The victory over Sterling Greyjoy should have felt like a triumph but to David Silver, it felt like sitting on a powder keg with a very short fuse. The Academy was still half-dark.
Every time David walked down a hallway, the silence that followed him was heavy enough to drown in. He was currently huddled in his dorm room and nursing a cup of tea.
He was staring at the Chronal Debt notification that was blinking like a persistent migraine in the corner of his vision.
"I am the luckiest klutz in the Empire, or so they say," David muttered.
He leaned back in his creaky wooden chair. "A rusted sword, a defective armor set, and a well-timed stumble. It is a miracle anyone still believes I am human, let alone a student. If my luck continues like this, I will accidentally trip and become the Emperor by next Tuesday."
— [Infinite Regeneration System] —
[Host Information]
↳ Name: David Silver
↳ Life-form: Human / Engine-Bearer
↳ Disability: Pain Nullification
[System Note: Your ’Credibility’ rating is currently at 4 percent. However, Inquisitor John’s ’Confusion’ rating is at an all-time high of 92 percent. In the world of survival, being an enigma is far better than being a corpse.]
"Tell that to my blood pressure," David sighed.
A soft knock sounded at his door. It was not the heavy and authoritative thud of an instructor or the frantic pounding of a curious student. It was precise.
It was measured. David did not need the system to tell him who it was. His Ghost-Hand intuition already sensed the weight of the person on the other side.
He also smelled the subtle and metallic scent of a concealed weapon. He stood up and coiled his mana into a Static defensive loop before he opened the door.
Rachel stood there and she looked like a silver phantom in the dim moonlight filtering through the window. She was holding a small and steaming ceramic pot and two cups. She did not look like a Watcher ready to execute a Vessel. She looked like a tired student seeking a quiet conversation.
Even if one were to ignore the tension in the room, David could not help but notice her appearance. Rachel was a wonderfully blessed girl. She was wearing a tight and obsidian-grey combat suit that seemed to absorb the dim light.
"The cafeteria is still out of commission," Rachel said.
Her voice was soft and calm. "I managed to scrounge some Cloud-Mist tea from the Silver-Stallion stores. I thought you might need something to settle your nerves after your lucky win. It was quite a spectacle today."
David looked at the steam rising from the pot. His Observation skill was still humming at a high frequency. It picked up a scent that was not tea. It was faint and bitter. It smelled like crushed almond shells and frozen copper.
[Warning! Toxic Substance Detected.]
[Classification: Lethe’s Draught (Tier 6 Spirit Poison).]
[Effect: Designed to paralyze a mana core before inducing total cardiac failure. Standard protocol for ’Vessel Neutralization’.]
David felt a sharp wave of disappointment. He had actually started to like Rachel. "Cloud-Mist tea," David said.
He stepped back to let her in. "My favorite. It goes right next to not dying in my sleep on my list of preferred evening activities. Come in and make yourself at home."
Rachel walked in and set the tray on his desk. She did not look at him. Her hands were trembling just a fraction of a millimeter. To David’s 100,000x perception, it looked like a structural failure. She poured the tea and the dark liquid swirled in the cups.
"The Order of Solace does not leave things to chance, David," Rachel whispered.
Her back was still turned to him. "They saw the duel. They saw the rusted sword and they did not buy the story. They do not care about the logic. They only care about the result. They ordered me to finish what Sterling could not do. They want you dead before the sun rises."
She turned around and her winter-storm eyes were wet with a frustration she could not hide. She held out the cup to him. "Drink it. If you do not drink it, they will send the High Inquisitor tonight.
He will not use tea. He will use a Tier 8 Purge Circle and burn down this entire dormitory just to make sure you are gone. He will kill everyone in this building just to get to you."
David looked at the cup. He looked at Rachel. He saw the way she was gripping the ceramic and her knuckles were white. She was not an assassin. She was a girl caught between a world-ending prophecy and her own conscience.
"You know, Rachel," David said.
His voice was quiet and human. "For a master spy, you are really bad at the whole cold-blooded killer act. You are supposed to wait until I take a sip before you start crying. It is bad for the immersion. You would fail any acting class at the Academy."
Rachel’s breath hitched. She looked at the cup and then at him. "You knew? Then why did you let me in? Are you that foolish?"
David took the cup from her hand. He did not drink it. He set it back down on the tray. "Because I do not think you want to kill me. I think you are terrified. You are not scared of me, but of the people who gave you that pot. You are a prisoner too."
He reached out and grabbed her wrist. Rachel flinched. Her hand instinctively went for the hidden dagger in her sleeve, but David was faster. His Ghost-Hand intuition did not just sense her movement. It sensed her being.
"System," David thought.
His golden-violet eyes began to glow with an intense and steady light. "Scan her. Not for weapons. Scan her core. I want to see what is breaking her."
[Analyzing Rachel of House Silver-Stallion...]
[Detection: Chronic Soul-Degradation.]
[Condition: The Solace Seal. It is a ’Loyalty Curse’ placed on all Watchers. It drains their life-force to power the Order’s ’Great Eye’.]
David’s jaw tightened. "She is not just a Watcher. She is a battery. They are killing her to stay informed. They are draining her life like a parasite."
"What are you doing?" Rachel gasped.
She tried to pull away but his grip was like iron. "David, stop! If you use magic, the Inquisitor will feel the flare and come running!"
"The Inquisitor is busy trying to figure out why the lights are out," David snapped.
"Shut up and stay still! I am tired of people being sacrificed for the greater good. It is a fvcking lie."
