Penelope reached over and gently patted Violet's shoulder, like she was smoothing down invisible dust.
"You train too hard," she said quietly. "If you don't eat, you'll collapse."
Violet nodded.
Her throat felt strangely tight.
"Yes, Mother."
Across the table, Valerius Raven lifted his gaze.
His eyes moved from Violet's plate to Penelope's, now nearly empty.
For a moment, Violet thought he would speak.
But he didn't.
He simply continued cutting his own beef.
Only… his knife scraped harder this time.
A sharp, unpleasant sound rang across the table.
Subtle.
But Violet noticed.
And Rowena noticed too.
Rowena paused mid-bite and glanced at their father. Her brows tightened slightly.
Valerius' eyes shifted toward her.
It was only a look.
But Rowena immediately lowered her head and continued eating, obedient as a soldier reminded of rank.
Violet said nothing.
She simply ate the extra meat.
Refusing would only insult her mother's love.
And Violet had no interest in hurting the few people in this world who cared about her.
*
When the meal ended, the routine followed as always.
Valerius stood first.
Rowena rose immediately.
"Come," the knight said.
Rowena straightened. "Yes, Father."
The two of them left together.
Violet stayed seated, watching their backs disappear through the doorway.
She already knew what came next.
Rowena would receive guidance.
Swordwork.
Breathing.
Mana control.
The lessons reserved for the heir.
Violet wasn't allowed to attend.
Not yet.
Only when she became a first-level trainee knight would she be considered worthy of standing in that circle.
Violet stood up quietly.
Penelope glanced at her. "Go rest," she said gently.
Violet shook her head. "I need to do something first."
Penelope didn't ask what.
She only watched her leave, her gaze holding worry… and pride.
*
Violet returned to her room without wasting a second.
The food sat heavy in her stomach, but she welcomed it.
It wasn't weight.
It was fuel.
And tonight, her body felt strange.
Not just tired.
Not just sore.
There was pressure beneath her skin, like her blood had become restless.
Like something was pounding against the inside of her ribs, demanding to be born.
Violet shut the door.
She sat down on the carpet, crossed her legs, and straightened her back.
Moonlight slipped through the shutters and painted pale lines across the floor.
She inhaled slowly.
Then exhaled.
Her breathing changed.
It wasn't natural anymore.
It wasn't casual.
Her belly expanded with each inhale, then snapped inward with every exhale. Her lungs worked like bellows feeding a forge.
Knight Breathing.
The secret foundation of all knights.
Every family guarded their breathing technique like treasure. Some inherited theirs through blood. Some stole theirs through war. Some earned them by trading battlefield merit for knowledge.
Without breathing, there was no Mana.
Without Mana…
A human was only meat.
Violet exhaled again.
White mist shot from her mouth, sharp and fast, flying nearly a foot before vanishing.
Again.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Mist.
Her stomach tightened.
The beef and porridge inside her didn't feel like food anymore. It felt like something burning, being torn apart and converted into raw energy.
Her body began to heat up.
Twenty breaths.
Violet didn't stop.
Twenty-one.
Twenty-two.
The air in the room seemed heavier, as if the space itself was being pressed down.
Violet's heartbeat slowed.
Then suddenly…
Something snapped.
A pulse.
Not a sound.
Not light.
A sensation deep inside her chest, like a drumbeat beneath her ribs.
Violet's body trembled violently.
Her eyes widened.
For a terrifying moment, she thought it was failing again.
She had felt this tremble before.
So many times.
Mana gathered… struggled… then scattered like smoke.
But this time…
The trembling stopped.
The pulse stabilized.
And warmth surged outward from her chest, flowing into her arms, her legs, her spine.
Violet's entire body felt like it had been washed clean.
The soreness vanished.
The exhaustion evaporated.
Her mind sharpened instantly, as if she'd slept ten hours and woken up reborn.
Violet sat frozen.
Then she slowly clenched her fists.
Strength.
Real strength.
Not the illusion of muscles.
Not the fake confidence of a woman on Earth lifting weights in a gym.
This was power.
Violet's lips parted.
"…I did it."
Her voice trembled.
"I finally did it."
First-level trainee knight.
She remembered the day she'd seen her father cut through a tree thicker than a barrel, his blade wrapped in white light. The sword hadn't slowed.
The tree had split like rotten wood.
That moment had burned itself into her mind.
That was the moment she truly understood this world was real.
This was a world where humans could surpass humans.
And the weak didn't get to live peacefully.
They got trampled.
That same day, Violet had asked her father to teach her.
Valerius Raven had stared at her for a long time before speaking.
"Rowena is the heir."
Violet remembered his words perfectly.
"All resources go to her first. You may train, but only when it doesn't interfere with her. If we have extra, you get extra."
It hadn't been cruelty.
It had been truth.
Violet had nodded. "I understand."
