House Drenlor
Rain clawed at the tall windows of House Drenlor like the sky itself was trying to get in and complain.
The sky had not cleared in two days — nor had Kael risen for more than minutes at a time.
He lay half-buried in sheets, eyes closed beneath the canopy's velvet shadows, looking more like a fainting aristocrat than a returning champion.
Lightning occasionally lit the room with all the subtlety of a divine jump scare.
The night he'd returned, Kael had done exactly one useful thing before passing out:
Hide everything that could get him executed.
The mask. The blade. The scrolls.
Anything that stank of the "Devil" — tucked away behind stone and lock, where even the house mages wouldn't look unless bribed or cursed.
A personal time bomb, neatly stored.
He came home broken in body — and worse, soul.
The moment his chamber door clicked shut, Kael had collapsed like a drama student with a flair for the theatrical.
The world since had become a blur of fever dreams and whispered diagnoses.
Sleep clung to him like a needy ex.
Days melted.
Time curled around the edges of consciousness and forgot its job.
He didn't move.
He couldn't.
Every breath felt rented.
Each motion came with a receipt in pain.
The house physicians fluttered in and out, murmuring like well-dressed ghosts, occasionally poking him and frowning over bruises that looked like abstract art in purple and black.
They whispered words like:
"Infection,"
"What creature survives this kind of mauling?" followed by,
"Inhuman resilience, this one."
But it wasn't their voices that kept him tethered.
It was Selene.
She said little — no sarcastic remarks, no cold fury — just silent presence, cool cloths, and bitter concoctions Kael couldn't taste past the blood in his mouth.
Her hands were steady.
Her voice, when it came, was softer than the rain trying to eat the windows.
And when he stirred, half-conscious and half-sure he was dying, she would murmur:
"You're safe.
Stop bleeding now.
...try not to undo the stitches again." 😂
Now, after two days of drifting through the murk of sleep and semi-conscious muttering, Kael finally opened his eyes.
The world was still there.
Unfortunate.
Everything hurt — a democratic ache that showed no favoritism.
Bandages crisscrossed him like a badly wrapped gift.
His ribs pulsed.
His shoulder throbbed.
His thigh had a heartbeat.
But he was alive.
Kael blinked, then grimaced as he pushed himself up with the grace of an arthritic goat.
"I'm still… weak," he muttered, jaw clenching.
"Ribs feel like broken pottery…"
He paused, wheezed once, then let out a low, dry laugh — the kind you make when you're too tired to scream.
"Haha… but still… quite the harvest."
He slumped against the headboard like royalty reconsidering a throne, breath shallow but steady.
His lips curled into a grin that belonged more to a villain than a patient.
"Let's see what I got for all that agony, shall we?"
With a thought, the air shimmered.
A faint chime — just shy of smug — rang out as the system panel bloomed before him in pale, ghostly light.
###
[Conqueror's System]
[Name: Kaelion Drenlor.]
[Title: Certified Treacherous Bastard]
[Race: Human]
[Affiliation: House Drenlor (Kingdom of Velmora)]
[Rank: Noble – 3rd Son of the Duke (Duchy of Velmora)]
[Talents : Horse Riding: (D), Swimming: (E), Swordsmanship: (C) Mana Control: (SSS)]
[Spell Slot Used: 2/7]
[Spells: Moon Blade (Rank 1), Amplification (Rank 2)]
[Relics: Dreamweaver (Soul-Bound ), Nortic Mask (Rank 8)]
[Familiar Spirit: Yue]
[Familiar Beast: ####]
[Primary Objective: Claim the Duchy !!
Reward: Rank 4 Spell – 'Crimson Veil']
[Curse: Godbreaker's Mark]
###
Kael nodded slowly, eyes still tracing the faint glyphs suspended in the air like they might bite him if he blinked.
"It looks… much better now," he murmured, voice still ragged but with a spark of strength.
He reached out mentally, probing deeper, trying to pry open the full descriptions of Yue and his beast.
Maybe some answers.
The system flared a dull red.
[Access Denied]
"Haa…" Kael let his head thunk back onto the pillow, ribs flaring in protest.
Figures.
Gods forbid I ever learn anything useful.
Still, his gaze drifted to the first entry.
Dreamweaver.
He focused.
This time, the system relented.
The panel shimmered, text unfurling like silver fire across the screen.
###
[Dreamweaver (Soul-Bound)]
Once the elegant sword of the legendary Queen of the Dreamrealm.
Forged by the gods at the celestial forge, bestowed upon the sovereign who ruled the hazy line between reality and dream.
A blade that could carve flesh, sanity, and occasionally a hole in space-time.
Now bound to... you.
Congratulations. It has fallen far.
Forms:
[1] Grants access to the Dreamrealm— a chaotic plane of memory and illusion.
Enemies pulled inside may experience mental trauma, existential dread, or reruns of their worst decisions.
*(Note: New forms unlock as rank increases. Try not to die before then.)
###
Kael stared, slack-jawed. His brain stopped mid-step.
'Forged by gods…?'
'Queen of the Dreamrealm…?'
It hit him like a brick through stained glass.
"...Yue?" he croaked.
A moment passed.
Then:
"WHAT?!" Kael all but sprang out of bed, promptly remembered his broken ribs, and flopped back down with a wheeze.
"That means… that sword belonged to Yue?! Yue is that queen?!"
A wheezy, incredulous laugh escaped him.
"F—fuck. That's beyond OP."
His hands trembled.
Everything suddenly felt too big.
Like he'd been dropped in the middle of a myth with a cheat code and no idea how to use it.
Then—Ding!
A chime rang in his skull, perky and completely inappropriate.
[Hidden Mission Cleared: Escape the Mount Veilspire]
Kael blinked.
Then a line flickered beneath it:
[Reward: Rank 4 Healing Potion]
He stared.
Then blinked again.
"…A potion?" he whispered, voice strangled.
"After everything— a goddamn health potion?"
His eye twitched.
"This system," he growled,
"Is actually trying to kill me. Slowly. With disappointment."
He punched the air.
Once. Twice.
Then kept going, flailing like a dying marionette.
"You think this is funny?! Huh?! I almost died for this!"
The door creaked open.
Selene stepped inside, a small glass vial in hand.
"Master, I brought—"
She froze.
Kael was on the bed, red-faced, hair a mess, punching invisible enemies like he was boxing ghosts.
They stared at each other.
"..."
He lowered his arms.
Slowly.
Cleared his throat.
"Ahem. Uh. Cardio."