[17th June]
The capital did not wake peacefully that morning.
For some, it was just another day.
For others, it carried tension that hadn't settled since yesterday's events.
Inside his residence, Rey stood in a room he was explicitly told not to leave.
Bedridden.
Rest.
Recovery.
Orders given clearly.
And yet—
He was already awake, fully dressed, and standing near the door.
"…yeah, that was never going to work."
His fingers rested lightly on the handle, but he didn't open it immediately.
Something felt off.
Not outside.
Inside.
That strange sensation from earlier—it hadn't disappeared.
It lingered.
Faint, but persistent.
Like something quietly reminding him of its presence.
Rey frowned slightly and placed a hand over his abdomen.
"…what is this…"
He focused.
Tried to trace it.
Follow it deeper.
A second passed.
Then—
His expression flattened.
"…I'm hungry."
A dry breath left him.
"That's it?"
His stomach answered with a low, embarrassing growl.
Rey closed his eyes briefly and rubbed his forehead.
"Alright… priorities first."
He opened the door.
The moment he stepped outside, his eyes sharpened.
The house was no longer quiet.
Servants moved across the upper floor, carrying materials, speaking in low voices, cleaning, fixing.
More than usual.
Much more.
'New arrivals.'
His gaze shifted subtly, observing without staring.
'I didn't sense them earlier… so they came after I woke up.'
That alone told him something.
His uncle was tightening control.
"Young master."
The butler approached immediately, posture straight but expression visibly concerned.
"You shouldn't be out. Master has instructed that you remain in bed."
Rey didn't stop walking.
"I'm not dying," he replied calmly, lowering himself onto the sofa. "The doctor said rest, not imprisonment."
The butler hesitated.
Rey leaned back slightly, one arm resting over his stomach.
"And right now, if you don't feed me, I might actually collapse. So… let's avoid that."
It was meant to be light.
Half a joke.
The butler did not take it as one.
"Yes—of course!"
He turned sharply, already calling out to others.
"Prepare a meal immediately! Quickly!"
Within seconds, the quiet house turned into a coordinated rush.
Rey blinked once.
"…I didn't mean—"
Too late.
Five servants entered the kitchen.
Not rushed.
Not chaotic.
Precise.
Movements aligned.
Ingredients prepared without a single wasted motion.
Utensils handled like extensions of their hands.
Rey watched silently from the sofa, his eyes narrowing just slightly.
'This isn't normal household staff…'
Ten minutes.
No more.
The table was filled.
Not just food—
Variety.
Balance.
Presentation.
Rey stood and walked over, genuinely surprised this time.
"…that was fast."
The servants stood to the side, breathing slightly heavier but composed.
He gave a small nod.
"Thanks."
The butler immediately lowered his head. "It is our duty, young master."
Rey didn't argue.
He sat.
Started eating.
At first, he expected flaws.
Rushed cooking usually meant mistakes.
Over-salted dishes. Uneven textures.
But—
Nothing.
Each bite was clean.
Well-balanced.
Deliberate.
His pace slowed slightly.
'…trained.'
While eating, his attention didn't drop.
A thin strand of darkness extended quietly beneath the table.
[Abyssal Pulse Echo]
The structure formed again inside his mind.
Servants moving.
Positions shifting.
Voices low.
Nothing hostile.
Nothing hidden.
But—
Details stood out.
Their posture.
Their coordination.
And most importantly—
The mark.
He saw a light blue circular insignia on each of their shoulders.
Four blades pointing inward from each direction.
Rey's chewing slowed as he stared at them.
'Valemont family… internal division? Or external force under them?'
He didn't ask.
Didn't react.
Just observed.
Meanwhile, his mana drained.
Faster than before.
Rey noticed it late.
Too late.
A faint system warning flickered.
His jaw tightened slightly.
'Consumption increased…'
The difference was clear now.
Before, his regeneration covered everything.
Now—
It didn't.
He deactivated the skill immediately.
By then—
Nearly ten percent of his mana was gone.
"…damn."
He leaned back slightly, exhaling.
The food was finished soon after.
Plates empty.
Body relaxed.
The servants looked relieved.
Satisfied.
Rey stood, stretching lightly.
"Good food."
There was a subtle shift in their expressions.
Pride.
He turned toward his room—
Then stopped.
"…one more thing."
Both the butler and the maid looked at him.
"I'm going to sleep."
His tone turned serious.
"Don't come in. No matter what, please..."
The butler frowned. "But the master ordered us to check every hour—"
"The doctor has already examined me, and Uncle has also checked on me."
Rey cut him off calmly.
"I need uninterrupted rest. That's all."
A pause.
