Veil of Aether

While everyone else was still asleep, Kei Y met up with Silvie outside. Without a word, the two slipped away from the house, venturing toward their destination under the dim morning sky.

They hadn’t traveled for long when they arrived at a wide, secluded area that had clearly been sanctioned off from public access. The perimeter was marked with heavy fencing, reinforced barricades, and uniformed guards posted at regular intervals—each one armed and alert. Their presence wasn’t just symbolic. This place was on lockdown, and no civilians or unauthorized personnel were getting in without a fight.

Kei and Silvie stopped at a distance, crouched behind a rocky outcrop, eyes fixed on their target.

The air at the center of the zone shimmered—barely visible, like ripples through cracked glass. Reality itself seemed… fractured.

“That’s a Fractured Zone, huh?” Silvie murmured. “Doesn’t look too different from a dungeon.”

Kei’s eyes narrowed. “Two of those guys guarding it have already formed their cores. Judging by their postures and how still they stand… they’ve done it recently too. We’ve got no way in if we go head-on.”

Silvie sighed. “So what now?”

Kei glanced sideways at her, then back to the zone. “I’ve just regained my projectile throwing skill. It’s not back to full strength yet, but I’ve been reworking my Phantom Breeze too. It’s not ready… but I can feel it coming together.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “If it was just me, I might be able to slip through. I’d probably get noticed, but only by one or two of them—pure luck, mostly. But with you here?” He gave her a side-eye. “Not so confident.”

Silvie frowned, not offended—just realistic. “I get it. I don’t exactly specialize in sneaking.”

They both returned their gaze to the shimmering distortion in the distance.

Despite the risks, the objective was clear.

They were scoping out the zone for one reason: to get inside. Aether in Fractured Zones was rumored to be denser, purer—more abundant. It wasn’t just about curiosity. It was survival. Regaining their former strength. Restoring access to their true potential.

If they wanted to move forward in this world—especially with so many unknowns ahead—they needed power. And that meant risk.

Kei exhaled slowly. “We’ll need a plan. Something clean. Quiet. And fast.”

Silvie gave him a nod. “Then let’s figure one out.”

“What ideas do you have to help us, Kei?” Silvie asked calmly.

But she wasn’t looking at Kei Y.

Her gaze was aimed slightly past him—toward the shadows just beyond the tree line.

Kei Y didn’t even flinch. “Took you long enough,” he said casually.

A figure stepped out of the brush, hands raised in mock surrender.

“You found me, huh?” Kei M said, smiling sheepishly.

“You might have the best hearing among us,” Kei Y replied, crossing his arms. “But wind and nature are kind of our thing too. I felt you the moment you ‘woke up’.”

He even used air quotes, emphasizing the fact that he knew Kei M had never actually been asleep.

Silvie nodded. “You’ve been tailing us since we left the house.”

Kei M scratched the back of his neck. “Well, God Sparks really aren’t so easy to sneak past, huh?”

“No,” Silvie said bluntly. “We’re not.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “So… any particular reason you’re following us?”

Kei M shrugged, still looking a bit guilty—but unashamed. “Come on, you can’t blame me. You’d be curious too if a God Spark suddenly popped into your life—let alone two. First you appear next to Mia out of nowhere, then I just so happen to cross paths with you while hunting?”

He raised a brow at them. “That’s not just weird—that’s suspicious. Even if I didn’t want to follow you, I kinda had to.”

Kei Y’s eyes stayed steady. “You think we’re suspicious?”

“I think anyone would be,” Kei M replied, more serious now. “You came out of nowhere. You’re stronger than the system accounts for. You move like people who’ve fought before. And you’ve got that look—like you know something the rest of us don’t.”

Silvie didn’t deny it. “You’re not wrong. But it still doesn’t explain what you’re planning to do now.”

Kei M looked at the Fractured Zone in the distance, then back at them. His tone shifted.

“You two were scouting this place out, right? Looking to sneak in. So here I am, offering my ears… and maybe a few tricks of my own.”

“And what do you want in exchange for these tricks of yours?” Silvie asked, tone guarded.

Kei M didn’t smile. He just looked at them directly.

“The honest truth,” he said. “Or… at least as honest as you two can be.”

There was a brief silence. Then Kei Y nodded, the wind around him subtly stilling.

“You’re right to think we’re not from here,” he said. “Because we aren’t. Somehow—we’re not even sure how—we ended up here. Our bodies feel different. Our progress... reset. No equipment, no crafting tools. Even my force skills feel like they’re rebuilding from scratch.”

