Darkness was not just an element to Arlan anymore; it had become a sanctuary. As he drifted in the void of unconsciousness, he didn't see the usual nightmares of his poisoning. Instead, he saw a vast, crystalline structure—the System Core—pulsing with a rhythmic, violet light.
[Deep Sync Initiated...]
[Analyzing Host's Physical Damage...]
[Repairing Cracked Mana Core using 'Abyssal Solder'...]
A voice, cold and mechanical yet strangely familiar, echoed through the void. "The blood of the sun and the soul of the abyss... the balance is shifting, Arlan. Wake up. The Rose is waiting."
Arlan's eyes snapped open. He wasn't in the damp sewers anymore. He was lying on a bed of soft, glowing moss in a room carved out of solid obsidian. The air was thick with the scent of ozone and ancient earth.
[Status: Recovered]
[HP: 450/450 | MP: 300/300]
[Level: 13]
"You're finally awake," a voice said from the corner.
It was Seraphina. She was no longer wearing her travel-worn cloak. She wore a suit of leather armor etched with glowing violet runes. Beside her stood two large figures—warriors with the features of lions, their muscles rippling as they held massive claymores. Beastmen.
"Where am I?" Arlan asked, his voice still raspy. He sat up, noticing that his old clothes had been replaced with a black tunic made of enchanted silk.
"You are in Xylos, the Hidden City," Seraphina explained, gesturing to the window.
Arlan walked to the opening and gasped. They were inside a massive underground cavern, miles wide. An artificial sun, powered by a gargantuan mana crystal, hung from the ceiling, illuminating a city built into the stalactites and stalagmites. Thousands of people—elves, dwarves, beastmen, and humans—moved through the streets below. This was the headquarters of the Black Rose.
"We have been building this for twenty years," Seraphina said, her voice filled with pride. "Every person here was 'discarded' by your father's 'Holy Empire.' We are the sins the Emperor tried to hide."
[New Location Discovered: Xylos - The Rebel Stronghold]
[Exp Gained: 500]
"Why save me?" Arlan turned to her, his golden eyes narrowing. "I am still a Prince of Valoria. I am the son of the man who hunts you."
"Because you are the only one who can bypass the Imperial Aegis," a new voice boomed.
An old man entered the room. He walked with a cane, but his presence was so heavy it felt like the floor was vibrating. He had a mechanical arm made of brass and mana-crystals. This was General Kaelen, a former commander of the Imperial Army who had been betrayed and left for dead.
"The Emperor has built a barrier around the capital that burns anyone with 'impure' blood," Kaelen explained. "But you... the System you possess... it's not just magic. It's a key. You were poisoned not to kill you, but to turn your mana core into a 'Void Lock.' They wanted to use you as a battery for their god-slaying weapon."
Arlan's blood ran cold. The betrayal was deeper than he had imagined. He wasn't just unwanted; he was an experiment.
[Emergency Quest: The Path of the Sovereign]
[Objective: Reach Level 30 and unlock the 'Abyssal Throne' within the System.]
[Reward: Mastery over the Royal Bloodline | Ability: Command of the Fallen.]
"I don't care about your rebellion," Arlan said, his shadow beginning to swirl around his feet as Fenris rematerialized, growling at the lion-warriors. "I only care about seeing the Emperor burn."
"Then our goals are the same," Kaelen smiled, a grim, toothy grin. "But to kill a god, you need more than a dagger. You need to evolve. Our smiths have found something in the deep tunnels—a fragment of the Star-Metal that fell from the sky. It reacts to your System."
[System Notification: Legendary Quest Item Detected!]
[Item: Fragment of the Fallen Star]
[Potential: Upgrade 'Shadow Dagger' to 'Eclipse Blade'.]
Arlan looked at his hands. The black veins from the 'Overload' had left permanent marks on his forearms, looking like intricate tattoos. He felt a new kind of power bubbling beneath his skin—a hunger that Oakhaven or Silverleaf could never satisfy.
