2026-04-28 21:44:37The air at the precipice of the Cliff of Regrets was both poison and medicine.
It was no longer as heavy and suffocating as the lethal gas at the bottom of the abyss, yet it carried scents Aroan's senses had nearly forgotten: the crisp aroma of pure oxygen, the sharp tang of snow pine sap, and the faint, disgusting stench of the Lunaris Clan's arrogance carried on the wind. High above, beyond the thick, impenetrable clouds that perpetually guarded Velmora, the surface world was waking up, completely oblivious that a soul they had discarded as trash had just clawed its way out of its own grave.
Aroan stood on the jagged edge of the cliff, his gaze cast down upon the endless vertical path he had just conquered. His breathing was perfectly stable. Beside him, Nyx in its full Shadow Primal Fenrir form kept a low profile, its black-fire fur fluttering violently in the piercing mountain winds. The giant wolf let out a low, guttural growl, its purple eyes staring up at the faint glimmer of dawn—a light that now felt like a primordial threat.
Sargon materialized from the shadow of a colossal stone pillar as if he were a part of the darkness itself. He showed no signs of fatigue. The iron-masked giant produced a small, obsidian dagger from beneath his cloak. The blade did not shine; it actively devoured the dim light around it.
"Approach, Aroan," Sargon commanded. His voice was heavier than usual, as if preparing for a sacred, ancient ritual.
Aroan stepped forward without hesitation. He had already survived the hell of meridian expansion and bone marrow annihilation; physical pain was now nothing more than a number in his mind.
Sargon gripped Aroan's upper arm with a strength that could crush solid steel. Without warning, he sliced the obsidian dagger across Aroan’s skin.
It was not a random cut. Sargon moved his hand with the deadly precision of a master calligrapher, carving a twisting, complex symbol that resembled a chained eclipse. The blood that welled up was not red; it was pitch-black, viscous, and emitted a cold, dark vapor. Before a single drop could fall, it was pulled back by a strange, internal gravity, reabsorbing deep into Aroan’s flesh and bone.
[System Warning! External entity is attempting to carve a 'Rune' onto Host's body!] [Analyzing Rune... Compatibility with Void System: 98%.]
[Engraving Successful! You have acquired 'Seal of the Void Sovereign' Lv.1!]
The wound instantly sealed shut, leaving behind a raised, jet-black permanent scar. The symbol pulsed rhythmically in perfect sync with Aroan’s heartbeat, radiating an incredibly dense Void aura before finally fading from normal sight.
"This is a seal of concealment," Sargon said coldly, his single golden eye staring at the symbol with a deep, almost fanatical obsession. "It will mask the Velmora aura on your body, making you appear as nothing more than a common Rank-D shifter to their pathetic Elders. But this seal is also a reminder..."
Sargon leaned in close, his voice a chilling whisper that crawled down Aroan's spine. "That you belong to the darkness. Should you ever try to betray the destiny I have written for you, this seal will be the first thing to devour your soul from within."
Aroan touched the new scar. He felt a strange, primal connection, as if the symbol were an anchor tethering his wild, untamed power. "I understand," Aroan whispered hoarsely. "This darkness is no longer my enemy. It is me."
He then turned, looking back down into the purple-fog-choked depths of Velmora. Closing his eyes, he felt the soul-deep connection to the hundreds of lives that had sworn fealty to him in the third tier.
"Return to the darkness," Aroan commanded in his mind, a silent decree that crossed thousands of meters in an instant. "Become shadows. Do not rise until I call your names with blood."
At the bottom of the impenetrable abyss, hundreds of pairs of purple eyes dimmed in perfect unison. The Shadow Guard retreated back into the ruins of the dead city, becoming a living myth that would haunt the abyss, awaiting the call of their Emperor.
Now, his task in Velmora was complete. Before stepping forward, Aroan did one last thing: he checked his results.
"System, display status."
A semi-transparent, dark-blue interface materialized before his eyes. It was not a game screen; it was a raw, unfiltered report card of his suffering and evolution.
