The moon carved silver trails through the quiet sky, stars scattered like forgotten promises. The world outside lay muted, slumbering beneath a velvet blanket of night. But within a rundown home tucked in the backends of the backalley where firelight flickered low and hearthstone cracked gently from the day's heat, something shifted.
Drax awoke.
Not with a jolt, but a slow, deliberate breath. He was confused and lost he did not understand what had entirely happened heck he felt like he was in a long dream.
His eyes opened to the wooden ceiling of his room, a familiar scent of roasted meat and herbs steel coated the air while the silence was strange yet serene and almost holy. He blinked slowly, trying to process why everything felt… new why he felt so alien right now. He couldn't place his finger on it but he felt different.
Sitting up, the covers on his body slide from his chest, revealing bare skin that felt like it had been reborn. There were no bandages. No bruises. No sign of the toll the Awakening Ceremony should have taken. His muscles seemed to have been resculptured more defined, more shaped which felt absurd.
What the hell…?
The last thing he remembered was the surge of power clawing up from the marrow of his bones, light cracking across his vision like the sky splitting open.
And then... black. The type of black that seemed to consume his body whole.
Now, he was here. At home. Not at the school.
Stillness wrapped around him like silk, but his body buzzed, humming with some raw unspoken power.
He stood slowly, his joints moving too fluidly like forged gears, not flesh. Something inside him had… changed. He walked to the bathroom across his room. Recollecting what had transpired.
As he leaned over the basin and splashed water over his face, the chill barely registered. He stood and looked at himself in the mirror.
His breathing held and he gasped.
His reflection stared back with a subtle but undeniable transformation.
His features were sharper, more refined. The young mans edges of his face had hardened slightly, as if pressure had carved him into something more precise. His skin once weathered by scars and slight acne was now smooth, radiant with something beneath the surface.
But it was his eyes that stole the moment.
Once hazel. Now a piercing, radiant purple amethyst, deep and ancient like the heart of a gemstone. They glowed faintly even in the dim firelight.
"...No fucking way." he whispered.
He had Awakened.
A grin slowly split his face half disbelief, half arrogant satisfaction.
"Damn. Somehow, I got even more sexy." He chuckled, brushing a hand through his purple dreaded hair. "Didn't think that was possible."
But under the humor, something stirred a certainty that this wasn't just an upgrade. It was a rebirth.
His breath slowed, becoming heavier, more focused. He returned to his room and closed the door, it was time for the icing on the cake, taking a deep breath drax whispered the words he'd never said before, but always hoped to:
"Status."
And like an answer from the divine, the air shimmered. A translucent screen materialized before his eyes glowing.
PLAYER STATUS
Name: Drax Virethorn
Class: Martial Artist
Path: Unknown
Rank: B
Affinity: Wind | Sound
Attributes:
• Strength: 386 / 500
• Speed: 340 / 500
• Endurance: 469 / 500
• Aether: 3600 / 5200
• Will: 260 / 300
• Intellect: 150 / 200
Skills:
• Passive Skill: Whisper of the Wind
Type: Passive
Description:
You've honed your senses to feel the subtlest shifts in the wind. Every gust, every breeze carries meaning—movement, intent, danger.
Effects:
• Greatly enhances spatial awareness by reading wind flow and air pressure changes.
• Detects nearby movement in a wide radius, even behind walls or through illusions (range scales with level and wind affinity).
• Increases reaction speed and evasion rate when in open or breezy environments.
• Grants limited anticipation of enemy actions by sensing air displacement from muscle tension, weapon swings, or footsteps.
• Slight boosts to accuracy and timing when dodging or countering.
•Passive Skill: Invisible Fists
Type: Passive
Description:
Your mastery over fluid motion, misdirection, and force manipulation has allowed you to strike without form—fists that bend the air and strike from unexpected angles.
Effects:
• Your physical punches generate shockwaves or compressed air bursts that can hit targets from short to medium range (3–5 meters).
• Enemies have a reduced ability to perceive your attacks, as strikes leave minimal visual cues (perfect for feints and counters).
