2026-04-28 21:25:40Hidden 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 happened. But on the fourth second, Aroan’s entire world violently collapsed.
"AAARRGGHHH!"
Collapsing to his knees, Aroan clawed desperately at his own chest. It felt as though someone had injected boiling lava directly into his spinal cord. The pill worked with ruthless efficiency; it violently incinerated the bone marrow inherited from his Lunaris bloodline. The sheer agony quickly mutated into a brand new, terrifying affliction: A gaping, bottomless hunger.
An abyssal void tore open inside his solar plexus, aggressively demanding to be filled with life essence.
"You feel it, don't you?" Sargon’s heavy voice pierced through Aroan’s screams. "Your new marrow requires sustenance. Down here, you do not cultivate through peaceful meditation. You cultivate by devouring!"
Aroan couldn't answer. His eyes, now blazing with a dark purple hue, stared blankly ahead. He watched in horror and awe as his fingernails unnaturally elongated, mutating into razor-sharp obsidian claws that emitted faint black smoke—a physical, organic manifestation of the Eclipse Blade fusing with his anatomy.
Suddenly, the ground beneath them trembled violently. The temperature plummeted to sub-zero. From the absolute darkness emerged an entity far more terrifying than the Hollowed.
An Elite Abyssal Stalker.
The monstrosity towered at three meters tall, possessing disproportionately long limbs and translucent, pale skin that revealed thick black energy flowing through its veins. It had no eyes; its face was entirely consumed by a massive, unhinged jaw lined with saw-like teeth. Hanging from its hunched frame were the rusted remnants of Solari armor—a warrior of the sun who had met the same doomed fate as Aroan.
"Do not just sever its neck," Sargon commanded, stepping backward into the shadows. "Use your claws as a direct conduit. Do not let a single drop of its essence go to waste!"
The Stalker launched itself with absurd, logic-defying speed. Gliding across its own shadow, it moved with a disjointed, lethal rhythm. Its highly toxic claws cleaved through the freezing air, aiming straight for Aroan’s heart.
Aroan’s feral instincts reacted faster than human logic. Simultaneously, he felt a violent surge of energy within his own shadow. Nyx was no longer hiding.
[Skill Unlocked: Shadow Step!]
Just as the monster’s massive claws were about to bisect him, Aroan’s body seemingly 'dissolved' into the shadow dimension, leaving behind a phantom illusion of smoke. He instantly rematerialized one meter directly above the monster’s back.
But he did not attack alone.
[Partner Skill Activated: Shadow Sync!]
The moment Aroan reappeared, Nyx’s shadow violently erupted from the ground beneath the Stalker. The shadow did not manifest as a whole wolf; instead, it materialized as tendrils of dark, massive fangs that viciously clamped onto the Stalker’s hind legs! The freezing shock of pure Void energy instantly paralyzed the giant monster in its tracks.
It was the fatal opening Aroan needed. Without a shred of hesitation, he plunged his smoking obsidian claws deep into the base of the Stalker’s neck.
"Devour...!" Aroan growled. The sound escaping his throat was no longer human; it was the chilling snarl of an apex, primordial predator.
[Skill: Devour's Touch - Brutal Mode Activated!]
An ear-piercing shriek that could shatter glass erupted from the monster’s jaws. Thick, pitch-black smoke—pure life energy—was forcibly siphoned through Aroan’s claws. It felt like swallowing molten lava, yet simultaneously, an explosive, intoxicating surge of absolute power flooded his collapsing veins.
Down below, Nyx wasn't just restricting movement; the shadow fangs actively 'shredded' the monster’s essence from the bottom up, draining the energy from the enemy's legs and channeling it back into Aroan’s core. This flawless synchronization created an absolute cycle of predation.
This wasn't an elegant martial arts duel. This was a one-sided slaughter.
[1x Elite Abyssal Stalker (Rank-C+) Eliminated! Acquired 300 VP.]
[Energy Assimilation Complete. 'Marrow Cleansing' process reached 100%!][Congratulations! Host's skeleton has successfully evolved into 'Dark Iron Bones'.]Drained of every single drop of its life force, the massive Stalker rapidly shriveled into a dry husk before crumbling into a pile of gray ash.
Aroan dropped heavily to the ground, panting like a wild beast. Pitch-black veins bulged dangerously across his neck. His muscles visibly densified, and the open lacerations on his back violently stitched themselves shut, leaving behind dark, pulsating scars. He could feel the monster’s chaotic energy rebelling inside his body—a wild, feral turbulence that threatened to shatter his sanity.
His eyes glowed entirely purple. Snarling, he turned, ready to lunge at Sargon.
Sargon approached with terrifying calmness. He executed a highly specific two-finger strike—The Umbral Tranquility—striking a precise nerve cluster at the base of Aroan’s neck. Instantly, the feral turbulence was extinguished, replaced by a cold, absolute, and stable emptiness.
"Your vessel is finally formed. Your bones are now as impenetrable as dark iron," Sargon assessed, his golden eye piercing through the boy's fading feral state. "But remember this: if you cannot suppress this beastly instinct using the Umbra Clan's techniques, you will eventually devolve into a mindless monstrosity."
Aroan slowly looked up, his mind clearing. He stared at Sargon with deeply rooted suspicion. "You are far too skilled at using the Umbra Clan's forbidden arts. Why are you teaching me this, Sargon? What exactly do you want from me?"
Sargon remained silent for a long moment. The masked giant turned his gaze toward the bottomless chasm at the far end of the cavern.
"I am preparing a vengeance that has been rotting for over twenty years," Sargon finally answered, his voice as heavy as an anchor, dripping with pure, unadulterated hatred. "And you... you are the fang I will sharpen until it is lethal enough to rip out the throat of the Lunaris Clan. You are my blade."
Aroan stood up fully. For the first time since his exile, there was absolutely zero pain in his tendons. He clenched his fists, feeling a massive, catastrophic strength he had never possessed during his entire life as a pampered prince. Nyx fully manifested beside his leg, the wolf now standing at waist height, radiating a suffocating killing intent.
"I do not give a damn about your grand ambitions, Sargon," Aroan replied, his tone flat yet undeniably deadly. "I discarded my conscience the exact moment they discarded me. The Lunaris Clan will pay for every single drop of blood I shed. And Valerius... I will snap his golden neck with my own hands."
Sargon let out a low grunt—a subtle note of absolute approval. He turned around, his tattered cloak fluttering in the sulfurous wind.
"Good. Save that hatred. Because tomorrow, we descend to the Third Tier of Velmora." Sargon glanced over his massive shoulder. "The nest of the Shadow Doppelgangers. Down there, what tries to kill you will not be a monster... it will be the darkest side of your own shadow."
Aroan unleashed a faint, ruthless smirk. Without another word, he stepped forward, following the masked executioner deeper into a thick fog that had never once been touched by the sun.
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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
