Chronicles Of The Crafting Hero

The night draped over Oria like a velvet shroud, a canvas of deepest indigo pricked with the distant, shimmering stars. The moon, a cold and watchful eye, cast long, mournful shadows across the graveyard. Tyler, his form still obscured by the chilling, unfathomable darkness of the Void Armor, stood as a statue, a solitary figure amidst the silent stones. He had teleported here, to this unfamiliar village of Oria, a place he'd only known through Rebecca, a place now forever linked to her memory. Now, he was here.

His white eyes, luminous in the gloom, were fixed on the fresh, raw earth of the grave where he had laid Rebecca to rest. She lay nestled between her parents, a family reunited in the silent embrace of death. To the left stood the weathered gravestone of her father, Tenet Sharp, bearing no mark of the grief and longing that often accompanied such markers. To the right, the inscription *Aurora Sharp*, Rebecca's mother, stood as a testament to a life now ended. Tyler had ensured that Rebecca would rest eternally between them, a daughter returned to her parents' care.

He had fashioned her tombstone himself, with hands that were still alien, still encased in the shadows, ripping a slab of stone from a nearby boulder, shaping it with a desperate focus. With painstaking care, he had carved her name into the cold rock with his finger: *Rebecca Sharp*.

The wind, a mournful sigh, whispered through the graveyard, rustling the ancient trees, as Tyler stood motionless, the darkness of the Void Armor seeming to absorb the very light around her grave. The silence of the graveyard was amplified.

A faint *whooshing* sound, devoid of resonance, still emanated from the Void Armor. Tyler's thoughts, though, were a storm of confusion. *Why aren't I feeling? Shouldn't I be mourning? Shouldn't there be tears? Shouldn't there be sadness? I should be… frustrated… that I'm not feeling… but…*

He paused, his thoughts echoing in the hollow silence of the graveyard. *I feel…* He cut himself off, the words catching in his throat. *Rebecca… My words… they feel empty. There are no feelings behind them… but… I'm sorry. I was too late. I could have… I could have done something. I'm so sorry for all the pain… the suffering… all the things you went through… all to try and keep me safe…*

Tyler's voice, still an echo, still not his own, resonated from the darkness of the armor.

He crouched, his shadow falling across the freshly turned earth. "But now... you can rest," he said, his voice laced with the hollow ache of absence, as he gently placed his hand on the grave. "You and your parents can rest, knowing that the man who did this… no longer walks this earth, carefree as if nothing had happened. Those men… they have been taken care of. All those who caused you pain… who ended your life… they are gone now."

He tapped the grave lightly. "You were… a little bit annoying," he admitted, a ghost of a smile in his voice. "But… to be honest… I still would have loved to have you around… a little more. I wanted to know you… just a little more… and maybe… maybe you could have learned more about me…"

He paused, his voice cracking. "I'm sorry," he whispered, his final words hanging in the still, cold air.

Suddenly, above Rebecca's grave, a small, perfectly round black hole materialized, and then it began to swell, growing with alarming speed. Tyler surged to his feet, a low growl escaping his lips. The black void expanded, twisting and churning like a hurricane, a relentless whirlpool in an endless ocean. It seemed to drink the very ground, the tombstones, the soil… everything began to fall into the abyss. He didn't step back, didn't react. *What is this? What is happening?*

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In the blink of an eye, the encroaching darkness consumed the rest of the graveyard, then the town, and then… the world.

Tyler blinked, and the planet was gone. He was adrift in the cold, silent vacuum of space.

*No.* he thought, the word a broken whisper in the emptiness. *No… this can't be happening.* Confusion and a primal terror flooded his mind, a searing pain lancing through his head. He clutched his head with both hands, and shouted, "No, please! This can't be happening! Why?!"

He yelled again, voice filled with desperation, "Unequip! Unequip! Unequip!" but the Void Armor remained, a suffocating prison.

Suddenly, white liquid, like tears, streamed from his white eyes as he screamed into the silent void.

