The road leading away from the Grand Capital was wide and well-traveled, but Ren did not walk it. Instead, he moved through the jagged ridgeline of the Iron-Spire Mountains, a natural wall that separated the human kingdoms from the outer fringes of the Demon Lord's influence.
The air here was thin and bitingly cold, tasting of snow and old stone. Behind his bark mask, Ren's breath came in steady, rhythmic puffs of white mist. He didn't feel the chill as he once had. The mana he had absorbed from the Library Guardian hummed within his marrow, a constant source of internal heat that pushed back the mountain frost.
[Current Power Level: 1,400]
[Status: Stabilized]
[Current Objective: Reach the Demon Lord's Territory (0.5% Travelled)]
Ren stopped at the edge of a cliff, looking down at the valley below. Nestled in a pocket of green amidst the grey stone was a small mining town called Iron-Well. It was a place known for producing the specialized ores used in high-level armor, but today, it looked like a wound in the earth. Dark smoke curled into the sky, and the distant sound of clashing metal reached his ears.
Ren tilted his head. He had no intention of stopping. He had the map. He had the formula. His only goal was the "Heart of the World" and the power level of one million. Helping a dying town wouldn't get him closer to home.
Keep moving, he told himself. Every minute you spend here is a minute you aren't at the gate.
He turned to continue his climb, but his Mana Sense flared. A deep, pulsing vibration was coming from the center of the town—a signature of energy that was far more concentrated than any common monster. It was a dense, crystalline resonance.
[Detected: High-Grade Mana Stone (Unrefined)]
[Estimated Value: +2,000 Mana units]
Ren paused. He looked back at the smoke-filled valley. He didn't care about the people of Iron-Well, but he cared about that mana stone. Two thousand units would more than double his current power. It was a shortcut.
"Fine," he whispered, his voice like dry leaves. "But I'm only going for the stone."
He stepped off the ledge, his Hollow Step allowing him to descend the rocky slope with the grace of a falling shadow.
As he reached the outskirts of the town, the scene became clearer. A group of Grey-Skin Ogres—monsters the size of small houses with skin as hard as iron—were smashing through the town's defensive barricades. The local militia, men with rusted swords and terrified eyes, were being tossed aside like ragdolls.
The Ogres weren't eating the people. They were carrying heavy crates out of a deep mine shaft—the mana stones.
Ren moved through the chaos. He didn't shout a battle cry. He didn't draw a sword. He walked through the burning streets like a phantom, his hood pulled low. A militia member, blood streaming from a wound on his forehead, grabbed Ren's cloak.
"Please!" the man gasped. "Our families... they're trapped in the cellar of the main hall! The Ogres are going to collapse the building!"
Ren didn't look at him. He gently pulled his cloak out of the man's grip. "I'm not a hero," he said, his voice cold and flat behind the mask. "Find someone else."
He walked toward the mine entrance. His goal was the storage shed where the unrefined stones were kept. However, the path to the mine was blocked. Three Ogres were currently using a massive wooden beam to batter down the doors of the very hall the man had mentioned. The screams of women and children echoed from inside.
Ren stopped. If the Ogres collapsed that building, they would block the main road to the mine with rubble, making it take hours to dig through. It was an inconvenience. An obstacle to his efficiency.
"You're in the way," Ren said.
The largest Ogre, a beast standing ten feet tall with a club made from a tree trunk, turned around. It snorted, a spray of foul-smelling mucus hitting the ground. It didn't see a threat; it saw a small, robed human. It raised its club for a crushing blow.
Ren didn't move until the club was inches from his head.
[Skill Activated: Black Mirror]
The impact didn't happen. The wooden club hit a shimmering black film that draped over Ren's frame. The kinetic energy of the blow—the sheer physical force—wasn't deflected. It was swallowed.
The Ogre blinked in confusion. Its club felt lighter. It was because Ren had absorbed the "impact mana" stored in the beast's muscles.
[Mana Absorbed: +50]
Ren reached out and touched the Ogre's knee.
