"Not here," Hephaestus hissed, pulling his hood up to cover his face as they navigated the labyrinthine back alleys of the industrial district.

"The workshop is three blocks away."

"Wait," Damien stopped, planting his feet firmly on the oil-stained cobblestones.

Hephaestus turned, eyes wide with panic.

"What? We can't stop! The City Guard will be swarming this sector looking for whoever knocked out those cadets."

"We aren't going to the workshop yet," Damien said calmly.

"We need an inn. Somewhere quiet. Somewhere with thick walls."

"An inn?" Hephaestus sputtered.

"My father is dying, the current city is no different from a slave yard, and you want to sleep?"

Looking at him in disbelief, was this really the Voss family that his father had bragged so much about being reliable?

Fortunately, Damien's next words solved his doubts

"I don't want to sleep," his eyes darkened, the blue shifting to a turbulent mix of gold and black.

"I want to break through."

He looked up at the looming smog that covered the sky.

His mind flashed back to the text of The Hero Returns.

In the original novel, the Dwarven Arc was a tragedy known as the "Iron Tomb Incident."

'By the time the protagonist arrived here in the future, Ironforge had already fallen,' Damien recalled, a chill running down his spine.

'Regent Thrain wasn't just a usurper. He had sold the kingdom to the Twilight Association and the Void Cult. They didn't just want the throne; they wanted the forges.'

'They turned the city into a factory for mass-producing "Abyss-Steel", metal infused with the souls of the citizens.'

'When Alaric finally liberated this place, it was a ghost town. King Durin was severely weakened, and his kingdom lost'

'Hephaestus was dead. The secret of the Mechas was only later fully produced by other dwarves in the continent, despite its breakthrough this year.'

'Because of this, the dwarf army that joined the coalition back then was but remnants, and their mechs were substandard'

'Durin, because of the loss of his kingdom, although later cured, disappeared from the public eye, a shell of his former self'

Damien clenched his fist.

'I changed the Elf Arc. I saved the Princess. I can save this place too. But not with my current strength.'

He was currently a Peak 3rd Order. Strong for his age, yes. But the Regent would have 5th Order guards, maybe even 6th.

And if the Void Cult was involved, there would be curses and corruption magic that mere mana couldn't block.

He needed to cross the threshold. He needed more power.

"Hephaestus," Damien said, his voice leaving no room for argument.

"Find us an inn. I need one night. Tomorrow morning, I will help you save the city"

"But tonight… I need to get stronger!."

Hephaestus looked at Damien. He saw the terrifying resolve in the human's eyes. It wasn't the look of a boy; it was the look of someone unwilling to meet his fate.

"Fine," the Prince relented, slumping his shoulders.

"There's a place nearby. 'The Cog and Tankard.' It's a dive bar for shift workers. No one asks questions there."

"it's exactly the place people like you need!" pointing to the four of them, Hephestus wondered if his decision to trust them was right

…...

[The Cog and Tankard - Room 4]

The inn was exactly as promised: greasy, loud, and smelled of stale beer and machine oil. But the walls were reinforced stone, designed to block out the noise of the factories.

"Guard the door," Damien ordered his team. "Isabelle, Leona, Lyra. Don't let anyone in."

"Understood," they chorused, sensing the shift in his mood.

Damien entered the small room and sat cross-legged on the rough wooden bed.

He took a deep breath, centring himself.

He closed his eyes.

'3rd Order is accumulation. You fill the cup. I've done that. My cores are overflowing.'

'4th Order… is Intent.'

He recalled Queen Aelinor's lesson in the Sacred Grove.

"Is your heart full of killing? Is it for protection? At the 4th Order, you must imbue your mana with your nature. Your moves must carry your Will."

Damien looked inward.

He saw his Dual-Core.

On the left, the swirling, abyssal black of the Voss Family Magic. Cold. Calculating. Ruthless.

On the right, the burning, arrogant sun of the Golden Dragon Aura. Dominating. Prideful. Overwhelming.

They were opposites. Shadow and Light. Mage and Knight. For the past six months, he had forced them to coexist through brute force and the Celestial Life Physique. But they weren't united.

'What is my Intent?' Damien asked himself.

'Do I want to save the world? No, that's just a job.'

'Do I want to protect my family? Yes, but that's not the root.'

He thought about his past life as Lin Ye. The powerless orphan. The boy who died reading a bad ending because he had no control over the story.

He thought about this life. The wealth. The power. The fear people felt when they heard the name Voss.

He liked it.

He didn't just want to survive. He wanted to thrive. He wanted to take the plot, the treasures, the secret techniques, and the waifus, and keep them all.

He didn't want to choose between Shadow and Light. He wanted both.

'I am not a Hero,' Damien smiled in the darkness of his mind. 'Heroes sacrifice.'

