Kiel Veyron hated scavenging.
Not just because of the constant risk of death — although being chewed on by a void hound wasn't high on his to-do list — but because every raid reminded him of what he wasn't.
He wasn't a fighter.
He wasn't a system-bearer.
He wasn't even considered useful.
Just another zone rat, scraping through the ruins for scraps of metal, beast blood, or leftover pills to trade for half-rotten meat. Survival in Sector 12 was cruel, but it was all Kiel had ever known since the Riftfall ten years ago.
Today, however, was different.
"Stop gawking and dig, Kiel!" barked Merren, the expedition leader, tossing him a rusted spade. "We don't have all day. That impact crater's fresh. If there's a beast core in there, we're rich."
Kiel gritted his teeth and trudged toward the smoldering crater. The earth was scorched black, still warm, and the air shimmered with residual energy — the aftermath of something powerful falling from the sky.
He jumped down into the hole.
And then he saw it.
A corpse, twisted and colossal, lay half-buried in ash and bone. It looked like a chimera stitched together by a lunatic god — claws like obsidian blades, six eyes sealed shut, and a maw that stretched far too wide. No known beast matched it.
Kiel's instincts screamed. This thing didn't die here. It was dropped here.
He stepped closer, compelled. Something about the body pulled at him — like it recognized him. Like it was waiting.
Then it twitched.
Kiel stumbled back, heart pounding, but it didn't move again. Instead, a faint glimmer lit up on its chest: a pulsing red crystal, half-embedded in thick bone.
A core.
But not just any core.
As he reached out, the crystal pulsed, and a voice echoed in his skull like metal grinding on bone:
[UNCLAIMED HOST DETECTED...]
[BIOMETRIC COMPATIBILITY: 99.9%]
[WARNING: SYSTEM IS CORRUPT AND UNSTABLE.]
[CONTINUE? Y/N]
Kiel froze. He'd seen scavengers try to bind stolen systems before — most ended up as puddles. He should run. He should yell for Merren.
But something deep inside him whispered:
"This is your only shot."
He clenched his fist. "Y."
[SYSTEM BINDING INITIATED...]
[WARNING: APEX PROTOCOLS OVERRIDING SAFETY LIMITERS.]
[EVOLUTION BEGINS.]
The world exploded in pain.
Kiel screamed as his body convulsed. Muscles tore, then reformed. His skin split open. His vision blurred, shifting between red, green, and ultraviolet spectrums. Bones cracked, his senses overloaded. He felt claws sprout, retract, then sprout again.
Every nerve in his body felt like it was becoming something else.
[APEX PREDATOR SYSTEM ACTIVATED.]
[ABILITY UNLOCKED: TRAIT ABSORPTION - DEVOUR TO EVOLVE.]
[RANK: PRIMAL HATCHLING.]
And then — silence.
Kiel collapsed, gasping. The crater was quiet. The beast's corpse had crumbled into ash. The crystal was gone.
"...What the hell did I just do?"
A scream broke the stillness — Merren.
Kiel looked up. Standing at the crater's edge was something massive. A bonewrought abomination, stitched from dozens of dead beasts, eyes glowing with hunger. A reaver-class chimera.
Merren fired a shot. It bounced off.
Kiel's heart pounded.
He wasn't a fighter.
He wasn't chosen.
But now?
Now, he was something else entirely.
He stood.
Eyes glowing. Claws unsheathed.
Time to hunt.