling like this.”
Arin coughed. His body was trembling. “Then… Why save me?”
Her gaze lingered on him, sharp and curious. “Because you didn’t beg for it. Most people like you beg.”
She pulled him to his feet with surprising strength.
“I am Lyra Frostwind,” she said curtly. “And you?”
“Arin,” he rasped. “Arin Darkveil.”
Her brow twitched. Recognition flickered in her eyes. “The crippled boy cast out by his clan?”
His jaw tightened. The title cut deeper than any wound. “That’s what they call me.” He replied coldly.
Lyra studied him for a long moment. Her expression was unreadable. Then she turned away. “You won’t last a week out here at this pace and If you slow me down, I’ll leave you.”
Arin narrowed his eyes. “And yet you haven’t left me now.”
Her lips curved faintly. Not a smile, it was more like amusement. “Consider this a test.”
As they walked, the system chimed again.
“Ding! Co-op Quest Generated.
Objective: Form a temporary alliance with Lyra Frostwind.
Reward: Double Experience Bonus for Co-op Battles.
Penalty: –7 years lifespan if alliance fails prematurely.”
Arin almost stumbled. ‘An alliance quest? The system had never offered that before. Did it… recognize her?’ He thought in his head.
Lyra glanced at him sharply, as if she had noticed the faint glow in his eyes when the system window appeared. “What is that light?”
He froze. “It’s nothing,” he said quickly.
Her gaze lingered, icy and probing, but she didn’t press. Instead, she drew her blade and frost qi moved along its edge. “If you want to survive, prove it. A beast’s lair lies near. Help me kill it or we will die trying.”
The lair was a cavern built with ice. Growls echoed from within it. A mid-tier beast, an Icefang Boar emerged. Its tusks glowed with frosted qi and steam billowed from its maw.
Arin’s chest tightened. He had never faced something this strong.
“Ding! Co-op Combat Quest Initiated.
Objective: Defeat the Icefang Boar with Lyra.
Reward: Major Meridian Repair Fragment, Combat Skill Enhancement.
Penalty: –12 years lifespan if failed.”
The beast charged almost immediately. The ground cracked.
Lyra’s frost qi surged, creating icy spikes that slowed the boar. “Strike its flank!” she commanded.
Arin’s fists trembled. He inhaled, letting the system’s words flash before his eyes. His body moved as ducked, pivoted and strike!
Dragon Vein Fist roared from his arm. His blow landed against the beast’s ribs, cracking its bone. The boar howled, thrashing wildly. Lyra seized the opening, frost blade slicing across its throat.
The beast collapsed, blood steaming against ice.
“Ding! Quest Complete.
Reward: Major Meridian Repair Fragment Acquired. Dragon Vein Fist — Proficiency +20%.”
Arin staggered back, gasping. His chest glow warmly as the fragment melded with his meridians.
He felt it, the chains within him loosening. Qi flowed smoother than ever before. His crippled meridians, long broken, were repairing piece by piece.
Lyra eyed him. And her curiosity deepened. “A cripple couldn’t have moved like that. Who exactly are you, Arin Darkveil?”
He wiped blood from his lip, meeting her gaze steadily. “Someone who refuses to die.”
Lyra wasn’t a friend but she wasn’t a mocker either. She fought beside him, trusted him for a moment, and didn’t sneer when he stood his ground. Instead the believed in him at every stance.
The warmth of victory burned brighter than the cold wilderness.
“Maybe…” he whispered, clutching his mother’s cloth, “maybe trust isn’t entirely lost.”
As they prepared to leave the beast’s lair, Lyra’s expression hardened.
“Be on guard,” she said quietly.
Arin frowned. “Why?”
Her eyes narrowed, scanning the treeline. “Stormfang hunters are in this region. I overheard them earlier. They’re asking about someone.”
She met his gaze, her tone hardened.
“A boy the heavens cursed. A fate-defying anomaly.” Arin’s blood ran cold after he heard.
The system chimed mercilessly.
“Ding! Warning: External Hostiles Approaching. New Threat Level Detected.”
