The coordinates provided by the Warden Protocol led Lin Wei deep into the "Dead Zones"—valleys so far north that the concept of time had begun to fray. Here, the snow didn't fall; it floated in static, jagged patches, suspended by the gravitational leak of the Void-Steel veins below.
Lin Wei moved with a heavy, rhythmic gait. Every step caused a puff of violet sand to escape his lips. Behind him, General Yan and a handpicked squad of the Grey Guard followed, their obsidian-etched spears glowing in the dim, unnatural twilight.
"The air is changing," Yan whispered, her jade sword vibrating in its scabbard. "It feels... oily."
[Target Proximity: 200 Meters.]
[Detection: Rift-Stalker (High Core Formation Class).]
[Trait: Adaptive Camouflage. The Stalker exists between the 1st and 2nd dimensions of reality.]
"Halt," Lin Wei commanded, his voice a low thrum.
He didn't look with his eyes. He activated The Warden's Gaze. The world turned into a wireframe of violet energy. In the center of the valley, near a protrusion of raw, translucent black metal, the reality was "puckered." A creature was there, but it wasn't a solid mass—it was a silhouette of negative space, a hole in the world shaped like a six-legged panther.
The Rift-Stalker didn't roar. It vibrated. The sound bypassed their ears and went straight for their marrow. Two Grey Guards collapsed, blood leaking from their noses as their internal Qi was forcibly desynchronized.
"Get them back!" Lin Wei roared, launching himself forward.
He didn't use a technique. He used his Shadow-Bound Arm. He thrust his left hand into the air, and the red runes etched into his obsidian bone flared with a blinding light.
[Technique Initialized: 'Event Horizon Grab'.]
The Shadow-Arm lengthened, turning into a lash of pure, gravitational force. It didn't strike the Stalker; it hooked into the dimension the creature was hiding in. With a soul-tearing wrench, Lin Wei pulled.
The Stalker was dragged fully into the physical world. It was a terrifying mass of shifting obsidian plates and white, pupilless eyes. It lunged, its claws glowing with a "Sunder" effect that could bypass even a Core Formation defense.
Lin Wei met the strike head-on. He didn't dodge. He let the claws sink into his right shoulder.
"Wei!" Yan screamed, her sword flashing as she tried to intervene.
"Stay back!" Lin Wei gritted out.
[Condition: Manual Absorption Initiated.]
[Sovereign Debt Interest: 23%.]
As the Stalker's claws tore into his flesh, Lin Wei didn't bleed red. He bled violet light. He used the wound as a conduit, forcing the Master's Battery in his marrow to reverse-siphon the Stalker's essence.
The creature realized too late that it wasn't hunting a man; it was trying to eat a black hole. It tried to retreat into the Rift, but Lin Wei's shadow-hand was clamped around its throat.
"You're just... more fuel," Lin Wei hissed, his violet eyes swirling with an abyssal hunger.
[Essence Harvested: 1,500 Sovereign Points.]
[Alert: Your right shoulder is beginning to petrify.]
With a final, brutal surge of Void-energy, Lin Wei snapped the Stalker's neck. The creature disintegrated into a pile of ash, leaving behind a glowing, jagged core of pure Void-Steel.
Lin Wei fell to his knees, his right arm hanging limp and gray, the texture of his skin turning into something resembling polished slate. He coughed violently, a spray of violet sand coating the snow.
[Points Balance: 1,800.]
[Warden Protocol: Sovereign Forge — Weapons Tier Unlocked.]
"Yan," Lin Wei gasped, looking at the raw vein of metal protruding from the earth. "The metal... It's ready. Have the smiths bring the soul-bellows. We're not making spears anymore."
He looked at his own petrifying body—one arm a shadow, the other turning to stone, his lungs filled with sand. He was becoming a statue of a savior.
"We're making The Warden's Executioners," Lin Wei said, a cold, hard smile breaking through his stone-grey face. "If the South wants a war, we'll give them a funeral."