Author's Here!
Hey guys, sorry about that!
After reading your comments, I realized I made a mistake with Neo's rank progression.
I've fixed it now. Before his fight with the Shadow Assassin, he was at Peak Apprentice Rank. After that huge power boost, he's now moved up to Early Expert Rank.
Thanks for pointing it out!
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The courtyard was finally quiet.
Neo stood near the edge of the training grounds, watching the loyal guards drag the choking, paralyzed traitor toward the inner keep. He didn't follow them. Cassian would handle the interrogation. The Duke wasn't known for his gentle touch, especially when his children were threatened. Neo already knew the man wouldn't survive the week.
He turned away from the whispering servants and the nervous knights, slipping into the shadows of the western corridor. The immediate threat was dealt with, but the underlying problem remained.
He needed to figure out what exactly had happened to him last night.
Neo navigated the hidden pathways of the estate, stepping through the back of estate and then Switching the mechanics that open the hidden way that led down into his underground training area. The air inside was still damp and freezing.
He walked to the center of the room and sat cross-legged in the dirt.
Taking a slow, measured breath, he centered his mind.
'Status.'
A familiar chime rang in his skull. The translucent blue interface materialized in the gloom, casting a faint glow over his face.
He needed to see the damage. Or rather, the growth.
[ STATUS WINDOW ]
Name: Neo Draven
Age: 13
Title: Heir of the Demon, The Nameless God
Rank: Expert (Early Stage)
Mana Core Grade: Sapphire (Perfect / Corrupted)
[ ATTRIBUTES ]
Strength: 85
Agility: 90
Vitality: 110
Intelligence: 150
Mana Capacity: 5,500 / 5,500
[ INNATE TRAITS ]
• Draven Bloodline: Grants immense physical potential and aura suppression.
• Mana Sensitivity (High): Allows user to clearly perceive ambient mana flows.
[ SKILLS ]
• Inner Sanctum Meditation (Lv. Max): Accelerates mana recovery and core refinement.
• Basic Mana Manipulation (Lv. 4): Allows direct external manipulation of neutral mana.
• Mana Cannon (Lv. 2): Overcharges kinetic mana into a devastating concussive blast. High recoil.
• Basic Telekinesis (Lv. 3): Exert physical force on objects using pure mana.
• Frost Aegis (Lv. 2): Constructs a highly durable hexagonal shield of solid ice.
• Absolute Soul Manipulation (Lv. 1): Host can manipulate, crush, or extract the soul of any opponent lower in rank.
[ SUPERNATURAL POWER ]
• Ruinvore Ascension:
1. Host can suck the mana and life force of opponents, absorbing their power to ascend to the next level.
2. Host can copy the attacks of any opponent with a power level more than 1 major tier above the Host. Attack can be permanently absorbed after facing at least one direct blow.
3. Total immunity to powerful Auras, Curses, or Unknown Powers.
4. Host can convert absorbed life force into raw physical healing, instantly repairing fatal damage.
5. Locked (Due to low rank)
6. Locked (Due to low rank)
7. Locked
8. Locked
...
...
Neo stared at the numbers.
His Strength, Vitality and other stats were off the chart.
An Early Expert rank wasn't supposed to have stats like this. These were the numbers of an Master-rank Awakener, someone who had spent decades tempering their muscles and bones with dense mana. He had bypassed years of grueling physical conditioning in five minutes simply by eating eight elite shadow-mages.
It was completely absurd. The system of the world had rules, and he had just shattered them.
But the attributes weren't what he came down here to look at. He scrolled past the numbers, his eyes locking onto the bottom of the blue panel.
Ruinvore Ascension.
He remembered the feeling of losing control. He remembered the cold, mechanical slaughter. The way his body had moved on its own, driven by a hungry, ancient entity that viewed human lives as nothing more than fuel. Most vividly, he remembered raising a blood-soaked hand over Lyra's head.
A cold shiver ran down his spine.
He was terrified of that power. It was violent and corrosive. But fear was a luxury he could no longer afford. The Emperor had sent killers into his home. They had bypassed the wards and nearly murdered his siblings. If another strike team breached the walls, he couldn't hesitate. He needed to master the red miasma, to leash it before it tried to control him again.
Neo closed the interface. He held out his hands in front of him.
He focused his mind, reaching inward for that violent, blood-red energy. He tried to recall the heavy, suffocating pressure.
"Come on," Neo muttered.
Nothing happened.
He frowned. He pushed harder, trying to force the power to the surface. He visualized the crimson light, the corrosive heat that had melted an assassin's steel blade. He demanded the power to manifest.
Still nothing. His hands remained pale and steady. Not a single spark of red appeared.
Neo closed his eyes and sank directly into his Inner Sanctum.
The void of his mindscape was pitch black and perfectly silent. In the center, his Core spun steadily. It emitted a calm, deep blue light, mixed with the faint, crackling sparks of his Lightning and Frost affinities.
He looked around the mental void.
But the dark, ancient presence? The massive, formless shape that had spoken to him in a voice like grinding stone?
It was gone.
The void was completely empty. There was no red miasma, no whispering ghosts, no heavy pressure. Just his own core.
Neo opened his eyes, genuinely confused. He stared at the dark stone of the bunker.
Where was it?
He quickly summoned the Status Window again. The text was right there, glaring at him in bright blue letters. Ruinvore Ascension. The blessing hadn't vanished.
In the laws of this world, a divine blessing was permanent. Once a Supernatural Power merged with a mortal soul, it couldn't be revoked. Not even a god could take it back. It was grafted onto his very existence.
So why couldn't he feel it? Why couldn't he summon the miasma?
He clenched his fists, frustration bubbling in his chest.
Was there a trigger? Did he need to be on the brink of death again for it to activate? Did it require a specific type of enemy, or a specific amount of ambient blood in the air?
Or... was the power actively ignoring him?
Neo remembered how the incident ended. The entity had tried to touch Lyra, and Neo had violently wrested control of his body back, forcing the red energy to retract like a whipped dog. Had he severed the connection by rejecting the entity's will?
He sat in the cold dirt, a massive, infuriating puzzle laying out in front of him. He possessed the ultimate cheat code, an ability that could rival the protagonist and the Calamity combined, but someone had locked the door and thrown away the key.
"Great," Neo sighed, dragging a hand down his face.
"I have a soul-eating god living in my chest, and it's giving me the silent treatment."
He couldn't rely on it. If he couldn't summon the miasma on command, it was a liability, not a weapon. He would have to rely on his massive mana capacity and his newly upgraded physical stats to protect his family.
He stood up, dusting the dirt off his trousers.
The Emperor had failed this time, but the capital wouldn't stop. They knew the twins existed now. They knew the Draven estate was vulnerable.
Neo walked out of the his underground training area, his jaw set. He didn't have the red miasma, but he had an intellect that belonged to a different world. It was time to start setting traps of his own.