The panel of a trial taker was never ant to reveal everything. It only showed the face-value details, that were enough for guidance, but never the whole truth. That was why Elizabeth hadn’t known she carried the blood of a dragon until her awakening, and why Leon hadn’t fully understood the depths of his own talent. So things were left for the trial taker to discover, the system forcing them to piece together mysteries of their own existence.
So for the panel, an interface that never bothered to read between the lines to suddenly display a change in his race, it could only an one thing. This wasn’t so superficial difference, like hair or eye color. This was deeper. Substantial and fundantal. His race, the very foundation that determined a trial taker’s limits, had shifted.
And what stared back at him was a single, jarring word:
[ERROR]
Leon froze. His throat tightened. "What the hell does that an?" he whispered. Did it an the panel couldn’t recognize him? That whatever he had beco didn’t exist in its frawork?
Before he could wrestle with the thought, new text flashed across his vision.
[Error Fixed]
[Detected: Creation of a new race in the universe]
His eyes widened in shock. The words hit harder than any blade. And then, as if reality itself had been rewritten, the designation shifted.
Race: Void Spawn
Leon said it aloud, his voice low and uneasy. "Void... Spawn."
The na carried weight, it was ominous and alien, as though it didn’t belong in the natural order.
From the corner of his eye, Racheal stirred. She had heard him talking to himself, but she didn’t speak. But her gaze lingered.
Leon’s thoughts spiraled. He wasn’t given ti to answer himself. As his panel flickered, the display shuddering like a system rebooting under strain, before settling into new clarity.
[Status Panel]
Na: Leon Kael
Race: Void Spawn
Age: 19
Class: Warrior
Rank: D-Rank
Talent: {Attack} — EX Rank
{Mark} — Overlord Rank
Status: Normal
Health: 100%
[STATS]
Vitality: 3500
Stamina: 3700
Strength: 3890
Senses: 3678
Speed: 3214
Aura: 3450
Affinity: Force (IV)
Destruction (I)
[Skills]
[EXTRE ART]
[Inventory]
Leon’s body stiffened as the words registered. Two talents. One familiar, the other sothing wholly foreign. His eyes lingered on it, his lips parting in disbelief.
"Overlord... rank?" The words barely left him as more than a breath.
He had no idea what this rank ant, but the na alone carried a pressure that unsettled him. Still, his gaze returned again and again to the second talent. His heart thumped in his chest, louder with each beat, as the realization settled in.
He wasn’t the sa person anymore.
****
Leon could give only one reason for the sudden ergence of a new talent and affinity; the answer was glaringly obvious. His race.
The problem was he knew absolutely nothing about this so-called "Void Spawn." Aside from the fact that he was apparently the first of their kind, everything else was blank. No records. No guidance. Nothing.
He exhaled through his nose, jaw tightening. "I’ll figure this out later. For now, I’ll focus on what I can understand."
Talents at least ca with descriptions. Incomplete, yes, but still enough to provide a starting point. His gaze shifted back to the panel, locking on the line that read:
Talent: {Mark} — Overlord Rank
"Overlord..." Leon murmured, lips pressing into a thin line. "I wonder if that’s higher... or lower than Saint rank."
He didn’t even bother comparing it to his EX-rank talent. In his mind, nothing in existence could compete with Attack. He was too certain of that.
With a flick of thought, he pulled open the description.
[Founder’s Mark]: Able to imprint the mark of the founder on any willing individual.
Leon blinked. His mouth almost ford the start of a curse before he forced it shut. A nonsensical, infuriating description, what was he supposed to do with that? His fingers twitched at his side, his violet eyes burning with irritation.
He held himself back, glancing sideways at the elf in the room. ’No need to look insane in front of her.’ Not that it mattered, judging from her expression, she already thought he was.
A sigh escaped him, heavy with frustration. ’The only way I’ll know what this does... is to test it on soone willing.’
He wasn’t worried about harm. Talents were designed to benefit their users. Still, he had no plans to test it on anyone he cared about.
His focus shifted to the other new line on the panel. Affinity: Destruction.
"I’ll test this later..." he muttered. There was no way he could do it here. Testing sothing called Destruction inside a bedroom seed like the fastest way to bring the whole manor down.
And if he was being honest, he just wanted to rest. Too much had happened in too little ti. Changes so overwhelming that he hadn’t even noticed one crucial detail, he had ranked up.
With a ntal flick, he dismissed the panel. His gaze slid back to Racheal. She was facing him, but her eyes weren’t eting his directly.
’What’s that about?’ Leon wondered, brow furrowing. He shook his head and decided to cut through the tension.
"I can see there’s been a misunderstanding."
Her head tilted slightly, confusion etched across her sharp features. "What misunderstanding?"
Leon straightened his back, his voice firm but calm. "Due to certain events, my appearance has changed a little. But we’ve t before. More specifically, we entered this trial together—after I took down the guardian of God’s Temple."
Racheal’s eyes widened, shock breaking through her usual composure. Her lips parted as a single word left her, almost breathless.
"Leon?"
****
Racheal had entered the trial in the heart of the Tyrant’s Forest. The trees lood like jagged spires, their twisted branches clawing at the mist-choked sky. Her guardian, Jessica, was nowhere to be found. The weight of solitude pressed down on her shoulders, but it wasn’t the first ti she had been left to depend solely on herself.
Fortunately, she wasn’t without tools of her own.
Her Saint-rank talent—Clairvoyance—was more than just a gift. It was a blade sharpened by countless hours of training. With it, her senses expanded beyond the body, forming a seamless, multi-directional view of the world around her. No ambush could catch her off guard. No hidden weakness could stay concealed. Weak points in beasts and enemies alike revealed themselves like cracks in glass whenever her erald gaze swept over them.
But Clairvoyance offered sothing else. Sothing rarer. It allowed her to locate those she had seen before, no matter the distance, no matter the terrain. Faces beca beacons etched into her perception.
And it was with that talent that she found herself drawn toward Leon.
Threading carefully through the forest’s oppressive silence, Racheal had fixed on that familiar spark she’d once glimpsed in the Altar god’s temple.
Reviews
All reviews (0)