Hussainyeager

“They said I was too weak to survive. So they left me to die.”

In a world scarred by dimensional rifts, humanity’s only hope lies in Veilwalkers—elite hunters gifted with power by ancient relics. But not everyone is chosen.
Kael Verin wasn’t.

Labeled a failure. Mocked. Dragged through every dungeon as nothing more than bait.

Until one day, his own team—people he trusted—left him bleeding on the floor of a cursed ruin.

That should have been the end.

But something buried deep in the darkness heard him. And it offered a choice.

Not salvation.

Rebirth.

Now bound to an ancient and forbidden relic, Kael rises—not as a hero, not as a savior—but as the first Shadow Ranker, walking a path carved by pain, vengeance, and a power no human was ever meant to wield.

They took everything from him.

Now, he’ll take everything back.

Even if he becomes the monster they always feared he would.

Shadow Ranker

Chapter 6 – The Archivist's Whisper

The ruins of Eronvale stood like bones jutting out from the earth. Once a thriving city of scholars and mages, it had burned to ash during the Class Wars—a past the guilds didn't talk about. The place was cursed, they said.

He stepped through shattered stone gates. Vines wrapped around crumbled archways. Faded glyphs lit up faintly beneath his boots—responding not to him, but to what lived inside him now.

> "Shadow Class… Lost, not dead," he murmured.

He found it by accident. A collapsed floor, a ladder of bone and rusted chain. And at the bottom… silence. Perfect, echoing silence.

"About time," said a voice, brittle as dried leaves.

A man sat in a stone chair, wrapped in layers of ancient robes. His skin was pale like parchment, and one of his eyes had been replaced by a smooth obsidian gem.

> "Who are you?" Kael asked, fists half-raised.

The man chuckled softly. "They called me The Archivist. I remember things the world wants forgotten. Like… you."

"No," the man smiled darkly. "Your Class."

The Archivist waved his hand. A magical sigil bloomed into the air—ghostly images flickering to life.

Soldiers of shadow. Kings fallen to one-kill blades. Warlocks swallowed by their own fear.

> "The Shadow Class wasn't destroyed because it was dangerous. It was erased because it was free."

> "No gods. No systems. No guilds. Just raw will."

"You were chosen," the Archivist continued. "The moment that Shadow Crystal touched your soul. You're not just a ranker now."

Kael gritted his teeth. "Then let them try."

The Archivist stood slowly, bones cracking like twigs. He raised a hand—and from the shadows, a book floated forward.

Bound in skin. Bleeding from its spine.

"Take it," he whispered. "The first and last manual of the Shadow Rank. It will teach you what no one else can."

Kael hesitated… then grabbed it.

[Item Acquired – Codex Umbra: Forbidden Tome of the Shadow Path]

> Skill Tree Unlocked: Ancient Techniques

Outside, thunder rolled across the skies.

Something in the world had changed—again.

"The Archivist’s Whisper"