The text hung in the air between them, clean and precise, as if the bond itself had decided both of them were allowed to read it.
✧ ✦ ✧
[ System Interface ]
[ Name : Zara ]
[ Race : Human ]
[ Bloodline : Primal Shadow Bloodline ]
[ Class : Child Of Shadow ]
[ Rank : 1 (Awaken) ]
[ Level : 15 ]
[ Experience Points : 0/154 ]
[ Attributes ]
[ Strength : 40 ]
[ Agility : 60 ]
[ Vitality : 40 ]
[ Magic : 60 ]
[ Will : 60 ]
[ Attribute Points : 0 ]
[ Skill Points : 0 ]
[ Skills : Shadow Vision, Silence Skin, Tendril Lash, Shadow Mantle, Aspect Activation (New!) ]
[ Shadow Bond : Alexander Abyss ] (New!)
✧ ✦ ✧
Alex stared.
He had expected a status panel.
He had not expected to see every line of it as clearly as if it were his own.
The numbers sat there with the same bureaucratic calm the system always used, yet the fact that they were hers made the entire display feel heavier.
"I can see all of it," he said, the words coming out slower than usual.
"Your full interface, name, attributes, skills, everything,"
"That is... a lot more access than I thought the bond would give."
Zara’s expression stayed composed, though the bond carried a quiet pulse of the same disbelief he was feeling.
"It is probably because of the evolution," she said.
"The bond finished changing this morning, the clear speech, the shared sensation,"
"Apparently the system decided that if we can talk inside each other’s heads, we can also read each other’s panels."
Alex’s eyes moved down the list and stopped.
Bloodline.
Primal Shadow Bloodline.
He had never seen that name before.
Abyssal bloodlines were rare enough that even the palace archives only had fragments, and he had read those fragments more than once out of pure curiosity.
But this was different.
And this was new.
He focused on the line the same way he focused on any system entry that invited deeper inspection.
The description unfolded.
✧ ✦ ✧
[ Primal Shadow Bloodline ]
[ A Bloodline born in the first scream of the void before light ever dared exist.
Your veins run with liquid eclipse, every drop a hungry remnant of the primordial shadow that once swallowed stars whole.
Shadows do not follow you, they obey, peeling off walls like living skin, whispering the true names of things that should never have names.
When you bleed, the world forgets how to cast light.
When you rage, the darkness itself flinches... then grins. ]
✧ ✦ ✧
Alex blinked once.
"Holy Shit! What kind of description is that? It reads like the opening of a horror film."
Zara simply stared at him, expression blank for a full second. Then her mouth twitched.
"First of all, mind your language, young man, and you should talk about yourself before you start judging me," she said.
"I did not know you had something that broken either,"
"You told me you had a weird bloodline,"
"I assumed it was unusual,"
"I did not assume it was the kind of thing that rewrites what a bloodline is even allowed to be, yours is insane, Alex, completely insane!"
He had no good answer for that, so he let the point stand and moved his attention to the next line that demanded it.
Class.
Child of Shadow.
He focused on it.
✧ ✦ ✧
[ Child of Shadow ]
[ You were never fully born, half of you leaked into the world from a crack in the dark.
The shadows themselves raised you, feeding you on forgotten screams and the soft bones of light.
Your silhouette moves half a second before your body does, and every mirror you pass shows something older, hungrier, and smiling with too many teeth.
When the last candle dies, you are already home. ]
{ +10 to all attributes. }
✧ ✦ ✧
Alex’s voice left him before the clinical part of his mind could stop it.
"Why the hell do you have an attribute boost? That is so unfair!"
He stared at the final line again, as if the system might reconsider and remove it out of sheer embarrassment, of course it did not disappear.
"If I am not wrong," he continued, still staring at it.
"Attribute boosts from a class only start appearing after the class has evolved several times,"
"Late stages, but you are just Level Fifteen, that means this is either your base class or the first evolution at most, and it is already giving you a flat plus ten to everything,"
"That is not normal, it is like the system looking at you and deciding the rules are optional."
Zara’s reaction was not the modest denial he half expected.
She giggled.
Then she folded her arms beneath her breasts, lifted her chest slightly, and tilted her chin up with deliberate, theatrical pride.
The oversized fur coat shifted with the motion.
The dark scarf still hid the marks on her neck, but nothing could hide the fond amusement that settled into her expression.
"You might be the little prodigy of the Abyss," she said, voice warm and teasing at the same time.
"But I am not less than your big sister in this,"
"I awakened at twelve as well,"
"I spent the next three years raising my level without pause like a madwoman until I reached fifteen,"
"That was when they finally called me to the Chamber of Bonds to be tied to you,"
"So yes, Alex, I had a head start and I used it to it’s fullest extent."
There was real fondness in the way she said it, it was not the sharp teasing she usually reserved for when she wanted to fluster him, this was something quieter.
Alex felt a small, unwelcome twist of guilt in his chest.
"Because of me," he said, quieter than before.
"Your growth stopped after the bond,"
"You have been stuck at Level Fifteen for seven years while I trained and adapted and took my time,"
"If you had stayed free, you would already be far past this rank..."
Zara looked at him as if he had just said something genuinely strange.
Then she stepped closer, reached up, and flicked him hard in the center of the forehead.
"Ow—"
The small impact stung more than it should have.
He rubbed the spot, scowling on reflex.
The bond carried her brief, bright satisfaction at the sound he made.
"It is not a hindrance," she said, and this time there was no teasing left in her voice, only certainty.
"I gained something much more valuable than levels because of our bond,"
"Look at the new skill,"
"The one marked as new."
Alex’s gaze dropped back to the interface still hanging between them.
[ Skill: Aspect Activation. (New!) ]
He focused on it.
And the shock hit him all over again.
🌿 ─ ❦ ─ 🌿
End of Chapter 102: Child of Shadow
🌿 ── ❦ ── 🌿