Mikael_Guerrero_3059

In a world where nearly everyone awakens to powerful abilities at the age of fourteen, Ren Kisaragi remains powerless. Scarred by the trauma of his father’s death in a dungeon collapse, his awakening never comes, leaving him to survive as a scavenger—harvesting monster corpses to support his ailing mother and little sister, Yui.
Looked down on by hunters and ignored by society, Ren bears the weight of his family’s survival with quiet determination. But everything changes the day he encounters a forgotten creature deep within a dungeon. Marked by a strange symbol, Ren unlocks a terrifying new power—not from the world of light, but from the void itself.
As dungeons grow unstable and ancient threats awaken, Ren begins a dangerous descent—not just into the depths of the earth, but into the heart of what he truly is. Guided by pain, grounded by love, and shadowed by a power that could consume him, Ren must forge his own path. Not as a hero. Not as a monster.
But as the boy who refused to break.

Dungeons Scavenger:The Boy Who Couldn’t Awaken

Ren had never entered the Arcanum Library before. Most scavengers weren't even allowed near it. The enormous, stone-walled building stood at the heart of the city like a fortress, guarded by old magic and quiet watchers. But the mark on his chest had granted him passage.

The librarian hadn't even looked at him.

Now he stood alone among rows of towering, dust-caked tomes and ancient scrolls, the silence thick and reverent. He could hear his own heartbeat—and beneath it, something else. Something deeper.

Hour after hour passed. Books on magic theory. Histories of awakenings. Reports of anomalies and forbidden rituals. He found nothing. Nothing that matched what he had done. What he had become.

Until he opened a thin, leather-bound journal sealed in black wax.

It didn't have an author. No title. Just two words scratched into the first page:

The journal spoke of a lost line of beings who weren't blessed with powers—but cursed with hunger. Born not to awaken, but to devour. They absorbed the essence of creatures from the abyssal layers of the dungeon. Not just physically—but spiritually. Mentally.

They didn't evolve. They accumulated.

There had been one recorded centuries ago. A child born powerless who brought ruin to an entire city when he lost control. The records stopped abruptly—burned, buried, silenced.

Ren sat frozen, fingers trembling.

He wasn't broken. He wasn't locked.

A sound echoed through the aisle. Footsteps.

Kaede emerged from the shadows, her expression grim. "I figured you'd come here."

"I suspected," she said. "When I saw the creature submit to you, I remembered an old story my mentor once told. About a being who wore darkness like armor. Who didn't awaken power—but inherited hunger."

Ren closed the book slowly. "So what do I do now?"

Kaede looked at him, eyes fierce. "You figure out how to control it. Or it'll consume you. And then all of us."

Ren looked down at his hand. The black veins pulsed faintly. The mark on his chest throbbed in agreement.

"I need to go deeper," he whispered.

Chapter 7: The Forgotten Lore