The sound came before the dream.
A low hum, like breath against glass. Then the voice — not a voice, more a vibration threading through bone:
[Resonant Algorithm: initializing secondary core...]
Kai's eyes snapped open.
The dorm room was dark, except for the faint shimmer pulsing along the veins of his wrist. His Mark which was dull for days has now glowed with a faint, silvery hue, veins spreading from it like roots under the skin.
He held his breath, staring.
"Not again…" he muttered.
The glow flickered once. Twice. Then text flashed faintly in his vision.
[Resonant Eclipse System]
Pathway Stage I — The First Step
Sync: 0% (Hidden)
New Parameter Detected: Resonant Core
Analyzing… Calibrating…
The letters hung midair, dissolving slowly like frost on glass.
Kai sat up, heartbeat thudding.
Resonant Core?
He tried to recall every word, every whisper he'd heard before. The System had never mentioned anything like this. Endurance, Strength, Agility, those were normal stats and attributes for a human. But "Core"? That sounded alive.
He whispered, "Show me more."
Nothing. Only silence.
The glow dimmed, and his room fell back into shadow. The distant hum of the guild dorm returned. Footsteps are clearly heard in the hall, metal scraping against stone, snoring from the next room. Ordinary life, as if nothing had changed.
But Kai could still feel it, a faint rhythm pulsing somewhere deeper inside him, separate from his heartbeat.
He pressed his palm to his chest. "What are you…?"
The rhythm answered with a single, faint pulse, something unique that felt almost like acknowledgment.
***
The next day. Dawn came with rain.
It pattered softly against the cracked windowpane, silver lines running down the glass. Kai sat on the edge of his bunk, dressing with slow, deliberate motions. Every muscle in his body still carried the dull ache of the sewer raid.
He moved differently now. Heavier, but steadier.
The guild's morning alarm blared through the halls, a grating mechanical buzz that sent groans echoing from every dorm. Doors slammed open, hunters in half-polished armor stumbling toward the mess hall for breakfast.
Kai joined the stream quietly.
"Oi, Lucky Zero," someone jeered from across the table line. "You break any new records for uselessness yet?"
He didn't look up. "Not yet. You still alive?"
The room erupted in laughter, though he wasn't sure if it was with him or at him. It didn't matter.
The line moved forward. The cook slapped two ladles of porridge onto his tray — watery, gray, and steaming faintly. Subsidized nutrition for low-rankers.
Kai sat alone at the end of the hall, watching the rain blur the windows. He spooned the porridge slowly, mind drifting back to the Mark under his sleeve.
That faint pulse was still there. Subtle. Consistent.
He wondered if anyone else could feel something like it. Something like an invisible hum at the edge of perception. Well, probably not.
Most hunters were too busy chasing credits and rank-ups to notice the world shifting beneath them.
***
After breakfast, Kai slipped out. He had a day off…technically. The guild hadn't scheduled him for a raid, but unpaid rest wasn't really rest when you had bills.
He headed instead to the training yard, a large open space behind the guild. Cracked asphalt stretched between metal pillars, stained with scorch marks and dried blood. Training dummies lined the edges, some missing limbs from overenthusiastic attacks.
He checked the corners to make sure that it's empty.
Good. Kai took off his jacket, stretched, and whispered: "Show me."
The panel blinked alive.
[Resonant Eclipse System]
Sync: 0% (Undetectable)
Attributes:
- Strength: 2
- Endurance: 4
- Agility: 2
- Resonance: ???
New Parameter: Resonant Core — [Dormant: 2%]
Skill: Breath of Resolve (Passive)
"Dormant?" he read aloud. "Two percent of what?"
No response.
He frowned, then braced himself.
He took a slow breath in, just the same way he had during the endurance training, until the world seemed to narrow, his focus sharpening into a single thread.
Something inside him shifted.
The faint pulse deepened, spreading warmth through his chest, out through his arms. It wasn't mana and he was sure of it. He'd felt mana before, in healing potions and enchanted gates. This was denser, almost alive.
