[Sinners]

[Servants]

[Knights]

[Counts]

[Marquesses]

[Duke]

[Princes]

[Kings]

A world has been found. A world of incomparable value. A pure world, devoid of a true and deserved master, untainted by the primordial ichors — unclaimed by a [System].

Such a supple canvas calls to me, and its soil lay ripe for our expansion.

The time is upon us once more. The time to raid. The time to rage and rave. The time to bring forth a cleansing (APOCALYPSE) to sweep bare this world’s original design, and usher in a proper order.

But we are not singular in this hunger. We are not alone in conquest. Our rivals seek to infest this land before we can, seek to absorb its people, mysteries, and technologies before we can. Such an insult cannot be allowed to stand — make no mistake: this realm is a treasure above treasures, and it must be made ours.

In recognition of this, We, Mepheleon the [Harbinger], Speaker of the [System] that governs these Crawling Worlds, declare the summary initiation of the Blood Games!

Regardless of if you find yourself a [Sinner] seeking to claim a [Class] and descend to the Circle of [Servants] through triumph, or if you are simply hungering for the [System]’s favor, the gates to the Moongraves stand open, and the path to your pleasure awaits.

Prove yourselves. Prove yourselves for a place in the coming (Apocalypse). Prove yourself to us, and be granted the right to take from this virgin world your rightful spoils.

-Mepheleon the Harbinger, Sovereign of Diaspora, Lord of the Claimed Hells, Master of the Crawling Worlds

2

Stranger in a Stranger Land

Existence came alight before Wei. All of a sudden, he was aware and alive, with no memory of even opening his eyes. It was like his consciousness ignited into being like a candle.

What greeted him first was the sky, but not a sky he knew. No clouds drifted overhead—no freshness of air, no blue and bright colors. Instead, the atmosphere was one of sweltering static, and its face was lined with slow, sprawling storms. Bolts of crimson lightning spread out like expanding veins creeping languidly over existence, their branches joining and breaking, curving down past his vision like trailing willows.

Between their striations were pockets of quivering monochrome. Wei gained his first glimpse of the greater cosmos and beheld its aesthetics. It seemed a turbulent ocean locked in struggle against itself, shifting motes of light and dark grinding together, making the skies resemble a boiling cauldron. A twinge of recognition passed through Wei. He knew these colors—more, he could sense them. Feel an energy there that seeped down upon the world, that dissolving into faintness.

Those were the hues poured into his Nascent Spirit, recolored him from the dullness of gray.

And then, just beyond the near-opaque chaos, a colossal structure loomed, bringing with a wave of artificial brightness. At first, he thought it was the curve of a burning moon drawn near to him by an illusion, but then more of it unveiled itself, displaced the chaos inhabiting the hues beyond the atmosphere. It resembled a torus passing over him, and across its surface were massive sprawling structures and blooming lights.

Even so far, he felt faint emanations of cultivation—spikes of power that pierced his awareness as if daggers cast from beyond the horizon.

A line of text drifted across his perception, breaking him from his stupor.

Host consciousness restored…

Generating System Update

Name: Wei An Wei

Species: Cultivator/Trespasser

Source Core: Lv. 1

>[0/5] Aspect Advancements to Core Ascension

Source: [10/10] Lumens

Establishing Foundational Aspects

Warning: Host’s body has been reconstructed from Source. All Aspects aside from (Will) suffered extreme Conceptual Damage. Current Foundational Aspect thresholds based on highest recalled feats.

Foundational Aspects

Strength — 4

>How much force one can exert.

Speed — 6

>How fast one can react and move.

Mind — 2

>How much information one can process, conceptualize, and remember.

Awareness — 5

>The amount of detail one can notice in their environments.

Constitution — 3

>How much damage and pain one can endure.

Will — [Incalculable]

>How much one can control and exert themselves over natural and unnatural external effects.

Masteries

[None]

Sourceries

>Source Refinement — The host can create 1 Lumen of Source by attuning with existence. Attunement can be performed through meditation or extreme focus.

>Source Amplification — The host can expend 2 Lumens of Source to temporarily advance any Aspect. Amplification will remain active until the host break’s concentration.

Ascensions

>Sourceforged — The host has been remade from Source. As such, they can affect spiritual, psionic, eldritch, and material entities without fail. Should the host run out of Source, they will also cease to exist.

