Lyerin''s breath came in ragged gasps as he stood in the dim moonlight, the pale glow of the three moons casting eerie shadows across thendscape.


    His return to the real world had be abrupt, almost violt, as if the very essce of the ruined magical world had tried to cling to him, to drag him back into its depths.


    However, he had managed to break free, and now he stood on the familiar soil of the real world, he could ev feel his heart pounding loudly in his chest.


    This was the advantage of having a tribe with a manifested spirit.


    The Borgias Family had be desperate to find a way to gain such a spirit, to secure their dominance over both realms. But Lyerin had seeded where they had failed, and now he could traverse betwe the real world and the ruined magical world as easily as stepping through a doorway—provided he offered the right essce.


    It was his edge against them and everyone.


    He clched his right fist, trying to push away the numbness that was spreading through his arm. His mind shed back to the momt in the ruined magical world wh he had lost his left arm to the sevth-cycle assassin''s strike.


    The pain had be searing, but he had managed to hold onto his life, to escape with his mother''s unconscious body. But now, something else was wrong.


    As he looked down at his right arm, he saw the skin slowly darking, turning ck as if it were being consumed by some unse force.


    Lyerin''s eyes wided in rm as the ckness crept up his arm, solidifying into a hard, lifeless shell.


    It was as if the death that had tak his right arm from the ruined magical world and was now spreading to his right, a curse that followed him to the real world.


    Panic red in his chest, but he forced it down, focusing on what he needed to do before it waspletely consumed.


    Without hesitation, Lyerin summoned the Eldr Mana, a dark and pott ergy that he had spt years mastering.


    Zaaaanng!


    The shadowy aura of the Eldr Mana swirled a his arm, a violet-ck light that pulsed with power.


    He directed the ergy into his dying limb, pouring it into the cked flesh in a desperate attempt to halt the spread of decay.


    For a momt, nothing happed.


    The ckness continued to crawl up his arm, a reltless tide that threated to consume him. But th, slowly, the dark ergy began to recede, the ckness fading to a deep violet as the Eldr Mana took hold.


    His arm was no longer dead, but it wasn''t fully alive either.


    It hung at his side, heavy and unresponsive, as if the ergy within it had be drained, leaving it a mere shell of what it once was.


    "Fortunately, I made it," Lyerin muttered under his breath, his voice trembling with the aftershocks of pain and exhaustion.


    He flexed his fingers experimtally, feeling the sluggish response of his damaged limb.


    It wasn''t much, but it would have to do.


    He turned his gaze to the sky, his eyes narrowing as he studied the positions of the three moons.


    Their alignmt told him it was only one o''clock—he still had time.


    His mother''s body was somewhere out there, and he needed to find her before the protection of the coffin with a panther aura dissipates.


    If they managed to get her, everything he had fought for, everything he had sacrificed, would be for nothing.


    Lyerin covered his discolored arm with his cloak, hiding the evidce of his injury. He couldn''t afford to show weakness, not now. Not wh the stakes were so high.


    He moved quickly to the ctaur statue that dominated the clearing, his movemts precise despite the weight of his exhaustion.


    As he approached, he let the Eldr Mana flow through him once more, summoning a shadowy figure that flickered in the moonlight.


    The statue''s mouth began to emit a long, hazy aura, a signal that the ancit magic within it had be activated.


    Crouching down, Lyerin focused on the faint trail of the panther''s Mana that lingered in the air. It was a powerful ergy, one that wouldst for a day, maybe more.


    With it, he could deal with any obstacle that came his way.


    He was about to leap into the air, to follow the trail to his mother''s location, wh a voice called out to him, stopping him in his tracks.


    "Lyerin!"


    He froze, his body tsing as he turned his head slightly, his eyes scanning the darkness for the source of the voice.


    There, emerging from the shadows with a beaming smile on her face, was Sophia.


    Lyerin''s heart skipped a beat.


    How did she get here so quickly?


    He had thrown them—her and the others—into the unexplored dungeons of the Borgias Family, telling them to level up to the peak Initial Stage before returning to the tribe.


    Yet here she was, standing before him with that same bright smile that had always made her seem more innoct than she truly was.


    "Sophia…"


    Lyerin began, his mind racing as he tried to make sse of her sudd appearance. But before he could ask how she had returned so soon, she interrupted him, her voice bubbling with excitemt.


    "Lyerin, I have great news!" she eximed, practically bouncing on her toes. "I''ve learned a new fighting ability—Earth Rumble! And it''s helped me and the hulking beasts level up so fast!"


    Lyerin''s eyes wided, his thoughtsing to a screeching halt.


    Earth Rumble?


    A natural ability?


    The words echoed in his ears as he tried to process what she was saying.


    An ability that was awaked due to luck, talt, and desire…


    It was incredibly rare, almost unheard of.


    Such abilities were the stuff of legds, things that most Eldr warriors only dreamed of, like him.


    And Sophia had awaked one.


    Lyerin swallowed hard, his throat suddly dry.


    Natural abilities were not just powerful—they were game-changers.


    In the ruined magical world, they were a warrior''s ultimate trump card, a manifestation of their innermost pottial.


    But the true wonder of a natural ability was that it could be used in the real world as well, unlike most of the magic learned in the ruined magical world.


    For Eldr warriors like him, learning magic in the ruined magical world was a way to expand their knowledge and skills.


    They could develop spells, hance their physical abilities, and create powerful artifacts. But once they left that world, the magic remained behind.


    They could bring the knowledge and experice with them, but the magic itself could not cross over—unless it was a natural ability.


    Natural abilities were the exception, the rare and coveted power that could bridge the gap betwe worlds.


    Lyerin''s mind felt like it was dragged through the mud of reality as the implications of this hit him.


    Sophia''s Earth Rumble wasn''t just an advantage in the ruined magical world—it was a weapon she could wield here, in the real world. And that made her incredibly valuable… and incredibly dangerous.


    "Are you sure?" Lyerin asked, his voice tight with disbelief.


    Sophia''s smile only grew wider. "Naturally! Look, I''ll show you!"


    Before Lyerin could stop her, Sophia began to transform, her body shifting into the form she took in the ruined magical world.


    Her skin darked, her muscles bulging as the power of Earth Rumble surged through her veins.


    The g beath her feet trembled as if in response to her presce, tiny cracks spider webbing out from where she stood.


    But as Lyerin watched her transformation, a cold dread settled in the pit of his stomach.


    He had se this before—this exact sequce of evts, the eager demonstration, the overconfidce that came with newfound power. And he knew what wasing next.


    "Stop!" he shouted, but the word was barely out of his mouth before the g beath them shifted violtly, the tremor of Earth Rumble spreading far beyond Sophia''s control.


    The power was too much, too raw, and it was reacting with something in the vironmt—something dangerous.


    Sophia''s eyes wided in surprise as she felt the bacsh, the ergy she had unleashed spiraling out of control.


    She tried to pull back, to stop the flow of power, but it was toote.


    "Fuck," Lyerin muttered under his breath, the curse filled with frustration and fear as he realized the gravity of the situation.


    He had be so focused on his own problems, on his mission to save his mother, that he hadn''t anticipated this—a wild card that threated to unravel everything he had worked for.


    The earth beath them groaned as the ergy built to a crescdo, and Lyerin knew they were about to face a disaster of their own making if he didn''t do something.