The boy stood at the mouth of the alley, rain dripping from his thin hair, one arm wrapped around his stomach as if he could hold himself together by force. Up close, he looked even worse. Fever had painted dark circles under his eyes. His lips were cracked. The blood on his knuckles had already been diluted by the rain into pale pink streaks.
“You said you could help,” he rasped. “You got medicine? Or… or food?”
I stepped deeper under the broken overhang, far enough that the main street could no longer see us clearly. The system confirmed the isolation with a quiet pulse.
[Isolation: Sufficient]
[Initiating System Copy]
[Target resistance: Negligible]
[Estimated completion: 38 seconds]
[Host is advised to keep the target calm and stationary]
“I have something better than medicine,” I said. My voice came out low and steady, almost kind. “But you need to stay still for a moment. It will feel strange.”
The boy’s eyes flickered with suspicion, then with the dull exhaustion of someone who no longer had the strength to run. He nodded once.
I raised my hand and placed it lightly on his shoulder.
The moment my skin touched him, the world narrowed.
Silver light — visible only to me — poured from my palm into his body. The boy stiffened. His eyes went wide. A choked sound escaped his throat as his knees buckled. I caught him before he could fall, holding him upright with one arm while the system worked with cold precision.
[Copy Progress: 12%… 27%… 41%…]
[Target’s system core located]
[Structure: Fragmented Fire-Attribute Starter System]
[Copying…]
The boy’s breath came in short, panicked gasps. Sweat mixed with rain on his face. He tried to speak, but only a weak groan left his mouth. His system was being read, mapped, and duplicated in real time — and he had no idea what was happening. To him, it probably felt like his fever had suddenly spiked into something far worse.
[Copy Progress: 68%… 83%… 97%…]
[Finalizing structure…]
[Copy Complete]
A soft, almost gentle chime sounded inside my head.
[System Copy Successful]
[New Module Acquired: Fragmented Flame Core]
[Abilities Unlocked:]
— Ember Spark (Low-level flame generation)
— Heat Tolerance (Minor)
— Unstable Reinforcement (Temporary physical boost, high backlash risk)]
[Integration will complete over the next 6 hours]
[Target’s original system has entered temporary dormancy. He will believe it is illness.]
I released the boy’s shoulder. He sagged against the wall, sliding down into the mud, breathing hard. His eyes were unfocused. A thin trail of blood ran from his nose. This chapter is updated first at novelping . com.
“What… what did you do?” he whispered.
I looked down at him with the same empty calm I had worn since last night.
“I helped you,” I said. “Rest. The fever will break soon.”
I left two silver coins in the mud beside his hand — enough for a meal and a dry corner if he was careful — and walked out of the alley without looking back.
The rain felt colder against my skin than it had before.
Inside my vision, the system displayed the newly copied module like a jewel resting in dark velvet.
[First Copy Complete]
[Host growth has begun]
[Warning: This power is still weak. Do not become arrogant]
[Next recommendation: Return to the keep before midday. The Duchess and the Warlord have concluded their meeting]
I stopped in the middle of the muddy street.
They were finished.
Whatever “business” Kael had come to discuss was over.
And I was no longer the same young duke who had left the keep this morning.
I turned toward the upper city, the stolen flame quietly settling into my soul, and began the walk back to Blackthorn Keep.
Behind me, in a filthy alley, a boy with a broken system coughed blood into the rain and wondered why the voice in his head had suddenly gone silent.