Then he added quietly—
"And, please, keep it quiet outside."
Without waiting for agreement—
He walked in.
Closed the door.
Silence.
A few seconds passed.
Then—
Rey moved.
No hesitation.
No rest.
He grabbed pillows.
Blankets.
Started arranging them on the bed.
Trial.
Error.
Adjustment.
Again.
Again.
"…this looks stupid."
He stepped back, staring at the result.
A human shape.
Barely.
Misshapen.
Too stiff.
"…it'll work."
Above him, Aiden watched with open amusement.
"This is your grand plan?"
Rey didn't look up. "It's enough."
Aiden smirked.
'It won't fool anyone who matters.'
Rey walked to the window.
Paused.
Checked outside carefully.
No direct eyes on him.
No immediate surveillance.
Good enough.
He exhaled.
"…let's go."
Darkness gathered around him.
[Eclipse Shroud]
His presence dimmed instantly.
Blurred.
Faded.
Not invisible.
But erased from attention.
He stepped onto the ledge—
And jumped.
Mid-fall—
His figure flickered.
Vanished.
Reappeared—
On the adjacent rooftop.
Knees bent slightly as he landed.
Controlled.
Silent.
Then—
His body swayed.
Rey's eyes narrowed sharply.
"…what?"
A heavy drop.
Sudden.
His mana—
Gone.
Not fully.
But enough.
A hollow feeling spread through him.
His breathing slowed.
Not by choice.
By strain.
'That much… in one use?'
Rey clenched his jaw.
The realisation hit him harder than expected.
Everything had changed.
His skills—
They were no longer sustainable the way he used them before.
And if he miscalculated again—
He wouldn't just get caught.
He would collapse.
Right there.
On someone else's roof.
In the middle of the capital.
Rey steadied himself slowly.
Then looked toward the distant arena.
"…this just got harder."
And for the first time—
Going back didn't feel like the difficult part.
Staying hidden did.
The skill he had just used… wasn't something he could afford to take lightly.
Phantom Shift.
A high-grade movement skill layered with his Void Flicker Steps effect, letting him blink barely three meters—yet it had devoured more than twenty-five percent of his mana in a single use.
Rey stood still on the rooftop, his breathing steady, but his eyes narrowing slightly.
That single movement had told him everything he needed to know.
His regeneration… was nowhere near enough.
Without the relic's passive boost supporting him, his natural recovery felt painfully slow—almost useless compared to how much his skills consumed.
His fingers curled slightly as he looked at his palm.
"So this is the real cost…"
From that moment on, he made a silent decision.
No more reckless usage.
Not here.
Not now.
Even Eclipse Shroud, the very skill hiding his presence, was continuously draining him like an unseen leak.
A slow, constant loss.
And it was far more dangerous than a sudden drop.
Rey exhaled quietly and pushed forward, his body leaning into motion as he moved across the rooftops toward the stadium.
Faster than usual.
More efficient.
No wasted movement.
"I need to finish this quickly…"
His voice didn't come out, but the thought was sharp.
"If this drags on, I won't even be able to fight properly."
His jaw tightened faintly.
"The cost is too high… and my base stats aren't enough to support it."
He stopped atop a large building just opposite the stadium.
Below him, the world was alive.
Crowds poured into the entrance in waves—voices overlapping, footsteps echoing, the energy of anticipation thick in the air.
Rey's gaze swept across the scene, then instinctively shifted inward.
His mana.
Already… nearly half gone.
And he hadn't even fought yet.
That realisation settled heavily in his chest.
He couldn't keep wasting it like this.
Without hesitation, he stepped forward into empty air.
His body dropped.
Wind rushed past his ears as gravity pulled him down from six stories high—
But midway through the fall, his descent broke.
His foot pressed against the wall.
Then another.
Then another.
His body twisted, bent, redirected—each movement flowing into the next with sharp precision.
He didn't fall.
He moved down.
Controlled.
Deliberate.
Like an animal trained by instinct rather than thought.
Within seconds, he landed lightly on the ground.
His knees bent slightly to absorb the impact, fingers brushing the surface for balance.
Then he straightened.
Rey glanced at his hand.
The skin was faintly red.
A small sting lingered.
A faint smile touched his lips.
"Getting rusty…"
It had only been a few days.
Yet his body had already started to lose its edge.
That… didn't sit well with him.
He dropped his stealth.
The faint distortion around him faded as he reached into his inventory and pulled out his overcoat, quickly draping it over his body.
The fabric settled around him, hiding his frame, shadowing his face.
His bow remained inside.
No need to attract attention.
A quick glance around confirmed it—almost no one here carried weapons.
