Kael stood at the edge of Riverdale, arms crossed beneath the dull brown cloak that barely concealed his broad shoulders and sharper-than-average smirk.
His eyes were fixed on the massive walls towering before him like something yanked straight out of a Hollywood fantasy flick.
Only this wasn't Hollywood, this was a real, living, breathing world where magic cracked through the air like lightning and even teenagers could fly if they'd sucked up enough of that strange essence stuff.
"This is a village?" Kael muttered under his breath, his eyebrow twitching in disbelief.
"Back on Earth, this would've been a goddamn city with a Starbucks and three overpriced gyms."
The place was bustling—no, boiling—with life.
Stone towers loomed over the gates, banners flapping in the wind with emblems of foxes and hawks, and merchants barked prices while guards in dark armor stood like statues beside them.
These weren't just any guards either. Even from this distance, Kael could feel the pressure rolling off them like heatwaves from an open furnace.
Their eyes were too sharp, too calm. Their stances weren't just about intimidation, they were battle-tested.
No doubt about it. These guys were Seekers, people who had absorbed essence and broken through at least one of their Gates.
The term still felt weird to Kael's Earth-born tongue, but the meaning behind it was clear: these were the powerhouses of the world.
They were the fantasy protagonists, the cultivators, the awakened, the gate-breakers—call them what you want, they were superhuman, and Kael, unfortunately, was not. Not yet. And that reminded him…
He groaned internally as he adjusted the strap of the satchel hanging across his chest.
'We're walking into a hornet's nest, and I don't even have a fly swatter,' he thought.
'Note to self: buy some damn weapons and horses for the return trip. Helga's gonna be jogging back like it's a warm-up lap, and I'll be coughing out a lung 60 minutes in.'
Helga, naturally, stood silently beside him, the mountain of a woman wrapped in her own simple traveler's cloak like some rogue assassin fresh out of a game's character creation screen.
Her arms were folded, expression stoic, and if she noticed Kael's whining, she showed no sign of it.
She hadn't spoken much since they'd begun the journey, but she didn't have to. Just standing there, her presence alone screamed "Try me."
But Kael had bigger problems to deal with than his physically superior bodyguard. Like the fact that he still had no idea what his first essence should be.
Everyone in this world talked about it like choosing your major in college, except instead of screwing up your future salary, picking the wrong one could make your heart explode. Literally.
That's how dangerous essence awakening was. You had to absorb the right essence grade, or your body would reject it and turn your insides into goo.
And to top it off, for reasons still beyond Kael's understanding, the guy who used to own this body hadn't even unlocked his first gate.
'Which is weird, considering you had Helga the Head-Crusher as your subordinate,' Kael thought, casting a quick glance at her.
'Either you were crazy, lazy, or planning something seriously smart.' As he inched forward in the line of people slowly filtering toward Riverdale's entrance, he let his eyes wander.
The more he looked, the more memories started bubbling to the surface.
Faces, smells, heat, laughter, impressions from a life not fully his, but not fully foreign anymore either.
He remembered the feel of the leather-wrapped sword hilt this body used to wield. The blood-soaked floors of hideouts. The sound of Helga's roar echoing in dark canyons.
Piece by piece, the former Kael's life was slotting into place like a jigsaw puzzle made from shattered glass.
Then the murmurs started.
It was subtle at first. A few turned heads. A hushed whisper from a child. A merchant pausing mid-bargain to gape at the sky.
Kael blinked and tilted his head upward and his gaze brightened.
High above the village gates, a group of five youths glided through the air like lords of the wind, their feet balanced on swords of all things.
Flying swords. They wore matching brown and crimson uniforms that flared like capes as they cut through the sky, looking down at the crowd beneath them like gods peering down at insects.
One of them, clearly the cockiest, snorted and swept his hand dismissively as if the hundreds below weren't even worth noticing.
Kael raised a brow and rubbed his chin. "Huh. Anime's real. Fantastic." But the murmurs kept flowing, and his ears perked up.
"Sky Sword Sect disciples…"
"Five of them…"
"Did you see the emblem? That's the inner court members!"
"They're from Grandmaster Dazzar's lineage! The Patriarch's own!"
Kael's eyes widened a bit. That name; Sky Sword Sect was suddenly flashing warning signs in his brain.
Then, bam, a tidal wave of memory hit him like a slap to the face. Of course!
The Sky Sword Sect was the most powerful force in this region. They ruled from the floating mountains further east and were infamous for their arrogance, power, and elite sword cultivation.
But the most important bit was their rarest highly sought after essence; a rare, mysterious energy known as the Azure Sky Sword Essence, said to be one of the strongest sword essences in the world.
It was extremely rare. Ridiculously dangerous. And deeply protected. The amount of people with this essence barely reached five!
Most members of this sect used the less powerful but still amazing Sky Sword Essence.
And now Kael remembered why the former body owner had never unlocked his first gate. It wasn't laziness or fear.
It was calculated greed. The bastard actually wanted to steal the Azure Sky Sword Essence for his first gate!
And once you unlocked your gate with an essence, it shaped your path forever.
Most people took what was available, but this man? He wanted to take something legendary and build his entire future on top of that stolen glory.
Kael grinned from ear to ear, lips curling into a mix of amusement and respect.
'Okay, I think I'm starting to like this guy. Madman or genius? Either way, he had some taste.'
The idea of stealing from the region's strongest sect while being hunted by bounty hunters, rebuilding a shattered bandit empire, and hiding from high-level Seekers… it was insane.
