Chapter 74: Forging The Bulwark

Aiden sat inside the Rezvani, listening as Phantom Eyes reported the latest developments in Ashford City. His fingers tapped lightly against the steering wheel as he absorbed the information.

The heavy gold coins sitting in his account were more than enough to support him and his team through a long period of high-intensity consumption. If necessary, he could also use them to acquire urgently needed resources from the black market.

But more importantly, the chess piece known as the Ember Guild had finally been activated.

Using the information Aiden provided, along with the weapons acquired through his "guidance," the guild was constantly causing trouble for Damien on the front lines, inflicting losses that were becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

And Aiden found the feeling far more satisfying than personally killing a few insignificant minions.

This was the pleasure of strategy, a satisfaction that transcended mere force.

Turning an information gap into tangible resources and strategic advantages was like being a master chess player quietly positioning pieces in places his opponent could not see, gradually influencing the entire board without ever revealing his hand.

"Intelligence truly is the sharpest weapon... and the most expensive commodity." Aiden whispered the words to himself, his eyes flashing with a cold, calculating light. "Damien, enjoy it while you can. This is only the beginning."

His lips curled into a faint smile. "In the future, more ’embers’ will ignite in places you least expect. And eventually..."

His gaze hardened. "...you, the so-called ’Dragon Sovereign,’ will be burned to ashes."

Aiden started the engine and drove toward a new leveling spot.

The game unfolding behind the scenes was silent, yet far more lethal than any battlefield.

And Aiden had already seized the initiative.

Anyways the rise of the Ember Guild and its growing friction with the Dragon Sovereign Guild were like stones thrown into a lake, sending ripples throughout Ashford City.

For Aiden’s squad, however, the disturbances of the outside world were temporarily irrelevant.

Before they could deal with the upcoming Monster Siege event, Aiden needed to push every member of his team to their absolute limit. And among them, the raw gem most in need of carving was Silas.

Inside the semi-underground parking lot, the flickering flames of a campfire fueled by smokeless fuel cast a warm glow across Silas’s resolute yet slightly perplexed face.

He had just finished his daily strength training. Steam rose faintly from his body, while the tower shield strapped to his back shimmered beneath the firelight.

"Sir Aiden, I feel like... I’ve hit a bottleneck." Silas scratched his head, his deep voice carrying a hint of confusion.

"The shield feels more natural to use now, and my attributes keep increasing, but I always feel like... something is missing. My class, Unyielding Battle Body, doesn’t seem to have changed much. Aside from making me tougher, I don’t feel like I’m getting anything else from it."

Aiden nodded slightly.

Silas’s instincts were correct. As a B-rank class, Unyielding Battle Body possessed far greater potential than what Silas had displayed so far. It was never meant to be a simple defensive class that merely increased one’s physical durability.

Its true foundation lay in the fusion of an unyielding will with an equally unyielding body.

When pushed into desperate situations, that fusion could allow its wielder to unleash defensive power far beyond their normal limits. At higher levels of mastery, the class could even awaken hidden characteristics such as damage reflection, forced taunting, and brief periods of complete invulnerability.

But none of those abilities could be obtained simply by raising attributes.

They required something far more difficult. Class proficiency.

And, more importantly, a breakthrough in the wielder’s own will.

Silas had strengthened his body. He had grown accustomed to his shield. But he had yet to understand what it truly meant to be unyielding.

In his past life, "Silas the Bulwark" had painstakingly raised his Unyielding Battle Body to A-rank and had even touched the threshold of the S-rank Berserker Overlord class.

He had achieved it through countless life-and-death battles.

Every breakthrough had been paid for with blood, broken bones, and the stubborn refusal to stay down.

In this life, with Aiden by his side, Silas naturally didn’t need to endure such cruel trials again. But avoiding unnecessary suffering did not mean he could skip the trials altogether.

The right guidance was necessary. So was the right stimulus.

"Your feeling is correct." Aiden’s voice was calm, yet carried an unquestionable weight. "For Unyielding Battle Body, the core is will."

He looked directly at Silas.

"Your body is the shield, but your will is the foundation that keeps that shield from ever breaking. Right now, you’re only using your class."

Aiden paused. "You haven’t truly mastered it."

Silas’s brows furrowed. He seemed to understand, yet at the same time, he felt as though he were grasping at something just beyond his reach. His eyes gradually filled with curiosity and thirst for knowledge.

Aiden continued. "Conventional leveling won’t be enough to draw out the deeper potential of your class. You need a genuine trial. One that pushes you directly against your defensive limits."

He raised his personal terminal and brought up a collection of information he had compiled from black-market channels, combined with knowledge from his previous life.

An image of an ancient arena appeared above the terminal.

"You know about the Gladiator Arena ruins north of the city, right?"

Silas’s body trembled almost imperceptibly. His eyes immediately became complicated. Of course he knew. That place had once been his cage. His battlefield. And the place he had spent years trying to forget.

Aiden seemed not to notice the subtle change in his expression and continued. "Deep within the ruins lies a special mirror space known as the Guardian’s Trial."

"The space analyzes the challenger’s class and generates a trial suited to its characteristics. For defensive-class users, the objective is simple."

Aiden enlarged the image, revealing a massive circular arena with a glowing core positioned behind the challenger.

"Within a limited period, you must withstand waves of increasingly powerful energy impacts while protecting the core behind you from destruction."