Varkis was a city of jagged contrasts, its obsidian spires piercing a sky scorched red by the Riftveil, a shimmering magical dome that held back the chaos of the Void. Seven Towers of Ascendancy loomed over the city, their crystal tips pulsing with mana siphoned from ancient wells deep in the earth. Each Tower was a god in stone, granting power to the ranked elite who ruled Varkis: S-Ranks lounging in floating palaces, A-Ranks commanding as their knights, C-Ranks clinging to scraps of privilege. Below, in the Undergrit's slums, F-Ranks like Kai Ashura were less than dust—rats scavenging mana shards to survive a city that despised them.
Kai crouched behind a crumbling statue in the Iron District, its carved hero eroded to a faceless lump under layers of ash and neglect. His gray eyes, sharp despite his F-Rank status, scanned the chaos unfolding in the plaza. A Rank S dungeon break had ripped open reality, spewing a dracolisk with scales black as the Void itself. Its roar shook the runic wards etched into every building, wards that flickered weakly in the slums while glowing strong in the Upper Spires. The air buzzed with mana, thick and electric, prickling Kai's skin. He clutched a cracked mana shard in his gloved hand, its faint glow a promise of coin—if he lived to sell it.
Lila needs this, he thought, his little sister's pale face flashing in his mind. Her coughs haunted their hovel in the Undergrit, each one a reminder of the mana poisoning eating her lungs. Medicine cost more than an F-Rank could dream, sold on the black market by D-Rank leeches who preyed on desperation. Kai had learned to survive Varkis young—dodging fists, reading situations, stealing scraps before C-Ranks noticed. He was a tactician by necessity, always two steps ahead of the next kick. But today, he'd misread the board. A Rank S battle was no place for a nobody, yet here he was, risking his neck for a shard that might buy Lila a week's relief.
The plaza trembled as Veyra the Stormblade, an S-Rank legend, slashed at the dracolisk. Her silver hair glowed under her lightning-wreathed sword, each strike carving arcs of blue fire that melted stone. Torren Ironwrath, a hulking S-Rank in spiked armor, swung his runed hammer, its impact cracking the beast's skull and sending a shockwave that toppled a nearby spire. The Towers' wards flared, absorbing the mana to shield the Upper Spires, but the Iron District got no such mercy. Kai had seen it before—entire slums leveled by dungeon breaks, F-Ranks buried in rubble while the elite rebuilt their palaces with mana shards harvested from the dead.
'Read the board, Kai,' he told himself, his tactician's mind mapping the fight. Veyra's steps were uneven, her stamina waning. Torren's swings were reckless, leaving his flank open. The dracolisk's throat was its weak point, but it moved too fast for a clean hit. Kai's job wasn't to fight—just to wait for the kill, grab the shards, and run. One good haul, and Lila's set for a month.
He shifted, his tattered cloak snagging on the statue's edge. The Undergrit had taught him to move like a shadow, but greed made him sloppy. The dracolisk's tail lashed out, faster than his instincts could scream 'move'. It smashed the statue, and pain erupted as stone shards tore into his side. Kai flew back, hitting the ground hard, blood pooling beneath him. The mana shard slipped from his fingers, rolling into the dust. The Riftveil's red glow faded as his vision darkened. 'Lila… I'm sorry.' Eighteen years of clawing through Varkis' gutters, keeping his sister alive, all for nothing.
Death was cold. Silent. A void.
Then fire surged through his veins, yanking him back. Kai gasped, lurching upright, hands scrabbling on cracked stone. His side was whole, his cloak unripped. The dracolisk's roar still echoed, Veyra's lightning flashing in the distance. He'd died—and lived.
A voice, sharp as a blade, spoke in his mind: [Death Reversal – Evolution Unbound: Awakened.]
[Adaptation gained: Stonehide Resilience.]
