Chapter 3: F-Rank—and First to Advance

Chapter 3: Five Points, First Place

[External Rule Synchronization in Progress]

Blood was still running down Cassian’s right arm.

He pressed his left hand over the wound and looked beneath the black-gold divine seat.

Gray-gold light had entered the cracks between the floor tiles.

The two Godblood Hounds lay where they had fallen, every trace of divinity already stripped from their corpses.

Then the floor trembled.

Boom.

Not a collapse.

A heartbeat.

Something buried beneath the mausoleum had finally started waking up.

New text appeared.

[Newcomer Cumulative Divine Essence Detected: 5]

[Public Record Threshold Met]

[Synchronization Remaining: 01:52]

Cassian’s first reaction was not excitement.

It was irritation.

"Close."

Nothing happened.

He tapped the synchronization notice.

[Records Are Based on Cumulative Acquisition.]

[Spending Divine Essence Will Not Cancel the Record.]

"So they’ve already seen the five."

Veyra watched the gray-gold light spreading beneath the divine seat.

"They’ve seen enough to start looking."

Cassian’s eyes narrowed.

"What exactly will they see?"

The Mausoleum Core answered before she could.

[Abandoned Dawn Mausoleum Core]

[Activation Cost: 5 Divine Essence]

[Activate Before Synchronization Completes to Protect Exact Coordinates, Core Type, and Internal Divine Targets.]

[Public Fields Will Remain: Lord Name / Territory Rank / Cumulative Divine Essence]

Cassian stared at the cost.

Five.

Every point he had.

He had killed two complete Godblood Hounds for those five points.

His right shoulder was bleeding.

His left arm had been cut open earlier.

His knee still hurt from hitting the stone floor.

And now the Core wanted all of it.

"Expensive."

"Then don’t buy it," Veyra said.

Cassian glanced at her.

"You sound very generous with my location."

"If you prefer every Lord and divine creature outside to know where this tomb is, keep your five points."

Cassian looked back at the timer.

01:34.

"Didn’t think so."

He opened the Core details.

Another panel appeared.

Then the Eclipse Chains around Veyra tightened.

CLANG.

Her shoulders went rigid.

A thin line of blood appeared around her right wrist.

Cassian’s expression changed.

[Restrained Divine Target Detected]

[Current Territory Relationship: Prisoner]

[Fragmented Divinity Withheld by Eclipse Chains: 24]

Cassian stopped.

Twenty-four.

He looked at Veyra.

Then at the chains.

Then back at the number.

Five Divine Essence had already felt valuable.

Twenty-four was enough to make his fingers itch.

The Core offered two choices.

[Maintain Prisoner Status]

[The Eclipse Chains Will Continue Reclaiming Dispersed Divinity.]

[Target Consent: Not Required.]

And—

[Change to Provisional Protector]

[Forced Reclamation Ends.]

[Previously Withheld Divinity Will Be Returned.]

[Confirmation Required from Both Lord and Divine Target.]

Cassian read the first option again.

Twenty-four points.

Possibly more later.

He genuinely considered it.

Veyra saw that.

"Choose the first one."

Cassian raised his eyes.

Her voice remained calm.

"When these chains finally loosen, I’ll use whatever strength you leave me to kill you."

No anger.

No pleading.

Just a fact.

Cassian looked at the blood on her wrist.

"If I kept draining you, I’d expect exactly that."

"How reasonable."

"Don’t sound surprised."

The timer dropped below one minute.

Cassian opened the terms for the second option.

"If we’re doing this, the Core stays mine."

Veyra said nothing.

"I decide what hostile divinity enters my territory."

Still nothing.

"And I decide how future Divine Essence is distributed between me, you, and the territory."

The moment the final condition appeared, Veyra looked at it.

"Rejected."

[One Party Has Rejected the Terms]

Cassian stared at the notification.

Then at her.

"I’m spending all five."

"For the Core."

"It returns your twenty-four."

"For this exchange."

"You benefit more than I do."

"And therefore you own every choice I make afterward?"

Cassian opened his mouth.

Stopped.

That sounded unpleasantly familiar.

Three years.

Forty percent of everything.

Priority rights over anything valuable inside his territory.

Rowan’s contract had made perfect sense from Rowan’s side too.

Cassian had still refused it.

He deleted the final clause.

Veyra’s eyes shifted slightly.

Cassian noticed.

"Don’t enjoy that."

"I said nothing."

"Your face did."

"My face has been chained here longer than you’ve been a Lord. It has learned patience."

