As Kaelen, Kelvin, and Eirana erged from the Crucible, a bitter gust of wind blasted into their faces, carrying with it the scent of ash and blood. They had barely stepped into the open when the full scope of chaos unfolded before them.
The tranquil mountain sanctuary of the Nullcarvers—once a stronghold of peace and discipline—had beco a battleground.
Black mist roiled across the sky like a living storm. It poured through broken wards and cracked runes, seeping through the very stones of the mountain. All around them, the once-holy courtyard was drowned in a haze of corrupted mana.
Through the fog, monstrous forms erged—hulking, twisting, inhuman things with segnted limbs, lacerated jaws, and glowing eyes that shimred like violet decay.
They weren't creatures of flesh or bone.
They were Mistborn Aberrants—beasts of the Leech, born of broken leylines and cursed souls. And they were everywhere.
All around, Nullcarvers fought with practiced precision. Their movents were sharp, rhythmic, honed from decades of discipline. Naena herself stood at the center of it all—but this ti she held a staffbwhich had a blur of white-gold light as it clashed against a beast the size of a carriage, its hide pulsing with strange corrupted mana veins that hissed with rot.
Complex rune sigils flickered across her robes as she barked out orders, slashing her staff across the chest of the monster and forcing it back in a burst of raw True Qi.
And then she saw them.
Kaelen. Kelvin. Eirana.
Naena's eyes widened in horror.
"NO—!!" she scread, her voice tearing through the storm. "GET AWAY FROM HERE—NOW!"
Kaelen paused, confused. "What—?"
Kelvin raised an eyebrow. "What's she—?"
But it was already too late.
The air shifted.
All the Mistborn Aberrants—hundreds of them—jerked as if pulled by invisible threads. The battle froze in a single beat of silence.
Then every single creature's head slowly turned toward one point—
Kaelen.
Specifically, to the glowing core of Pandora's magic hidden deep within him.
"...They can sense it," Naena gasped, her expression collapsing into dread. "They've locked onto the Pandora. They're here for him—!"
A horrifying screech split the sky.
The mist surged forward.
The monsters ca in a swarm—ten, then twenty, then too many to count, all screaming across the battlefield toward Kaelen like a wave of corrupted hunger. Their limbs stretched unnaturally long, scraping across stone. Magic and True Qi shattered as they tore through the Nullcarvers in a blind rush for him.
"KAELEN, MOVE!!" Kelvin yelled as he pushed him aside, slashing upward with his abyssal scythe which was now imbued with his dark magic. The strike cleaved through one of the creatures, scattering corrupted mist and bone fragnts.
But more surged in.
Kaelen's eyes flashed. The Blade of Eternity glead into existence in his hand, its edge whispering with ancient echoes and liquid mana as he took his stance.
"I guess we're not hiding it anymore," he muttered.
"Damn right we're not," Kelvin replied, his grin wild. "Let's give them hell."
Kaelen lunged forward, his blade carving an arc through three Mistborn at once while all his system boons has been activated, their bodies erupting into clouds of dissipating haze. Kelvin followed with a barrage of sweeping cleave of his scythe, dragging through the swarm with relentless fury.
And then Eirana stepped in.
Her sword shimred as lightning of True Qi surged along its length. Her usually distant deanor vanished, replaced by a cold, seething resolve.
"Back to the void, filth," she snarled.
She moved like a storm incarnate—lightning of True Qi flashing with every slash, her body dancing between enemies with elven grace and brutal precision. One Mistborn lunged at her only to be vaporized mid-pounce by a concentrated burst of pure thunder magic.
But for every monster they struck down, two more took its place.
The beasts weren't mindless—they were focused. Obsessed. Their distorted mouths kept chanting Kaelen's na in fragnted growls, as though the very essence of Pandora was pulling them in like a beacon.
From her high platform, Naena raised her staff, unleashing a massive rune energy that disintegrated a large cluster of monsters—but it barely made a dent in the tide.
"They've breached the second layer!" one of the elder Nullcarvers shouted. "They'll reach the heart soon!"
Naena cursed and turned toward the trio.
"KAELEN!" she shouted again, her voice shaking with desperation. "You must leave! If you stay here, this place will fall! They won't stop until you're in their grasp or dead!"
Kaelen grimaced, blocking a swipe from a beast nearly twice his size.
Kelvin glanced at him, breathing hard. "We can't fight all of this. She's right. We'll doom this place."
Kaelen clenched his jaw, fury rising in his chest. "Then we run—but we end this eventually."
"I'm with you," Eirana said, flicking blood from her blade. "But we need a way out."
Suddenly, a loud crack split the battlefield—an explosion of what seem to be spatial magic erupted beside them as Naena tore open a forced rift with her staff.
