---
The sun had barely risen, yet the training grounds were already bustling. Young princes and princesses, clad in silken robes reinforced with spiritual threads, moved like flowing fire and thunder. Cultivation techniques exploded with brilliance, each strike more terrifying than the last.
Ray stood at the very edge, alone.
He wore simple linen, the training uniform given to those without prestige—marked with a dull brown hem, the color of mediocrity.
> "Rank 2 Bloodline." "Phoenix Mother? Don't make me laugh." "He should've been drowned at birth."
The murmurs were sharp, cruel, but Ray stood still, watching. Not trembling. Just watching.
Because last night… he awakened something else.
Something no one could see.
> [SYSTEM INITIALIZED.]
Name: Ray
Bloodline Level: 2 (Suppressed: ???)
System Energy: 0
Tasks Available: 2
Task 1: "Eat Spirit Flame Herb" → +10 System Points
Task 2: "Defeat anyone of Rank 3 in combat" → +20 System Points
Store Unlocked. Hidden Bloodline Upgrade Locked – Requires: 100 System Points
His fingers trembled slightly when he first saw it. A voice only he could hear. A path only he could walk.
And now, as the golden-haired 3rd Prince, Kael, mocked him from across the field—Ray didn't look away.
"Still pretending to be royalty, runt?" Kael sneered, his aura flaring to Rank 4. "I'll give you a chance. Fight me. Show the court how low you've fallen."
Ray smiled.
A small, terrifying, innocent smile.
"Alright."
The training grounds blazed with aura and ego, thunderous strikes and flaming fists. Yet Ray stood at the farthest edge, alone, silent.
"Brother," a soft voice came from behind him.
It was Prince Elric, the 6th prince—delicate in features but sharp of mind. He looked troubled.
"The council wants me to duel Kael," Elric whispered. "If I lose, I'll be demoted to the outer branch."
He looked at Ray, hope flickering.
"You've always been calm. Help me train… just for a bit."
Ray stared at him. Not harshly, not kindly.
Just silent.
Then he turned away.
"I can't help you," Ray said.
"Wha—why?"
Ray kept walking. No explanation. No argument.
Because last night, something changed inside him. He no longer lived to please, to beg, or to assist those who never looked back when he was the one being stepped on.
---
A while later, in the shadowed corner of the old Ancestor's Hall, Ray sat cross-legged. The air was dense with dust and memory.
He whispered the words only he remembered from a forbidden scroll…
> "Faceless Technique – First Layer: Still Water."
He focused, breathing so shallow even his own presence began to vanish.
His features slowly began to… blur.
Like mist over a mirror.
His aura—already faint—became invisible.
The guards nearby didn't even glance his way.
The Faceless Technique was said to belong to a nameless assassin clan that once walked through palaces unnoticed, killing kings without a trace.
But Ray didn't practice it to kill.
He practiced it to disappear—to slip beneath the notice of enemies until he could strike with absolute certainty.
> [System Notice: New Technique Detected.]
Faceless Technique – Rank: Rare (Upgradeable)
Progress: 1%
Condition to Upgrade: Remain unseen in combat for 60 seconds.
He opened his eyes. His heart beat steady.
> "The weak fight for attention," Ray thought.
"I'll grow in silence."
Still Water, Silent Blade
The cold wind slid across the stone courtyard. Moonlight hung like silver breath over the ancient tiles.
Ray knelt beside the withering pond behind the Ancestor's Hall. His heartbeat was slow. His presence—unfelt.
> Faceless Technique – First Layer: Still Water
Progress: 4%
He exhaled.
No ripples.
No sound.
No Ray.
The world moved, but he did not.
He was becoming nothing—because nothing couldn't be hurt, judged, or blocked. Nothing couldn't be killed.
That was the path of Still Water.
---
BTS: Ray sat there longer than any royal should. His body ached, his fingers numbed, but his mind... that burned.
He didn't want to be seen now—not yet. Not as the Seventh Prince. Not as a disgrace. No... he wanted to return one day like a storm in the night. A whisper that killed. A shadow that ruled.
> "If I cannot rise by light," he thought,
"Then I will rise by silence."
And that silence... gave birth to an idea.
A group.
Not a sect. Not a court faction. Not a gang.
A silent blade in the palace's heart.
> 13 Cross.
> A nameless group of 13. A ghostly hand under his will. Each a dagger. Each a story.
He needed those who were invisible, unwanted by the power games of the palace—yet perfect in skill.
And the first name came instantly:
> Isle.
A servant of his 5th brother, Sean.
The boy was quiet, always missing during roll calls, always where he shouldn't be—yet never seen.
Some said he was a coward.
Ray knew better.
> "You're the first," he whispered, watching the shadows behind the wall.
> "The First Cross."
