The tension in Arain's small room was thick enough to choke a common soldier. Leonard, the golden child of the Luxmore family and the future hero of the continent, stood by the door. His presence was like a scorching sun—bright, oppressive, and filled with a sense of divine justice that Arain had always loathed.
Arain sat on his bed, his small legs dangling. He looked like an innocent six-year-old, but his mind was a vortex of dark memories. 'Leonard... even at twelve, you were already looking for shadows to burn,' Arain thought, his expression remaining neutral.
"The truth?" Arain repeated, his voice barely a whisper. "The truth is that I am tired of being the family's punching bag, brother. Is it so strange for a Luxmore to finally hold a sword correctly?"
Leonard stepped closer, the wooden floorboards creaking under his polished boots. "A Luxmore holds a sword with mana, Arain. Without it, you are just a peasant playing with a stick. And yet... the way you moved today. That wasn't just physical strength. It was 'intent'. A killing intent that I've only seen in seasoned veterans of the Great War."
Leonard's eyes narrowed, glowing with a faint golden light. He was unconsciously using his 'Mana Perception'. He was searching for any flicker of energy within Arain.
[System Alert: High-Level Mana Scan detected.]
[Action: Strengthening 'Void Veil'. Redirecting Abyssal energy to the marrow of the bones.]
Arain felt a sharp chill in his bones as the System worked to hide his true nature. To Leonard, Arain looked like a complete void—an empty vessel with zero potential.
"I don't know what 'intent' you are talking about," Arain lied, his eyes wide with feigned confusion. "Maybe the dummy was just old. Father said so, didn't he?"
Leonard stared at him for a long minute, the silence stretching until the air felt heavy. Finally, he exhaled, the golden light in his eyes fading. "Perhaps. But stay away from the training grounds for now. Hector is humiliated, and he is not as patient as I am. If you embarrass him again, Father won't be there to stop him from breaking your 'fragile' arms."
Leonard turned and left, the heavy door thudding shut behind him.
The moment he was gone, Arain's face changed. The innocence vanished, replaced by a cold, predatory sharpness. He coughed, a small drop of black blood staining his sleeve.
'Damn it. This body is still too weak to resist a mana scan from a kid like Leonard,' Arain cursed internally. 'I need to accelerate my growth. If I wait for the family's 'Holy Path' cultivation, I'll be dead before I'm ten.'
[System: Host is advised to initiate 'Abyssal Deep-Breathing'. Location: The Forbidden Forest behind the estate.]
[Reward for reaching 1st Stage: 500 Soul Points and 'Mana Concealment' Passive Skill.]
Arain didn't hesitate. He waited until the moon reached its peak, then slipped out of his window. Moving like a ghost, he bypassed the guards—a task made easy by his memories of the estate's patrol routes from his previous life.
The Forbidden Forest was a place of darkness and monsters, avoided by most of the Luxmore servants. For Arain, it felt like home. He found a secluded clearing near a black-water pond, the air thick with natural mana.
He sat cross-legged, closing his eyes. Instead of reaching for the "Light" mana that the Luxmores worshipped, he reached deeper—into the cracks of the earth, into the shadows of the trees. He began the 'Abyssal Deep-Breathing'.
Suddenly, the forest went silent. The crickets stopped chirping. The wind died down.
A dark, viscous energy began to swirl around Arain's small frame. It wasn't the golden, warm mana of this world. It was cold. It was ancient. It was hungry.
As the energy entered his pores, his veins burned like liquid fire. His bones creaked as they were being restructured. The pain was immense—enough to make a grown man scream—but Arain didn't make a sound. He had suffered worse in the depths of the Abyss.
'More... I need more!' he screamed in his mind.
[System: Warning! Body reaching critical limit. Abyssal Mana intake at 150%...]
Just as Arain felt his heart might explode, a low growl echoed from the shadows of the trees.
A pair of glowing red eyes emerged from the darkness. A Shadow Wolf. A Grade-1 monster, but to a six-year-old child, it was a death sentence. The wolf bared its fangs, sensing the concentrated energy radiating from the boy.
Arain didn't open his eyes. A small, chilling smile played on his lips.
"Perfect," Arain whispered, the dark mana swirling around his hand like a blade. "I was wondering what I would have for breakfast."
The wolf leaped, a blur of silver and black.
Arain's eyes snapped open. For a split second, they weren't the eyes of a child. They were the eyes of the Demon King who had once devoured empires.
"Shadow Extraction: First Form."
The a
ir itself seemed to rip apart.