The next morning brought no cheers, only the bitter smell of resentment and unwashed bodies.
Kai stood in the square like a king who had already conquered a graveyard.
Ten dark summons stood motionless behind him, red eyes glowing faintly.
Five hundred villagers gathered in front of him, their faces a mixture of exhaustion, fear, and barely contained hatred.
"Stone from the northeast quarry.
Timber from the western forest.
Two hundred carts by sunset," Kai ordered, voice cold as winter steel.
"Anyone who refuses to work gets no clean water when it finally comes.
Simple."
Nobody moved.
Then Finn Harlan stepped forward, jaw locked, and picked up a rusted pickaxe.
His broad shoulders were tense, but he started walking without a word.
That broke the spell.
An angry mother named Lira clutched her sick infant and spat on the ground near Kai's boots.
"My baby is dying of thirst and you want us to break our backs for you?
You're no savior — you're just another monster wearing Boryn's crown!"
Beside her, Old Man Renn —
the village's toothless comic relief —
let out a loud cackle.
"At least the new lord's demons look stronger than Boryn's fat ass! Oi, bone-boy, can you carry me to the quarry?
My knees are older than your mother!"
A Weak Evil Warrior slowly turned its glowing red eyes toward the old man.
Old Man Renn immediately pretended to cough violently and started hobbling away, muttering,
"Very polite demons… good boys… please don't eat me…"
Kai's gaze locked onto Lira's baby — tiny, frail, lips cracked and dry, eyes sunken.
The infant wasn't even crying anymore. Just shallow, desperate breaths.
Flashback
Year 2147 of the Eternal Game.
He stood a top the burning ruins of Silverbrook Village as the Level 9999 Dark Sovereign.
Flames roared.
Hundreds knelt in the mud, begging.
A young mother held her baby toward him with shaking hands.
"Please… he's only a baby.
Spare him."
Kai had smiled coldly and activated Soul Harvest.
The child went limp in her arms before she too turned to ash.
He gained 47,000 souls that day.
No guilt.
No hesitation.
Just power.
Present
Something twisted violently in Kai's chest.
His hand trembled for half a second.
In the game I slaughtered thousands without blinking… even children. They were just numbers.
For the first time, real hesitation gripped him.
His fingers twitched toward the system interface.
The [Low-Tier Purification Array] blueprint glowed temptingly.
Just do it now.
Give them water tonight.
You don't have to be that monster again.
But the colder voice inside him struck back:
Show mercy now and they'll never fear you.
When the real enemy comes, these same people will stab you in the back.
One day of thirst is nothing compared to what Valthor will bring.
Kai closed his eyes, breathing slowly.
The internal war lasted several long, painful seconds.
When he opened them, the hesitation was buried deep.
His face became cold stone once more.
Let them suffer one more day.
Pain is the only teacher they understand.
Work finally began.
The Weak Evil Warriors carried boulders three times their size with terrifying ease.
One warrior, trying to show off, accidentally dropped a massive rock right in the middle of the path.
The BOOM sent a dozen villagers flying backward like bowling pins, landing in a dusty pile.
Old Man Renn, now completely covered in dirt, sat up and shouted,
"Even your demons have butter fingers! At least they're consistent — useless and scary!"
Little Mira, the fearless seven-year-old, clapped her hands and laughed loudly.
"Do it again! Do it again!"
Kai watched silently.
The girl showed zero fear — the only villager who looked at his summons with curiosity instead of terror.
While the villagers worked, Kai quietly activated his new
[Minor Soul-Linked Watchtower] blueprint.
A faint black tower rose from the ground near the square, invisible to normal eyes but linked directly to his mind.
Through it, he could feel faint emotional pulses from every person in the village — fear, anger, hope, loyalty.
Most pulses were red (fear and hatred).
But a few were different.
Finn's pulse was a strange mix — deep red rage mixed with a thin thread of cold determination.
Little Mira's pulse was bright blue — pure, fearless curiosity.
Old Man Renn's pulse kept flickering between yellow (amusement) and green (surprising acceptance).
Interesting, Kai thought. Not everyone is broken.
To test them, he gave a small, secret order through the system.
A Weak Evil Warrior suddenly
"tripped"
near Finn and dropped a heavy crate of tools right in front of him.
The crate would have crushed a normal man's foot.
Finn didn't flinch.
He caught the crate with both hands, muscles straining, and set it down safely.
Then he glared at the summon and muttered, "Tell your master I'm not impressed by cheap tricks."
Kai smirked from afar.
Good. He's strong and not easily scared.
Potential.
A few minutes later, the same warrior
"accidentally"
blocked Lira's path.
She screamed curses at it and tried to push the summon away with her bare hands.
The warrior didn't move.
But Little Mira ran forward, tugged the warrior's bony finger and said sweetly, "Excuse me, big scary man, my aunty needs to pass.
Please?"
The summon actually stepped aside.
Kai's eyes narrowed.
Fearless and kind even to monsters.
That's rare.
He made a mental note: Mira and Finn were the only two showing green loyalty threads so far.
As the sun set, Kai moved to the broken eastern wall.
He placed his palm on the largest crack and activated [Blackroot Reinforced Wall].
Black energy flowed out.
Dark roots snaked through the stones like living veins, fusing them stronger than ever.
The wall grew visibly taller and darker in front of everyone's eyes.
A few villagers stopped working and stared in awe.
One whispered,
"That… that's not normal magic."
Another joked nervously, "If he can make walls grow, why can't he make my wife grow some sense?"
Old Man Renn overheard and cackled,
"Because even dark magic has limits, boy!"
Kai ignored them, but the mana drain was brutal.
His vision blurred for a moment and he had to lean against the new wall.
If I push too hard, I'll collapse before the real fight begins.
Late Night – The Well
Kai stood alone at the poisoned well, the sickly green water shimmering below.
Finn appeared from the shadows, lantern in hand.
"My father knew the hidden silver veins,"
he said quietly.
"I'll take you there tomorrow.
But I want to be the one to kill Garrick.
No summons.
No system tricks.
Just me and him."
Kai studied Finn's face.
The man's loyalty thread had grown slightly thicker after the crate test.
"You could have let that crate crush your foot and blamed me,"
Kai said.
"But you didn't. Why?"
Finn's eyes burned.
"Because I'm not stupid."
"And because this village needs to survive… even if the new lord is a bastard."
Kai allowed a small, cold smile.
"Bring me the silver by tomorrow night. Then your father is yours. And Finn…"
He paused.
"Keep proving yourself. I reward useful weapons."
Finn nodded once, tension still thick between them, then disappeared into the night.
Kai looked back at the well and whispered, "One more day…"
But the quiet voice in his head refused to die: How many 'one more days' until you become the same monster you once were?
[SYSTEM ALERT]
Dark Origin Blueprint System Updated!
New Blueprint Unlocked at Level 10: [Minor Soul-Linked Watchtower]
(Detects enemies up to 10 km)
Loyalty Pulse Scan Active — 2 potential subordinates detected.
Status Window
Name: Kai Ren
Level: 10
Title: Lord of Deadhollow
Souls: 962
Resources: Low
Active Summons: 10