After I gathered the essentials—properly cut and washed the wolf meat, packed the claws and fangs worth keeping—I walked out of the underground world.
My blood dripped as I moved, leaving a faint trail behind me.
I knew it would cause a problem later. But I didn't have the strength left to care.
---
[A Week Later]
A week had passed since I arrived in this ruined city.
And just like I feared, monsters had been unnaturally drawn to me.
Most were blood-related spawns—corrupted things with cracked hides and hollow eyes, echoing what this place had become.
I landed back on my feet as the frost giant collapsed, its massive frame slamming into the frozen earth. My black flames had pierced through its core.
The hex echoed:
> [You have slain Twilight Beast: Frost Giant]
[Your flames grow stronger]
The mercury-like blood seeped into the red dagger buried in its chest.
Then the system shifted. A new rune surfaced, carved into the air with soft pulses of light as i called .
Rune
Name: Unknown
Title: [Flame That Cuts the Soul]
Aspect: [???], [Shadow's Blessings]
[Shadow's Blessings] – You bear a blessing of the shadows. Some see it as a gift. Others, a scar.
[???] – [Data Unreadable]
Attributes: [Shadow], [Light]
Traits:
[Night Pierce]
[Shadow Devour]
[Black Flame]
[Divine Light]
[Ignite]
[Ignite] – Amplifies the attributes of Black Flame two-fold.
The description of the Ignite trait was plain. Very unexpected from the mysterious hex . But the power it hinted at was undeniable.
A double amplification.
Though its cost was steep—it drained aen faster than any other trait I had.
I scrolled down, eyes landing on something even more appealing.
Chronicles:
[Shadow Key]
[Forgotten King's Blade]
[Everbloom]
[Dark Shroud]
[Vampire's Cleaver]
[Vampire's Cleaver] – A dagger born from fear. It drank the blood of whatever it struck and slew. At its core, forsaken blood lay dormant.
Enchantments:
[Blood Drain] – The blood of its victims is devoured by its cold blade.
[Blood Fruit] – The blood consumed is condensed into a crimson elixir. The stronger the slain, the more powerful the fruit.
Rank: [Awakened]
Tier: IV
Type: Growth
I smiled as I read the enchantments.
An elixir that had a less than one percent of ever showing up in anywhere in the dread scape... and a weapon that could evolve.
A Growth-type weapon meant it could reach Enlightened Rank someday. The possibilities stirred something in me—something greedy, something proud.
But as I scrolled back to the top of my runes, my smile faded.
Name: Unknown
Even the system knew.
Even now, I wasn't ready to remember who I used to be , but i felt guilty for leaving it behind .
Maybe it already understood what I had tried so hard to forget.
I felt something as the hex echoed.