The object had looked unimpressive the first time Kain saw it.

Since the System Shop updates every week, Kain had made sure to go and check out the physical System Shop on the massive "Holy Mountain" (representing the System) on the planet weekly.

After all, even if he couldn't afford anything in the shop usually, it would feature items for other worlds as well, serving to broaden his horizons.

Kain saw the item about 4 days ago. The item in question rested on a stone pedestal inside the System Shop on Pangea, surrounded by far flashier artifacts—radiant weapons, crystalline cores, living armours that breathed slowly as if asleep. Compared to them, it had seemed almost… plain.

A thick, timeworn book.

Its cover was neither metal nor leather, but something in between—dark, fibrous, and faintly warm to the touch, as if it had once been alive. No title was engraved on its surface. Instead, thin lines like fossilized veins ran across it, branching and intersecting in patterns that hurt to look at for too long. When Kain had drawn closer back then, the air around it had subtly distorted, not bending light so much as misaligning it, like the world itself was remembering something incorrectly.

The pages had not been paper.

They were translucent, layered sheets that reminded him of a colourless amber or compressed mist, each one holding faint silhouettes that shifted when viewed from different angles. Some resembled clawed beasts. Others winged. Other pages had things so vast and alien that his eyes slid off them without understanding.

And toward the back, there were also some unused sheets of 'paper' without any silhouettes on them...but only 3.

And yet, the moment he had read its description, he had known what those unused sheets of paper were for, and the extraordinary nature of this book.

Even if it was 'used goods', and most of its pages were no longer in effect. The 3 unused pages at the end could serve as a critical trump card when needed...

He just didn't think that 'when needed' would occur so soon...

On the battlefield, Kain did not dare shift his consciousness into the physical System Shop to look at it again. Not now. Not when only Chewy hovered near him, wobbling under the strain of continued absorption, and his new time-attributed contract remained an unknown variable rather than an effective shield.

The chaos around him was too dense. Too lethal.

So instead, he watched the counter.

Source Points: 900 → 901

A tremor ran through the ground as another section of wall collapsed. Screams cut short. A wave of abyssal pressure rolled over the bastion, heavy enough that Kain had to brace himself against a fractured parapet to remain standing.

Chewy pulsed weakly.

Kain steadied his breathing.

Source Points: 917

Almost.

Another extraction—quick, brutal, controlled. He cut it off early, ignoring the spike of pain behind his eyes.

Source Points: 923

"System," Kain said immediately, not allowing himself even a second of hesitation. "Purchase item. Chronicle of Primordial Echoes."

No dramatic pause.

The counter simply dropped.

Source Points: 923 → 0

The sudden emptiness made Kain's chest tighten. Kain stared at it.

923 SP...all gone

In the old days, before the System upgrade—before Source Points—this would have been unthinkable.

One Source Point was equivalent to one hundred GP.

That meant this single item was worth 92,300 GP.

The number made his chest ache.

With that many points, he could have done so much.

Using the Cradle alone, he could have reintroduced entire extinct bloodlines to Pangea. Cosmic Dragons, whose scales bent space. Titans, whose footsteps reshaped continents. Rare evolutionary branches that had vanished before humanity had ever learned their names.

But...

Kain swallowed hard and looked back at the battlefield as another section of the fortress gave way.

To do any of that, he had to be alive.

The pain due to his now 0 balance decreased.

A new panel unfolded in front of him, crisp and mercilessly clear.

----------------------

[Chronicle of Primordial Echoes]

Type: Used Artifact (Unique)

Function: Summoning / Temporal Invocation

Description: Allows the user to summon a living echo of a target entity across time, space, and historical strata.

Summoning requires a valid genetic, biological, or existential trace of the target.

There is no upper limit to the strength, rank, or historical status of the summoned entity.

The summoned being is real.

The summoned being is aware.

Warning: The System does not guarantee obedience, loyalty, or safety.

The summoned entity retains autonomy, will, and intent.

Use at your own risk.

----------------------

For most people, the item, while it mady sound impressive, was borderline worthless.

Dangerous.

Absurdly expensive.

What genetic material did the average person have access to?

Their own.

Other human DNA.

Summoning yourself or allies was pointless in most situations where one was facing a drastically stronger enemy.

The second option was contracted beasts they knew.

But contracts imposed limits. They likely wouldn't be much stronger than the summoner himself or the people around him.

Not everyone was like Serena with a demigod grandfather.

Even if someone somehow acquired a trace from a powerful ancient creature, the moment it appeared, it would likely tear the summoner apart. No leash. No suppression. No binding clause.

An ancient dragon would not kneel.

It would eat you.

Which was why the Chronicle was classified by the System as high-risk, low-utility.

Chicken ribs.

Something that looked impressive on the table but offered very little real nourishment to anyone foolish enough to pick it up.

For Kain, it was the opposite.

Because Kain had access to something no one else did.

An entire planet.

Creatures that, even uncontracted, recognized him.

Whether as a parent or a 'God-like' being.

He was the core.

The axis.

The source of their existence.

So when the System warned that summoned entities might not obey, Kain did not worry.

They were his.

Not through coercion.

Not through control.

But through belonging.

He lifted his gaze back toward the battlefield as the fortress shuddered again, stone screaming under impossible strain.

"Now...," Kain murmured, fingers curling slowly.

"Just who should I invite out for a stroll in the outside world?"

And for the first time since the fort's walls had fractured, Kain allowed himself a thin, dangerous smile.

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