[Random skill upgraded: Tactician's Eye (Passive)]
Kai's breath caught. A skill? F-Ranks didn't awaken skills. The Towers' mana wells, buried deep beneath their crystal spires, chose only those with potential—C-Ranks and above, blessed by the ancient rites of Ascendancy. Yet his body felt stronger, his skin tougher, like it could shrug off a blade. His vision sharpened, the battlefield a chessboard: Veyra's limp, Torren's arrogance, the dracolisk's weakening pulse. 'Tactician's Eye,' he realized, a grin tugging at his lips. 'Not bad for a corpse.'
"Alright, universe," he muttered, sarcasm his shield against the impossible. "You've got my attention." His mind raced. An SSS-Rank skill, if the tavern tales were true—powers so rare the Towers hunted them to control or destroy. In Varkis, mana was currency, power was law, and anomalies like Kai were dissected in Tower labs or enslaved to fuel their wars against the Void.
He grabbed the mana shard, now glowing hotter, and stood. Big mistake. Torren Ironwrath's gold-glowing eyes locked onto him from across the plaza, his hammer dripping dracolisk blood. The S-Rank stomped closer, his boots cracking stone, each step a reminder of his power. "You," Torren growled, his voice like grinding boulders. "F-Rank trash. How are you alive?"
Kai's tactician mind spun. Torren was a Tower enforcer, a man who'd razed a dungeon single-handedly. Lying was his only play. "Got lucky," Kai said, raising his hands, his tone light despite the panic. "Statue took the hit, not me." 'Keep it cool. He's S-Rank, but he's not a reader.' Torren's wide stance screamed overconfidence—exploitable, if Kai wasn't, y'know, F-Rank.
Torren's eyes narrowed, his hammer's runes flaring red. "Liar. I felt a pulse. An awakening, but… wrong. What are you hiding, rat?"
'Great. Survive death, get crushed by a meathead.' Kai's sarcasm hid his fear. The Towers tracked every awakening, their mana wells linked to every soul in Varkis. An F-Rank with a skill was a glitch they'd erase. He needed a distraction, fast.
Veyra landed beside Torren, her sword sparking with lightning. Her silver hair was singed, but her aura was unshaken—an S-Rank bound to the Tower of Storms. "Torren, enough," she snapped. "The rift's still open. He's a scavenger. No threat." Her sharp eyes flicked to Kai, lingering, calculating. In Varkis, S-Ranks answered only to the Towers, their power fed by mana wells that could level cities. Veyra's gaze said she'd report him if she suspected anything.
'Ouch, Stormblade. Way to bruise my ego.' Kai kept his face blank, but his new Tactician's Eye caught her tension—a slight clench in her jaw. She sensed something, and that was bad news in a city where knowledge was a blade.
Torren snorted, his hammer still raised. "He's no scavenger. That aura's not F-Rank." He stepped closer, the ground trembling.
The rift in the plaza pulsed, green light spilling out like poison. A bone-chilling roar echoed, deeper than the dracolisk's, and Veyra cursed. "Another beast. Move, Torren!" She shot Kai a final look—curious, not kind—then charged toward the rift, Torren grudgingly following.
Kai exhaled, his knees shaky. The mana shard burned in his hand, its glow drawing eyes from other scavengers skulking nearby, their ragged cloaks blending with the ash. He stuffed it into his cloak, his mind racing. 'Death Reversal. Stonehide. Tactician's Eye.' A skill that could change everything—for him, for Lila, for every F-Rank crushed under Varkis' heel. But the Towers wouldn't let an anomaly roam free. He'd seen what happened to "unregulated" awakeners: dragged to the Tower of Judgment, their screams echoing before they vanished.
The Undergrit flashed in his mind—their hovel, a single room with a leaking roof, Lila curled on a mat, coughing from the mana well's poison seeping through the slums. He'd sworn to get her out, to find a healer in the Upper Spires, where mana purified the air and sickness was a myth. This skill was his chance, but it painted a target on his back.
