Finally, Rian looked down at his status until he reached Vestiges.
Vestiges were items bestowed upon ingressors by the doors. Usually, upon completing a door, a vestige would be granted. They could range from deadly weapons to magical items designed for utility. More often than not, a vestige matched the rank of the door that awarded it.
"So why is my vestige Basic? Shouldn't it be Arcane rank?" Rian muttered, his eyes narrowing as he looked closer. "Growth-type? I've never even heard of that."
He paused, then scoffed lightly. "Well, based on the name, it must grow stronger over time… amazing."
Rian tilted his head. "Well, should I see what it looks like?"
He imagined his vestige, Shadowfang, resting in his hand. Almost immediately, a strange sensation crawled up his arm.
Black, ink-like tendrils flowed over his skin, spiraling upward before gathering in his palm. They twisted and condensed, taking shape in less than a second.
A sword formed in his grasp.
Rian examined the blade, his breath catching. It was beautiful.
The sword was pitch black, slightly longer than arm's length, with a simple dark hilt. What stood out most were the white runes etched along the blade's surface, shifting and rearranging themselves as if alive.
Rian gave it a few cautious test swings.
"Wow… it feels like an extension of my arm."
After a few more moments of fooling around, Rian exhaled and steadied himself.
"Alright," he said quietly. "Time to go."
Rian tried to dismiss the status, yet instead of disappearing, it shattered into six distinct pieces.
"Huh, what is going on?" Rian exclaimed, panic creeping into his voice.
Before he could even begin to understand what was happening, the fragments shot forward at blinding speed and slammed into him.
"AHHH—! It hurts—!!"
…
"Wait. It doesn't hurt at all."
The six pieces embedded themselves throughout his body, one in each leg, one in each arm, one in his stomach, and one in his chest.
Rian gasped, staggering slightly as he felt them settle. The sensation wasn't painful, but rather heavy, as if something fundamental had changed and anchored inside of him.
He could feel them condense, compressing into tiny, dense points of warmth.
Small spheres, no, that wasn't quite right.
Nodes.
A heartbeat passed.
Then another.
And suddenly.
A wave of euphoria surged through him.
Rian's breath hitched as warmth flooded his veins, spreading from the nodes outward like ripples through water. His muscles relaxed, his mind sharpened, and a deep, instinctive comfort settled into his core.
"Oh… I remember this," he murmured, eyes widening.
Aether.
The energy that flowed through the doors. The force that powered abilities, systems, and vestiges alike. Once the seeker trial is completed successfully everyone receives aether. It flows throughout their body powered by the nodes that are created.
Rian slapped his face 'How could I forget'.
The nodes pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat, drawing in ambient energy from the white void and cycling it through his body.
Rian flexed his fingers.
The movement felt… different.
Not stronger. Not necessarily faster either. Just sharper. As if the delay between thought and action had shrunk to almost nothing.
He shifted his weight, testing his balance. His feet adjusted instinctively, muscles compensating before he consciously realized he was off-center.
"Huh…"
The nodes pulsed faintly in response, a subtle feedback loop between intention and motion. It was as if his body now listened to him more closely.
Rian inhaled and threw a quick practice punch.
The air snapped.
His arm didn't feel heavier or strained, yet the motion carried a sharpness that hadn't been there before, more efficient, more deliberate. Less wasted movement.
"So it's not just power," he muttered. "It's also control."
He could feel the nodes feeding something into his muscles in tiny, precise bursts, reinforcing them only when needed.
Rian's gaze sharpened.
If he'd had this back in the colosseum…
He shook his head and exhaled slowly.
"Yeah," he said quietly, a faint grin forming. "I can get used to this."
The void shuddered again, light beginning to peel away at the edges.
Once Rian finished testing his body the space around him began to distort.
"Looks like it's time to finally leave"
The white void folded inward.
Rian felt himself fall.
Wind tore past his ears as gravity reclaimed him without warning. He hit the ground hard, rolling through dirt and dead leaves before skidding to a stop at the base of a tree.
"Ugh!"
He sucked in a sharp breath and lay there for a moment, staring up through a canopy of unfamiliar branches.
Rian was surrounded by woods stuck in a completely unfamiliar place.
'What where am I, I thought when you clear a door you get let out where you entered from'
Rian pushed himself fully upright and brushed dirt from his clothes, glancing down at his arms as faint warmth lingered beneath his skin. The soreness from the fall was already fading, the ache dulling faster than it should have.
"…Yeah. Definitely not normal," he muttered.
He looked around again. Tall trees stretched in every direction, their trunks thick with moss, branches interlocking overhead to block most of the sunlight. No road. No trail. No sign of civilization.
Great.
With no better option, Rian picked a direction and started walking.
The forest was vast, at least from what Rian could tell so far. His "home" was on the eastern continent, a land known for its sprawling woodlands, so he could only hope this place was on the same continent.
As he walked, the nodes hummed faintly, responding to each step. His stamina barely dipped despite the uneven terrain, and when roots threatened to trip him, his body adjusted automatically.
After several minutes, the quiet broke.
Voices.
Rian slowed instantly, easing his footsteps until they barely made a sound. He moved toward the noise, careful to keep trees between himself and the source.
Ahead, the forest opened into a small clearing.
Rian crouched behind a fallen log and peered through the brush.
Five people stood gathered in a loose circle.
They weren't dressed like hikers.
Dark coats reinforced with unfamiliar materials clung to their frames, etched with subtle symbols that caught the light at odd angles. One of them leaned casually against a tree, flipping a knife through his fingers. Another knelt near the ground, sketching something into the dirt with a glowing stylus.
A portable scanner hummed softly in the center of the clearing, its surface flickering with pale blue light.
Ingressors.