< Hidden Trigger – Night-Sewn Path >
< Tier mismatch: User High-2 / Scroll Tier-3 >
< Deadline: 30 days >
< Failure: scroll burns, knowledge lost forever >
The message hung in the dark like a noose. Thirty days was no mercy—just enough rope to hang herself if she failed. Serena exhaled, the sound sharp in the silent dormitory.
She spread the parchment across her knee. Nine diagrams, each a whisper of impossible motion. She had stolen the scroll from a forgotten shelf in Aramore's east library the night before the tournament began. While the rest of the Academy roared over duels, she had drilled the sequence until her palms blistered and her shadow bled. Entry level—barely the first breath of mastery.
The technique needed a name. Ink swirled where her blood touched the edge, hungry.
"Night-Sewn Path," she said.
< Naming accepted. Timer: 29 days 23 h 59 m >
A second prompt followed, colder.
< Advancement path >
• Three live combats
• One cultivator kill
• Core Bloom Stage 6 or above
• System tier break-through to Tier-3 advised
Two cultivation stages and an entire tier—inside a single turning of the moon. The Academy's sparring halls were useless; any corpse inside the wards triggered the inquisitors. She needed ground where screams vanished into wind.
Umbren stirred in her shadow, violet eyes opening like small stars.
—Mission Hall. Bounties leave at dawn.—
Serena rolled the parchment, slid it into system storage, and buckled her scythe. The dormitory corridor was empty; even the night sentries were asleep after the tournament's aftermath. She moved like a draught of cold air, cloak pulled tight, hood hiding the faint silver crest of Aramore that no longer belonged to her.
The Mission Hall's iron doors stood ajar. A single lantern hissed over slate boards chalked with requests. The clerk—a Mind Bond monk tallying merit points—glanced up, saw the violet ring in her eyes, and decided silence was safer than questions.
Her finger stopped on the newest posting.
< Duskriver Gorge >
< Rogue band "Vein-Eaters" >
< 27 confirmed kills >
< Reward: 300 merit + 2 Arcane Orbs >
Perfect. Lawless ground, confirmed bodies, and no oversight beyond the drop-off point. She tore the parchment free. Wax sealed, red and wet as fresh blood.
Outside, the night wind carried pine and frost. Umbren padded beside her, shadow stretching until it swallowed the lantern light.
—Twenty-nine days left.—
Serena tightened her grip on the scythe. The blade answered with a faint, hungry hum.
"Then let the Gorge learn what happens when a ghost is given a deadline."
She stepped off the Academy path and into the dark, the timer already bleeding seconds behind her eyes.