He punched.
The air rippled faintly where his fist passed. Not a shockwave, (well, at least not yet), but something moved.
His eyes widened.
"Resonant energy…" he whispered. "It's real."
He repeated the motion, channeling the rhythm with each breath. His strikes grew sharper, each exhale making the pulse beat harder.
After ten minutes, sweat poured down his neck. His body trembled, both exhausted and alive.
He summoned the panel again.
Resonant Core: 4%
It was rising.
***
He wasn't alone.
At the far end of the yard, leaning against a pillar, stood Wei Jian, with both his arms crossed, one eyebrow raised.
"Well, look at you," Wei Jian said lazily. "Didn't know porters trained this hard."
Kai froze. "You shouldn't sneak up on people."
Wei Jian smirked. "You shouldn't hit the air like you're fighting ghosts."
Kai straightened, forcing calm. "Just trying to stay alive."
"Yeah," Wei Jian said, eyes narrowing. "You've been doing that a lot lately. Too much, actually."
Kai's fingers twitched.
"You saying I should stop?"
"I'm saying," Wei Jian pushed off the pillar, stepping closer, "guys like you don't walk away from S-rank disasters, sewer raids, and mana surges without a scratch. Not unless they're hiding something."
Kai met his gaze steadily. "You think I'm hiding something?"
Wei Jian smiled thinly. "I think the Guild's starting to wonder. And when they start asking questions, I'd hate to see our Lucky Zero end up under a scanner again."
Kai's jaw tightened. He remembered the scanner — the cold machine that had branded him worthless.
He forced a small smile. "You worry too much, Wei Jian. I'm not worth that kind of attention."
Wei Jian's eyes lingered a moment longer before he turned away. "We'll see."
Kai exhaled slowly after he left. His heartbeat pounded, not just from fear, but from something else.
The faint pulse in his chest had quickened.
Almost as if it had recognized danger.
***
That night, Kai slipped back into the river lot — his sanctuary. The moon hung low and white, casting fractured light through the mist.
He knelt, whispering, "Show me."
The panel flickered.
Resonant Core: 6%
He took a deep breath and focused.
He remembered how the System responded to exertion — pain, endurance, suffering. He clenched his fist and struck his chest once, sharp enough to make himself gasp.
The pulse flared.
Energy spread outward, a thin resonance rippling through his limbs. His veins glowed faintly for a heartbeat before dimming again.
Resonant Core: 7%
He laughed softly. "So it grows with strain… with pain."
It wasn't just endurance anymore. The Resonant Core fed on his limits.
He practiced for hours by striking, focusing, meditating, whatever possible until his vision blurred and his breath came ragged. Each pulse of pain fed the glow deeper.
Resonant Core: 10%
And then...…..
[Warning: Core Instability Detected.]
A sudden surge. The air cracked with pressure. His skin burned as light poured from his Mark.
A sound swallowed by the win, and Kai screamed. Everything went black.
***
When he woke, dawn was breaking again.
He lay on his back, staring up at a fractured sky painted in gray and gold. His Mark still glowed faintly, but softer now — breathing, almost gentle.
The panel reappeared one last time before fading into transparency.
[Resonant Eclipse System]
Core Stability: 9%
Resonant Signature Registered.
New Trait: Resonant Sensory Field (Passive)
Kai blinked. "Sensory field?"
He focused.
The world changed.
He could feel vibrations — the heartbeat of the river, the shifting of rats beneath the weeds, the mana threads lingering in the air. Everything pulsed faintly, connected by invisible resonance.
He gasped, pulling back as the sensation overwhelmed him. The field retracted, leaving him trembling.
But he was smiling.
This wasn't luck. This wasn't coincidence.
He was changing. Evolving in ways no one else understood.
And for the first time since the world had called him Zero, Kai whispered to himself, voice firm and quiet:
"I'm not nothing anymore."