The Hidden Monster of House Vale

Chapter 4: Chapter - 4 - The Graveyard Trial

The world swam back into focus—stone ceiling, greenish light, the distant drip of water somewhere in the darkness. His back ached where he had crashed into the wall, but his body, fortified by the Primordial Soul Seed and twenty Astral Marrow Pills, had absorbed most of the impact.

He looked up.

And saw it.

A monster. Five meters tall, its body shaped like a gorilla but its face like a bear—wide, flat, with rows of sharp teeth visible even behind closed jaws. Its entire form flickered like living shadow, as if someone had carved a nightmare from darkness itself and given it claws.

A magical beast. Guarding the door.

Whatever is behind that door, Lucien thought, pushing himself to his feet, must be valuable.

He composed himself quickly, brushing dust from his dark red jacket. His body was steel now—literally. The Astral Marrow Pills had seen to that. He had survived the initial blow. He would survive the rest.

Soul Void pulsed within him, hungry and waiting. But he couldn’t use it yet. The beast was too strong, too stable. Its mind was intact.

I have to fight it until I break its will. Then I take its soul.

”I’m not surprised to see a beast here,” Lucien murmured, rolling his shoulders. ”The inheritance must be something special.”

The beast growled—a low, rumbling sound that vibrated through the stone floor.

”Even if I had magic, it wouldn’t work on a magical beast like you.” Lucien cracked his neck. ”So hand-to-hand it is.”

He smiled.

And ran.

The beast roared and swung a massive arm. Lucien dropped into a slide, skidding beneath the swinging claws, and came up running toward a field of stone monuments behind the beast.

A graveyard.

Dozens of swords jutted from the earth—most of them giant, carved from stone, clearly tributes to fallen warriors. The ground was littered with broken weapons and weathered tombstones.

This place used to be a village, Lucien realized. Or a battlefield.

He grabbed the nearest stone sword—nearly two meters long, heavier than any weapon a mortal could lift—and spun toward the beast.

He swung at its arm.

The blade passed through shadow.

”What?” Lucien’s eyes narrowed. ”Physical attacks don’t work on its body.”

He adjusted instantly. He threw the sword like a javelin—aimed not at the beast’s chest, but its face.

The stone blade struck true.

The beast howled, stumbling back as blood—dark, almost black—sprayed from a gash across its bear-like snout.

Oh, Lucien thought, a vicious smile spreading across his lips. So only the face is vulnerable.

He ran through the graveyard, grabbing sword after sword, hurling them at the beast’s head with inhuman speed and precision. Stone blades whistled through the greenish air. Some struck. Some missed. The beast learned quickly, raising its shadowy arms to shield its face.

Lucien stopped throwing.

If it’s going to block, he thought, I’ll just have to get close.

He grabbed the largest sword he could find—a massive slab of carved stone, easily five hundred kilograms, its edges blunt but its weight devastating. In his Peak Tempering body, it felt like a twig.

He charged.

The beast lunged to meet him.

Lucien leaped, raising the stone sword high. The beast raised its arms to block its face—exactly as Lucien had anticipated.

Feint.

He didn’t aim for the face.

He swung the sword like a hammer, not a blade, and brought it down on the top of the beast’s head with every ounce of his strength. The impact was thunderous. Cracks spiderwebbed across the stone blade. The beast’s eyes went wide—then rolled back.

It began to fall.

Lucien backflipped away, landed in a crouch, and surged forward again. He brought the broken sword down a second time, using gravity and momentum and the full weight of his Peak Tempering strength.

The beast hit the ground.

Lucien did not stop.

He raised the sword and brought it down again. And again. And again—until the stone blade shattered into pieces, until the beast’s face was a ruin of shadow and blood, until its body stopped twitching.

Its mind was broken.

Now.

”Soul Void.”

Darkness poured from Lucien’s chest—not shadow, but something deeper, hungrier. It wrapped around the beast’s limp form and pulled. The creature dissolved into black mist, streaming into Lucien’s soul like water into a drain.