[CURRENT STATUS PANEL]
* Name: Aroan
* Bloodline: Lunaris (Receding) / Umbra (Dominant)
* Title: The Exiled Prince, The Abyssal Sovereign
* Meridian Rank: D+ (Capable of withstanding C-Rank energy)
* Physique: Dark Iron Bones
* System: Void Prime System Lv.2
* Total Void Points (VP): 2,100
* Bound Entity: Nyx (Shadow Primal Fenrir - Infant Stage)
* Entity Rank: C+
* Main Skills:
* Shadow Step Lv.1
* Devour's Touch Lv.2
* Shadow Sync Lv.3
* Shadow Swordsmanship Lv.2
* Legion: Shadow Guard (17 Warriors)
Aroan stared at the panel with cold, absolute satisfaction. From a pathetic Rank-F Prince spat upon by everyone, he was now a D+ Rank Abyssal Sovereign with a ghost army and a living legend at his side.
He pulled his tattered black cloak tighter, shrouding his old identity. "Let them have one last feast," Aroan hissed. "Let Valerius believe he has truly won. An uninvited guest is walking toward their gates with newly sharpened fangs."
Nyx drastically shrank its size, reverting to the appearance of an ordinary, small black wolf before leaping gracefully onto Aroan's shoulder. They were ready.
Aroan looked at Sargon one last time, at the very border between hell and the living world. "I will do this my way, Sargon."
Sargon simply nodded, his colossal body slowly melting into the shadows, becoming one with the Cliff of Regrets. "Do it, Aroan. Show the world above that the sun never truly rises without the permission of the dark."
With a single, decisive step, Aroan crossed the invisible threshold of Velmora’s final gate.
The pale morning sunlight struck his face for the first time in what felt like an eternity. It was like being slapped by a hot, spiked plank. He squinted, his skin, now hyper-sensitive to light, feeling as though it were being scorched.
But he did not turn back. He strode forward, leaving the abyss behind, ready to begin his nameless infiltration.
In the far distance, the great bell of Silver Peak tolled, signaling the start of a brand new day.
They had no idea that bell was a death knell, counting down the final hours to their own destruction.
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CHAPTER 11: Welcome to the Surface, Vane
The morning sunlight carried no warmth. To Aroan’s skin, now accustomed to the deathly chill of Velmora, the light felt like a slow drizzle of corrosive acid. Aroan narrowed his eyes. The black veins beneath the skin of his neck twitched, reacting in instinctual rejection of the light. But slowly, the Seal of the Void Sovereign carved into his shoulder by Sargon pulsed with a faint heat. The burning sensation faded, replaced by a cooling veil that completely masked his dark aura. In an instant, the terrifying pressure of the Abyssal Sovereign vanished. If any Lunaris Knight were to see him now, they would only see a pale, ragged young man with a profoundly ordinary Rank-D shifter aura."Perfect," Aroan muttered. On his shoulder, Nyx—now reverted to the form of a scruffy, black-furred little pup—sneezed softly at the snow dust.Aroan continued his march through the Deadwood, the buffer zone separating the edge of the Velmora abyss from the outermost territories of the Lunaris Pack.
