A holographic screen flashed before Roland's eyes.
Text only he could see.
[Name: Violette]
[Bloodline: Shadow Assassin (SSS Rank)]
[Current Level: Tier 1]
[God Skill: Shadow Walk (Allows the user to step into the Shadow Realm, a dimension parallel to the real world. The user can traverse this realm freely and emerge back into the real world at any point. )]
[Loyalty: 99]
...
Roland's heart hammered in his chest.
SSS-Rank.
He had to read it three times to be sure.
Not an A-rank. Not an S-rank.
SSS-Rank.
A God-Tier bloodline.
And that skill... 'Shadow Walk.'
His mind raced, instantly calculating the possibilities.
Step into a parallel dimension? Emerge at any point?
An untraceable spy. A perfect assassin. A flawless bodyguard.
He finally had some real combat power.
This was more than just combat power.
This was a game-changer.
He was ecstatic.
...
The intense white light enveloping Violette finally faded.
It had only been a few seconds.
Roland stared and blinked his eyes.
The girl standing in front of him... was not the same girl anymore.
Her hair, once a tangled, mousy-brown mess, was now... lustrous.
It fell over her shoulders like liquid gold, silky and smooth even in the dim light of the roadside.
Her eyes, once dull and fearful, were now a sharp, piercing blue.
Clear as ice. And just as cold.
And her frame...
The gaunt, starved look was gone.
Roland even felt her figure had become fuller; had her chest gotten a little bigger?
It had washed away the grime, the malnourishment, the years of abuse.
It had revealed the person she was meant to be.
She was, in a word, breathtaking.
...
Violette herself was baffled.
She looked down at her own hands.
They were clean. The calluses were gone. The broken nails were perfect.
She felt... strong.
Power, a strange and terrifying new energy, was surging through her body.
Her mind, which had been a fog of hunger and fear, was suddenly clear.
It was more than clear.
It was full.
Countless combat techniques, instincts she had never learned, flooded her thoughts.
How to hold a dagger. How to move without a sound.
How to step... sideways... into a world of cold, grey shadow.
She instinctively knew how to use her new skills.
She was confused.
But more than anything, she knew where this power came from.
This... this miracle.
It was a gift from him.
Her shock lasted two seconds.
Then, she dropped to one knee.
She bowed her head, her new, silky hair falling forward.
"Thank you, My Lord," she whispered, her voice trembling, but with power this time, not weakness. "My life... my power... it is all yours."
Roland smiled.
"Stand up."
She looked up.
He stepped forward and offered a hand. She took it, and he pulled her to her feet.
"Don't kneel so easily from now on," he said, his voice quiet but firm.
"You are not my slave."
"We are partners."
Violette's eyes widened.
'Partners?'
She nodded, a single, sharp, decisive movement.
Roland watched her, impressed.
Her entire aura had changed.
The timid, fearful girl was gone.
In her place was a young woman with a straight back and a dangerous, confident gaze.
Just then, another panel popped up in front of Roland.
[God-Tier Bloodline successfully activated!]
[Calculating Reward...]
[Reward Generated: Mini-Map ]
Roland's eyes lit up.
[Mini-Map: Can display all hostile and allied entities who enter a half-kilometer range around the host.]
He could have shouted.
This was... this was perfect!
This was exactly what he needed!
His single greatest concern about the Northern Reaches wasn't the monsters.
It was the fog.
The dense, unnatural fog that was said to cover the territory. A fog so thick you couldn't see five feet in front of you.
A fog perfect for a sneak attack.
But now...
Now, he had nothing to fear.
He had a half-kilometer early-warning system.
He let out a long breath, a smile touching his lips.
"Let's go," he said to Violette. "Back to the caravan."
...
They returned to the main group.
Knight Rena, his visor still down, glanced over.
He saw Violette.
He registered that she had changed. Her hair was different. She was... cleaner.
And then he looked away.
In his eyes, she was just a maidservant. Just a plaything
Not worth his attention.
As for the bright flash of white light he'd seen earlier from the corner of his eye?
He completely ignored it.
It was none of his business. He was just an escort.
Anna saw the change, too.
Her eyes widened for just a fraction of a second as she took in Violette's new appearance.
She said nothing.
She just needed to do her job for Roland, that's all.
"My Lord," she said, dipping her head. "We are ready to move out."
"Good," Roland replied. "Let's go."
...
The group continued their journey.
Twenty days passed.
Twenty days of dusty roads, cold nights.
The landscape changed.
The lush green fields of the south gave way to rockier, harsher terrain.
The air grew colder.
Finally, in the distance, a massive, grey structure came into view.
Windsor Castle.
The last fortress of the north. The gateway to the Northern Reaches.
The caravan was resting by a small, gurgling stream.
Anna approached Roland for instructions.
"My Lord, that is Windsor Castle," she said, pointing.
"Nightingale Territory is beyond it. This is the last stop."
Beyond that fortress lay the true Northern Reaches.
The land of fog and monsters.
The land of death.
Roland nodded, staring at the distant battlements.
"Our plan is simple," he said. "We enter the castle. We resupply. We get one good night's rest in a real bed."
He looked at his small, tired group.
"The fortress is still part of the kingdom. There is no reason they would deny us entry. "
He had just finished speaking.
He was about to give the order to move.
Suddenly, his new Mini-Map flared in his vision.
A swarm of red dots.
Dozens of them.
They had just appeared at the very edge of his half-kilometer range.
And they were approaching.
Fast.
Enemies?!