Ray the Hunter
Ray looked at Isle—a thin boy slipping through shadowed corridors with a tray of tea and poison rumors.
> "That's him," Ray whispered.
His golden eyes narrowed.
He didn't look like a prince in that moment.
He looked like a hunter.
> "You will be my first dagger," Ray thought.
"The first to drip blood in silence. The one who carries my mark—the Bloody Cross."
Ray's heart beat steady, cold with calculation.
But before he could take Isle in—
A memory came back.
---
The Bait and the Threat
The 6th Brother, Elric, had come to him days ago.
Begging.
> "Help me train, brother. I have to fight Kael. If I lose… I'll be thrown away. You know how the palace treats the weak."
Ray had refused—but not without reason.
He wasn't avoiding the fight out of fear.
He was planning.
> "You wanted me to fight. But now I'll make it look like you betrayed me."
Ray smiled in the shadows.
---
The plan was simple:
He would use his Faceless Technique to mask his presence, let Elric 'accidentally' injure him in public.
A perfect misdirection.
Then, he'd approach his older brother Sean, Isle's master—and blackmail him.
Because Sean… was greedy.
And greed made men easy to control.
> "He won't pay ten thousand gold for his brother," Ray muttered.
"But he'll kill to keep that money."
And in that tension, in that silent pressure—
He would extract Isle.
---
The Cross is Drawn
Later that night, Ray sat beneath the moon, a blade in his hand and a dying bird before him.
He dipped his finger in the blood.
And on a smooth stone tile, he drew a mark.
> A cross—simple. Cruel. Eternal.
> "Thirteen will carry this," he whispered.
"And the world will forget their names… until the day we carve them back in blood."
Public Spar – The Falling Water
The royal spa near the garden lake was filled with nobles. Servants stood in rows, steam rising like white veils around the marble.
Ray and Elric stood in the shallow edge, chest-deep in warm water. The crowd watched curiously—two princes bathing alone?
Elric whispered, "Ray, I didn't think you'd agree—"
Before he could finish, Ray slipped his step deliberately and allowed Elric's elbow to crash into his shoulder.
> Splash!
Ray flew into the water dramatically, sinking like a broken leaf.
The nobles gasped.
> "The 6th Prince injured his own brother!" "Was it a duel? An attack?"
Ray groaned, clutching his arm. "I didn't think… you'd go that far, brother."
His tone was soft—pitiful.
> And the rumor floodgates opened.
---
Blackmail, Golden Tongue Style
Later that night, Ray walked into Sean's chamber, uninvited. The 5th Prince turned, annoyed.
"Who let you in?" Sean barked, covered in gold rings like a merchant in a crown.
Ray tossed a cloth on the table—it was his torn robe, still wet.
"Elric injured me."
Sean squinted. "So?"
"So," Ray leaned in, voice low and sharp, "The court will wonder what your brother's doing. Plotting? Training assassins in the spa?"
"You're bluffing."
Ray smiled. "You think I'm here to beg? I'm here to sell you something."
Sean folded his arms. "What?"
> "Your servant," Ray said, eyes gleaming. "The little shadow, Isle."
Sean blinked.
"He's worth 10,000 gold," Ray continued, "but I'll take him for free."
Sean laughed. "Why would I give you—"
Ray cut in, "Because your 8 mistresses love talking. And if even one of them finds out you're hoarding palace wine and selling beast cores under the treasury..."
Sean turned pale.
Ray stepped forward, whispering.
> "You're too greedy to be stupid. Isle is just a shadow. Give him to me... and keep your gold, and your neck."
Sean sighed. "Take him. But if he steals from me—"
"I'll have him return the value… in ears."
---
The First Dagger
Ray returned to his dimly lit chamber. Isle stood inside, confused.
"You," Ray said, "are mine now. Your master sold you like a carpet."
Isle's eyes widened.
"I'll not disgrace your loyalty," Ray said, suddenly calm, "but I'll trade it for something greater—respect. You will follow me, and in return, I'll give you purpose."
Ray's shadow stretched across the wall like a wing.
> "I'm forming something. Thirteen. Thirteen blades. You're the first."
Isle didn't speak for a while.
Then he bowed, deeply.
> "I accept."
---
SYSTEM PROMPT – INITIATING ORGANIZATION
> [DING!]
Host has decided to form an assassination group: [13 Cross]
Association Seed Package Unlocked!
System Points: +5000
Special Techniques Unlocked:
Blood Dragon Style (A brutal, precise hunting technique)
Footless Walk (Top-tier stealth movement skill)
13 Cross – Member: 1 / 13
Rank: Unseen Threat
Let the world tremble. The Bloody Cross begins.
Ray sat down, smiling to himself.
> "One dagger down. Twelve to go."