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✦✧✦ STATUS OF KAELAN DRAKARYS – HEIR OF ETERNAL DARKNESS ✦✧✦
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✦ IDENTITY ✦
↣ Name: Kaelan Drakarys
↣ Age: 25 years
↣ Race: Half‑blood
↣ Title: Heir of Eternal Darkness
✦ LINEAGE ✦
➤ Ancient Humans
➤ Blood Demons
➤ ??? (Secret of the Hidden Lineage)
✦ UNIQUE TALENTS ✦
➤ Physical ✦ Physique of Absolute Darkness: One who harbors the primeval darkness.
➤ Physical ✦ Physique of the Ancients: Extreme amplification of durability, strength, and regeneration.
➤ Mental ✦ Divine Intelligence & Memory.
➤ Soul ✦ Divine Soul of the Infinite Abyss: Source of immeasurable power.
✦ CULTIVATION ✦
➤ Cultivation Domain: Lower Holy Domain (Medium)
➤ Primordial Cultivation Technique: Path of Endless Night
⤷ Amplifies cultivation with primordial darkness energy and fuses the user with universal laws.
✦ TECHNIQUES ✦
⚔️ Combat ✦ Claws of the Dark Void: Destroys space, matter, and soul. (Classification: Divine)
💨 Movement ✦ Steps in Darkness: Absolute disappearance within shadows. (Classification: Primordial)
🛡 Defense ✦ Shield of Shadowed Eternity: Impenetrable field of darkness. (Classification: Divine)
🐉 Support ✦ Summoning of the Eternal Shadows: Ancestral shadow entities. (Classification: Supreme)
✦ DIVINE ABILITIES ✦
🌑 Physique of Absolute Darkness
➤ Passive: Absorption of Light & Energy | Perpetual Shadow Resilience
➤ Active: Primordial Darkness Eruption | Eternal Shadow Form
🌟 Physique of the Ancients
➤ Passive: Absolute Regeneration | Infinite Strength
➤ Active: Ancestral Strike | Form of the Primordial Titans
🌌 Divine Soul of the Infinite Abyss
➤ Passive: Resistance to Soul Attacks | Connection to the Abyss
➤ Active: Abyssal Obliteration | Manipulation of Dark Destinies
✦ DOMINATED ELEMENTS ✦
☀️ Active ✦ Darkness | Shadows | Abyss | Fire | Lightning | Earth/Metal
🌑 Sealed ✦ Light | Eternity | Karma
✦ DIVINE WEAPON ✦
⚔️ Name: Blade of Shadowed Eternity (Sealed)
⤷ Description: A sword forged from the densest material of the abyss.
⤷ Conditions: Locate the remaining fragments. (Classification: Primordial)
✦ DOMAINS ✦
➤ Spiritual Sea: Sea of Eternal Night
➤ Personal Dimension: Realm of Ancestral Shadows (Locked)
✦ CURRENT STATUS ✦
➤ Physical Condition: Perfect
➤ Spiritual Energy: Infinitely Renewable
➤ Vitality: Absolute
➤ Restrictions: Sealed Lineages – Total Darkness
✦ OTHER ITEMS ✦
🔮 Unique Artifacts
⤷ Dark Relic of the Ancients
⤷ Essence of the Infinite Abyss
🍃 Consumables
⤷ Elixir of Ancestral Regeneration
⤷ Pill of Sacred Chaos
💰 System Points: 100,000 points
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The hall pulsed with life. The murmur of voices intertwined with the clink of glasses, while the sweet scent of incense and flowers hung in the air, heavy as a promise unspoken. Candles flickered, casting dancing shadows across faces that concealed more than they revealed. Masters from the principal Peaks stood like mountains among the guests, their auras oppressive, while disciples from lesser peaks orbited in silence, bearing the weight of representing their absent lords. It was a feast to honor Mei Xiu—my master, now my wife—but my feet barely felt the floor beneath me. My mind drifted elsewhere.
With a sharp thought, I dismissed the system: "I haven't reached my limit yet, but let them come challenge me. I want to see who has the guts." The air rushed cold into my lungs, and for a moment, pride blazed in my chest, fierce and molten. I had scaled mountains others only dreamed of touching. My cultivation was a boundless sea, my strength a thunderclap echoing beyond the horizon. Yet with every step, every triumph, came a weight—the toll exacted by this divine power. It was like carrying an invisible chain, forged in a world that devoured the weak and punished the strong.
Suddenly, a memory sliced through the noise around me. The black-haired boy. His eyes, twin sparks of light in a pale face, fragile as glass on the verge of shattering. I chuckled under my breath, a sound lost to the crowd. "What a joke. Me, the great Kaelan, playing the savior." That day, I'd pulled him from the flames for sheer spectacle. All eyes were on me—the Holy Son, the hero of tales. But the look he gave me… there was nothing staged in it. It was raw, pure, as if I were the sun rising in his darkness. And then the system rewarded me: the Physique of Absolute Darkness, just for making him laugh—a gift that made even the rewards tied to Mei Xiu seem trivial. Surreal.
