The city of Aethelgard knew no shadow. Bathed in the eternal brilliance of its twin suns, the capital of the Kingdom of Light prided itself on being the crown jewel of fantasy civilization.
Here, magic was a noble art, reserved for pure lineages who manipulated fire and wind with arrogant grace.
But for Kai Thorne, the light was nothing more than a barrier.
Kai lived in the depths, where the dust of centuries stifled the noise of the world. As an assistant archivist in the Great Underground Library, he spent his days filing forbidden scrolls—texts dealing with parallel dimensions and mythical "Keepers" that everyone else dismissed as fairy tales.
At exactly 14:45, while consulting a dusty grimoire, his world's fate shifted forever.
It wasn't a scream, but a crack.
A sound so shrill it seemed to tear the very soul of anyone who heard it.
Above the city, the crystal dome of Aethelgard shattered.
The sky, once a perfect azure, split like an old canvas.
Scars of electric purple and abyssal black appeared, bleeding an energy that did not belong to this plane.
[SYSTEM ALERT: DIMENSIONAL COLLISION DETECTED] [INITIALIZING "GENESIS" PROTOCOL: INTEGRATING REALITY INTO THE SYSTEM] [CATEGORY: S-RANK APOCALYPSE]
Kai stood petrified amidst the shelves. Around him, scrolls spontaneously ignited. Translucent dialogue boxes, featuring a geometric perfection alien to this world, materialized in his field of vision.
Throughout the city, pure mana began to corrupt.
Suddenly, a rift opened between two stacks of ancient history.
The air vibrated with the hum of angry hornets.
A creature emerged: a silhouette made of shifting shadows and protruding bones, with eyes that burned with millenary hatred. It fixed its gaze on Kai.
It was no known demon, but a dimensional abomination birthed from the rifts.
It lunged with a speed that surpassed any human reflex.
Kai closed his eyes, already feeling the cold breath of death.
[ANALYZING SUBJECT: KAI THORNE...] [LATENT POTENTIAL DETECTED: RESONANCE WITH ANCIENT KEEPERS.] [AFFINITIES AWAKENED: TIME (CHRONOS) & SHADOW (UMBRA)] [UNIQUE ROLE ASSIGNED: CHRONO-SHADOW KEEPER]
The world stopped.
The silence that followed was more terrifying than the previous chaos. Kai reopened his eyes.
The creature was suspended in mid-air, its sharp claws frozen just inches from his throat. The dust suspended in the light of the oil lamps remained motionless.
[PASSIVE SKILL ACTIVATED: KEEPER'S PERCEPTION] [ALL CLASS SKILLS ARE SET TO LEVEL 100]
An infinite knowledge flooded his brain.
This wasn't simple learning; it was absolute mastery.
Where others would spend decades understanding the structure of time, Kai now possessed the keys innately.
He reached out his hand toward the immobile monster. Instinctively, the shadows lurking in the dark corners of the library answered his silent call.
They crawled across the floor like liquid serpents, coiling around his arm before condensing in his palm. In a flash, a spear of pure darkness, surrounded by spirals of purple energy, materialized.
It wasn't a weapon of metal. It was an extension of his own will.
Kai moved, stepping around the frozen beast. He felt strangely light, as if the weight of the world no longer held a grip on him.
"Resume," he whispered. His voice had acquired a supernatural depth.
Time resumed its course. The beast finished its movement in the void, crashing against a reading table. Before it could emit a single sound, Kai hurled his spear.
The shadow weapon pierced the creature's ribcage, literally pinning it to the floor. It did not bleed blood, but a black mist that was instantly absorbed by Kai.
[ENEMY DEFEATED: RIFT STALKER (LVL. 8)] [ESSENCE ABSORPTION COMPLETE.] [INFINITE EVOLUTION SYSTEM: ACTIVATED.] [ATTRIBUTE POINTS OBTAINED: 10]
A complex menu opened before him. Kai realized then the terrifying nature of his power.
While the mages of Aethelgard were limited by their natural mana, he could transcend his biological limits infinitely by allocating points earned from his battles.
CHRONO-SHADOW KEEPER STATUSNAME: Kai Thorne
LEVEL: 1
STRENGTH (STR): 10 (+ Available Points)
AGILITY (AGI): 12
INTELLIGENCE (INT): 25
ATTRIBUTE POINTS: 10
SKILLS (MAX LVL. 100):
TIME STASIS: Freezes time in a given area.
VOID SPEAR: Materializes a weapon of dimensional destruction.
SHADOW STEP: Instant teleportation through darkness.
"Invest all points into Strength," Kai commanded.
A volcanic heat surged through his veins. His muscles didn't change in volume, but their density and power exploded.
He felt he could now crush stone with his bare hands.
On the floor above, sounds of destruction echoed. The library's stone ceiling began to crack, revealing the apocalyptic sky.
The kingdom's guardian dragons were fighting off waves of flying monsters emerging from the major rifts. The city of light was dying.
Kai felt no sadness. This world had ignored him, treating him as a magicless pariah. Today, as the powerful fell, he alone stood tall.
His archivist clothes transformed.
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