The System's ominous red alert, "WARNING! Hostile Intent Detected," vibrated in Kenji's mind, cutting through the quiet hum of his cultivation. Lord Valerius. The public challenge in Master Elara's lab had been a declaration of war, and Kenji knew his rival's arrogance was matched only by his ruthlessness. Valerius would not fight fair. The subtle disturbance Kenji had sensed earlier, the faint energy trace around his dwelling, was now confirmed: sabotage.
Kenji disengaged from his meditation, his movements fluid and precise despite the tension coiling in his gut. His private dwelling, nestled among the Emberlight Sanctum's spiritual trees, should have been secure. But Valerius had connections. He had resources. He needed to act swiftly, and subtly, to uncover this plot without alerting the perpetrators.
He activated his newly acquired Stealth Skill, a sub-mission reward from a previous foraging task. A cool sensation washed over him, and he felt his presence subtly dim, his very spiritual aura becoming less distinct, blending with the ambient Qi of the night. His footsteps became almost unnaturally silent, his movements fluid as a shadow. This was more than just physical stealth; it was a form of spiritual concealment, rendering him almost invisible to conventional Qi senses. The System confirmed: Stealth Protocol Active.
He moved through his dwelling, checking windows and doors. All appeared secure. But the System's anomaly notification persisted, triangulating the hostile energy trace to a small, secluded patch of earth just outside his back wall, near a cluster of luminous fungi.
Kenji moved silently to his back window, his eyes piercing the gloom with enhanced clarity. The moon, a silver sliver in the Aethelgard sky, cast long, ghostly shadows. He could just make out two figures, hunched low, their forms vaguely familiar. They wore simple, dark Outer Disciple robes, but their movements were too furtive, too precise for mere curiosity. One was thin and wiry, constantly glancing around; the other was bulkier, seemingly more focused on the ground.
He recognized the bulkier figure. It was Kaito, Lord Valerius's smirking companion from Master Elara's lab.
Kenji's jaw clenched. Valerius was sending his personal lackeys. He suppressed a surge of anger. He needed intelligence, not a brawl. He needed to uncover the plot, as the System instructed.
He silently slipped out his back door, a shadowy wraith blending seamlessly with the night. He crept through the garden, his every step soundless, his spiritual presence completely suppressed. He moved closer to Kaito and his accomplice, hiding behind a dense spiritual shrub, close enough to hear their hushed whispers.
Kaito, sweating faintly despite the cool night air, cursed under his breath. "This Arcane Binding Rune is more complicated than Valerius said. Are you sure you copied the pattern correctly, Jax?"
"Of course, I'm sure!" the other disciple, Jax, retorted, his voice a nervous whisper. "Lord Valerius drew it himself. It's designed to drain Qi, slowly, subtly, until our commoner friend is too weak to even stand in the arena. He'll think it's just pre-duel jitters."
Kenji's eyes narrowed. A Qi-draining rune. A nasty, insidious trick. It wouldn't kill him, but it would ensure his defeat, leaving him humiliated and drained. Valerius was indeed treacherous. He focused his gaze on the ground where they were working. Kaito meticulously traced glowing lines in the earth with a finger, while Jax held a small, dark crystal, infusing it with his meager Qi to power the delicate rune formation. The rune they were carving was complex, subtly interwoven with the ambient Qi currents of Kenji's dwelling. It was an impressive piece of sabotage.
The System screen flared.
Anomaly: Arcane Binding Rune Detected.Type: Low-grade Qi Drain (Targeted).Threat: Moderate (Long-term Qi depletion).Recommendation: Activate Rune Analysis Skill.Cost: 1 System Point.
Kenji mentally checked his System Points. He had 1.4 SP remaining after activating his "Basic Alchemical Crafting Skill" (Chapter 12) and then spending 1 SP for the "Analysis Mode: Alchemical Process (Basic)." He'd received 0.1 SP for successful elixir refining since. He now had 0.5 SP. Just enough for this new skill. He immediately willed the 'Y' to activate. His System Points dropped to 0.5 SP.
Immediately, Kenji's vision shifted. The glowing lines Kaito was tracing on the ground, previously just bright patterns, now resolved into a complex web of interconnected spiritual pathways. He saw the subtle flaws in Kaito's tracing, the inefficient energy flow from Jax's crystal, the minute misalignments that, while not rendering the rune useless, made it vulnerable. He understood its purpose, its activation triggers, and, crucially, its weaknesses. The System provided precise counter-measures, a series of minute adjustments to the rune's energy flow that would cause it to backfire.