Silvie picked up where he left off. “And it’s not like we came here looking for other God Sparks. Finding each other was already a miracle. Finding you and Mia? That wasn’t planned. We’re following a quest—one from the system. And for whatever reason, this is part of the path it’s forcing us to walk.”

Neither of them mentioned the temporal dungeon. Or the fact that they were from a different time altogether. But even as they left pieces out, their words rang with sincerity.

Kei M said nothing for a long moment.

He just stood there, listening—not just to their voices, but to the subtle vibrations their bodies gave off as they spoke. Microtremors, shifts in breath, minute pulses of sound only someone with his force alignment could truly hear.

They weren’t lying.

Maybe not telling everything, sure. But they weren’t deceiving him either.

“…Alright,” Kei M finally said. “Fair enough.”

Silvie tilted her head slightly. “And you?” she asked quietly. “Why didn’t you ever tell Mia you’re a God Spark? Why keep that to yourself?”

Her voice dropped, more serious. “And your body… there’s no way a God Spark would be born with that many impurities. It doesn’t make sense.”

Kei M flinched. Just slightly. But they both saw it.

He looked away, eyes shadowed. “…It’s nothing worth mentioning,” he muttered.

Then softer, as if trying to convince himself more than them—“Hopefully… she never learns about it either.”

As fellow God Sparks themselves, Silvie and Kei Y chose not to pry into Kei M’s past. He clearly wasn’t ready to talk, and forcing it wouldn’t do any good. For now, they left his secrets where he wanted them—buried.

“So, what’s your grand secret to getting into that zone over there?” Kei Y asked, gesturing toward the restricted area ahead.

Kei M shrugged. “Honestly? We don’t.”

Silvie raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“If you’re trying to get into a fractured zone,” Kei M continued, “you’ll want to avoid the ones being actively guarded. The government only puts forces like this around zones they’ve already claimed for their own use—or ones that are dangerous enough to be worth the effort. They’re always scouting for new talent, especially people who survive or get noticed inside high-risk areas. But zones like that? They're off-limits unless you’re invited or have a death wish.”

Kei M then pointed toward the distant hills behind them. “What you want are the unguarded, low-risk ones. Government doesn’t care about those—they’re too weak to yield anything game-changing. Grade F dungeons, basically. Easy difficulty. But still usable if you’re looking to recover aether or get your bearings.”

Silvie crossed her arms. “So those are open to the public?”

He nodded. “Yeah. They’re left alone intentionally for hopefuls, civilians, and low-level cultivators trying to test their luck. Makes sense that you two didn’t know about them—if you’re not from around here.”

Kei Y turned his gaze back toward the guarded fractured zone in front of them. The air shimmered in the middle like cracked glass, as if space itself had been webbed with fractures.

“Better than nothing, I guess,” Silvie muttered, sighing. “Let’s go.”

The trio turned and began walking away, heading toward the less-secured zones Kei M had mentioned. But as they did, both Silvie and Kei Y noticed something.

Kei M was still following them.

“You’re joining us?” Kei Y asked, glancing over his shoulder.

“Of course,” Kei M said without hesitation. “I can finally cultivate aether again, and I’ll be damned if any danger comes after Mia—especially now that her potential’s been revealed.”

That last part, said so casually, sent a chill down both their spines. The implications weren’t lost on them.

“You’re such a romantic, aren’t you?” Silvie teased with a smirk.

Kei M blushed on reflex—and accidentally released a disruptive pulse of Sound Force from his body. It spread in faint waves, rippling across the trees and ground.

Several dozen meters away, near the guarded fractured zone, a soldier stopped mid-step.

“Huh? Did you sense that?” he asked another.

“Sense what?” his partner replied, clearly confused.

The first soldier frowned, scanning the area. “...Must’ve been the wind, I guess.”

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The guards stationed at the fractured zone were all pre-cultivator stage—fighters still in their early development, armed with a mix of spears, sabers, daggers, and swords. Their job wasn’t to handle high-level threats—it was to deter nosy civilians and inexperienced adventurers.

Of all the people stationed there, only two stood out. Both were Specialist-class cultivators—those who had already refined their cores and begun tapping into personalized techniques. Their perception was stronger than the others by leagues.

And both had already sensed the presence of the trio the moment they approached.

But they hadn’t moved. Hadn’t reacted.

They were used to it—fractured zones attracted attention. Dozens passed by each week. And the energy signatures coming off those three? All pre-cultivator stage. Nothing worth raising an alarm over.

