The Forbidden System: Rise of the Last Martial God

The First Mission

Kael Veyron had learned two things in the past hour.

The first was that the world had lied to him about his martial core.

The second was that the mysterious system inside his mind knew far more than it was willing to reveal.

Neither discovery made him feel safer.

He stood in the centre of the First Archive, staring at the black pillar that had spoken his name.

“System.”

[Awaiting command.]

“Who is the Architect?”

[Information restricted.]

“Why was my martial core sealed?”

[Information restricted.]

“What is the Seventh Gate?”

[Information restricted.]

Kael rubbed his face.

“Are there any questions you can actually answer?”

[Yes.]

“Fine. Tell me how to get out of here.”

[Exit route identified.]

A thin silver line appeared across the floor, leading toward a narrow passage on the far side of the archive.

Kael stared at it.

“You could have told me that earlier.”

[You did not ask.]

He almost laughed.

Almost.

His ribs still hurt, his left arm throbbed, and the memory of the voice inside the pillar refused to leave his mind.

The system does not choose the strongest candidate. It chooses the one capable of surviving its creator.

What kind of system needed a candidate to survive its own creator?

And why had it chosen him?

Kael followed the silver line.

The passage narrowed until he had to turn sideways to move through it. Dust covered the walls, and the floor sloped upward.

After several minutes, he reached a circular chamber containing a stone platform.

A small crystal rested at its centre.

The moment Kael entered, the system activated.

[Emergency mission available.]

[Mission: Escape the First Archive.]

[Objective: Reach the surface before the archive collapses.]

[Time limit: 15 minutes.]

[Reward: Basic Body Tempering Technique, complete edition.]

[Failure penalty: Permanent burial.]

Kael stared at the message.

“Of course.”

A low rumble travelled through the chamber.

Dust fell from the ceiling.

Then a crack appeared in the wall behind him.

Another followed.

The entire chamber shuddered.

“System, why is the archive collapsing?”

[Restricted information.]

“Of course you don’t know.”

[Correction: The information is restricted.]

Kael clenched his jaw.

He had no time to argue.

He approached the crystal, hoping it might contain a clue. When he touched it, a faint image appeared above the platform.

A mountain.

Seven enormous gates.

And a shadow standing before the last one.

The image vanished almost immediately.

[Archive memory fragment acquired.]

[Progress toward main objective: 1/7.]

Kael stepped back.

Seven gates.

The same number mentioned in the voice’s warning.

He had no idea what the gates were, but he was beginning to suspect that the system’s missions were leading him toward them.

A sharp crash echoed from the passage behind him.

The way he had entered was blocked by falling stone.

Kael swore under his breath.

The silver line on the floor redirected toward a staircase hidden behind the platform.

He hurried toward it.

The first steps were narrow and uneven. He climbed as quickly as his injured ankle allowed, using the wall to support himself.

Halfway up, the stairs trembled.

A slab of stone broke loose above him.

Kael threw himself forward.

The slab smashed into the steps where he had been standing.

Fragments struck his back.

He gritted his teeth and kept climbing.

[Time remaining: 11:32.]

The staircase opened into a tunnel filled with thick roots. Some had grown through the walls, twisting around the stones like enormous fingers.

A pale light shone at the far end.

The exit.

Kael forced himself to move faster.

Then he heard a faint cry.

He stopped.

Someone was calling for help.

The sound came from a narrow opening beneath a fallen slab. Beyond it, a small chamber had partially collapsed.

Kael looked toward the exit.

He had less than twelve minutes.

The system displayed a warning.

[Primary mission objective: Reach the surface.]

Kael looked back at the opening.

“Is someone trapped in there?”

[Life signs detected.]

“How many?”

[One.]

He hesitated.

The sensible choice was obvious. He was injured, exhausted, and barely capable of saving himself.

But he knew what it meant to call for help and hear nothing in return.

He had spent three years hoping someone would stand up for him.

Nobody had.

Kael turned away from the exit and approached the fallen slab.

“Hey!” he shouted. “Can you hear me?”

A weak voice answered.

“Please… help me.”

Kael pressed both hands against the stone.

It barely moved.

He tried again, pushing until his injured arm trembled.

Nothing.

“System, can you help me move this?”

[Insufficient physical strength.]

“Then tell me how!”

For a moment, the system remained silent.

Then new information appeared.

[Environmental analysis complete.]

[The slab is supported by a fractured root beneath its left edge.]

[Suggested action: Remove the loose stones beneath the root before lifting.]

Kael dropped to his knees and began pulling stones from beneath the slab.

His fingers scraped against the rock.

One stone shifted.

Then another.

The slab tilted slightly.

“Now!” he shouted.

He pushed with everything he had.

The stone rose just enough to create a narrow opening.

A young woman crawled out, coughing and covered in dust.

She looked around wildly before fixing her eyes on him.

“Who are you?”

“Someone who would prefer to leave before the mountain buries us.”

The woman stared at the damaged staircase.

Then she looked at his bleeding arm.

“You came back for me?”

Kael shrugged, trying to hide how badly his body hurt.

“You were trapped.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Ask me again when we’re not about to die.”

A deep cracking sound rolled through the tunnel.

The woman stopped talking.

Kael pointed toward the staircase.

“Can you run?”

“I think so.”

“Good. Stay behind me.”

They hurried upward.

The tunnel shook violently. Roots snapped from the walls, and stones crashed around them.

The woman stumbled.

Kael caught her arm before she fell.

“Keep moving!”

They reached the final stretch of the staircase just as a section of the ceiling collapsed behind them.

A wave of dust swept through the tunnel.

Kael coughed and shielded his face.

