Farmboy becomes King with the Lust System

The portals began opening without pattern or mercy, rending the fractured realm with bursts of unnatural light and shadow. Some of these gateways showed glimpses of alien worlds, landscapes twisted into impossible geometries, skies that churned with colors no mortal eye should comprehend.

In one, mountains floated upside down over oceans of molten silver; in another, titanic shapes moved behind translucent veils, watching like patient predators.

The effect was disorienting and terrifying. Shadow beasts, sensing the instability, scattered in panicked waves. Some sprinted toward the remaining patches of solid ground, desperate to escape.

Others were not so lucky. They were dragged screaming into the rifts, their bodies stretching and fragmenting before vanishing entirely into those unknowable dimensions.

Byun kept moving, refusing to look too long at any one portal. His instincts screamed that staring would be an invitation, one he might not be able to resist.

The ground beneath them gave a violent shudder, and half the corridor they stood in collapsed into a yawning chasm.

Without hesitation, Byun summoned his shadows. They surged outward in sleek, inky ribbons, weaving together into a bridge of pure darkness.

The structure swayed under their weight, tendrils anchoring to whatever solid surfaces they could find. "Hurry!" he shouted, his voice sharp with strain.

The principal crossed first, his robes whipping in the chaos. Byun followed, shadows retracting behind him as the ravine widened and swallowed what little remained of the path.

They had seconds left. The last step carried them through a narrowing rift, the edges snapping shut behind them like the jaws of a predator.

The sudden stillness was almost worse than the chaos.

—

Jae exhaled slowly, turning to assess the new space he had entered. The cave here was surprisingly spacious, its walls smooth and glistening with a faint mineral sheen.

Light filled the chamber from some unseen source, soft and steady, casting long shadows that reached into the corners. The air was warmer than before, with the faint scent of ash.

His gaze settled on a single feature, a massive stone door embedded in one wall, carved with flowing lines that curled into flame-like patterns.

He didn't need to be told what lay beyond. Every instinct screamed the truth: the Flame Dragon Lord was on the other side.

Jae took a long, steadying breath. His fingers brushed over the clasp of his shadow cloak, drawing it tight around his shoulders.

The familiar weight settled over him, and the world seemed to dim as his form melted from sight. Cloaked in invisibility, he reached for his mana blade. The weapon flared softly in his hand, its edge thrumming with restrained energy.

Step by step, he approached the door. His heartbeat slowed, each beat heavy and deliberate in his chest. He pushed through into a chamber far more refined than the rough cave outside.

The walls were marble, polished to a mirror sheen and etched with runes that pulsed faintly, feeding warmth into the air. At the far end of the room, sprawled across an obsidian dais, lay a dragon.

Its scales glowed with deep, ember-red light, as if lit from within. Heat radiated from its massive form, curling the air above it into shifting mirages.

The dragon's chest rose and fell with slow, deliberate breaths. For a moment, it seemed oblivious to his presence.

Then one golden eye slid open.

It fixed on him instantly, piercing through the shadow cloak as though it were smoke. The dragon's head rose, ridges along its neck flaring.

A guttural rumble filled the room, swelling into a roar that shook the marble under his feet. The cloak dissolved against that raw, oppressive presence, leaving him exposed and painfully aware of just how small he was in comparison.

Jae's grip tightened on his blade. Defeating something like this wasn't a question of strength alone, it was survival, adaptation, and timing.

The dragon moved first. It descended from the dais with a predator's grace, each step a low quake through the floor.

The air warped around its body, heat intensifying until each breath Jae took felt like inhaling molten metal. The temperature alone was a weapon, meant to weaken before the first blow was struck.

The tail came without warning. Jae caught the motion at the edge of his vision and activated Iron Skin in a burst of reflex. His body hardened under the surge of mana just as the tail slammed into him.

The impact was a hammer blow, rattling his bones and sending him sliding backward across the marble. Even braced, the force left his arms numb for a moment.

No time to linger. He pushed off with Phantom Step, his body flickering in and out of sight as he darted behind the dragon.

The mana blade cut toward the joint of its hind leg, a known weak point in many draconic species. But the strike met scales harder than tempered steel, the edge skittering away with a shower of sparks. At best, he left faint scorch marks.

The dragon roared again, not in pain but in anger. Its wings snapped open, filling the chamber with a rush of air, and its head swung toward him. The jaws parted, revealing a furnace's worth of fire building in its throat.

The breath attack came like a tidal wave of flame. Jae rolled aside, the heat blistering even from a near miss.

The ground where he had been standing was now a blackened crater, marble reduced to molten slag. His cloak might have hidden him once, but here stealth was meaningless. This was a test of skill, not concealment.

He circled, forcing his breathing into rhythm, waiting for the next opening. The dragon tracked him carefully now, its movements no longer lazy.

Each clash of claw or bite drove him to the edges of the chamber, and each counterattack was met with the same unyielding armor of scales.

His mind raced, there had to be a way to turn its power against it.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, the system's earlier notification pulsed like a beacon:

<Defeat the Flame Dragon Lord. Unlock a new class.>

The promise was tempting, almost intoxicating. But the only way to claim it was to live through the next few minutes.