No one moved at first.
Rael watched the crowd.
Cultivators from distant cities, vagabond youths, battle-scarred mercenaries—all standing before the monoliths of the Wandering Vein Sect, cloaked in silence.
The masked elder surveyed them. The bone stitching across his robe pulsed faintly with crimson light.
"Listen well," the elder intoned. "This trial will not test your talent. It will not test your potential. It will not even test your strength."
He raised his hand, and the canyon stirred—groaning as if the mountain itself remembered pain.
"It will test whether you can bleed with purpose."
The stone beneath their feet cracked open.
---
A single path revealed itself, spiraling down into the bowels of the earth. No light. No torches.
Just silence and the smell of scorched bone.
[System Update: Hidden Dungeon Entry – 'Vein Path – Initiate Tier']
Objective: Survive and return with one 'Core Vein Fragment.'
Warning: Trial designed to break body and spirit. Most will fail.
A young cultivator to Rael's left turned pale.
"This is madness," he whispered.
Rael didn't reply.
He was already walking toward the entrance.
Yue Qingshi moved beside him, gaze unreadable.
"You really believe this is the right path?" she asked, quiet.
Rael didn't look at her. "I don't believe. I calculate."
She smiled faintly. "You're getting colder every day, Rael."
"No," he said.
"I'm getting sharper."
---
They stepped into darkness.
For a long moment, there was only stone. Damp, cold, narrowing.
Then the path opened into a cavern pulsing with faint veins of glowing ore—red, blue, violet. Each heartbeat echoed as if within a dying beast.
And then came the first scream.
It wasn't human.
Rael froze.
Something was waiting.
And it was close.
---
From the far edge of the cavern, the shadows twitched.
Then they moved.
A long-limbed figure emerged from the rock—a human silhouette with no face, its skin ink-black and veined with molten light.
[Entity Identified: Coreless Reclaimer]
Tier: 3.0 Aberrant Construct
Behavior: Hunts Qi signatures. Drawn to unstable cultivators.
Weakness: None apparent. Destroyed only through core damage.
It screeched and sprinted.
Rael shoved Yue aside.
The creature's claw raked past his face—missing by inches—before it embedded itself into the wall behind.
Rael spun low, slashing upward with his blade.
Sparks.
No wound.
"Qi won't work!" Yue shouted. "It feeds on it!"
Rael's eyes narrowed.
Then I'll use something else.
---
He let his blade drop and closed his fists.
The beast lunged again—and this time, Rael didn't dodge.
He stepped into its attack, letting the claw rake his shoulder.
Blood sprayed.
But his palm found the creature's chest.
And through the pain—he pushed his intent.
Not Qi.
Not bloodforce.
Something deeper.
Something that remembered.
A glimpse of a broken cage.
The feeling of falling forever.
The hate that screamed when his father's body vanished into the flames.
[New Trait Activated – Echo Scar Imprint (Unstable)]
You imprint fragments of trauma upon enemies. If their mind is weak, they fracture.
Cost: Memories. Each use burns a moment from your past.
The creature spasmed.
Its scream became human—briefly. It collapsed to its knees.
Rael drove his blade through its core.
---
Silence returned.
Yue stood still, her lips parted.
"What was that?" she whispered.
Rael didn't answer right away. His breathing was shallow. His left eye trembled.
"What did you give up just now?" she asked.
He looked at her—and this time, she saw it.
The flicker of loss.
"I can't remember my mother's voice," he said quietly.
Then turned away.
---
The trial deepened.
They passed through halls of bone and iron, where runes etched into the walls flickered with hate.
Each chamber held something different.
A trap that mimicked your closest companion and begged you to kill them.
A well of Qi that restored power—but poisoned resolve.
A mirror that showed who you could've been—if you'd never failed.
Rael passed each one.
He never hesitated.
But the weight behind his eyes grew heavier with every step.
---
Eventually, they reached the final chamber.
A crystalline lake stretched across the space—its surface still, glowing with veins of scarlet light.
In the center floated a single shard of black stone.
[Target Identified: Core Vein Fragment]
Required for trial completion. Only one may be taken.
Warning: Collecting it will awaken a guardian.
Rael stepped forward.
Then stopped.
So did Yue.
They weren't alone.
Three other cultivators had arrived already—two boys and a girl. All strong. All armed. All watching Rael warily.
"We take it together," the taller boy said. "Split the reward."
Rael shook his head.
"There's only one. Only one of us gets out."
The boy narrowed his eyes. "So you're choosing to die?"
"No," Rael said.
"I'm choosing to fight."
---
They came at him like wolves.
The shorter one led with a whip of bone-string, slashing through the air with precision.
Rael ducked beneath it, rolled forward, and countered with a kick that shattered the girl's guard.
Yue kept the second boy back with fan arcs of lunar Qi—sharp, blinding.
But Rael didn't rely on her.
He'd fought enough now to learn flow.
To see their footwork, predict their spacing, calculate weight shifts before blades even swung.
He used the terrain—bounced off stone, trapped one in a corner, slammed a fragment of broken crystal into another's kneecap.
They dropped.
Hard.
---
Rael stood over them, panting.
The shard still floated in the center of the lake.
He walked forward—alone this time.
Reached.
Touched it.
[Core Vein Fragment Acquired.]
Essence Imprinted: Shadowflow Calculation
Effect: Enhances reaction speed and spatial awareness during battle. Improves evasion and tactical adjustments.
Warning: Absorption incomplete. Will require stability rituals.
Trial Complete.
The lake went still.
The world trembled.
And a voice whispered across the chamber:
"You… are acceptable."
---
When Rael emerged from the Vein Path, Yue waited at the entrance.
Blood-stained. Exhausted.
But alive.
The masked elders of the Wandering Vein Sect stood in silence.
Then the leader pointed.
"You. Name."
"Rael."
"You may walk our path now. If you survive it."
Rael smiled.
That was the first time anyone had offered him a place without asking who he used to be.
And it wouldn't be the last.