It happened on a moonless night.
Ryner sat cross-legged in the silence of his room, his breathing steady, guiding the intertwined currents of mana, aura, and life force through his body. Fourteen years of secret cultivation had refined his vessel to endure more than most grown men could dream of. Tonight, though, something different stirred. A thread—subtle yet undeniable—tugged at his soul.
It wasn't the pull of a technique or the whisper of a Crown. This was older, deeper.
*…A sword? No… not just a sword. A gem.*
His heartbeat quickened. Recognition struck him like lightning. Rune had revealed these signatures once before in the void—the **Sword Gems.** Each one pulsed with elemental essence, each one holding a technique capable of shaping fate itself.
And the one calling to him now was unmistakable.
**Obsidian.**
The gem of darkness. The keeper of *Temporal Darkness.*
And it wasn't in some distant land.
It was here. Beneath the Alostrio estate.
---
Ryner waited until the estate fell completely silent. The guards rotated lazily through their patrols, servants snored in their quarters, and even the insects outside hushed beneath the heavy clouds. Then, like a shadow slipping free of its tether, Ryner left his chamber.
He had practiced this countless times as a child—moving noiselessly, blending into corners, vanishing beneath the notice of others. To the world, he was mediocre, but in silence, mediocrity was the perfect veil.
Step by step, he descended deeper into the estate. Past the polished halls where nobles held banquets. Past the servant quarters and storage cellars where dust and cobwebs reigned. The pull of the gem grew stronger with every stride, like a heartbeat thundering beneath the ground.
Finally, in a forgotten corridor sealed by time and neglect, Ryner stopped. Stone walls barred the way, unmarked and unassuming, yet his soul knew the truth.
He placed his palm on the cold stone.
The seal of the Fifth Crown within him stirred. A faint pulse rippled outward, and the ancient masonry trembled. With a groan, the wall shifted aside, revealing a spiral staircase that vanished into darkness.
Ryner's lips curved faintly.
*So it's been beneath us all along.*
He descended.
---
The deeper he went, the heavier the air became. Every step pressed against him, as if the weight of time itself bore down. His breath thickened, his limbs slowed, and the world seemed to drag, stretching seconds into minutes.
At the end of the staircase lay a chamber, vast and silent. In its center stood an altar carved of black stone, and upon it rested a small gem.
It was darker than shadow, darker than night. A black so absolute it devoured the torchlight, leaving only a void where it sat.
The **Obsidian Sword Gem.**
Ryner's body trembled—not with fear, but with awe. Even sealed, its mere presence warped the chamber, distorting the flow of time. Dust floated unmoving in the air. The flicker of flame stretched unnaturally, slow and syrupy.
*If I were weaker… this would crush me before I even touched it.*
But Ryner was no ordinary child. He had prepared for this moment every day of his second life.
He stepped forward. His hand stretched, hesitant only for an instant, then closed around the gem.
Darkness erupted.
The chamber vanished into a void of pitch-black, swallowing torchlight, swallowing sound, swallowing even breath. The world froze. Ryner's chest ceased to rise. His pulse halted mid-beat.
A voice resonated, deep and eternal.
**"Child of the Crown… can you bear my weight? Can you wield the darkness of time itself?"**
Ryner's grip tightened around the gem. His soul screamed, but his will did not waver.
"I was born broken. Poisoned. Betrayed. I died once, discarded like trash. Yet I returned. I will not bend. If you are darkness, then I will become darker still."
The void pulsed.
**"Very well. Accept my technique—*Temporal Darkness.*"**
Knowledge surged into him, a tidal wave of power. His mind flooded with visions: shadows splitting into blades sharper than steel, time slowing to a crawl around his enemies, his own strikes moving at speeds their eyes could not follow. Reality itself bent before the art of the Obsidian Gem.
His body, though, was less willing. Veins bulged, threatening to burst. His infant vessel of the Crown screamed under the strain, blood spilling from his nose and mouth. Yet where another would shatter, Ryner's vessel adapted. Mana, aura, and life force fused together, devouring the power rather than resisting it.
Seconds stretched into an eternity. Then, silence.
The flood ceased.
Ryner gasped, collapsing to one knee, his chest heaving, the gem still clutched tight in his hand. The torches flickered once more. Time's current resumed its flow. Dust fell. Breath returned.
The Obsidian Gem melted into his skin, sinking deep into his soul until it became part of him.
---
Later that night, back in his chamber, Ryner stared at his reflection in the mirror. His face was pale, streaked with blood, but his eyes…
His eyes gleamed faintly, shadows coiling within them like serpents.
A faint smile touched his lips.
> *"The mask of mediocrity stays… but from tonight onward, I carry darkness and time itself within my blade."*
The first treasure of the Crowns had been claimed.
And it would not be the last.
**(Chapter End)**