Two days has passed.
Kael didn't leave his house. Not for food. Not for training. Not even to breathe fresh air. He remained beneath the floor, in the stone-lined chamber he had called his escape for years.
But this time… it wasn't escape.
It was evolution.
The wound on his side had scabbed over. Crude stitches held it together— done by his own hand, gritted teeth and all. The pain hadn't faded, but that wasn't his concern anymore.
His mind was sharper than ever.
The system interface hovered constantly before him— remaining silent unless spoken to. It didn't flood him with quests or tutorials like the stories said. It wasn't guiding him like a mentor.
It was observing.
Waiting.
"System,"
Kael said quietly, breaking the silence. "Open Skill Data."
The screen shimmered.
---
[Skills]
[ Sovereign Perception — Lv. 1 ]
[ Grants passive awareness beyond natural limits. Improves threat detection, tracking, and timing in battle. Evolves with bloodline sync. ]
[ Null-Origin Flame — Suppressed ]
[ Element linked to sealed bloodline. Awaits deeper resonance. Status: Inactive. ]
---
That flame. It hadn't activated even during the fight.
He stared at the text.
Null-Origin Flame.
The name alone felt contradictory— flame implied heat, chaos, destruction. Null implied emptiness, void, the absence of all.
Why would a system grant him something so… unstable?
Or was that exactly the point?
"Why is it suppressed?" he asked.
The system's voice echoed in his mind, cold and exact.
[ Bloodline resonance insufficient. Current sync: 1.0%. Threshold for elemental stability: 5.0%. ]
"Then how do I increase sync?"
[ Quest completion, Combat growth, Survival under stress, Exposure to ancestral echoes. ]
Kael frowned.
That last one caught his attention.
Ancestralechoes.
The system had a locked tab labeled "Ancestral Records." Was that related?
He stood and paced slowly.
This wasn't just a tool. It wasn't some gift from the heavens dropped in his lap. It was a trial. A weapon with its own rules. Its own purpose.
And it expected something from him.
---
By the third night, he left his house again— this time hooded and masked.
Not the makeshift cloth masks which street thugs used to rob travelers.
He had spent the day crafting something better. A carved half-mask of ironwood, painted with dull charcoal resin. It covered the lower half of his face, leaving only his eyes exposed. The cloak was black— stitched by his mother long ago, though she never asked why he needed it.
Kael moved like shadow.
His steps took him through the night alleys of Draymoor, where no mana lamps reached. The people in the slums slept. But he didn't.
He wasn't Kael Virein tonight.
He was "noone."
Not yet.
But soon, the city would know a new presence. A figure unlinked to any name. A force they couldn't identify. Couldn't trace.
That was the mission.
---
[Mission: Identity Unknown – Stage 1]
[ Objective: Create alias unlinked to your public identity ]
[ Requirement: First concealment task — stop a criminal act without revealing real identity ]
[ Reward: Shadow Access – System Masking Function ]
---
He didn't need to wait long.
The lower city throbbed with a palpable sense of desperation, the air thick with anxiety even in the dead of night. In a narrow, dimly lit alleyway situated near the crumbling remnants of the ancient stone bridge, Kael's ears picked up the faint yet unmistakable sound of distress—a young girl's terrified cry, a man's menacing voice raised in a threatening tone.
With calculated stealth, Kael approached the scene, his footsteps eerily silent as Sovereign Perception heightened his awareness of the gravel beneath his feet and the tense atmosphere that hung in the air like a challenge. As he turned the corner, the scene unfolded before him with stark clarity.
Two older boys, probably affiliated with a notorious street gang, had the young daughter of a merchant pinned down in a menacing stance, their intimidating presence a stark contrast to her vulnerable frame. The girl's modest attire and small leather satchel slung over her shoulder suggested she was an innocent civilian, unprepared for violence and completely defenseless, with no visible means of protection or weapons to speak of.
Kael stepped into the alley, slow and quiet.
They didn't see him.
The taller boy turned just as Kael slammed the butt of his spear into the side of his skull. He dropped instantly.
The second lunged with a knife, but Kael sidestepped.
He moved fluidly— like the spear was part of him.
Another blow— this time to the gut. The attacker wheezed and collapsed.
Both were breathing.
Kael didn't kill unnecessarily.
The girl backed away, eyes wide, shaking.
"Who… are you?" she whispered.
Kael didn't answer.
He vanished into the shadows.
The alley fell silent once again.
---
[Mission Complete: Identity Unknown – Stage 1]
[ Reward Unlocked: System Masking Function ]
[ Shadow Authority: Tier 1 ]
[ Alias Recognition: 1% ]
[ Optional: Assign Alias Title? ]
---
Kael stood on a rooftop minutes later, overlooking the edge of the mid-district.
The screen still hovered beside him.
He thought for a long moment.
An alias had to be more than a name. It had to mean something. Inspire fear, doubt, and mystery.
A symbol of power that didn't speak— but acted.
He remembered what the system had called him.
OriginHeir.
He smiled faintly beneath the mask.
[ Alias Title Assigned: "The Veiled Sovereign" ]
[ System Note: All system traces now hidden while alias is active. Identity protection initialized. ]
---
From this moment on, KaelVirein would remain invisible.
But TheVeiledSovereign— he would walk into the world's darkest corners… and be remembered.
---
By the time dawn crept across the rooftops, Kael was already back beneath the floorboards, sitting cross-legged in front of the cold system screen.
A new tab blinked.
He opened it.
---
[ Bloodline ]
[ Status: Suppressed ]
[ Resonance: 1.0% ]
[ Lineage: Unrevealed ]
[ Echo Detected: Minor Residual Trace (Location: Foglands - Tier 2 Ruins) ]
---
Kael's eyes narrowed.
The Foglands again.
Only this time, deeper.
Not Tier 1, but Tier 2.
A place no unawakened should enter.
But he wasn't unawakened anymore.
With a resolute determination, he had embarked on the perilous climb— and the ancient system, the mysterious blood coursing through his veins, and the flame burning within him were all calling him forward, urging him to reach new heights.