The Extra Who Will Swallow The Plot

Raze stared at the notification. The violet crystal pulsed in his palm. Warm. Inviting. Dangerous.

His mind raced. Processing. Calculating. Weighing options with what little cognitive function remained through the exhaustion and pain.

Pros: Unknown power. Bloodline awakening. Potential strength increase. The system wouldn't offer absorption if it was purely detrimental. Would it?

Cons: Irreversible. Unknown effects. Could be catastrophic. Could kill him. Could transform him into something monstrous.

His thoughts drifted to the Mercurian experiments. Five hundred children. Four hundred ninety-nine dead. Aslan the sole survivor. Transformed into a weapon. A monster wrapped in human skin.

Was this the same? A gamble with his humanity?

But then again. He'd already been reincarnated. Already had his core reconstructed. Already absorbed three skill cores in rapid succession. Already survived things that should have killed him.

What was one more impossible risk?

His hand trembled around the crystal. The notification waited. Patient. Eternal.

He looked back at Julius. The cultivator lay against the wall. Blood pooled beneath him. Chest rising and falling shallowly. Unconscious. Completely unaware.

No witnesses. No one to see what he was about to do. No one to judge. To question. To expose.

Raze's gaze returned to the floating text.

His Dormant Bloodline. Something inherited from the original Raze Dragonheart. Something that had been sleeping. Waiting. The name itself suggested power. Ancient strength.

Or maybe it was nothing. Maybe the notification was wrong. Maybe absorption would do nothing at all.

Only one way to find out.

Raze's finger moved. Selected [Yes].

The notification flashed. Confirmed. Then vanished.

The violet crystal in his hand reacted immediately.

Crack crack crack.

The crystalline structure fractured. Split. Light poured from the breaks. Brilliant violet radiance that made his eyes water.

Then the light rushed inward. Into his palm. Into his body. Following pathways. Mana channels. Blood vessels. Seeking his core.

The sensation was indescribable.

Not pain exactly. Not pleasure either. Something else. Something fundamental. Like reality itself was being rewritten at a cellular level.

The energy reached his core. His reconstructed cultivation base. Swirled around it. Testing. Probing. Searching for something specific.

Then it found it.

Deep within his core. Deeper than mana pathways. Deeper than cultivation foundation. Something else existed. Something that had been dormant. Silent. Waiting.

His Bloodline.

The dungeon core energy touched it. Caressed it. Fed it.

Whoosh.

The dormant bloodline stirred. Like a sleeping beast opening one eye. Acknowledging the offering. Accepting the gift.

Power flooded through Raze. Not mana. Something else. Something primal. Ancient. His muscles tensed. His bones felt denser. His blood burned.

For one glorious moment, he felt invincible. Overwhelming strength coursed through his veins. His injuries didn't matter. His exhaustion was meaningless. He could fight forever. Could conquer anything.

Then the sensation faded. Gradually. The power receding like tide going out. Leaving only traces. Promises. Potential.

His Status window materialized unbidden.

Ding.

[Status Window]

Name: Raze Dragonheart

Age: 17

Rank: Initiate (Peak)

Core: Blooming (Low)

Bloodline: [Unawakened]

Authority: [Dormant]

Talent: [Absolute Genius]

Strength: C

Agility: C

Endurance: B (+)

Mana: A (+)

Mana Well: S

Will: A

Perception: D

Charm: A (+)

Skills:

[Swordsmanship C]

[Mana Manipulation C]

[Inspect D]

[Combat Reflex C]

[Scarlet Leap C]

[Instant Transmission D]

[Inventory]

Condition: Severely Injured, Exhausted

The change was small. Subtle. But undeniable.

Bloodline: [Unawakened]

Not Dormant anymore. Unawakened. The distinction was critical. Dormant meant sleeping. Unconscious. Unaware of existence.

Unawakened meant aware. Stirring. Ready to manifest. Just waiting for the right trigger. The right conditions. The right catalyst.

It was a promise. Not fulfillment. But promise. Like planting a seed. Watering it. Watching the first green shoot break through soil. Not a tree yet. But the beginning of one.

Raze closed the Status window. Looked at his hands. They looked the same. Felt the same. No visible transformation. No obvious power increase.

He stood. Tested his body. Same injuries. Same exhaustion. Same limitations.

The moment of overwhelming strength had been illusion. Temporary. The bloodline greeting the offering. Nothing more.

But it was progress. Movement from Dormant to Unawakened. One step closer to whatever power his bloodline promised.

One step closer to becoming something more than human.

Movement behind him. Raze turned. Julius was stirring. Groaning. Consciousness returning slowly.

Then light appeared in the chamber's center. Where the Greater Stone Warden had fallen.

Whoosh.

A chest materialized. Stone. Carved with dungeon runes. The final reward. The loot drop for clearing all three floors.

Raze approached it carefully. His injuries screamed protest but he moved anyway. Reached the chest as Julius's eyes opened.

"Did we...?" Julius's voice was weak. Confused. "Did we win?"

"We won." Raze helped him stand. Supported his weight. "The Warden is dead. We cleared the dungeon."

"I passed out. I'm sorry. I—"

"You lasted until the boss. That's more than most could manage." Raze gestured to the chest. "Come on. Let's see what we earned."

They approached together. Two broken cultivators who'd survived the impossible. The chest was massive. Three feet across. Two feet deep. Heavy stone construction.

Raze opened it.

Creak.

The interior was packed. Filled with materials. Components. Treasures from all three floors.

