The moon was a pale smudge behind swollen stormclouds, cloaking the mountain range in a curtain of cold mist and shadows. But he didn't need light.
Lucien moved like a phantom, his footsteps muffled by the wind, his eyes fixed on the peak that loomed before him.
Mount Kael'Doran.
In the original timeline, the "chosen one"—the novel's protagonist—would arrive here one year from now, after awakening his famed dual Traits: Sword God and Combat Genius. It would be a moment bathed in fate, the turning point of his rise.
He would stumble upon this mountain by chance.
He would find trials. And treasures.
He would awaken destiny.
But not this time.
This time, the mountain would not answer him.
Because Lucien Arkanveil had come early.
Armed with two Traits no one knew.
Armed with knowledge no one should possess.
Armed with the hunger of Devour.
He didn't come for trial.
He came to steal what fate had never meant for him.
---
The climb was grueling by design. The outer cliffs were lined with traps—spiritual sigils, mana illusions, aura-sapping vines. For others, this would be a test.
For Lucien?
It was trivia.
He scaled them swiftly, weaving between memory and instinct, bypassing enchantments the way a locksmith dances through tumblers.
The obvious entrances—large, rune-etched caves near the base—were nothing but distractions. Bait for the unworthy.
He didn't stop for them.
He went higher.
To the thirteenth crevice on the right face of the mountain. A crack so narrow it could be mistaken for a natural fault.
He dropped to one knee.
The wind howled louder here, as if the mountain knew.
Lucien placed his palm against the stone. Cold. Ancient. Silent.
Then, in the old tongue from the final chapters of the novel, he whispered a word:
"Qareth."
The mountain trembled.
Stone groaned, as if remembering a long-forgotten promise. Then—shift. A vertical slit widened with a soft pulse of mana, revealing a hidden tunnel descending into the earth.
He didn't hesitate.
He stepped inside.
---
Darkness swallowed him. No torches. No glowstones. Only the rhythmic beat of his heart and the thrum of ancient magic.
The passage was tight, barely wide enough for one person. Dust filled his lungs, cobwebs brushed against his skin, and old mana clung to the walls like blood dried on bone.
But he knew this place.
This wasn't just a tomb of trials.
It was the grave of a guardian.
And it held something that didn't exist anywhere else in the world.
---
Twenty-seven steps in, he reached a chamber—a hollow room deep underground, shielded from detection by both mana and soul sense.
The air turned heavy.
In the center lay a corpse.
Time had not decayed it. The body was preserved, almost reverent. A warrior in black armor, head bowed, hands resting on the hilt of a broken sword plunged into the earth.
This was the Guardian of Shadows.
Once the blade of an ancient monarch. Now forgotten by time. In the novel, the protagonist would fight a fragment of its soul. Barely win. And be rewarded.
Lucien knelt.
No need for battle.
The Guardian was already dead.
And Lucien had come not just to find something.
He had come to take it all.
---
He placed his hand on the armored chest.
> [Devour Trait – Activate?]
Target: Ancient Corpse (Shadow Guardian)
Warning: Consuming unknown entities may trigger mutation.
He smiled.
"I know."
Then—Devour.
Power surged through him. Dark. Cold. Electric. Like tendrils of ice and fire wrapping around his nerves.
The corpse trembled… then withered.
And in its place…
> Trait Acquired: Eye of Data [S Grade]
Skill Data Fragment Absorbed: Shadow Movement (Locked until Trait Integration)
Memory Echo: Partial—Parsing…
Trait Analysis Progressing…
> Devour Capacity: 1/4 Traits Ingested
His breath caught.
Eye of Data.
A Trait that shouldn't be possible to find—one that allowed the user to see the system panels of others. Skills. Ranks. Even hidden traits.
It was the ultimate counter for anyone relying on secrecy.
And now—it was his.
> Eye of Data has been assimilated into the Devour system.
Devour Trait mutated slightly.
New Passive: Insight Pulse — allows scanning of nearby entities for system data.
Lucien staggered to his feet, eyes glowing faintly red in the pitch black.
Then he turned.
At the far end of the chamber, behind where the corpse had lain, a pedestal rose from the stone.
Atop it—a small orb. Dull. Unassuming. But humming with sealed potential.
He knew what it was.
A Trait Stone.
The rarest resource in the world. Formed when a god or ancient being's essence crystallizes into a dormant trait.
> Trait Contained: Shadow Soldier [SS+ Grade]
Do you wish to absorb it now?
"No," Lucien whispered.
This was too powerful. Too visible.
He wrapped it in cloth, slid it into his storage grid.
"I'll come back for you."
---
When he emerged from the tunnel hours later, the storm had passed. The moon hung low, indifferent to the theft that had just occurred beneath its light.
Lucien stood at the edge of the cliff, overlooking the valley below.
The mountain hadn't just given him power.
It had given him a piece of someone else's story.
He clenched his fist.
And he'd make it his own.