Kaiden didn't sleep after the spider silk.
His body was exhausted — his muscles trembling, his vision watery with fatigue — but his mind buzzed with electricity. That brittle strand had proven it. Even trash could become a key. There was no such thing as useless.
And so, in the half-light of dawn, with fog clinging to the garden outside and a haze of incense curling in the corners of the infirmary, Kaiden began again.
[ Kaiden ]
"Let's try the horn today…"
He pawed through his crate, retrieving a splintered gremlin horn. The system blinked to life, hovering just above his palm.
[ HEART ]
[ Gremlin Horn – Chipped ]
Durability: 4/12
Market Value: 4 Copper
Hidden Attribute: +0.000001 INT
[ PASSIVE ]
Static Echo – Increases Analyze precision by 0.3%.
Kaiden smiled, already scribbling notes.
From the cot beside him, Nik watched in silence. He'd stopped trying to talk Kaiden out of it two days ago. Instead, he sat there each morning, boots resting on a stool, coat draped like a sleeping bird around his shoulders, just… watching.
Finally, after Kaiden tried to line up four monster teeth in a geometric pattern to test for synergy bonuses, Nik cleared his throat.
[ Niklaus ]
"Have you ever heard of the story of Lord Halbran the Collector?"
Kaiden looked up, blinking.
[ Kaiden ]
"Is he real?"
[ Niklaus (smirk) ]
"Real enough..."
"The man once owned a dragon's eyelash, kept in a glass vial..."
"Swore it hummed to him at night."
"Built an entire empire of artifacts..."
"Blades, bones, relics no one else could even identify."
Kaiden tilted his head.
[ Kaiden ]
"What happened to him?"
[ Niklaus ]
"He drowned in his vault."
"Collapsed on top of him."
"So many treasures, he couldn't crawl his way out."
Kaiden paused.
[ Kaiden ]
"That's…"
"Not helpful, Pops."
Niklaus shrugged.
[ Niklaus ]
"Depends..."
"He understood things no one else did."
"But he forgot that knowledge without wisdom is just another way to die alone."
The boy fell silent. But only for a moment. Then he reached for the next item: a harpy feather, dulled and spotted with old blood.
Nik grunted, leaned forward.
[ Niklaus ]
"All I'm saying, Kaiden, is don't forget to live while you're cataloging death."
But Kaiden was already inside the vision again, eyes distant, lips moving faintly as he read what only he could see.
◈◈◈
The next day, a traveling merchant passed through the infirmary's outer gate. He peddled old monster parts for alchemy. Nothing rare. But Kaiden heard the rattle of his cart from the window and practically dove for the courtyard.
Niklaus followed, hands in pockets.
[ Merchant Anders ]
"Eh? Little mouse wants to buy garbage?"
[ Kaiden ]
"I want the pouch of cracked beetle shells."
[ Merchant Anders (squint) ]
"Kid, that's for fertilizer."
[ Kaiden ]
"I'll take it."
Nik appeared beside him with a smirk.
[ Niklaus ]
"And what's the going price for beetle excrement these days?"
[ Merchant Anders ]
"One silver."
[ Niklaus ]
"For garbage, huh…"
He leaned closer to the merchant, voice dipping like an old tune.
"Did I ever tell you about the Djinn of Varra's Basin?"
"Sold broken mirrors to kings for ten times the cost of gold."
[ Merchant Anders (blink) ]
"What?"
[ Niklaus ]
"The trick was simple."
"He told them the shards showed their true selves."
"And wouldn't you know it—every man who looked into one screamed."
[ Merchant Anders ]
"You a Concordium agent?"
[ Niklaus ]
"No..."
"Just a collector of dangerous children."
Nik whispered to the merchant as he flipped a copper coin in his hand.
◈◈◈
Kaiden was already examining the beetle shells when they returned. Each one gave him something — small, yes, but never nothing.
One granted a sliver of defense, while another granted a trace of resistance to toxins. One fragment simply whispered a word into his ear that he didn't understand.
But he wrote it all down.
That night, Kaiden sat up in bed, frowning at his Ki Card.
[ HEART STATUS ]
Name: Kaiden Stagin
Health: 26/50
Energy: 33/50
Attributes: [ STR: 1 | AGI: 1 | INT: 1 ]
Traits: Void of Aena
Skills: Analyze – Tier 1.6 (Progress: 8%)
It was slower now.
Each new item yielded less. He'd learned the system didn't reward repetition — it rewarded discovery.
He flopped back onto his cot, frustrated.
[ Kaiden ]
"I need… better garbage."
Nik chuckled softly from the cot beside him.
[ Niklaus ]
"That reminds me of the Tinker-Mage of Galdra Hollow."
[ Kaiden ]
"Is this another death story, Pops?"
[ Niklaus ]
"Hahaha..."
"On the contrary, boy."
"He lived for two hundred years building things no one understood."
"Once forged a spell from candle wax and lost teeth."
"People thought he was mad."
[ Kaiden ]
"Was he?"
Nik's smile faded to something quieter.
[ Niklaus ]
"Maybe..."
"But when the Hollow fell to ash, only his constructs still stood."
"Broken, yes, but still standing."
Kaiden stared at the ceiling.
[ Kaiden ]
"That's what I want, Pops."
"To make something that lasts."
"Even if it's made of trash."
Nik nodded slowly, then reached into his coat.
[ Niklaus ]
"I thought you might say that."
He pulled out a sealed pouch. The Concordium crest stamped the wax—official.
[ Kaiden ]
"What is it?"
[ Niklaus ]
"Experimental discard."
"From the South Quarantine Labs."
"They call it a 'mana sponge' — but it's failed."
"Absorbs too much, too fast..."
"Cracks and dies."
Kaiden took it carefully. It felt warm, pulsing faintly.
As he touched it, the system didn't flare. It shuddered.
[ HEART ]
[ Mana Sponge Husk – Flawed ]
Durability: 1/1
Market Value: 0 Copper
Hidden Attribute: +0.000001 STI
[ CURSED PASSIVE ]
Void Drift – Resonates with Void Traits. Unstable. Handle with caution.
[ Kaiden ]
"…It's cursed?"
[ Niklaus ]
"Cursed?"
"No, Kaiden..."
"That just means it's yours."
◈◈◈
Kaiden didn't sleep that night. Not out of anxiety, but exhilaration.
He sat cross-legged on the floor, candlelight flickering around him as the husk pulsed faintly in his hands. His eyes were wide, not with fear, but with wonder.
This thing was broken. Flawed. Dead. And it still whispered.
[ Kaiden ]
"If this talks… how many others will sing?"
He pressed it to his Ki Card. Nothing happened. But he felt it — not movement, not sound — connection.
Void Drift.
That was the name of the feeling that had been growing. The strange tug. The pull between himself and the scraps he loved.
He closed his eyes.
And for the first time, the system didn't speak.
He did.
[ Kaiden ]
"Show me what's beneath."
The marble rose first.
Then the husk.
Then three more fragments — each one a piece he'd touched with belief — lifted around him, like satellites caught in a gravity only he could feel.
[ HEART ]
[ Void Affinity Sync: 3.12% ]
The system didn't level.
The numbers didn't change.
But Kaiden felt it.
A threshold had been crossed.
He no longer saw loot.
He saw pieces of a hidden world.
And that meant one thing.
[ Kaiden ]
"I'm not cursed..."
Kaiden paused. His face was filled.
Of excitement and wonderment.
"I'm chosen!"
Outside, the world stayed silent.
But in the hush between, Kaiden heard the broken pieces.