"Show me the forge," Arlan commanded. "If I am to be a monster in their eyes, then I shall be the most terrifying monster they have ever seen."
General Kaelen led Arlan through the winding obsidian corridors of the underground city. The air grew hotter with every step, vibrating with the rhythmic thrum-thrum of a massive magical engine. They reached a set of bronze doors etched with runes of heat suppression.
"Beyond these doors lies the Heart of the Forge," Kaelen shouted over the roar of the machines. "It is powered by a vein of liquid mana flowing directly from the planet's core. Only those with the 'System' or a Divine Protection can survive the heat."
[System Alert: Ambient Temperature Rising - 120°C]
[Activating Passive Skill: Shadow Cooling...]
[Mana Consumption: 2 MP/minute]
The doors groaned open. Arlan stepped into a cathedral of fire. In the center, a lake of molten mana glowed a brilliant white-blue. Massive chains held a floating anvil made of star-metal. Standing by the anvil was the Head Smith, a dwarf whose skin looked like scorched earth, and whose beard was braided with copper wires.
"So, this is the boy," the dwarf, Bram, grunted. He didn't bow. "The Prince of Trash wants to turn his toothpick into a god-slayer, eh?"
Arlan placed his Shadow Dagger on the star-metal anvil. The obsidian blade seemed to tremble, sensing the raw power surrounding it.
"I don't just want a weapon," Arlan said, his golden eyes reflecting the blue flames. "I want something that can cut through the Emperor's 'Divine Aegis'."
Bram pulled out a small chest. Inside lay the Fragment of the Fallen Star—a jagged piece of metal that didn't reflect light; it seemed to pull the light into itself, much like Arlan's own skills.
[System Analysis: Star-Metal Fragment (Rank: Mythical - Broken)]
[Compatibility with 'Shadow Dagger': 98%]
[Warning: The forging process requires a 'Blood Sacrifice' to bind the soul of the weapon.]
"Start the fire," Arlan commanded.
For the next several hours, the forge became a scene of chaotic creation. Bram hammered the star-metal into the shadow dagger, each strike sounding like a thunderclap echoing through the cavern. Arlan stood at the center, his hands outstretched, feeding his own dark mana into the flames to prevent the star-metal from rejecting the obsidian base.
[Synthesis Progress: 25%... 50%... 75%...]
"Now, the blood!" Bram yelled.
Arlan grabbed the red-hot blade with his bare hand. The smell of burning flesh filled the air, but he didn't scream. He watched as his blood hissed and sizzled against the metal, being absorbed into the very molecular structure of the weapon.
[Blood Link Established!]
[Evolution Complete!]
The flames died down instantly, replaced by a chilling cold that frosted the nearby walls. Resting on the anvil was no longer a simple dagger. It was a Shortsword, its blade a deep, matte black with a single violet line running down the center. It didn't pulse; it felt like a void in reality.
[New Weapon Acquired: The Eclipse Blade (Growth Type)]
[Rank: Epic (Level 1)]
[Passive: 'Shield Breaker' - Ignores 30% of Divine/Holy Defenses.]
[Active Skill: 'Void Slash' - Fires a wave of concentrated shadow that erases matter.]
Arlan swung the blade. It was weightless, yet he could feel its hunger. It felt like an extension of his own arm.
"Impressive," Kaelen remarked from the shadows. "But a blade is only as good as its wielder. Tomorrow, you begin your training with the Black Rose elites. You need to reach Level 20 before we strike the Silverleaf Garrison."
Arlan sheathed the Eclipse Blade. "I don't need until tomorrow. Start the training now. I've wasted enough time being weak."
The training pits of Xylos were located in the lowest levels of the cavern, where the gravity felt slightly heavier and the air was thick with the scent of sweat and iron. It was a circular arena carved out of jagged rock, surrounded by tiers of seats where rebel soldiers gathered to watch the 'Human Prince' prove himself.
Arlan stood in the center, his hand resting on the hilt of the Eclipse Blade. Opposite him stood three Beastmen—Leonin warriors, each standing seven feet tall with golden manes and armor made of heavy iron plates.
