"STOP YOU BASTARD!" I screamed.

  The words, laced with frustration and a desperate need to halt the relentless speed of the unseen force pulling me, echoed in the silent stone hall.

  Daeryon Kang, who had been moving with a swift, purposeful stride, halted abruptly.

  His broad shoulders tensed, and his head turned slowly, his piercing gaze fixing on the empty space where i hovered.

  A palpable wave of powerful Black Dragon Chi emanated from him, a silent warning that tightened the very air.

  "You again and screaming at me this time" Daeryon’s voice was low and dangerous.

  "No heartbeat. No weight. what are you exactly " he said with a demanding voice

  "I mean you no harm," I interjected, my voice strained but audible now, a ghostly whisper somehow cutting through the oppressive aura.

  "I mean your family no harm."

  Daeryon remained still for a long moment, his intense gaze unwavering. Then, the raw tension in his stance eased infinitesimally. "No harm..." he repeated, a hint of confusion in his tone.

  Suddenly, a blue, digital screen materialized before my eyes.

  [Relationship with Daeryon Kang: Unlocked]

  [Relationship Meter: 10%]

  Another screen followed almost instantly.

  [You have reached a substantial relationship with the character. You will receive a reward.]

  [Acquired: Black Dragon Chi. The body will undergo immediate transformation.]

  A searing, agonizing fire erupted within my ghostly form. It felt as though every fiber of my being was being reforged.

  I cried out, an inaudible scream of pure agony as my very essence was twisted and reshaped.

  Daeryon spun around, his eyes widening in astonishment as he felt a raw, untamed power erupt in the space before him.

  It was undeniably the Black Dragon Chi, the unique energy of his bloodline, yet it manifested in a way he had never conceived possible.

  "What in the heavens...?" Daeryon breathed, taking a step back. "How do you possess our chi?" He stared intently, sensing the immense pain and the raw force radiating from the unseen presence.

  "Endure it," he said, his voice surprisingly firm, a flicker of something akin to concern in his intense gaze. "Do not let the fire consume you."

  I poured every ounce of my resolve into the simple, desperate act of breathing while my body tore itself apart.

  I had endured loss, betrayal, and the crushing weight of a broken body.

  This pain, as terrible as it was, was another trial. I will not break.

  As the agony began to subside, the blue screen returned, displaying a new message.

  [Status System Unlocked: Attributes]

  [Mana has been changed permanently to Black Dragon Chi]

  Immediately, a detailed status screen filled his vision:

  Name: Daniel Lee Omar

  Rank: F (breakthrough available)

  Title: (None)

  Level: 1

  Total Attribute Score: 124

  Attributes:

  * Strength: 5 (+50% from Black Dragon Chi) = 8

  * Agility: 5 (+50% from Black Dragon Chi) = 8

  * Endurance: 20 (+50% from Black Dragon Chi) = 30

  * Intelligence: 8

  * Black Dragon Chi: 70

  I stared at the numbers, a sense of disbelief washing over me.

  I a powerless person who had never fought a single monster, now possessed attributes that were equal to a D-rank hero.

  The Black Dragon Chi, raw and potent, flowed through my non-existent veins, a tangible force in my ghostly form.

  Daeryon, still watching the empty space, frowned. He could sense the shift in the energy signature, the raw power solidifying.

  "Our chi... it resonates strongly with you," he murmured, his voice filled with a mixture of suspicion and a grudging acknowledgement.

  "To awaken it like this... without the ancestral ritual... it is unheard of." He paused, his gaze intense. "You have endured... more than most who carry our blood ever will in their lifetime."

  His tone was awkward, almost grudgingly respectful. He didn't understand what was happening, but the sheer force of what he had sensed left an undeniable impression.

  I stared at the attribute screen, my ghostly form humming with a power that felt both foreign and deeply familiar. I was a pathetic nobody in a world full of superpowered individuals.

  Yet, my Total Attribute Score of 124 was higher than most D-rank heroes i had read about in the news.

