Blood smelled like rusted iron and old ash.
Raw skin scraped against jagged stone as Kael brought his fist down once more.
Crack.
Another fracture splintered across the dark surface of the sacrificial altar.
Red drops dripped from his torn knuckles, smearing over the dried, black stains of his family's life force.
Anger, cold and heavy, sat in his chest like a stone.
For hours, he had been here in the ruins of the Night Clan's ancestral home.
Floating high above the endless abyss on the Ninth Continent, the sanctuary was once a place of quiet contemplation.
Now, it was a graveyard.
Every pillar was scorched black, stripped of its ancient carvings.
Walls throughout the sanctuary were painted with the blood of people who had done nothing but exist.
His mother, his father, his sisters—all of them had been slaughtered in a single night.
A group of masked figures wearing robes adorned with a crown of thorns had done this.
They called themselves the Shadow Crown.
Those monsters had taken everything from him, leaving him to die among the ruins.
"I will kill you all," Kael whispered, his voice cracking with dry rage.
He punched the stone again.
Bone met rock.
Pain shot up his arm, but he welcomed it.
It was a constant reminder that he could still feel the hatred keeping his heart beating.
Looking down at his ruined hands, he felt a deep sense of powerlessness.
In the Celestial Abyss Realm, strength was everything.
Cultivators who mastered the Aether could split mountains and cross the skies.
Those who couldn't were nothing but dust under their feet.
Kael had spent eighteen years trying to awaken his spirit.
Every attempt had ended in failure.
His meridians were blocked, his spiritual pool dry.
He was a useless cripple in a world of gods.
Because of his weakness, he could only watch as his family was slaughtered.
He had hidden beneath the floorboards, tasting his own blood as he bit his lip to keep from screaming.
Watching from the shadows, he saw his father's head roll across this very floor.
He heard his mother's final, desperate cry for mercy that never came.
Those killers had laughed.
They didn't even bother to search for survivors thoroughly.
To them, Kael was too insignificant to matter.
"Why did you leave me alive?" he muttered, staring at the dark sky outside the broken roof.
No answer came.
Only the whistling wind of the abyss answered him.
For generations, the Night Clan had guarded the ancient boundaries of the Ninth Continent.
They were small, but their bloodline was pure, descended from the ancient protectors of the Aether Cultivation System.
Perhaps that was why they were targeted.
Rumors had spread of a hidden relic, a piece of the divine key that could open the Heavenly Gate.
But his father had always denied it, claiming they were merely keepers of history.
Whether the relic existed or not, the result was the same.
Ash and blood were all that remained of their legacy.
Kael touched the cold stone of the altar, feeling the lingering warmth of a dying flame.
He had no path forward, no resources, and no hope.
Without a spiritual awakening, he would never even cross the threshold of cultivation.
Survival seemed like a distant dream.
Suddenly, a cold draft swept through the ruined hall.
Dust fell from the cracked ceiling, dancing in the dim light of the dying day.
Kael froze.
His eyes, sharp and hyper-focused, scanned the darkness.
A low, guttural hiss vibrated through the floorboards.
Yellow eyes, narrow and filled with mindless hunger, ignited in the dark corners of the hall.
Three of them.
Void Lurkers.
These creatures were scavengers of the abyss, drawn to the scent of fresh blood and lingering death.
They looked like skinless hounds, their bodies formed from shifting, oily darkness that seemed to drink the ambient light.
Saliva dripped from their jaws, sizzling where it hit the stone floor.
Kael reached for his belt, his hand wrapping around the hilt of a broken iron dagger.
It was a pathetic weapon, but it was all he had left.
One of the beasts lunged.
It moved like a streak of black oil.
Kael rolled to the side, his shoulder hitting the hard ground, but the second beast was already waiting for him.
Sharp claws ripped through his tunic, tearing deep into his shoulder.
Flesh parted.
Heat burst from the wound as blood wells up, staining his shirt.
He screamed, a raw sound of agony and frustration.
Before he could recover, the third beast sprang, biting hard into his thigh.
Teeth sank deep, grinding against bone.
He was pinned.
Suffocating weight pressed him down into the dirt and blood of his ancestors.
Driving his broken dagger wildly, he buried the iron into the neck of the beast pinning his leg.
It shrieked, dissolving into a foul-smelling black mist.
But the other two were already upon him.
Claws tore at his chest, ripping away fabric and skin.
He felt his ribs crack under the pressure.
Death was coming.
It wanted to take him just like it had taken his clan.
No.
He refused to die here.
Allowing his family's killers to walk away without facing his wrath was unacceptable.
Anger in his chest burned hotter than the physical pain.
Hot breath from the Void Lurker washed over his face, smelling of decay and copper.
He struggled to breathe, his lungs screaming for air as the creature's claws dug deeper into his chest.
Blood pooled beneath him, merging with the ancient stains on the floor.
His vision began to fade at the edges, darkness creeping in to claim him.