The patrolling guards would be more than enough.

Or so they thought.

The trio eventually came across one of the unguarded fractured zones Kei M had mentioned earlier. A jagged shimmer hung in the air like cracked glass, faintly humming with the instability of spatial rupture. The edges of the rift pulsed softly, a silent invitation wrapped in danger.

As they stepped closer, a system notification appeared in front of them, projected in translucent gold:

[Fractured Zone Detected – Grade F]

[Recommended Party Size: 5+]

[Difficulty: Low | Reward Tier: Minimal | Collapse Risk: Stable]

Kei M hesitated, reading the display. “Says five minimum. That’s the system’s way of saying: enter at your own risk.”

But before he could suggest caution or strategy, Kei Y and Silvie stepped forward without a word—calm, focused, and completely unbothered. They crossed the rift’s threshold with zero hesitation, vanishing into the distorted air as if walking into fog.

“…Well alright then,” Kei M muttered under his breath, exhaling through his nose. “Guess subtlety’s off the table.”

He followed after them.

The moment he stepped through, he felt the shift—subtle pressure on the senses, like the air was heavier but also sharper. The fracture zone’s aether was scattered but more present than outside, raw and lightly condensed. The kind of environment where aether techniques could be used again without straining for scraps.

To Kei M’s surprise, the others had already shifted into combat-ready stances.

Silvie stood like a forest regent, calm and poised. Around her, vines curled upward from the ground, thorn-tipped and braided along her arms like living gauntlets. They shimmered faintly with verdant energy, pulsing with intent. A floral queen crowned in natural power.

Kei Y, meanwhile, was barely visible amidst the faint swirl of breeze that encircled him. Breeze Force spiraled softly around his frame, moving with such subtlety it was hard to tell where the wind ended and his aura began. His eyes were sharp—listening more than seeing.

Due to the depleted aether in the surrounding environment, his more advanced Force connections—like Zephyr or Verdant Volt—remained out of reach. That was fine. Overkill. This wasn’t about overwhelming power. It was about gathering aether, materials, and reorienting his arsenal.

No weapons? No problem.

He reached for what he did have.

Pebbles. Dozens of them tucked into pouches at his side. Each hand-selected for size, shape, and weight. And more importantly—each one an extension of his skill:

[Basic Projectile Mastery]

And faintly, around him, feathers shimmered into view—translucent, ephemeral, each one curved like the edge of a scythe. They resembled the feathers of a Shinma Enaga. The connection was faint, but it was there.

Kei Y took a breath and accessed what sliver he could of his evolved art:

[Khenu – Level 2]

[Shinma Edgecraft: Stormpiercer Ascendant]

—Lethal Bloom:

Upon impact, infused projectiles blossom into a storm of elemental petals or feathers.

Wind petals slice with precision. Thunder blooms chain to nearby enemies.

Each bloom scales with infusion depth and is influenced by throwing angle and rotation speed.

It wasn’t full power. Not yet.

He couldn’t access thunder blooms, or unleash chained detonations—but wind petals?

That he could manage.

And in this place, it’d be more than enough.

He stepped forward, wind brushing his fingertips, and glanced toward Silvie—only to see her already smiling.

Kei M stepped up beside them, his expression calmer now, a quiet focus sharpening his gaze. His signature rope rock extended, coiled in his hand, Sound Force pulsing faintly from its fibers.

The moment he activated it, something changed in him. The casual, teasing demeanor disappeared. He was all combat instinct now—eyes focused, posture grounded.

The first enemies appeared not a moment later.

A small herd of horned goats—rough-skinned, squat-legged, with jagged spiraling horns and rocky growths over their shoulders—burst out from the side of a broken ridge. Their hooves cracked stone with every step.

And Kei M was the first to move.

He leapt into the air with a short, compressed burst of Sound Force beneath his heels. Mid-flight, he twisted, then slammed down with an explosive crash, a shockwave erupting outward.

The impact destabilized the charging herd, sending them into disarray. Rocks crumbled, goats stumbled, and several collapsed outright.

Before they could regroup, he lashed out with his rope rock, the sound-enhanced tip snapping through the air like a whip. It struck with concussive force, disorienting several beasts and flattening two where they stood.

Kei Y watched. “God Sparks really are something, huh?”

“We really are,” Silvie replied, voice gleeful as the vines around her surged. They erupted from the ground beneath the goats—coiling, constricting, wrapping around necks and legs. With a flex of her fingers, thorns bit down. Bones cracked. Several of the goats collapsed, unmoving.

