The Dead Forest was not merely a place; it was a graveyard of silence. Here, the air was thick with the scent of damp earth and something ancient that had long since rotted away. Ren sat huddled against the base of a blackened tree, the rough bark biting into his back. The grand, golden light of the palace was now just a bitter memory, a distant speck on the horizon that looked like a mocking star.
He looked down at his hands. They were trembling, covered in a mixture of dry mud and the dark, crimson smear of his own blood. He was alone. No system had greeted him. No goddess had appeared to grant him a "cheat" ability. He was just Ren—the boy who had been bullied for his kindness, betrayed for a bet, and finally discarded like a broken tool by a king who only valued numbers.
"One hundred and twenty," Ren whispered, his voice cracking in the cold air.
The number felt like a brand on his soul. In the classroom, he was a nobody. In this world, he was a "Null." It was a cruel irony—he had traveled across dimensions only to find that he was still the defect. He pulled the thin, white summoning robe tighter around his shoulders. It was the only thing he had left of the palace, and it was already stained with the filth of the forest floor.
Suddenly, the wind died down. The shifting shadows of the trees stilled, and a heavy, suffocating pressure settled over the clearing.
Ren's heart hammered against his ribs. He didn't have magic, but he had lived his entire life in fear; he knew the feeling of being hunted better than any of his classmates did. He slowly stood up, his sneakers slipping on the slick, black moss.
From the darkness between the trees, a pair of eyes ignited. They were a sickly, glowing yellow, swirling with a faint purple mist. Then came another pair. And another.
A pack of Shadow-Stalkers.
These were the scavengers of the Dead Forest, beasts that had been mutated by the leaking mana of the Demon Lord's territory. They were wolves in shape, but their bodies were skeletal, their ribs visible through translucent, charcoal-colored skin. They didn't hunt for meat; they hunted for mana.
The lead wolf stepped into the moonlight, its snout wrinkling to reveal rows of needle-sharp teeth. It let out a low, vibrating growl that made the very marrow of Ren's bones ache. To the wolf, Ren was a rare delicacy—a traveler from another world, filled with untapped energy.
"Stay back," Ren breathed, reaching down to grab a heavy, jagged branch.
The wolf didn't wait. It lunged with terrifying speed, a blur of shadow and hunger.
Ren's instincts took over. He wasn't a warrior, but he was a survivor. He had spent years dodging Kaito's punches and Lucas's kicks. He threw himself to the left, the wolf's claws whistling inches from his ear. The beast hit the tree behind him with a sickening thud, its claws shredding the wood like paper.
Ren scrambled to his feet, but the other two wolves were already closing in. One snapped at his leg, its teeth catching the fabric of his pants and tearing through the skin. Ren cried out, a sharp, white-hot flash of pain radiating from his calf. He swung the branch with everything he had, hitting the second wolf square in the skull. The branch snapped like a dry twig, doing nothing more than making the beast angrier.
He was pinned. He backed away until his shoulders hit a wall of cold stone—the base of a cliff. There was nowhere left to run.
The lead wolf stalked toward him, its yellow eyes locked onto Ren's throat. It sensed his fear. It sensed his weakness. It prepared for the final spring, its back arching as mana began to pulse through its purple veins.
This is it, Ren thought. I'm going to die in the dirt, just like they said.
He felt a surge of raw, cold fury. It wasn't the heroic fire Kaito felt, or the gentle light of Miya. It was the anger of someone who was tired of being stepped on. He was tired of smiling while he bled. He was tired of being "nothing."
"If you want me," Ren hissed, his voice dropping to a dangerous, guttural tone, "then come and take me!"
The wolf sprang.
It slammed into Ren's chest, its massive weight throwing him back against the cliff. Its jaws snapped shut inches from his face, the rancid breath filling his lungs. Ren grabbed the wolf by its throat with both hands, his fingers digging into the matted, shadow-flecked fur. He expected to feel the crushing weight of death.
Instead, he felt a pull.
A terrifying, icy sensation erupted from the center of Ren's palms. It felt like a vacuum had opened inside his chest—a black hole that was suddenly, violently hungry.
The wolf's eyes widened. The yellow glow began to fade, replaced by a look of pure, primal terror. The purple mana flowing through the creature's veins began to reverse, streaming out of its body and into Ren's hands.
The wolf tried to howl, but no sound came out. Its body began to shrivel, its muscles turning to dust, its bones becoming brittle and grey. It wasn't being eaten; it was being erased.
Ren felt a rush of energy like nothing he had ever known. It was cold, sharp, and intoxicating. It flooded his veins, numbing the pain in his leg and sharpening his vision. The darkness of the forest suddenly seemed brighter, the details of every leaf and stone becoming crystal clear.
[System Integration Complete.]
[Unique Path Detected: The Void Sovereign.]
A transparent window flickered in the air before his eyes, but it wasn't the golden, holy interface the others had. It was a deep, obsidian black with letters that looked like they were carved into space itself.
[Name: Ren]
[Title: Unknown Lord (Locked/In-Progress)]
[Rank: Defect / Null]
[Current Power Level: 120 + 80 (Absorbed)]
[Total: 200]
[Passive Skill Awakened: Mana Devourer (Level 1)]
Description: You do not produce magic; you are a void. You can absorb mana from any living being or spell. Stored mana can be used to augment physical attributes or heal wounds.
The wolf in his hands turned to ash, scattering into the wind. The other two wolves, sensing the sudden shift in the food chain, tucked their tails and whimpered. They turned to flee, but Ren was no longer the boy they had cornered.
He moved. He didn't run; he blurred.
He caught the second wolf by the tail, his hand acting like a magnet. The moment he touched the beast, the drain began. In three seconds, it was gone. The third wolf didn't even make it to the treeline before Ren's foot connected with its side, the absorbed strength in his legs enough to crack its ribs instantly. He finished the drain, feeling the "Debt of the Void" inside him stabilize.
[Current Power Level: 350]
Ren stood in the center of the clearing, surrounded by three piles of grey dust. The silence returned, but it was different now. The forest wasn't threatening him anymore; it was waiting for him.
He looked up at the moon, his eyes no longer reflecting fear. They were hollow, like two deep pools of shadow. He reached up and wiped the blood from his cheek, his fingers lingering on the skin. The wound on his leg had already closed, leaving behind a faint, silvery scar.
"The King was right about one thing," Ren said to the empty woods. "I'm not a hero."
He thought of Miya, John, and the bullies back in the palace, probably sleeping in silk beds and dreaming of glory. He thought of the world that had summoned him only to spit him out.
"I don't want your throne. I don't want your war," he whispered. "I'm going home. And God help anyone who stands in my way."
He reached down and picked up a piece of the black wolf's bone. He used a sharp stone to carve a simple, expressionless mask out of a piece of fallen bark, tying it to his face with a strip of his ruined white robe. He would no longer be Ren, the boy who smiled to hide his pain.
He was the Unknown Lord.
He turned his back on the castle and began to walk. He didn't head toward the villages or the roads. He headed toward the deepest part of the Dead Forest—the place where the strongest mana lived.
He needed to grow. He needed to feed. He needed to find the gate back to Earth, and he knew the King wouldn't give it to him willingly. He would have to take it.
As he disappeared into the shadows, the black system window flashed one final message:
[Objective Updated: Return to Earth.]
[Current Progress: 0.01%]
[Warning: The World will try to fill the Void. Stay hungry.]
Ren smiled. It wasn't a fake smile. It was the smile of a predator who had finally found his place in the world.