The gates of the guild's estate groaned as I pushed them open. Rain clung to my shoulders, heavy from the storm I had carried back with me. Every step hummed with static, the cobblestones beneath my boots sparking faintly.
The recruits were scattered across the courtyard, locked in drills under Darian's watchful eye. They froze when they saw me, eyes widening at the crackling aura that hadn't been there before.
I could feel it too. The storm inside me wasn't just coursing through my veins anymore. It had weight. It had voice.
Kaelen was the first to break the silence. "You… changed." His tone carried no accusation, only awe.
The berserker girl grinned, baring her teeth like a wolf. "Stronger. I can feel it from here."
Selvara closed her notebook slowly, studying me with sharp eyes. A flicker of unease crossed her face, but behind it, curiosity burned hotter.
Darian didn't say anything at first. He simply adjusted the recruits' stances with deliberate precision before turning toward me. His gaze was calm, measured, but even he couldn't hide the faint twitch in his jaw. Respect. And acknowledgment.
The black-flame wielder let his fire dance between his fingers, smothering it a moment later. "If you'd stayed in that tower longer, the city itself would have noticed."
He wasn't wrong.
The wraiths stirred around me, more vivid than ever before. Vyre slipped through shadows, its form sharper, leaner, a predator refined. Eldrin loomed tall, its lightning-laced body thicker, humming with power that rattled the courtyard lanterns.
The recruits noticed. Their eyes followed the wraiths nervously, instinctively aware these weren't just phantoms anymore. They were soldiers in their own right — extensions of me, yet separate, evolving with every trial.
I let them see it. Let them feel it. The truth of what I had become.
That night, when the courtyard emptied and the rain eased, I sat alone beneath the awning. The system flickered before me, faint but sharp.
System of the Nameless God
[Status: Stable]
[Class: Storm Conduit – Nameless Avatar]
[Level: 23]
[Ability Unlocked: Wraith Fusion]
[Next Key: Catastrophic Threat – Tower of Silence]
[Timeframe: 72 Hours upon entry]
The words burned into me. Catastrophic. A level above calamity. And already, I knew: the next challenge wouldn't just try to kill me. It would try to erase me.
Footsteps broke my focus. Kaelen, bold as ever, stood in the doorway.
"You're planning to go again soon, aren't you?" he asked.
"Yes."
He hesitated, then spoke more softly. "Then let me come with you. Not inside… I know the system doesn't let that happen. But outside. To guard. To wait."
The words caught me off guard. Not because they were unexpected — but because they reminded me of something I'd long since buried. Camaraderie. Trust. Things I had told myself I no longer needed.
I didn't answer him right away. Instead, I let the storm whisper around us, purple sparks flickering across the air. Finally, I said, "You'll have your chance. All of you will. But the dungeons are mine alone."
Kaelen nodded slowly, understanding, though the determination in his eyes burned even brighter.
As the boy slipped back into the shadows, I leaned against the wall, watching the storm fade into the night sky.
The storm grows, the system tightens its grip, and the world is starting to pay attention.