He looked at Kaito, who was muttering curses as he struggled with a particularly intricate curve of the rune. This wasn't about confronting them directly. This was about retribution. And exposing the plot.
Kenji waited for the perfect moment. Kaito and Jax were entirely focused on their delicate sabotage. Kenji quickly, silently, emerged from the bushes, his movements fluid as water, utterly imperceptible to their senses. He knelt beside Kaito, his fingers moving with impossible precision, guided by the System's glowing overlay. His own Qi, now pure and refined by his True Aetherial Roots, flowed with a subtle power that easily overwhelmed the lesser Qi of the henchmen.
With two precise, almost imperceptible touches, Kenji subtly altered two key points in the rune Kaito was tracing. He didn't erase them; he just shifted their energy flow, changing their polarity, making them volatile. He then activated a hidden sub-component of the rune, using a minuscule burst of his own Qi, making it resonate with the henchmen's own spiritual signatures. It was a subtle, almost invisible sabotage of the sabotage itself. He was turning their own weapon against them.
He melted back into the shadows as silently as he had appeared, leaving Kaito and Jax still hunched over their work, oblivious.
Moments later, Kaito let out a grunt of satisfaction. "Done! That should drain him dry before the duel. Lord Valerius will be pleased." He and Jax then prepared to infuse the finished rune with a final burst of Qi to activate it.
As Jax poured his Qi into the completed rune, the lines on the ground flared, but not with the expected subtle Qi drain. Instead, a surge of chaotic spiritual energy erupted, not outwardly, but inwardly, back into Kaito and Jax.
"Agh! What the hell?!" Kaito screamed, clutching his chest as his own Qi surged erratically within him, threatening to destabilize his cultivation. Jax staggered back, his face pale, spitting curses as a sudden, sharp pain flared through his own spiritual meridians. The rune, instead of drawing Kenji's Qi, was now causing a minor, painful backlash in their own.
They stared at the rune, then at each other, confusion warring with fear. "It backfired! Impossible! This rune was perfect!" Kaito shrieked, frantically trying to erase the glowing lines, but the energy backlash intensified. They had no idea what had gone wrong.
Kenji watched silently from the shadows as Kaito and Jax, panicking, stumbled and tripped over each other in their desperate attempts to erase the backfiring rune. They were crude, unthinking brutes, and they had no hope against the System's precision. Finally, they managed to scramble away, clutching their chests, their faces contorted in pain and fear, fleeing into the night, leaving the faint, still-glowing lines of the sabotaged rune behind them. They hadn't noticed Kenji. They hadn't even suspected.
As they fled, Jax, in his haste, dropped a small, intricately carved wooden charm. It was dark, almost black, and pulsed faintly with a subtle Qi fluctuation that Kenji's newly refined senses immediately picked up on. It wasn't standard Emberlight Sanctum Qi. It felt… different. Darker. He quietly emerged from the shadows, picking it up.
The System screen immediately analyzed the dropped charm.
Anomaly Detected: Void-touched Charm.Origin: Unfamiliar Spiritual Signature.Analysis: Traces of Ancient Arcane Ritual.Correlation: Matches energy signature of the Forbidden Arcane Ritual mentioned by Master Thorne (Chapter 11).
Kenji's breath hitched. A knot of cold dread formed in his stomach. This wasn't just about Lord Valerius's petty revenge. This wasn't just about a duel. The charm felt cold, ancient, and deeply unsettling. It was the same energy signature Master Thorne had spoken of when he'd first assigned Kenji his mission to the Sunken Archives and Crystal Veins – an energy related to the secrets he feared stirring.
The System screen, usually blue, now pulsed with an urgent, ominous red, displaying a new, chilling warning:
WARNING! ANCIENT, FORBIDDEN ARCANE RITUAL DETECTED.Location: Within Emberlight Sanctum, Forbidden Archives.Threat: Cataclysmic.Recommendation: IMMEDIATE INVESTIGATION REQUIRED.
Anomaly: Correlation with Elder's Spiritual Signature (Master Thorne).
Kenji clutched the void-touched charm, his eyes wide with horror. Master Thorne. The forbidden archives. The same energy that had been part of the ritual Kenji had seen a fragment of when he rescued Master Thorne. This wasn't just about sabotaging him. This wasn't even just about Lord Valerius's ambition. This was about something far larger, far more sinister, hidden right within the heart of the Emberlight Sanctum itself. A single, ominous word flashed on the System screen, chilling him to the bone, its meaning now terribly clear in the context of the forbidden ritual.
Sacrifice.