Chapter 98: Let Them Feel Despair—and Recruit the Dawnwings

"There’s another way," Elara said.

The others looked up from the table.

"We could keep running the Dwarven Mine after the daily limit. It might collapse early, but that would let everyone keep hunting instead of standing guard over resource points."

Rowan frowned.

"That’s a valuable Instance. The high-quality materials alone are worth keeping, and the Battle Essence is good too."

"Valuable?" Elara glanced at the board. "Enough to give up all that leveling time?"

Tobias opened his mouth to join in, but Cassian spoke first.

"Let me think about it. I’ll give you an answer shortly."

The discussion stopped.

"Fine," Elara said.

No one tried to press him. Whatever he decided, they were ready to do their part.

——

After they left, Cassian stepped into the Deep Layer and took the Courtyard Pool Blueprint out of priority storage.

He opened its Evolution Path and selected the golden branch.

[Dawnwing Rebirth Pool | Legendary]

[Evolution Cost: 20,000,000 Aether + Required Materials]

[Sanctified Stone | Legendary | 3,000 units]

[Starmoon Gold | Legendary | 1,000 units]

[Soulwood | Legendary | 1,000 units]

He already had powerful troops and useful lines to develop. There had been no need to rush the Pool out of desperation.

His original plan had been to let Sable keep working. Let Varek spend more, pull more troops away from hunting, and wear his Region down—then show him a score he could never catch.

Cassian would have enjoyed watching that.

But he had no intention of making his own Lords give up their growth just to prolong the entertainment.

He sent Bram the material requirements.

[Cassian Vale: Use the Duskmoor salvage. Start with the pieces holding these three materials.]

The unprocessed lot contained broken high-quality weapons, shattered armor, and ruined enchanted fittings. Among them were Legendary stone cores, Starmoon Gold components, and Soulwood supports. The equipment was no longer worth repairing, but those parts still held their original Quality.

There was enough for all five thousand Legendary units the Pool required.

Bram’s reply arrived with the recovery list.

[Bram Alder: The usable equipment stays in storage. I’ll have the dismantling lines take this batch first.]

Cassian confirmed it.

At the Forge, Bram separated the materials from the ruined pieces. Grand Craft kept the valuable cores and inner layers intact instead of mixing them into the waste.

The first recovered unit of Legendary Sanctified Stone entered storage.

[New Resource Registered: Sanctified Stone | Legendary ×1]

[Resource Points +100,000]

Cassian opened the Duel board beside the construction requirements.

A hundred thousand from one unit.

Five thousand units would cover the Pool’s materials and contribute five hundred million points. The rest of the recovered metal and stone would count too.

"Keep going."

——

It did not take long for someone to notice.

[Anonymous Lord: What happened to Riftward’s score?]

[Anonymous Lord: A hundred million? Where did another hundred million come from?]

[Mira Calder: Did they push the Resource Instance past its limit?]

The figure kept rising.

Another hundred million.

Then another.

Lords who had been comparing the two Regions’ mining rates stopped making estimates. Every time they looked again, Riftward was farther ahead.

After a little over an hour, its score had increased by more than five hundred million.

[Riftward | Resource Points: 860,000,000]

Eight hundred sixty million.

[Darian Frost: Is that really a small Resource Instance?]

[Mira Calder: Even if they ran it until it collapsed, how would a small mine give them that much?]

[Anonymous Lord: Then the reports are wrong. It has to be a larger one.]

Riftward’s leadership Channel was no calmer.

[Rowan Ashford: I read that number twice.]

[Tobias Reed: I just ordered my troops to stop hunting and guard the Outer March resource points.]

[Tobias Reed: I’ve barely finished giving the orders.]

[Elara Vayne: So much for carrying you this time.]

Elara stared at the mine report beside the score. She knew exactly how large the Instance was. Even exhausting it could not have produced that gain.

Whatever Cassian had done, it had not come from the mine she was managing.

——

In Sable March, Varek’s room was a wreck again.

A chair struck the wall. The table followed, scattering everything that had just been put back in order.

"Kill him!"

Varek kicked a broken leg out of his path.

"Burn Riftward to the ground. I want Cassian torn apart!"

The score remained in front of him.

His Settlers were still mining. His troops were still guarding quarries. None of it made that number smaller.

