The Grimwood Wilds hid many secrets.
And tonight, it witnessed something it hadn't seen in centuries.
Lucian stood alone in a clearing deep inside the woods, his body wrapped in dark energy.
Around him, beasts twisted from shadows knelt obediently — a grotesque army growing by the night.
He wasn’t just training anymore.
He was building.
The trees themselves seemed to lean away from him, their roots trembling as Lucian summoned a massive shadow fang, slicing through a low-ranking demon with ease.
> [Level Up!]
[Shadow Army Expanded: +5 New Units.]
[Stat Increase: +5 Strength, +7 Intelligence, +3 Agility.]
Lucian smirked at the glowing text before him.
This was only the beginning.
But fate, as always, had a wicked sense of humor.
An old man — a woodcutter returning from a distant village — happened to witness the scene.
Hidden behind a thick oak, he gasped audibly when Lucian casually crushed a demon’s skull with his bare hands.
The old man's face turned deathly pale.
"Dark... Dark Mage...!" he stammered, stumbling backward before turning and bolting into the woods, faster than any elder should have been able to move.
Lucian turned sharply, sensing the disturbance — but let him go.
"Good," he muttered under his breath, an evil glint in his crimson eyes. "Let them come."
---
The next morning...
A sharp knock shattered the calm of the Scotch family's cabin.
Elora Scotch opened the door, finding a group of armored men standing outside — their white tabards stitched with the golden sword-and-sun emblem of Velmora’s Holy Knights.
Their captain, a tall man with silver hair and piercing blue eyes, spoke first.
"We’re looking for a dark mage," he said bluntly. "Seen anyone suspicious?"
Lucian sat quietly at the dinner table, feigning innocence.
Elora, without missing a beat, shook her head. "No, good sirs. Just us and our... adopted boy."
The captain's eyes narrowed.
He stepped inside, accompanied by two more knights. They inspected the small cabin, glancing at Lucian with suspicion.
"He doesn't look like family," the captain said flatly.
"He's ours," Torin Scotch growled, stepping protectively in front of Lucian.
After a tense silence, the knights backed off.
"Very well. But if you hear anything... report it to Velmora at once."
They turned and left — but not before Lucian, unseen by anyone, whispered an incantation.
From the captain’s own shadow, a thin, snake-like form of darkness coiled upward — a Dark Fang Spy, invisible to mortal eyes.
Lucian watched them ride away, smiling to himself.
---
That night, while the family prepared dinner and talked in the warm glow of firelight, Lucian sat silently at the table.
But his mind raced.
> [New Mission: Conquer a Territory. Target: The Forbidden Heart of Grimwood.]
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The system’s cold voice echoed in his skull.
He excused himself early, pretending to be tired.
But once behind the closed door of his small room, Lucian’s grin grew feral.
The game was beginning.
And soon... so would the slaughter.
The chill of the night crept over Grimwood Wilds, swallowing even the distant stars.
Lucian moved like a shadow between the trees, unseen and silent.
Behind him, the Scotch family slept peacefully, unaware that a storm was brewing just beyond their doorstep.
> [New Mission: Conquer the Heart of Grimwood Wilds.]
[Target: Vorlith, the Abyss Serpent.]
[Reward: Authority Over Base Construction + New Evolutionary Power.]
Lucian’s crimson eyes glinted under the pale moonlight.
He would claim it all.
---
The deeper he ventured, the more alien the world became.
The trees were skeletal and twisted, their blackened bark oozing blood-like sap.
A thick, foul mist hugged the earth, carrying the stench of decay and forgotten things.
Whispers slithered through the air — broken voices of the damned, lost to the abyss.
The ground writhed beneath Lucian’s boots, pulsing like a diseased heart.
Even the wind seemed to howl in pain.
He stepped carefully, his body tense, his shadow beasts materializing around him — wolf-like forms that bared spectral fangs at the unseen horrors lurking in the gloom.
> [Warning: Entering Vorlith’s Dominion. Proceed with Extreme Caution.]
Lucian smirked.
Caution had never been one of his virtues.
---
He found it in a clearing where even the mist dared not enter.
Vorlith.
A monstrous serpent that coiled around itself like a living mountain.
Black scales as large as shields glinted wetly in the faint light, and each breath from its cavernous mouth spread a sickly green mist that corroded everything it touched.
Its yellow, slit-pupil eyes opened slowly — ancient and full of hatred.
Lucian did not hesitate.
He struck first.
Shadow chains lashed out, binding the creature's massive body. His beasts hurled themselves at Vorlith’s flanks, tearing and clawing.
The serpent roared — a sound so powerful it cracked the trees for miles.
With a violent twist, Vorlith shattered the chains and lunged forward.
Lucian dodged narrowly, sending a spear of condensed shadow crashing into the serpent’s eye.
But Vorlith regenerated instantly, fresh scales knitting themselves over the wound.
Lucian cursed under his breath.
It was healing too fast.
He shifted tactics, weaving through the beast’s attacks, carving deep wounds along its body — but every blow he landed was erased in moments.
A blur of motion —
A shadow too slow to dodge —
Vorlith’s massive fangs sank into Lucian's left arm.
Agony tore through him.
Venom raced into his bloodstream, blackening his flesh instantly.
He tried to pull free, but Vorlith tightened its grip, thrashing violently.
In a desperate move, Lucian summoned a shard of his own shadow and severed his arm at the shoulder — blood spraying into the dark mist.
He fell back, gasping, vision swimming.
His body trembled.
For the first time in a long while... he was on the verge of death.
---
> [Critical Condition Detected.]
[Unlocking Dormant Evolution: Abyssal Shadow Core.]
[New Ability: Abyss Regeneration.]
The world around him seemed to freeze.
The shadows — his shadows — surged into his wound, knitting together muscle, bone, and flesh.
In seconds, a new arm formed — darker, stronger, inhuman.
Black veins ran through it, pulsing faintly with life.
Lucian clenched his new hand — feeling the strength of the abyss itself thrumming through him.
A dark, savage grin twisted his lips.
He wasn't dying tonight.
He was evolving.
---
With a roar of his own, Lucian vanished into Vorlith’s shadow — teleporting inside the serpent’s coiled mass.
There, in the beating heart of the beast, he drove a colossal spike of pure abyssal energy straight into its core.
Vorlith shrieked — a terrible, echoing wail — before convulsing violently.
Its massive body collapsed, dark blood gushing out like rivers.
Lucian stood atop the twitching corpse, breathing heavily.
The system’s voice chimed once more:
> [Mission Complete: Heart of Grimwood Conquered.]
[Reward Unlocked: Base Construction Ability Granted.]
[New Ability Acquired: Abyssal Regeneration.]
[Unique Summon: Vorlith, Abyssal Serpent (Bound).]
Before his eyes, Vorlith’s spirit — a black mist shaped like the monstrous serpent — knelt before him, eyes glowing faintly with loyalty.
Lucian extended his new, darkened arm.
"Serve me."
The spirit slithered into the shadows behind him, becoming one with his growing army.
---
> [Level Up!]
[Current Level: 18 → 23]
> [Stat Increases:]
Strength: +15
Agility: +10
Intelligence: +20
Endurance: +12
Vitality: +18
Charisma: +5
> [New Skills:]
Abyssal Regeneration (Passive): Regrow lost limbs, heal fatal wounds over time.
Shadow Bind (Advanced): Trap enemies with living shadows.
Abyss Domain (Locked): Unlock after establishing base. Lucian turned his gaze toward the rest of Grimwood Wilds.
It sprawled before him like a dying beast — weak, helpless.
Soon, he would carve his throne from its bones.
The real war had only just begun.