Wei struggled to make sense of all the information. He had no idea what Source or Lumens was supposed to be, and neither did he fully understand how some of these metrics were established. The analogies used to judge his body and mind cultivation were in line with what he knew; he had demonstrated feats in line with those listed during his training.

More incomprehensible was the text under Ascensions. Sourceforged? What did it mean he was remade from Source? And something about the words ‘cease to exist’ filled him with coldness.

As his confusion grew, a presence within him reacted.

It is recommended that you leave the local area. You are currently in hostile territory.

Wei blinked twice. “What?”

He shot up to a seated position and took his surroundings once more. The ground beneath was that of obsidian, with gleaming fluid flowing through the arteries that lined its cracks. Heat seared discomfort into Wei without ever becoming pain, but he found himself more consumed by the fact that he could feel the drifting liquid running through the ground’s sundered channels—could feel everything in perceivable existence drifting around him, through him.

It was like his Spirit was a mirror, somehow? A mirror, but also another dimension that was filled by all that it reflected.

This was a level of clarity he never knew before. He was a disciple at the Nascent Spirit stage—true awareness should not be—

Coldness filled him. He turned his focus from beyond to within, and found his stomach turning into a growing void. The color of his Spiritual aura was absent, and in its place shimmered a corona of monochrome. His Nascent Spirit was missing.

Correction: Your Spirit was corrupted. Your existence was in the process of being unmade. You triggered this System’s activation through a connection via its planar cage. The System preserved your existence and joined with you thereafter, rebuilding the other Aspects of your being through your Will. You no longer require a Nascent Spirit, as limits applied to your former classification of [Cultivator] have been removed.

Wei understood the words, but the sense behind them—what was going on? His mind was lost in a whirlwind. Memories tore through him as his breath came fast—he couldn’t feel the beating of his heart—his mother… she was dead. His father… was he dead? How was Wei still alive? Where was he? What—

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

His mind tumbled from one moment to the next. A new sight distracted him from the rising tumult. Not five meters away, an enormous, transparent column sprouted from the land. The many veins lining the obsidian surged upward, channeling their energies into it. It wasn’t cultivated essence, but he could sense it. Feel it. As he followed its pathway up, Wei felt his jaw open slightly as he saw a cluster of shapes bobbing within the column.

Humans.

Some of them were human, anyway. From all manner of foreign cultures, considering the way they were dressed and the oddities of their appearances. The other creatures… seeing how he could sense them too, he guessed they counted as awakened beings, alien though they were. Cords were burrowed into the back of their skulls, and their faces were shifting contortions of emotion and expression.

Their eyes were open but vacant, and from them was extracted a particular resonance that slid across his senses like a sword gliding over tin. Wei winced.

All around him were countless more of these pillars, with where he stood being a clearing in a dense forest. Looking up, he saw the webwork of red storms connecting and breaking from the structures, exchanging energies as they passed.

Structures Identified: [Sin-Incubator]

>Sin-Incubator: A structure meant to extract conceptual [Sins] from an entity before combining the severity and nature of their transgressions, thereby forming a demon.

Mind Advanced > 3

As the knowledge flowed into his mind, Wei felt something inside him fracture. A burst of monochromatic radiance flared outward from his being. Wei blinked. Somehow, his mind felt clearer than it did a second before. His thoughts flowed like coursing water.

Then, from behind, Wei heard a noise—sensed something break at the borders of his perception. Spinning, he found the cracks running along the ground fracturing wider. Blackened blacks spewed free in sync with a spray of festering fluid. Wei recognized it immediately as the ichor of a demon, and when a thin tendril punched through the ground, instinct guided Wei as he readied himself.

The boulder-sized nightmare that burst free from the soil greeted the air with a screech—a twisted facsimile of a newborn at the moment of their birth. Nine whip-like tentacles flicked along its back, but the rest of its body resembled that of a hound. The way its skull blossomed open like petals ended the comparison there, and a chasm of quivering flame licked at the world using plumes of flame.

Hostile Entity Identified: [Hellhound]

Hellhound Lv. 1

The Hellhound sniffed twice and looked around. Only when it laid eyes on Wei did it seem to truly notice him. It jerked back, seemingly in surprise, before letting out an enraged cackle with its howling flames.

Wei moved, and an explosion of air erupted opposite the path he strode. He cleaved left across the ground as a wave of cascading fire roared out from the Hellhound’s open skull. Its tentacles lashed at the surrounding area, slashing wildly to deny him an angle of entry. Intelligent. Definitely more intelligent than just a dog.

