The Forbidden System: Rise of the Last Martial God

The Man Who Knew His Mother

The smoke above Ashenfall City had grown thicker by the time Kael and Lyra reached the southern wall.

People were running through the streets.

Some carried buckets of water. Others dragged carts loaded with belongings away from the burning buildings. The smell of scorched wood hung in the air, and frightened voices rose above the clatter of hurried footsteps.

Kael pushed through the crowd.

“Where is Ren’s Medicinal Hall?” he asked a man carrying a water bucket.

The man pointed toward a narrow street.

“Two streets ahead! The fire started near the old clinic!”

Kael broke into a run.

Lyra followed close behind.

When they turned the corner, Kael stopped.

Flames consumed the front of the clinic. Black smoke poured through the broken windows, and part of the roof had collapsed.

Several city guards stood outside, preventing the crowd from approaching.

Kael shoved through them.

“Master Ren!”

A guard caught his shoulder.

“You can’t go in there!”

“Someone is still inside!”

“The building is collapsing. Get back!”

Kael tried to pull free.

Then he saw a familiar figure sitting beside a nearby wall.

Master Ren was alive.

His white hair was covered in soot, and blood stained the sleeve of his robe. Two guards stood nearby, but neither appeared to be helping him.

Kael rushed toward him.

“Master Ren!”

The physician looked up.

Relief flashed across his face before he quickly concealed it.

“You came back.”

“Of course I came back. Are you hurt?”

“Nothing that will kill me today.”

Kael crouched beside him.

“What happened?”

“Your visitors became impatient when I refused to hand over the records. They searched the clinic and discovered the passage.”

Kael looked toward the burning building.

“Did they destroy everything?”

“Most of it.”

“Did they find the other records?”

Master Ren shook his head.

“No. I moved the important ones before they arrived.”

Kael exhaled.

At least their enemies had not obtained everything.

Lyra knelt beside the physician and examined his injured arm.

“The wound needs treatment.”

“I have treated worse injuries than this.”

“That doesn’t mean you should ignore it.”

Master Ren gave her a tired look.

“You remind me of someone.”

“Your instructor?”

The physician’s expression changed.

“You know about him?”

Lyra went still.

“My instructor disappeared while investigating the forbidden symbol. Do you know what happened to him?”

Master Ren glanced at Kael before answering.

“I know that he visited me three months ago. He was searching for a man who had once worked for the Seven Sects’ ancient research council.”

“Who?”

“Orin Vale.”

Kael froze.

“Master Orin?”

The physician nodded.

“He came here after abandoning the council. He believed the research they conducted was going to destroy more than one family.”

Kael remembered the day of his exile.

Master Orin had stood among the elders and refused to defend him. Kael had believed that the old master had abandoned him.

Now he wondered whether that silence had hidden something more complicated.

“Why didn’t he tell me?” Kael asked.

“Perhaps he thought the truth would put you in greater danger.”

“I’m already in danger.”

“Yes,” Master Ren replied quietly. “You are.”

Kael stood and looked at the clinic.

“Where can we go? We can’t stay here.”

“There is an abandoned bathhouse near the eastern market. The owner owes me a favor. He will let us use the basement for a few hours.”

“Then we should move before those men return.”

Master Ren rose slowly.

As they left the street, Kael glanced back at the burning clinic.

He had entered the city hoping to find medicine for his sister.

Instead, he had uncovered a conspiracy involving his family, an ancient intelligence, and a secret that powerful people were willing to kill to protect.

He tightened his grip on the strap of his bag.

Whatever the truth was, he was going to uncover it.

⸻

The abandoned bathhouse stood behind a row of closed shops.

Its faded sign hung crookedly above the entrance, and weeds grew between the cracked paving stones. A narrow staircase led to a basement filled with broken benches and empty storage jars.

Master Ren locked the door behind them.

“It’s not comfortable,” he said, “but it is private.”

Lyra helped him sit on a wooden bench.

Kael examined the room.

“Can anyone enter through another passage?”