The rift's glow intensified, and a bone wyrm slithered out, its skeletal body coiling like a serpent, eyes blazing like twin suns. Its bones were etched with runes, pulsing with Void mana. Screams erupted as scavengers fled, their footsteps drowned by the wyrm's hiss. Kai's new strength thrummed, urging him to move. 'Run or fight?' Lila's medicine wasn't cheap, and this skill was his ticket out of the Undergrit.
'Let's see what I'm made of.' Kai darted forward, weaving through debris with unnatural speed. His Tactician's Eye highlighted the wyrm's joints—weak points where bone met bone. A D-Rank scavenger, a scrawny kid with wide eyes, tripped near the beast, screaming as its claw descended. Kai didn't think. He tackled the kid, rolling them out of harm's way, the claw smashing the ground inches away.
"Move, dumbass!" Kai snapped, shoving the kid toward an alley. "You owe me a beer." The boy stammered thanks and bolted, his ragged cloak vanishing into the dust.
Kai faced the wyrm, its eyes locking onto him. His Stonehide Resilience tingled, hardening his skin like armor. "Alright, bonehead," he grinned, ruthless glee kicking in. "Let's dance." He grabbed a jagged rebar from the rubble, his Tactician's Eye plotting a path. The wyrm lunged, its jaws snapping. Kai dodged, faster than he'd ever moved, but a claw grazed him. The pain was dull, Stonehide absorbing the blow.
He vaulted over the wyrm's tail, landing near its foreleg, and drove the rebar into a joint with all his strength. The bone cracked, and the wyrm screeched, its runes flickering. "That's for Lila's medicine, you fossil," Kai snarled, twisting the rebar deeper. His heart pounded, not with fear but with a dark thrill. In Varkis, you didn't just survive—you dismantled anything that crossed you.
A flash of crimson caught his eye. Across the plaza, a woman in sleek red armor watched, her black hair tied high, her aura sharp as a blade. An A-Rank, judging by the mana radiating from her. Her cold eyes pinned Kai, a smirk playing on her lips, like he was a rat who'd dared to bite. "Pathetic scavenger," she called, her voice cutting through the chaos. "Run, or die."
Kai's grin didn't waver. "Thanks for the tip, princess. Got a better one?" Her smirk faltered, and he turned back to the wyrm. Let her watch. He'd show Varkis what a nobody could do.
The wyrm's claw came down, too fast to dodge. It crushed him into the stone, pain obliterating thought. Darkness swallowed him.
He woke, gasping, whole again. The voice spoke:
[Death Reversal – Evolution Unbound: Activated.]
[Adaptation gained: Bonecrusher Strength. ] [Random skill upgraded: Mana Sense (Passive)]
Kai stood, his fists heavy with new power. He could feel the wyrm's mana, a map of its weaknesses pulsing in his mind. His skin still tingled with Stonehide, but now his muscles felt like they could shatter steel. Across the plaza, the A-Rank woman—Sylvara, he'd heard her called—reappeared, her smirk gone, eyes wide with shock.
"Yeah, stare all you want, princess," Kai muttered, cracking his knuckles. "Round two, bonehead. Time to break you."
The wyrm lunged, but Kai was ready. He ducked, his new strength propelling him forward. He slammed his fist into its spine, Bonecrusher Strength shattering bone like glass. The wyrm howled, collapsing. Kai didn't stop. He grabbed another rebar, driving it into the beast's skull, runes exploding in a shower of sparks. "Stay down," he growled, his voice low, ruthless. This was for Lila, for every F-Rank Varkis had crushed.
Sylvara watched, her eyes no longer mocking but burning with something else—intrigue, maybe obsession. Another figure caught Kai's eye: a D-Rank girl, her cloak glowing faintly with a healer's mana, tossing him a bandage before vanishing into the crowd. 'Great. An audience.' The rift pulsed again, green light flaring, and a deeper roar echoed—a beast bigger than the wyrm.
Kai grinned, his blood singing with power. "Bring it on, Varkis. I'm just getting started."