It cut.
Kaelen learned that within the first hour of travel.
The land beyond Volkov territory was feral. Mountains broken like jagged teeth. Forests choked with blackened trees. Ni saturation so thick it crawled across his skin like static. Every breath tasted metallic. Every shadow felt alive.
Kaze walked ahead of him without effort.
No armor.
No visible weapons.
Just a crimson-lined cloak trailing through the snow like a stain that refused to fade.
“Stay alert,” Kaze said casually. “This road eats the weak.”
As if summoned by the words—
The snow exploded.
A Frost-Tusk Ravager burst from beneath the ground, a massive Ni-mutated boar with crystalline ice plating its skull and shoulders. Blue vapor poured from its mouth as it charged.
Kaelen reacted on instinct.
Obsidian katana flashed free.
Lightning Ni surged through the blade, cracking the air as Kaelen pivoted and slashed across the beast’s flank. Sparks burst—
But the hide held.
The Ravager slammed into him.
Kaelen flew, skidding through snow and stone, ribs screaming. He rolled, barely avoiding the tusks that shattered the rock where his head had been.
Blood Ni ignited.
Kaelen hurled his whip, shadow threading through it mid-air. It wrapped around the beast’s leg.
He pulled—hard.
Shadow anchored.
Blood reinforced his muscles.
The Ravager stumbled.
Kaelen closed the distance and drove his katana into the eye socket beneath the ice plating.
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Lightning detonated inside its skull.
The beast collapsed, steaming.
Kaelen stood there, chest heaving, blood dripping into the snow.
Behind him, Kaze chuckled softly.
“Leveling already.”
They didn’t stop.
The next beast came at dusk.
A Veil Stalker—all bone-thin limbs and shifting shadow, its body phasing in and out of visibility.
It attacked from behind.
Claws sliced Kaelen’s shoulder before he even sensed it.
Pain flared.
Kaelen spun, daggers flashing as he coated them in shadow Ni.
The Stalker dissolved.
Reappeared above—
Lightning lanced upward.
Shadow anchored the strike.
Blood pushed his body beyond exhaustion.
The creature screamed as it was torn apart mid-phase, its form unraveling into ash and smoke.
Kaelen dropped to one knee afterward, shaking.
His vision flickered.
A faint translucent window shimmered into existence before him.
He froze.
[SYSTEM: VOLKOV CONDUCTOR]
[CLASS: FLEDGLING CONDUIT]
[LEVEL: 6]
Kaelen swallowed.
He waved the screen away instantly, heart pounding.
Kaze can’t see this. No one can.
The road continued.
By the third day, Kaelen stopped counting time.
Only kills.
A Gravehorn Colossus that took everything he had—blood pouring from his nose as he shattered its spine with layered lightning strikes.
A Sable Mire Hydra, whose acid shadow forced him to burn through nearly all his Ni reserves just to survive.
Each fight tore something out of him.
Each fight gave something back.
His movements sharpened.
His Ni flowed easier.
His core—once silent—sang.
When night fell on the fourth day, Kaelen collapsed against a frozen boulder, body trembling.
The system returned unbidden.
[SYSTEM: VOLKOV CONDUCTOR]
[CLASS: FLEDGLING CONDUIT]
[LEVEL: 8]
[ATTRIBUTES UPDATED]
Strength: Increased
Dexterity: Increased
Wisdom: Increased
Constitution: Increased
Ni-Reserves: Expanded
[MASTERY PROGRESS]
Shadow Ni: 1 / 5 (12%)
Lightning Ni: 1 / 5 (14%)
Blood Ni: 1 / 5 (10%)
Kaelen stared at it.
Level eight.
In days.
He clenched his fist, feeling the weight in his veins, the power humming beneath his skin.
Slowly, he dismissed the screen.
Kaze stood nearby, gazing toward the horizon.
“There,” the Vampire King said.
Kaelen followed his gaze.
Rising from the mountains ahead was a colossal fortress of black stone and crimson spires, carved directly into the mountain itself. Bridges of dark metal stretched across chasms. Crimson banners snapped violently in the wind.
The air around it bent with ancient Ni.
“Welcome,” Kaze said softly, eyes glowing faintly red,
“to Noctyrr Vale.”
He smiled.
“And my castle—Sanguis Nocturne.”
Kaelen stared at it, awe and dread twisting together in his chest.
His hell had only just begun.