2026-05-15 20:27:43The 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. Thick snow blanketed the ground, yet strangely, every time Aroan’s boots touched the powdery surface, they left no footprints. The passive effect of his Shadow Step made his body as light as a dried leaf.
Half an hour into his trek, Aroan’s sharp ears caught the sound of harsh laughter and groans of pain.
Aroan halted. His purple eyes glinted with cold indifference. He leaped lightly onto a thick pine branch without making a single sound, peering down at the dirt path below.
Three men in dull silver armor bearing the crest of a howling wolf on their chests were surrounding an old man sprawled and bleeding on the ground. Beside the old man, a wooden cart filled with low-grade mining crystals had been overturned.
They were the Lunaris Pack Border Patrol. Aroan recognized the uniform. He was the one who had designed that very armor before his father threw him away like trash.
"You think 'I haven't been paid yet' is gonna save you from the festival tax, old man?!" barked a pockmarked guard. He viciously kicked the old man in the stomach.
Thud!
"Please... Sir... my daughter is sick. If you take these crystals, we won't be able to buy medicine—"
"Not my problem!" The second guard, a burly Rank-D shifter, let out a condescending laugh. "Alpha Valerius is holding his grand wedding with Luna Elina next month! Every citizen must contribute! If you don't have the coin, send your daughter to our barracks tonight!"
Hearing the names Valerius and Elina, the temperature around Aroan’s perch plummeted instantly. The snow on the branch he stood on melted, evaporating into wisps of black smoke.
"A grand wedding?" Aroan smirked beneath the hood of his cloak. It was a smile devoid of a single shred of humanity. "Good. I need a grand stage to return the pain they gave me."
"Hey, who’s up there?!" The third guard, possessing slightly sharper instincts, aimed his spear at Aroan's pine tree.
Aroan didn't bother hiding. With a casual motion, he dropped down. His boots hit the snow without making the slightest sound.
The three guards narrowed their eyes, staring at the pale youth in a worn black cloak and the tiny wolf pup on his shoulder. They sensed a Rank-D aura radiating from him. The exact same rank as them.
"Who are you, beggar?" the pockmarked guard demanded, drawing his silver sword. "This is Lunaris Border Patrol territory! Hand over all your valuables as a toll!"
Aroan slowly raised his head. His glowing purple eyes stared at the three men as if looking at a patch of annoying weeds ruining the view.
"My name is Vane," Aroan's voice was hoarse and low, yet it echoed ominously in their eardrums. "And I don't have any valuables. But I am very interested in your lives."
"Huh? Are you courting death, bastard?!"
The burly guard roared. Thick fur sprouted on his face, his fangs elongating—a partial silver wolf shift. He lunged at Aroan, swinging a fist coated in blinding white mana. The speed and force were enough to shatter a boulder.
For the Aroan from a month ago, this punch would have obliterated his skull. But now? In Aroan’s eyes, the guard's movements played out in slow motion.
Aroan didn’t even bother drawing the Eclipse Blade from beneath his cloak. He simply tilted his head a fraction to dodge the strike, then casually reached out with his right hand, palming the burly guard's entire face.
SMACK.
The massive guard's momentum stopped instantly, as if he had crashed into an invisible wall of solid steel.
"Weak," Aroan whispered.
[Skill: Devour's Touch Activated!]
A coin-sized black vortex ignited in the center of Aroan's palm.
"W-what the—AARRRGGGHHH!"
The guard's scream was bloodcurdling. His skin shriveled like a raisin in mere seconds. His blood, mana, and very life essence were violently sucked into Aroan's palm. In just three seconds, the hulking man was reduced to a desiccated mummy, crumbling into gray ash that scattered in the freezing wind.
The remaining two guards froze. Their weapons trembled violently in their hands. Their faces were deathly pale, as if they had just witnessed the Grim Reaper himself.
"What kind of dark magic is that..." the pockmarked guard muttered, stumbling backward until he tripped over the wooden cart. "Y-you... you're a monster!"
Aroan turned to look at them. He rolled his neck until it popped with a sharp crack. The pure surge of Void energy he had just absorbed made his Dark Iron Bones hum with twisted satisfaction.
"Please, don't run," Aroan said, taking slow, deliberate steps toward them. A demonic smirk was etched clearly on his lips. "Because I am very, very hungry."
[Ding!]
[1x Lunaris Guard (Rank-D) Killed. +30 VP.]
[Absorbing Partial Memories...]
Aroan’s eyes flashed. This morning's slaughter had only just begun.
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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
