Chapter 6: THE NEIGHBORING DOMAIN
The blood had dried by morning.
Reed sat in silence, staring at his reflection in the smoke pool. His eyes were rimmed with red, veins like black threads pulsing beneath the surface. The System had changed. No—he had changed.
Bloodcode: 1/7 Active.
The words still hovered like an infection in his mind.
But there was no time for reflection. Not in Goblin’s Hollow. Not when survival meant domination.
"Tell me about the lands beyond," Reed ordered, pacing the war-cave like a wolf.
Shia knelt, map hide unrolled between them. Her fingers, long and scarred, pointed northward to a shaded grove sketched in red ochre.
"Feyroot," she said. "A forest domain. Fertile. Unspoiled. Ruled by Lord Hadren of House Thorne. Noble-born. Silver blood. Full command of his System from birth."
Reed narrowed his eyes. "What’s his Hero?"
"A Sylvan Knight. Bow-wielding. A-rank."
He laughed—a hollow, guttural sound. "Perfect. Let’s see how silver tastes when it bleeds."