The air inside the maintenance shaft grew heavier with every step. It wasn't just hot; it was oppressive, pressing down on Kael's chest like a physical weight. The metal walls of the service tunnel had long since vanished, replaced by jagged, porous rock that pulsed with a faint, reddish light.
Kael paused, wiping sweat from his brow. He had discarded the heavy hazmat suit hours ago, storing it in his inventory space—a feature the System had quietly unlocked after he reached Level 20. He wore only the black tactical pants and the tight undershirt he'd stolen from the Lockwood manor.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
ENVIRONMENT SCAN COMPLETE
LOCATION: DRAGON BONES - OUTER PERIMETER (THE SKIN)
MANA DENSITY: 400% (STANDARD)
RADIATION: TOXIC (REGENERATION NEUTRALIZING)
Neutralizing, Kael thought grimly. His body was a furnace, constantly burning through the radiation, but it cost him stamina. He needed fuel.
He knelt, placing a hand on the warm stone.
[EARTH SENSE]
The vibrations traveled through the rock. Ahead, the tunnel opened into a vast cavern. But between him and the cavern was a nest.
Skittering. Clicking. Heartbeats—small, rapid, numerous.
Kael crept forward, peering over a ridge of bone.
Below him, in a hollowed-out section of the tunnel, dozens of creatures swarmed. They looked like crabs, but their shells were made of bone, and their pincers dripped with a glowing, acidic saliva.
TARGET: BONE-SCRUBBER (D-RANK)
LEVEL: 15 - 20
DESCRIPTION: SCAVENGERS. THEY FEED ON THE DRAGON'S MARROW LEAKAGE.
Scavengers. Trash mobs.
But to Kael, they were provisions.
He didn't draw a weapon. He didn't prepare a spell. He simply stood up on the ridge and let his presence flare.
[KING'S CHARISMA] - ACTIVATED
The air grew heavy. The skittering in the pit stopped instantly. Thirty pairs of beady black eyes looked up at him.
"Come," Kael whispered.
He didn't say it loudly, but the command carried the weight of his mana.
The Bone-Scrubbers hesitated. Their instincts screamed predator, but the command forced their legs to move. One by one, they began to climb the ridge toward him.
Kael dropped down into their midst.
PAM!
He crushed the first one under his boot, shattering its carapace instantly.
DEVOUR
The creature turned to dust.
+15 XP. +5 Mana.
The others shrieked, the command breaking as their survival instincts kicked in. They swarmed him.
Kael moved like a dancer. He didn't just fight; he harvested.
A pincer snapped at his leg. He caught it, ripped it off, and drove it into the creature's eye. BAM.
Two jumped on his back. He sparked with electricity—ZZZT—frying them instantly.
He grabbed a third by the throat.
"More," he growled.
DEVOUR
He wasn't trying to acquire abilities from these low-level trash mobs. He was farming mana. He was refueling.
The cavern became a slaughterhouse. Bones cracked. Bodies dissolved into motes of light. Kael stood in the center of the whirlwind, his arms stained with ichor, his eyes glowing a neon blue.
Within five minutes, the nest was silent.
Kael stood alone among piles of ash.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
MASS DEVOUR COMPLETE
TARGETS CONSUMED: 28
TOTAL XP GAINED: 450
MANA RESTORED: 100% (OVERFLOW)
LEVEL UP!
LEVEL 32 → 33
He took a deep breath. The energy coursing through him was wild, chaotic. Draconic mana was violent. It didn't sit still in his core; it rattled the cage of his soul, demanding to be used.
He looked at the notification log.
Why do I never get abilities from these? he wondered.
SYSTEM RESPONSE: TARGETS POSSESSED NO UNIQUE SOUL SIGNATURE. ABILITY ACQUISITION REQUIRES CONSUMPTION OF SENTIENT OR ELITE BEINGS.
Kael frowned. Sentient.
He looked at his hands. He was strong. Stronger than any D-Rank had a right to be. But he was still in the dark about the most important thing.
"System," Kael thought, leaning against the warm cave wall. "Why me?"
The blue screen flickered.
QUERY UNDEFINED.
"You chose me," Kael pressed, his thoughts sharp. "In the incinerator. You said 'Bonding Initiated'. Why? I was trash. A failed experiment. Why bind to a dying boy?"
The silence stretched for a second. Then, text appeared, not in the standard blue, but in a faint, shimmering gold.
SYSTEM LOG: HOST SOUL
SIGNAL MATCH: 99.9%
VARIABLE DETECTED: [VOID ORIGIN]
PRIMARY DIRECTIVE: ASCENSION.
SECONDARY DIRECTIVE: UNCOVER THE TRUTH.
