Inside the Whispering Blades' underground cathedral hall. Dim torchlight flickers across rows of masked figures. Akira stands before Mistress Nyx as she performs the probationary binding ritual a thin black thread of shadow magic coils around his wrist like a living tattoo.
Nyx (voice low, almost intimate): "From this night forward, you belong to the dark. Betray the Blades, and the shadows will devour you from within."
[Guild Mark Applied. Probationary Benefits Unlocked: Access to low-tier contracts, safe houses, and basic essence refinement techniques. Penalty for failure: Permanent Sanity Drain.]
Akira feels the mark burn cold. For the first time, the system responds with something new:
[Hidden Path Detected: Reaper Branch progression accelerated. Current Essence: 48/100 to first branch unlock.]
Over the next weeks, the episode follows Akira's rapid rise through probationary contracts:
• Silencing a rival guild's informant in the noble quarter (his first deliberate stealth kill on a human target with actual rank).
• Retrieving a cursed artifact from a minor dungeon infested with shadow wraiths creatures that feed on fear and memory.
• During the dungeon delve, the wraiths force a prolonged hallucination sequence: vivid flashes of his Tokyo childhood being locked in a closet for days, a foster sibling selling his location to bullies for pocket money, the first time he held a knife to someone's throat at age twelve. He collapses briefly, vomiting black ichor as the system warns [Sanity Critical: 81%. Hallucination intensity increased.]
He barely completes the job, absorbing a massive surge of essence from the wraiths.
[Essence +52. Total: 100/100. Class Path Unlock: Assassin (Reaper Branch). New Skills: Phantom Step (Lv.1), Soul Echo (Passive hear faint whispers from absorbed essences).]
Back at a Blades safe house, Thorne (now acting as informal handler) tosses him a new black hooded cloak.
Thorne: "You're climbing fast, kid. Too fast. People notice. Nobles are starting to ask questions about the 'ghost' handling slum cleanup."
Akira pulls the hood up, crimson eyes glowing faintly in the dark. "Let them ask."
The episode's emotional turning point comes at night. Alone on a rooftop overlooking the glowing Royal Academy spires, Akira practices Phantom Step briefly phasing into shadow and reappearing meters away. Each use triggers Soul Echo: faint, overlapping whispers of every life he's taken. They all say variations of the same thing: monster… traitor… alone…
He clenches his fists until blood drips from his palms.
Akira (quiet, broken whisper): "I was always alone."
A new system alert appears the first non-combat quest he's ever received:
[Optional Quest: Attend the Royal Academy Open Trials. Reward: Noble connections, accelerated rank certification, potential sponsorship. Warning: High-risk social environment for F/E-rank entrants.]
He stares at the distant academy lights, void wisps curling thicker around him.
Cut to the noble district. Elara Voss, attending a high-society banquet with her family, overhears her father discussing guild unrest.
Lord Voss: "The Whispering Blades are getting bold. Some probationary shadow has been cleaning house. If he's as promising as the rumors say, House Voss could use eyes inside their ranks."
Elara's illusion magic subtly shifts the candlelight around her face, hiding a small, intrigued smile.
Elara (softly, to herself): "A ghost in the slums… I think I'd like to meet him."
The camera lingers on her silver eyes reflecting the chandelier glow the first hint of color in Akira's otherwise monochrome world.