The Minor Soul-Linked Watchtower pulsed once in Kai's mind at midnight.
[ALERT: 32 hostile signatures approaching from the northeast.
Estimated arrival: 4 hours.
Leader – Plague Warlock Valthor, Level 28.]
Kai stood on the newly repaired eastern wall, wind whipping his cloak.
Through the tower's vision he saw everything: Valthor's corrupted riders on rotting horses, black banners dripping green slime, and the warlock himself at the front with a staff of human spines.
The watchtower didn't stop there.
It flooded his mind with the true map of the continent.
Seven major powers ruled this medieval world:
Human Empire of Ironreach – steel-clad conquerors who built fortress-cities and war machines.
Elf Kingdom of Sylvandar – ancient forest lords whose arrows never missed and whose magic sang with the trees.
Dwarf Underkingdom of Korrak – rune-forgers living deep underground, masters of unbreakable stone and explosive black powder.
Magic Mageocracy of Eldrath – floating crystal cities where mages bent reality itself.
Vampire Blood Dominion of Vorath – immortal night lords who drank kingdoms dry and ruled from blood-soaked castles.
Demon Dominion of Zeth'ka – ruthless demon overlords who thrived on chaos and dark pacts.
Beast Kingdom of Tharok – savage beast tribes where raw power and primal fury were the only law.
Deadhollow was nothing but a forgotten border speck between the Human Empire and the Elf Kingdom — a testing ground for greater powers.
Kai exhaled.
Seven empires.
One tiny village.
And I just killed their caretaker.
He needed to know the village's own history.
He placed his palm on the glowing orange anomaly beneath the square.
The Dark Origin Anomaly flared, pouring centuries of secrets into his skull.
Two hundred years ago this place was a sealed outpost of the Demon Dominion.
The first Dark Lord planted a fragment of his soul here — the same fragment now inside me.
Every lord, every poisoning, every sabotage was to keep the anomaly weak until the right vessel arrived.
Boryn was just the latest puppet.
The knowledge settled like ice.
He had four hours.
Building His Own Army
Kai didn't beg for trust. He engineered it.
At 2 a.m. he gathered every villager under torchlight.
Ten dark summons stood behind him like statues.
Finn, Lira in the front.
"Valthor is coming," Kai said flatly. "He serves the Demon Dominion. He wants the anomaly.
He will burn every one of you alive to get it.
But I am not Boryn.
I do not run."
He opened the Blueprint System for everyone to see.
[NEW BLUEPRINT UNLOCKED – Dark Arsenal I]
Using knowledge from his past-life
"Eternal Game"
(a reincarnation that felt more real than this medieval world), Kai poured mana into Garrick's old forge.
Iron, charcoal and a strange black powder he synthesized from the system fused together.
In forty minutes he produced three crude but deadly matchlock hand-cannons — medieval guns with blackroot barrels and glowing crimson runes.
Old Man Renn stared, then burst out laughing so hard he nearly fell.
"Boy, you turned my dead friend's forge into a demon fart machine! Does it shoot lightning or just bad decisions and regret?"
Little Mira clapped excitedly.
"Can I shoot one? Please? I'll only kill the ugly riders!"
Kai almost smiled. Instead he handed the smallest cannon to Finn.
"Test it."
Finn fired.
The BOOM shook the square.
A tree fifty meters away exploded into splinters.
Villagers screamed, then cheered in nervous awe.
Kai spoke again, voice low but carrying power.
"Anyone who fights with me tonight gets clean water tomorrow morning — no delay.
Anyone who runs dies first by my hand, then by Valthor's. Choose."
Lira stepped forward, eyes still full of hate but now mixed with desperate hope.
"If you save my baby… I'll fight."
One by one, forty-three villagers picked up spears, axes and the two spare cannons. Kai bound the willing ones with a weak Soul-Link Contract.
Their loyalty pulses in the watchtower shifted from red to steady green.
Finn looked at Kai with narrowed eyes.
"You turned fear into weapons in one night.
I still don't trust you… but I'll fight beside you."
Kai nodded. Good enough.
The first corrupted rider crested the hill at 5:47 a.m.
