Chapter Three: Shackled Power

First Layer

Inner pit

Pitland AKA "The Pit"

Continent of Zenithan

I clenched my fists, feeling the familiar hum of power beneath my skin—the strength, the reflexes, the sheer raw force that set me apart from mundanes—and yet, it wasn't enough. Not like this. Not when I was forced to fake it. The Astral-tech gauntlets strapped to my forearms hummed with a dull, simulated glow, their energy entirely for show, a trick to keep up appearances. They were non-functional, nothing more than empty shells meant to sell the illusion that I was just another Ranker relying on gear instead of something far rarer.

Because if the world knew the truth—that these gauntlets were worthless to me…That Astral-tech and my body were fundamentally incompatible…That my system had shackled my psychic power, locking away what made me different…

I wouldn't just be rejected. I'd be hunted. I let out a slow breath, flexing my fingers as I crouched low in the dense, fog-covered undergrowth of the First Layer of the Inner Pit. The air here was thick and heavy with the stagnant scent of damp earth and the underlying crackle of stray Astral energy. This was a place where the weak did not belong.

And yet, this was where I belonged the most. I had been denied a Rank Operator position, told I was unfit, that I lacked what it took to be one of Cognis's sanctioned hunters. But in the end, I was already doing what they feared I couldn't.

I was a Free Ranker in all but name. I hunted alone, and descended into the Pit without support, without backup, without anyone watching my back. The only difference was that I didn't have their approval. I gritted my teeth. What a damn joke.

Ahead, through the mist, the low, guttural snarl of a Spirit Beast rumbled through the trees. I moved slowly, pressing my palm against the ground. Even without my system's full capabilities unlocked, my heightened senses picked up the subtle vibrations—a quadruped, its movements steady, prowling.

It's close.

The system interface flickered to life in my vision, data scrolling in an alien, unreadable script, before shifting into something my mind could process.

Target Identified: Spectral Fenrir (Phase Variant)

Threat Level: Rank-2 Beast

Astral Energy Signature: [High Density]

Estimated Assimilation Value: 22% Progress toward System Upgrade

A Phase Variant. That meant it could shift between the physical and Astral planes, making it a nightmare for most Rankers to fight alone.

Most.

I tensed, muscles coiling, my system adjusting my body's internal energy output. Even with my power sealed, the system allowed me access to its baseline enhancements—strength, speed, and reflexes far beyond human limits. Enough to make me seem like a Ranker with advanced Astral-tech augmentation.

But that's all it was—a deception. I wasn't an Augment. I wasn't relying on the tech. I was born differently. Gifted. Cursed. And the worst part? The very system that made me this way was the one that kept me shackled.

Power Restriction Protocol: Active.

Psychic Output: 0.0001% Utilization.

I swallowed back my frustration. Not now. Right now, my only focus was the hunt. The Fenrir crept forward, its silvered body phasing in and out of existence, its eyes glowing with the eerie, unearthly light of an apex predator sensing prey.

Too bad for it—I wasn't prey. The moment it lunged, I moved. A blur of motion. A flicker of force. A collision of brute power and instinct. I drove my fist forward, colliding with the beast's head in a single, brutal strike.

For an instant, reality seemed to fold inward, the space around my knuckles distorting as the force of the impact rippled outward, slamming the Fenrir's entire body into the ground with bone-crushing momentum. The beast shuddered, its body convulsing before fading into raw energy, changing into a large luminous shard of Astral essence. After picking the shard, I delivered it to the cube object that accompanied me, the vessel of my system that only I could perceive, feeding it and fueling its hunger.

System Assimilation: +22% Progress toward Upgrade.

Current Upgrade Threshold: 64% Completion.

I let out a slow breath, rolling my shoulders as the last traces of the Fenrir's essence vanished. This was why I was here. To hunt. To feed the system. To earn my way back to the power that was rightfully mine. No Cognis, no Legacy Family, no one else would do it for me.

And once my system fully unlocked itself, the world would finally see what they had rejected. And they would regret it.

The Inner Pit's first layer stretched before me like a realm between life and oblivion, the very air pulsing with the residue of Astral energy. Spirit Beasts lurked between the twisted ruins and ashen forests, their monstrous forms prowling the depths, thriving in the lawless, corrupted ecosystem.

I wiped the bloodied remnants of the Fenrir's energy signature from my knuckles, barely taking a moment to breathe before pushing forward. This hunt wasn't over. The system needed more. More kills. More energy. More progress toward the upgrade.

The silver cube, no larger than the palm of my hand, hovered at my side—VoidNet, its surface adorned with shifting glyphs and symbols, each one simmering with an eerie, liquid-like glow.

"Your progress is insufficient," VoidNet's voice resonated in my mind, its tone neither cruel nor kind—just cold, calculating, inhuman. "You are at 64% completion. At this rate, full system restoration will take 21 more successful hunts."

I scowled, kicking a loose rock aside as I surveyed my next target zone—a ruined spire where Spirit Beasts had nested, their presence twisting the area into a warped hunting ground.

