The forest was thick with mist and towering evergrowths, the light filtering through like scattered blades. Ethan and Aelira moved in silence, tension lingering from the last skirmish. Ravenfall lay days ahead, but the journey was far from quiet.
Then came the shriek.
A blur descended from the canopy, wings wide enough to eclipse the sun. The Skybreaker Roc, a rare Rank-C aerial predator, had marked them. The battle that followed was a storm of motion evasive leaps, crashing trees, and aether-blades cutting through feathers like steel through silk.
By the end, Ethan stood bloodied but victorious, the Roc's core still pulsing with residual energy in his palm.
[SYSTEM ALERT: Rare Beast Defeated — Skybreaker Roc (C-Rank)]+2,750 Points awarded+1 [Wind-Aligned Beast Core]Milestone Reached: First Aerial Elite Kill
He blinked as another alert popped up—gold-lined and different from the usual blue:
[SYSTEM REWARD UNLOCKED — Tier Progression Milestone Achieved]Reward: Low-Grade Stella-Class Vessel (Scout-Type)Designation: Starling Mk-IStatus: Docked — Orbital Cloak ActiveCoordinates uploaded to Map Interface. Launch Authorization: IncompleteNOTE: Activation requires Beacon-Link Cipher.
Ethan frowned. Another prompt shimmered in his mind:
[NEW QUEST: "Echoes in the Sky"]Objective: Retrieve the Beacon-Link Cipher from the Ravenfall Skyspire.Details: The Starling Mk-I's AI core is locked. Access is tied to a pre-Exodus protocol stored in the ancient Skyspire's Archive Core.Reward: Full ship access + bonus feature (AI Companion Unlocked)
Aelira leaned over, raising a silver brow as he stared, stunned, at the System's display. "What now?"
Ethan smiled slowly. "We've just been given a ship."
Her eyes narrowed. "But…?"
"There's a catch." He turned toward the horizon, where distant peaks marked Ravenfall's edges. "We need to steal its soul back first."
Later, as they made camp, the System Shop shimmered open again. With points burning in his virtual pocket, Ethan scanned options, weighing their next steps. Rations, equipment upgrades, or maybe even a weapon module for the ship—once they unlocked it.
[Available Points: 3,910]- Light Aetherfield Generator – 2,000- Combat Repair Gel (x3) – 300- Storage Capsule: Medium – 600- Ship Component: Hull Reinforcement I – 3,000
Ravenfall had what they needed—but the path to it would be anything but simple.
As the alerts faded from his vision, Ethan tapped into the System's map overlay, zooming in on the Ravenfall region. A marker pulsed faintly on the outskirts—a jagged spike of metal and stone jutting from the earth like a broken fang.
The Ravenfall Skyspire.
He remembered the name from Aelira's earlier briefing, but now the System provided something more: a fragment of archived data, decrypted just enough to tease out its significance.
[Lore Fragment Recovered: Skyspire Node - Technarch Epoch]"Built during the twilight of the Old Technarchs, the Skyspires were relay towers for orbital uplinks, stellar cartography, and early synthetic intelligence. Most were shattered during the Collapse Wars. Few remain functional. Fewer still are safe to approach."
Ethan's brow furrowed. "This place... it's not just some fancy tower."
"It was a nerve center," Aelira said quietly, her voice laced with something close to reverence. "We were taught never to go near them. Too many ghost-signals. Too many people who climbed up and never came back down."
Now it all made sense the Cipher wasn't just a key; it was a legacy. The Starling's AI wasn't locked by chance. It was bound to ancient architecture built by a civilization that understood both technology and mysticism—possibly the same forces behind the System itself.
And if this Skyspire still held power… then so did whoever or whatever still lingered inside.
[UPDATED QUEST OBJECTIVE: "Echoes in the Sky"]Location: Ravenfall Skyspire (Technarch-Class Structure)Security Warning: Defensive subroutines may be active. Presence of residual guardian constructs—P-Class threat.Recommendation: Proceed with caution.
Ethan exhaled slowly. "Of course there's guardian constructs. It'd be too easy otherwise."