I hadn't planned to care. He was just a boy, a fleeting speck in the chaos of my life. But when I found him again, something shifted. I sparked another glint in those eyes, and the system bestowed the Path of the Endless Night—a technique that seemed to tear the world's laws asunder. I could have used him, wrung every drop of mystery from his soul. But I couldn't. "He's not a pawn. He's… something else." A brother, perhaps. Someone I wanted to shield, even as my blood screamed for destruction over salvation.
"I told him: when you awaken, we'll trade our true names. We'll be family." My chest tightened, a tangle of warmth and uncertainty. He was special—I knew it. But what would come when those eyes opened again? Something vast. Something that might swallow me whole. "Who knows? Maybe I'll save him… or maybe he'll pull me from the abyss." A crooked smile tugged at my lips as I stared into the void ahead. Power was everything in this world, but in that silent promise, there was something stronger.
"You still in there, or have you already slipped off to another plane?"
Mei Xiu's voice snapped me from my reverie. She stood beside me, her black hair falling like a curtain over her shoulders, her cold eyes cutting through the air. Always so steady, so distant—but I knew the cracks behind that mask.
"I'm here. More or less." I twirled the glass in my hand, the golden liquid catching the light.
She tilted her head, studying me. "It's that boy again, isn't it?"
I paused, the smile returning, fainter now. "He doesn't leave my head. I don't know why."
"You know, yes." She crossed her arms, her voice dry as a winter gust. "He shook you. And you hate that."
"Maybe." I shrugged, glancing out at the hall. "He didn't die, Mei. He'll come back. I feel it."
She sighed, a short, impatient sound. "You get too attached. Always have."
"And you attach too little. Always have." My tone carried a hint of provocation, and I saw the corner of her mouth twitch—almost a smile. Almost.
"What about the party?" I asked, steering the conversation elsewhere.
Mei Xiu snorted. "I didn't ask for this. I don't need applause to know who I am."
"Of course, of course." I leaned closer, lowering my voice. "But me and the younger brothers put in the effort. It was for you, you know? King Domain isn't a small thing."
"I detest crowds," she shot back, her gaze fixed on some distant point.
"I know." I laughed, brief and light. "That's why it's more fun watching you squirm."
She threw me a look that could freeze an army, but there was a spark there, one only I could see. Cold on the outside, yes. But between us, in the quiet, she was something else. And I loved chipping away at that ice, piece by piece.
The hall shimmered around us, but I scarcely noticed. My thoughts drifted back to that boy, to the promise I'd made. The world could offer me power, glory, everything. But there, amid the chaos of the feast and the weight of my fate, it was him—and her—that kept me human.
The hall reeked of melted wax and wilting flowers, a cloying sweetness that weighed on the air like an old memory. Candlelight trembled, throwing jagged shadows across the polished stone walls, while the hum of voices rose and fell—a restless sea of whispers and hollow laughter. I, Kaelan, stood in a corner, arms crossed, the weight of my black cloak anchoring me to the ground. This was Mei Xiu's celebration—my master, now my wife—but I felt like an outsider here, a wolf among finely dressed sheep.
"What a circus," I thought, a wry smile curling the edge of my mouth. My eyes swept the room, catching the masters of the peaks with their pompous auras and the lesser disciples bearing gifts like offerings to an altar. It filled me with equal parts disgust and fascination.
"Look, I give this King-level combat technique as my gift," declared the first master, a man with a scraggly beard and narrow eyes. He extended a scroll with a smile that didn't reach his gaze, the golden seals glinting faintly in the dim light.
The hall answered with muted murmurs, but I saw the sharp glances, the masks of courtesy cracking. My chest thrummed with a laugh I didn't release. "A lesser King? That's charity dressed up as generosity."
"What a cheapskate," came a low, cutting voice, sharp as a blade. It was Wang Ai, the youngest disciple of the peak's master, arms crossed, nose turned up. Her childish pout nearly drew a laugh from me.
"Keep it down," hissed Li Bo, the third disciple, his eyes darting around as if expecting a landslide.
"Why's he only giving that? Bet he grabbed it from the dusty library shelf," she pressed on, ignoring the warning. Discontent dripped from every syllable.
"Keep it down, Wang Ai!" Wang An, her older brother, looked ready to tear his hair out, his face flushed with strain.
I watched them from my spot, their voices slicing through the party's din like a bell off-key. My gaze settled on Wang Ai. "Listen to your brother," I said, my tone steady but laced with a thread of amusement that made her freeze for a heartbeat.
"Oh, Brother Kaelan!" She spun toward me, eyes sparkling, a radiant smile wiping away her earlier sulk. It was as if the world had turned into a toy again.
"Seventeen and still acts like a kid," I thought, sighing inwardly. But that shine in her eyes… it was impossible to hate. Wang Ai was a ray of sun on a gray day, even when she tossed fuel on the fire.
The air shifted as Hu Ping, master of the Ancient Spirit Peak, stepped forward. He raised a scroll with quiet pride in his eyes. "I offer a pseudo-Emperor-level movement technique," he announced, his voice rumbling like distant thunder.
The younger disciples stirred, a buzz of voices swelling among them.
