Kruger

The training hall was quiet.

Too quiet for a place built to host combat.

Its walls were lined with obsidian alloy, flickering softly with embedded Viora veins. No weapons. No dummies. No drills.

Just silence.

Kaiell stood at the center, arms loose at his sides, breath slow.

Instructor Solra stood opposite him.

"Viora is not a weapon," she said. "It is a system. A language. A mirror."

She circled him as she spoke. Her footsteps made no sound.

"The power you've felt so far—those instincts in battle, the Ibex Cells, the surges—those are the body reacting to strain. But the mind must learn to interpret Viora, or it will simply burn itself out."

She stopped behind him.

"Close your eyes."

He obeyed.

"Now listen."

Nothing.

At first, he thought she was waiting. Testing patience.

But then—

There it was.

The hum.

A deep, internal vibration, like pressure inside a sealed chamber.

"Do not suppress the feeling," Solra said softly. "Amplify it."

Kaiell focused. Let the hum spread.

A tingle down his neck.

A pulse behind his eyes.

And then—

It bloomed.

A thin wave of light expanded before him, even with his eyes closed. He saw it—like a second sight opening beneath his skin. Not visible to the room, only to him.

A system. A UI.

Glowing nodes mapped across a silhouette of his own body—muscles, veins, nerves. It was a Viora diagnostic grid, overlaid in a spectral hue of blue and violet.

[Ibex Cells Active: 36][Nerve Response: Stable][Muscle Integrity: 91%][Cognitive Strain: 12% - Elevated][Pain Suppression: 58%][Inner Sync: Low Stability]

His breath caught.

He didn't understand how—but he could feel every stat. They weren't numbers. They were truths.

"Now," Solra said. "Follow that current deeper. You've activated your field. It's time to enter your inner world."

Kaiell hesitated.

Then nodded.

And dove inward.

The Inner World

The moment he let go, the training hall vanished.

The light turned to shadow. Then light again.

His breath stilled.

And the world changed.

He stood in ankle-deep water. Endless blue stretched in all directions, lit from beneath by pulsing currents. There was no horizon. Only the ocean—his ocean. It hadn't looked like this before.

Before, it had been dry.

Empty.

Now?

Now it breathed.

The surface of the sea mirrored his heartbeat. It shimmered with every breath.

He took a step forward.

The ocean responded—ripples radiating, glowing faintly where his feet touched.

He knelt.

And dove in.

Below the surface, sound disappeared entirely. No voices. No war. No pain.

Only pressure.

Darkness.

And potential.

As he sank deeper, lights followed him—flickering sigils in the water like memory fragments. The shape of Nightfell. Joran's face. The Voidling Captain. Pablo's sabers spinning through air. Nelis holding the Mage's head.

All of them became part of the water. Part of the descent.

Then—

A light below.

Soft. Indigo-blue. Like a beacon.

He swam toward it.

And when he reached it—

The ocean itself shifted.

Currents exploded outward, and the world shook like a bell.

His skin burned.

His mind seared.

Then came the voice—not like before, but from the ocean itself:

"You've touched your evolution."

"This world is yours. Dive deeper, and you will find what no instructor can teach."

Reality Returned

Kaiell gasped and opened his eyes.

Back in the training hall.

Steam curled off his arms.

His interface flared.

[Ibex Cells: 37 Active][Neural Sync: 73%][Inner World: Evolving][Ocean Depth Access: Unlocked]

Solra raised one eyebrow.

"Not bad," she said. "First dive, and you didn't drown."

Kaiell didn't answer.

He was still reeling—not from pain. But from truth.

There was more to this than fighting.

More than strain.

Something was calling him from beneath the surface.

And he intended to dive until he found it.