We returned to the manor after the auction. There were a few more interesting pieces, but what I really cared about I got.

The Shadow Lattice Skill Crystal and the Infernal Manual.

I lift the crystal from its padded box while warm light filters from the Clearwater's estate tall, rounded windows in my room.

The moment my fingers close around the shard, the Infernal bracelet tightens on my wrist and sends a jolt through my palm. I do not hesitate. I start the absorption ritual because I want answers and I trust the Grimoire to stop me if I stray.

Shadow Lattice (Gold - Offensive Skill)

Would you like to absorb Shadow Lattice?

"Yes."

The crystal dissolves into my palm.

A chime rings in my skull.

You have absorbed Shadow Lattice.

Shadow Lattice (Gold - Offensive Skill)

Shadow Lattice - Level 1

I immediately activate the Grimoire.

Shadow Lattice – Gold Rank – Lv. 1

Mana Cost: 422 MP per second

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"Question marks?" I mutter, looking through the page that the Grimoire created for me.

That's new. I've never seen question marks.

Then, I look for flaws.

I scan the top three flaws.

I flip the Grimoire page and stare at the red text that pulses in the margins.

Three problems jump at me, and each one bites me, not the enemy.

First flaw – Flow-Reversal Mesh: The weave grabs my mana the instant I cast and dumps almost all of it into a dead pocket, so the enemy keeps every drop while I bleed power like a severed hose.

Second flaw – Anchor Drift: The six anchor veins beat out of rhythm with the core, and every off-beat shakes loose nearly a quarter of the mana I should steal, so the lattice hisses and sputters before any real siphon starts.

Third flaw – Caster-Priority Lock: The trigger rune hunts for the closest mana signature, and if no foe stands inside the web it tags me as the target, clamps on my own channels, and locks my limbs until I cancel the skill.

I grit my teeth because, right now, Shadow Lattice is a suicide trap like they had said at the auction hall.

I need to flip the mesh so it drains outward, I must sync the anchors with the core, and I must force the trigger rune to blacklist my signature.

Only then will this thing rip mana from enemies instead of gutting me.

But this is great news. The fact that this Skill can actually drain Mana from the enemies and restore mine, all while restraining their movements…

Veyl is not going to know what hit him once we enter the Sky Hunt, I smirk to myself.

But when I start reading the Grimoire in detail, something makes me frown.

Flip the flow mesh: rotate weave orientation one hundred eighty degrees, then fuse the seam with Darkness Mana so the null pocket points outward.

Resync anchors: pulse Fire and Darkness together in a seven-beat cadence to pull veins into phase.

Rewrite target lock: feed a hostile signature into the primer rune—any foreign spell will do—then overwrite the default with my own core as exempt.

"Fire and Darkness?" I frown. "I don't have Darkness Mana."

The bracelet pulses harder and clamps around my wrist until bone creaks.

[System Notice] – Origin resonance detected.

Shadow Lattice shares astral flux with Dark Blade Shard (1/2).

I tear open the inner pouch at my belt and draw out the jagged black fragment I salvaged from the mimic's chest. The shard's throb in time with the bracelet.

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Dark Blade Shard (1/2) – Gold Rank – Offensive Skill

"So that's why you've been tugging," I whisper. I nestle the shard back into the pouch; the glow subsides, as if satisfied.

Is this how I manage to actually pull on Darkness? I wonder.

The Grimoire hasn't given me any precise instructions on the matter, but it feels like the thing to do here is to use the Dark Blade Skill Shard to feel that kind of Mana inside myself.

I still have the Infernal Architect Class. That must mean something.

If I have a Class related to Infernals, I should be able to summon some of that Darkness mana.

Is it going to be hard?

My first attempts are not successful because I'm trying to picture the dark, shadows, and a general sensation of cold or void. But it's too fuzzy, too alien to me.

I never live that kind of darkness.

But there's a kind of darkness I know very well.

I close my eyes and picture coal seams that ran deeper than the miners ever dared because the rock breathed poison and the lanterns died.

I recall the taste of that air, gritty and cold, and I let the memory seep down my throat until it settles behind my heart.

The Fire in my core flickers, yet I keep it caged while I hunt for something older, something quieter.

I imagine every tunnel light snuffed and I feel the weight of the mountain above me when no ember remains. A dull pulse answers at the base of my spine, slow and reluctant, like tar that forgot how to flow. I coax it upward with the same rhythm the Grimoire marked for the anchor veins, and I offer a sliver of Ash to smooth the way.