"You could've made this easier on me, you know," I muttered, flexing my fingers. "Like, I don't know, letting me use my power?"

VoidNet's glyphs shifted, a mechanical pulse rippling across its form. "Your psychic abilities remain sealed for a reason."

I exhaled sharply. "Yeah? And what reason is that?"

A long pause. The cube hummed, its symbols rearranging themselves into unreadable sequences.

"Insufficient data to provide a satisfactory response."

I scoffed. "Of course. Typical."

VoidNet had always been like this—cryptic, evasive, revealing only what it wanted me to know when it wanted me to know it. It had chosen me, bound itself to me, reworked my very biological and psychic blueprint—and yet, it still kept me in the dark. And then there was the mission. My grip tightened.

The six founders of the Legacy Families.

The rulers of the six nations, the invisible hands behind Cognis, the elites of elites—untouchable, unreachable, locked away in their high towers of wealth, power, and control.

VoidNet had given me one directive, a task so ludicrous, so impossible, that even now, I could barely wrap my head around it. Eliminate them. Destroy the untouchables. Topple the kings and queens of the new world.

I clenched my jaw. "You expect me to kill them? When I can't even get my foot inside their damn organization?"

VoidNet remained silent for a moment before responding. "You lack the necessary means at this time."

"No shit," I snapped. "Cognis rejected me. There goes my perfect little plan of sneaking into their ranks and working my way up. Without that, I'm just another nameless Ranker. I don't exactly have access to the inner circles of the elites."

"Alternative routes exist."

I laughed dryly, shaking my head. "Like what? Walking up to a Legacy family estate and knocking on their door?"

VoidNet pulsed, its symbols shifting once more. "Eliminating the Founders is not an act of brute force. It is an act of infiltration, deception, and timing. Their influence stretches across every nation. You will need to weave yourself into their world through paths they cannot predict."

"And Cognis was my best shot at that," I argued. "Without them, I'm stuck clawing my way through the ranks of Free Rankers, hoping someone important notices me. That could take years."

"It could," VoidNet admitted. "Or it could take days. It depends on how willing you are to accelerate the process."

I frowned. "What does that mean?"

"Eliminate something they do notice."

The words were cold. Final.

VoidNet was telling me to make a statement. To leave a mark so undeniable that Cognis—or the Legacy Families—would be forced to acknowledge my existence.

I exhaled slowly. "You're suggesting I go loud."

"I am suggesting you become impossible to ignore."

A sudden roar split the air—deep, guttural, filled with resonant Astral distortion.

I turned sharply, my eyes narrowing at the monstrous shape emerging from the mist—a Titanbone Serpent, its body covered in jagged, crystalized armor, its eyes burning with unnatural hunger.

Target Identified: Titanbone Serpent (Rank-3)

Threat Level: High

Astral Energy Signature: [Extremely Dense]

Estimated Assimilation Value: 36% Progress toward System Upgrade

I rolled my shoulders, the weight of the hunt settling in. One more step toward the next phase of my mission. One more step toward becoming something they couldn't ignore.

I smirked, shifting into a combat stance, my fingers tightening into a fist.

"Then let's make some noise." The Titanbone Serpent slithered forward, its massive frame shifting between the fog-shrouded ruins like a spectral leviathan. Its body was heavily armored, covered in jagged, crystalline plating, each scale glistening with trapped Astral energy. The beast was unnatural, a product of the Pit's corruption, an apex predator adapted to hunt those foolish enough to descend into its territory.

I exhaled, loosening my stance. This wouldn't be easy. This beast was a walking fortress, and even though my system granted me enhanced strength, speed, and reflexes, I wasn't about to blindly charge in. It watched me with burning, molten eyes, its pupils nothing but shifting pools of Astral distortion. This thing wasn't just sentient—it was aware.

And it was waiting for me to move first.

Fine. I lunged. A blur of motion—my feet kicking off the cracked earth, sending dust and debris spiraling into the air as I closed the gap in an instant. The Serpent reacted immediately, its massive head rearing back before striking like a coiled thunderbolt, its sheer speed unnatural for its size.

I twisted at the last second, pivoting mid-air, my reflexes sharpening as I let my instincts take over. The beast's jaw snapped shut just inches from my chest, but I was already moving, already striking. My fist rocketed forward, colliding directly into the side of its skull.

A shockwave rippled outward from the impact, the force of my strike sending cracks spiderwebbing across the crystalline plating. The beast snarled, its body twisting violently as it recoiled, but I didn't let up. I landed in a crouch and launched myself right back into its range.

The serpent's tail lashed out, cutting through the air with a high-pitched shriek, its razor-sharp spines glowing with unstable Astral energy. Too fast to dodge.

I braced.

The impact slammed into my side, the sheer force of it sending me hurtling across the battlefield, my back crashing into the crumbling remains of an old ruin. The shockwave shattered stone, dust, and debris exploding into the air as I gritted my teeth, forcing my body to absorb the kinetic force. Pain lanced through my ribs, but nothing was broken. Not yet.

