The Gacha Of Forbidden Taboos

Chapter 3: The Taboo Shop

Lin Feng's POV

Or maybe I was floating. I couldn't tell if my eyes were open or if I even had eyes anymore. In the center of the white void, the rusted iron wheel of the Gacha didn't just spin, it shrieked.

The iron began to melt, turning into a liquid, blood-red mercury. The thorns grew into jagged obsidian teeth.

The entire interface began to distort, the "Despair" Tier cracking open to reveal something deeper, something ancient and forbidden.

[ULTRA-RARE EVENT: SYSTEM OVERLOAD.]

The needle passed 'Divine Sword.' It passed 'Immortal Cultivation.' It landed on a pulsating, black-and-gold icon that looked like a heartbeat trapped in glass.

[CONGRATULATIONS!]

[You have pulled a 5-Star Soul-Trait: "Pain-to-Power Conversion (Level 1)"]

[Description: The threshold has been crossed. You no longer just absorb energy, you refine it. Every point of damage taken is now permanently added to your Physical Strength and Soul-Density.]

The white light snapped.

I hit the back of the pit with a sickening thud. The heat was still there, but it wasn't hurting anymore. It was being pulled into my marrow, cooling into a dense, heavy power that made my bones feel like forged steel.

I coughed, a cloud of soot and sparks escaping my lips. I looked down at my chest. There was a charred, blackened handprint where the blast had hit me, but beneath the burnt skin, I could see the muscles pulsing with a dull, rhythmic gold light.

I looked up through the thinning smoke.

Shen was leaning against the railing, gasping for air, his mana reserves completely depleted. He looked like he had just aged ten years.

He stared down into the pit, waiting to see my charred corpse.

Instead, he saw me sit up.

I didn't feel the weakness. I felt... heavy. Like I was made of lead. I reached out and gripped a stone protruding from the cavern wall. With a casual squeeze, the solid granite crumbled into dust in my hand.

[Physical Strength: +200% (Temporary Boost)]

[Soul Density: Rank 1 - Iron-Body Path.]

I stood up, the scorched remnants of my clothes falling away. The "Gacha" screen was still there, but now it was different.

It wasn't just red. It was glowing with a deep, pulsing violet hue, the color of a bruised sky.

[New Feature Unlocked: The Taboo Shop.]

[Warning: The gods are watching. Would you like to spend your remaining points to hide your aura?]

I ignored the prompt. I wanted them to see. I wanted them to feel the weight of what they had created.

I began to climb the wall of the pit, my fingers digging into the stone like it was soft clay. Shen backed away, his heels catching on the uneven ground.

"Stay back," he hissed, trying to conjure a spark, but only a pathetic puff of smoke emerged from his fingers. "I’ll tell my father! I’ll have you executed for using forbidden arts!"

I reached the top of the railing and vaulted over, landing silently on the stone floor. I didn't stop until I was inches from his face.

The smell of his fear was better than any spirit-bread. It was metallic, sharp, and sweet.

"You’re right about one thing, Shen," I whispered, leaning in. The gold light in my chest flared, casting long, distorted shadows against the cavern walls. "This is a forbidden art. And the best part?"

I grabbed his throat, my grip like a hydraulic press. I didn't squeeze, not yet. I just let him feel the raw, unrefined power of his own Flame Burst reflecting back at him through my skin.

"The more you hate me," I smiled, the taste of copper and gold thick on my tongue, "the stronger I get."

A shadow moved in the corner of the room. The old librarian, Elder Mu, was standing in the archway, his eyes narrowed as he watched the scene. He didn't move to stop me. He just watched.

[DANGER: High-Level Observer detected.]

[New Quest: Survival of the Spiteful.]

Behind me, the deep, resonant chime of the Academy’s bell began to ring, signaling the start of the "Slave-Marking" ceremony. The time for games was over.

I let go of Shen’s throat, letting him collapse into a heap of expensive silk and shattered pride. I didn't look back as I walked toward the exit, toward the light of the upper floors.

In my mind, the wheel began to spin again, unprompted.

[Spinning... Tier: Taboo...]

The bell of Silver-Spire didn't toll for a ceremony, it tolled like a funeral shroud being pulled over the sun.

As I marched out of the Scavenger Pits, the transition from the stench of rot to the crisp, mountain air of the Upper Courtyard was jarring.

My skin was still tight, the gold-flecked power of the Pain-to-Power conversion humming beneath my ribs like a trapped storm. I could feel the eyes of the Academy students, the "High-Talents,” tracking my scorched, half-naked form.

They didn't see a threat yet. They saw a carcass that was taking too long to stop twitching.

In the center of the Public Square, a circular stage of white jade had been raised. This was the "Slave-Marking," the ritual where the Nullities and the failed were officially branded as property of the Spire.

Standing on that stage, looking resplendent in the silver-and-blue silks of a scholar-initiate, was my younger brother, Lin Chen.

He didn't look like a boy who had shared a cramped attic with me for ten years. He looked like a stranger carved from ice.

Beside him stood a Deacon of the Academy, holding a tray with a ceremonial dagger, the Fang of Loyalty.

"Lin Feng! Step forward!" the Deacon’s voice boomed, amplified by a wind-elemental spell.