The Zombie System.

"Look at your marks."

Kael stared at his arm in the bunker's dim lighting. The silver thread on his skin that barely glowed throughout his life now pulsed like a heartbeat. Around him, other Common Blood refugees rolled up sleeves and pushed their hair to examine their own bloodline seals.

"Mine's burning," whispered an elderly woman.

"So is mine," said Jorik, holding up his thin wrist.

The bunker's white lights began shifting. Deep crimson shone through the illumination as wall runes activated. Ancient symbols carved centuries ago suddenly functioned like living circuits.

"What's happening to us?" asked a middle-aged man clutching his daughter.

The crimson light increased to blinding intensity. Then darkness.

Complete silence except for breathing and heartbeats echoing off stone. In the black void, their bloodline marks provided the only illumination - dozens of silver threads creating constellation patterns in the dark.

A grinding sound echoed from above. Heat pressed down from the surface where the fires burned.

"The defenses are failing," Kael said.

One by one, the bunker's ancient barriers flickered and died. Protective enchantments that had lasted decades simply stopped working. Demonic pressure pressed down from above.

Some refugees began hyperventilating. Children cried while adults prayed to bloodline ancestors who'd never answered before.

The massive bunker doors groaned. Something was testing them. Probing for weakness.

"We're trapped," someone sobbed.

Then the ground began vibrating. Vibrations that Common Blood could feel to their bones. The sensation was familiar but wrong - like hearing your name called in a stranger's voice.

Runes carved into floor stones ignited in sequence. Patterns of light spread across the chamber. Wall inscriptions that had been decorative suddenly became functional magical circuits.

"This power," Kael breathed. "It's not demonic."

The energy felt older. Deeper. More fundamental than anything he'd experienced during bloodline cultivation practice.

His body temperature spiked. Power flooded his nervous system like molten metal through his veins. His skin became translucent, showing the network of blood vessels beneath glowing red like heated wire.

"Kael, you're changing," Nira pointed.

The sensation wasn't painful but overwhelming. Like trying to contain lightning in a glass bottle. His bloodline mark spread up his arm in intricate patterns he'd never seen before. Enhanced senses activated automatically.

He could smell fear-sweat from across the chamber. Hear individual heartbeats. Taste magic in the air like copper pennies.

His muscles grew denser. Bones reinforced themselves with audible cracks. In his reflection on polished stone, his eyes blazed with inner fire.

A voice spoke directly into their minds. Not through sound but consciousness itself. Each word carried emotional weight and ancestral memory that made their souls resonate.

"The garden is breached. The old inheritance must awaken."

"Who's speaking?" Jorik asked.

"What was taken shall be returned. What was suppressed shall rise. The blood remembers what the minds forget."

The voice continued with authority. Ancient beyond measure but somehow familiar. Like remembering a lullaby from childhood.

"Your bloodlines were never weak. They were deliberately suppressed. What noble houses call pure blood is stolen power that belonged to everyone."

Around the chamber, refugees stared at each other with growing understanding.

"The current crisis requires the original magic to manifest. Accept what was always yours."

Red light erupted from the floor. All Common Blood in the bunker lifted simultaneously by invisible force. Their bodies arranged in perfect formation - a ritual circle spanning the entire chamber.

"I can't move," someone said without panic.

"Don't fight it," Kael advised. "This is what we've been waiting for."

Each person experienced cultivation advancement that should take decades. Forbidden techniques activated automatically. Bodies restructuring themselves according to genetic templates locked away for generations.

Clothing tore as frames expanded and strengthened. Elderly people felt decades of age reversed. Children grew taller. Everyone became something more than they'd been moments before.

Visions flooded Kael's mind. Ancient Elysia before the bloodline caste system. Common people wielding magic that rivaled current nobility. The original purpose of bloodline marks - connection to ancestral power, not social ranking.

He saw the Blood Wars. Noble houses stealing cultivation techniques from common families. Dead bloodline houses eliminated for opposing the new order. Lost magical traditions that emphasized cooperation over competition.

The truth about dungeon cores hit him like a physical blow. They were created by common magic, not noble techniques. The entire foundation of Elysian society was built on lies.

"We built this empire," he whispered.

"And now you reclaim it," the ancestral voice replied.

New runes appeared over each person's heart. Not bloodline marks but divine seals. Recognition by the old gods who blessed the original empire.

Kael's showed a crown of flames - leadership. Nira received a spiral of light - potential. Jorik got a shield of stone - resilience.

Each symbol pulsed with purpose that felt inevitable rather than chosen.

They descended softly despite the height. As Kael's feet touched stone, fear vanished completely. Replaced by crystalline clarity about their purpose.

The power felt natural. Like remembering how to breathe after holding it too long. He realized nobles weren't stronger - they just had access to techniques that were stolen from people like him.

Kael clenched his fist. Red lightning arced between his fingers. The electricity felt warm and protective, not destructive.

Around him, others tested new abilities. Enhanced speed that left afterimages. Magical barriers that deflected the bunker's failing energy discharges. Elemental control that should require years of training.

"We're not Common Blood anymore," said the elderly woman, her voice decades younger.

"No," Kael agreed. "We're something unprecedented."

Cracks appeared across the bunker ceiling. Dust and stones rained down while protective runes flickered weakly. Something massive tested the barriers above with precision.

Multiple demonic voices echoed through the stone:

"The signatures have changed. They're no longer prey."

"Impossible. Common Blood cannot ascend without noble oversight."

"Then we eliminate them before they understand what they've become."

Heavy impacts against the bunker doors. Coordinated assault beginning. The demons had decided they were too dangerous to ignore.

Kael looked up at the cracking ceiling. His eyes blazed brighter than the failing emergency lights. When he spoke, his voice carried authority that commanded attention.

"Time to test this new strength."

Around him, the other awakened common blood prepared for battle with confidence they'd never felt. Hands crackling with power. Bodies enhanced beyond human limits. Hearts filled with righteous fury at generations of suppression.

Nira looked up at him with glowing eyes and asked innocently, "Are we still hiding, or are we fighting?"