And Kael was absolutely here for it. Luckily, he was still 18 years old in this world so he still had some time.
He needed to unlock his first gate soon. Every normal human who wanted to survive in this world did.
It was the only way to stop being prey and start becoming predator. But the thing was… Kael wasn't just anyone.
He had plans. Big ones. And they started with not making a rookie mistake.
First things first, he didn't want a weapon-type gate. He wasn't a sword guy. Or an axe guy. Or a shoot-fire-from-your-hands guy either.
That kind of thing was flashy, sure, but also limiting. Your main gate shaped your path forever.
Kael didn't want to be boxed into swinging a sword for the rest of his life like he was stuck in a video game build.
He wanted something useful. Something flexible. Something smart. A utility gate that gave him speed, or illusions, or information.
Or an enhancement gate that made him stronger, faster, tougher. Anything but a sword stuck to his arm.
Because once you opened your first gate, that was it, it became your main gate. All the others you unlocked after that would be minor gates, smaller in influence, weaker in impact.
And that meant you had to make your first gate count. Everything else built off it like a house built on its foundation.
So if the first gate was weak? The house was doomed to fall!
But that wasn't all. Gates were also classified by grade, and that was where things got really intense.
The grade of the essence you used to unlock your gate determined the grade of your evolution tribulation.
It was a kind of deadly trial that pushed your body and soul to the limit. Survive it, and you evolved into something greater.
Fail… well, your story ended right there, usually in a puddle of screaming.
But if you did survive, the rewards were immense. Take this example: before unlocking any gate, everyone had base stats of 1—strength, speed, perception, all of it.
Now, if someone used a Rare-grade essence for their first gate and passed the tribulation, their base stats would increase by 300%, giving them a boost of 3.
So the result was stats jumping from 1 to 4.
Then say they opened a second gate later, using another Rare-grade essence and passed another tribulation.
Their stats would increase by 300% again—4 to 16. In two evolutions, they'd become a monster.
Now, compare that to someone who used a Common-grade essence first. Their multiplier might be only 100%, so they'd evolve from 1 to just 2.
Even if they later used a Rare-grade essence for their second gate, the 300% boost only got them to 8.
Half the power of the other guy. And the difference only got wider with time. It was exponential.
Then came the type of essence: branded or unbranded. Most beasts, spirits, or magical plants left behind an unbranded essence which was just pure energy.
That gave a stat boost, sure, but nothing else. But a branded essence? That was gold.
Because that type of essence contained the skills or abilities of the creature that died.
Open your gate with one of those, and you didn't just get stronger, you got a power.
Maybe the ability to control shadows, breathe fire, speak to the dead, whatever the beast had done in life.
Those became known as branded gates, and they were the holy grail. Everyone wanted them, making them far expensive compared to unbranded ones.
Now, the Azure Sky Sword Essence that Kael had just learned about from the crowd murmurs?
That thing was Epic-grade. Top-tier. It was legendary not just for its power, but for being a branded weapon essence, one that gave its wielder sword-control abilities so powerful they could fight with their weapons even from a mile away.
If Kael used it, he'd get an incredible main gate.
But he hated swords.
He wanted to steal that essence not to use it, but to trade or manipulate with it. Maybe he'd find something even higher, like a Mythical-grade essence.
Or an Epic-grade utility essence. Now that would be a real score. Something that would let him turn invisible, see the truth, warp reality.
Something clever.
Kael's eyes gleamed as the line moved again. He was getting close now, just a few more people.
Helga grunted beside him. Her arms were still folded like she was the final boss of the line.
Then it happened.
The air shifted. People turned their heads. Kael felt it even before he looked. He glanced up and, yep, there they were again.
The five Sky Sword Sect youths. Descending.
But this time, they weren't just flying above the crowd. They were swooping down, fast and arrogant, their swords gleaming as they hovered just meters from the gate.
Their clothes whipped in the wind. Their eyes were cold, sharp. And they were strong. Kael could feel it now, without even trying.
These weren't your average first-gate Seekers. These kids were monsters.
Each of them radiated a presence like the Fallen Kael had barely managed to kill back in the ruins, but worse.
These ones were sane. Sharp. Disciplined. Deadlier!
He took a slow breath. But the show wasn't over.
Just as the flying swords landed with a gentle hum, not even a few minutes passed before the largest gate to Riverdale opened with a clang, and out rolled the flashiest, most ridiculous carriage Kael had ever seen.
It was pulled by two horses the size of bears, their skin glistening with purple scales instead of fur, their manes crackling with static like living lightning bolts.
The carriage itself was gold and silver with blue-tinted windows and a crest of a hawk devouring a crown on the side.
And out from it stepped the Village Head himself.
Kael didn't need anyone to tell him who the man was. The short, wiry figure with a bushy beard so perfectly trimmed it could've been drawn by an artist.
His robes screamed money. His rings sparkled. And his voice? Sweet and oily like someone trying to sell you a bad car for full price.
"Oh, oh, young masters of the Sky Sword Sect!" the Village Head gushed, practically falling over himself to bow.
"What an honor! What a magnificent surprise! What brings your esteemed selves to our humble Riverdale?"
Kael squinted. 'Man sounds like he's about to lick their boots.'
But then, something changed.
The tallest of the youths stepped forward. Muscles like a statue, black hair tied in a high ponytail, and the kind of face that screamed "I kill people for warmups."
He ignored the mayor completely and walked straight toward Kael and Helga.
Then he raised his voice.
"You," he said, pointing at Kael. "Show your face."
Kael blinked.
"…Huh?"