• Increases critical hit chance and guard penetration, especially when attacking from blind spots or in rapid succession.
• Moderate chance to disorient foes on impact due to unseen force and sensory disruption.
• Slight bonus to combo chaining and fluid movement in close quarters.
•Martial Artist (Intermediate 60%)
Type: Passive
Description:
Your body has begun to internalize the rhythm and flow of martial combat. Strikes come smoother, reactions quicker, and combat instinct sharper. This stage reflects the discipline and power of someone walking the path of the true martial artist.
Effects:
• Increased attack speed and precision with unarmed and melee techniques.
• Gains a Combat Rhythm bonus: sustained combat gradually increases damage output and movement fluidity (resets if disengaged).
• Reduced stamina consumption for basic martial combos and movements.
• Automatically shifts stance slightly depending on incoming attacks, giving a small evasion boost against physical strikes.
• Can read basic muscle tension and movement cues, improving anticipation against melee foes.
• Enhances synergy with passive skills like Iron Instinct, Reading the Wind, and Invisible Fists.
He stared at the display, mouth slightly open in disbelief and awe. His fingers curled into fists his body already craving the weight of a weapon.
But what echoed louder than stats and ranks was something deeper.
This feels... right.
He didn't know what the Path meant yet. But tonight, none of that mattered.
Drax Virethorn had Awakened.
Elsewhere, beneath the hush of a moon-blanketed night, a light glowed in Another home of the back alley Kade Aetherion.
The faucet hissed, echoing softly. Cold water dripped from his chin, slinking down the edges of his jaw like icy blood. Kade stood still, hands pressed on the edge of the basin with his eyes locked with the figure in the mirror not in vanity, but in silent reckoning he was astounded nevertheless.
His silver hair, unbound from its usual braid, spilled over his shoulders like strands of moonlight dipped in mercury. Wet and wild, it clung to his skin, accentuating the new sharpness of his features. His cheekbones had cut deeper, his jaw more defined, like a statue chiseled in quiet rage. His muscles were more shaped and cut but still high lighted his lean appearance.
But it was his eyes… that shocked him beyond belief.
Once a brilliant emerald-blue his eyes they had changed.
Now, they held depth. No, not just depth. Darkness.
A starlit void lingered in his gaze, as if the remnants of a night sky had been sealed within quietly shifting, dimly pulsing with ghostly stars within his orbs, he couldnt explain it but it was beautiful.
He stared at himself in silence. Not with confusion but comprehension understanding his changes even if it baffled him the most.
Something inside him had awakened, and it wasn't just power it was purpose he already had one but he felt like something else was beneath his reasons.
A predator's calm settled over his face as he blinked slowly, water still dripping down his collarbone.
Kade turned from the mirror, and made his way to the room silent not to wake his mother and sister. He moved with grace now measured, aware, like a blade drawn but not yet swung.
Back in his room, moonlight cut through the window, casting silver across his lean form. With a voice low and commanding, he uttered:
"Status."
PLAYER STATUS
Name: Kade Aetherion
Class: Swordsman (Variant)
Path: ???
Rank: B
Affinities: Lightning | Ice
Attributes:
• Strength: 360/500
• Speed: 386/500
• Endurance: 449/500
• Aether: 3800/5200
• Will: 250/300
• Intellect: 180/200
Skills
• Killer Instincts
Type: Passive
Description:
The dormant predator within Kade has stirred. He doesn't fight out of necessity—he hunts because it's his nature. When hostility is sensed, a deep, primal instinct takes over. Precision becomes cruel. Movements become surgical. Every strike is measured, not to wound—but to end.
Effects:
• Enters hyper-focus during combat.
• Detects weaknesses in motion, guard, or spell patterns.
• Gains brutality scaling with enemy fear or bloodshed.
• Suppresses weaker-willed foes with a fear-inducing aura.
• Becomes immune to fear or charm while locked on a target.