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Seventy-one hour war
Arin felt the Dragon Vein thrumming louder, not from defiance now but from recognition; the vein had found the tunnel’s old wards and answered them, and the resonance in his chest promised one more thing — a way through that was not wholly escape: a path to return.He stepped forward and met the Elder’s gaze. “You think yourselves saviors,” he said. “But your hands are just the same as the ones that once broke our doors open to steal grain and name.”The Elder laughed, a cold rasp. He gestured, and the courtyard filled with a shimmering lattice — not the Temple’s gold but the clan’s own binding marks, centuries-old magics reforged into instruments of control. “Then be bound as we see fit.”Arin’s body turned into motion. He didn’t plan a fight — he made one. It was not for trophies but for breaths. He caught the first binding thread in his palm and let the resonance shiver through it, then folded that power and flung it outward. The thread burned like paper and snapped. The Elder’s ey
Darkveil defiance
Arin didn’t wait for the envoy’s final decree. The courtyard was a pressure cooker of fear and fury; if he hesitated the Second Elder’s purge would swallow more than pride. He scanned the faces — some broken, some feverish with triumph — and made a decision that surprised no one who had ever watched him choose a blade over a bargain.“Scatter!” he barked, voice like iron. The command carried, because people still heard what they feared and what they loved in him.Lyra slid beside him, frost singing along her blade. “We hold them back. You get the innocents to safety,” she said, already moving like someone who didn’t like to ask permission.Arin’s palm met the earth. The Dragon Vein answered, a low hum under the skin of the world: a map not of roads but of old places where walls were thin and secrets older than the clan slept. Golden scales crawled across his forearms. When he moved they left brief afterimages, like burned calligraphy in the air.A shout rose — the Second Elder himself
War with the Darkveil soul
The wind blows with a lighting of situations, everyone got set for the show of the night. The clan ground that was once thrummed with celebration now lay uneasy and silent. There above the rooftop, gather much heavens themselves who are ready to witness the event.“ They have thought evil against me. Even the Darkveil which seems to be my path.” Arin who had sat with his legs crossed on a cold stone overlooking the courtyard.Then comes the faint blue light of the system which hovered before him, pulsing like a heartbeat. Incoming Events: Stormfang Clan Retaliation: within 72 hours. Heavenly Temple Summons: active for 7 days. Optional Directive: Survive both encounters. Reward: Path Advancement Spirit Core Ignition.He exhaled slowly. “Seventy-two hours,” he murmured. “So the storm comes early.”Behind him, footsteps approached—soft, deliberate.“Still here?” Lyra’s voice was quiet but carried a weight of concern. Her silver-lined robes swayed with the wind, and her dark hair
Duel & Thrones Cracking
The tournament grounds shook with the roar of the crowd. Sunlight was bright across the martial arena. It glinted off already clean weapons and the gilded through thrones where the clan elders sat in judgment.Youth after youth clashed upon the sand. Each duel was a combat of qi and sword. Cheers rose when fire erupted and when blades hit one another.Arin stood silent at the edges, cloak drawn, watching. His turn had not yet come, but people talked about him wherever he went.“That’s him, the exile.”“He dares fight in the tournament?”“Maybe he’ll collapse before he even takes a stance.”They sneered. But their voices trembled faintly now, for some had already seen his controlled strikes in the early rounds where he dispatched opponents without wasted movement.Arin never revealed the full breadth of his strength. Yet each clash carried a weight that made the crowd gasp in shock. His fists struck like dragons hidden in mist and his footwork impossibly fluid for a boy once branded cr
Return & Tournament Omen
The wind howled across the barren ridge as two figures made their way along the frozen path.Arin walked with steady strides now. He was no longer the broken youth who had left his clan’s gates in humiliation. His qi flowed smoother and his meridians no longer felt like chains of fire tearing through his flesh. Instead, his body pulsed with faint power, subtle and yet undeniable.Beside him walked Lyra Frostwind. Her pale cloak fluttered like a shard. She said little, but every so often her icy gaze drifted toward him, as if measuring the changes in his stance and the growing strength in his aura.The wilderness had carved him anew.Days bled into nights. Their journey toward civilization became a crucible.At dawn, Arin drilled Dragon Vein Fist until his knuckles split. The system chimed relentlessly, issuing quests that rebuilt him.“Ding! Daily Training Quest: Perform 500 Dragon Vein Strikes.Reward: Dragon Vein Fist Proficiency +5%.Penalty: –2 years lifespan if failed.”His arms
Wilderness and Lyra
The wilderness was merciless.Arin stumbled through a tangle of thorn-bushes. His breath ragged and his ribs ached from another close encounter. His clothes were torn and streaked with blood. The moon hung cold above him. Silver light poured over a land teeming with beasts.Every direction was like death itself Yet, the system would not let him stop.“Ding! Survival Quest Update.Objective: Endure wilderness trial, Shelter, food, water secured within 24 hours.Time Remaining: 2 hours, 17 minutes.Penalty: –10 years lifespan.”Arin’s pulse hammered. He had secured water from a muddy stream, but food and shelter? He had seen nothing. His stomach clawed at itself in hunger.If he failed and if the timer struck zero, he would lose years of his life in an instant.He staggered onward. Growls echoed in the distance. Every rustle of leaves whispered in the darkness. “Is this how they expect me to die?” he muttered, clutching his mother’s cloth at his wrist.The night deepened, getting cold
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