"From the womb of darkness a new era is born… The cursed son knows neither love nor mercy; he crawls toward power like a starving wolf that never fills. And all who stand in his way… their fate is ash."
A system chime rang inside Adam's mind, deep as if coming from a bottomless abyss:
[Because the host body's constitution is low and the bloodline has not yet been activated, some skills have been reduced and sealed.]
Adam smiled a faint smile, like someone playing an uninteresting game — "Alright… and the level? The shop?"
[The host can level up by killing monsters or enemies, or by completing quests. The shop allows purchases with Fate Points, but it's locked until you gather enough Fate.]
His eyebrows rose with a childlike curiosity — "Quests?"
[Quests are issued by the interface; they have rewards and penalties. You may decline them unless they are a "main quest".]
Adam chuckled softly; a hint of mockery colored his words — "A main quest? Will it force me to walk a pre-drawn path?"
[No. Main quests are tied to major objectives. How you carry them out is up to you. There is no direct punishment — failure is punishment enough.]
He looked down briefly, then raised his eyes coldly — "I will not be a puppet in anyone's hands."
[The "Synthesis" feature allows combining similar skills to obtain a stronger version. It is locked and requires Fate Points.]
Adam laughed at the thought of chaos — "Imagine two A-rank skills merging… it would be a masterpiece of destruction."
Suddenly a monotonous metallic sound echoed in his head:
Ding — ding
[A main quest has been issued]
> Objective: Awaken the Mana Core. Time limit: One month. Reward: Bloodline change (one-time — unknown rank). Penalty: None.
His eyes froze before a crooked smile formed on his lips, cold as a blade — "Change my bloodline…?"
[The current bloodline dominates the mana. Changing it grants a new evolved bloodline, which may exceed S-rank.]
He paused, then a dark eagerness flashed across his face — "Stronger than S-rank? Then the peak is closer than I expected."
[With each upgrade you receive Attribute Points
Adam studied the lines as if they were a roadmap — "Every step, every Fate i me closer to a summit no one reaches."
He laughed quietly; the echo of his laugh reverberated in his room like a funeral bell — "I… am . I will not let anyone block my path."
[Host, the system will enter a temporary hibernation until your Mana awakens. I cannot remain in a body devoid of Mana; I am now part of your core.] [The system wishes the host good luck...]
Adam opened his eyes slowly. No fatigue, no flattered curiosity, not even surprise at the messages that had sounded in his head. His gaze, black as a singularity, fixed on the ceiling lifelessly, as if the world were a faded meaningless painting.
He rose in steady steps, his body moving like a machine programmed to follow simple commands. He entered the bathroom and let the cold water cascade over him. Any other body might shiver — but he felt nothing. The water was merely an empty element to him, like air or dust.
Memories poured before him with painful clarity. At five years old he had strangled his mother with his small hands until she stopped. Any other child would have collapsed; he stood and stared at her dead body with no tears, no screams. He wiped the blood from his fingers calmly, as if it were a passing stain.
No sorrow. No remorse. No fear.
Years later his father fell at the hands of the Griefell family; he was merely an obstacle removed from the path. Then the Griefell family came: they erased every trace of his mother, wiped her name as if she had never been born. Another person would make this into hatred, seek revenge. Him? He felt nothing. He did not know hatred or love. To him they were a passing wind that left an emptiness. (Adam's biological father was still alive at that time.)
Another family adopted him afterward — a cleaner house, a roof, food. They fed and raised him, but inside he remained silent. He did not grant them love; he did not know gratitude. They were merely furniture. The difference: these people did not abandon or betray him — and that alone was enough for him not to erase them from existence… yet.
He lifted his head to the mirror. A face reflected back with no warmth: black hair that swallowed light, eyes like abysses, features stiff as crocodile hide. He looked human, but was nothing more than a monster wearing a child's mask.
"The awakening…" he whispered coldly.
He knew he had two choices: submit to the World Association and become a chained dog, or carve his way through with blood and awaken the Mana no matter the cost.
He gave a twisted smile — neither joy nor anger, just the dry movement of muscles — "I will not be anyone's slave… only power is father, mother, the only family. Everything else? Ash."
His thirst for power was not a desire but the essence of his existence; power grants the right to survive. The rest? Dust.
He opened his desk drawer and took out a small black notebook. Its pages were filled with scribbles that looked like a child's drawings, but in his mind they were lists of blood. Every name he wrote was not ink but a prewritten epitaph for those who had yet to realize their fate was near.
He sat and wrote in silence, as one who pens the laws of a world to be built on skulls.
A moment of silence. Children's laughter outside seeped into his ears, but it stirred nothing in him; it was just passing noise like the wind.
He remembered the boy at home — the brother everyone saw as his friend, the only one who never fled him. He laughed beside him, dragged him into play. Adam did not feel likewise, but he did not refuse. Perhaps because he was the only one who did not abandon him. Still, he remained merely a shadow on the wall of an empty life.
He left his room wearing a metallic black collar around his neck. It was not ornament but restraint: a surveillance device; if he rebelled too much it would explode or electrocute him to death. The family said it was for protection. The World Association? He knew it was a means to tame the beast.
His steps in the hallway were monotonous, calm — the steps of a thirteen-year-old child. Inside, though, he was a void waiting to be filled with Mana… and with blood.
He paused for a moment, whispering in a hollow voice — "I will not be anyone's son… power alone is the standard. Everything else? Ash."
He gave another twisted smile. The darkness behind his eyes deepened until it swallowed the last speck of humanity. ...