"Heh, alright… fine, let's take a look then. Talent inspection: The Hollow Council!"
Shaun paused for a moment, then furrowed his brow with a slight, sarcastic smirk. "What a ridiculous name! Who comes up with something like that? Is it supposed to terrify your enemies or make them laugh to death?"
In truth, his scorn wasn't just a fleeting reaction. Shaun knew exactly what this likely meant.
From the moment he'd entered this world, he had spent a great deal of time scouring the forums and articles in the "New Survivors – Beta Edition" corner of the internet, trying to understand the bizarre talent classification system.
The results were depressing enough to make a grown man weep.
Most of the talents new Lords received were nothing more than pathetic marketing gimmicks by the system itself. They might bear majestic names like Eye of Destiny or Will of the Heavens, but in the end, they did little more than increase tax efficiency by 0.5% or speed up the transfer of wood between warehouses.
As for the "Innate Talents," they were the worst of the lot.
Only after reaching Level 10 with the Village Center and upgrading it to a Town Hall would a Lord be granted a rare chance to gain more talents through a random system draw. The results were often disappointing—E-rank talents, or slightly higher, that were barely worth celebrating. And yet… that chance was the dream of every novice Lord, a hope that one day they might pull a legendary hero who would change the fate of their kingdom.
But the game's unwritten rule was harsh. The talent granted to a Lord upon their first login was permanent, unchangeable, and often below E-rank… Some even called it the "Starting Curse."
For this reason, Shaun had ignored his innate talent from the very beginning. He had no need to examine a useless talent, especially when his village barely consisted of three huts and half a wall.
But something about the name… kept bothering him.
───
When the window appeared before him, its lines glowed a deep, foreboding crimson.
[Warning! Your level is too low to fully display this talent.]
[Warning! 100 of the host's special magical energy has been consumed!]
[Warning! 50 Health has been consumed!]
[Warning!]
Before he could even think, darkness began to creep in from the edges of his vision, as if the game were shutting down… but no, it wasn't the game.
The world itself was fracturing.
The sound of the wind fell silent. The sky turned to still ash. And at the edges of his village, shadows began to move slowly… their faces indistinct, wavering as if made of smoke.
Then, from among the shadows, it emerged—the creature, or perhaps the thing, that was supposed to be his "talent."
Its body was slender, almost blueish, its eyes burned like embers, and when it spoke, its voice was like metal scraping against glass.
"You summoned me… Lord."
Shaun stumbled a step back, his tongue failing him. He knew with absolute certainty: this was no E-rank hero.
He had summoned something that belonged to no classification.
His body went rigid, as if the air had frozen around him. Even the faint glow of the system interface was no longer normal—it now throbbed in time with his racing heart.
The creature slowly lifted its head, a sound like the cracking of ancient bones echoing from it. It took a step forward, and the ground trembled beneath it, the soil cracking as if rejecting its very presence. The closer it came, the more the temperature plummeted, Shaun's breath turning into white vapor that vanished into the void.
"Wh-who are you?" His voice came out cracked, barely a whisper.
The creature stopped an arm's length away, then tilted its neck in an inhuman gesture, as if savoring the scent of his fear. "I am the Hollow Council… or rather, one of its seats." A small, twisted smile, like an open wound, formed on its face.
A new window appeared before Shaun, its lines trembling as if written by a shaking hand:
[Activated Talent: The Hollow Council (Partial)]
[Description: Upon summoning this talent, one of the entities bound to the "Council" is called forth to evaluate the Lord and decide if he is worthy of guardianship or... replacement.]
"Replacement?!"
Shaun didn't finish reading the next line. A scent of rust and blood emanated from the creature, and from its shadow, long arms extended, touching the ground like black liquids with a mind of their own.
"The initial test…" the creature said, its voice echoing through the land. "Show me if you are worthy of the throne you sit upon, Lord of Ash."
In that instant, the system window shattered like brittle glass, its shards falling through the air and turning to scattered ash. The world around him began to devour itself. The sky was melting, the earth was screaming, and the shadows leaped toward him from all directions.
Shaun realized—far too late—that the talent he had mocked just moments ago was no talent at all…
It was...
....
A muffled explosion detonated in Shaun's head, as if someone had struck his skull from the inside. The scene before his eyes buckled, the familiar digital world twisting into a fragmented nightmare. Colors bled together, the green grass turned to black, viscous mud, and the blue sky became a slanted ceiling of clotted smoke.
Everything around him was vibrating, as if the game itself was struggling to breathe.
"Damn… I feel like I'm going to piss myself… this game… is terrifying," Shaun muttered, staring at the shadows that now moved in jerky, disjointed lines, as if they didn't follow the laws of the game's frame rate.
But the sensation that gripped him was not virtual at all—it was horrifically real. The temperature had dropped, and his body began to shiver. Could a virtual reality capsule even simulate this level of cold?
The slender creature that had introduced itself as the Hollow Council was still standing before him. Fine cracks ran across its face, emanating a faint red light, as if its skull contained small, expanding fires. When it opened its mouth, there was no tongue or teeth.
"Player Shaun…" the creature called out in a multi-layered voice, as if ten people were speaking through its mouth at once. "You have summoned us without knowing the price."
Shaun stumbled back another step, raising an arm before his face. "I didn't summon anyone! I just inspected the talent!"
The creature laughed, a sound like the rattling of rusted chains. "In this world, inspection is a form of summoning. When you gaze into the depths of your talent, you gaze into the depths of yourself. And the Hollow Council… does not like to be stared at without its permission."
A new window materialized before him—incomprehensible symbols danced, merged, eroded, and then reformed:
[The Hollow Council's Test – Stage One]
[Objective: Prove worthiness to rule.]
[Possible Outcomes: Coronation / Erasure / Replacement]
"Erasure?! Replacement?!" Shaun's voice trembled. "What kind of game is this?!"
But there was no time for questions. From behind the creature, the ground burst open, and another entity—or rather, several—crawled out. They were similar in shape but eyeless and mouthless, their skin ashen-grey like wet cinders. They moved with an irregular, scratching gait.
"The test of will… begins now."
Then, they all vanished.
The next moment, Shaun found himself standing in the middle of an empty village.
But it wasn't his.