He could hear his father's voice in his head, telling him to stand.
But his body was broken.
Strength failed him completely.
His fingers slipped from the hilt of his dagger, the metal clattering against the stone.
Was this really how it ended?
Would he die as a useless spectator, leaving his family unavenged?
Scavengers opened their maws, preparing to tear his throat out.
Suddenly, a sound rang in his mind.
Not a voice, but a sharp, crystalline chime that echoed in his skull.
[Host life signs critical.]
[Infinite Evolution System initializing...]
[Analyzing host trauma and environment...]
[Evolution potential: Infinite.]
Kael's vision blurred.
Agony in his chest didn't vanish; instead, it sharpens, turning into a freezing, metallic current that floods his veins.
His heart beats like a war drum.
[Emergency protocol activated.]
[Absorbing ambient void energy from attackers...]
[Sensing deadly threat. Initiating physical reconstruction.]
Flesh on his torn chest begins to knit together, not with soft skin, but with dark, hardened fibers.
His broken ribs snapped back into place with a sickening pop.
[First Evolution complete. Magic pathways opened: Spirit Awakening Stage 1.]
[Acquired Skill: 'Shadow Blend' (Active - Rank F).]
[Description: Melt into any nearby darkness, becoming invisible to the naked eye and hiding your life signature for 30 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes.]
Power, cold and absolute, flooded every corner of his being.
Blocked meridians that had kept him weak for eighteen years shattered like glass under a hammer.
Pure, raw Aether rushed through his newly formed pathways, igniting a fire in his core.
His senses expanded.
He could hear the heartbeat of the beasts, the slow drip of water from the ceiling, the distant howl of the abyss wind.
His eyes snapped open, glowing with a faint, violet light.
Heavy weight on his chest suddenly felt like nothing.
Unbelievable power surged through Kael's muscles.
Remaining two Void Lurkers lunged for his throat, their jaws wide.
Instinct took over.
He activated the skill.
Instantly, his body felt weightless.
Grayscale washed over his vision.
He fell backward, but instead of hitting the hard stone, he sank into the deep shadow cast by the ruined altar.
Both beasts crashed into each other, confused by the sudden disappearance of their prey.
They snuffed the air, growling in frustration.
Within the darkness, Kael felt a cold, dark power humming through his veins.
He was part of the darkness now.
Gliding through the shadows like a ghost, he moved without making a single sound.
World outside the shadow was slow, almost frozen.
He could see the beasts' muscles tensing, the slow-motion drip of their saliva.
Prey had become the predator.
Victory was now a certainty.
He appeared directly behind the first beast.
With a swift, silent motion, he drove his iron dagger deep into its skull.
Black vapor erupted from the wound as the beast dissolved.
[Target defeated. Extracting essence...]
[Host weapon 'Broken Iron Dagger' has evolved. Sharpness increased by 10%.]
Sensing the sudden death of its packmate, the second beast spun around.
It bared its fangs, but Kael was already moving.
He didn't run.
Lunging forward, his movements were fluid and unnaturally fast.
He ducked under a sweeping claw, drove his shoulder into the beast's chest, and slashed its throat.
Black blood sprayed across his face, hot and metallic.
Collapsing to the ground, the creature twitched before dissolving into nothingness.
[Target defeated. Extracting essence...]
[Host physical agility permanently increased by 2%.]
Silence returned to the ruined sanctuary.
Kael stood alone in the center of the hall, his chest heaving, his body covered in a mixture of his own red blood and the oily black residue of the beasts.
He looked at his hands.
Raw, bloody knuckles from earlier were completely healed, replaced by smooth, pale skin that felt harder, more resilient than before.
He could feel the energy—the Aether—flowing through his newly opened meridians.
This Infinite Evolution System was real.
A cold, dark smile touched his lips.
He would not be the victim anymore.
Hunting the hunters was his only purpose now.
Members of the Shadow Crown, the mysterious order that slaughtered his people, would pay for what they did.
Every single one of them would bleed.
Cultivation levels in the Aether System had nine major realms, starting from Spirit Awakening all the way to Primordial God.
Before tonight, he was nothing.
Now, he had taken his first step.
With the Infinite Evolution System, he didn't need rare herbs or expensive pills.
He only needed to survive, to fight, and to evolve.
Every battle would make him stronger.
Each brush with death would elevate him.
He would climb the heavens, continent by continent, until he reached the absolute peak.
And when he did, he would tear down the Shadow Crown and uncover the truth behind his clan's demise.
Even if the gods themselves stood in his way, he would evolve past them.
He turned toward the altar, ready to search for any clues he might have missed.
Then, a sharp crack echoed through the silence.
Debris beside the altar began to crumble.
Kael tenses, gripping his dagger tightly.
A skeletal, decaying hand, adorned with a single, obsidian ring, slowly emerges from the crumbling debris beside the altar, its grip tightening around a forgotten, pulsating shard of dark energy.