Kei Y rolled his pebble between two fingers, Breeze Force concentrating around it.

“Let’s see what wind can do,” he muttered.

He threw.

The stone curved unnaturally, caught in a burst of rotating breeze. The moment it struck a goat’s side—boom.

It erupted into slicing petals of wind, each feather-like shard cutting across exposed joints and underbelly.

Another goat collapsed.

Another two staggered.

And still, Kei Y reached for more stones, his face calm. Not even pushing himself yet.

Kei M smirked as he swept his rope into another crashing arc. “If this is a Grade F zone, I’m gonna start thinking you two are lazy.”

Silvie twirled a vine around her wrist. “We didn’t say we needed help.”

The trio pressed forward in unison, their motions clean, confident, and increasingly in sync.

It was hard to tell what was more terrifying.

The raw force each of them wielded—

—or the fact that this was just a warm-up.

It didn’t take long before the trio stood before the final obstacle of the fractured zone: a towering Horned Gorge Goat, the boss creature of this Grade F dungeon.

Its body was monstrous, nearly two meters tall at the shoulder, with gnarled twin horns spiraling outward like jagged crescents. Its hooves cracked the stone with every step, and its fur bristled with embedded rocky plates, giving it the look of a living boulder. Veins of raw aether shimmered beneath its surface, showing it was no normal beast—even in a fractured zone.

Wind petals spun in the air—remnants of Kei Y’s attacks.

Vines coiled tightly around the creature’s limbs and chest—Silvie’s control sealing its movement.

Cracks spidered beneath its hooves—aftermath of Kei M’s shockwave entry.

But the fight hadn’t been against the goat alone. No, the real competition had been between God Sparks—each trying to outshine the others.

The goat’s furious bleats echoed through the stone basin, but it didn’t last long.

Kei M was the first to strike, dashing forward with Sound Force pulsing through his limbs. He leapt high into the air, spiraling mid-spin before slamming down like a meteor. The moment his feet connected with the earth—

Bass Drop.

A localizedshockwaveburst outward, kicking up a ring of dust and destabilizing everything nearby. The force sent the boss stumbling, its footing ruined. The very ground warped with tremors, throwing off its posture.

Skill – Bass Drop (Kei M)

Description: A movement-based Sound Force skill. The user leaps into the air and slams down, releasing a seismic pulse that destabilizes footing, disrupts internal force circulation, and fractures terrain. Particularly effective against balance-dependent enemies.

Effect: Area of effect knockdown, force disorientation, and terrain disruption.

While the goat staggered, trying to regain balance, Silvie struck next. Her vines surged like spears from the ground, impaling the creature’s limbs. Thorns bloomed across the vines, locking its joints in place.

“Hold it still!” Kei Y shouted, already winding up.

A pebble gleamed in his fingers, Breeze Force swirling tightly around it. He pitched the throw with a spiraling flick, drawing on the evolving synergy of his Shinma Edgecraft technique.

Wind petals bloomed midair.

Lethal Bloom.

The projectile struck the goat’s neck—and a storm of slicing wind petals erupted in every direction, carving shallow cuts into its hide.

The goat roared in agony, tearing itself free of the vines in a burst of raw force. It lunged at Kei Y, horns ready to gore.

But Kei M wasn’t done.

He inhaled sharply, stepped forward—

Resonance Shout.

A thunderous sonic blast erupted from his throat. Not just a scream—an amplified resonance of Sound Force that created a tangible ripple in the air. The Goat’s charge faltered mid-step, its head twisting in pain. Blood ran from its ears.

Skill – Resonance Shout (Kei M)

Description: A force-projection skill that amplifies the user’s voice into a focused sonic blast. The soundwave disorients, deafens, and interrupts force channeling. Strong against enemies with low Willpower.

Effect: AoE disorientation, stun chance, skill-interruption.

Each of the three had gone out of their way to outshine the others. Projectiles, vines, sonic booms—it was less of a battle and more of a chaotic flexing match. Had the goat possessed any ability to curse them from beyond the grave, it would’ve used every bleating breath to damn all three of them.

“Now that was fun,” Kei M said, twirling his rope rock with a grin. “Been a while since I stepped into a zone. Granted, it was a Grade F fractured zone—but still.”

Silvie and Kei Y didn’t respond. Mostly because they were still reeling from the ringing in their ears.

“WHAT?!” Kei Y shouted, still half-deaf.