His eyes snapped open, his heart hammering against his ribs. He was drenched in sweat, gasping for air. He sat up in bed, staring at the ceiling, the remnants of the nightmare still clinging to him. He rubbed his face, a groan escaping his lips. *It was all a dream.*

Tyler was clad in the simple under-clothing that *Grone* had provided, the garments he wore beneath his armor. The night still held the inn in its embrace. Tyler, seated on the *bed* in the crossroads inn, muttered, "*That nightmare… again.*"

*How many days has it been? Four… four days since… and this is the second time this has happened… It feels… real.* He shook his head, the memory of the dream still clinging to him. *It's twisting my memories into a nightmare… Great… just when I was trying to forget…*

He let out a long, weary sigh, his mind replaying the memory of burying Rebecca, right between her parents. After… after what he had said to her grave, he had teleported, but without a clear destination. He'd found himself back at the Crossroads Inn, in the room where he used to sleep. There, he had been able to finally unequip the Void Armor, the darkness simply vanishing, leaving him in the plain under-clothing. After sleeping, he emerged, ready to settle his bill. But the staff were surprised, claiming no memory of a key, or even of offering him a room in the first place. Nevertheless, he paid them. He then went to the tent to meet Serena, but she was gone. He had forgotten that she had moved to Lyria. He then decided to head back to Veridia, where he reunited with Emily and Hector.

Tyler found out from them about a rumor that was already spreading. People were talking about a phenomenon that happened in Aria. Something unexplainable, something dangerous that almost destroyed the entire town. There were different rumors swirling around the event. Some whispered of a monstrous creature, others of a demonic presence. Still others spoke of a powerful hunter, a force to be reckoned with.

But Tyler didn't share the truth. He kept his silence, knowing the rumors were all facets of the same devastating reality: him. He couldn't risk revealing the truth to anyone.

He also learned that Hector had sold some items, though not all of them. Tyler had taken some of the money and left immediately afterward. Before he departed, both Hector and Emily had pressed him, asking if he was alright. Hector had told him that he seemed detached, not himself. Tyler had simply brushed off their concerns, offering a reassurance of his well-being before returning to the crossroads base.

In the days that followed, Tyler had withdrawn. He hadn't hunted in the monster zones, hadn't pursued any of his goals. He had simply rented a room, ate, and stayed there, lost in his own thoughts. He felt a deep depression, a hollowness that went beyond mere grief. He felt as if a part of him was missing. It was something more, something he couldn't quite grasp. He had mourned Rebecca's death the previous night, but now he didn't know what to do. However, he had resolved that with the rising sun, he would end this aimless drift, return to his goals.

Right after killing the captain, and after he teleported, Tyler had reached a new rank. He was now an A-rank. He had received a substantial amount of experience points from killing an S-rank opponent. The captain had been more than fifty levels above him, and the added benefit of the Growth Necklace, which granted him an extra 35% XP, had further boosted his gains. Tyler knew the yellow monster zones were no longer his hunting grounds. He also had a feeling that even the orange zones might be too easy. But he wanted to be sure, to experience them firsthand.

However, something was amiss with the system. Whenever Tyler attempted to access the information on the Void Armour, the system would glitch and disappear. But with each attempt, the system seemed to adapt. It would display information about the armor, but the words were initially scrambled, unreadable. It was almost as if the system had contracted a virus. Yet, the more he tried, the more legible the words became.

With a thought, Tyler once again manifested the system in front of him, focused on the details of the Void Armor. To his surprise, it worked. This time, he saw it all: the *description* of the Void Armour. Everything was on display. His eyes widened.

*" It has so many skills… and it doesn't even use mana? What the hell…"*

Immediately, the system opened up, displaying a plethora of system panels, each one with details of a different skill.

Among these panels, Tyler's eyes were immediately drawn to a system panel, its text rendered in a stark, crimson hue. It read: *The Void Armor's Curse*. Tyler repeated the words under his breath, "*The Void Armor's Curse.*"

Immediately, the system panel detached itself from the others, expanding to fill his vision, displaying the details of the curse in perfect clarity. Tyler read through the information, and his hands began to tremble. With a shaky breath, he muttered, "Wait… but… what does it mean? What is it trying to say? A piece of my soul… is missing?"