"You... what did you do to ?!"
The silver-haired woman’s voice echoed across the battlefield, thick with rage and disbelief. Her piercing blue eyes flared with fury as she glared at Elias, each trembling word demanding an answer.
Elias, who had just taken a step forward to finish her off, suddenly paused.
But it wasn’t her voice that made him stop.
It was sothing else.
A strange sensation... faint but undeniable. A shift in the air—no, in his senses. Sothing deep within him tugged gently, as though a thread now connected him to her. A feeling of control—subtle, yet present.
His brows furrowed as his eyes sharpened.
"System... what have you done to her?"
A smug, satisfied chuckle echoed in his mind as the System responded, its tone brimming with pride.
> [What do you think I did? I enslaved her, of course.]
Elias froze, his expression stiffening. "You did what?" he asked sharply, disbelief in his voice.
The system... enslaved soone?
But now that he thought about it, a creeping unease settled in his chest. Just how much did he really know about this system? What exactly were its abilities? Where did its limits lie?
"How?" he asked, his tone hard and demanding.
The System answered with amusent, clearly pleased with itself.
> [Rember earlier? When that brat Kael tried to place a slave imprint on you? Right before I interfered and forcibly rejected it, I copied the entire process. I studied it... and saved the imprint technique.]
Elias’s eyes widened.
It copied it?
"Wait... are you saying you can copy skills now?"
His thoughts began to race. If the System could replicate techniques and skills, even just so of them, the possibilities were endless. Skills were power—rare, valuable, and often life-saving. If his System could duplicate them...
But just as he began to spiral into those thoughts—
> [Don’t get too excited. That slave imprint only worked because it’s a basic rune technique and happened to et certain compatibility requirents. I can’t just copy anything. So temper your greed.]
Elias let out a quiet sigh, disappointnt creeping into his heart. It was a tempting possibility, but of course, there were limits. He had gotten ahead of himself.
> [Greedy, too greedy. You already have more than enough to make others jealous, and still, you want more?]
Elias didn’t bother replying to the System’s mocking tone. Was it wrong to be greedy? To want more? If soone was easily satisfied, how could they ever reach the peak? Only those who never stopped reaching, never stopped desiring, could stand at the top.
Still, there was no point in arguing. So he stayed silent.
anwhile, the woman glared at him fiercely, her body shaking with barely contained rage. Her voice cut through the tension again.
"Answer !" she scread. "What did you do to ?!"
Elias didn’t respond.
His mind was already elsewhere—thinking ahead. This woman... she had once broken free from Kael’s slave imprint. That alone was rare. What if she broke free again?
The thought sent a chill down his spine.
He couldn’t take that risk.
No matter what—if there was even a small chance she could escape...
She had to die.
He began stepping forward again, ready to finish it.
But before Elias could move, the System scoffed with arrogance.
> [Do you think I’m that careless? Kael’s imprint was crude and basic. I’ve refined it—improved it far beyond what he used. She won’t be breaking out of this one.]
Elias didn’t reply imdiately. His brows remained furrowed in thought. The System had always been strange—unpredictable, powerful, and wrapped in mystery. But even with all that, it had never failed him before. As unreliable as it seed at tis, it always delivered when it mattered.
So he chose to believe it.
---
anwhile, deep inside the woman’s consciousness space...
The arcane being residing within her was in full panic.
It hovered in the consciousness space, still inspecting itself with growing dread.
Golden runes glowed and spun slowly around its body, twisting and shifting like living tattoos. They pulsed with energy, crawling across its form. The arcane being stared at them in horror, its face twisted with confusion and fear.
"What... what is this?! Why can’t I get rid of it?!"
These runes—they were familiar. Too familiar.
It recognized the style.
This was the sa kind of imprint Kael had once tried to use.
But this...
This was sothing else entirely.
Back then, it had managed to escape Kael’s mark by severing a small part of its body—cutting away the branded section and freeing itself.
But now...
This was different. Entirely different.
If the soul were like a sheet of paper, then Kael’s imprint had been like writing a word in one corner—sothing that could be torn off with pain but still survive.
