Scar

"Who is that?"

Deep within the graveyard, amidst the layered shadows of tombstones, a squat figure stood with a gaze so piercing it immediately caught Zhou Kai's attention.

Just as Zhou Kai tried to get a better look, a sudden buzzing exploded in his mind. A flash of white light blinded him, and the scene before his eyes skipped like a videotape being forcibly fast-forwarded.

It felt as though the frames involving the white shadow had been skipped entirely.

When he regained his senses, Zhou Kai's perspective was already standing before a solitary tombstone.

A figure in black robes spoke in a raspy voice: "Child, your father is buried here... Go, take 'it.' May the legacy of our ancestors protect you as you move forward."

From Zhou Kai's perspective—the youth nodded mechanically.

He watched helplessly as several black-robed figures surrounded the grave, the sound of shovels biting into the damp earth grating harshly against his ears.

They pried open the grave and gathered around the coffin, their throats emitting a low, droning hum, like some ancient prayer.

A moment later, the leader of the black-robed figures approached, holding something in both hands.

It was a piece of withered skin peeled from a hand, resembling a piece of yellowed parchment.

"Blood oath."

The black-robed figure's voice was devoid of emotion.

The youth extended a trembling hand, the cold glint of a dagger flashing across his palm.

"So that's how it is."

Zhou Kai looked at the skin in his hand with a sense of melancholy as a torrent of information regarding it flooded his mind.

Mark: An extraordinary power passed down within a secret faction of the Church of Light. It uses bloodlines as a vessel, inherited through generations—from brother to brother, father to son. Each successive heir grows stronger than the last.

And now, the skin in Zhou Kai's hand bore the legacy that the youth Yabo Soraka had inherited from his father...

Mark: Chariot

Beyond the key memories of inheriting the Mark, countless fragmented images churned in Zhou Kai's mind.

The laughter, tears, glory, and humiliation of the youth's life, along with something far heavier.

These memories were so potent that just seeing the word "Chariot" made his body tremble uncontrollably.

It wasn't fear or excitement, but a profound shock—the sensation of witnessing history surging through a bloodline, passed down through generations of vigil.

"Blood oath!"

In a hallucination, a voice extremely similar to Yabo's, yet older and grittier, barked the command.

Zhou Kai silently raised his hand and slashed his thumb across the pad of his index finger.

The skin tore, and beads of blood surged out in a rush.

The crimson blood dripped onto the withered skin.

Eerily, instead of being soaked, the skin became increasingly parched, eventually crumbling silently into a pile of grey-black powder that merged with the blood to form a viscous, bloody ink.

Zhou Kai watched the substance with a blank expression.

He dipped his finger into the bloody ink and, mimicking the images from his memory, drew a totem-like seal on the outer side of his left arm.

"Always forward, never retreat!"

"Resolve as gold, crush the enemy and claim victory!"

Yabo's oath echoed in his mind.

The moment the seal was completed, Zhou Kai felt a torturous, searing pain in his left arm, as if a red-hot branding iron had pierced through his limb, leaving an indelible mark.

Becoming a Mark.

Amidst the agony, the crude pattern began to squirm and shift on its own, its lines becoming exquisite and complex.

A lone warrior, clad in heavy armor, charged headlong into an endless darkness.

In a trance, Zhou Kai heard a heartbeat like a war drum, and the neighing of a warhorse echoed in his ears.

Thump!

Thump! Thump!

His heart began to beat with unprecedented, violent force.

Golden-red veins erupted from the Chariot Mark, spreading across Zhou Kai's entire body like red-hot barbed wire.

An unbearable pain swept over him like a tidal wave; his bones ground together like shifting gears, and his muscles felt as if they were being torn apart and forcibly stitched back together.

His physical constitution was being violently elevated.

The process lasted for a full five minutes before it slowly subsided...

By now, Zhou Kai looked as if he had been fished out of water, his entire body drenched in sweat.

"Haa..."

Zhou Kai collapsed onto one knee, his strength spent, a suppressed wheeze rattling in his throat.

"Chariot Mark? What on earth is this..."

He flexed his limbs, feeling the surging power within his body and that profound, mysterious stream of information.

Zhou Kai gradually began to understand the purpose of the Chariot Mark.

"A massive boost to physical attributes, and also... a skill called 'Victory Charge'?"

His consciousness had already linked with the mark upon his arm.