[Soul Points: +1000]

Lucien exhaled slowly.

Only a thousand, he thought, glancing at his new total of 1572. I had my hopes too high.

He stepped over the beast’s fading remains and approached the golden door. Vines and roots clung to its surface, thick and ancient. He tore them away with his bare hands, exposing the cold metal beneath.

He pushed.

The doors swung open.

Torches burst to life along the walls—flames of gold and blue, illuminating a chamber that had not seen light in centuries.

At its center stood a seven-foot coffin, carved from obsidian and adorned with faded runes. Behind it, dominating the far wall, hung a massive painting of an old man—sharp-eyed, sharp-jawed, his expression one of absolute authority. A powerful individual. A Realm Master who had walked far beyond the three mortal realms.

This is an inheritance, Lucien realized. And fighting that beast was the trial.

He stepped forward slowly, eyes sweeping the room.

”If I’d had to fight that beast while also dealing with those undead on the stairs,” he murmured, ”it would have been problematic.”

He stopped before the coffin.

”Let’s see what you left for me, old man.”

Judging by the beast—shadow-bodied, ferocious, magical—Lucien suspected the man in the painting had been something feared by the society of this world. A Demonic Realm Master. One who used forbidden techniques and demonic pacts to increase his power. One who wandered without family, without country, without any master but himself.

That was what made them terrifying.

People hated those who refused to join society. Who refused to bow.

Lucien understood that hatred intimately.

He opened the coffin.

Inside, resting on faded velvet, lay four items.

World Tree Heart – It looked less like an organ and more like a celestial masterpiece crafted by creation itself.

Beast Sovereign Egg – A fist-sized egg, dark as night, veins of crimson pulsing beneath its shell.

Shadow Predator Relic – A small, claw-shaped amulet, cold and insubstantial as smoke.

World Root Spear – Its nearly three meters tall, its form elegant yet terrifyingly ancient. The shaft was crafted from a single colossal root

Lucien stared at the treasures.

”Wow.” His voice was barely a whisper. ”I can’t thank you enough, old man.”

He reached for the items—and stopped.

A translucent screen flickered before his eyes.

[Mission Complete – Whispering Hollow]

[Shop Unlocked]

So every dungeon is treated as a mission, Lucien thought. A hidden mission. There will probably be more in the future.

He checked his rewards.

Mission Completion Rewards:

Blood Moon Katana

Shop Unlocked

Mission Tab Unlocked

Primordial Soul Seed ×7

Soul Points +500

His eyes widened.

Seven Primordial Soul Seeds.

Last time, he thought, I only needed one to go from Mortal to Peak Tempering. But as the realms get higher, the difficulty increases. Seven might not be enough to go far—but it’s a start.

He consumed the seeds one by one.

[Primordial Soul Seed Consumed]

[Primordial Soul Seed Consumed]

[Primordial Soul Seed Consumed]

[Vein Opening Realm – Early Stage]

He consumed another.

[Mid Vein Opening Realm]

Another.

Another.

Another.

[Late Vein Opening Realm]

Lucien paused, breathing hard.

Seven seeds, he thought. And I still didn’t reach the next major realm. Spirit Forge is further than I expected.

But he was faster now. Stronger. His astral energy flowed through his veins like a second bloodstream, responsive and powerful.

He glanced at his remaining Astral Marrow Pills. Thirty left. He consumed them all.

[Astral Marrow Pill ×30 Consumed]

His body shuddered. Muscles tightened. Bones densified. Organs hardened. He could feel every cell in his body screaming—then singing.

He smiled.

Let’s see who dares to stand against me now.

Shop

Lucien opened the new Shop tab.

ITEMS:

Astral Marrow Pill – 50 Soul Points

Skill Scroll (Low) – 100 Soul Points

Skill Scroll (Mid) – 300 Soul Points

Skill Scroll (High) – 500 Soul Points

Primordial Soul Seed – 2000 Soul Points

He whistled softly.

Expensive. And I ate seven of those seeds like they were candy.