[Skill Activated: Touch of the Grave]
The Ogre didn't even have time to roar. Its grey skin turned a sickly white, its massive muscles shriveling as Ren drained the life-force directly from its marrow. The giant fell to its knees, then face-first into the dirt, nothing more than a husk of skin and bone.
The other two Ogres roared, dropping their battering ram and charging. Ren moved between them like a dancer. He wasn't fighting; he was harvesting. He caught a wrist here, a shoulder there. Every touch left an Ogre weakened, their strength flowing into him like a river.
In less than a minute, the three giants were dead. The townspeople inside the hall went silent, watching through the cracks in the wood as a masked figure in a tattered robe effortlessly dismantled the monsters that had destroyed their army.
Ren didn't wait for them to come out. He didn't wait for a "thank you." He turned and sprinted toward the mine.
Inside the storage shed, he found it. A single, fist-sized stone that pulsed with a raw, violet light. It was an Unrefined Heart-Stone. He picked it up, and the "Void" inside him began to scream with hunger.
He didn't hesitate. He crushed the stone in his hand.
The explosion of mana was so intense it blew the roof off the shed. Violet lightning arced across Ren's skin, burning away the remnants of his old school shirt beneath his cloak. He fell to his knees, his vision turning white. It felt like his veins were being filled with molten lead.
[Mana Absorption in Progress...]
[Power Level Rising: 1,800... 2,500... 3,200...]
[Level Up! Passive Skill: 'Mana Devourer' has evolved to 'Void Consumption' (Level 3)]
[New Skill Unlocked: 'Siphon Aura']
When the light faded, Ren stood up. He felt different. The air around him seemed to warp slightly, drawn toward his body. He looked at his hands—the silvery scars from his first night in the forest were gone, replaced by skin that looked as smooth and hard as marble.
[Total Power Level: 3,500]
He walked out of the mine. The town was still a mess, but the Ogres were fleeing, terrified by the sudden surge of power they had felt from the hill.
The militia man from before was standing near the main hall, his mouth hanging open. He watched as the masked figure walked past him, heading back toward the mountain pass.
"Wait!" the man called out. "Who are you? You saved our lives! The King's Heroes... they told us they were coming, but they never arrived. You did their job. Please, stay! Let us reward you!"
Ren stopped, but he didn't turn around. He thought of Miya in her golden dress, drinking wine while this town burned. He thought of Kaito, who would have demanded a parade for doing half as much.
"I didn't save you," Ren said, his voice amplified by his new power, echoing through the valley. "I just wanted the stone. Keep your gold. Buy more bread."
He vanished into the mountain mist before the man could respond.
An hour later, Ren sat in a high cave, looking at his map. He had jumped from a power level of 1,400 to 3,500 in a single day. At this rate, he might actually make it. But he knew the "Heart of the World" would be guarded by something much stronger than Ogres.
He reached into his bag and pulled out a small, wooden doll he had found in the dirt of the town—a child's toy. He looked at it for a long moment, then placed it gently on a stone ledge in the cave.
"I'm an anti-hero, huh?" he muttered to himself, leaning his head against the cold wall. "Maybe. But I'm still the only one going home."
He closed his eyes. In the darkness, he didn't see the gold of the palace or the blood of the monsters. He saw his own bedroom on Earth. He saw the quiet street outside his house. He saw a life where he didn't have to be a "Lord" or a "Defect."
He just had to be Ren.
[Objective: Return to Earth]
[Current Progress: 0.35%]
[Current Rank: Unknown Lord (The Ghost of the Spire)]
Far away in the Capital, the King sat in his war room, staring at a report from Iron-Well. His face was pale. The "Defect" was no longer a ghost story. He was a force of nature. And the King knew that if Ren reached the Demon Lord first, the secret of the "Gate" would be out—and the King's power would vanish forever.
"Send the Heroes," the King whispered to his commander. "Tell them a 'Dark Sorcerer' is terrorizing the North. Tell them he must be eliminated at all costs."
The hunt for the Unknown Lord had truly begun.