The pulse thickens and crawls through my channels, staining them violet where Fire leaves them clear. My fingertips darken, the color of wet iron, and cold leaks from my nails into the air.

I open my eyes and shadows cling to my palm like smoke that refuses the breeze.

Darkness Mana, crude and scant.

I breathe once, steady, then I let the Fire ignite beside it without either one faltering.

Fascinating, I think to myself, and then get to work.

I swallow the phantom pain that came with memories and flip the flow mesh of Shadow Lattice a full half‑turn while I pour Fire into the outer weave. Heat swarms my hand, yet this time the drain points away from my core instead of into it.

Next I tap the six anchor veins in a seven‑beat rhythm—Fire on every beat and a hesitant trickle of whatever Darkness I can muster on the half‑beats. Nothing answers at first, but then I remember the lowest tunnel in Shit's Creek where the lamps died and the air tasted like coal dust. A cold ribbon pushes down my arm, dark as bruised iron, and the anchors lock into phase.

For the last fix I shove a mote of Mana into the primer rune so the lattice tags that signature as enemy, and then I stamp my own aura over the vein to set myself as exempt. The lattice settles and the Grimoire tallies the changes.

[Shadow Lattice – Gold Rank – Lv. 1 → Lv. 5]

Mana Cost (per second): 422 MP → 48 MP Siphon

Anchor Limit: 1 target

Mana Drain (per second): 2MP → 7MP

Mana Drain Conversion: 0% → 5%

I flip the Infernal Manual open across my knees, the black plates cold even through my pants. I run my thumb along the scorched-gold script, waiting for the Grimoire to translate, but the page stays dead. I frown and push Fire Mana into the markings—nothing. I feed Ash next, but the script doesn't shift. Then I steady my hand and add the new Darkness thread, the one I learned to pull after fixing the Shadow Lattice.

The plates shudder. Infernal script crawls along the page, bleeding red and silver. The Grimoire flickers with a single line.

Activation sequence detected.

Manual access requires Infernal Mana signature (Fire, Ash, Darkness).

I press all three types into the cover at once. The manual shivers, plates locking tight. Then the runes flash white and dissolve, unveiling five diagrams in sequence. Each one burns with a different shape, but I can only make out the first one: a sword draw. Four of them remain clouded behind a veil. Only the fifth glows.

Combat Forms Unlocked: 1/5

Unlocked Form: Diavolo Draw (Infernal Blade Technique)

The Diavolo Draw diagram expands. Arrows and small infernal runes walk down the page, showing me the grip, the stance, and the way I have to compress the three Mana types together in the split second before the blade clears the sheath. My fingers tingle. I copy the movement slow, let the muscle memory form.

Notifications ping in the back of my mind.

Diavolo Draw (Gold - Offensive Skill)

Diavolo Draw - Level 1

Diavolo Draw – Gold Rank – Lv. 1

Mana Cost: 986 MP per activation

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I turn the blade form over and over in my mind, weighing the power behind each movement.

How is this possible? How can I learn a Skill from something other than a Crystal or my Class?

I'm flabbergasted.

The hunger in the manual, the lattice, the blade shard—they all feel connected, like a pulse that's been waiting for someone with my blood, or at least my kind of luck, to put the pieces together.

Veyl walks through every room with that self-satisfied smile, always the center of attention, always ready with a sneer for every "lesser" in the city. He walks like everyone should bow. Even Felisia keeps her temper in check around him, but I see the way he stares down at her, the way he treats her as if she's another rung below, just because he has the ears, the name, and the money.

The whole city thinks that the Elves are just superior, slated to win, that it's impossible to even imagine Felisia and I could do something against such a warrior.

I smile.

But they haven't met a real monster yet.

They haven't seen what an Infernal inheritance can look like.

He's proud of being chosen by his court, but I wasn't picked by anyone.

I crawled out of a hole with nothing but a Rainbow Support Skill.

Everything I have, I have earned.

Look, I've learned a little more about Infernals during the past few days, as much as you can get to know in a city like Clearwater, at least.

Veyl thinks he's the one who needs to prove his people's superiority, that he's the only one with something to prove, that he's the heir to the oldest magics in the world. Let him think that. Let him smirk. I'll let him make a show of it in front of every noble in the Sky Hunt.

But when the web snaps shut, and he feels his mana draining away—when he realizes there's nothing he can do to stop my sword—I'll let him see the real difference between fake power and a true Infernal legacy.

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