The estate's courtyard was quiet when I returned. Not silent like the tower — alive with sparring, with fire and sweat and the thrum of recruits testing themselves — but quieter than I expected.
Darian saw me first. He didn't ask what had happened inside the Tower of Silence. He didn't need to. My body answered for me — scars crawling across my chest, a faint glow under the skin where veins pulsed like lightning channels.
I walked past him without a word. Straight to my room. Straight to the lantern and the screen I'd avoided until now.
[System Update: Functions Unlocked]
For the first time since the Nameless God's chains wrapped themselves around me, the interface looked… complete. The jagged borders still hissed with purple sparks, but beneath them, order was settling in.
[Status: Voidstorm Sovereign]
Name: Ashura Bellet
Level: 32
Health: Stable – Enhanced Regeneration Active
Mana: Infinite Cycle Detected – Storm Core Active
Attributes:
• Strength: 142
• Speed: 139
• Endurance: 145
• Intelligence: 130
• Willpower: 150
• Charisma: 41
Evolution Progress: Ongoing
Next Threshold: 200 across all stats
Titles:
• Wraithbound – Grants authority over storm-wraith entities.
• Breaker of Silence – Natural resistance against suppression skills, silence curses, and sealing arts.
• Dungeon Sovereign (Calamity Rank) – Dungeons yield higher rewards when cleared solo.
• Nameless Echo – Presence partially overlaps with the Nameless God, increasing intimidation against weaker wills.
Abilities:
Passive
Void Endurance: Body resists mental, physical, and spiritual erosion. Lightning Instincts: Reaction speed increases proportionally to threat level. Storm Core: Heart functions as a conduit of infinite lightning; stamina drain reduced drastically.
Innate
Wraith Summoning: Lightning wraiths can manifest physically; named wraiths develop unique traits. Soul Conduction: Can absorb spiritual energy from slain foes, converting it into storm energy.
Active
Judgment Spark: Focused lightning strike that pierces defenses. Wrath of Silence: Erases sound in an area, replacing it with destructive storm surges. Wraith Fusion: Temporary merging with a named wraith to amplify abilities.
Rewards – Tower of Silence (Catastrophic Clear):
Skill Stones ×3 (Unallocated) Stormborn Relic: "Crown of Hollow Thunder" (Inactive) Unlock: [System Functions – Store / Forging / Archive]
I exhaled, long and heavy. The numbers stared back at me — alien, yet mine. Part of me still felt like the boy who sat under a flickering lantern, watching his mother cough, praying for a way to pay for her medicine.
But the reflection in the glass beside the screen wasn't that boy anymore.
I pressed my hand against the glowing interface. "Show me the rest."
The system shifted.
[System Functions Unlocked]
Store
Exchange gained essence and dungeon currency for items, relics, skills. Note: Certain goods restricted until higher divinity achieved.
Forging
Fuse storm energy with essence to create personal weapons, armor, or artifacts. Requires materials from dungeons.
Archive
Records of every dungeon cleared. Contains hidden lore fragments revealed by the Nameless God.
I leaned back, staring at the last one. Lore fragments. My storm wasn't just growing stronger. It was pulling me deeper into something ancient, something bigger than me.
A laugh slipped out, bitter and quiet. "You really want me tangled in this game, don't you?"
The screen pulsed once. Not a reply. But not silence either.
I closed the system with a flick. For now, I had seen enough.
The guild would notice the change in me soon — they already felt it. The storm didn't just hum in my veins anymore. It roared, faint but constant, like a tide against the world's edge.
And though my body ached, though I'd nearly died a dozen times in that cursed tower, one thought refused to leave me:
This was only the beginning.