Chapter 3
"Kael…?"
His thoughts were cut off by a soft, groggy voice. He turned quickly, his mom was awake.
Her eyes widened, and for a moment, she didn't move. Then she shot up from the chair and cupped his face with trembling hands.
"Kael… Kael, you're awake… Oh God—" her voice cracked, tears welling up instantly. "I thought… I thought I lost you."
Kael forced a smile. "I'm okay, Mom."
She didn't respond with words. She just wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Her small frame shook with quiet sobs.
He hugged her back gently, but his thoughts were racing.
She's the only one who truly cared… even when they abandoned me.
When she finally pulled back, her eyes scanned him over like she still didn't believe it.
"You were… in critical condition. They said your body was mangled beyond healing. That even with advanced regeneration abilities from an healer exterminator, you wouldn't make it." She wiped her tears, smiling through the pain. "But then… you just started healing. All by yourself. No one knows how."
Kael looked down at his hands again.
No one knows? Not even the doctors?
He looked around the room, standard hospital setup. No unusual machines, no system integration pods, nothing that explained why his body was perfectly intact.
"Mom… how long was I out?"
"Three days," she said softly. "They called it a miracle. The doctors kept saying it didn't make sense."
Kael's eyes narrowed. Of course it didn't. He could feel it, Something was wrong. Something was different.
His heart pounded louder. And then, he saw something.
[HOST BINDING COMPLETE]
Kael froze.
What?
A glowing interface flickered to life before his eyes. It was faint, almost transparent, as though it were still forming. Letters scrolled across the interface.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZED]
Name: Kael Evernight
Level: 1
System: Blood Monarch
Class: none
HP: 20/120 | MP: 0/40
Stamina: 10
Status: Alive
[SKILLS UNLOCKED]
Blood awakening; Blood manipulation(self)(Active)
[Daily Task Issued]
Drink any human blood within the next 24 hours to strengthen system's power
Penalty: Unknown.
Kael blinked.
He squinted, rubbed his eyes, and looked again, but it was still there.
The glowing words hovered faintly in the air like a hologram only he could see. They didn't reflect on any surface, didn't make a sound, just… floated and translucent.
He instinctively looked to his mother, wondering if she saw it too.
She didn't react. Her expression remained soft, loving, relieved. Nothing in her eyes said, "Why is there glowing text in front of you?"
Which meant…Only he could see it.
"Mom," he said quietly, trying to keep his voice steady, "you haven't noticed… anything weird around me, have you? Like… lights? Or floating words?"
She tilted her head. "Floating… what?"
"Never mind."
Kael forced a breath through his nose, glanced at the text again.
[HOST BINDING COMPLETE]
[SYSTEM INITIALIZED]
Name: Kael Evernight
Level: 1
System: Blood Monarch
Class: None
HP: 0/120 | MP: 0/40
Stamina: 10
Status: Alive
And what the hell was a system? A game? Augmented reality? But this didn't feel artificial. It felt… internal. Like something part of him now.
He stared at the second tab.
[SKILLS UNLOCKED]
Blood awakening; Blood manipulation (self) (Active)
What the actual hell.
And then came something that made his breath hitch.
[Daily Task Issued]
Drink any human blood within the next 24 hours to strengthen system's power
Penalty: Unknown
Kael recoiled instinctively. "What?"
His voice came out louder than he intended.
His mother flinched slightly. "Kael? Are you alright? Is it your chest? Do you need the doctor?"
He immediately shook his head. "No, no—I'm fine. Just a little dizzy."
He swallowed, trying to keep the panic from crawling up his throat.
Drink human blood? What was this, some kind of vampire prank? Ridiculous. Absolutely insane.
No. He wasn't doing that. Whoever or whatever had stitched this bizarre hallucination into his brain could go straight to hell. He wasn't some blood-drinking freak. And he sure as hell wasn't following orders from floating text.
"What did I miss while I was out?" he asked suddenly, trying to refocus. "How have you been? Have you even slept?"
His mother smiled gently but looked away. "I tried to. I stayed here mostly. They said I should leave it to the staff, but I… I couldn't."
Kael frowned. "Mom. You need rest. You shouldn't be pushing yourself like this."
She brushed his cheek again, her thumb pausing on a faint smudge of dried blood near his ear. "How could I rest, knowing my baby was fighting for his life?"
Kael felt his throat tighten.
She was the only one who stayed. The only one who cared enough to fight for him. Even in the face of Zephyr's coldness… she never gave up.
"I'm okay now," he whispered. "I promise. Just… go home. Please. Sleep a little."
She hesitated, torn.
He reached out and took her hand gently. "I'm not going anywhere."
She nodded slowly. "Alright. But I'll be back by morning."
He gave a small smile. "I'll hold you to that."
She bent down and kissed his forehead before finally grabbing her coat and shuffling out of the room. He watched her go, waited until the door clicked shut… and then his expression dropped.
The glowing words were still there. Clear as ever.
Kael stared at the interface hovering in front of him.
"Okay," he muttered. "Let's try this again."
He reached out cautiously, wondering if touching it would do anything...nothing happened.
But the moment he thought about wanting to open the 'Stats' tab, it expanded automatically.
[STATS]
STR: 10
AGI: 5
VIT: 11
PER: 9
WILL: 8
LCK: ?
He frowned. Some of these made sense. Strength, agility, vitality… but what was PER? Will? Luck was just a question mark?
His mind whirled. Was this tied to his healing? To that memory flash earlier?
And then again, the task glowed faintly, like it was reminding him to complete it.
[Daily Task Issued]
Drink any human blood within the next 24 hours
Penalty: Unknown
"Like hell I will," Kael muttered, scowling. "That's not happening."
He slid off the bed, wincing slightly as his legs readjusted to movement. His strength felt normal. No pain, no soreness. Whatever this system was, it had completely rebuilt his body.
But the blood thing? No way.
No one he knew had ever talked about systems or magical interfaces or blood quests. Not even the high-level Exterminators. Sure, some had abilities. Magic. Gifts. But this… this felt entirely different.
Like it wasn't supposed to exist.
Like he wasn't supposed to exist anymore.
He sat down again, heart racing. His fingers trembled as he covered his face.
"I don't understand what's happening to me…"
And for the first time since waking up, Kael felt the chill of fear settle into his bones, not from pain, or death, or even betrayal.
But from the unknown, from the dozen thoughts running through his mind on what exactly happened to him while he was unconscious.