Blood Price and Bond
Night fell hard after the escape. They holed up in a ruined outpost half-sunk into a cliff, long abandoned. The silence inside was broken only by the crackling of a low fire.
Ethan leaned against a broken pillar, his body sore, mind racing. "They were hunting me like I was a... trophy."
"You are," Aelira said quietly. "To the wrong people, a Transmigrant is a living artifact. A soul out of sync with the world. Rare. Valuable. Dangerous."
He clenched his fists. "So what now? Run forever?"
She looked at him steadily. "No. You fight. You train. You choose who you become."
Ethan pulled up his System screen again.
[User Status: Ethan Cross]
Chrono Rank: F+
System Sync: 22%
Attributes:
Strength: 5
Agility: 7
Endurance: 6
Intelligence: 12
Willpower: 11
Abilities:
Rapid Cognitive Acceleration
Reflex Sync
Counter Surge (Passive)
Skills:
Blade Instinct (Rank E)
Evasion (F)
Traits:
Echo-Touched
New Objective:
Confront the Scorchfang Guild – Optional (Suggested Rank: E)
Continue Seer's Path – 0/5 Temporal Threads Recovered
Ethan closed the screen. "Then I'll choose. I'm not just some relic. I'm not Kaelen, either. I'm me."
Aelira smiled for the first time in days. "Good. Because tomorrow, we start real training."
Outside, something growled in the dark.
And Ethan smiled back.