Tense silence shattered into chaos.
Valthor's riders charged, green plague mist rolling ahead. Villagers screamed. Summons roared.
Kai fought at the front. Shadow Knight tanked the first wave. Crimson Blade Assassins flickered, throats opening. Demon Archers rained death from the wall.
A rider broke through and swung a plague blade at Lira.
Kai moved without thinking — he took the hit on his shoulder.
Pain exploded.
Blood sprayed.
Not today.
[BATTLE COMPLETE – 11 kills]
Level: 14 → 15
Level 15 – The New Skill
[SYSTEM ALERT]
Dark Origin Summoning System – Milestone Achieved!
New Summon Unlocked: Plaguebane Guardian
(Anti-plague tank summon)
New Skill Unlocked: Origin Forging – You can now permanently infuse modern knowledge into medieval blueprints. First free creation: "Reaper's Handcannon" (upgradeable gun).
New knowledge flooded Kai's brain. He instantly upgraded one matchlock into a sleek, rune-covered Reaper's Handcannon — a fantasy revolver that fired six dark-energy rounds.
He raised it and pulled the trigger.
BANG-BANG-BANG!
Three riders' heads exploded in green mist.
Old Man Renn, hiding behind a barrel, yelled, "That's cheating!
Even the demons are jealous!"
The Warlock Arrives – Pure Tension
Valthor himself rode forward on a horse made of bones and rot, his voice echoing like a thousand dying men.
"Kai Ren!
You stole my village and my anomaly!
The Demon Dominion and the Beast Kingdom of Tharok will hear of this!
Kneel and I will only kill half of them!"
Kai stepped onto the wall, Reaper's Handcannon smoking in his hand.
Behind him the new Plaguebane Guardian — a hulking knight covered in purifying black flames — roared.
"Half is still too many,"
Kai replied coldly.
The final clash was brutal.
Valthor unleashed a plague storm.
Villagers coughed blood.
Mira's mother Lira collapsed.
Finn took a hit protecting a child and fell to one knee.
Kai felt the old hesitation again — the same one from the well. But this time he channeled it.
He activated Origin Forging and slammed his palm on the ground.
A massive [Dark Powder Minefield] erupted under the enemy riders.
Explosions lit the dawn sky.
Valthor screamed as his horse disintegrated.
The warlock floated, staff raised for a killing curse.
Kai sprinted forward, jumped off the wall, and fired the Reaper's Handcannon point-blank into Valthor's chest.
Six crimson shots tore through the warlock's robes.
Valthor staggered.
"Impossible… what is this weapon… how is possible this…"
Kai grabbed the man by the throat. "I'm from somewhere much worse."
He snapped Valthor's neck with a sickening crack.
[BATTLE COMPLETE] Major Threat Eliminated.
Souls +1,840 Village Reputation +300 (Fear → Awe)
The remaining riders fled screaming about the "gun-wielding demon lord."
When the sun rose, the square was littered with corpses and spent shells.
But every villager who fought was still alive.
Kai personally carried Lira's baby to the well and activated the purification array with the silver Finn had brought.
Clean water gushed for the first time in decades.
Lira drank, then looked at Kai with tears.
"You… you could have let us die.
But you took the blade for my child."
Old Man Renn limped over and slapped Kai's back (then immediately regretted it when the summons glared).
"Lad, you're still a bastard… but you're our bastard now."
Finn stood apart, arm bandaged, watching Kai with that same mix of respect and suspicion. "You made us fight for you. And we won.
I won't call you lord yet… but I'll call you Kai."
Kai looked at the forty-three villagers who now carried his Soul-Link Contract.
His own small army — part summon, part human.
He allowed himself one small, tired smile.
Seven empires out there — human, elf, dwarf, magic, vampire, demon, and the savage Beast Kingdom — and I just put a gun that shouldn't exist in this medieval world into their faces.
Let them come.
Status Window
Name: Kai Ren
Level: 15
Title: Lord of Deadhollow
Souls: 2,772
Resources: Moderate
Active Summons: 11
(New: 1 Plaguebane Guardian)
New Skill: Origin Forging (Active)