Setting the Bait(1)
Ten thousand Cosmic Credits.
The glowing golden number floated in the suffocating darkness of the Abyssal Rift, bathing Kael's blood-caked face in a faint, almost surreal warmth.
It was a small fortune.
To the Supreme Constellation known as 'DragonBoredom', it was probably no more valuable than a loose coin tossed into a wishing well.
But to Kaelen Cross, a man who had survived three thousand, six hundred and fifty days on raw rat meat and muddy rainwater, it was something far more precious.
It was the key to unlocking his cage.
He didn't celebrate.
He didn't even smile.
"System," Kael rasped, his voice dry as gravel. "Open the Cosmic Shop."
[Opening Interstellar Marketplace...]
The holographic interface burst open, swallowing his vision beneath an endless sea of shimmering menus, impossible treasures, and cosmic commodities.
[Category: Weapons]
[Category: Bloodlines]
[Category: Slaves/Companions]
[Category: Consumables]
The listings bordered on the absurd.
A single drop of blood from a True Void Dragon was priced at three billion Cosmic Credits.
A tactical orbital strike commissioned from a mercenary fleet in the Andromeda Sector cost fifty million.
Kael's eyes passed over them without the slightest flicker of temptation.
He didn't need a dragon's bloodline.
He didn't need a fleet capable of erasing cities.
He only needed to repair the shattered ruin inside his chest.
"Filter by Consumables. Sub-category: Magical Core Restoration. Maximum price: ten thousand."
The marketplace responded instantly.
Thousands of listings vanished in a blur until only a few dozen remained.
Most were temporary stimulants.
Pain suppressants.
Worthless placebos masquerading as miracles.
Then he saw it.
A glowing blue vial resting at the very top of the list.
[Item: Basic Core Mending Elixir]
[Grade: F-Tier (Cosmic Standard)]
[Description: A foul-tasting concoction brewed by low-level alchemists of the Aetherium Spire. Capable of forcibly reattaching shattered mana pathways and repairing up to 10% of a destroyed mortal core.]
[Warning: The process is exceptionally violent. High risk of pain-induced shock.]
[Price: 7,500 Cosmic Credits]
"Ten percent..."
Kael's voice was barely a whisper.
Ten percent.
To anyone else, it would have sounded laughably insignificant.
Before Marcus Thorne drove that cursed dagger into his back, Kael's mana core had been a raging, bottomless ocean.
With a single overcharged sniper round, he could have erased an entire city block from existence.
Ten percent of that ocean was nothing more than a puddle.
But even a puddle could drown a man, if you held his head under long enough.
"Purchase."
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
[7,500 Credits deducted. Remaining Balance: 2,500]
A soft chime echoed through the cavern.
The fabric of space rippled, then split apart above his outstretched hand.
An iron-capped glass vial dropped neatly into his palm.
Inside, a strange liquid swirled like molten mercury laced with shards of crushed sapphire, shimmering with an unnatural light.
Kael didn't spare the marketplace another glance.
He hooked his thumb beneath the iron cap and popped it free.
The stench hit him instantly.
It smelled like battery acid fermented with rotting mint.
Disgusting.
He didn't hesitate.
Tilting his head back, he emptied the entire vial in a single, merciless gulp.
Silence.
One second.
Two.
The chat exploded.
[User 'Star_Dust_69': Wait... did he just drink an Aetherium concoction without a pain-suppressor rune?]
[User 'Weapons_Nut_44': Oh, this is going to be ugly. Those things don't heal you, they weld your soul back together with a blowtorch.]
[User 'Zark': Get the popcorn!]
Then it began.
Fire.
Not heat.
Not pain.
Fire.
It erupted from the center of his chest and spread through every nerve in his body like liquid molten steel.
The empty vial slipped from his fingers.
It struck the bedrock and exploded into glittering shards.
Kael didn't scream.
He bit down on his own tongue so hard that a thick stream of dark crimson blood instantly leaked from the corner of his mouth.
His eyes rolled back into his head, exposing the whites.
He collapsed to his knees in the mud.
It felt like someone had shoved a handful of jagged, rusty razor blades down his throat, lit them on fire, and forced them directly into his heart.
