The Lin Family Estate.
"You absolute disgrace!"
BAM!
Lin Wen's palm slammed onto the mahogany desk, the impact sending a resonant vibration through the floorboards and rattling the tea sets in the room. He stood trembling with rage, his eyes fixed on his daughter, Lin Yue, who was kneeling on the floor.
"How could my Lin family produce a failure like you?!" he roared, his face flushed a dangerous shade of crimson.
Lin Yue was a wreck. Her eyes were bloodshot from hours of crying, her makeup smeared across her pale face. "How was I supposed to know...?" she sobbed, clutching the hem of her father's robe. "It was a grey R-card! Every textbook says R-cards are trash! How could it possibly jump to UR the moment it was signed?!"
"To UR?!" Lin Wen let out a bark of bitter, cynical laughter, violently shaking his hand free from her grasp. "You still don't get it, do you? You're still talking about card ranks like a child playing a game!"
He leaned down, his shadow looming over her like a mountain. "A UR isn't just a rank, you fool. It is a national strategic asset. It means the entire Lin family could have stepped into the highest echelons of the Great Xia Empire on the back of that one Spirit. We could have been kings! And you... you tossed it away like a piece of garbage and let the Fang family pick it up for free!"
Lin Yue froze, the weight of her mistake finally crushing her spirit. She looked up with trembling lips. "Dad, I'm not willing to accept this. I pulled that card! It's mine! Let's go to the Fang family... let's demand him back!"
"Demand him back?" Lin Wen straightened up, his eyes turning cold and calculating. "Have you not embarrassed us enough? Once a contract is forged, the soul-bond is absolute. That is the iron law of this world. To try and break it now would be to declare war on the Fang family—a war we would lose in minutes because they have a UR, and we have... you."
He turned away, looking out the window at the distant lights of the city. "The chance of a millennium, gone. Get out of my sight."
The Villa, Late Night.
Back at the luxury villa, the atmosphere was far less explosive but equally tense. Fang Yuqing had spent the last four hours explaining the intricate geopolitical landscape of the modern world, the mechanics of Secret Realms, and the legal responsibilities of a Spirit-Master. She was now sprawled across the sofa, her energy completely drained.
"Finally... finished..." she groaned, her stomach letting out a loud, traitorous growl.
Yuan Wu was leaning against the opposite side of the sofa, his posture as still as a statue. "Can I eat?" he asked, his voice calm.
"Spirits don't need to eat," Fang Yuqing waved a hand dismissively, her eyes closed. "You're maintained by my spiritual energy. As long as I'm healthy, you're fed."
He gave a slow nod, then asked, "Where do I sleep?"
Fang Yuqing opened one eye, looking confused. "Can't Spirits just return to the Spirit Space? You know, the pocket dimension inside the contract?"
Yuan Wu's eye narrowed. "I don't stay in places like that." His tone was flat, devoid of emotion, yet it carried a weight that made it clear he wasn't asking for permission. "Give me a room. And I need training facilities."
Fang Yuqing sat up abruptly, staring at him. "Training facilities? What for?"
"To train."
"..."
The air in the room hung heavy for three seconds. Fang Yuqing rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming on. "Are you a Spirit or a fitness fanatic? You just manifested today! Can't you just... sit still for five minutes?"
But as she looked at his face—the chilling contrast of the white hair and the dark mask—she found she couldn't bring herself to say anything harsher. He looked like a weapon that had been kept in a dark drawer for too long.
"Fine, fine... I'll clear out the guest suite. But don't break anything!"
A short while later, the sound of running water stopped.
The bathroom door creaked open, and a thick plume of white steam billowed out into the hallway. Yuan Wu stepped out, his white hair damp and clinging to his forehead. He had a black towel draped casually over one shoulder, leaving his torso bare.
His physique wasn't overly bulky, but every muscle was defined with the precision of a master sculptor. There were no scars—his regenerative ghoul physique had seen to that—but his skin had a cold, marble-like pallor that radiated a silent, predatory pressure.