But this new imprint?
It was like the whole paper had been dipped in ink, soaked completely.
This wasn’t a mark anymore—it was infusion. The entire soul was stained.
The only way to remove it now was to destroy everything—to tear up the entire page.
Which ant death.
Complete, irreversible death.
---
Back in the real world—
Elias stared at the silver-haired woman. She still glared at him furiously, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Her fingers twitched slightly as if trying to resist sothing.
He raised his hand and spoke calmly. "Stand."
Her eyes widened in shock—her body moved on its own.
She stood up straight, legs shaking, arms rigid at her side.
Her expression twisted in disbelief and fury. She hadn’t ant to stand. She hadn’t wanted to move. But her body had followed the command.
This... was the effect of the System’s slave imprint.
With Kael’s version, there had been a window—a few seconds where the victim could resist. A strong enough will could buy ti, even fight back slightly before eventually losing to the pain.
But this one?
It offered no resistance.
The command went straight to the soul. No struggle. No delay.
Elias observed with interest as the woman’s jaw clenched. Her teeth ground together, and her whole body trembled from the effort to resist—even slightly.
Inside her, the arcane being was screaming in rage and frustration.
But it didn’t matter.
She obeyed.
Flawlessly.
Elias smiled. "Perfect."
She shot him a deadly glare, her blue eyes burning with hatred.
"What’s your na?" Elias asked, voice casual.
Her lips pressed tightly together. But the command still held power. She couldn’t stop herself.
"...Raya."
Elias tilted his head, curious. "That sounds human."
"It is," she replied, voice shaking. "It belonged to the woman whose body I now inhabit."
Elias nodded thoughtfully, then his eyes narrowed. His voice turned colder. "I didn’t ask for hers. I asked for yours."
There was a pause.
Then her mouth opened again—and what ca out made Elias freeze.
"Thalorimundarazenthriakovellantheronquistarvelmoradrexion."
Elias blinked. "That... that’s a na?"
"It is," she answered simply.
He stared at her, stunned for a long second.
’...No wonder your kind gets hunted.’
Though Elias didn’t say it out loud, he truly believed that na was enough reason for an entire race to be hunted. Even now, he couldn’t help but want to find whoever had co up with such a ridiculous na and beat them to death. In the end, he could only sigh and shake his head.
Honestly, if it weren’t for the imprint forcing the truth out of her, he never would have believed it.
He let out another sigh, muttering, "Yeah... I’m just going to stick with Raya."
Turning away from her, Elias walked across the clearing. The battlefield was still filled with the aftermath of chaos— blood soaked the earth. The massive corpse of the spikedtail snake was nearby, along with the lifeless bodies of the possessed guards.
"Wait here," he ordered without looking back.
She didn’t move.
Satisfied, Elias approached the bodies.
With a simple wave of his hand, he activated Extraction. His palm glowed faintly as a stream of energy flowed from the corpse.
> [Skill Book Obtained: Razor Nerve Slash]
[ 10 Attribute Points Acquired]
[Item Acquired: Bloodpiercer Fang (Rare Dagger)]
A smile crept onto his face, his eyes gleaming.
Three solid rewards.
He had done well this ti—very well.
Then, his gaze shifted toward the decapitated body of the undead dire wolf he had summoned earlier. His smile faded slightly.
’...Would Extraction work on my own undead?’
There was only one way to find out.
He stepped beside the dark beast’s corpse and extended his hand again.
"Extract."
The air shimred briefly.
> [You have extracted Death Essence.]
[Would you like to use Death Essence to evolve your Undead Summon?]
[Yes] / [No]
Elias’s eyes widened.
It worked?
Then his eyes landed on the second line of the ssage, and a slow smile ford on his lips. He had always known that his undead summons were capable of evolving, but until now, he didn’t know how to trigger that process.
Now he did.
He pressed Yes without hesitation.
> [Evolution Triggered: Undead Kael has absorbed Death Essence.]
[Your Undead has evolved slightly.]
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