Then her father had added one more thing.
"As long as you carry the Raven name, you will learn the Raven inheritance. You are my daughter too."
That had been enough.
From then on, Violet swallowed knowledge like a starving woman.
Weapon maintenance.
Horse riding.
Archery.
Etiquette.
Everything.
Two months ago, she had officially begun knight training.
And now…
She had finally stepped through the first gate.
Violet let out a shaky breath.
A faint smile touched her lips.
But it vanished almost immediately.
Because the Mana inside her suddenly began draining.
Violet's eyes snapped open.
"What…?"
The warmth flowed away like water through cracked stone. Her heart lurched.
It wasn't fading evenly.
It was rushing toward her right arm.
Her arm went hot.
Then cold.
Then numb.
Violet's breathing turned sharp.
"No. No, no, no…"
She clenched her teeth.
If the first pulse collapsed now, she would lose everything.
But just as suddenly as it started…
The draining stopped.
Violet froze, sweat breaking across her forehead.
The Mana remained.
Weaker than before.
But stable.
Violet exhaled slowly, forcing her heartbeat to calm.
"…Damn."
Her sleeve fluttered slightly.
Violet pulled it up.
And stared.
Beneath the skin of her right arm was a faint mark.
Not a bruise.
Not a scar.
A shape, pale and strange, as if it had been printed into her flesh.
Violet leaned closer, eyes narrowing.
Her breath caught.
She knew that shape.
She knew it far too well.
Her body jolted upright.
"This is…!"
Her voice cracked.
She stared at her arm like she was afraid it would disappear if she blinked.
"The Alchemist's Cube…"
Her heart hammered wildly.
Impossible.
This couldn't be real.
But it was the same symbol.
The artifact she had used for years in Alchemists of Nymira.
The same cube every player recognized instantly, because without it, you were nothing. Without it, you couldn't craft, couldn't upgrade, couldn't survive the late game.
Violet paced the room like her mind had caught fire.
Her hands trembled.
Her breathing turned uneven.
In this strange world, seeing something familiar felt like finding a rope while falling off a cliff.
Violet swallowed hard.
"So it came with me…"
Her voice was low, disbelieving.
"But how?"
She stared at the mark, eyes burning.
"That game was just code…"
Her breath shuddered.
"…but this is reality."
And in the silence of her room, Violet Raven finally understood something terrifying.
Her transmigration wasn't an accident.
It was connected.
Directly. To that game.
And whatever had brought her here… hadn't finished with her yet.
Violet stared at her right arm for a long time.
At first, she wanted answers. She wanted logic. She wanted to understand how something from a game could exist inside her body.
But after a year in this world, she had learned something important.
Reality didn't explain itself.
It only crushed people who hesitated.
So Violet stopped asking _why_.
And started thinking about _what now_.
The mark hadn't shown itself before. That meant it needed energy.
And the moment she formed her first Mana pulse… the cube had awakened.
It had absorbed her Mana.
That explained the sudden draining.
Violet steadied her breathing and reached out, touching the faint shadow beneath her skin.
The instant her fingertip pressed against it…
Her mind shifted.
It was like a door opened inside her head.
A hidden room unlocking for the first time.
Violet's eyes widened.
Inside her consciousness, she saw a grid.
Twelve squares.
A storage space.
Two were occupied. The rest were empty.
In the corner sat something she recognized immediately.
A blue book.
Violet's throat went dry.
"…That's…"
Her voice came out as a whisper.
"The Book of Town Portal."
She knew it too well.
She had modified it right before she died. Unlimited uses. A habit she never broke. Anything valuable in the game, she would edit, then store inside the cube like a squirrel hoarding nuts for winter.
Violet's fingers twitched.
She focused and spoke inside her mind.
"Take it out."
The book appeared in her hands instantly.
Heavy.
Real.
The cover was deep blue, carved with dark golden patterns that shimmered faintly, like liquid light crawling beneath the surface.
It looked far more mystical in reality than it ever did on a screen.
Violet stared at it like a starving woman staring at food.
Then a thought struck her so hard her breath stopped.
"If this works…"
Her voice trembled.
"…then maybe I can go home."
Her heart began to pound.
She saw it so clearly. Her old apartment. The familiar streets. Her parents. Her mother's cooking. The smell of her hometown. The sound of English spoken casually, not like some precious relic.
Homesickness hit her like a knife.
Violet swallowed hard and opened the book.
Inside were scrolls.
Twenty of them.
White sheepskin, bound with blue ribbons. Dark golden markings ran along the edges, and even without using them, Violet could feel faint power sleeping inside.
Her fingers reached for the first scroll.
The moment she touched it, the scroll lifted slightly.
Resisting.
Violet frowned.
"What?"
She tried to grab it.
It pushed away, almost like it was avoiding her hand.
Her brows furrowed. "Don't mess with me…"