Suddenly, a cold, mechanical chime rang through Kael's mind—sharp, invasive.
[Do you want to use Rank 1: Beast Taming Card?]
Kael froze, his breath hitching for a moment.
'What…?'
His thoughts blanked, a momentary lapse of confusion sweeping over him.
He glanced at the object before him—it didn't look like anything remotely beastly.
It looked like an egg.
He turned to Yue, voice low and uncertain.
"Can this… can this be an egg?"
Yue studied the object, her expression tightening as she squinted at it.
"Maybe.
But whose creature would leave an egg in a place like this?
It doesn't even look like a Crimson Devourer egg."
Her voice dropped to a near whisper, eyes narrowing as she glanced around the room, as if the walls themselves were listening.
"And if it is an egg, it's probably been dead for centuries."
Kael nodded, the logic hitting home.
But the system's notification still rang in his mind, repeating its offer like a promise, like a whisper to something darker.
A beast inside—if it was even a beast—would be weak.
Barely alive.
Barely alive, Kael repeated in his head, the words echoing ominously.
His gaze flickered back to the twisted deity statue looming in the corner of the room.
Its ancient form was an unsettling reminder of power that had long since rotted into myth.
If this creature had survived here, in this forsaken hellhole, it was no ordinary creature.
A cold shiver ran down his spine, the weight of that thought pressing down on him.
After a long moment, Kael's gaze hardened.
His hand moved, almost against his will, to reach for the card.
The decision was made.
He would use the Beast Taming Card.
[Do you want to use Rank 1: Beast Taming Card?]
There was no hesitation now. His mind answered as if it were a part of him.
Yes.
The notification was almost mocking in its simplicity.
[Congratulations]
[You have obtained: Rank 1 Beast Egg, of [#####].]
Kael exhaled slowly, the sound of it dark and resigned.
'Of course it's special. Even the system doesn't know what it is.'
His eyes lingered on the cursed place, on the bloodstained floor, on the decayed statue.
So much about this place was wrong.
So much that he couldn't even begin to unravel.
'His mind was a tangle of questions.
What had happened to the Rank 8 spell?
How had Yue been trapped here?
What had been hiding in that blood pool?
And most pressing of all—what exactly was inside that egg?'
A sudden, insane thought sliced through his brain like a shard of glass.
'What if that Rank 8 spell… was that egg?'
His pulse quickened, a sharp, unsettling rhythm in his chest.
But he pushed the thought away, forcing his mind to stay calm.
Spells can't be sentient.
Can they?
His hand, trembling just slightly, reached down to slip the strange egg into his pocket.
One last look at the forsaken place—the weight of it pressing down on him like a thousand curses.
Then, without a second thought, he turned and walked out, Yue silently trailing behind him, the air around them heavy with the silence of unanswered questions.
As the door slammed shut behind them, the sound of it was like the final, irrevocable closing of a tomb.
And somewhere, deep inside the egg, something stirred.
***
Outside, Kael landed hard on his backside, the impact rattling through his bones.
The cold stone bit into his skin, but he barely registered it.
His eyes were bloodshot, his vision swimming, and the tremble in his limbs refused to stop.
Every breath felt like dragging gravel through his lungs.
Even Yue—usually flippant and sharp—hovered above him in silence, her expression uncharacteristically grave.
Kael groaned, trying to push himself upright.
His voice was barely audible.
"That battle… was brutal."
The adrenaline that had kept him moving, fighting, surviving—it was gone now.
And in its absence came a tidal wave of raw, aching exhaustion.
He looked around.
Desolate mountains.
Cold wind.
No shelter.
No allies.
The rift behind them flickered wildly, the air around it warping and hissing like something alive and angry.
He groaned, looking around Mount Veilspire.
Great, he thought. Another random spawn.
Kael staggered forward.
Each step felt like it demanded a piece of his soul.
His legs dragged like they were weighed down by chains.
Breathing hurt.
Thinking hurt.
But he moved.
Because stopping meant dying.
"Kael," Yue called, her voice sharper now.
Urgent.
"Kael, stay with me. Say something."
He didn't answer.
She darted around, frantically searching the area.
No signs of life. Nothing safe.
Only rocks, snow, and silence pressing in like a closing fist.
Then—he saw it.
A small opening in the mountain wall.
Barely a cave.
More like a crack in the earth's skin.
He didn't hesitate.
Every inch of him screamed as he stumbled toward it.
When his legs finally failed, he dropped to his knees and clawed his way inside.
Dirt beneath his fingernails.
Blood on his lips.
He collapsed against the stone.
Eyes wide but empty.
Muscles frozen.
'Shit. I'm not moving.'
"Kael?" Yue's voice trembled now.
"No. No no no—don't pass out. Don't you dare pass out!"
She screamed louder.
"KAEL!"
But he was gone.
His body went limp.