The shattered, dead shards of his mana core, dormant for ten years, were suddenly flooded with highly volatile cosmic energy.
Crack. Snap.
The sickening sound of his internal pathways physically breaking and rapidly restitching themselves echoed in the quiet cavern.
His muscles seized. Every vein in his neck and arms bulged out, turning a sickening, glowing shade of blue.
He dug his calloused, heavily scarred fingers into the solid rock floor, his nails splintering as he dragged them across the stone in sheer, blinding agony.
[User 'Gloop': Holy shit! Look at his vital signs on the HUD! His heart rate just hit 240 BPM!]
[User 'Zark': He's still not screaming. How the fuck is he not screaming?!]
[User 'Bet-Master': This guy is an absolute psychopath. The pain tolerance needed to brute-force a Core Mending Elixir without suppression is beyond human.]
[User 'DragonBoredom': ...Magnificent.]
For three unrelenting minutes, Kaelen Cross endured hell.
Every shattered mana pathway was torn apart, reforged, and stitched back together inside his chest. Every heartbeat felt like a hammer striking molten steel.
He refused to scream.
He refused to beg.
He refused to let the universe hear even a single sound of surrender.
Instead, he clung to one image.
Marcus Thorne.
That smug, triumphant smile.
Again.
And again.
And again.
He fed every ounce of agony into his hatred, forging it into an anchor that kept his mind from splintering under the unbearable torment.
Then, at long last...
The violent blue glow coursing beneath his skin began to fade.
The violent seizures stopped.
Kael let out a long, ragged exhale, a cloud of white, mana-infused steam escaping his bloody lips.
He opened his eyes.
The silver irises were no longer dull and dead.
They glowed with a faint, predatory blue luminescence.
He raised his hand.
He focused his mind, reaching deep into the newly repaired core resting inside his chest.
A tiny spark answered.
Bzzzt.
A thread of blue lightning crawled across his fingertips, flickering weakly in the suffocating darkness.
It was pathetic.
A few years ago, that amount of mana would not have even been enough to warm his hands.
Compared to the ocean of power he once possessed, this was nothing more than a dying ember.
But it was an ember.
And an ember was enough to start a fire.
Kael stared at the trembling blue light dancing across his fingers.
Then a cruel, bloodstained smile slowly spread across his face.
"I'm back," he whispered into the darkness.
[System Alert: The presence of a Supreme Constellation has triggered the Algorithm!]
[Your stream is being promoted to the front page of the Mortal Realms category!]
[Current Viewers: 5,402]
The viewer count exploded.
Thousands upon thousands of cosmic entities flooded into the stream, drawn by the spectacle created by the Dragon Empress's donation.
The chat moved so quickly that the messages became nothing more than a blur of meaningless colors.
Kael ignored them.
He had no interest in entertaining the universe yet.
He still had one final purchase to make.
"System. Purchase Shadow-Weave Cloak."
[2,500 Credits deducted. Remaining Balance: 0]
A final spatial rift tore open in front of him.
From within the darkness, a matte-black cloak descended into his waiting hands.
It wasn't ordinary fabric.
It felt alive.
Like liquid shadow woven into a shape that only barely belonged to this world.
[Item: Shadow-Weave Cloak]
[Grade: E-Tier]
[Effect: Blends the wearer's thermal and magical signature with surrounding shadows. Highly effective in zero-light environments.]
Kael draped the cloak over his broad shoulders and fastened the dark iron clasp around his neck.
Instantly, his presence began to disappear.
The faint glow of mana vanished.
His heat signature faded.
His silhouette melted into the endless darkness of the Abyssal Rift.
For ten years, the universe had forgotten Kaelen Cross existed.
Now, the darkness itself was hiding him.
He reached down and picked up his eighty-pound crossbow, Vengeance, sliding the massive weapon beneath the cloak.
The weight felt familiar.
Comforting.
Like an old friend returning home.
His broken core was repaired.
His weapon was in his hands.
His enemies believed he was already dead.
Kael lowered his hood, his silver eyes glowing faintly in the darkness.
He was no longer a prisoner.
He was no longer prey.
The hunt had begun.