The moons above the capital city glowed with a soft bluish hue, casting long shadows across the towers of Veyl Academy. Dorm windows shimmered with Echo wards. The wind whispered like it carried secrets.
Inside a modest stone-walled bedroom tucked in the north wing—
—I sat on the bed, wide awake.
"So... I'm really here."
My room looked almost identical to the panel from Kaen Eclipse Volume 1, Chapter 1 Page 32. That little corner shelf. The dull silver lamp. Even the scratch on the stone floor.
"This is insane. I'm living in a manga. And not just any manga—the most brutal, tragic, over-the-top series I ever loved."
I exhaled.
"Sure, the ending's good despite tragic. Cause the final battle? Legendary. The emotion? Unmatched. But before all that—"
I looked at my notebook, now filled with scribbled timelines, deaths, Voidborn appearances, and secret chapter footnotes.
"—there's pain. So much damn pain."
"Alright, focus. Step one… secure survival."
Let me introduce myself again, in case I ever forget.
"I'm Khael Corzedar. From the Corzedar family—yes, that Corzedar family."
A noble house with Earl rank, and a long history of military service. A few members actually get name-dropped in future arcs.
"But me? I'm pathetic. A background character who barely opens one Vein Gate before getting knocked out in a side fight."
"My Affinity?"
I looked at my palm.
A soft breeze flowed through the cracks in the window—and a tiny spark of greenish Shinrei flickered into existence.
"Wind. Just Wind. One Affinity. Weak, right?"
"...But that's where they're wrong."
In this world, Affinities are determined by the dominant emotion in your heart when your Vein Gates first open. That emotion becomes the core of your power—and shapes what kind of Echo Arts you can learn.
Wind was said to be the Affinity of freedom, curiosity, and instinct.
It wasn't flashy like Flame, or unshakable like Stone. But it was fast. Versatile. Limitless.
"Wind is underrated. And I know how to make it overpowered."
Only problem?
"Echo Arts need fuel. Shinrei."
And I had barely enough energy to manifest a ripple, let alone a full-blown Echo technique.
"So. I need a power source. Something long-lasting. Something... alive."
I flipped my notebook open to a scribbled star-marked page.
The title read:
EXTRA CHAPTER 7.5 – THE DYING DRAGON
A standalone side story barely referenced in the main timeline. An ancient dragon, wounded in the first Eclipse War, hides in the shattered region of Korr Vale, waiting for a successor. Someone worthy to inherit his bloodline, his Echo Arts, and his core.
The dragon eventually dies. Alone. No disciple. No legacy.
"Tragic, huh? But here's the kicker—"
"It doesn't affect the main story. Not one bit. It's an unused path. A dead end."
"Unless... I take it."
As I stood up, eyes sharp now with purpose.
"If I can claim the Dragon Bloodline, I'll become a Half-Dragon."
Half-Dragon: Shinrei amplification, physical resilience, increased Affinity compatibility, natural regeneration.
"I'd be able to use every Affinity... except for Shade."
Because even dragons proud, mighty, divine rejected the Shade. It was the element of corruption, of the Voidborn. Of despair.
Only the twisted dragons the fallen ones, ever touched it.
And I wasn't about to join their ranks.
"That means Flame, Wave, Bloom, Stone, Storm, and Wind—all mine."
"I just need to survive the trial. Pass the Dragon's judgment."
I paused.
"Isn't this cheating?" I asked aloud, before smirking.
"Nope. This is strategy."
"They called me an extra in the manga. A background corpse."
"But with this power? I'll rewrite my page."
I looked out the window. The moons stared back like silver eyes.
"Hang on, Kaen. You're going to need more than destiny."
"You'll need someone who knows what's coming."
"You'll need me."
"Ok, Enough of that… Time to do this, cause I've got a 17-hour window before hell breaks loose."
I flipped open my map. It wasn't perfect mostly copied from the manga panels and some vague classroom geography lessons from this world's memories. But I had enough to work with.
The Dragon's resting place…
That ancient beast from Extra Chapter 7.5.
A side chapter. Barely canon.
A dying dragon hidden in a ruined cavern somewhere west of Veyl said to lie beneath an old battlefield no one visits anymore.
Korr Vale, they called it. Burnt grass. Cratered stone. Ruined shrines.
According to the manga, it's a restricted zone. Labeled unstable and haunted.
"Which is just fantasy-speak for: no one's been dumb enough to check."
I circled the spot on my map Korr Vale, an X drawn deep into the western forests.
I checked my supplies.
1 bottle of stamina tonic (tastes like trash)
Echo dagger (weak)
A student disguise cloak (standard issue)
Emergency flare scroll (not using that unless I'm dying)
Small notebook (essential)
And… 2 Echo crystals (not enough)
"It'll have to do. If I waste any more time, I miss the window."
I stuffed everything into my bag and stood.
My heart pounded.
You're really doing this. No backup. No mentor. No plot armor.
You're just an extra trying to hijack an unused plot thread.
"Yeah," I whispered to myself. "But that's exactly why it'll work."
I slipped past the hall guards.
The Academy's western gate was unguarded most students were either studying, training, or pretending not to care about tomorrow's Echo Combat Evaluation. No one noticed me vanish into the trees.
The path to Korr Vale wasn't marked. It was more memory than map. I followed the old shrine stones the same ones shown for two panels in that forgotten chapter. They looked cracked. Overgrown.
Forgotten.
Just like the dragon.
Thirty minutes in, the air turned colder.
The wind stopped.
The trees began to bend the wrong way.
"Here we go… it's real."
The valley curved downward, and suddenly I saw it:
A crater.
A blackened clearing.
And at the center… a massive, collapsed skeleton. Not human. Not beast. Wreathed in lingering Echo mist.
Dragon bones.
And behind it an open cave. Breathing.
Alive.
I stepped forward. One hand on my dagger. Onefoot past destiny.
"This is it."
"This is how I stop being an extra."
To be continue