Fang Yuqing happened to be walking past with a stack of fresh linens. She looked up, and her brain effectively short-circuited.
"!!!"
Her face turned a shade of red that would have put a ripe tomato to shame. She whipped around instantly, nearly tripping over her own feet.
"Wear some clothes when you're in the house! This is a shared space!" she shrieked, her voice reaching a pitch she didn't know she could hit.
Yuan Wu walked past her, the scent of cold water and iron following him. He didn't seem bothered by her reaction in the slightest. "Thank you for the room, Master," he said, his voice as steady as if he were reporting for a mission. "See you tomorrow."
He disappeared into the guest suite, leaving Fang Yuqing standing in the hallway, her heart hammering against her ribs and her mind a chaotic whirlpool of "what-the-hell-just-happened."
Section 4: The Valley of Choice
The Next Morning, Dungeon Zone.
The Magic Cube Academy's Dungeon Zone was already a sea of people by 6:00 AM. The air was thick with the scent of ozone and the rhythmic hum of swirling portals.
"Two-star dungeon team! Need high-burst DPS!" "Freshman team for the Newbie Rift! Safe exp, no risk!" "B-rank veteran leading! Speed run, 50/50 split on loot!"
Fang Yuqing pulled her hat lower, trying to hide her face. Her "leaking" of the UR incident had made her the most talked-about person in school overnight. "There are too many people..." she whispered, glancing at the man beside her.
Yuan Wu stood on the periphery of the crowd. White hair, black combat suit, and that haunting mask. He was a silent blade, un-sheathed but resting in its scabbard.
"So," he spoke, his voice cutting through the noise. "Where do we start?"
Fang Yuqing flipped through the digital map on her wrist. "The Newbie Dungeon. It's a standard forest map. Low risk, steady gains. It's the safest way to get you to Level 15."
Yuan Wu remained silent for a beat. "Too slow."
Fang Yuqing frowned, her protective Master instincts kicking in. "Yuan Wu, don't be reckless. This isn't a VR game. If you die in there, or if I run out of energy, it's over. For real."
He looked up, his gaze bypassing the "safe" portals and landing on the darker, more violent vortices located at the valley's end. "Precisely because it isn't a game," he said softly, "I need to confirm something quickly."
"Confirm what?"
Yuan Wu's red eye glowed with a dark, inner fire. "Exactly how much blood I have to spill to reach the top."
Fang Yuqing felt a chill run down her spine. "You're insane... those are One-Star rifts. They're meant for established teams."
"We start with One-Star," he said. His tone lacked any trace of ego or boastfulness. It was a simple statement of reality, like saying the sky was blue. It was a command that left no room for rebuttal.
Fang Yuqing bit her lip, her knuckles white. She looked at him, then at the swirling purple vortex. "Fine. If you're so eager to see death... we go in. But only One-Star! If I see your health drop by even 10%, we are out!"
"It won't drop," Yuan Wu said.
They walked toward the One-Star gate, ignoring the gasps and whispers of the surrounding students.
"Wait, is that the UR? They're going into a One-Star rift?" "Just the two of them? They're barely Level 10!" "They're going to get slaughtered!"
Fang Yuqing stopped at the threshold of the shimmering purple light. She checked her equipment one last time. "Should we at least look for a party? A tank would make things a lot safer for you."
Yuan Wu didn't stop. He walked right up to the swirling energy, his Kagune shifting restlessly beneath his suit.
"No party," he said, his voice dropping into a lower, more dangerous register.
"Why not? Most One-Star rifts are designed for four people!"
He paused, looking back at her. The morning sun hit the edge of his mask, making him look like a ghost from a different era.
"They would split the experience points," he said, his words carrying a freezing finality. "And they would get in the way."
He stepped toward the vortex, the dark red energy of his Kagune beginning to seep through the air.
"I don't play well with others," he whispered. "I'm going to level up..."
He looked into the abyss of the portal.
"...Alone."
With a final snap of his finger, he stepped into the light, leaving the screaming crowd and his stunned Master behind.