"Your reaction time is suboptimal," VoidNet's voice cut into my head, cold and detached.

"Thanks for the input," I muttered, pushing myself back to my feet. "Really helpful."

The serpent didn't hesitate. It charged, its body ripping through stone and earth, its Astral core pulsing violently as its mouth began to glow—

I recognized that glow.

A high-output Astral burst attack—its body was condensing energy, preparing to unleash a destructive beam strong enough to reduce me to dust. No time to think. I moved. Faster. My legs burned with unnatural force, my body surging forward right before the blast fired.

The serpent's Astral beam erupted—a blinding white inferno, carving a massive crater through the battlefield, obliterating the ruins behind me.

But I was already above it.

Already mid-air, twisting through the heat of its fading attack, its own momentum leaving it exposed. My hand clenched into a fist, my system redirecting all internal kinetic energy into a singular, concentrated point.

One strike.

I twisted, angling myself downward—

And then I drove my fist into the beast's skull with everything I had.

[Collapsing fist]

The impact hit like a meteor.

A shockwave exploded outward, the very air warping from the sheer force, the Serpent's head slamming into the ground with an earth-shaking impact. Its body convulsed violently, its Astral core rupturing, energy leaking from its wounds as its entire form destabilized.

And then—

The Titanbone Serpent shattered, its body dissolving into a pure Astral essence shard, and then the energy from the shard flowed into me and Voidnet like a tide. I staggered, my vision flickering for a moment as the system and I absorbed the energy, processing the sheer density of it.

System Assimilation: +36% Progress toward Upgrade.

Current Upgrade Threshold: 100% Completion.

Upgrade Available.

I exhaled sharply, my breath fogging in the cold air. The Titanbone Serpent's Astral shard pulsed within my grasp, its energy dense, raw, and overcharged. Too much power.

It had exceeded the system's projected requirement—not only completing my upgrade threshold but doing so without requiring additional Astral shards. This wasn't just a step forward. This was a breakthrough.

System Assimilation: 100% Completion.

Warning: Excess Astral Energy Detected. System Upgrade Acceleration in Progress.

VoidNet's glyphs flickered erratically, the silver cube hovering inches from my face, its symbols rearranging at impossible speeds.

"Unexpected parameter met," the AI stated. "Upgrade threshold exceeded. Initiating forced recalibration."

My vision blurred—a sudden rush of energy overload surging through my core, my nerves igniting like liquid fire had replaced my bloodstream.

I staggered, dropping to one knee, my hands clutching the earth as an invisible force crushed down on me, pressing into my bones, my mind, my very being.

I wasn't just absorbing energy.

I was rewriting myself.

Void Reconstruction Protocol: Stage One – Initiated.

Recalibrating neural pathways.

Synchronizing biological framework with system enhancements.

Releasing dormant psychic nodes… ERROR.

Suppression Protocol Override in Effect.

What?

A spike of pain shot through my skull—like something crawling inside my brain, pressing against my consciousness, struggling to break free—but then, in an instant, it was locked away again, buried beneath layers of VoidNet's restrictive code.

My psychic power.

Still sealed.

Still denied to me.

I gritted my teeth, my fingers digging into the dirt, trying to fight against the suffocating hold on my own power.

"Damn it, VoidNet!" I snarled, my breath ragged. "You said this upgrade would restore my strength—so why the hell are you still holding me back?"

The cube pulsed. "Your current stability is insufficient for a full release. Attempting to unlock your psychic power would result in catastrophic backlash."

"Let me be the judge of that!" I roared.

A long, empty silence.

Then—

"Denied."

VoidNet's response was final, cold, and absolute. I cursed, my head pounding, my body still reconfiguring itself under the weight of the upgrade process.

Void Reconstruction Protocol: Stage Two – Complete.

System Upgrade Successful.

New Parameters Achieved.

I inhaled sharply as the pressure vanished, my body feeling lighter, faster, stronger—every fiber of my being now fine-tuned, perfectly calibrated beyond anything I had experienced before.

I clenched my fists, flexing my fingers, feeling the absolute precision of my movements, the undeniable shift in my body's limits.

I was stronger.

But not complete.

Not yet.

VoidNet's glyphs stabilized, its symbols simmering with renewed clarity, as it hovered closer.

"Your evolution is progressing according to design," it stated. "However, further upgrades will require direct refinement through combat and higher-tier Astral sources."

I scoffed, shaking my head. "Figures."

It was never going to be that easy.

But that was fine.

If the system refused to unlock my true power, I'd find another way.

If VoidNet wanted me to evolve through combat, I'd hunt the strongest things in the Pit until I was so powerful it had no choice but to comply.

I looked up toward the shifting skies of the Inner Pit, the air still thick with the scent of Astral residue and blood.

The Legacy Families thought they had rejected me.

Cognis thought they had cast me aside.

But the Pit?

The Pit was making me into something they could never control.

I exhaled, standing up.

The hunt continues.