Ahead, daylight shone through a narrow opening.

He pushed the woman toward it.

“Go!”

She crawled through first.

Kael followed, scraping his shoulder against the stone.

A moment later, they tumbled onto a slope covered in damp leaves.

The mountain groaned behind them.

A thunderous crash shook the forest.

The entrance to the First Archive disappeared beneath a cascade of rock.

Kael lay on his back, breathing hard.

For several seconds, neither of them spoke.

Then the system chimed.

[Mission completed.]

[Time remaining: 03:18.]

[Bonus objective completed: Rescue a trapped individual.]

[Bonus reward: 5 System Points.]

[Basic Body Tempering Technique unlocked.]

Kael closed his eyes.

Five extra points for risking his life to rescue a stranger.

For once, the system had done something he could appreciate.

A new message appeared.

[Current System Points: 15.]

[Available functions: Combat Insight, Technique Archive.]

[Locked function: System Exchange.]

“System Exchange?” Kael murmured.

[System Points may be exchanged for selected resources after the function is unlocked.]

“When can I unlock it?”

[Requirement: Complete three missions.]

Kael opened his eyes.

Three missions.

He had completed two so far.

One more, and he might finally discover what the points were worth.

The young woman sat up beside him.

“You keep talking to yourself.”

Kael turned toward her.

“I do that when I am tired.”

“You were doing it before we escaped.”

He studied her face.

She looked to be around his age. Her dark hair was tied loosely behind her head, and a small cut marked her forehead. Despite her injuries, her eyes remained sharp and alert.

She wore a grey travelling robe bearing a symbol Kael did not recognize.

“What were you doing inside that ruin?” he asked.

The woman’s expression changed.

“I was investigating a missing person.”

“In a collapsing underground ruin?”

“I didn’t know it was collapsing.”

“That’s reassuring.”

She ignored his sarcasm.

“My name is Lyra Sen.”

Kael hesitated.

He had no reason to trust her. The sect had taught him that people could smile at him while preparing to destroy his life.

Still, she had not abandoned him during the escape.

“Kael Veyron.”

Lyra’s eyes widened.

“Veyron?”

He immediately became cautious.

“You know my name?”

“I know the name.”

She looked toward the mountain, where dust still drifted between the trees.

“My instructor told me that the Veyron family was destroyed twenty years ago.”

Kael sat upright.

“My family is alive.”

“Your sister is alive,” Lyra corrected quietly. “But the rest of your family disappeared long before you entered the Iron Peak Sect.”

The words struck him like a physical blow.

He remembered the few things he knew about his father: a broad smile, rough hands, and a voice that had grown fainter in his memories over the years.

His mother had died when he was young.

His father had vanished during a mission when Kael was still a child.

The sect had told him there was nothing more to know.

“Who told you that?”

Lyra hesitated.

“Someone who believed your family was connected to a forbidden martial experiment.”

Kael stared at her.

The system’s warning returned to his mind.

The Architect has detected your existence.

He forced himself to remain calm.

“Where is your instructor?”

“Dead.”

The answer came too quickly.

Lyra looked away.

“He disappeared during an investigation three months ago. I followed the clues he left behind. They led me to this mountain.”

“And you found me instead.”

“I found a sealed ruin, a dying beast, and a young man who seemed to know things nobody should know.”

Kael frowned.

“I killed the beast.”

“I didn’t say you didn’t.”

Lyra studied him carefully.

“You have no visible cultivation aura, yet you survived a Shadowfang. Either you’re extraordinarily lucky, or someone has been hiding your true ability.”

Kael said nothing.

He had already decided that he would not tell anyone about the system until he understood it.

Lyra seemed to recognize his reluctance.

“Fine. Keep your secrets. But I think we should leave this mountain before whoever sealed that ruin discovers what happened.”

Kael looked toward the distant valley.

He needed medicine for Mira.

He needed answers about his sealed core.

And now he had a new reason to investigate his family’s past.

But before he could respond, a familiar silver message appeared.

[New mission activated.]

[Mission: Return to the Iron Peak Sect’s outer territory.]

[Objective: Obtain evidence concerning the artificial sealing of your martial core.]

[Secondary objective: Identify the individual responsible for the forbidden technique planted in your quarters.]

[Reward: Unlock System Exchange.]

Kael’s breath caught.

The system was sending him back to the place that had condemned him.

He looked toward the distant mountain peaks, where the Iron Peak Sect stood hidden among the clouds.

Three years of humiliation.

Three years of being called useless.

Three years of believing that his weakness was his own fault.

His hands curled into fists.

He would not return as the frightened disciple who had begged the elders for mercy.

But he would not rush blindly into danger, either.

He needed evidence.

He needed strength.

And most of all, he needed to know who had sealed his martial core and why.

Kael rose slowly.

“Lyra, do you know the safest route to the Iron Peak Sect?”

She stared at him.

“Why would you want to go there? I thought you had been exiled.”

“I have unfinished business.”

“That place will arrest you if they see you.”

“Then I suppose I shouldn’t let them see me.”

For the first time, Lyra smiled.

It was a small smile, but there was genuine amusement in it.

“You’re either very brave or very foolish, Kael Veyron.”

He picked up his torn bag.

“People have called me both.”

Together, they began descending the mountain.

Neither noticed the small silver mark appearing on the back of Kael’s hand.

Far beneath the collapsed ruins, the black pillar in the First Archive flickered once.

A voice whispered through the darkness.

“Two candidates?”

The silver light vanished.

“No. One candidate… and one witness.”

Something stirred behind the sealed Seventh Gate.

And for the first time in seven centuries, the lock began to turn.