Return of the Veilwalker

For a century, magic has been dead. Now, a street scavenger's spark could set the world on fire. Seventeen-year-old Kai Calder survives in the undercity ruins of Dunewall by scavenging scrap — and enduring a mysterious, sarcastic System interface that mocks him daily over an impossibly large Mana Debt he can't explain. The Church rules what's left of the world with an iron fist, enforcing the Eternal Lock that sealed magic away a hundred years ago to punish humanity for the Cataclysm. When Kai accidentally triggers a dormant mana well and the System confirms his bloodline as a Veilbreaker, everything changes. A 120-crown bounty goes on his head overnight. The Church's Inquisition wants him dead. The Crown wants him weaponised. And shadowy factions he didn't know existed are already moving to control him. But the deeper Kai runs, the darker the truth gets. The gods didn't seal magic to punish humanity. They sealed it to hide the world from something worse — ancient, predatory horrors called the Hollow Ones. The seals are cracking on their own. The portals are already opening. And Kai might be the only one who can stop what comes through. For fans of dark progression fantasy, post-apocalyptic magic systems, and protagonists who earn their power the hard way.