The moon was a pale sentinel in the midnight sky, casting silver light across the forested hills that stretched beyond Arcanum Academy. Cloaked in layered shadows and silence, Kieran moved like a phantom through the trees—each step guided by instinct and the soft pulses of the System's detection grid.
[System Notification]
Mana Pulse Detected: Type - Anomalous | Range - 3.2 km | Flow - Inverted Spiral | Origin - Unknown Cursed Entity
— Would you like to investigate?
A small smile tugged at Kieran's lips.
"Lead me."
The Path to Power
The mission was clear in his mind now.
Build a court of the forsaken.The outcasts. The cursed. Those deemed broken by the world—yet holding within them powers even the greatest nobles would envy. Those like Elira, whose mind and soul had been twisted by betrayal and loneliness until Kieran offered her something more—purpose.
The System map shimmered in his vision, plotting a clear course through the trees, the hills, and past the shrouded ruins left behind by a forgotten war. As he moved, the ground shifted beneath his feet, bending slightly to the Voidwalker Class.
Kieran murmured under his breath.
"Activate: Crown Tracking Protocol."
A spiral of runes spun to life beneath his feet before fading into the earth. From above, one might've seen a glimmering constellation of red dots slowly aligning. These were not mere potential recruits—these were chosen fragments, women shaped by fate to one day follow his shadow.
The First: Saria Noxveil – "The Banshee of Hollow Grove"
Kieran arrived at the edge of a deadened swamp.
No birds. No insects. Just the faint echo of whispers. The mana here was suffocating, cold like mist creeping into your bones.
Saria stood alone near a broken shrine, her eyes vacant and silver, as if seeing both this world and another. Her long black hair tangled down her back, and her pale skin shimmered faintly with ethereal markings—signs of death-bound mana.
She wasn't crying. But she looked like someone who never stopped crying—forever haunted, and haunting.
[System Scan Complete]Name: Saria NoxveilRace: Half-Spirit ElfStatus: Cursed by Soulbind Wail (forbidden spell)Potential: Mythical-Class Job — "Grave Echo Valkyrie"Mental Status: Suicidal Suppression | Emotional LockdownAffiliation: None
Kieran stepped forward gently, allowing his presence to be known—not intrusively, but like a soft knock on a sealed door.
Her head tilted. Slowly.
"Are you… real?" she whispered, voice barely audible.
"Real enough to change your fate," he answered.
"You'll disappear like the others," she murmured, bitter. "You'll scream. You'll run."
Kieran walked toward her, unafraid, until they were close enough that he could see the faint ripple of her cursed aura. It tried to claw at him, but the System nullified it instantly.
He knelt down in front of her.
"No, Saria. I've come to crown you."
She blinked, stunned.
[System Command: Assign Crest][Job Bestowal – Mythical Class: Grave Echo Valkyrie][Crown Crest Engraved]
A sharp glow marked the back of her neck as the Crown Crest carved itself into her skin. Her curse flared for an instant—and was consumed.
Saria let out a gasp. The chains wrapped around her soul… began to loosen.
She looked at him with wide, almost innocent eyes.
"...Who are you?"
"Your king," he said softly. "And this world has no idea who we are yet."
She lowered her gaze, then knelt—like a disciple before divinity.
"Then command me, my sovereign."
The Second: Rivenya Duskthorn – The Devourer's Vessel
The next recruit was not gentle.
Rivenya Duskthorn was found within the Fissure Caves, a forbidden region said to be haunted by corrupted beasts. She was shackled to a wall when Kieran arrived, surrounded by dead monster husks—her own mana-draining presence the cause of their collapse.
Her body bore scars of control runes. Her purple eyes flickered like a storm barely caged.
[System Scan]
Race: Human (Mutated)Status: Artificially Enhanced | Devourer Seed ImplantedPotential: Legendary-Class Job — "Abyss Warden"Mental Status: Hostile | High Paranoia | Contained Madness
She lunged the moment he stepped within ten meters, tendrils of abyssal mana erupting from her back. Kieran responded with Spatial Lock, freezing her mid-air.
He didn't speak right away.
He just looked at her—with calm certainty.
"You've been chained, Rivenya. Tortured. Abandoned."
Her voice was feral, fanged.
"And what? You'll free me and make me your dog?"
He approached.
"No. I will make you my queen of the abyss. And the world will kneel."
That was enough.
With the System's blessing, the Crest burned into her skin, and the shackles shattered.
Rivenya didn't fall to her knees.
Instead, she walked to him, eyes gleaming with dark joy.
"You're insane. I like that."
The Court Gathers
In the hours that followed, he found the others:
Miryel of the Glade – a dryad girl with petrified limbs and explosive life magic. (Job: Verdant Cataclysm Sage)
Nyssa Cain – a blind swordswoman whose soul had fused with a forgotten spirit wolf. (Job: Lupine Soul Dancer)
Rena Hollowin – a mute beastkin with telekinetic rage. (Job: Stormbound Sentinel)
Vaelira Noctune – a vampire-lord's illegitimate daughter, hunted for her hybrid blood. (Job: Crimson Dream Warden)
Ilyra Snowveil – a frost witch whose powers had sealed her village in eternal winter. (Job: Glacial Empress)
Each of them bore a story of sorrow. Pain. Loss.
But Kieran offered them something else—belonging. Power. Purpose.
And in return, they swore undying loyalty.
The Crest marked them all—silver crowns blooming across the backs of their necks.
The Naming
They gathered that morning beneath the earth, in the silent cathedral hidden below the academy's warded foundation—a space carved by void and sealed by secrecy.
Elira stepped forward, her eyes shining with pride and awe.
"We are ready, Master."
Kieran stood at the apex of the chamber, shadows wrapping around him like a royal mantle.
"From this day forward," he declared, "you are no longer forsaken. You are the unseen blade, the unseen hand… the hidden crown of this world."
"You are mine. And together, we will rise."
And in one voice, echoing through the soul-bound link:
"Long live the Hidden Crown."