Void Origin?
Kael stared at the words. He didn't know what that meant. He was a Dhampir. A half-blood.
Is the System connected to my father? he wondered. Or something older?
Before he could probe further, a sound echoed from deeper within the tunnel.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Heavy footsteps. Not the skittering of bugs. Something big.
Kael pushed off the wall. The mystery would have to wait. He had a dungeon to conquer.
He moved deeper, following the heat.
Twenty minutes later, the tunnel opened up into a massive, cathedral-like space.
Kael stopped, his breath catching in his throat.
It was a graveyard of giants.
Massive ribcages, large enough to house a skyscraper, jutted out from the ground. The floor was a tapestry of white bone and red crystal. In the center of the cavern, a massive skull lay half-buried in the earth, its jaws open in a silent roar.
This was the Dragon.
Or rather, the corpse of one.
And standing before the massive skull, setting up a perimeter, was a squad of soldiers.
They wore black armor with the Hart family crest.
SYSTEM SCAN TARGETS: HART FAMILY VANGUARD
COUNT: 5
LEVELS: 45 - 50 (C-RANK)
The advance team.
Kael melted into the shadows behind a massive bone pillar. He watched them. They were setting up mana beacons, clearing a path for Sarae.
"Keep moving," the squad leader barked. "Lord Sarae wants the perimeter secured before he enters the Heart Chamber. If any of those bone worms show up, fry them."
Kael's eyes narrowed.
C-Rank. Five of them.
A fair fight was suicide. Even with his levels, their stats would dwarf his. Their gear was Tier 3 or higher.
He needed an edge. He needed chaos.
He looked around. Above the squad, suspended by vines and sinew, was a massive stalactite of crystalized mana. It was unstable, pulsing with energy.
Kael smiled.
Why fight them when the dungeon can do it for me?
He raised his hand.
[TELEKINESIS]
He didn't aim at the soldiers. He aimed at the crystal stalactite.
He poured 200 mana into the skill.
Snap.
The vine holding the crystal broke.
CRACK.
The soldiers looked up.
"What the—?"
BOOM!
The crystal slammed into the ground right in the center of the squad. It didn't just shatter; it exploded. Unstable draconic mana detonated like a bomb.
A shockwave of red energy blasted outward.
"CONTACT! CONTACT!"
"MY LEG!"
The formation was broken. Dust filled the air.
Kael moved.
He dropped from the pillar, landing behind the squad leader, who was stumbling, his helmet cracked.
Kael used the knife he had taken from the gardener—the curved blade.
SILENCE.
SLASH.
He slit the leader's throat from behind. The man fell to his knees, gurgling.
DEVOUR INITIATED
Kael grabbed the man's shoulder before he hit the ground.
MANA ABSORBED: 200
ABILITY ROLL: 30%
ROLL FAILED.
Dammit.
He spun, throwing the knife at a second soldier who was trying to raise his rifle.
THWACK.
The knife buried itself in the man's visor. He dropped.
Kael charged the remaining three. They were dazed, injured by the blast.
They were prey.
He unleashed his [LIGHTNING MANIPULATION].
BZZZZT!
Three bolts of blue lightning arced from his fingers, striking the soldiers in their chests.
They convulsed and fell.
Silence returned to the cavern.
Kael stood among the bodies. He was panting. His mana was half-empty.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
4 ELIMINATIONS CONFIRMED
XP GAINED: 1200
LEVEL UP!
LEVEL 33 → 34
LEVEL 34 → 35
NEW ABILITY UNLOCKED: [EYE OF TRUTH] (PASSIVE)
DESCRIPTION: ALLOWS HOST TO SEE THE STATISTICS AND WEAKNESSES OF TARGETS 10 LEVELS HIGHER.
Kael looked at the bodies. He walked over to the squad leader.
"Search," he commanded the system.
LOOT GENERATED:
1x TIER 3 PLASMA RIFLE (DURABILITY: LOW)
1x C-RANK MANA POTION
1x HART FAMILY CIPHER KEY
Kael picked up the Cipher Key. It was a small, silver chip.
This gets me into their comms network.
He felt a rumble. The ground shook.
The explosion had attracted attention.
From the massive skull in the center of the cavern, two eyes ignited. Not the eyes of a living creature, but the glowing gems of a guardian.
A skeletal head, the size of a truck, turned toward him.
ALERT: BOSS DETECTED
TARGET: GUARDIAN OF THE MARROW
RANK: B (LOW)
LEVEL: 80
Kael stared up at the monster. It was a B-Rank. The gap was still massive.
He gripped the Plasma Rifle.
"Okay," Kael whispered, a manic grin spreading across his face. "Let's see if dragons bleed."