And the cave swallowed the silence whole.
***
Selene had been searching for nearly six hours.
Her breathing was heavy, chest rising and falling as she called out again into the vast emptiness,
"Kael!"
Only the wind replied.
Branches snapped somewhere to her right—too heavy for a bird.
A beast lunged from the underbrush, snarling with bloodthirsty intent.
Selene didn't even flinch.
"I don't have time for this," she muttered coldly.
With a flick of her wrist, a wave of searing light exploded outward.
The Rank 2 spell turned the creature to ash mid-leap.
She didn't spare it a glance.
Her focus was elsewhere.
Moving between trees like a shadow, eyes scanning everything—every trail, every broken branch, every disturbance in the snow.
Nothing.
Doubt whispered at the edges of her mind.
Did the Devil lie to me?
No. No—he couldn't have.
His tone, his certainty… he knew Kael's name.
He had spoken it like a curse and a warning.
Selene clenched her fists.
She wouldn't let doubt win.
So she kept moving—faster, harder—through the forest, over rocks, beneath clawed branches.
Her body ached, but she didn't stop.
Every shift of the leaves, every sigh of the wind—it could be him.
She refused to miss the moment.
Her heart thundered, not from exhaustion, but from something deeper.
Fear. Hope.
But above all—resolve.
No matter what, no matter how long it took…
She would find him.
***
Kael lay in a void—motionless, numb, and cold.
The darkness pressed in like wet wool, suffocating and endless.
Then—
"KAEL!"
Yue's voice pierced the stillness, followed by her sudden appearance, shaking him with frantic urgency.
His eyes snapped open—just in time to see a Rank 1 Frostmane mid-lunge, jaws wide and aimed for his throat.
"Fucker," Kael growled, his instincts flaring to life like a switch flipped in the dark.
He moved on reflex—Moon Blade, a precise arc of silver light, followed immediately by Dreamweaver, its edge singing through the air like a whisper of death.
Two strikes.
The beast collapsed without a sound.
Kael didn't even break a sweat.
He exhaled slowly, a ghost of a smirk on his lips.
"Progress."
Yue, floating a little closer, let out a shaky sigh of relief.
"I was starting to think you'd died for real this time."
Kael raised an eyebrow.
"So you can travel through dreams, huh?"
She nodded.
"Yeah. If not, how else could I have guided you to that place?"
His gaze sharpened. The question came out before he could stop it.
"Why me? Why were you able to enter my dreams?"
Yue looked momentarily confused, then explained,
"Honestly, I've been trying to enter anyone's dreams—anyone's mind—but there's always that sealed wall stopping me."
She tilted her head, studying him.
"But you… your mind didn't resist.
It welcomed me.
Like it wasn't bound to this world's rules."
She hesitated.
"It gave me hope."
Kael looked away, jaw tight.
'That has to be the transmigration.'
"How long was I out?" he asked quietly.
Yue floated in a slow circle, avoiding his eyes.
"Eight hours."
His blood ran cold.
"Oh no."
Without another word, he pushed himself to his feet, legs unsteady but driven by panic.
"Selene!"
Yue blinked, confused.
"Wait—who?"
But he was already gone—stumbling out of the cave, crashing through underbrush, calling out like a madman.
And then—he saw her.
Or maybe she saw him.
Didn't matter.
Selene ran straight toward him and threw herself into his arms.
Kael caught her, barely steadying them both as the wind swirled around them.
Kael shifted the mask hidden under his coat smoothly, trying to stay casual.
He tried to play it cool.
Keeping his voice steady as he hugged her back, but then he felt warm, wet spots soaking through his coat — tears tracing down her back.
For a moment, his thoughts tangled, stuttering like a broken record:
Is she crying for me? Because of me?
A complicated knot twisted in his chest
Yue floated a little above them, arms folded, watching the reunion unfold like a slow, clumsy play.
So… that's the girl, huh?
She tilted her head, curiosity sharpening into amusement.
Took long enough.
A quiet laugh slipped from her.
So Kael really is that unlucky master she was talking about.
Poor idiot.
But as her gaze drifted down, her smile faded.
Selene's feet were bleeding—open cuts, red against the dirt, every step leaving a mark.
Her breath came in soft, ragged pants.
She was trembling.
Not from fear, but from sheer exhaustion.
And still, she hadn't let go.
Yue sighed, something heavy and unspoken passing through her.
She loves him… more than she shows.
She looked at Kael next.
He stood there, frozen like someone who'd just been handed a living creature he didn't know how to care for.
His hands hovered awkwardly at her back.
He wasn't pushing her away.
He wasn't pulling her closer either.
Just... stunned.
Stuck.
He looked utterly overwhelmed.
Yue chuckled again—quieter this time.
Maybe he's not so unlucky after all.
####
End of Volume 1: Mount Veilspire
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