Chapter 2: First Blood and Golden Threads
Yumie emerged from the cave into the deepening twilight of the Whispering Woods. The two golden-eyed Forest Wolves flanked her like silent shadows, their massive frames moving with unnatural grace. The virtual world felt impossibly alive every leaf rustling in the wind, every distant creature call, every shift in the mana-laden air fed directly into her senses.
She stretched her arms above her head, the motion accentuating her elegant curves beneath the starter leather armor. Her long white hair swayed like liquid silk, catching the last rays of the setting sun and turning them into a faint golden halo. She felt powerful. Alive. And above all free.
“This world is mine to paint,” she murmured, her voice soft yet carrying an undeniable regal weight.
A new system window appeared, shimmering with golden borders that no other player could see.
**[Layer 1: “The Painter’s First Stroke”]**
**[Current Authority: Minor Reality Weaving (Objects & Beasts)]**
**[Price for excessive use: Temporary stat drain + lifespan equivalent in the real world]**
**[Concept Seed (Stage 1): 12% charged]**
Yumie dismissed it with a smile. She already understood the hidden mechanics instinctively. This power was not part of the normal game system. It was something deeper an anomaly born from the closed beta and that Origin Fruit. She would use it carefully at first, then without restraint once she grew strong enough.
She began walking toward the denser parts of the forest. The wolves followed without command, their loyalty absolute. As she moved, she reviewed her updated status.
**Status**
- Race: Wood Elf (High Elf Evolution Path Opened – 7%)
- Level: 7
- Title: Child of Origin, Closed Beta Pioneer
- Familiars: Golden Forest Wolves ×2 (Level 12)
- Abilities: Basic Taming, (Layer 1), Concept Seed (Dormant)
Good progress for less than two hours in-game. But it was nowhere near enough for her ambitions.
She wanted twelve kingdoms on their knees.
She wanted humanity erased from this world.
She wanted an army of monsters and generals that would make gods tremble.
And she would start tonight.
---
The forest grew louder as night fully claimed the sky. Yumie’s elven hearing picked up multiple footsteps and voices ahead. Players.
She crouched behind a thick root, her wolves melting into the shadows beside her. Peering through the foliage, she saw a party of six players fighting a group of Level 10 Horned Rabbits. Their coordination was sloppy — typical for launch-day players who had just entered after the closed beta ended.
“Tank, pull aggro properly!”
“Heal me, idiot! I’m dying here!”
“This game is brutal, man…”
Yumie watched with cold emerald eyes. To her, they weren’t people. They were walking sacks of experience, loot, and potential resources.
One of them a human swordsman landed the killing blow on the last rabbit. The party cheered.
“Nice! We’re actually getting the hang of this.”
Yumie stepped out into the open, her two wolves emerging beside her. The moonlight made her white hair glow ethereally. The party froze, staring at the stunning elf and her obviously overpowered companions.
“Woah… is that a beta player?” one of them whispered.
“Dude, look at those wolves. Their eyes are gold. That’s not normal.”
A female mage in the party blushed slightly at Yumie’s appearance but quickly composed herself. “Hey! Want to party up? We’re heading toward the beginner village”
Yumie raised her hand. Golden particles sparked around her fingers.
“No need.”
Time slowed for her once again.
She willed the surrounding mana to bend. The ground beneath the party suddenly softened into quicksand-like mud while vines animated and wrapped around their legs. The players panicked.
“What the!? Some kind of skill?”
“Control magic? But she’s alone!”
Yumie walked forward gracefully as screams filled the clearing. She didn’t need to kill them directly. Instead, she placed her hand on the nearest player the swordsman and activated her taming ability through Golden Experience.
Golden threads pierced into his mind, rewriting his aggression into absolute loyalty. But unlike monsters, players had stronger resistance. The swordsman screamed as his eyes slowly turned gold, but the process was slower and more painful.
**[Partial Subjugation Success!]**
**[Player “IronBlade” has been marked as Subordinate (Temporary)]**
**[He will now grant you 50% of his earned EXP until the mark fades]**
One by one, she marked three of them before the others managed to break free using emergency items. The remaining three fled in terror, shouting about a “broken beta player” and “hacker.”
Yumie didn’t chase them. There was no need. Word would spread. Fear would spread. And eventually, players would come to her either as offerings or as enemies to be harvested.
She looked at her three new marked subordinates, now kneeling with golden eyes.
“Follow me. Hunt everything in our path.”
“Yes, Mistress,” they replied in unison, voices hollow but obedient.
With her growing entourage, Yumie continued deeper into the woods. The night became a symphony of violence and growth. Her wolves tore through packs of monsters. Her marked players tanked hits and funneled experience to her. Every kill pushed her level higher.
By midnight in-game time, she had reached Level 14.
---
A massive roar shook the forest.
From the darkness emerged a creature far beyond beginner territory — a **Young Thunder Drake** (Level 28). Its scales crackled with electricity, and its wings cast a huge shadow. This was not something a Level 14 player should be able to face.
Yumie’s eyes lit up with genuine excitement.
“Perfect. My first major taming target.”
The drake unleashed a bolt of lightning. Yumie didn’t dodge. She simply raised her hand and activated Golden Experience more boldly this time.
**[Layer 1 – Reality Weaving: Causality Shift]**
The lightning bolt curved mid-air and struck the drake itself. The beast roared in pain and confusion. Yumie dashed forward with unnatural speed, her white hair streaming behind her like a banner. She leaped onto its snout and pressed both palms against its scaled forehead.
Golden light exploded outward.
The struggle was fierce. The drake thrashed wildly, nearly killing two of her marked players. But Yumie’s will was stronger. Concept Seed pulsed inside her, feeding power into the taming process.
After nearly ten minutes of intense battle, the drake collapsed, its eyes shifting from electric blue to brilliant gold.
**[Taming Success!]**
**[Young Thunder Drake has become your Familiar!]**
**[Loyalty: 85/100]**
**[New Title Acquired: Monster Tamer (Rare)]**
Yumie stroked the drake’s snout affectionately. “You’ll grow strong under me. One day you’ll become one of my twelve generals.”
She named it **Raijin**.
With the drake now following her flying above the treetops when needed her small force had become genuinely threatening.
As dawn approached, the group reached the edge of the Whispering Woods. A vast plain stretched before them, dotted with small villages and the distant silhouette of the first kingdom’s border city **Aurelia Frontier**.
Yumie stood on a hill, wind whipping her white hair. Her gorgeous figure was silhouetted against the rising sun. The two wolves, three marked players, and the young drake waited behind her in perfect formation.
She opened her status again.
**Race Evolution Progress: High Elf – 24%**
**[Requirements remaining: Reach Level 30 + Absorb High-Purity Mana Source + ???]**
“Soon,” she whispered.
A soft, childish voice that only she could hear echoed in her mind. It sounded like liquid gold given speech.
**[Observer: You are moving faster than predicted, Painter.]**
**[Be careful. The twelve kingdoms have their own guardians. And the other beta players… some of them carry fragments too.]**
Yumie’s lips curved into a serene, terrifying smile.
“Let them come. I will turn every challenge into another brushstroke.”
She raised her hand toward the distant city.
“First, we gather more strength. Then we begin the conquest. Four beast girls… three skeleton generals… dragons… shadow monarchs… all will kneel.”
Her golden-eyed followers roared in unison.
Yumie took the first step down the hill, her white hair glowing brighter as the sun rose.
The age of the White Monarch had begun