[System Scanning Enemies...]
[Enemy 1: Kovar (Level 16 Warrior)]
[Enemy 2: Rasha (Level 15 Berserker)]
[Enemy 3: Tane (Level 15 Defender)]
[Tactical Assessment: Low chance of victory in a frontal assault. Suggest using 'Void Step' and 'Eclipse' mechanics.]
"Don't worry, little prince," Kovar, the leader, growled, baring his fangs. "We'll try not to break your pretty face. We just want to see if that black toy of yours actually works."
The crowd roared. Arlan remained silent, his golden eyes narrowing. He didn't see enemies; he saw experience points. He saw a ladder he needed to climb.
"Begin!" General Kaelen's voice echoed from the observer's balcony.
In an instant, Rasha, the Berserker, lunged forward. She swung a massive greataxe that whistled through the air with bone-crushing force. Arlan didn't retreat. He waited until the last possible millisecond.
[Skill Activated: Void Step!]
Arlan's body flickered like a glitch in a video game. He vanished just as the axe slammed into the ground, shattering the rock where he had stood. He reappeared behind Rasha, his movement so fast it left a trail of dark mist.
"Too slow," Arlan whispered.
He drew the Eclipse Blade. The matte-black steel didn't reflect the arena's torchlight; it seemed to drink it. He performed a horizontal slash, activating the blade's primary ability.
[Weapon Skill Activated: Void Slash!]
A crescent wave of black energy erupted from the sword. Rasha tried to block it with the handle of her axe, but the energy didn't bounce off. It ate through the wood and iron as if they were nothing more than paper. The wave grazed her shoulder, dissolving a chunk of her heavy armor and leaving a shallow, bloodless wound that smoked with dark mana.
"What kind of magic is that?" Tane, the Defender, shouted, raising his heavy tower shield to protect his fallen comrade.
"It's not magic," Arlan replied, his voice devoid of emotion. "It's the end of your empire."
Arlan felt the Eclipse Blade thrumming in his hand. It was feeding on the mana in the air, growing sharper with every second it was out of its sheath. He could feel the 'Hunger' of the sword—it wanted more than just a graze. It wanted a soul.
[Eclipse Blade Saturation: 15%]
[Damage Output increasing...]
Kovar and Tane attacked simultaneously. Kovar used a 'Leap Strike,' his twin daggers glowing with a fierce yellow aura, while Tane charged like a bull behind his shield. Arlan was trapped between a hammer and an anvil.
"Fenris, Shadow Bind!" Arlan commanded.
From the shadows beneath the Beastmen's feet, spectral paws of the Shadow Wolf emerged, grabbing their ankles and pinning them to the floor for a heartbeat. It was all the time Arlan needed.
He didn't attack the warriors. He plunged the Eclipse Blade into the ground.
[Skill Combination: Black Sun + Eclipse Resonance!]
A shockwave of darkness exploded from the point of impact, turning the entire arena floor into a whirlpool of shadows. The Beastmen lost their footing, their mana-based physical enhancements being drained away by the hungry abyss beneath them. Arlan moved through the darkness like a ghost, his blade flickering left and right.
Clang! Rip! Thud!
When the shadows finally cleared, Arlan was standing behind the three warriors. His sword was already sheathed. Kovar, Rasha, and Tane were all on their knees, their armor ruined and their weapons shattered. They weren't dead, but they were defeated—physically and mentally.
[Quest Completed: Prove Your Worth!]
[Exp Gained: 3,500]
[Level Up! Level 13 -> Level 15]
[Stat Points Gained: +10 (Assigning to Agility and Intelligence...)]
The arena was dead silent. Even General Kaelen looked stunned. The 'Trash Prince' had just dismantled three of his best elites in under two minutes without taking a single scratch.
Arlan looked up at the balcony, his eyes glowing with an intensity that made the soldiers flinch. "I am ready for the Silverleaf Garrison," he said, his voice echoing through the chamber. "And after that, I'm coming for the crown."