As long as he held firm resolve and charged toward an enemy, he could consume mental and physical stamina to unleash a collision that transcended the limits of his body.

Pressing forward with indomitable will, shattering all laws.

"At last, I finally have a trump card to rely on."

Zhou Kai exhaled a long, stale breath and cast his gaze back toward the panel.

Below the status bar, a new category had quietly appeared.

[Mark: Chariot I (0/100)]

Victory Charge did not appear in the skill bar and could not be upgraded with experience points, but the Chariot Mark itself could actually be leveled up—a pleasant surprise, to say the least.

"One hundred experience points... that's a bit absurd. Have I even earned a total of one hundred experience points since I started?"

Zhou Kai shook his head as memories regarding the standard methods of improving marks surfaced in his mind.

There were two paths.

One was through self-cultivation, though the criteria for it were quite peculiar...

"I must constantly 'achieve victory' to have any hope of upgrading the mark?"

The definition of this "victory" was quite broad; from a small skirmish to a grand gamble, as long as he was the one who ultimately won, it counted.

Viewed in this light, the difficulty of cultivation wasn't as exaggerated as he had imagined.

The second method was to absorb other marks.

This, perhaps, was the path best suited for him.

Because...

Zhou Kai's eyes flickered: "If I'm not mistaken, those armored monsters in the town—those ghastly things transformed from the Soraka family guards—all possess marks on their bodies."

"Hoo... it seems I can't afford to let these walking experience bags go from now on."

Zhou Kai felt Clear-Headed, extremely satisfied with his gains this time.

"Even if this is just a blank-slate mark, it is absolutely my greatest harvest since entering the Nightmare!"

If his senses were correct, a mere level one had caused his physical attributes to skyrocket by at least forty percent.

This effect was even more terrifying than the boost provided by a level three skill!

"Yabo..."

"I accept your power. I will carry it with me and continue to survive in this hellish place!"

Zhou Kai clenched his fist tightly, producing a sharp, cracking sound.

After a while, Yabo's corpse ignited with flames of an eerie hue.

The legacy began to precipitate.

[The loser, trapped in eternal night, turns to smoke amidst the raging fire... You have obtained the legacy of "Yabo"]

[Soraka Swordsmanship experience +4. As you are completely unfamiliar with some of the skills, the exclusive experience points have been converted into general experience points]

[General experience +3]

[General experience: 14 → 17]

[Soraka Swordsmanship lv2 (6/25) → (10/25)]

With the mark in hand and his skills refined, Zhou Kai's fighting spirit was in full swing.

"Dump points into Two-Handed Sword, and continue the hunt!"

Zhou Kai's gaze was sharp as a blade as he stared at the door-sized heavy Two-Handed Sword in his hands.

["Two-Handed Sword" has become sharper and more durable; you have consumed 3 general experience points]

Perhaps because the foundation of this sword was better, it only cost three points, yet the upgraded effect was even more outstanding than the previous one that had cost five.

Cold light rippled across the blade, sharp and menacing.

Zhou Kai gripped the sword with both hands, the hearth fire reflecting off his face.

He casually performed a few sword flourishes; bright silver light flickered, and every swing produced a sonic boom that tore through the air.

Satisfied with the result, he slung the sword onto his back and strode out of the shelter.

With his strength having surged, both his hearth fire and supplies were temporarily abundant.

Zhou Kai's gaze swept across the darkness outside, his fighting spirit soaring.

"Sooner or later... the roles of hunter and prey will have to be reversed!"

However...

Zhou Kai plunged headlong into the curtain of rain.

Three seconds later, the rain spat him back out in a disheveled heap.

Zhou Kai leaned his back against the cold gate, his heart pounding wildly as he gasped for air.

He hadn't even made it far when a truly terrifying silhouette crashed into his field of vision.

He instinctively wanted to add points to his shelter, but after a glance at his general experience points, he saw that only eleven remained after upgrading his greatsword.

This amount of experience was a mere drop in the bucket for such a large house... upgrade just the door?

Don't be ridiculous; he didn't even like using the doors himself anymore, sometimes crashing directly into other houses instead.

Expect those monsters... to knock politely?

"I can only gamble, gamble that thing won't come looking for trouble with me."

Zhou Kai furrowed his brows, pondered for a moment, and then quietly headed to the second floor.

He stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, carefully pulled back a corner of the curtain, and vigilantly began Peeping at the world outside.