Back in his room in the middle of the night.


    Auron sat on his bed, his gaze locked on the faint, silvery glow of moonlight seeping through the narrow window. His thoughts were a storm of frustration and desperation. The day''s failure had struck him harder than he cared to admit. He had tried to establish a contract with a beast, only to have the attempt fail miserably before his very eyes.


    "Harwin''s sneer clung to him, every word replaying like a brand seared into his skull." As much as Auron despised the instructor''s words, the truth behind them stung even worse. He was weak.


    But weakness was not a condition he would tolerate. Not now. Not ever.


    He clenched his fists. For a brief, fleeting instant, he had felt something. A sensation unlike anything he had experienced before.


    No, it wasn''t the beast he was trying to contract. It was something else. Something buried within himself. The wolf had been nothing more than a Failed attempt to grasp a power far greater. And yet, that power had stirred, if only for a moment.


    He needed to confirm it.


    The night''s chill seeped into his bones as he rose from his bed and slipped into his clothes. His movements were precise, deliberate. He was not about to let failure define him. Not while there was still another path to pursue.


    The academy grounds stretched out before him like a shadowed maze. The bitter cold of midnight wrapped itself around the ancient oaks.


    Auron slipped past the dormitory guards, his footsteps light, his breath steady."


    His destination was ahead. The Abandoned Hall—a forgotten ruin hidden deep within the academy''s neglected grounds. It was a place shunned by students and teachers alike, its crumbling walls and desolate corridors a testament to a time long past.


    But, to Auron, it was more than a ruin. It was a sanctuary for the desperate. A place where he could test his limits away from the prying eyes of those who would dismiss him.


    He pushed open the rotting door, its creak swallowed by the silence. Dust swirled in the moonlight as he stepped inside, his footsteps echoing against the cracked stone floors.


    Now, with the darkness pressing in around him, Auron prepared to face whatever lay within himself.


    Whatever it took, he would seize that power.


    Auron''s footsteps echoed as he strode deeper into the Abandoned Hall.


    He dropped to his knees in the center of the shattered chamber, "His hands trembling with desperation, but it didn''t matter."


    "I felt something," he whispered to the empty darkness, his voice trembling but laced with determination. "During that ritual with the Iron Wolf… something reached out."


    But not the wolf. No, that beast was nothing more than a hollow echo. What he sought lay deeper. Caged within the depths of his own soul.


    Auron''s fingers clenched into fists, his knuckles whitening as his body trembled from the effort of simply keeping himself calm. His mind was a battlefield of doubt and defiance, every failure taunting him like a cruel specter.


    But something within him refused to yield.


    He inhaled slowly, his eyes slipping shut as he forced himself to abandon the broken ritual circle. He needed no intricate symbols or formalities. No, what he needed was to confront the darkness clawing at the edges of his consciousness.


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    What if the ritual was never about drawing power from something external? What if it was meant to awaken something already within him?


    The idea was madness. Or perhaps it was brilliance. Auron didn''t care which. All he cared about was proving that he was more than some weak, talentless fool.


    He took another deep breath, sinking into himself. Letting his senses blur, his consciousness spiraling inward like a vortex. His heartbeat slowed, his breathing steadied.


    The world around him faded into nothingness. Only the darkness remained.


    It was there, lurking beneath the surface. A pulse. Faint but undeniable. Heavy and relentless, like the heartbeat of something far greater than himself. It throbbed with a power that sent chills down his spine. A force both terrifying and alluring.


    His eyes snapped open, but he wasn''t seeing the hall around him. Instead, his vision was flooded with darkness, an endless abyss where the faint glow of his own soul flickered like a candle in the void.


    He reached for it. Stretched his mind toward that pulse, his thoughts tearing through the darkness like claws. Desperation clawed at him, his resolve sharpened by the bitter taste of failure.


    following this move, pain flooded his senses, originating from his soul as if he was being punished for entering somewhere forbidden.


    But he didn''t pull back. Instead, he gritted his teeth and pushed forward.


    "Is that... all you''ve got?" he snarled into the darkness, his voice a hoarse growl.


    "I don''t care what you are," Auron spat, his words defiant even as his soul trembled under the voice''s might. "If you have power, then I''ll take it. Whatever it takes."


