Three days had passed since Rain first set foot in the Cradle of Ash. In this place, time was not measured by hours, but by the density of the fog clinging to the ruins. The hunger that used to gnaw at his stomach in Cephalos had vanished, replaced by a strange sense of fullness—as if the pores of his skin had become tiny mouths, feeding on the drifting Echo particles.
"Stop resisting," Elina said, standing in the center of the shattered training grounds. "You breathe as if you are still in your glass cage. Inhaling isn't just taking in air; it is a summoning of power."
Rain sat cross-legged, gray sweat pouring from his forehead. "It burns, Elina. Every time I try to pull the fog into my lungs, it feels like I'm swallowing crushed glass."
"That is because your body is rejecting the truth," she replied coldly, waving her hand. The fog around him thickened until it felt as heavy as metal. "The fog is 'Echo' in its raw state. Cephalos taught you to fear it because it is the only source they cannot fully control. Now, begin the Reflexive Breathing."
Rain closed his eyes. He tried to imagine his lungs not as human organs, but as combustion chambers. With every slow breath, he felt the chill piercing his throat, but this time he didn't push it out. He let it flow through his blood, straight to the tattoo on his arm.
Suddenly, a faint humming sound resonated from within him. [Alert: First Energy Pathway Unlocked – The Silver Lung] [Status: Tissue Calibration in Progress... Compatibility Rate: 0.03%]
Rain snapped his eyes open, his pupils shimmering with a mysterious silver light. The pain hadn't disappeared, but it had become "familiar." He stood up, feeling a newfound sturdiness; his thin muscles seemed to have been reforged from fibers far more resilient and powerful.
"Good," Elina said, and for the first time, a ghost of a smile touched her spectral form. "Now, let's speak of the sword. The blade you possess is not dead metal. It is an 'Ancestral Echo' of the Absolute Rank. It grows with you and breaks when you break. Currently, it is a mere shard because your soul cannot withstand more. To reclaim the second fragment, you must learn to make your body a 'shroud' for the Echo, not just a vessel."
Before he could ask her how, the air behind him vibrated. It wasn't the cry of a beast this time, but a familiar and hated mechanical sound: the whirr of a surveillance drone belonging to the Silver Council.
"They found me..." Rain whispered, the old panic trying to seep back into his heart.
"No," Elina said, her form gradually fading. "You are the one who will find them. This drone is but an eye for the 'Silent Hunters.' They are down here, searching for you. If you run now, you will be prey forever. If you face them, you become the predator."
The drone emerged from behind the rubble of a building, casting a red spotlight onto Rain's face. [Target Identified: Rebel Rain] [Transmitting coordinates to Strike Team...]
Moving faster than he could think, Rain thrust his hand forward. He didn't summon the full blade; instead, he concentrated the Echo energy into his fingertips. With a snapping motion, he released a sharp atmospheric pressure pulse that shredded the drone's engine, causing it to explode in mid-air.
[Skill Discovered: Echo Pulse – Phase I]
Rain looked at his hand; it was trembling. It wasn't fear this time, but pure adrenaline. He looked toward the direction the drone had come from, where powerful searchlights were cutting through the blackness of the fog in the distance.
"Elina," he said, his voice surprisingly calm and disciplined. "How do I hide my presence?"
"Use the fog as they use their shields," her voice echoed inside his mind. "Let the Echo wrap around your body like a veil. If they cannot see you, you do not exist."
Rain began to run toward the ruins—not to flee, but to take an offensive position. The coming minutes would determine whether the "Severed Heir" would fall in his first true encounter with humans, or if he would begin writing his legend in the blood of those who cast him out.