"Everything has a cost. Even her smile."
The fog over Qinghe had teeth.
Sharp, invisible, and cold — biting through cloth and bone alike. Rael stood at the edge of a canal lined with forgotten statues, their arms weighed down by rusted chains. Mist curled around them like mourning veils.
This part of the city didn't appear on maps. Because it wasn't supposed to.
But Rael came here anyway.
To trade.
Not gold.
Not spirit jades.
But flesh.
---
Location: Blood Dock (Hidden Market)
A crooked vendor leaned over a lantern-lit stall. His fingers were gnarled. His eyes like chipped onyx. He didn't speak.
Instead, he tapped a single line of characters on the slab of polished bone in front of him:
[Accepted Currency: Beast Cores, Essence Blood, Bone Marrow Crystals]
Rael dropped the half-dried core of the Ironback Ape onto the slab.
The old man sniffed it. Literally sniffed.
Then nodded once.
[Transaction Complete: Ironback Ape Core (Used)]
[Received: Flesh Coin (x1) – Can be melted and forged into low-grade Physique Elixir or traded for beast materials]
The coin was warm in Rael's hand. It pulsed like a dying heart. Its surface wasn't engraved — it was veined.
He tucked it into his belt pouch.
He wasn't done.
---
Rael's Objective
He didn't just come for currency.
He came for knowledge.
He had one martial art bound. One more token unused.
And the next imprint had to be worth the cost.
[Martial Art Imprint Token – 1 Available]
[System Tip: Higher synchronization and mastery will allow refinement during inscription]
He needed a technique that spoke to the way he fought.
Not brute power. Not flashy movement.
Precision. Disruption. Silence between blades.
---
A bell chimed behind him.
Three soft rings.
He turned.
She was dressed in silver.
---
Scene: The Girl in Silver
She walked like she owned the mist. Her robes shimmered faintly, layered silk etched with lunar characters — not like those from Qinghe. She was taller than most city girls, with clear eyes the color of melted frost.
And she was carrying a cage.
Inside the cage, a rabbit spirit shivered, its fur like moonlight. Its Qi was pure. Clean. It had never fought.
Rael watched her approach the stall.
The vendor stiffened. The girl placed a silver ring on the slab.
Not a coin.
A token.
The old man's eyes twitched. He accepted it. Silently reached beneath his stall and handed her a jade slip wrapped in black twine.
Rael tilted his head.
That wasn't a transaction.
That was a message.
---
She turned. Her gaze met his.
"Spying is a dangerous hobby," she said.
Her voice was soft. Like snowfall.
"I wasn't spying," Rael replied calmly. "I was admiring the rabbit."
She laughed — not sweetly.
"You're not from here. Not really. Not with that scent of ash and bad decisions." Her eyes dropped to the sabre at his side. "What are you trying to cut so desperately?"
Rael didn't answer.
The girl stepped closer, cage swaying.
"I'll give you a gift, nameless one," she murmured. "But you must pay the price."
He stared back. "What kind of price?"
"Not your life." Her smile deepened. "Something harder."
---
System Alert
[Target Interaction Detected – Spiritual Aura: Concealed]
[Name Unknown – Qi Signature masked]
[Suspicion: Moonlight Sect (Upper Domains)]
[WARNING: Level Disparity Unknown. Proceed with Caution.]
Rael didn't back away.
"What's the gift?" he asked.
The girl unhooked a pendant from her neck.
It wasn't silver. It was bone.
She pressed it to his chest — a cold touch, light as breath — and whispered:
"Look."
---
Rael's eyes widened.
The world split.
Not literally.
But his senses warped.
The canal vanished.
The vendor disappeared.
He stood in a temple courtyard under a violet sky. Hundreds of martial artists moved in synchronized flows — blades vanishing, feet gliding over shifting tiles. Above them, a massive sigil pulsed: Severing Moon Style – Form III.
[Memory Projection Received – Severing Moon Style III (Progress 0.2%)]
[Compatibility: Moderate]
[Requirement: Must master Severing Steps II]
And just like that —
It ended.
He gasped, stumbling back.
The girl was gone.
The rabbit cage sat abandoned on the ground.
Empty.
---
Later That Night – Rooftop Meditation
Rael sat cross-legged, heart still racing.
[System Update: Martial Path Expanded – Severing Moon Recognized]
[Optional Questline Unlocked: Path of Silver Bloom]
— Objective: Complete Mastery of Severing Steps (Forms I–III)
— Bonus Objective: Obtain Moonlight Qi Fragment
[New Trait Interaction Detected – Shadow Bloom (Unrefined) now Resonating]
[Resonance Level: 4% – Emotion Link Detected: "Uncertainty"]
The system pulsed again.
[Do you wish to absorb stored trait: Shadow Bloom (Unrefined)?]
[Warning: Qi Type Incompatible – Partial Instability Expected]
[Physique Mutation Chance: 9%]
[Y/N?]
Rael stared at the glowing prompt.
He didn't understand her gift fully.
But it had started something.
A shift.
A possibility.
He whispered:
"Yes."
---
Trait Absorption – Shadow Bloom (Unrefined)
Pain didn't come all at once.
It crept.
Like a bloom opening inside his lungs.
His Qi pathways turned cold. Not frozen — just still, as if waiting for light that would never come. He gritted his teeth.
A phantom memory of the girl's laugh echoed faintly in his ears.
[Trait Absorbed: Shadow Bloom (Unrefined)]
[Effect: Qi Cloaking +5%, Stealth Step Acceleration +9%]
[Warning: Incompatible Qi Type – Trait will begin decay within 7 days unless stabilized by compatible source]
[Mutation Added: Bloom Vein Nodes – Rank G (Latent)]
[Special Status: Dream Fragment Latched (Unknown Origin)]
[Mental Interference Detected – Filtering... complete.]
[Emotion Lock Prevented: "Longing" Blocked from System Overwrite]
Rael shivered.
Not from pain.
But from something... deeper.
As if part of her had stuck to him.
And wouldn't let go.
---
Final Status (End of Chapter)
[Cultivation Level: Qi Disciple – Core Density: 0.32 / 1.00]
[Martial Arts: Severing Steps I (Bound), Severing Steps II (15%)]
[Physique: Unstable Hybrid Foundation + Bloom Vein Nodes (Latent)]
[Traits: Bone Fortification (Lesser), Shadow Bloom (Unrefined – 7 Days Remaining)]
[Items: Flesh Coin x1, Martial Slot Token x1]
[Quests: Path of Silver Bloom (Active)]
[Mental State: Disoriented, Curious, Shadow-touched]
---