Demons inherit fragments of memories and experiences from the progenitors they were extracted from.

Wei ignored his potential insanity as he snatched a shard of obsidian off the ground. He aimed his shot as he kept running, moving fast to keep to the hound’s side. The fire coursing out from it was unceasing. To his surprise, he could sense the channeling of its energy as well, knew it to be a diluted form of what flowed within him. He timed his shot—waited for three tendrils to arc past—then launched the rock with all his strength.

A whip crack sounded through the air. The stone threaded between its misshapen body, punching through ragged fur with a splatter of kaleidoscopic ichor. The Hellhound stumbled two more steps before its flame sputtered and its body sagged. It collapsed face-first on the ground and began decomposing rapidly, material body unraveling into flecks of ash and unidentified essence.

Strength Advanced > 5

Wei swallowed as the voice inside his mind continued talking, as lines of text flowed across his awareness. Perhaps this was all just a dream. A nightmare. Or maybe all he remembered did happen, that he went mad the moment he saw his mother’s severed head facing him. Or maybe he was dying still, and had retreated into his mind.

But it didn’t feel like he was dreaming. It didn’t seem like he was lost in a delusion. He felt more attuned in body and soul than ever, and his mind processed things with a clarity he could only call refined. Functionally, he never felt better. Internally, his thoughts were still reeling, forcing him to do all he could to not think about what happened to his home, his mother, his father…

Another growl broke Wei from his thoughts. More demons were coming. They crept into the borders of his awareness from all around him. Some slithered, others walked, a few trotted, and one passed over the land like flowing mist.

Looking around, Wei saw more forms emerging from behind the Sin-Incubators, forming as if a pack of wolves stepping out behind the truck of trees. But wolves they were not. Instead, their bodies were misshapen distortions of humans, insects, and animals. First among them were the Hellhounds, faces snapping open, flames burning bright. Behind them came towering chimeras that seemed the bastard offspring of a human skeleton grafted upon the body of a war horse. And then, wafting over them, drifted a hooded shade, bringing with it an ethereal chill.

There were twelve of them so far, and more were entering his perception by the second.

Hostile Entities Identified: [Horseman], [Specter]

>Horseman Lv. 2

>Specter Lv. 3

Assessment: Successful engagement unlikely. Recommend an immediate retreat.

Wei nodded numbly at that. He might be going insane and hearing voices, but at least his delusions sounded intelligent and were trying to aid him. A cultivator was to draw from all sources of power to forge an advantage even if it was their own madness.

Eyeing a potential gap between the foes arrayed against him, Wei marshaled his focus and sprinted toward a dense forest of Incubators.

As he ran, he found himself startled by two things. The first was how he somehow knew over 30 demons were chasing him without even taking the time to count them. The second was how a monochromatic glow intensified around his body while an aching pressure built within.

What is happening to me?

Wei fled, and the demons followed. The hounds led the charge, their flames lapping ahead, rolling across the ground in sweeping weaves. Beside them galloped the Horsemen, spreading themselves wide and summoning spectral bows to bear. Overhead, the Specter brought forth a blanket of mist, obfuscating the demonic hordes from clear sight.

As they stalked him, the ground fractured more, birthing new horrors to join the hunt.

Like a sparrow herded by ravens, Wei broke from the clearing and sprinted into the hellish thicket before him. Incubators extended forth like the trunks of rising trees, and the people within them drifted in bliss. But Wei could feel a shift in his surroundings, like a faint awareness was mantling itself upon his surroundings.

Darting between the branching Incubators, his eyes flicked all about, searching for a potential path toward salvation. He needed to break from his pursuers first. Couldn’t stop. If they managed to delay him for any duration, he would be overrun. After that, he needed to find higher ground or a place of respite. Some place to get his bearings and come up with a plan.

Searching his instincts, he found himself rushing blind, the winds rising to a piercing shriek along his ears as crackles of flame whipped at his neck, driving him to shift directions, throw off the aim of the hounds. The ground was fracturing beneath his feet. Where he trod, more demons were being born. Constant movement was the only thing that kept him alive.

An ethereal whisper caressed the back of his mind. Wei lowered his stance without thinking—watched as an arrow made from the same unnatural glow composing a Horseman’s bow darted overhead. Then, impossibly, he watched it decelerate, curve, and then turn for him again, moving of its own accord.

