Kicked Out, I Rose as the Strongest Support

Chapter 3: The First Resonance

"Is all this a miracle, or just a hallucination before I die?" Darian Voss whispered, staring at his unblemished palm.

His raspy voice echoed against the stone walls of the silent abyss. He touched the left side of his chest once more. There was no stinging pain, no searing cracks in his Aether circuits, and no trace of the monster's poisonous blood.

Everything felt so impossibly perfect.

Yet in the mind of a rational strategist, doubts still lingered. For years, he had been branded a useless battery of a Supporter. This instantaneous transformation felt far too good to be true.

"Yip!"

An adorable little bark suddenly snapped Darian out of his thoughts. Perched on his shoulder, the tiny crystal fox fluttered its transparent wings playfully.

The little creature scampered down his arm and gave the tip of his thumb a gentle bite, as if protesting its master's doubt. Darian couldn't help a faint smile.

The warm bond radiating from the creature felt overwhelmingly real in his chest.

"You're right. You're real, and I'm not dead," Darian murmured, gently stroking the fox's crystal head.

The little fox closed its eyes, letting Darian stroke the fine, golden-rippled fur on its back while emitting a soul-soothing purr.

Darian gazed at the glowing crystal on its forehead, pulsing softly in rhythm with his own heartbeat.

"I can't keep calling you 'little fox,'" Darian said, his tone warming.

The fox looked up, tilting its head with an innocent stare from its round eyes.

"How about Pippo?" Darian offered softly.

"Yip!"

Pippo spread its wings wide and spun in midair before landing happily right back in Darian's palm.

Its crisp bark rang through the cavern corridor, signaling utter delight with its new name.

Darian let out a soft laugh.

The warmth Pippo brought slowly chipped away at the lingering trauma of Bram Sterling's betrayal.

Yet his sharp mind still demanded concrete proof of his mutated power.

"The Potential Blooming Circuit... If what I felt is real, I need to test it," Darian said firmly.

Darian strode down the wet, rocky corridor at the bottom of the abyss. Every step felt light and sure-footed. The dual Aether circuits in his chest constantly pumped a relentless supply of pure energy, flushing away the exhaustion that used to torment him.

Suddenly, the crystal on Pippo's forehead vibrated softly.

It emitted a subtle pulse of faint red light, pointing toward a crack in the rock wall. Pippo gestured toward the gap with its tiny snout.

Darian narrowed his eyes and approached a heap of collapsed stones in the dim corner. Trapped beneath a massive, jagged beryl boulder lay a tiny creature.

It was a small shadow lizard.

The reptile's body was crushed under the heavy stone. Its black scales were badly peeled, and toxic green fluid oozed slowly from its weakening eyes. Its breathing was shallow and ragged.

Seeing its congenitally deformed scales and its abandoned state, Darian realized it had been cast out by its own pack.

In the cruel world of Aethelgard, the weak and deformed were always discarded.

Darian clenched his fists. The sight struck a painful chord in his chest. He saw his own reflection in this dying little reptile—an outcast deemed useless by those who thought they were strong.

"You were thrown away like trash too, weren't you?" Darian whispered softly.

The tiny lizard opened its blurry eyes, staring up at Darian, too weak to resist.

Darian knelt on the damp ground and grabbed the edge of the massive boulder crushing the lizard. Taking a calm breath, he channeled pure Aether into his arms.

HEAVE!

The boulder, weighing hundreds of kilograms, lifted effortlessly. Darian set it aside and reached his open hand toward the limp lizard.

The little lizard trembled, but Darian stroked its back with utmost gentleness.

"Easy... I'm not here to hurt you," Darian murmured softly.

"Yip!"

Pippo leaped from Darian's shoulder, landing squarely on the back of his right hand. The crystal fox pressed its glowing golden forehead against Darian's wrist.

BZZZZT!

Energy resonance immediately cracked through the air.

Darian felt the Aether circuits in his chest surge violently. Waves of golden light fused with the pure blue radiance of Pippo's body, rushing down Darian's arm and pouring directly into the tiny lizard.

The sensation of the energy surge was strikingly intuitive.

Through Pippo's crystal vibrations, Darian could 'see' the internal structure of the lizard. Its internal Aether circuits were heavily blocked by toxic sludge — a congenital defect.

That was why it was stunted and deemed completely powerless.

"Its main circuit is blocked... but its potential is extraordinary," Darian muttered in shock.

Focusing his mind, Darian channeled the flow of the Potential Blooming Circuit, driving pure golden energy forward to blast through and shatter the toxic blockage inside the reptile.

CRACK!

A thunderous shattering sound echoed from within the small reptile. A blinding emerald-green light burst from beneath the gaps in its scales.

The lizard let out a short roar as Darian's golden wave scorched and restructured its entire energy circuit system. The ground around Darian's knees shook violently, sending stone pebbles floating into the air under the spiking atmospheric pressure.

BOOM!

A pillar of emerald light shot upward, slamming into the cave ceiling. The palm-sized lizard expanded exponentially within seconds!

The muscles beneath its scales swelled dozens of times over. Its thin black scales shattered, replaced by thick, impenetrable dark-green steel armor plating.

A pair of majestic Aether crystal horns sprouted from its head, clawing at the air. Its tail elongated, bristling with razor-sharp spikes that smashed into the cavern floor, splitting the earth beneath.

In just five seconds, the dying, stunted lizard had undergone a total transformation.

A colossal Ancient Drake — a dragon armored in steel, stretching over forty feet long, now stood majestically before Darian!

The sheer pressure of the drake's aura blew away the toxic mist surrounding the abyss floor in an instant.

Darian gasped, taking a step back as his eyes widened at the miracle before him. His Potential Blooming Circuit didn't just bestow a simple buff.

It unlocked and balanced hidden potential, forcing a creature straight into its peak evolutionary state.

The massive drake whipped its tail, generating a gust of wind that whipped Darian's shredded cloak violently. The terrifying ferocity radiating from the Ancient Drake was thick enough to choke on.

Yet instead of going on a rampage or attacking the young man, the massive dragon slowly lowered its body. It bowed its head — a head the size of a car, touching the ground right where Darian stood.

Its armored snout stopped inches from Darian's feet. The dragon's emerald eyes locked onto Darian, shining with reverence, obedience, and total submission to the creator of its power.

Pippo hopped joyfully on Darian's shoulder, puffing out its little chest as if proud of their masterpiece.

Steadying his arm, Darian reached out and touched the heavy steel armor covering the dragon's snout. A warm Aether vibration resonated perfectly between them.

The bond sealed, linking the dragon's consciousness directly into Darian's defensive perception. The drake exhaled a heavy gust of wind through its nostrils, ruffling Darian's messy black hair.

As that mighty breath washed over him, a deep, booming voice echoed through an ancient telepathic link, resounding directly inside Darian's mind:

"The Ancient Circuit has been liberated... Command me to crush your enemies, My Master!"