David closed his eyes. He did not use the Void-Rot. He did not use the Hydro-Cutter. He reached for a fundamental principle he had memorized from the Forbidden Archive called Mana Transfusion. It was a Tier 2 healing art used by combat medics to stabilize dying soldiers on the battlefield.
[Passive Multiplier Activated: 100,000x!]
The Static Core in David’s chest did not just hum. It roared! But it was not a roar of destruction. It was a roar of absolute and refined vitality. Because the multiplier was applied to a healing art, David was not just giving Rachel some mana. He was rewriting her biological and spiritual history.
Inside the overclocked microsecond, David’s mana entered Rachel’s system like a flood of liquid starlight. He saw the Solace Seal. It was a jagged and black parasite coiling around her mana core.
It had been there since she was a child. It was a chronic blood-curse that had been slowly hollowing her out while masquerading as duty.
In the first microsecond, David’s mana surrounded the parasite. The high-frequency vibration began to loosen its grip on her soul. In the tenth microsecond, the scent of the Lethe’s Draught in the air was neutralized by David’s Toxin Sovereign presence.
He began the purge of her entire body. In the hundredth microsecond, he did not just break the seal. He replaced the life-force it had stolen over the years. He forced a century of Restorative Meditation into her cells in the blink of an eye.
The room was filled with a soft and humming light. Rachel’s feet left the floor as the sheer volume of David’s mana lifted her up. Her silver hair flared outward and it was glowing like a halo. The black veins of the Solstice Curse on her neck did not just fade. They shattered into sparks of white light! It was a divine sight.
[Proficiency: Mana Transfusion ➔ 100.00% (MAX)]
[Skill Evolution: Mana Transfusion ➔ Divine Restoration: Phoenix Pulse]
David snapped his hands back and his chest was heaving. The Chronal Debt throbbed behind his eyes. It was a reminder of the price of God-Mage levels of healing.
Rachel collapsed back into her chair and she was gasping for air. Her skin had always been a pale and sickly alabaster, but now it was flushed with a healthy and vibrant warmth.
Her eyes were clear and bright. They were filled with a shock so profound she could not even speak. She looked at her hands and saw the vitality returning to her skin. She looked at her reflection in the dark window and saw that the black marks were gone.
"You... you healed me," Rachel whispered.
Her voice was trembling with emotion. "That curse was Tier 7. The High Matriarch herself placed it on me. No one should be able to touch it. Not even a Sage."
David slumped back into his own chair. He picked up the poisoned tea and dumped it into a potted plant by the window. The plant withered and turned to ash instantly.
"Relatable humor, Rachel," David panted.
He wiped sweat from his brow. "I just saved your life, and you almost made me drink that poison. I think we are even now. Or maybe I am up by one point. I have lost track of the score."
Rachel looked at the withered plant and then at the boy who was supposedly a Vessel of Destruction. She had seen him move through the Grotto like a tsunami.
She had seen him carve through Sterling’s armor with a piece of junk from the trash. Now she had felt him heal a god-tier curse with the gentleness of a summer breeze.
She did not reach for her dagger this time. She stood up and bowed. It was not the stiff and formal bow of a noble. It was the deep and soul-felt bow of a Watcher who had found something more important than her watch.
"The Order told me you were a Vessel of the Void," Rachel said.
Her voice was steady now. "They told me you were a monster waiting to happen. They said you would burn the world. But they lied. A monster would not steal a hundred years of time just to fix a girl who tried to poison him. You are a better person than all of them."
She looked up and her silver eyes were blazing with a new loyalty. "The High Inquisitor is coming, David. He is not coming tonight because I will forge the report. I will tell them the poison is working and that your core is failing. I will buy you the time you need to grow stronger."
"You are betraying the Order?" David asked.
"I am choosing the side that does not treat me like a battery," Rachel said.
A small and genuine smile touched her lips. "I am your informant now. I have access to the Order’s Great Eye archives. I can tell you where they are looking. I can tell you who they are sending. I can tell you everything they know about the Universal Engine."
David looked at her. For the first time, he felt like he was not alone in the dark. He had a Tier 5 Void-Stalker and a Tier 8 Arch-Mage. Now he had a Tier 4 Watcher as his secret informant. He was building quite a team of misfits.
[Quest Complete!]
[Reward: Rachel’s Loyalty Acquired (Status: Absolute).]
[New Feature Unlocked: Intelligence Network.]
[System Note: That was a very efficient use of mana. You have turned your executioner into your most valuable asset. Also, the tea was actually quite expensive. What a waste of good leaves.]
"We have work to do, David," Rachel said.
Her expression turned serious. "The Imperial Games are more than just a tournament. The Prince of Mirrors is coming to the city. He is the one the Order is truly afraid of. He knows about the Catalyst and he wants it for himself."
David nodded. The weight of the future was settling back onto his shoulders. "Let him come. I have a Static Core and a lot of luck. I also have a very heavy debt to pay to reality. What is the worst that could happen?"
As Rachel slipped back out into the shadows of the hallway, David sat in his room. The smell of burnt tea lingered in the air. He was a Vessel and a target. But as he looked at the golden clock-faces spinning in his mind, he realized he was no longer just surviving.
He was building an army to take on the world. The next time the Order of Solace looked through their Great Eye, they were going to find that the world was looking back at them.
"Imperial Games," David whispered.
His eyes flashed with a purple-gold light. "I hope they are ready for a few more lucky breaks. Because I am just getting started."