The Spine Crawler's corpse was buried, but the memory of its eyes stayed with him.
Not just hunger — desperation."
He sat in the hollow tree, shoulder wrapped in strips of cloth torn from his shirt. The wound burned, but the deeper ache was in his chest — the slow, steady pull of his core refining what it had taken.
He called up the screen.
> [Void of Creation System – Status Screen]
> Name: Alastor
> Rank: Dormant (6.1%)
> Core Awakening: 3%
> Aether Control: Basic (11%)
> Combat Mastery: Improvised Weapons – Basic (9%)
> Inventory: Infinite (Non-living items only)
> Quests: None
Attributes:
Strength: 9
Agility: 13
Endurance: 10
Perception: 12
Intelligence: 13
Willpower: 14
Aether Capacity: 8
Aether Efficiency: 5
"Barely moved the needle," he muttered. "One beast, point-one gain. Gonna take a lot more than that."
----
He spent the next two days pushing himself.
Running sprints between jagged rock outcrops. Practicing footwork until his legs shook. Pulling that cold flicker of aether into his limbs again and again until his head pounded.
The first few times, it slipped away like water through his fingers. But slowly, he learned to hold it longer — to feel the way it coiled in his muscles, ready to release.
He scavenged constantly. Anything sharp, anything sturdy, anything that could be turned into a weapon. The inventory swallowed it all.
Once, he found a broken wooden toy half-buried in the dirt. He turned it over in his hands, remembering his sister carving scraps of wood into animals for them when they were kids. He put it in the inventory without a word.
---
On the morning of the third day, the system pulsed.
> [Quest Available: Trial of the Spear]
> Objective: Locate the Spear of the Unseen Tide. Survive the Dreaming Hollow. Prove Worthiness.
> Reward: Origin-level Weapon + Technique Slot Unlock
Alastor stared at the words.
He didn't know what the Dreaming Hollow was. But he knew he'd have to go there.
He packed what little he had — dried moss, sharp stones, the metal shard, the coin — and set out.
---
The land changed as he moved north. The soil darkened. The air thickened. The wind died. Shadows stretched too far, and the sky turned a bruised violet.
He saw bones. Some human. Some not.
He kept moving.
He practiced aether control as he walked, pulling it into his legs to cover more ground, into his arms to keep his grip strong. Each time, it left him drained, but the recovery came faster.
By the end of the second day, he could hold it steady for nearly a minute.
On the morning of the third day, he reached it.
The Dreaming Hollow was a crater, vast and silent. At its center stood a monolith of bone and crystal, and embedded within it — a spear.
It didn't glow. It didn't hum. It just waited.
Alastor stepped forward.
The ground split.
Three beasts erupted from the earth — twisted, malformed, their eyes burning with the same dull red light as the Spine Crawler's.
> [Tainted: Beast-class – Bone Howler]
> [Tainted: Beast-class – Hollow Wretch]
> [Tainted: Beast-class – Spined Maw]
Alastor's grip tightened on his stick.
"Alright," he muttered. "Let's see if I've learned anything."
------
The Bone Howler came first, jaws snapping. Alastor sidestepped, driving his stick into its ribs. The impact jarred his arms, but the beast staggered.
The Hollow Wretch lunged from the side. He dropped low, aether flooding his legs, and rolled clear. The Spined Maw circled, waiting for an opening.
Three on one. There was no room for mistakes.
He pulled aether into his arms and legs at once, feeling the strain immediately. His vision sharpened and the world slowed.
The Bone Howler lunged again. This time, he met it head-on, smashing the stick into its skull. Bone cracked and the beast collapsed.
> [Aether Core: Mana absorbed – refining…]
> [Experience gained: +0.1]
> [Progression: Dormant Rank – 6.1% → 6.2%]
No time to breathe. The Hollow Wretch was on him, claws raking his side. Pain flared white-hot. He gritted his teeth and drove a knee into its gut, then slammed the stick into its throat.
It went down choking.
> [Experience gained: +0.1]
> [Progression: Dormant Rank – 6.2% → 6.3%]
The Spined Maw hissed and lunged. He twisted aside, grabbed one of its spines, and yanked hard. It screamed. He drove the stick into the base of its skull.
Silence.
> [Experience gained: +0.1]
> [Progression: Dormant Rank – 6.3% → 6.4%]
----
Alastor stood over the bodies, chest heaving. His hands shook, but not from fear. From the pull of the core, refining what it had taken.
He turned to the monolith.
The spear was black metal, etched with spiraling runes. He reached out.
The moment his fingers touched it, the world froze.
> [Trial Complete. Spear of the Abyssal Sun Bound. Compatibility: 1000%.]
> [Technique Slot Unlocked: Veilpiercer – Origin Rank]
The spear pulsed in his grip. It felt alive.
---
Aftermath:
He left the Hollow with the new spear in hand, the bodies of the beasts cooling behind him. His side ached. His shoulder throbbed. But he was still moving.
He pulled up the screen.
> [Void of Creation System – Status Screen]
> Name: Alastor
> Rank: Dormant (6.4%)
> Core Awakening: 3%
> Aether Control: Basic (7%)
> Combat Mastery: Spear – Basic (1%)
> Inventory: Infinite (Non-living items only)
> Quests: None
"I'll get stronger, until no one can control me."