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  My Endurance score of 30 was staggering, a testament to the pain and loss i had endured.

  I who had always been the weak one, now possessed a body or at least the spiritual blueprint of one that could withstand unimaginable punishment.

  But it was my Black Dragon Chi that truly shocked me.

  The number 70 was a monumental figure for an initial awakening.

  I knew from writing my novel that this level of raw power was rare even among the most gifted cultivators.

  I had given this power to Raion as a narrative device, a latent talent waiting to be unlocked.

  I had never considered what it would feel like to possess it myself.

  Then came that final, jarring realization.

  "Mana has been changed permanently to Black Dragon Chi".

  It hit me with the force of a physical blow. In the real world, the hero system was powered by mana, a universal energy.

  Black Dragon Chi was something entirely different a unique, bloodline-based energy that belonged only to the Kang family in my novel.

  My system had been overwritten.

  This wasn't just a fantasy; it was a reality that had rewritten itself around me.

  Writer’s View hadn't just given me a window into my story; it had fundamentally changed me, replacing my mana with the very essence of the world i had created.

  I wasn't a hero in my world. Now, I’m something that shouldn't even exist: a ghost with a dragon's power and the jagged, broken pieces of a boy who has nothing left.

  I was a piece on the board, just as the riddle had said. And now, i had the feeling that the game was just getting started.

  Daeryon's intense gaze remained fixed on the empty space, a silent, unnerving scrutiny. He was waiting for a response, and i knew i had to deliver one.

  The transformation had left me with a strange, humming energy, but the crushing silence from Daeryon was what truly unnerved me.

  I felt like a boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

  "Right, so..." I began, my voice a ghost's whisper in the vast hall. "I think we should talk."

  The statement hung in the air, a ridiculous understatement of their situation.

  A powerful cultivator was staring at a disembodied voice he couldn't see,

  and that voice was asking for a chat.

  Daeryon didn't move. His face, usually a mask of stoic fury, was now a portrait of utter, baffled silence.

  He looked like a man who had just been asked to explain the rules of hopscotch while in the middle of a sword fight.

  He cleared his throat, a deep, rumbling sound that felt as awkward as my words.

  "Talk," Daeryon repeated, the word sounding foreign and clunky on his tongue. "About what?"

  "Well, about everything, I guess," i said, shrugging with my ghostly body.

  "Like, who I am, what I'm doing here, and why I have your chi. I feel like those are some good starting points."

  There was another long, unbearable silence. I could almost feel Daeryon trying to process the concept of a disembodied voice giving him a conversational agenda.

  I knew he wasn't a man given to small talk. The thought made me want to laugh, but i stopped myself, not wanting to spook the most dangerous man in the world. I was like a son trying to talk to a distant father,

  a dynamic I had written for this exact character. It was almost perfectly ironic.

  "Right," Daeryon finally said, his voice even lower than before. "Let's... talk."

  He turned and, with a slow, heavy gait, began walking down the hall, leaving me to be pulled along behind him.

  The silence was thick, broken only by the deliberate, heavy steps of Daeryon walking down the stone hall.

  I an invisible voice floating behind him, felt the gravity of what i was about to do.

  I was about to tell a man the story of his own life, a life he had yet to fully live.

  "You killed your brothers and your father," i began, my voice a steady, ghostly whisper.

  "Not for glory, but because you were furious. Because you watched them tear each other apart."

  Daeryon's footsteps faltered for a half-step before continuing.

  “I did what had to be done,” he said, his voice low, resonating like a mountain shifting in the wind.

  "You became the sect leader because there was no one left," I continued. "You tried after that. You tried to be a better man than the one who raised you. You tried to be kind."

  Daeryon's back was turned to me, but I could see his shoulders stiffen under the weight of whatever memories haunted him.

  "Kindness wasn't a lesson I was taught," he said, the words heavy with a lifetime of regret.

  "Your first marriage, to Seohwa... made everything harder," I began, my voice a steady, ghostly whisper.