    Right after he voiced those words he almost immediately regretted them


    "Pain tore through him—bones fracturing, veins burning like frostbitten steel. His mind buckled, sanity slipping through his fingers.


    But even as his consciousness fractured, something held on. A burning defiance that refused to be snuffed out.


    The agony built to a crescendo, his entire being splintering—


    "The pain faded. Auron lay on the cold stone, chest heaving, body trembling."


    But something was different.


    A thrumming energy now pulsed within him, fierce and untamed. His senses were sharper, his body lighter. His muscles hummed with newfound strength, his mind clearer, hungrier. And the voice… it still lingered, a shadow at the edge of his thoughts.


    Auron''s lips twitched into a weary, triumphant grin. Whatever he had just awakened, it was real. And it was his.


    Just as he steadied his trembling breath, the air around him grew heavy, thick with an unseen force that coiled around his very soul. His heart pounded as if it had been shackled by icy chains, a suffocating presence pressing down on his entire being.


    Then, it came.


    A splitting headache as if his head was being pried open, followed by a cold, emotionless voice whispering into the depths of his mind.


    [The Primordial Beast Assimilation System has awakened.]


    [Initialization complete. Tracking host''s growth and recording all progress.]


    Auron''s eyes widened, his exhaustion momentarily forgotten. What the hell was this? "Panic clawed at his chest as his mind scrambled to make sense of the words."Was this some sort of twisted hallucination brought on by his desperation?


    "No… no, I''m not losing my mind," he muttered to himself, his voice shaky and strained. But the words didn''t feel like his own. They felt like something... implanted.


    Was this a side effect of whatever he had just done? His fingers dug into the cold stone floor as if the sensation would anchor him back to reality. But reality itself seemed to be warping, molding itself to something alien and unnatural.


    Just as he was about to convince himself he was hallucinating, more words carved themselves into his consciousness.


    [The Primordial Beast Assimilation System allows the host to acquire attributes from beasts personally slain. Attributes are directly incorporated into the host''s essence, enhancing strength, speed, senses, or other qualities depending on the beast defeated.]


    [The stronger the beast, the greater the reward. But be warned—failure will not be forgiven.]


    The words drilled into his mind with relentless precision. Cold. Unfeeling. The language of something far removed from humanity.


    "This isn''t real. It can''t be." Auron''s breath came short, hands gripping his head. "Think. THINK.". His instincts screamed at him to reject the presence coiling around his soul. The thing calling itself a "system."


    But the words didn''t fade. They lingered like a curse, refusing to release their hold on him.


    "Why…?" he rasped, his fists clenching until his knuckles turned white. "What even are you?"


    Silence. No answer. Whatever this system was, it was no sentient entity—just a mechanism that had latched onto him like a parasite.


    Panic morphed into frustration, his thoughts crashing against one another in a chaotic frenzy.


    The thing had said something about growth and rejection. But what did that even mean? Would it kill him if he couldn''t satisfy its demands?


    He stumbled backward until his back hit the rough stone wall. His breaths came out shallow and ragged.


    "Think, damn it. Think." His fingers pressed against his temples as if he could force clarity through sheer will.


    A sickening realization twisted his gut. Whatever ritual he''d just performed, whatever madness had compelled him to seek power from within himself—it had worked. But the cost…


    "I asked for power…" Auron whispered, his eyes darkening with the weight of his own desperation. "And this... thing answered."


    The system''s words lingered in his mind. Kill. Grow. Absorb. A brutal, simple truth."


    What was the system''s motive? Why did it even exist? Was it some sort of test? A curse? A gift? The lack of answers left him cold and unsettled.


    But the more he thought about it, the more a twisted logic began to solidify in his mind. This power... this system... it hadn''t just appeared out of nowhere. It had responded to his desire. To his desperation. To the darkness he had clawed for.


    If he rejected it now, then all his efforts would be wasted. And he would be left with nothing.


    His breathing slowed. His heartbeat steadied. And something within him—something deep, primal, and unyielding—began to stir.


    "Fine," Auron growled, his voice low and filled with a dangerous resolve. "You want me to kill and grow stronger? Then I''ll do it. Whatever the hell you are, I''ll make you my tool. Not the other way around."


    "Auron exhaled, slow and measured. His ambition wasn''t madness. It was clarity, sharpened by suffering ."