The air stank of blood and wet earth. Gorak's eyes blinked open to a sky choked in ash, the scent of iron thick in his nose. His head throbbed as if an anvil had smashed it, and every muscle ached with cold and exhaustion. Around him, bodies lay sprawled across a wide, cratered battlefield—some still twitching, most already still.
He was alive.
He shouldn't have been.
The last thing he remembered was the betrayal. His warband—his own blood kin—had turned on him, casting him into the maw of a dimensional rift during a skirmish with dwarves. No trial. No explanation. Just betrayal and darkness.
And now… this.
A chime echoed in his skull, strange and cold.
[Initializing World Core Interface...][Welcome, Subject: Gorak of the Blackfangs][New Evolution Path Detected: Warlord Ascension][Survive the Crucible to Awaken Potential.]
"What… is this?" Gorak growled, his voice hoarse. He pushed himself upright, snarling as pain flared in his ribs.
[Crucible of Beasts: Trial 1 – Last One Standing][Time Limit: 3 Hours][Kill or be killed.]
A low growl rumbled from behind him.
He turned. Three meters away, a four-armed troll with jagged fangs and one eye missing stumbled to its feet. Around them, the others began to stir too—beastmen, ogres, and mutated creatures with blank, savage eyes.
Every one of them stared at Gorak like he was dinner.
"So that's how it is…" he murmured, cracking his knuckles. "Fine."
No honor. No hesitation.
Survive first. Understand later.
Ten minutes in, Gorak was covered in blood that wasn't his.
He had no weapon, no armor—only instincts and ruthlessness. He broke an ogre's neck by baiting it into a charge and using a fallen tree root to pivot and slam its face into stone. A beastman fell with its throat ripped open by Gorak's teeth.
[Kill Count: 3][Bonus Stat: +1 Strength, +1 Agility][Progress: 4% – Crucible Clearance]
It wasn't just carnage. It was growth.
Every kill made him stronger. He felt it in his bones—his movements quicker, his vision sharper, his blood hotter.
He learned fast. He improvised faster.
He found a crude bone axe from a dead troll and modified it by wrapping its grip with beast hide. He set simple traps with sharpened spikes. He observed patterns in how the other creatures moved, adapted his attacks, played possum when needed.
[Warlord Trait Unlocked: Tactical Predator – Gain +10% Damage when Ambushing][Warlord Trait Progression: 8%]
"This... system wants me to evolve. Not just survive. Conquer," Gorak muttered, catching his breath behind a rock as the timer ticked down.
Final Hour.
Only four remained.
Gorak.
A lithe tiger beastkin with lightning-fast strikes.
A mutated minotaur twice his size.
And a cloaked figure—slim, humanoid, but floating slightly off the ground. Its face hidden behind a mask carved with runes.
He watched them tear into each other. The beastkin wounded the minotaur. The minotaur crushed its ribs in retaliation. The cloaked figure unleashed a pulse of black magic that erased them both in a single burst.
Only Gorak remained standing across the clearing.
He stepped forward, staring down the floating figure.
"So. You're not mindless like the others," he said.
The figure cocked its head.
"Correct. But this test… ends with your death, or mine."
"I choose yours."
They clashed. Fast. Brutal. Magic met muscle, strategy met instinct. Gorak wasn't stronger. But he was smarter. He feigned a charge, dove under the figure's blast, and used a shard of jagged bone to sever the binding sigils glowing on its legs.
The floating stopped.
It screamed.
He didn't let it finish. His axe split its head in two.
[Crucible Completed][Trial Survivor: Gorak][Evolution Initiated: Warlord Class – Base Tier Unlocked][You may now allocate earned stat points.]
[Reward: Command Core Seed (Dormant)][Reward: Territory Beacon – Tier 0]
[You have qualified to create your own Domain.][Will you plant the beacon and found your first Territory?]
Gorak stared at the strange glowing crystal that materialized before him. His breath was ragged. His hands dripped blood.
He had no home. No allies. No legacy.
Until now.
"Yes," he said.
"I claim this land."
[Territory "Ashfang Hollow" has been founded.][Territory Level: 0][Population: 1][Begin your rise, Warlord.]
As the skies cleared for the first time since he awoke, Gorak stood at the center of a new world. A wild, hostile place where only the brutal survived.
But he would do more than survive.
He would raise an army. He would build a kingdom. He would crush every tribe that scorned him, every race that feared him.
And he would carve his name into the bones of the gods.
To be continued...