"Now that's something," one said, his tone mingling surprise and respect.
"Pseudo-Emperor? Could've been more," muttered another, nose wrinkled in disdain.
"Better than that sham King technique," a third laughed, sarcasm dripping like venom.
Wang Ai shook her head, arms still crossed. "At least it's useful," she whispered to Wang An, who, as usual, seemed to pray no one heard.
"Keep it down," he snapped, teeth gritted.
I stayed silent, eyes half-closed as I took in the scene. "Rivalry and envy," I mused. It was the daily bread of this cultivation world. The stronger the gift, the more emotions flared—admiration, jealousy, ambition. And I fed on it all, a predator lying in wait.
Then came He Ming, master of the Universal Harmony Peak. He crossed the hall with light steps, a jade jar in his hands. "I offer a jar of Universal Harmony wine," he said, his voice calm as an untouched lake. "Mental clarity, inner peace, and a deeper touch of the Dao. A gift for this special occasion."
Silence fell for a heavy second, thick with anticipation, before the murmurs returned.
"Universal Harmony wine? That's rare!" a disciple exclaimed, eyes wide.
"Suits him," another said, nodding approval.
Wang Ai, to my surprise, didn't complain. "Finally something genuine," she murmured, almost to herself.
He Ming presented the jar to Mei Xiu with a graceful gesture, hands steady in respect. She accepted with a curt nod. "A worthy gift. Thank you, Master He Ming," she said, her voice firm but hiding a rare warmth.
I watched from afar, arms crossed, feeling the air shift. It was as if the wine had spilled harmony over the hall, quieting the sharp tongues for a moment. "He knows how to play," I thought, impressed. It wasn't just the gift; it was his manner—subtle, powerful.
The chatter resumed, but I stepped back, leaning against a cool pillar. My gaze wandered to Mei Xiu, standing at the hall's heart, her red robes rippling like liquid fire. She was a pillar here, untouchable, but I knew the fissures no one else saw.
"This world's a stage," I reflected, the weight of my own power burning in my chest. I'd climbed higher than most dreamed, but each step demanded a price. And then, amid the pride and the void, there he was again—the boy. Those fragile, pure eyes, striking me like an arrow.
"You still there?" Mei Xiu's voice cut through my thoughts. She was beside me now, her cold eyes probing.
"I'm here. More or less," I replied, spinning the empty glass in my hand.
"It's the boy, isn't it?" She crossed her arms, blunt as ever.
I paused, a faint smile on my lips. "He doesn't leave my head."
"You get too attached," she said, her tone dry but layered with something I knew well.
"And you too little." My voice held a teasing edge, and I saw her mouth twitch. Almost a smile.
The hall glowed around us, but I barely noticed. Amid the gifts, the whispers, and the weight of my destiny, it was them—Mei Xiu and the boy—who tethered me to something real.
The hall hung in an eternal instant, the air thick as if someone had stolen the breath from every soul. Tang Mei, master of the Pink Clouds Peak, crossed the space with steps that mimicked a serpent's glide—silent, yet impossible to ignore.
"I offer a pseudo-Emperor-level healing pill," she said, her soft voice tearing the silence like a fine blade.
A collective gasp escaped. Eyes widened, mouths parted, but no one dared break the spell with loud words. That pill was a living legend—rare as rain in a desert, a treasure cultivators would kill to claim.
Mei Xiu, my master, my wife, tilted her head. A single brow arched, the only hint of surprise on a face carved from cold stone.
"Thank you, Master Tang Mei. It's a valuable gift," she replied, her voice steady as ever.
But I caught the glint in her eyes. It wasn't just gratitude. It was warmer, more alive. Tang Mei, beneath the veil shrouding half her face, let a smile slip—one that didn't reach her eyes.
"Nothing much," she countered, her tone too sweet to ring true. "You're a rare gem, Mei Xiu. The first to reach King Domain in under a thousand years… or rather, just five hundred. It's not every day the world gains someone like you."
Her words carried weight, a thread of admiration curling through the air like smoke. A shiver ran down my neck. "What's she after?" I thought, eyes narrowing as I studied her. That veiled smile was a mask, and I didn't trust what lay beneath.
The hall stirred with hushed voices, whispers rippling like wind through leaves. But I stayed silent, fists clenched in my sleeves. "She's plotting something," I mused, my chest tight with an unease I couldn't name. The way she looked at Mei Xiu… it wasn't just respect. It was something else. Something that made me want to step between them.
Then he entered the scene. Yang Ming, Heir of the Pink Clouds Peak, strode in with a smile dripping with poisoned charm.
"I offer a Divine Beauty Pill," he announced, his voice ringing as if he'd already won the night.
The hall erupted. The women, especially, leaned forward, eyes blazing with longing. That pill was a dream captured in elixir form—beauty that never faded, youth that defied time. A gift worth more than mountains of jade.
I stared at him, arms crossed, feeling his presence press against the air. Yang Ming was a wolf among flowers, the lone man in a peak of powerful, radiant women. They said he bore the Primordial Chaos Physique, the pinnacle of supreme physiques. But I knew more. I'd dug into his shadows, unearthed the bones he hid.