'And I am not a Villain,' he thought. 'Villains lose.'

'I am the King. And a King takes everything.'

His Intent crystallized.

GREED.

Not the petty greed for gold coins. But the metaphysical greed for Everything.

The absolute refusal to let go of anything that belonged to him. The desire to own the world, the story, and the destiny itself.

"My Intent is Possession," Damien whispered.

"I own the Shadow. I own the Light. I own my destiny."

BOOM!

Inside his soul, the barrier shattered.

The two warring energies in his chest stopped fighting. They submitted.

The black mana didn't dilute the gold; it wrapped around it like a velvet cloak around a crown.

The gold didn't burn away the shadow; it illuminated it, giving it form.

But then, a chain reaction occurred.

The massive amount of Willpower he had cultivated, from resisting Baelor's Intent, from enduring the system's edits, surged into the newly formed core.

Click.

It felt like a lock snapping open in his brain.

His Will didn't just direct the mana anymore. It spilled out. It became tangible.

Crack… Crack…

The wooden bed beneath him splintered. The air in the room grew heavy, dense with a terrifying gravity that wasn't magic—it was pure presence.

[System Alert!]

[Breakthrough Detected.]

[Intent Manifested: The Greedy King.]

[Ascension to 4th Order Successful.]

[Trait Awakened: Will Materialization (Low Level).] Description: Your Will is no longer abstract. It can form a protective 'Will Armament' over your soul and body, significantly increasing defense and physical strength. At high levels, it can crush the minds of weaker beings.

[Trait Awakened: King's Greed.] Description: The Greedy King does not only use his own power. You can temporarily 'Borrow' the Intent of those you have defeated or contracted, overlaying their nature onto your attacks.

Damien opened his eyes.

The room was dark, but he could see every grain of dust in the air.

He raised his hand. He didn't call on mana. He called on his Will.

Voom.

A translucent, distorting layer of energy coated his skin. It looked like heat haze, but it felt harder than steel.

"Will Armament," Damien whispered. "It protects me from physical attacks, but more importantly… it protects me from other Intents. Baelor's pressure won't work on me anymore."

He stood up.

He didn't rush out immediately. He sat down on the only sturdy chair in the room.

He needed to think.

'I'm 4th Order now. With my Dual-Core and these new traits, I can fight 5th Orders head-on. But brute force isn't enough for what comes next.'

He pulled out a notebook from his Void Gem.

'Timeline Check: Year 2025.'

'The Protagonist, Alaric, has just been born. He is currently a crying baby in a remote village. I have 16 years before he enters the Academy.'

Damien began to write.

The Dwarf Kingdom (Current):

Secure the Alliance.

Cure the King.

Crucial: Get the blueprints for the "Magitech Guardians" (Mechs). If I can combine Dwarven Engineering with Barnaby's business acumen… I can revolutionize the world's technology.

Goal: Cars, Airships, and Heavy Weapons. I need to modernize the Black Thread's arsenal.

The Search for Theron:

King Durin was a former party member of Theron's. He might have clues.

The "Dragon Lands" in the West. That's where the clue usually leads in these stories. I need to go there next.

The Academy City:

In a few years, I need to head to the Central Continent.

I will enter the Academy not as a student, but as a Teacher. I will raise a generation of monsters before the protagonist, Alaric, even enrols.

"Sixteen years," Damien muttered, closing the book. "It sounds like a long time. But with the Void Demon God and the heavenly demon lord watching, it's nothing."

He stood up, adjusting his coat. The faint, distortion layer of his Will Armament settled over his shoulders like an invisible mantle of royalty.

He walked to the door and flung it open. A day had passed, and it was time for him to go out.

Fortunately, everyone was already outside waiting for him to return.

Hephaestus was pacing in the hallway. Isabelle, Leona, and Lyra were leaning against the wall.

And as the door opened, a wave of unseen pressure washed over them.

"Ugh!" Hephaestus stumbled back, his knees buckling. He grabbed the wall for support, his face pale. "What… what is that pressure? Is there a gravity spell?"

Even Isabelle felt a chill. It wasn't mana. It felt like standing in front of a predator.

"No spell," Damien smiled. It was a sharp, dangerous smile. "It's my intent."

He retracted the pressure, allowing the Prince to breathe.

"Prince Hephaestus," Damien said, his voice carrying a weight that made the dwarf straighten his spine instinctively. "Grab your tools."

"We're going to the Palace."

"Now?" Hephaestus stammered, wiping sweat from his brow. "But it's the middle of the night!"

"Exactly," Damien's eyes flashed with predatory gold.

"The best time to rob a thief is when he thinks he's safe in his own house. Let's go see exactly what your uncle is up to."

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