I was walking home.
My mother and brother—who I hadn't seen for ages, well, for half an hour from their perspective—were waiting for me.
How was I supposed to go about this?
Time dilations existed in the current world.
Some people had lived centuries inside certain dungeons. I could take that route. Say I was pulled into a rare Trial instance. Say I found an artifact.
But in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the world?
Hardly believable.
I sighed.
Before all that, I opened the interface.
Let's check the rest of the System.
The System itself was, as people said, an extension of yourself.
It was like a limb, or more like an organ.
[TRAITS]
Ascended
Description: -
No details. Just a title.
And yet, it explained everything.
Only one Trait. No flashy effects.
But I felt it.
This was what I earned after billions of fights.
Every instinct. Every thread of muscle memory. Every bone fractured and rebuilt. Every reaction honed in fire.
It was the result of everything I did in the trials.
In this world, everything you obtained through the System had a name:
Catalysts.
Traits. Skills. Terrains. Forms. Soulbinds. Even passive modifiers.
All of them were Catalysts. Obtaining them happened either through natural progression of one's abilities, slaying monsters or special quests given to you by the system.
Some were rare. Others impossibly so.
I had four. Three Skills. One Trait.
But that one Trait outweighed a thousand minor perks.
It was the reason I walked like this now—slower, more deliberate. The reason my back was straighter. The reason my perception didn't fade, even when I blinked.
My bones were denser now.
Muscles stronger, bigger.
Senses hyper-calibrated. I could hear the old fan spinning in an apartment three floors up. Smell the curry someone had spilled last night in the hallway.
I hadn't chosen this Trait.
I became it. After billions of battles.
Ascended wasn't granted. It was forged.
Now time for what I really was curious about.
My Primordial ability. Hellbringer. I went into it, using my mind. The interface loaded.
Two entries.
[Form] – True Vessel
[Skill] – The First
I opened the Form.
[FORM]
True Vessel
Status: Dormant
Description: Once prerequisites are met, the user assumes the mantle of a Primordial Being-The Hellbringer
Warning: Activation may destabilize physical and metaphysical surroundings.
I moved to the Skill tab.
[SKILL]
The First
Status: Locked
Description: You forge the sword that shatters the worlds.
Effect:
Unavailable until [True Vessel] is activated.
Note: Unlocks additional abilities tied to the Hellbringer designation upon use.
I closed the interface.
So in order to get the full potential, I had to first meet the prerequisites for the transformation.
Fine. No rush.
I stepped onto the cracked tile outside our apartment building. It shifted under my foot—still loose.
Nothing had changed here. That was the strange part. Everything felt too still. Too quiet.
Like the world hadn't noticed what came back.
I reached the door. Lifted my hand.
Paused. Then knocked.
The door opened.
My mother stood there.
She didn't speak.
Didn't blink.
Just stared.
Her eyes scanned my face. My shoulders. My arms.
Down to the veins twisting under skin that looked harder than it used to.
Up again.
Her breath caught.
"...Darian?"
Her voice cracked halfway through the name.
I didn't answer.
She reached out slowly, like her body moved before her brain could catch up.
Her fingers touched my arm. Then recoiled, just slightly—like touching something too hot or too wrong.
"You were gone for thirty minutes."
It wasn't a question. She was trying to say it out loud. Trying to anchor herself.
"I know," I said.
"You look..." Her voice wavered. "You're—bigger. Your face—your eyes—"
She backed up a step. "What happened to you?"
I didn't respond right away. I didn't have a lie yet.
But I stepped forward anyway. Into the apartment.
And she didn't stop me.
Just stood there in the doorway, hand trembling.
Still trying to understand what had just walked back into her home.
My brother wasn't here.
Out for training, probably. I remembered then—he'd been recently awakened.
Sixteen years old. High aptitude. Early for someone his age.
He was talented.
It didn't surprise me.
What did surprise me was the faint sense of relief that he wasn't home right now.
Not yet.
One less set of eyes to explain myself to.
"Darian, I do not want to rush you, but could you please tell your mother what is happening?"
She asked, concerned but calm.
She was always good with us.
Never raised her voice. Never panicked.
Even now, staring at a version of her son that shouldn't exist, she spoke like she was trying not to spook a wild animal.
"Mother, I somehow ended up in a dungeon of sorts," I said.
"Time passed. I awakened."
She didn't respond at first.
Her eyes stayed on mine, searching for something—some piece of the old me she could still hold onto.
"...That's it?"
"For now."
I didn't offer more.
She waited like she expected me to.
But I didn't.
There was only so much I could say without breaking the illusion completely.
Her fingers gripped the back of a chair.
Then she nodded.
"Alright," she said softly.
No argument. No disbelief. She wasn't stupid. She knew I was holding back. But she let it go. At least for now.
"Do you want to eat?" she asked.
I glanced toward the kitchen.
The smell of something familiar was still lingering. Rice, vegetables, maybe some soy meat.
"...Sure."
She moved to the counter.
We ate in silence.
"I'll be leaving for a couple of days," I said.
"There are things I need to take care of since the awakening."
She didn't respond right away. Her hand tightened around her glass.
Then she nodded once.
"Tell my brother. And…"
"Father, if he comes back from the expedition." I said.
"Very well, just take care of your self." she said, like she came to terms with it.
"Thank you for the food..." And I left.
It was late at night, but each city had an Explorer Office that was working non-stop.
That was my first stop. I had to get sanctioned.
Operating without registration wasn't just frowned upon—it was illegal.
I didn't need that.
With my abilities, I was sure to get some traction.
And as long as they thought it was because of my Legendary ability and not the other one, I was welcoming it.