Chapter 82: Seeds of Vengeance

Summer slept peacefully on Salma’s lap inside the quiet, darkened interior of the heavy command vehicle. Her small, pale face was relaxed, completely free of the cold, predatory intensity that usually defined her daytime hours.

Salma sat silently on the padded leather bench, her long dark coat draped loosely around her shoulders as she gently stroked her daughter’s soft hair.

Her slender fingers moved in slow, rhythmic circles, carefully untangling the dark strands while keeping her green eyes fixed on the girl’s small, breathing chest.

To anyone watching from the outside, it was a rare moment of serene, maternal peace amidst the brutal desert wasteland.

However, beneath that tranquil exterior, Summer was far from idling.

Deep within her own inner consciousness, her mind remained fully awake and active. In this mental realm, her form was not that of an eight-year-old girl, but rather that of a tiny, fluffy dark chick sitting amidst swirling pools of greyish-black aura.

Floating directly across from her was Shadow, who took the shape of a fat, round black chicken whose feathers constantly rippled with faint mana.

"It is so strange," Shadow muttered, its round wings flapping once as it hovered above the colorful ocean. "Where on earth could that worthless human have gotten a Lord core?"

Summer nodded her small beak in agreement.

While both of them were focused on the exact same anomaly, their underlying motives could not have been more drastically different.

Shadow’s confusion stemmed from a tactical and analytical perspective. The shadowy was constantly trying to figure out if that human had somehow stumbled upon the core by sheer luck, if he had swallowed it fully aware of its terrifying, mutated nature, or if some mysterious external force had intentionally handed it to him as a pawn.

If it was the latter, then who was the puppet master pulling the strings behind the curtain, and what sinister purpose did they serve?

Summer, on the other hand, possessed a far simpler and infinitely more selfish train of thought.

She did not care about political conspiracies or grand schemes in the slightest. She simply wanted to track down the exact source of that Lord core so she could find more of them for herself.

To her, a Lord core was the ultimate, high-grade candy that made her belly feel warm and full.

The fact that someone else out there in the desert might be sitting on a whole hoard of those delicious treats made her chubby cheeks twitch with absolute desire.

[He will be someone connected to the Seven Palaces...]

The system’s cold, mechanical voice suddenly echoed directly into the center of the mental realm, breaking the quiet chatter between the two chickens.

"Huh?" Shadow squawked, its fat feathers fluffing up in surprise.

Summer’s crimson eyes instantly sharpened, all childish thoughts of sweet candy vanishing into thin air within a fraction of a second.

How could she ever forget those two cursed words? Seven Palaces.

The memory burned deep into her core.

Three had been killed by someone from this faction. Her tiny chest heaved as an suffocating wave of hatred surged through her mind.

She wanted to tear that faction apart piece by piece. She wanted to grind their bones into fine dust, rip out their throats with her bare teeth, and burn their grand palaces down to the ground until nothing remained of their arrogant existence.

As Summer’s emotions spiraled wildly out of control, her mental aura transformed.

The gentle colorful mist surrounding her small chick form violently darkened into a jet-black, chaotic tempest.

Corrosive shockwaves rippled outward through her inner world, threatening to shatter the mental balance of her own core.

[Little girl, calm down,] the system spoke again, its tone firm yet possessing a rare thread of underlying warning.

[Your hatred is justified, and revenge will inevitably be yours in due time. But as you are right now, you are far too weak to confront the high lords of the Seven Palaces. Focus on your growth. Build your foundation, increase your core progression, and when the moment is right, you will crush them completely.]

Summer breathed heavily within her mental space, her tiny dark beak trembling as she fought against her own raging instincts.

She took several long, steady breaths, slowly reining in the dark, chaotic energy that had flared up around her.

The system was right. Rushing blindly into a fight against an empire while she was still an Apprentice rank would only result in her own destruction.

She needed power. She needed more evolution.

With a final, cold glare toward the infinite void of her mind, Summer withdrew her consciousness from the inner realm, returning to her real body to rest properly on her mother’s lap.

Left alone inside the quiet mental space, the fat chicken drifted closer to the glowing interface marker of the system.

"You already sensed it right?" Shadow spoke, its voice dropping into a unusually solemn, heavy tone. "Her emotions are becoming far too easy to tip into chaos. This is an undeniable drawback of our foundations merging together so rapidly."

[Yes,] the system responded concisely.

"Her hunger will only continue to multiply from now on," Shadow continued, shaking its fat feathery head with a low sigh.

"Since she has already tasted a Lord core, lower-tier Elite cores are only going to satisfy her appetite for a brief moment. And even if she manages to evolve by collecting five hundred of Elite cores, things are going to get extremely tricky afterward.

Once she become a Lord, her body will demand Lord cores every single day just to keep her hunger at bay. Where in this mortal world are we supposed to find a continuous supply of Lord cores for her?"

Shadow waited for a response, but the system remained completely silent, its glowing interface pulsing softly in the darkness. As the seconds dragged on without an answer, the fat chicken’s eyes narrowed with sudden, sharp suspicion.

"Don’t tell me... you already have a plan for this?" Shadow demanded, hovering right in front of the floating system screen.

[Yes.]

"Fuck you, bitch!" Shadow snapped angrily, its round wings flailing in the air. "Just reveal it already! Why the hell are you gatekeeping vital information from me?"

[The Seven Palaces are going to deliver them...]

Shadow froze mid-air, its fat body stiffening completely as the words registered. "You mean..."

[Yes...]

"Aaah, fuck!" Shadow let out a long, stunned curse, finally piecing together the horrifyingly manipulative strategy the system had set into motion.

* *

Far outside the moving convoy, miles away from the rumbling transport trucks kicking up clouds of yellow sand, the desert air hung completely still.

Hovering silently in the frigid sky, completely hidden behind a distorted layer of gray optical camouflage, stood a solitary figure dressed in a long, dark grey robe that fluttered softly in the high-altitude winds.

The fabric was adorned with intricate, silver thread embroidery along the hem, forming the distinct, imposing emblem of a stylized seven-pointed star.

The man’s face was hidden deep within the shadow of his high cowl, but his piercing, amber eyes were locked rigidly onto the crawling line of vehicles far below on the dirt highway.

He held a small, polished silver talisman in his pale palm, watching as the faint magical pulse inside the crystal flickered and died out completely.

"So that weakling failed," the grey-robed man murmured beneath his breath, his voice thin, cold, and utterly detached from human emotion. "The unpurified Lord core was consumed, yet the caravan remains entirely intact. How intriguing."

He folded his hands sleeves, his gaze lingering precisely on the lead command vehicle where Salma and Summer were resting.

"It matters not," the grey-robed operative whispered into the freezing wind, a faint, sinister smile curving under his cowl.

"Whoever dares to mess with the Seven Palaces will die..."