Chapter 1292 - Taming the Old World - Compulsory Reaction - 3

Chapter 1292: Chapter 1292 - Taming the Old World - Compulsory Reaction - 3

Within minutes, every high-ranking Tamer across the kingdom knew the truce was over.

Having the city’s new defensive perimeter compressed down to a mere fifteen percent of its original size turned out to be a blessing for communication.

With the entire surviving population packed shoulder to shoulder inside the central districts, urgent dispatches did not even need messenger birds; the news traveled from mouth to mouth through the crowded streets in a matter of moments.

Selthia was marching ahead of schedule... Everyone had to mobilize right now.

Less than ten minutes after the horns sounded, the strongest dual-contract Tamers in the Vanguard had already formed a tight line in the subterranean vault beneath the royal castle.

Only those with systems and mana channels sturdy enough to stomach the raw flow of the underground ley line were permitted down here. The colossal pillar at the center of the cavern, studded with ancient fixed dragon cores, hummed as it filtered the volatile earth energy and refined it into pure, Diamond-grade power.

One by one, the kingdom’s elite waited in front of Ren to receive their share of the boost.

In any other era, bestowing the power of ancient dragons upon humanity’s champions would have been a grand, solemn ceremony full of kneeling and formal oaths.

Today, it looked like a rushed assembly line for relief food.

Ren handed out primordial dragon essence the exact same way a tired cook ladles out midday stew to a line of hungry, overworked laborers on a short break. He stood at the base of the pillar, grabbed an outstretched wrist, measured out a safe dose of energy for each different system, pushed it through, and let go.

There were no inspiring speeches or dramatic pauses...

"Next," Ren said, tapping a commander’s palm. A brief flare of light. "You’re good, move along. Next." The very same draconic surcharge that had encased a King in solid crystal after some degree of overuse was being portioned out with the brisk efficiency of a neighborhood soup kitchen.

The next three people waiting in the queue were his friends.

Liu looked the worst for wear among them...

The grueling clash in the south, combined with the sheer volume of purple rot his Wendigo form had digested to keep the hope from breaking, hung heavy on his frame. His eyelids drooped and his posture sagged, kept upright mostly by Taro, who stood right behind him with a broad, steadying hand planted against his shoulder blades.

Min, naturally, still had enough spare breath to run his mouth forever.

"Do I get a double scoop for putting in the overtime yesterday?" Min asked, holding both hands out like a beggar with an empty bowl. "What about a frequent customer discount? Come on, Ren, how many end-of-the-world sieges have we survived together at this point? I should have enough loyalty points saved up for a free upgrade!"

Ren rolled his eyes and let out a long sigh, grabbing Min’s wrist to inject his just share.

Filling Min’s tank with high-grade dragon mana was only going to make him louder. Worse, it meant unleashing him alongside Mayo, the other half of the Vanguard’s resident chaos duo. She had already received her dose five minutes ago and was currently stationed at the top of the stairwell, appointed by nobody to get the departing troops into the proper mindset for a final stand.

"IT IS THE APOCALYPSE, PEOPLE!" Mayo’s voice echoed all the way down the stone shaft from the courtyard above.

"LET ME SEE YOUR APOCALYPSE FACES! HEY, YOU IN THE THIRD ROW! PUT SOME TRAGEDY INTO IT! WE ARE NOT SAVING HUMANITY WITH A POUTY LITTLE FACE LIKE THAT, GRIT THOSE TEETH!"

????

Off to the side, Lin, Zhao, Yang, Sirius, and several other frontline veterans who had burned themselves to the wick during the previous campaign were already rolling their shoulders, testing the energy settling into their cores.

Despite being dead on their feet an hour ago, they had forced themselves out of bed the moment the alarm rang.

Ren had been careful with their portions. Because their channels were still raw and frayed from yesterday’s strain, he had given their battered bodies much lighter doses than usual, topping their reserves up to a safe eighty percent so their systems would not reject the fuel.

Julius and Selphira stepped up at the very tail end of the military queue.

Both of them offered Ren a quiet word of gratitude as he transferred the power. There was a deep, unspoken weight in the way the two veterans looked at him, born from watching this young man repeatedly act as the sole bridge pulling them out of impossible places.

Today, he was the bridge connecting their tired bodies to the energy beneath the castle. Yesterday, he had been the bridge to knowledge. Not only that, he had been the architect of their walls, their towers, their survival and many more things.

"You are always the one finding and linking whatever this city lacks with the people who need it most," Julius said, closing his fist as the golden warmth settled into his veins. "Thank you again, Ren... For the umpteenth time."

When it was Selphira’s turn, the older woman did not immediately pull back after the transfer finished. Instead, her gaze dropped to his left arm.

Down to the tips of his fingers, the limb remained a solid, translucent block of crystal.

"Once we clear this hurdle," Selphira said, gesturing toward his forearm, "we will make sure you have the quiet time required to melt the rest of that away and get your feeling back."

"It does not bother me much," Ren replied, giving the heavy crystal hand a slight, dismissive wave. "There is no pain in it... My right hand has all the sensitivity I need, and even if the left one does not quite match the rest of my body, the joints still move fine when I tell them to. It is a minor inconvenience, not a tragedy."

"It is unfair that the bill always lands at your feet like this." Selphira’s voice dropped an octave, taking on a rare, maternal gentleness that she almost never let the soldiers see.

"You are so young, yet you are already carrying all of this on your back." She let out a quiet sigh, her shoulders dropping a fraction. "Forgive me for growing so old, Ren... I hate that we have reached a point where I can no longer act as your protector, especially now that my own power and usefulness amount to nothing next to yours."

"Do not say that," Ren replied, shaking his head at once.

"You are remarkably strong, and you have helped me out of tight spots more times than I can count. Without you, we never would have lasted this long. Do not sell yourself short by making comparisons like that."

Selphira looked at him for a moment, a dry, fond smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. Then, as if flipping a switch, that heavy solemnity vanished. She turned her head toward Liora, who was waiting patiently a few paces away.

"You had better go through with what I suggested earlier," Selphira called out to her granddaughter, her tone conversational and carrying easily across the quiet vault. "If you back out now, you are going to curse yourself with bad luck, and it will take you a full hundred years just to have your first one."

The color rushed to Liora’s cheeks in an instant.