A choked chuckle of offended disbelief slipped out from Wei. Ridiculous. The heavens weren’t just being blind to him today, they were out for his blood.

More arrows shot past him, missing by lengths of fingers and hairs. Fast as Wei ran, the shots came faster, and the scraping of the Hellhounds’ paws against obsidian told him they weren’t far behind. Distantly, he could feel the hammering of hooves—the density of the Incubators prevented him from being ridden down by the Horsemen at least.

Though most disconcerting was how fast the temperature was dropping. The moisture in his eyes felt like it was hardening. The tips of his fingers grew laden with building pain.

He pushed himself hard, running as fast as he could while keeping his path erratic. The demons weren’t the only surprise here. His muscles felt strained, but lacked any sensation of building fatigue. Though he prided himself on his endurance, he felt different. Perfected in some way. His body was kept at a constant pace, his speed never lessening after hitting that point of peak velocity. As the world around him blurred, as the chase continued and his dodges grew increasingly desperate, he kept expecting weariness to set in, for a mistake to follow.

But exhaustion never came. Weakness would not be his undoing. What’s more, the pressure inside him grew, but he felt like his insides were hatching instead of just breaking.

Speed Advanced > 7

[3/5] Aspect Advancements to Core Ascension

Monochromatic light splashed out from Wei as his insides broke — then expanded. His speed suddenly surged as the winds began to scream beside his ears. The world around him seemed somehow slower, as well. The effect was even more potent than taking one of Master Mou Ze’s “funny elixirs” before a footrace across the sect. It didn’t seem to have the risk of essence sickness or a 7-hour lecture afterward from his parents, either.

Not that the latter would ever happen again.

More than just speed, he also felt his senses slowly sharpen as the world around him was outlined in new detail. He filtered through sounds, vibrations, sights — even shifts in temperature — without difficulty. Though Wei’s ability to focus was always unmatched, it still took him time and effort to narrow in on details.

Now? They washed through him like water through a channel.

Taking a quick glance back, he saw walls of fire spearing forth to his left and right. The flames of the hounds were racing against him, trying to get ahead so they could cut him off. As arrows started weaving between Incubators from the front as well as behind, Wei gritted his teeth and made his miserable choice.

He would be boxed in if he hesitated. Overwhelmed. More demons were likely already waiting ahead; an ambush already prepared. Forward presented better odds of survival, but not high. Especially if they were already expecting him. Instead, he decided upon a third option—get over the flames vertically.

The surface of the Incubators quivered with each surrounding vibration that passed. Wei could feel the substance coursing within, the hues an uncanny red—shades contrary to the monochrome now painting his Nascent Spirit — or whatever occupied its place. If the Incubator behaved like water beyond merely holding the aesthetic, then perhaps he could run up its length—jump from it as the lakes he used to race his fellow disciples across.

Bound high, he pedaled his feet as if there were wheels beneath him, striking the surface of the glistening ichor in rapid taps. His heart sang as his stride found purchase. Arrows seeking his back and chest failed to adjust their vectors in time, plunged into the fluid within.

And dissolved.

This was working better than he hoped.

Mustering his focus, he jumped from one Incubator’s stalk to another, skipping over the burning barricade below, and continuing higher. He had a moment to breathe now and could use this opportunity to get as high as he could to survey the land. The Hellhounds grew a distant concern, but the Horsemen’s arrows hounded him in their stead. He began timing his hops to see them vanish in the ichor. Looking through the demonic waters, Wei swallowed as he realized every being submerged within its flow was staring at him, eyes following as he hopped from Incubator to Incubator, expecting his arrival.

Were they watching him? Tracking him for the demons? What was this place? Where was he?

A looming brightness swept over him, once more, Wei looked up and followed the ichorous branches up into the atmosphere; to where the traveling storms touched them, drank from them, passed over them; to where that immense mass loomed, an immense curving loop that dwarfed Wei’s comprehension.

And then, between the serried columns of Incubators, he caught sight of a structure just over the horizon. It called his attention with a sudden flash, stabbing at the corner of his eye left eye. From what little he could see of it between the clefts of clear space offered by his nightmarish forest, it seemed a metallic structure. Symmetrical even.

Man-made.

Whatever he was looking at, he wagered it presented better odds for his continuing survival than staying in place. But as he prepared to leap from his current stalk, another sensation flooded his senses.

Around him, the coldness suddenly dropped from mere discomfort to actual pain.

And only then did he feel the claws sink through his ribs.