He calculated quickly. He had 2072 Soul Points after the mission reward.

Twenty Astral Marrow Pills – 1000 points. Leaves me with 1072.

He made the purchase.

Then he browsed the Skill Scrolls.

High-tier scrolls cost 500 each. I have the Blood Moon Katana now. Let’s see what’s available in the katana section.

World Cleaver (High) – A devastating katana technique. One slash, cleaving through space itself.

Perfect.

Health Regeneration (Mid) – Passive skill. Accelerates natural healing. Cost: 300.

Lock Manipulation (Low) – Allows the user to open mundane and magical locks. Cost: 100.

Lucien purchased all three.

Lock Manipulation, he thought with a small, dark smile. That might be the most useful one yet.

He closed the Shop tab and turned back to his inheritance rewards.

World Tree Heart – Absorbed into his chest.

Effect: Heart becomes as calm as nature itself.

Ability 1: Absorb life energy from surroundings.

Ability 2: Enhanced regeneration.

Ability 3: Control roots and vines.

Locked Abilities: 2 remaining (Realm-dependent)

Shadow Predator – The claw-shaped amulet dissolved into his shadow.

Ability 1: Travel through shadows.

Ability 2: Silent movement.

Ability 3: Create a shadowy world and environment inside his heart—a pocket dimension.

Locked Abilities: Unknown.

Beast Sovereign Egg – Lucien held it carefully, feeling the warmth within.

Note: The beast inside grows stronger as its master’s Realm increases. The egg will hatch when ready.

World Root Spear – He gripped the living wood. It hummed against his palm.

Ability 1: Heals wielder slowly over time.

Ability 2: Pierces regeneration effects on enemies.

Locked Abilities: 2 remaining.

Blood Moon Katana – A cursed blade, crimson as dried blood, its edge impossibly sharp.

Ability 1: Becomes stronger with bloodshed.

Ability 2: Mist Slashes—projectiles of condensed mist.

Ability 3: Absorbs enemy vitality on hit.

I’ll use the spear for now, Lucien decided, strapping the World Root Spear across his back. The katana is too conspicuous. I only use it when I truly need it.

He placed the Beast Sovereign Egg inside the shadowy world within his heart—a small pocket dimension, cold and dark and absolutely secure.

Then he checked his full status.

STATUS

Name: Lucien Vale

Age: 18

Rank: Mortal (Hidden: Late Vein Opening Realm)

Artifacts:

The Lost Atlas

World Root Spear

Blood Moon Katana (Cursed)

Soul Points: 72

Locked Functions:

Summon

Forge

Skills:

Shadow Predator (Active)

World Cleaver (High)

Health Regeneration (Mid)

Lock Manipulation (Low)

Hidden Skills: (Locked)

Lucien stared at the screen.

”Now that’s a status I would love to see,” he murmured, his smile wicked.

He looked around the chamber one last time. The old man in the painting seemed to stare back at him—not with judgment, but with something like approval.

He turned and walked out of the inheritance chamber, down the endless stairs, past the cave he had hidden in earlier.

He paused at the cave’s entrance.

I still haven’t explored this yet. And those undead... they might be useful.

But dawn was approaching. He could feel it in the changing quality of the air, even underground.

Time moves the same in both places, he realized. The dungeon exists in the same space as the real world, not some separate dimension. If I can take it over... it could be a good base. Eventually.

He sighed and headed for the surface.

Viscount Vale Castle – Lucien’s Chamber

Dawn painted the sky in shades of gold and rose.

Lucien slipped through his window just as the first rays of sunlight touched his floor. His body had already regenerated all wounds from the beast—Health Regeneration working silently, efficiently. But exhaustion pulled at his bones.

He had just collapsed onto his bed when a knock came at the door.

”Master Lucien?”

Maisy’s voice. Soft. Careful.

He sat up, running a hand through his disheveled golden hair.

”Come in.”

The door opened. Maisy stepped inside, her red eyes wide with something between excitement and concern.

”Master Lucien,” she said, ”someone is here to see you.”