The metallic chime of the Heavenly Ledger System was a dissonant note in the quiet room. Kael didn't flinch or panic, simply staring at the new notification, a cold, hard focus settling over his features.
[Warning: Anomaly Detected]
[Karmic Imbalance Source: Disjointed Timeline]
[Location Proximity: Low]
He had been so focused on his own vengeance that he hadn't considered the simplest paradox: if he could regress, could others? The smirking face of the Patriarch flashed in his mind. The old man hadn't been an aloof victim-maker; he had been an active player in a game Kael was only just learning the rules of.
The Ledger's text dissolved into a new message, its sarcastic voice a familiar irritant in his mind. "The Ardyn family archives. Sub-level 7. You're welcome."
Sub-level 7. Kael's brow furrowed. That was the most restricted section of the family's library, sealed by ancient cultivation arrays. In his last life, the keys had been lost for a century, but he remembered a detail his older self had uncovered—a secret passage, hidden behind a forgotten tapestry in a rarely-used hallway.
He moved silently, a ghost in his own home. He navigated the sprawling manor's dark corridors, the silence broken only by the hum of the clan's advanced energy arrays. He was no longer the boy who was afraid of the dark, but a man who moved with a predator's grace.
He found the tapestry and traced the familiar lines, remembering the hidden mechanism, a pressure point disguised as a star in the constellation woven into the threads. The wall slid open with a faint grinding of stone.
The air on the other side was stale, heavy with the scent of aged paper and dried herbs. This wasn't a modern, digitised archive. It was a tomb of forgotten knowledge. Rows of dusty scrolls and leather-bound tomes lined the shelves, their titles written in a script so old that few could even read it. The Ledger hummed softly, its screen pointing toward a specific, unmarked shelf.
Kael's fingers brushed over the spines. He found it. A scroll that felt impossibly light, as if its contents were more spirit than matter. He unrolled it carefully. The text was in a high celestial script, but his memories provided a flawless translation.
[The Thousand-Leaf Azure Orchid: A Lost Forging Manual]
This wasn't just any manual. In his past life, its rediscovery had been a major event, allowing the Ardyns to finally unlock the true power of their foundational cultivation technique. But by the time it was found, its key ingredient the Azure Orchid was extinct. Kael now held the key to a power they had never truly possessed.
As he was about to tuck the scroll away, he heard a footstep.
He froze, his hand still on the shelf. A girl's voice, soft and focused, spoke from the other end of the aisle. "Grandpa says these old books are just junk, but the lore in them is so much more powerful than our tech."
A small, thin girl emerged from the shadows, her face obscured by a cloud of messy black hair. It was Elara Ardyn, a distant cousin from a cadet branch of the clan. In his past life, she was a quiet, unassuming scholar who had died tragically in a research explosion. Kael remembered the grief he had felt, a brief flicker of genuine emotion for a life cut short. He had always suspected something more.
Elara's eyes widened in surprise. "Kael? What are you doing here?"
He schooled his features into a neutral mask. "Studying. The new arrays are interesting, but the foundation is still here." It was a lie, but it was a truth she would understand.
Elara's eyes lit up. "Exactly! I've been trying to convince my father. He says mana can be created with circuits, but it's just a pale imitation of the natural flow. You get it."
Kael gave a single, noncommittal nod, his mind racing. Elara was a brilliant mind, the true genius of her generation. Her 'accidental' death was now a clear assassination to him, a loose end tied up by a rival faction. He could save her or he could use her; her life was a valuable resource. He decided, in an instant, on the latter.
He held up the scroll slightly. "I was just leaving. Found what I needed."
She didn't pry. She simply smiled and went back to her own work, lost in a sea of ancient tomes. Kael slipped away, his heart a cold, hard lump of stone. He had just made his first calculated move. He would save her life, but only because her knowledge would be an invaluable weapon in his arsenal.
Back in his room, the scent of dust replaced by the familiar aroma of his bedroom, he unrolled the Thousand-Leaf Azure Orchid manual. He took out the Crimson Heart of Ardyn from his drawer. The small, red stone hummed in his palm. It was inert, a conduit waiting for energy.
He sat cross-legged on his bed, placing the stone in the centre of a small, drawn energy circle on the floor. Following the lost technique from the manual, he closed his eyes and began to circulate the meagre amount of mana in his body. His meridians felt like brittle twigs, each one threatening to snap under the force of the surging energy. He pushed through the pain, memories of Eira's cold smile driving him.
A deep thrumming began. The Crimson Heart pulsed with a soft, crimson light. The air around him grew heavy, and mana, the very essence of the world, began to flood his room, drawn to the ancient relic. He felt his meridians straining and cracking, then finally, expanding like gushing rivers. The pain faded into a euphoric rush. He had broken through the initial bottleneck. He had reclaimed his power.
Just as he felt the rush of triumph, the Ledger chimed again. This time, the alert was different. The text was bolded, urgent.
[Anomaly Detected: Karmic Source Confirmed]
[Target: The Enlightened Scion of the Ardyn Clan]
Kael's eyes snapped open. The "Enlightened Scion" was not a title but a prophecy, one whispered only among the highest-ranking clan members. In his past life, the title was ceremonially granted to the most gifted young genius of his generation. A boy who had been his greatest rival and a fierce supporter of the Patriarch.
The Ledger's final line was a cold whisper in his mind, stripping away all joy from his breakthrough.
[Warning: The Enlightened Scion is a Regressor. He is aware of you.]