“COULD YOU NOT DO THAT AGAIN?” Silvie added, her voice sharp and strained.

Kei M winced apologetically. “Yeah, uh… probably should’ve warned you about Resonance Shout.”

He glanced between them, rubbing the back of his head. “...And maybe Bass Drop. My bad.”

Before they could retaliate, a glowing gold prompt appeared in front of them.

[System Notice: Grade F Dungeon Completion Achieved.]

[Evaluating Performance…]

[Individual Performance Grading Initiated.]

[Assessing: Combat Contribution, Damage Dealt, Damage Received, Tactics, and Adaptability.]

[Participant 1: Khenu (Kei Y)]

• Combat Contribution: A

• Damage Dealt: A+

• Damage Received: B
• Tactics & Adaptability: A → Overall Grade: A

• Combat Contribution: A

• Damage Dealt: A

• Damage Received: A+

• Tactics & Adaptability: A+ → Overall Grade: A+

• Combat Contribution: A

• Damage Dealt: A

• Damage Received: A
• Tactics & Adaptability: A → Overall Grade: A

[Reward Calculation Based on Individual Performance…]

[Base Rewards for Dungeon Completion:]

• Aether Crystals (Low-Grade) x5

• Dungeon Completion Title: [Novice Delver]

• Grade A: +1 Force-Infused Weapon (Rare Chance)

• Grade A+: +1 Force-Infused Weapon OR Armor Piece (Choose One)
• Perfect Grade Bonus: +1 Stat Point (Unassigned)

[Calculating…]

…

…

[Skill Awakening Successful!]

[Participant 2 (Sanu) has unlocked the Skill: Verdant Grasp – Allows nature-based bindings to remain active even after being severed, regenerating from ambient aether.]

“Verdant Grasp?” Silvie blinked at the screen, then looked at her vines.

“Hey, nice!” Kei Y said, nudging her with his elbow. “Force petal storm still looks cooler, though.”

“Oh please,” she rolled her eyes. “You just like the fact that yours makes a mess.”

“Bass Drop for the win,” Kei M said smugly. “Can’t beat that entrance.”

“You nearly burst my eardrums,” Silvie hissed.

“Style has a price.”

They all chuckled, walking toward the fractured exit, the shattered terrain behind them. Despite the grade of the dungeon, there was a mutual satisfaction in their eyes.

They ventured through two more fractured zones before finally calling it a night, returning to their home with dust on their clothes and smiles tugging at the corners of their mouths. Even though the zones were only Grade F, their haul had been worthwhile—especially the low-grade aether crystals they now carried. In a region so deprived of natural aether, even these small shards were precious. If nothing else, they’d at least give Inpu and Mia something to cultivate from.

Among the rewards, Silvie had awakened a new ability: [Verdant Grasp]

Kei M had also received a new skill from the system:

[Echo Rebound] – Sound waves now reverberate around impacted areas, creating delayed shock pulses that can chain into nearby enemies.

Still, none of them were the type to rely blindly on system-awarded skills.

They were God Sparks—entities beyond the ordinary laws of progression. Each had forged skills through will and ingenuity, not handouts. Kei Y’s Basic Projectile Mastery, Phantom Breeze, and Shinma Edgecraft: Stormpiercer Ascendant were all self-developed, shaped by instinct, environment, and repetition—not the system’s generosity.

To them, system-granted skills were more like suggestions—ideas to refine and develop further on their own terms.

Even so, Kei Y had been particularly pleased with their haul. Among the spoils were twisted goat horns, dense with embedded aether, and several raw ores collected from a collapsed ridge.

As he examined the materials, he turned to Kei M with a grin. “Hey, Kei. I can finally make that weapon I had in mind for you.”

Kei M raised an eyebrow. “Huh? Took you long enough. It better be worth the wait.”

Kei Y just smiled and returned to organizing the materials.

That night, the three God Sparks crashed hard—exhaustion finally catching up with them after hours of exploration, combat, and analysis. The moment their heads hit the bedding, they were out cold.

By the time morning came, Inpu and Mia were the first to wake.

They found the three still fast asleep, sprawled across the floor with barely a twitch among them. Their breaths were steady, relaxed, peaceful. Whatever they’d done the night before had clearly worn them out.

“Wow… they’re really out,” Inpu whispered, nudging a foot toward Kei M but stopping short.

Mia nodded. “I guess they trained harder than we thought.”

Neither of them realized that the trio had left the house entirely the night before, slipping away without a word. And frankly… what they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them.