CHAPTER 10 VELMORA'S CREST, REPORT OF A DEMON
The air at the precipice of the Cliff of Regrets was both poison and medicine.It was no longer as heavy and suffocating as the lethal gas at the bottom of the abyss, yet it carried scents Aroan's senses had nearly forgotten: the crisp aroma of pure oxygen, the sharp tang of snow pine sap, and the faint, disgusting stench of the Lunaris Clan's arrogance carried on the wind. High above, beyond the thick, impenetrable clouds that perpetually guarded Velmora, the surface world was waking up, completely oblivious that a soul they had discarded as trash had just clawed its way out of its own grave.Aroan stood on the jagged edge of the cliff, his gaze cast down upon the endless vertical path he had just conquered. His breathing was perfectly stable. Beside him, Nyx in its full Shadow Primal Fenrir form kept a low profile, its black-fire fur fluttering violently in the piercing mountain winds. The giant wolf let out a low, guttural growl, its purple eyes staring up at the faint glimmer of d
CHAPTER 9: LEGION FROM THE ABYSS, TRIAL OF A SHADOW
Velmora’s third tier was the tomb of a forgotten civilization.Unlike the upper levels, which were merely a labyrinth of natural caves, these depths revealed the silent, sprawling ruins of an ancient city. Towering obsidian structures, eroded by eons of darkness, reached up like the colossal skeletal fingers of dead giants trying to claw at a cavern ceiling that had never known light. The air here was heavy and oily, saturated with dense Void particles capable of shattering an ordinary human’s sanity within minutes. The only illumination came from the faint, pale-purple glow of corrosive crystals that snaked across the walls of the dead metropolis.Aroan strode down the center of a cracked main road, his every step now steady and utterly soundless. Beside him, Nyx, in its full Shadow Primal Fenrir form, moved with an intimidating, predatory grace. Each exhale from the giant wolf released a plume of purple vapor that instantly froze the air, leaving a thin, black layer of frost on the
CHAPTER 8: EVOLUTION OF A SHADOW FENRIR
The lingering, searing embers from the Abyssal Meridian Elixir still pulsed violently within Aroan's veins as Sargon ruthlessly forced him back to his feet. There was no time to rest. In Velmora, recovery was a luxury that did not exist."Walk," Sargon commanded coldly. "If your meridians did not detonate, it means you can still kill."They descended into the third tier of Velmora. The air here was no longer just freezing; it was actively toxic. A thick, dark-purple fog slithered across the ground, blanketing heaps of fossilized bones thousands of years old. Down here, the concept of a "silver moon" was nothing more than a childish fairy tale. Only the most primal law of the jungle reigned supreme: Devour or be devoured.Aroan now walked with a straight, rigid spine. His newly forged D+ Rank meridian channels felt like a freshly opened superhighway. The violent torrent of Void energy no longer felt like torture; it now surged powerfully through his body, creating an intoxicating, cold
CHAPTER 7: SHATTERED VESSEL, AWAKENING OF A LEGEND
Victory over the Elite Abyssal Stalker did not last more than a few fleeting minutes before absolute destruction knocked on the door of Aroan’s consciousness in the most agonizing way imaginable.As soon as the pitch-black aura from the massive monstrosity was entirely absorbed, solidifying into the Dark Iron Bones beneath his flesh, the intoxicating surge of power instantly mutated into a lethal double-edged sword. Yes, his skeleton was now as impenetrable as obsidian steel, capable of withstanding devastating physical trauma. However, a fatal flaw lay hidden within something entirely invisible: The Meridians.[System Warning! 'Soul Vessel' capacity critically exceeded!][Energy density of Entity 'Nyx' violently surpasses the tolerance limit of Host's Rank-F Meridians!]Aroan’s body was a biological anomaly forced together by sheer desperation. His meridian channels—the microscopic, invisible pipelines that circulated mystical energy throughout the body—were still horrifyingly narrow
CHAPTER 6: CURSED HUNGER, AWAKENING OF DARK IRON BONES
Hidden deep within the darkest corner of Velmora’s second tier, Aroan’s agonizing groans echoed like two massive steel plates being violently scraped together.In his violently trembling hand rested a pitch-black, marble-sized pill—the Marrow Cleansing Pill (Void Edition) he had just purchased from the Shadow Shop for 1,000 VP. It radiated a biting, absolute cold. Sargon, leaning his massive frame against the cavern wall, simply observed the boy through the slits of his rusted iron mask."That pill was not designed for human consumption," Sargon stated flatly. "It will literally boil your old bone marrow alive and replace it with the essence of the void. Are you absolutely certain you wish to swallow it?"Aroan locked eyes with Sargon, his gaze blazing with lethal determination. "I would rather explode from the inside out tonight than spend another second crawling on my knees!"Without a single second of hesitation, Aroan swallowed the black pill.For the first three seconds, nothing