"Then let it practice a little more."

Cassian rewrote the terms.

"The Core shows both of us the benefit and permanent cost before every future allocation."

A new line appeared.

"Anything invested into you requires your approval."

Another.

"The Core cannot pull power out of you by force."

Veyra read them.

Cassian continued.

"I still control what enters my territory. I still control the Core. And if something hostile comes through my gate, I expect you to tell me what you know."

"If it is hostile to both of us."

"Fine."

"I will not fight every enemy you make."

"Also fine."

"No worship."

"I wasn’t planning any."

"No unrelated orders."

Cassian glanced at the synchronization notice.

The timer was almost gone.

"Veyra."

"And my name remains mine."

Cassian sighed.

"I wasn’t trying to allocate your name."

"You tried to allocate everything else."

"Once."

"That is usually enough."

Cassian almost smiled.

The Core accepted the revised terms.

[Provisional Protector Relationship Available]

[Forced Reclamation Will End.]

[Withheld Divinity Will Be Returned.]

[First Territory Allocation Law May Be Established.]

[Spend 5 Divine Essence to Activate the Abandoned Dawn Mausoleum Core?]

Cassian looked at his balance.

[Divine Essence: 5]

All of it.

He hated spending his last resource.

He hated exposing his coordinates more.

"Activate."

Dark-gold light tore out of his chest.

One point.

Two.

Three.

By the fourth, Cassian was already thinking about how to earn the next one.

The fifth vanished into the floor.

[Divine Essence: 0]

Cassian stared at the zero.

"If this buys me nothing but brighter walls, I’m breaking something."

Veyra looked at him.

"With what?"

Cassian looked down at the bent chain blade in his hand.

"...Something cheap."

BOOM.

The heartbeat beneath the mausoleum struck again.

Black-gold light raced out from beneath the divine seat.

One line.

Then another.

It spread through the central temple, joined broken walls, crossed shattered stone, and closed into a rough boundary.

The ruins did not repair themselves.

The roof remained broken.

The blood on the floor stayed exactly where it was.

But something had changed.

The mausoleum had answered him.

Not the outside rules.

Not Rowan.

Him.

Cassian felt the empty place left by those five points.

Then the corner of his mouth rose.

"All right."

Every Eclipse Chain rang.

CLANG!

Cassian’s smile vanished.

The chains were not tightening.

Dark-gold light was being forced out of them.

One stream.

Then another.

Then dozens.

All of it rushed toward Veyra.

Her head snapped back.

Gray-gold hair lifted around her shoulders.

The deepest cracks beneath her restraints began to shine.

A faint outline of divine armor formed over her shattered armor—not whole, but sharper than before.

More dangerous.

War Instinct I gave Cassian no death image.

His body still told him one thing very clearly.

Veyra had just become much stronger.

He adjusted his stance.

She noticed.

"Planning to run?"

"No."

Cassian kept his eyes on her.

"I’m checking whether I need to."

The last strand of stolen divinity entered Veyra.

[Veyra Evolution Pool: 24/24]

[First Evolution Complete]

[Broken Divine Echo → Eclipse War Maiden I]

[Veyra Evolution Pool: 0/24]

One Eclipse Chain beside her right wrist moved.

Half an inch.

That was all.

But Veyra’s hand opened.

Slowly.

Her fingers had been locked in one position for so long that the first attempt failed.

She tried again.

Her palm finally turned upward.

Gray-gold light gathered between her fingers.

The Core did not take it.

The chains did not steal it back.

Veyra stared at her hand.

Her breathing changed once.

Only once.

Cassian saw it.

"So five points bought half an inch."

Veyra closed her fingers.

"Did you expect them to break the Eclipse Chains?"

"I expected a better rate."

"Then earn more."

Cassian’s eyes sharpened.

Before he could answer, heat slammed into both legs.

He staggered.

This power was different from Devour.

It did not burn through his bones.

Instead, his body suddenly understood a movement it had never learned.

Push.

Cross the distance.

Land.

Fast.

[Linked Reward from Veyra’s First Evolution]

[Acquired: Predator Step I]

Cassian went still.

Then smiled.

There.

That was different.

He looked at a broken pillar three ordinary steps away.

Veyra noticed immediately.

"You’re injured."

"I’m aware."

"You are about to test it anyway."

"Also aware."

Cassian lowered his center of gravity.

"Once."

Predator Step activated.

Stone burst beneath his boots.

Three steps disappeared.

