Chapter 1: A God Is Chained Inside My F-Rank Ruin
The black obelisk lit up, and the entire plaza fell silent for a heartbeat.
Then pillars of light shot into the sky one after another.
[Domain Awakening has begun.]
[E-Grade · Thorn Manor]
[C-Grade · Windwolf Camp]
[B-Grade · Thunder Spire]
[A-Grade · Ashen Fortress]
The crowd grew louder with every result.
"Rowan got A-grade?!"
"Ashen Fortress? Doesn’t that start with twelve Ash Spearmen?"
"I heard A-grade Domains can build resource structures on the first day. How is anyone supposed to compete with that?"
At the center of the crowd, a red-haired young man stood beneath a pillar of gold-red light. Twelve armored silhouettes were already taking shape behind him.
Rowan Ashford was one of the Ashford family’s most promising heirs in the north. He ignored the excitement around him and kept his eyes on the obelisk.
One name had yet to appear.
Cassian Vale—the same Cassian who had once beaten him in the academy’s practical assessment.
A second later, the final light appeared.
It was dim, so faint that it looked ready to go out at any moment.
[Awakened: Cassian Vale]
[Domain: Forgotten Shrine]
[Grade: F]
[Starting Troops: None]
[Resource Buildings: None]
[Defensive Buildings: None]
[Domain Trait: Unknown]
The plaza went quiet again.
Then the laughter started.
"F-grade?"
"And it doesn’t even have troops?"
"Not even a lumber camp?"
"Forgotten Shrine... at least the name sounds intimidating."
"What good is that? Is he supposed to pray until the monsters die?"
Someone burst out laughing.
Cassian looked up at the obelisk. F-grade, no troops, no resource buildings, no defenses. There was no point pretending it was anything but a terrible start.
Before the awakenings, the academy had released detailed information on Domains. Even the weakest F-grade Domain was supposed to come with at least one basic function—a plot of farmland, a lumber camp, a militia barracks, even something as unimpressive as ten units of stone per day.
His Domain had none of them.
An elderly registrar beside him frowned. "This is rare. It may be an incomplete Domain."
He lowered his voice slightly. "Once you enter the Shattered Marches, don’t leave your territory at first. During the seven days of Divine Protection, other Lords can’t directly attack your core, but wild beasts and frontier monsters aren’t covered by that protection."
The old man paused before adding, "If your Domain truly has no basic troops, even the first night could be dangerous."
Cassian nodded. "Understood."
He didn’t complain, and he didn’t bother looking at the obelisk again. Gray-white teleportation light had already descended over the plaza, and the bodies of the newly awakened Lords were beginning to fade.
Rowan turned his head. "Cassian."
Cassian looked over.
After a brief pause, Rowan said, "If you land anywhere near me, send me your coordinates. I’ll be clearing the surrounding area early on."
Several people nearby looked envious. An A-grade Lord offering protection without being asked was no small favor.
Cassian had only one question.
"What’s the fee?"
Rowan blinked, then laughed. "Thirty percent of your Domain income. Seven days only."
Cassian smiled too. "Then forget it."
Rowan had no answer before the teleportation light swallowed Cassian completely.
The world went silent.
——
Cold was the first thing Cassian noticed when his boots touched solid ground again.
A gray sky hung over a dead forest. The air smelled of damp limestone and rotting soil, and ahead of him a cracked stone stairway climbed toward an ancient structure almost completely swallowed by black vines.
Half the pillars on either side had collapsed. A massive hole had opened in the roof, and of the statue that should have stood inside, only two broken ankles remained.
This was his Domain.
[Forgotten Shrine]
[Rank: 0]
[Domain Radius: 100 meters]
[Core Integrity: 71%]
[Basic Functions: None]
[Available Troops: 0]
Cassian stood there for a moment, then walked inside.
If the system had given him a Domain, he didn’t believe there was truly nothing here. And if the value wasn’t visible on the surface, then it was probably somewhere other people couldn’t see.
Loose stone crunched beneath his boots as he moved deeper into the shrine. The interior was colder than the forest outside, and faded murals still clung to the walls.
Every human figure in them had been scraped faceless. One detail, however, remained unmistakable: chains.
Black chains descended from the sky and wrapped around an enormous figure.
Cassian paused only briefly before continuing.
At the far end of the shrine stood a collapsed altar. There was no path behind it, but the moment Cassian approached, heat flared in his chest and golden text appeared in the air.
[Remnant of an unknown high-order life-form detected.]
[Hidden path activated.]
Cassian narrowed his eyes.
Click.
A seam opened in what had looked like a perfectly fitted wall of black stone behind the altar. Cold air rose from below, carrying not the musty smell of a cellar but something metallic, almost like blood.
Cassian went down without hesitation.
He passed one landing, then a second, then a third. The deeper he went, the more complete the murals became, and the clearer the chained figure grew.
Armor. Long hair. A broken black crescent hanging behind her.
In the final mural, seven black-gold chains pierced through her body. Countless sword-bearing figures knelt before her—not in worship, but as if begging her not to take another step.
Cassian reached the bottom.
A vast underground shrine opened before him.
At its center, on a black-gold throne, sat a woman with silver-white hair falling to her waist. Her skin was pale enough to look bloodless, and the black battle armor covering her body was cracked from some ancient war.
Seven dark-gold chains stretched toward her from every direction. They bound her wrists and ankles; two of them passed directly through the flesh beneath her collarbones.
Her head was lowered. She looked as though she had been dead for ages.
Cassian took one step forward.
Her eyes opened.
Gray-gold pupils fixed on him at once. There was no confusion in them and no weakness. Her first glance went straight to his throat.
"Take one more step," she said softly, "and I’ll kill you."
Cassian stopped, but not because he was afraid.
A system panel had appeared in front of him.
[Unknown High-Order Life-Form]
[Level: ???]
[Life Tier: ???]
[Status: Divine Name Stripped / Authority Incomplete / Sevenfold Seal]
[Analyzable Abilities: Unreadable]
Then a second golden notification overlaid the first—something entirely different from the normal Lord system.
[Hidden Talent Awakened.]
[SSS-Grade Talent: DEVOUR]
[You may devour one core power from a target you personally kill or place under absolute domination.]
[Devourable powers include, but are not limited to: special traits, bloodlines, skill cores, and fragments of authority.]
[Any power acquired through DEVOUR becomes permanently yours.]
Cassian slowly raised his eyes to the woman on the throne.
The system updated again.
[Devourable target detected.]
[Target life tier is extremely high.]
[Current forced-devour success rate: 0.0001%]
[Potential devourable assets: Impossible to appraise.]
Cassian fell silent.
So did the woman on the throne.
A few seconds later, her eyes narrowed. "Interesting."
"What is?" Cassian asked.
She lifted her head, and all seven chains answered with a low metallic rumble.
"Just now, for an instant..." Her gaze stayed on him. "You wanted to eat me."
Cassian didn’t deny it.
"I was just checking the price."
For the first time, the woman looked caught off guard. It lasted only an instant before a faint smile touched her lips, and the underground shrine seemed to grow colder around it.
"Mortal. What is your name?"
"Cassian Vale."
"Veyra." She leaned back against the throne. "Remember that name."
Cassian looked at her. "Why?"
Veyra closed her eyes again.
"Because if you truly manage to eat me one day—"
The chains boomed.
"—you should at least know what you ate."
A low beast roar sounded from somewhere above.
[Warning.]
[Unknown creature has entered your Domain.]
Cassian turned toward the stairs.
Veyra didn’t open her eyes. "Your food is here."
He paused. "Mine?"
"You seem so fond of eating things," she said. "Try what’s outside first."