From the first floor: Rabbit materials. Dozens of black fur pelts. Pristine. Undamaged by combat. Bone-white horns. Sharp. Gleaming. Perfect for crafting weapons or armor. Fangs. Claws. Everything harvestable from Horned Rabid Rabbits.

And from the Double Horned King Rabbit: Two massive curved horns. Each one as long as Raze's forearm. Dense. Powerful. Worth significant gold. The hide. Thick. Durable. Black fur that absorbed light. Perfect for stealth equipment.

From the second floor: Slime cores. Dozens of them. Concentrated acid in crystalline form. Valuable for alchemical processes. Potions. Poisons. Cleaning agents. Medical applications.

And from the King Blight Slime: A massive core. Baseball sized. Pulsing with toxic energy. Worth maybe twenty gold to the right buyer. Plus concentrated residue. Samples of the most potent acid the slime could produce.

From the third floor: Lesser Earth Fragments. Crystallized stone. Condensed earth mana. Used in construction. In defensive enchantments. In cultivation aids for earth-element practitioners.

And from the Greater Stone Warden: A Greater Earth Fragment. Fist-sized. Glowing orange. Concentrated earth essence. Worth easily thirty gold. Maybe more. Plus carved rune stones. The protective enchantments that had covered the Warden's body. Harvested intact. Incredibly valuable.

Julius stared. His hands trembling. Reaching into the chest. Pulling out materials. His expression transformed from exhaustion to disbelief to overwhelming relief.

"This is... this is everything. More than everything." His voice cracked. "The cores alone are worth sixty gold. The fragments another forty. The materials maybe twenty more."

"One hundred twenty gold total," Raze calculated. "Split evenly. Sixty each."

"That's enough. That's more than enough." Julius laughed. The sound was slightly manic. Relief and exhaustion mixing. "My sister. I can save my sister. The cure costs forty gold. I'll have twenty left over. For recovery. For safety."

He grabbed Raze. Hugged him despite the pain it caused both of them. "Thank you. Thank you. I don't know how to repay this. I—"

Rumble.

The sound came from everywhere. From the walls. The ceiling. The floor. Deep. Ominous.

The dungeon was collapsing.

Without the core. Without the Warden. The pocket dimension was destabilizing. Reality itself rejecting the artificial space. Reclaiming the carved territory.

Crack crack crack.

Fissures appeared in the walls. Stone crumbled. Fell. The ceiling began to rain dust and fragments.

"Move!" Raze grabbed materials. Shoved them into his Inventory. The dimensional storage accepted everything. Made the weight vanish. Julius did the same with what he could carry physically.

They ran. Through the boss room. Back through the third floor corridor.

Boom boom boom!

The floor collapsed behind them. Chunks of stone falling into nothingness. The pocket dimension unraveling.

They reached the stairs. Climbed. The steps crumbled under their feet.

Crash!

Julius stumbled. Raze caught him. Pulled him up. Kept moving. Always moving.

Second floor. The acid-stained corridors were collapsing. Walls imploding. Toxic vapor filling the air as puddles evaporated.

They ran faster. Injuries forgotten. Exhaustion ignored. Survival the only priority.

First floor. The rabbit corridors were crumbling. Stone turning to dust. Reality itself dissolving.

The portal appeared ahead. Purple energy swirling. The exit. The escape.

"Go go go!" Raze shoved Julius through first. Then dove after him.

Whoosh!

Reality twisted. The familiar sensation of dimensional travel. Stomach lurching. Vision blurring.

Then solid ground. Real ground. The abandoned warehouse floor.

They collapsed immediately. Gasping. Both men lay on dusty wood. Barely breathing. Barely conscious.

Behind them, the portal flickered. Pulsed. Then collapsed.

Pop.

Gone. Just gone. The dungeon had dissolved completely. Ceased to exist. Only the materials they'd harvested remained as evidence it had been real.

Silence fell. Just heavy breathing. The sound of their hearts pounding.

They'd survived. Actually survived. Cleared an entire Tier Zero dungeon. Just the two of them. While one was Initiate Peak and the other Initiate Low. Against mobs and bosses designed for full teams.

It was impossible. Insane. Suicidal.

But they'd done it.

Raze lay on his back. Staring at the warehouse ceiling. His body was destroyed. His resources depleted. His mind foggy with exhaustion.

But alive. Alive and sixty gold richer. Alive and with dungeon materials worth small fortunes. Alive and with an Unawakened Bloodline promising future power.

Alive.

That was enough. For now. That was more than enough.

Beside him, Julius laughed. Quiet. Disbelieving. "We did it. We actually did it."

"Yeah. We did."

"My sister. I can save her now."

"Yeah. You can."

They lay there for long minutes. Too exhausted to move. Too relieved to care.

Outside, the capital continued its daily rhythm. Unaware that in an abandoned warehouse, two cultivators had just achieved the impossible.

Unaware that one of them now carried the seed of unknown power.

Unaware that everything was about to change.

Raze's hand went to his chest. Where the dungeon core had entered. Where his Bloodline now stirred. Unawakened but aware.

What did that mean? What would it become? What price would awakening demand?

Questions for another time. For when he wasn't half-dead from exhaustion and injury.

For now, survival. Recovery. Return to his team.

The dungeon was cleared. The impossible achieved. The first step taken.

But the journey was just beginning.

And Raze couldn't shake the feeling that absorbing that core had changed something fundamental. Had set him on a path that couldn't be reversed.

For better or worse, he was no longer entirely what he had been.

He was something else. Something unawakened. Something waiting to emerge.

The feeling echoed in his mind as consciousness finally faded. As exhaustion claimed him at last.

His last thought before darkness took him: What will I become?