“Not without breaking through the back wall.”

“Good.”

He turned toward the physician.

“You said you moved the important records before the clinic was attacked. Where are they?”

Master Ren reached inside his robe and removed a small brass key.

“Before I give you anything else, I need to know something.”

“What?”

“Have you ever heard your mother mention the Seventh Gate?”

Kael shook his head.

“Not once.”

“Has your sister?”

“I don’t think so. Mira was very young when our parents disappeared.”

Master Ren closed his eyes briefly.

“Then there is still much you don’t know.”

He removed a flat wooden box from beneath a broken bench and unlocked it with the brass key.

Inside lay several documents, a faded photograph, and a small crystal wrapped in cloth.

Kael picked up the photograph.

It showed three people standing before a stone building.

A younger Master Ren stood on the left.

Beside him was a tall man with dark hair and a stern expression.

The third person was a woman.

Kael’s breath caught.

Even though the photograph was old, he recognized the woman’s eyes.

His mother’s eyes.

“Where did you get this?”

“Your mother gave it to me before she disappeared.”

Kael stared at the photograph.

“Who is the man beside her?”

Master Ren’s jaw tightened.

“Darius Thorne’s father. Lord Cassian Thorne.”

Kael slowly lowered the picture.

Darius.

The man who had accused him of stealing the forbidden technique.

The man whose words had helped bring about his exile.

“Why was my mother standing with his father?”

“Because they once worked together.”

Kael felt the room tilt around him.

“Worked together doing what?”

“Investigating the ancient martial inheritance.”

Master Ren spread the documents across the bench.

“Twenty years ago, Lord Cassian Thorne was not the powerful sect official he is today. He was a researcher assigned to study unusual martial cores. Your mother was one of the few people capable of understanding the inheritance they discovered.”

“And my father?”

“Your father tried to stop the research when he learned what they intended to do.”

Kael’s fingers curled.

“What did they intend to do?”

Master Ren hesitated.

“They wanted to create a martial core that could adapt to any technique and grow without the ordinary limitations of cultivation.”

Kael thought of the Forbidden System.

His ability to analyze techniques. The mysterious archive. The warnings about the Architect.

“Did they succeed?”

“In part. But the process required a living subject.”

Kael looked at the physician.

“Who?”

Master Ren’s silence was answer enough.

Kael felt a cold weight settle in his stomach.

“Me.”

The physician nodded.

“Your core was not broken at birth, Kael. It was altered during an experiment. When the process became unstable, your mother and father tried to stop it.”

Kael could barely speak.

“All these years, I thought I was simply born weak.”

“You were a child caught in something far beyond your understanding.”

“Who sealed my core?”

“Your mother.”

The words struck harder than any physical blow.

Kael stepped away from the bench.

“My own mother sealed my power?”

“To protect you.”

“From what?”

Master Ren looked directly at him.

“From the system they had awakened inside you.”

The room fell silent.

Kael remembered the first notification in the ravine.

Your martial core is not broken. It has been sealed.

He had believed the seal was something his enemies had placed on him.

But his mother had created it.

Or at least, she had been the one to activate it.

“Why didn’t she remove it?”

“Because the seal was designed to suppress the system’s signal. As long as it remained intact, the intelligence searching for you would have difficulty locating you.”

Kael looked down at his hands.

“So my weakness was protecting me?”

“Perhaps. But I cannot tell you whether your mother intended the seal to remain forever.”

Kael struggled to control his breathing.

Every memory of humiliation, every insult, every failed cultivation attempt suddenly seemed different.

He had hated the weakness that kept him from becoming a proper martial disciple.

Now he was being told that the weakness might have been the reason he was still alive.

A system notification appeared.

[Historical record confirmed.]

[Core seal origin: Maternal intervention.]

[Reason: Partial information available.]

[Warning: Removing the seal without preparation may cause irreversible damage.]

Kael stared at the message.

“Can you tell me how to remove it safely?”

[Insufficient data.]

“Can you tell me what the Architect wants?”

[Insufficient data.]