• Flow State
Type: Passive – Combat Focus
Description:
Kade falls into a rhythm mid-fight that borders on otherworldly. It's not just combat—it's a dance. A storm. He moves without thought, guided by instinct and battle-born muscle memory, growing faster, sharper, deadlier.
Effects:
• Increases fluidity with each consecutive dodge, strike, or parry.
• Pain and minor injuries are ignored while active.
• Boosts reaction speed and shortens internal cooldowns.
• After chaining actions, grants a short burst of speed and clarity.
• Resets if Kade is stunned or pauses too long.
• Emits a faint pulse of heatless shimmer, eyes glowing faintly with focused malice.
• Bladecraft: Intermediate Mastery
Type: Passive – Weapon Skill
Description:
His blade is no longer a weapon. It is an extension of his body—of his will. Every strike is a conversation, every block a rebuttal, every slash a signature. Kade doesn't swing a sword. He conducts it.
Effects:
• Reduces stamina drain during extended fights.
• Unlocks advanced techniques like Phantom Step Slash, Twisting Guard, Flowing Sever.
• Enhances accuracy and parrying timing.
• Boosts elemental conductivity through the blade—especially with Lightning and Ice.
Kade stared at the status screen before him, the faint hum of aether lingering in the air like a second breath. His lips curled, not in arrogance but certainty.
"Swordsman, huh?"
His voice was a whisper against the storm rising within.
"Let's see how far I can break that title."
The moon outside flickered behind clouds, as if nature itself was wary of the being now reborn within that alley home.
Seronio laid on his bed, staring up at the wooden ceiling. The faint creaks of the house settling echoed gently through the dark. He didn't move.
He didn't need to.
His breathing was steady. His body still, yet alive with something new.
There was a quiet hum under his skin, like the pulse of a hidden current, slow and sure. It wasn't loud or flashy, not the kind of awakenings told in songs or noble halls. But he could feel it in his bones.
A subtle weight in his chest. A shift in his soul.
Seronio sat up, slowly, deliberately. The old mattress groaned beneath him. His bare feet touched the cool wooden floor as he crossed to the small mirror hanging near his window. Moonlight filtered in, soft and blue.
He looked at himself.
Same blue hair, same sharp eyes. But there was something different now—something watching back. His reflection didn't look tired anymore. It looked... ready.
He'd grown, if only slightly. Not in size, but in presence. His muscles were leaner, more defined. His stance held confidence without effort. He rolled his shoulders once, quietly testing this new calm energy inside him. It didn't fight him. It belonged.
For the first time in years, he didn't wonder what his brothers were doing. He didn't worry about tomorrow's meals or next week's work.
Right now this moment it was his.
He stood tall, eyes narrowed with faint amusement, and spoke into the dim room.
His voice was low, grounded, and carried weight.
"Status."
He didn't expect flashing lights or booming announcements.
But something shifted.
A quiet acknowledgment in the air. As if the world itself had turned its head toward him.
And Seronio grinned.
PLAYER STATUS
Name: Seronio Vermillion
Class: Lanceman
Path: ???
Rank: C
Affinities: Fire | Stellar
Attributes:
• Strength: 370/500
• Speed: 360/500
• Endurance: 456/500
• Aether: 3700/5000
• Will: 250/300
• Intellect: 135/200
Skills
•Withstand (Passive)
The user's body does not fall while the will remains intact. Even if mortally wounded, the user fights until the battle is declared over.
• Delays final damage and exhaustion until combat ends.
• Collapse occurs afterward based on severity.
• Battle Instincts (Passive/Reactive)
A hyper-attuned sense of danger, allowing reflexive reactions and preemptive defense.
• Detects killing intent and surprise attacks.
• Sharpens clarity and reflexes in near-death scenarios.
• Heightened spatial awareness and counter precision.
• Lance Weapon Use – Intermediate Spearplay (60% proficiency)(Passive)
Advanced control and precision with lances and spears.
• Boosts attack speed and accuracy.
• Reduces stamina drain on thrusts and sweeps.
• Grants access to advanced techniques: Feint Thrust, Sweeping Counter, Aerial Lunge.