Cassian’s left palm struck the pillar.

His eyes widened.

Fast.

Not teleportation.

Not automatic dodging.

He still had to choose where to go.

But War Instinct gave him half a heartbeat of warning.

Predator Step gave his body a way to use it.

The two abilities fit together.

His excitement surged.

He almost activated it again.

Pain stabbed through his right shoulder.

His injured knee softened at the same time.

Cassian caught himself against the pillar.

Veyra’s voice came from behind him.

"Once."

Cassian straightened.

"I remember what I said."

"Your body didn’t."

"My body is new to negotiations."

He looked down at his legs.

The smile stayed.

Five points had activated the Core.

The Core had ended the forced reclamation and returned the divinity trapped in Veyra’s chains.

That had pushed her through an Evolution.

And her Evolution had given him this.

Predator Step.

Cassian understood that kind of return.

The Core displayed the final results.

[Abandoned Dawn Mausoleum Core: Activated]

[Eclipse Shrine: Foundation Form Established]

[Territory Law I: Divinity Is Earned — Active]

[Only Hostile Divinity Actually Won by the Lord’s Side May Be Allocated to Predator, Covenant, or Dominion.]

[Allocations Involving Veyra Require Her Confirmation.]

Cassian read the three paths.

Predator.

Himself.

Covenant.

Veyra.

Dominion.

The territory.

Simple enough.

Kill hostile divine creatures.

Take their divinity.

Decide what to make stronger.

That, he liked.

"Defenses?"

[None]

"Healing?"

[None]

"Storage?"

[Not Established]

Cassian stared at the interface.

"Five points bought me a law, half an inch of chain, and a skill."

Veyra raised her newly movable hand.

"And prevented the Core from stealing twenty-four points from me."

"I was counting things I own."

Her gray-gold eyes settled on him.

Cassian paused.

"Fine. Things I control."

"Better."

By then, the external synchronization had already ended.

A clear chime rang through the mausoleum.

A new interface appeared.

[Newcomer Divine Essence Ranking Open]

[Record Basis: Cumulative Acquisition]

[Rank 1: Cassian Vale]

[Territory Rank: F]

[Cumulative Divine Essence: 5]

Cassian stopped moving.

First.

He read it once.

Then again.

The F was still there.

Good.

Let them see it.

He remembered the recruiter turning his candidate placard facedown.

Tap.

He remembered names being crossed off lists.

He remembered Rowan surrounded by guild representatives while Cassian stood there holding an F-rank deed to an empty grave.

Now every newcomer looking at the ranking would see the same two things.

F-rank.

First place.

Cassian laughed.

This time, he didn’t hide it.

Veyra watched him.

"You enjoy being watched more than you pretend."

"I never pretended."

The light at the edge of the Eclipse Shrine suddenly dimmed.

Veyra’s expression changed.

The Core flashed red-gold.

[Hostile Divine Fluctuation Detected]

[Direction: East]

[Approaching]

Cassian’s smile faded.

Not completely.

He picked up the bent chain blade.

"How strong?"

"I can’t tell yet."

Veyra’s newly mobile fingers touched the Shrine markings.

Then her eyes narrowed.

"It was already somewhere east."

Cassian looked at her.

"The ranking gave it my location?"

"No."

Her answer came immediately.

"Your coordinates are still hidden. But a public Divine Record creates a fluctuation. Something close enough can feel the direction it came from."

Cassian glanced at the ranking.

"A direction. Not a map."

"Yes."

"And it changed course after it felt mine."

Veyra nodded once.

That was enough.

Cassian looked toward the eastern passage.

Something nearby had felt first place.

And decided the direction was worth following.

His grip tightened around the weapon.

"Good."

Veyra looked at him.

"Good?"

"If it came hunting my number, maybe I can make it add to the number."

He walked toward the eastern entrance.

"Tell me how it kills."

—

In Crownspire Awakening Square, Rowan was still standing beside a table full of contracts when the ranking appeared.

[Rank 1: Cassian Vale]

[F-Rank]

[Cumulative Divine Essence: 5]

The guild representative beside him went silent.

Rowan pulled Cassian’s old three-year vassal contract from the stack.

Forty percent of territory resources.

Military command rights.

Priority claim over divine relics.

He looked at it for two seconds.

Then placed it beneath the pile.

"The rescue offer is dead."

Someone beside him frowned.

"What do we send instead?"

Rowan looked at Cassian’s name again.

"Nothing yet."

He tapped the F beside first place.

"Recalculate his price."