The world outside looked the same, but Aiden could feel that something fundamental had changed.
The morning after the beam of light tore through the sky, Base City 5 tried to return to normal. The Association had released a statement calling it a "weather phenomenon" caused by atmospheric interference with the dome's energy grid.
No one believed them.
Every social feed buzzed with theories — alien signals, divine omens, failed experiments. The government's censors worked overtime, deleting posts faster than they appeared. But the image of the beam had already spread to every screen across the planet.
And yet, for Aiden, the noise outside didn't matter.The real storm was inside him.
The Obsidian Edge slept within his body — weightless, invisible, but undeniably there. He could feel its presence like a second pulse beneath his skin, steady and cold.
Whenever he closed his eyes, he could see faint strands of light coiling around his spirit core — black and silver threads winding into the shape of a blade.
The System had confirmed its status:[Bound Weapon: Obsidian Edge — Type Unknown][Compatibility: 100%][Resonance: Active]
But there were no attack functions, no stats, no techniques.Just silence.
He'd spent the morning trying to summon it. Nothing worked.Not until he stopped trying.
When he relaxed — let his breathing fall into rhythm with the Primordial flow — the air before him shimmered.
The blade appeared.
It wasn't large, maybe a meter long, but its presence was overwhelming.Its surface was pure black, absorbing every hint of light, yet faint silver lines pulsed just beneath, shifting like veins of living metal.
Aiden reached out, fingers brushing the flat of the blade.It was cold — not like metal, but like space itself.And beneath the surface, something stirred.
Who are you?
A whisper answered, faint and distant.
"I am memory… and purpose."
He froze. His breath hitched.The voice was neither male nor female, neither human nor mechanical — it was both everything and nothing, a presence that spoke in meaning rather than sound.
Memory?
"You were chosen because you heard the Core's call. The weapon, the Node, and the System — all fragments of one whole. You are its vessel."
What do you mean—
The connection snapped. The voice vanished as suddenly as it had come.The blade dissolved into light again, sinking back into him.
The System chimed softly.
[New Feature Unlocked: Weapon Resonance]
"The bound relic can merge with host attributes, multiplying base strength when invoked."Current Multiplier: x1.5 (Stable)
Aiden flexed his hand, the faint shimmer of energy still lingering along his palm.So, the blade wasn't just a weapon — it was a bridge.A link between him, the System, and the Core buried below the city.
He looked out the window at the dome, where faint wisps of white mist still drifted from where the beam had once cut through.
How many secrets is this world hiding?
He didn't know it yet, but far above that dome, another pair of eyes had found him.
In the vacuum of space, high beyond the orbital defense perimeter, a sleek silver construct floated silently — long and slender like a blade itself. Its hull shimmered faintly with runes that pulsed to the same rhythm as the light that had flared days before.
It wasn't human.
The Martial Alliance Observation Probe – Unit Zeta-09 had entered orbit twelve hours ago. Its purpose was simple: locate the source of the beacon and identify the host.
Inside its core, crystalline sensors rotated slowly, scanning the planet's energy grid.
Dozens of readings lit up — reactors, cities, anomalies. But one stood out.A faint, perfectly symmetrical signal located within Base City 5.
The probe zoomed in, focusing its sensors on the source.
The reading was subtle, hidden under thousands of smaller frequencies, yet its pattern was unmistakable — the same resonance once recorded during the fall of the First Civilization.
The probe adjusted its course.
A soft pulse of light rippled from its hull, carrying encoded data to a distant receiver far beyond Blue Star's solar system.
The message was short but clear.
[Target located. Host resonance confirmed.][Designation: Successor.]
Back on the surface, Aiden spent the afternoon in isolation.
He had skipped school — something the old Aiden would never have done. But the thought of pretending to be normal after what had happened felt absurd.
He sat cross-legged in his room, focusing on his breathing, trying to stabilize the ever-growing energy in his body.Each cycle felt heavier now, like the world itself resisted his growth. The doubling hadn't stopped — if anything, it was accelerating.