Only guards.
Anyone else would stand out immediately.
Blending into the crowd, Rey lowered his presence and walked forward.
Step by step, he merged into the flow of contestants heading toward the gathering ground.
Voices overlapped around him.
Fragments of conversations.
Tension.
Excitement.
Nervous laughter.
But something caught his attention.
Not visually.
Audibly.
"…Raviel Ashcroft…"
The name slipped through the noise like a blade.
Rey's eyes shifted slightly beneath his hood.
He didn't turn his head.
But his focus sharpened instantly.
The contestants beside him were speaking in low but excited tones.
Rumors.
Speculation.
And something else.
Expectation.
"…he's actually here today…"
"…not like before…"
"…the Duke forced him to participate properly this time…"
"…he's going to win… there's no doubt…"
Rey's gaze subtly moved through the crowd.
Searching.
Calculating.
But the density made it difficult.
Too many bodies.
Too many movements.
So he did what came naturally.
His skill activated.
[Abyssal Pulse Echo]
The world shifted.
A dome-like perception expanded outward from him, forming a complete map inside his mind.
Positions.
Shapes.
Movement.
Everything became clear.
And yet… something felt different.
He could see them.
But he couldn't recognise them.
Not properly.
Each person had… something else.
Something layered over their physical form.
A presence.
A variation.
A fluctuation he couldn't quite understand.
"…What am I looking at…?"
His brows pulled together slightly.
He focused harder.
Trying to interpret it.
Trying to make sense of it.
But the answer didn't come from him.
"What a fool…"
Aiden's voice cut in, casual and slightly mocking.
"You're staring right at it and still don't get it."
Rey didn't respond.
But his attention sharpened.
"That… is their energy. Their strength."
Aiden's voice faded as quickly as it came after that.
But it was enough.
Rey's pupils shrank slightly.
Then—
Understanding clicked.
Energy.
Strength.
What he was seeing…
Wasn't just form.
It was power made visible.
Each person emitted something different.
Some faint.
Some steady.
Some intense.
Like flames.
And the stronger they were…
The hotter it burned.
Rey slowly scanned the crowd again.
This time—
He understood.
Most contestants burned brighter than ordinary people.
Even more than the martial artists who had already been eliminated.
But among them…
There were exceptions.
Roughly twenty.
Maybe more.
Their presence stood out immediately.
Stronger.
Sharper.
Closer to him.
And among those…
Two.
Maybe three.
Whose "flames" rose even higher.
Above his natural level.
Rey's expression didn't change.
But something inside him settled.
"So I'm not the strongest contestant, huh…"
There was no frustration.
No disbelief.
Just acceptance.
And a quiet awareness.
"There's always someone above."
But he didn't stop there.
His perception expanded further.
Toward the stands.
Toward the nobles.
And what he saw…
Made his breath pause for half a second.
Most of them—
He couldn't read.
At all.
Only a few…
And those few…
Burned like towering infernos.
Not flames.
Not anymore.
They were something else entirely.
Rey's fingers twitched slightly at his side.
"Peak Apprentice… or early Acolyte…"
That was his estimate.
And beyond that…
Nothing.
He couldn't see anything beyond that level.
Then his focus shifted further.
Toward one specific point.
The Duke's stand.
Rey narrowed his senses.
Pushed his sonar deeper.
Focused harder—
Nothing.
No flame.
No presence.
No readable energy.
Just… absence.
His breath slowed.
That silence spoke louder than anything else.
"No one there… below Acolyte…"
A faint realisation formed in his mind.
This wasn't just a skill.
This…
Was instinct.
A trait.
Something inherited.
From the beast.
The same way predators sensed danger.
The same way they distinguished prey from threat.
Rey stood still for a moment longer.
Absorbing it.
Adapting to it.
And then—
"Silence."
The voice didn't shout.
It didn't need to.
Yet the moment it echoed across the stadium—
Everything stopped.
A pressure descended instantly.
Invisible.
Overwhelming.
Crushing.
Rey's body stiffened slightly.
Not from fear.
But from the sheer weight of it.
Around him, contestants froze.
Voices died mid-sentence.
Even the crowd fell into absolute silence.
It was domination.
Pure.
Effortless.
One word.
And thousands obeyed.
Rey slowly lifted his gaze.
His eyes were narrowing just slightly.
"So this…"
"…is real strength."
Rey watched the host, identifying the source of the flames he had sensed.
Another blazing inferno seemed to tower and emanate from his body, a display of strength that appeared boundless and far beyond what Rey could contend with at his current level.
Even as they felt fear, a spark of motivation ignited within each contestant—a quiet determination to attain such formidable power someday.