  "She didn't care for you. She saw you as a tool to produce the next leader and nothing more. She raised Giron, without warmth, only purpose."

  Daeryon stopped, and the air around him seemed to thicken with cold fury. “She broke him,” he said, his voice a low, dangerous rumble that seemed to shake the ground. “She tried to make him a weapon.”

  "You found peace with your second wife, Saeryun though" I continued, my voice softer now.

  "She simply loved you. And for a little while, you learned what peace felt like."

  Daeryon's body froze. He turned slowly, his face a mask of utter bewilderment and fear. "What are you talking about?"

  His voice, which had been low and somber, now held a sharp, raw edge of confusion. "She's... she's in the chamber. I just saw her yesterday."

  I felt a pang of guilt. "She is," I said softly. "This didn't happen yet."

  The admission hung in the air, a devastating promise of what was to come.

  Daeryon said nothing, but his eyes, filled with a newfound terror, told me all i needed to know.

  I continued, my voice a slow, mournful narration.

  "The elders you trusted, the ones who helped raise your children, turned them against each other. But it was Areum, your youngest, who held them together. She was the one who kept them from completely breaking."

  Daeryon flinched at the mention of his children's and the youngest child he didn't know existed.

  He didn't speak, but his attention was a physical presence, a demand for every detail.

  "Other than that The elders made a deal with something ancient and dark, they betrayed you and the sect." i said, my voice dropping.

  For a heartbeat, Daeryon said nothing, the weight of disbelief settling over him. 'They… did this to me?

  The words came slowly, each one heavy. "Yes. They planned it for a long time, waiting for the perfect moment to poison you… and take your chi."

  Daeryon scoffed, a humorless, angry sound. "Poisoned me? Impossible. My Chi nullifies poison."

  "Not this one," i countered. "You read about it once. A legendary poison called Chi-Wither."

  Daeryon's eyes widened, a flicker of cold recognition in his gaze. "A legend," he murmured.

  the name sounding like a ghost from a past life. "It was only a story. No one believed it was real. It's supposed to target the energy itself, not the body."

  "It's real," i confirmed. "The elders used it on you. Your body was fine, but your chi, your very lifeblood, was useless."

  Daeryon's face hardened, grief twisted into icy fury. “Speak, ghost. What came after?”

  "The dark figures came. You made your final stand. You destroyed the stone wall to give Raion an escape route.”

  My voice grew thick with emotion.“You hugged him for one last time, and told him to run. And he did."

  "You killed every one of the elders who betrayed you. You killed most of the shadowy figures. But without your chi, it wasn't enough. You died there, alone, whispering the names of your children."

  Daeryon's body was a statue of unmoving stone, his face a perfect, shattered mask of a man who had just seen his own end.

  "Raion, ran until he collapsed by a river," i continued, giving Daeryon a small flicker of hope.

  "And that's where he was found. By Zhuyin."

  Daeryon's head snapped up. "Zhuyin?" he said, the name a choked-out whisper. A flicker of warmth, of a past friendship, passed through his grief-stricken eyes. "My only friend."

  "He told Raion that you thought mercy was leaving him untouched by war," I said.

  “But he also told him that mercy can't survive this world. So he taught him for a few years.”

  “He discovered Raion's unique ability to mirror any martial art he saw.”

  Daeryon's reaction was one of stunned fatherly pride mixed with the terror of his own prophecy.

  "He had that much talent... and I was too blind to see it?" he murmured, a hand coming up to cover his mouth.

  "Raion spent the next forty years of his life on a path of vengeance,"

  I continued, my voice tinged with the weight of that long, brutal journey. "He hunted every last shadow.And in a final, battle against the shadowy clan leader, he got his vengeance, but his soul was left without peace. He died there, on a mountain of ruin."

  Daeryon's head lowered. The raw anguish was palpable. "I never wanted that for him," he said, his voice thick with a father's regret. "I never wanted him to walk that path."

  "But he didn't stay dead," I said. "He was given a second chance."