Kael returned to his dorm, body sore and muscles trembling from the brutal training Nathan had enforced earlier. He collapsed onto his bed, chest rising and falling as he stared at the ceiling. His heart still pounded, but not from exhaustion—it was the ache of something deeper, a feeling he couldn't quite name.
"Nathan," he said aloud, voice cracking from fatigue. "This… Training Mode… what is it really?"
There was a pause, then—
[Activating Training Interface.]
The room dimmed.
From the corners of his vision, a dense mist began to roll in, curling and coiling like living smoke. The world around Kael faded to black, replaced by the cold silence of a vast void.
A strange pressure hugged his body, like being submerged in warm ink. Shadows twisted and thickened until they formed a boundary—a circle of space lit only by the pulsing glow of Kael's own breath.
Then a figure emerged.
At first, it was a silhouette—vague and formless—but soon it took shape: a younger version of the old man from the cliff, cloaked in the same swirling darkness that seemed to fuel Kael's own power. His eyes gleamed like stars caught in shadow.
"Nathan?" Kael asked cautiously.
The figure nodded.
"This is your space now," Nathan's voice echoed—not from the figure's mouth, but from the air around Kael. "Your personal realm. A fragment of the Nether Code."
Kael looked around, breath visible in the cold air. "Where are we?"
"In the shadow between thought and will," Nathan said cryptically. "This is where you will train. Where your abilities will evolve."
Kael shivered as a surge of energy pulsed through the ground beneath his feet. The mist vibrated, revealing stone-like platforms rising from the darkness—training dummies formed from the same smoke.
"You can come here any time," Nathan continued. "No one else can enter. But know this—what you feel here is real. You will ache. You will bleed. But you will not die."
Kael's eyes narrowed. "You made this for me?"
"Yes. I've guided many. But this… this is different." A pause. "To my knowledge, no one has ever forged such a link through the Nether Code. You are the first."
Before Kael could respond, the training dummies charged.
He dodged the first attack, barely managing to duck the second. A third dummy landed a hit on his shoulder, spinning him to the ground.
"Nathan, what the hell?!"
[Adapt. Respond. Control.]
Kael grit his teeth and stood. Embers sparked at his fingertips—faint, unreliable.
"Pull it into your body," Nathan instructed calmly. "Not from memory—but from sensation. It's not your fire. It's a shadow echo. Feel it… let it become you."
Kael inhaled sharply, reaching inside—not for power, but for resonance. For that echo.
The warmth bloomed in his chest.
A flicker. Then more.
A steady ember curled in his palm.
He clenched his fist, turning the ember into a weapon.
This time, when the dummies lunged, he struck back—his punch igniting as it connected. The smoke figures recoiled, crumbling into wisps of black mist.
The air calmed.
Kael stood still, embers glowing in both hands.
Then—[Sync Update: Fire Affinity – 80%]
He exhaled, letting the power fade, the fire crackling gently from his fingertips before disappearing into the void.
Nathan's voice whispered, "You're beginning to understand."