---
The mist had changed.
It no longer drifted with idle grace, but coiled and shifted around Yuki like a living thing—curious, perhaps even cautious. As the newly evolved Draconis Nocturnus Primordialis padded silently through the ancient soulwood grove, the world itself felt… alert.
Every stone hummed. Every leaf breathed.
And overhead, the wind began to whisper.
*"You are not alone."*
He paused.
Yuki's senses, honed from his recent transformation, stretched outward. His newly forged skill—**Resonance Pulse**—beat like a second heartbeat, mapping psychic trails left by spirit creatures, tracking the echo of movement not made by claw or paw, but by will and thought.
One such echo shimmered faintly to his left.
He turned.
There—half-sunken into the mossy undergrowth—lay the shattered remains of an old spirit totem. Vines cradled it now, but faint glyphs still glimmered beneath the surface, etched in ancient runes that twisted slightly as if still alive.
As he drew near, a pulse responded to his presence.
A phantom gust of wind swept through the grove.
Leaves swirled skyward, forming a spiral that shimmered in green and gold. Not violent, not aggressive—simply… aware. Yuki's **Sovereign Mind** flared to life instinctively, forging a barrier against any intrusion, but the presence didn't press forward.
Instead, it hovered.
Watching.
Then vanished.
Yuki exhaled slowly. *Something knows I'm here. Something powerful.* Not an enemy, yet. But not fully known.
---
He pressed on, deeper into the grove, until the soulwood trees gave way to a spiraling basin of stone and earth—an ancient clearing where the wind whistled not from pressure, but song. The air vibrated subtly here, laced with a refined kind of mana. Not elemental, exactly… something older.
And at the center of the clearing stood a broken spire. A wind-touched altar.
Yuki's claws clicked softly as he approached it. His **Mana Sense** flared, tracing the trails of residual magic that swirled around the site. A seal, long dormant, pulsed weakly at the heart of the altar.
**\[Ancestral Fragment Detected]**
**\[Would you like to Synchronize?]**
He hesitated.
Then, *yes*.
---
The moment he accepted, a stream of fragmented will flooded into him. Not enough to overwhelm—but enough to burn.
Visions—blades of wind carving valleys, forests blooming beneath dragonflight, songs sung in a tongue older than time. A name surfaced from the memory.
**Sylvaeria.**
The forest spirit.
The wind sovereign of the forgotten glades.
She had once stood here. This was a remnant of her past—a place woven with her essence.
But the fragment was broken, worn by time and abandonment. Yuki's very presence had stirred it, awakened the resonance left behind.
He dropped to one knee, overwhelmed—not by pain, but recognition.
He *knew* her. Or at least the echo of her.
---
**New Passive Trait Gained: Whisperbond (Resonant Trait)**
> Your soul has formed a passive link with a spirit-influenced essence. You are now attuned to spiritual frequencies, especially wind and forest-aligned spirits.
**Effect**:
* Wind-elemental mana efficiency increased by 25%
* All spiritual attacks reduced by 20%
* Increases chance of forming future contracts with nature-aligned spirits
---
Yuki slowly stood, wind coiling at his horns like ribbons of respect.
The forest knew him now—not as a threat, but a part of its tapestry.
Somewhere far north, in the true heart of the woods, Sylvaeria would soon sense him.
Not merely as a beast.
But as a soul echoing in harmony with her own.
---