"Take it! Now!" she scread. "Get as far from here as you can and gather your strength—this isn't your final fight!"
The rift shimred violently.
Kaelen gave one last look at the devastation—the Nullcarvers holding the line, Naena's trembling but defiant stance, the creatures still pouring in…
He clenched his fist and nodded.
"…We'll be back."
Then, blade-first, Kaelen dashed into the portal. Kelvin and Eirana followed seconds later after Eirana gave a subtle nod to her grandmother Naena.
Behind them, the mountain howled.
And in the heart of the mist, the Leech began to whisper.
––––
The instant Kaelen, Kelvin, and Eirana passed through the spatial rift, the pressure of the mist vanished like a blanket being yanked away. They landed hard, the ground beneath them damp and wild with roots and thorny foliage. The air here was heavy with moisture and buzzing life, a stark contrast to the suffocating chaos they had just escaped.
Kaelen rolled forward, blade still in hand, before rising to his feet. His eyes flicked around warily. Kelvin landed beside him monts later, quickly checking their surroundings, while Eirana touched down with the poise and grace like that of royalty—though her expression was unreadable.
The forest lood around them—towering, gnarled trees, thick vines that snaked up trunks like serpents, and a constant low hum of energy beneath their feet.
Kaelen exhaled and brought up his storage ring. The Ever-Changing Map shimred into view above his palm.
"...We're at the far end of the Deadroot Jungle," he muttered, eyes narrowing as he scanned the terrain. "Naena's rift flung us clean across the region. We're almost on the edge of the Arcanis border."
Kelvin looked over his shoulder. "At least the mist hasn't reached here yet. The air's clean. We can feel our mana again."
True to his words, the flow of energy within them had stabilized. Kaelen could sense Pandora once more—dormant, yet brimming within him. Kelvin's Scythe of the Abyss humd against his back, resonating with the surrounding magic. The choking suppression they'd experienced in the Crucible was gone, but sothing else hung in the air now.
A heavy silence.
Eirana stood with her back to them, gazing toward the sky as if she could still feel the tremors echoing from her ho. Her fists were clenched tightly at her sides.
Neither of the boys said anything at first. They let the silence sit—for a mont.
Then Kaelen stepped closer.
"We'll go back, you know," he said gently, "when the ti is right. We're not running away."
Kelvin nodded, his voice firr. "We didn't co this far just to be saved. We want to earn the teachings. Prove we're worth the lives that were risked on us."
Eirana said nothing, her shoulders tense, but her ears twitched slightly—she was listening.
Kaelen opened his system interface again. A bright glow pulsed near the bottom of the nu.
[New Mission Reward Unlocked]
→ Primary Mana Vein: Dormant
Location: Deadroot Jungle – Active Node 42-C
Status: Usable
Claim Bonus Qi Flow: 3x Acceleration (Limited Ti)
Kelvin smirked. "Looks like the system's giving us a chance to grow. Might as well take it."
Kaelen turned toward Eirana. "Let us show you. Not with words—but results."
Finally, Eirana spoke. Her voice was quiet, but laced with frustration and buried emotion. "You think training at a mana vein is enough? The Nullcarvers… my people… are dying right now. My grandmother might not—" she stopped herself, swallowing hard.
Kaelen took a step closer.
"You think we don't care?" he said, voice low but sharp. "We bled in that Crucible. We nearly died. But your grandmother—Naena—she chose to put her hope in us. You want to repay her? Then teach us what we need to know to be strong enough to save her."
Kelvin added, "We're not asking for shortcuts. We'll train till we collapse. We'll master it with blood and scars."
For a long mont, Eirana stood frozen, her gaze locked on the distant treeline. The leaves above trembled with an unseen breeze.
Then… she turned.
Her face was still controlled, still composed, but her eyes shimred slightly.
"You want to learn the true techniques of the Nullcarvers?" she asked, voice steady now.
Kaelen and Kelvin nodded.
"Then you'll do it my way," she said. "No mana. No shortcuts. If you want to use the mana vein, we'll focus it purely on Qi refinent. The sa way we train our soul and body in unity."
Kaelen sheathed his blade. "Agreed."
Kelvin cracked his neck. "Let's get to it."
Eirana raised her hand and pointed northwest. "You can use the mana vein there which is a mile through that thicket. We'll begin there. You'll ditate first. Anchor yourselves. Then… we'll start with the Twelve Foundational Stances of Nullcarving."
As they walked, Kaelen caught a glimpse of her face under the falling dappled sunlight. There was still grief in her eyes—but now there was sothing else too.
A flicker of trust.
A fragile bridge had ford.
And it would be forged in battle.
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