Just as the last ray of sunlight disappeared from the horizon, giving way to the three moons of Goldoria, a lone figure knelt in the middle of a clearing filled with corpses and bloody body parts of wormrats. His rough, long hair was matted with blood, and his body was covered in claw marks as he breathed heavily.
Rael had survived—
Not by killing all the wormrats, but by tearing through them in a fit of desperation bordering on madness. Most of the creatures eventually snapped out of their frenzy and fled. Still, he had slain a total of sixteen wormrats—an impressive feat for an unawakened one—though it came at a cost.
He was battered, bleeding, and nearly paralyzed. His body felt stiff and heavy, but the only silver lining was that the paralytic saliva of the wormrats had at least slowed his bleeding.
Ahead of him, among the butchered corpses, one wormrat still clung to life. It crawled weakly, dragging itself with a single functional limb, trying to reach a nearby burrow.
Rael looked at it, forcing himself to stand. He staggered forward. Raising the bloodied short sword above his head, he glared down at the struggling ugly thing.
"Oh no… you're going nowhere," he muttered, before driving the sword deep into the wormrat's throat.Rael collapsed onto the ground afterwards, breathing heavily. He gazed at the three rising moons of Goldoria , their pale glow washing over the blood-soaked clearing.
'I'm definitely going to be dinner if I don't find a spot to hide. The smell of blood will attract other beasts', he thought grimly.
He was in no shape to face anything else—not even a single wormrat. Forcing himself upright, Rael scanned the area for any wormrats that might still be clinging stubbornly to life, so he'd be able to claim it .
While doing so, he spotted the largest hole—the one the wormrat leader had crawled out from.
An idea popped into his mind. With what little strength he had left, Rael began to crawl toward it, dragging himself inch by inch since his legs were already paralyzed.
Upon reaching it and forcing his way in headfirst, he realized the tunnel was much bigger on the inside—large enough to fit two people his size.
"Damn… the smell," Rael muttered, gagging but having no choice. He endured the terrible stench as he collapsed the small mound of dirt above the hole, sealing himself inside.
It was all he could do to survive the night. In his wounded state, hiding was the only option. So he chose to bear the disgusting odor of the wormrats—just for tonight—while he rested and tried to regain his strength.
...
Rael awoke to the disgusting stench of the hole. It had barely allowed him to sleep, but he'd rested enough to wear off the paralyzing effect of the wormrats. Luckily, the cuts he'd gotten weren't deep enough to be fatal.
He poked his hands into the collapsed entrance of the hole, digging just enough to peek outside and scan the surroundings. Noticing no beasts nearby, he dug himself out completely and scanned the area once more before letting out a breath of relief.He quickly noticed most of the wormrat corpses were gone—probably eaten.
"Just one day, and I'm nearly dead already," Rael muttered to himself. It was no wonder people relied on each territory's high walls, doing everything they could—some even choosing to become slaves just to remain within them. Even Aether users were no different.
Rael looked to the sky, seeing the first sun rising on the horizon. He thought of the system panel as it flickered in his mind.
[System Awakening]
[At 20%]
"Well, I'm this far already. No turning back now," he said as he started heading farther away, moving in the opposite direction of Grandveil.
Even after putting some distance between himself and the wormrat nest, he still noticed the disgusting stench still clung to him. He sniffed, lifted his arm, and gagged.
"Ahh, that stinks! There's got to be a stream close by," he muttered. He knew there had to be—Grandveil had a dam that led into a larger stream. He just had to find it… hopefully without stumbling into another wormrat nest—or any nest of any kind.
It wasn't long before he found a cutout from the stream. He knelt beside it and began gulping down water, quenching his thirst. Then, he washed his face, clearing off the dried blood and dirt.
Through the reflection, his chiseled jawline and handsome features became clear—most striking were his golden-brown eyes, which carried a mysterious glint.
As he gazed at himself in the water, a memory of a smiling, middle-aged woman flashed through his mind—his mother, the woman who had birthed and cared for him in this world.
Anger flickered in his eyes as a wave of painful memories followed. Rael, both before and after his rebirth into this world, had always been a carefree realist. He understood the concept of family politics. Having grown up around wealthy friends from powerful families, he knew that such things were sometimes a necessity.
But those bastards had gone too far—and oh, how lucky they were that he never got his hands on that warrior's manuscript. If he had, he would have made sure every one of them paid, including that bastard who called himself his father.
Still, Rael was a realist. He knew that even with the manuscript, he wouldn't have been able to make a dent in the Drakul family's power. After all, the manuscript could only push him to the peak of the Iron Fighter rank—nothing more. Facing the Drakul family with such pitiful strength would only bring shame to his mother.
After all, at the helm of the Drakul family stood his father—a Silver ranked Knight, a level far beyond what Rael could challenge for now.
They had not only maltreated him and his mother after her noble household perished, but also made sure he never learned the Drakul family's warrior manuscript. Even after causing her death and casting him out, they still found ways to suppress him within the city, sabotaging every business he tried to start.
That was why he eventually turned to a criminal gang—something that gave those bastards the perfect excuse to banish him beyond the city walls. It was a hatred he would never forget.
Rael gazed at the distant stream, where the early glow of two bizarre suns shimmered on the surface. He could only hope that the strange system lodged in his mind would prove useful. But even if it didn't, he swore he would still rise—and become the shadow that loomed over the great Drakul family.