Roughly half a billion points separated the Regions.

Unless Riftward simply stopped collecting resources, Sable had no hope of catching it. All those reopened mines, all those lost hours of hunting, and they were still going to lose.

Varek stood breathing hard among the broken furniture.

At last, he opened Nadia’s channel.

[Varek Sorn: Move the strike against Cassian forward. Tell the others I want it arranged as soon as possible.]

[Varek Sorn: He cannot be allowed to live.]

The night attack was not fully ready.

Varek could no longer bear to wait.

——

The final loads of recovered material reached the Deep Layer.

Cassian placed them into the Pool’s construction requirements and confirmed the evolution.

[Aether: 20,000,000 consumed]

[Sanctified Stone | Legendary ×3,000 consumed]

[Starmoon Gold | Legendary ×1,000 consumed]

[Soulwood | Legendary ×1,000 consumed]

[Dawnwing Rebirth Pool: Construction Started]

[Remaining Construction Time: 10 days]

Ten days was much too long.

"Complete it now."

[Aether: 144,000 consumed]

[Dawnwing Rebirth Pool: Construction Complete]

The light cleared.

A broad white-jade pool stood before him, its milky water glowing softly. At its center rose a statue of a beautiful female angel. Six wings spread behind her, one leg slightly bent as though she were about to rise from the water and take flight.

Cassian walked to the edge and opened the building record.

[Dawnwing Rebirth Pool]

[Quality: Legendary]

[Type: Troop Building]

[Area: 1,000 square meters]

[Recruitable Troops]

[Epic: Dawnwing Angel / Dawnwing Archangel / Dawnwing Principality]

[Legendary: Dawnwing Arcanist / Dawnwing Vanguard / Dawnwing Marshal]

[Current Troops: 0]

[Building Trait 1: Recruits arrive with equipment that grows in power as they gain Levels. Their growth requires additional Battle Essence.]

[Building Trait 2: Troops recruited here may be reborn in this Pool after death. Memories are retained; Level resets to 0.]

[Building Trait 3: Recruit sex may be selected.]

Equipment that grew with its wearer.

That would save him the trouble of replacing an entire line’s armor and weapons as they advanced, though the extra Battle Essence cost would stay with them. Some Lords would prefer buying equipment separately. Cassian was quite willing to pay for troops who arrived ready to fight.

The rebirth feature was less impressive to him. Keeping memories mattered, but having to raise a troop from Level 0 again was a long way from what his Fountain of Life could do.

Still, he had built this Pool for its recruits.

The conventional celestial branches divided their troops into three lower ranks and three middle ranks. This Pool followed that hierarchy: the Epic troops had two wings, while the Legendary troops had four.

Above them were the six-winged Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones—Mythic beings that the Pool could not recruit directly. A Legendary troop would have to advance to reach that tier.

Aurelia came from the Extra-Realm Dawnwing Host. Her line was distinct from this conventional celestial hierarchy, even though the Pool recognized her Dawnwing origin.

Cassian passed over the Epic choices.

He had not spent twenty million Aether to stop there.

The three Legendary types had broadly similar attributes. Their skills were what set them apart.

Arcanists specialized in spells. Vanguards favored direct physical combat. Marshals brought support abilities and the tactical knowledge to command a force.

He considered the list for a moment, then gave the order.

"Twelve Arcanists, twelve Vanguards, and two Marshals. All female."

If the Pool let him choose, he might as well choose what he liked. A powerful army that was also pleasant to look at suited him perfectly.

He confirmed the displayed recruitment cost.

[Recruitment Orders Accepted: 26]

Holy light brightened across the water.

Cassian waited beside the white-jade rim. Ten minutes later, a blurred figure rose from the Pool and slowly lifted into the air.

Golden hair fell around a gentle face. Fitted armor followed the curves of her body, and she held a longsword against her chest with both hands around its hilt.

Two pairs of white wings stirred behind her.

The first recruit opened her eyes.

"Dawnwing Arcanist Eve greets you, Lord."

She bowed slightly in the air, then paused before Cassian could reply.

"My attributes..."

Eve looked at him in surprise.

"You have a Dawnwing Hero in this Domain? With B-grade Command?"

Cassian nodded.

"I’ll introduce you later."

Then he opened Eve’s attribute panel.