“Can you tell me whether my mother is alive?”

Silence.

For the first time, Kael felt the urge to destroy the thing inside his mind.

It could analyze enemies, calculate weaknesses, and reward him for completing missions.

But when he asked the questions that mattered most, it offered nothing.

Lyra moved closer.

“Kael.”

He shook his head.

“I need a moment.”

He walked to the far side of the basement and leaned against the wall.

For years, he had wanted answers.

Now the answers were arriving one by one, and each one made his world more complicated.

His mother had sealed his core.

Darius’s father had worked with her.

The system inside him might have been created through an experiment.

And the people hunting him knew enough to threaten Mira.

Kael closed his eyes.

He could not change what had happened to him.

But he could decide what happened next.

⸻

Master Ren waited until Kael returned before revealing the final document.

“This is the reason I kept the records,” he said.

He unfolded a sheet marked with several names and dates.

At the bottom was a list of individuals associated with the original research council.

Most names had been crossed out.

Three remained.

Cassian Thorne — Council Liaison.

Orin Vale — Martial Researcher.

Severin Voss — Project Director.

Kael read the last name twice.

“Severin Voss?”

Master Ren nodded.

“He now controls one of the most influential martial organizations in the region. Publicly, he is known as a benefactor who supports the weaker sects. Privately, I believe he has continued the work that began twenty years ago.”

“And Darius?”

“His father is still alive, but he has disappeared from public life. Darius may know nothing about his family’s past, or he may know more than he admits.”

Kael thought about the expression on Darius’s face during the awakening ceremony.

Had the accusation been planned?

Had Darius known what the symbol meant?

Or had someone used him as a convenient weapon?

Kael could not answer those questions yet.

But he had a new lead.

Severin Voss.

The system chimed.

[Investigation milestone reached.]

[Hidden objective updated: Identify the Architects of the Seal.]

[New lead recorded: Severin Voss.]

[Reward: System Points +3.]

[Current System Points: 25.]

A second notification appeared.

[System Exchange unlock progress: 2/3 qualifying missions.]

Kael barely glanced at it.

He had more important concerns.

“Master Ren, I need medicine for my sister. Can you help her?”

The physician’s expression softened.

“I can prepare a preliminary treatment, but I need to examine her myself. If the silver mark is connected to the inheritance, ordinary medicine may only relieve the symptoms.”

“How soon can you travel?”

“Not today. My arm needs treatment, and the city gates are being watched.”

Kael looked toward the basement door.

“Then we’ll find another way to get her here.”

Master Ren shook his head.

“Don’t rush. If your enemies have identified her, moving her without preparation could expose her to greater danger.”

Kael hated hearing it.

But he knew the physician was right.

He would need to find a safe route, reliable allies, and enough strength to protect Mira.

For now, he could do nothing but plan.

A sudden metallic click sounded from the staircase.

Lyra spun toward the door, blade drawn.

Kael immediately activated Combat Insight.

[Hostile presence detected.]

[Number of targets: 1.]

[Estimated cultivation: Spirit Furnace.]

[Threat level: Severe.]

The basement door opened.

A tall man descended the stairs wearing a dark travelling cloak. His hair was streaked with silver, and a narrow scar crossed his left cheek.

He looked directly at Kael.

For a moment, neither spoke.

Then the stranger’s gaze fell on the pendant beneath Kael’s collar.

His expression changed.

“By the heavens,” he whispered.

Kael stepped in front of Lyra and Master Ren.

“Who are you?”

The stranger slowly lowered his hood.

“My name is Garran Vale.”

Master Ren stood so quickly that he winced from the pain in his arm.

“Garran?”

The newcomer ignored him.

He stared at Kael as though he were looking at a ghost.

“I knew your mother,” he said. “And I was there the night she disappeared.”

Kael’s heart hammered against his ribs.

“Then tell me where she is.”

Garran’s face darkened.

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because the last person who learned the truth followed her into the Seventh Gate.”

He paused, his eyes fixed on Kael.

“And that person was your father.”