[Location: The Abandoned North Tower]
Rex didn't go back to his bedroom.
He knew his bedroom was a trap. If Darius had planted poison in his wine, he had likely planted spies in the walls.
Instead, Rex climbed.
He walked up the soaring stone stairs of the North Tower—the "Ghost Tower" of the palace. It was a crumbling, ventilated spire where the maids stored broken furniture and where no guard bothered to patrol.
Perfect. Bam.
Rex kicked open the door to a dusty storage room. It smelled of fungus and old wood. Moonlight filtered through the cracked windows, eye-opening, the dust motes dancing in the air.
He dragged a heavy oak table against the door. Thud.
Then he jammed a broken chair under the handle. Crack.
"Primitive barricade," Rex muttered, dusting off his hands. "But it will buy me three seconds of warning."
He sat down in the centre of the room, cross-legged. The stone floor was freezing, but he didn't care.
He summoned the item from his Inventory.
[ Item: Vial of Draconic Marrow Cleansing (Grade S) ]
It was a small crystal bottle, no bigger than his thumb. Inside, a liquid moved on its own. It was dark red, almost black, and it bubbled like boiling tar.
"System," Rex asked, holding the vial up to the moonlight. "What's the success rate?"
[ Survival Rate: 60%. ]
[ Pain Level: Critical. ]
[ Note: Most hosts die from shock before the purification is complete. ]
"Sixty per cent," Rex repeated. A grim smile touched his lips. "In a gacha game, those are excellent odds, and I love gachas."
He didn't hesitate. He didn't count to three. He popped the cork—Pop—and downed the liquid in one gulp.
Gulp.
For a second, nothing happened.
"Tastes like ash and..."
Then, the fire started.
It didn't start in his stomach. It started in his bones.
"GHHHH!"
Rex clamped his hand over his mouth to suppress the scream.
It felt like someone had injected molten lead into his veins. The heat roared through his body, turning his blood into steam. He fell forward, his forehead slamming against the cold stone floor.
Thump.
[ Alert: Host Body Breaking Down. ]
[ Reconstructing Bone Marrow... ]
[ Purging Impurities... ]
Rex curled into a ball. His muscles stiffened. He could hear his own bones creaking, snapping, and knitting back together.
CRACK. SNAP. CRACK. SNAP.
It was hell. Pure, blinding, white-hot hell. It felt like he was being chewed apart from the inside out.
'Pain is just a signal,' Rex told himself, his teeth grinding together so hard he thought they would shatter. 'My brain is receiving data. Ignore the data. Focus on the objective.'
His skin began to ripple.
A black, tar-like substance began to ooze out of his pores. It smelled foul—like rotting eggs and sewage. It was the "trash" of Primoriel's body—the years of malnutrition, the poison, the weakness. All of it was being forced out.
His body temperature spiked. Steam rose from his skin, filling the cold room with a thick, humid mist.
Hiss...
Rex's vision went white. He clawed at the stone floor, his fingernails breaking against the granite.
'Do not pass out. If you pass out, the shock kills you. Stay awake. Stay. Awake.'
He focused on the pain. He made the pain his anchor.
One hour passed.
Then two.
The screaming in his nerves slowly turned into a dull thrum. The fire in his veins cooled into a warm, humming power.
Rex lay in a pool of black sludge, gasping for air.
Haa... Haa...
[ Integration Complete. ]
[ Body Reconstruction Successful. ]
[ Congratulations, User. You are no longer 'Trash'. ]
Rex opened his eyes.
The world looked... sharper.
He could see the individual grains of dust on the floor. He could hear the wind whistling through a crack in the window ten feet away.
He pushed himself up.
"Ugh." He frowned at the smell. The black sludge covered him like a second skin. "I need a shower."
[Location: The Palace Bathhouse - 3:00 AM]
Rex stood under the stream of ice-cold water. The black grime swirled down the drain, revealing the new skin underneath.
It was pale, like white marble, but it wasn't sickly anymore. It was tough.
He looked at his reflection in the bronze mirror.
The "soft" prince was gone.
His muscles were lean, compact, and defined—like steel cables wrapped under his skin. His shoulders were broader. A faint, intricate tattoo of a black dragon scale pattern now ran up his spine, glowing dimly.
He threw a punch at the air.
WHOOSH.
The air snapped. It was fast. Visibly faster than before.
"System. Status."
[ Displaying Status Window... ]
Name: Primoriel Valtherion (Rex)
Level: 1
Class: None
HP: 100/100 (Previously 15)
Mana: 50/50 (Unlocked)
Strength: 15 (Peak Human)
Agility: 18 (Superhuman)
Endurance: 15 (Peak Human)
Intelligence: 20 (Genius)
Charm: 25 (Divine)
"Finally, the Mana is unlocked," Rex whispered, clenching his fist. He could feel it—a warm current circulating in his chest.
He stepped out of the bath and dressed quickly in a fresh set of black training clothes he had stolen from the laundry room.
Now, he needed a weapon.
He held out his right hand in the air.
SHING!
Shadows were integrated in his palm. A sleek, obsidian-black dagger materialised instantly.
[ The Monarch's Fang ]
It was beautiful. The blade absorbed the candlelight, making it look like a rip in space. It felt weightless, perfectly balanced.
Rex flipped the dagger—once, twice—the blade dancing between his fingers like a coin.
"Stats are good. Weapon is good," Rex analysed calmly. "But Level 1 is still suicide against the Royal Knights."
He walked to the window and looked out at the palace grounds. The moon was high. The city of the capital slept, but the distant forests were awake.
"I need XP a lot of them," Rex said. "I need something to kill."
[ Quest Generated: The First Blood ]
[ Objective: Hunt a beast of Level 5 or higher. ]
[ Time Limit: Before Sunrise. ]
[ Reward: Level Up + Skill Book (Random). ]
Rex's crimson eyes narrowed.
"System, mark the nearest dungeon entrance."
[ The nearest Dungeon is the 'Rotting Catacombs' located beneath the Royal Cemetery. It is a forbidden zone restricted by the Emperor. ]
Rex climbed onto the windowsill. The wind tugged at his black coat.
"Forbidden," Rex smirked. "That just means the loot hasn't been taken yet."
He looked down. It was a fifty-foot drop to the garden below.
A normal man would take the stairs.
Rex bent his knees.
"Let's test the Agility."
Jump.
He crashed into the darkness, a silent shadow falling from the sky.