[Physique: 52,428.8 | Spirit: 52,428.8][Doubling Cycle: Stable.]
His strength had surpassed anything within the Martial Warrior realm.Even Martial Masters — the apex of Blue Star's known power — could rarely generate over 30,000 kg of force.
If he struck with full strength now, he could shatter reinforced alloy walls.And yet, even that felt… small.
Whenever he closed his eyes, he could feel power far beyond his own.The Core beneath the city.The stars above.And somewhere beyond both — something vast, ancient, and waiting.
His Infinite Comprehension began to adapt again, automatically reorganizing the energy flow through his body, refining every particle of strength to perfection.
He exhaled, feeling the hum of power settle.For the first time, he could sense something else in the energy itself — information. Patterns buried within each mote of cosmic essence, like a code written in the air.
This isn't just cultivation. It's language.
He let his consciousness follow the rhythm.Each breath translated into meaning. Each spark of light became a glyph.
He didn't know how long he sat like that.When he opened his eyes again, faint runes glowed across his arms — symbols that looked eerily similar to the ones that had appeared on the Core's surface days ago.
Far beneath him, that same Core pulsed once — faint, responsive, alive.
The resonance between them deepened.
The System flickered.
[Synchronization Level: 32%.][Passive Function Unlocked: Dimensional Perception (Stage 1)]
Suddenly, the room around him… shifted.
He blinked, and the walls rippled like water. The city beyond the window vanished.In its place was darkness — not emptiness, but a layered space, filled with faint shapes that drifted slowly through the void.
They weren't physical. They were echoes — fragments of energy, the shadows of other dimensions brushing against reality.
Aiden's breath caught in his throat.
This… is the structure beneath existence itself.
He reached out instinctively, and the darkness rippled.For a split second, he touched something.It was cold, heavy, and alive.
The moment stretched — then shattered.
A blinding surge of feedback hit him, sending him sprawling backward. His body slammed against the wall, vision flashing white.
The System's voice roared in his mind.
[Warning: Dimensional interference detected.][Unauthorized entity contact: Neutralized.][Recalibrating neural pathways…]
He gasped for air, clutching his chest as the light faded.
That had been real.He had reached beyond the material world — and something out there had reached back.
At that same moment, in the ruins beneath the city, the sealed chamber trembled.The containment field flickered as the black sphere pulsed again — faster, brighter.
Captain Nyra, now stationed at the site permanently, felt the tremor under her boots. She turned to the tech officer.
"Tell me that wasn't another quake."
The officer stared at his monitor. "No, ma'am. It's the same frequency as before. But… stronger."
Nyra clenched her jaw. "Something up there is feeding it."
She looked up toward the dome, where the faintest shimmer of silver light glowed far above. "And I think I know who."
High above the planet, the probe's lenses focused again.This time, it zoomed directly onto a single apartment building in Base City 5.
Inside, a young man sat cross-legged, surrounded by faint silver light.
The probe's scanners strained to read him — but the energy around his body distorted space itself, scattering every frequency.
Its sensors glitched.
[Error: Unknown interference.][Signal strength exceeding safe threshold.]
Then, for the first time in its existence, the probe hesitated.It had been built to observe, not to fear. Yet, for one brief moment, its core recognized something older — something written deep in its programming, a fragment of command from long ago.
"When the Successor awakens, observe — but do not approach."
The probe went still, silent against the backdrop of the stars, watching.
On Blue Star, Aiden finally regained his breath. The energy in his veins stabilized, the glow fading.
He stared at his trembling hands and let out a slow, shaking laugh.He didn't know what was happening anymore — only that he was at the center of it.
The Core beneath the city.The blade in his soul.The system that doubled his strength every day.
And now — something far beyond the sky watching him.
He stood, gazing at the night beyond the dome.
"So this is what it means to wake the stars."