The Gacha Of Forbidden Taboos

Chapter 1: The Zero-Mana Sacrifice

Lin Feng's POV

The Awakening Crystal didn't just stay dark; it felt like it was swallowing the light in the Great Hall.

I kept my hand pressed against the cold, jagged surface of the obsidian pillar, waiting for the spark. A flicker of blue, a spark of red, anything to prove that the blood of the Silver-Spire lineage wasn't entirely stagnant in my veins. Around me, the air was thick with the scent of ozone and the expectant holding of breaths.

Thousands of eyes were pinned to my back, some hoping for a miracle, most waiting for the punchline.

"Lin Feng," the High Priest’s voice echoed, devoid of even the courtesy of pity. "Result: Null. Mana Affinity: Zero Percent."

A ripple of laughter started in the front rows and surged backward like a wave. It wasn't the boisterous laughter of a joke well-told; it was the sharp, jagged sound of a predator watching a wounded animal try to stand.

"A Zero?"

"In the Silver-Spire Academy? Even the stable boys have a three-percent spark."

I pulled my hand back. It was numb. I looked at my palm, then up at the High Priest. He was already looking past me, his eyes searching for the next candidate, someone who actually mattered. I was a ghost in a room full of gods.

I turned and began the long walk down the dais, the silence of the hall having been replaced by a low, buzzing hum of mockery.

"Step aside, Void-Trash."

The voice belonged to Young Master Shen. He stood at the base of the stairs, draped in silk robes that shimmered with Tier-4 Fire enchantments. He didn't just walk; he radiated heat, a physical manifestation of the talent I lacked.

As I tried to pass, he didn't move. He stood like a wall of gold and arrogance.

"You’re a stain on this ceremony, Lin Feng," Shen sneered, leaning in so only I could hear the venom.

"Your father was a hero, but you? You’re just a mistake that refuses to be erased."

I kept my face like stone. My hand drifted to the pocket of my coarse tunic, fingers brushing against a heavy, rectangular weight I’d found in the mud of the Outer wastes two nights ago.

It was a slab of obsidian-like stone, etched with weeping eyes. It had been silent since I found it. Cold. Dead. Just like me.

"Move, Shen," I said quietly.

The hall went silent. To speak to a Tier-4 Elementalist without a title was a death wish. Shen’s eyes flared, a literal orange glow flickering in his pupils.

"Kneel," Shen commanded.

I didn't move.

"I said, kneel." He raised a hand, and the air around us began to shimmer with heat. "If you can't be a student, you can at least be useful. My boots are dusty from the trek up the Spire. Consider this your first lesson in your new career as a footstool."

He didn't wait for an answer. With a movement too fast for my unenhanced eyes to follow, he kicked the back of my knee.

I hit the floor hard, the impact jarring my teeth. Before I could scramble up, his heavy, silk-wrapped boot slammed onto my shoulder, pinning me down.

"Look at him!" Shen shouted to the crowd. "The son of the Great General, bowing to his betters. This is the natural order!"

I felt it then. It wasn't just the pain in my shoulder or the sting of the marble against my skin. It was a profound, soul-deep hollow.

A void of absolute humiliation. The weight of a thousand mocking gazes felt like physical lead pressing into my skull.

Thump.

A heartbeat. Not mine. It came from my pocket.

The Cursed Tablet of the Weeping God suddenly surged with a heat that made Shen’s fire feel like a candle flame. It didn't burn my skin; it burned my essence.

My vision blurred, the Great Hall dissolving into a sea of grey fog.

Target: Lin Feng.

State: Absolute Humiliation detected.

Trauma Level: High.

Betrayal Index: Processing...

A screen of translucent, blood-red light flickered into existence inches from my nose, invisible to everyone else.

[SYSTEM INITIALIZED]

[The Gacha of Forbidden Taboos is now bound to your Soul-Void.]

[Fuel Source: Suffering. Agony. Despair.]

I felt a rib crack under the increasing pressure of Shen’s boot. He was enjoying this. He was leaning his full weight into it, trying to hear the sound of my spirit breaking.

[Condition Met: Public Shaming.]

[Condition Met: Physical Trauma (Fractured Rib).]

[Points Harvested: 500.]

[You have earned: 1x Gacha Spin (Tier: Despair)]

I let out a ragged breath, my face pressed against the floor. From this angle, I could see the polished shoes of the elites, the hem of my brother Lin Chen’s robe as he turned his back on me, refusing to even look. Every bit of it, the pain, the abandonment, the shame, was being sucked into the Tablet like a vacuum.

"What's wrong, Lin Feng?" Shen mocked, grinding his heel. "No mana to defend yourself? No pride left to swallow?"

I didn't answer. I couldn't. I was staring at the red screen.

[Would you like to Pull?]

Yes, I thought, the word echoing in the emptiness of my mind. Give me something to kill them all.

A giant, spectral wheel manifested in the grey fog of my mind’s eye. It wasn't made of gold or light, but of rusted iron and thorns. It spun with a sound like grinding teeth.

The colors weren't bright; they were shades of bruise-purple, dried-blood red, and void-black.

The needle slowed. It skipped past 'Minor Regeneration' and 'Pain Numbing.' It hovered over a black sliver that felt like a hole in reality.

[CONGRATULATIONS!]

[You have pulled a 6-Star Legendary Reward: "The Devouring Void-Body (Passive)"]

[Description: You cannot hold mana. Instead, your body treats all incoming elemental attacks as fuel. The more they hurt you, the stronger you become.]

The red light snapped back into my eyes. Reality returned with a jolt. Shen was still there, his boot still on my neck, his laughter still ringing in the air.

"You're nothing," Shen hissed, preparing to deliver a final, crushing kick to my ribs to send me sliding off the dais.

I looked up. For the first time in my life, the fear was gone. My shoulder was screaming, my rib was a jagged line of fire, and I loved it. I felt every ounce of the pain being converted, a dark, heavy energy coiling in my gut like a sleeping serpent.

"Go ahead, Shen," I whispered, my voice raspy but steady.

Shen paused, his brow furrowing. "What did you say, trash?"

"I said, hit me again." I flashed a smile that didn't reach my eyes, a jagged, terrifying expression. "I need the points."

Shen’s face contorted in rage. "You want to die? Fine!"

He pulled his foot back, his leg erupting in a pillar of Tier-4 flame.

The crowd gasped. This wasn't a lesson anymore, it was an execution. He swung his leg with the force of a falling star, aimed directly at my temple.

I didn't flinch.

The flaming boot connected with my head, and the world exploded in a cacophony of shattering marble and roaring fire. A cloud of soot and dust obscured the dais, and a heavy silence fell over the Academy. Nobody could survive that.

As the smoke began to clear, the High Priest stepped forward to declare the 'accident,' but the words died in his throat.

Standing in the center of the scorched crater was a figure. His tunic was burned away, his skin was blackened in patches, and blood was streaming down his face from a gash on his brow.

I

stood tall, the dark energy in my gut purring like a satisfied beast. I looked at Shen, whose leg was still extended, his eyes wide with a dawning, primal terror.

[Massive Trauma Detected: Tier-4 Fire Damage.]

[Points Harvested: 2,500.]

[New Spin Earned: Tier - Agony.]

I wiped the blood from my eye and took a step toward the "Genius" of the Silver-Spire.

"My turn," I said.