I called out the system. I needed to know my strength before I face certain death soon.
[HOST: LUCIEN VALECREST]
Race: Human
Rank: Expert (Low Tier)
Age: 18
Strength: 70
Agility: 50
Intelligence: 130
Mana: 50
Aura: 50
Overall Evaluation: C− (mid tier)
Talent Grade: SS (White)
Bloodline: Architect Bloodline
Architect Level: Tier 1 (Level 1)
Architect Skills:
• Ti Genius — Comprehend, analyze, and break down aura and techniques in seconds.
• Copy — Replicate analyzed abilities.
• rge — Fuse abilities into higher forms.
System Points: 0
Acquired Skills:
• Reactive Step — rapid evasion (Rank D)
• Gravemind Pattern — fear/aura burst (Rank D)
• Vyre Sweep — stealth strike (Rank D)
• Battle Aura Defense — aura barrier (Rank E)
[Quest Active] Obtain First Position in the Academy Trials
New Quest Alert: SURVIVE
Rewards: Upgrade to Architect Tier 1 (Level 2) 300 SP • Full Skill rge Unlock • New Skill
Failure: Loss of skills • Power sealed 1 year • −200 SP • DEATH
The numbers had shifted. Strength climbed. Intelligence climbed. Small incrents, but asurable. The exam did that a bruise that becos a gain. I noted it as I always do: fact, not miracle.
SURVIVE. Not win. Not triumph. Survive.
That single word collapsed the distance between rhetoric and reality. Rewards looked appetizing on paper; they were irrelevant if we were all dead . I found it weird none of the adults had co to our rescue. So I was reassured we have little ti to live .
I closed the window and looked up. Group Eleven's command base slled like singed wood and stale breath. Faces turned toward tight, focused. None of them expected to be sentintal. Good. Sentint is a resource we can't spare.
I spoke cold and exact.
" We don't have ti. The fact that adults haven't broken down the do tells us one thing. Sothing is preventing them from coming here and we need to figure out what that is ."
"While running here I watched the veins in the ground that ford the do. They weren't random. The glow that made the do's mbranes pulsed along definite channels directional, purposeful. Energy flow. Conduits. Not wild growth; infrastructure. Traces led toward Group Five's base at the center of the field. That is our hypothesis: an artifact is powering the do and it's located at the center of field."
" Hypothesis isn't certainty. It is a better bet than doing nothing and waiting for our death."
I laid the constraints out, plain and minimal. I lay it out for them bluntly.
"Confrontation is inevitable. We sneak to the middle without Rhazar knowing. It was intentional. " I looked around to see their expressions, still grim. Good .
" Ti is the enemy. The do repairs and reinforces as it feeds. it mostly likely feeds on rhazar's power that's why it can't be broken. Another advantage we have is , rhazar doesn't seem to be in a rush . Believe if he was we would be dead by a snap of his fingers ."
" I'm not going to sugar coat anything and be blunt the probability of our success is less than 2 percent "
" What do you an 2 percent ?" Cael asked with a shaky voice . "Are we really going to die here ?
" I wasn't going to lie to you and give you false hope. We are weak experts and our enemy is a transcendent soone who has bypassed mortality. Our chances might even be lower ".
I looked around, this is when it dawned on them that this not like their normal training. This is reality. A painful one .
" At least we still have a chance, I have brought an effective plan to stall . We are not going to defeat him. We are just going to bring down the artifacts and hope the adults do the rest. And the center of our plan is Seris ."
They all looked at her at the sa ti.
" ....W-what c-can I do? I'm the weakest here how am I supposed to be the center of all this ."
I walked over to her , " simple, you beco a ghost." She looked at like I spoke a different language.
" How-w did you know I can do that ? "
I did my research on all the races . So I knew what each race could do.
" That does not concern you, what should be your major concern is how to be successful so we don't die . You are the center of this plan so if we fail it's over."
Then the plan in simple tactical chunks. I said each word like a command, because commands are how people die less.
"The plan is simple, all of us except Seris are distractions and possibly punching bags . We don't bother sneaking in because we would be detected. So we are going with full force but not attacking without coordination.
Yelena what's your biggest attack?"
" Call my na with respect valecrest " she snapped. " My biggest attack is sothing I call ice storm . My aether is so pure I can extract water from the atmosphere, turn it to ice and unleash one attack. It's a big one so it takes ti and it drains .
" I see , interesting. Aurora and Auren , what's your biggest attack ? "
Aurora spoke first " Our biggest attack is that we rge . When we rge we are practically masters . But we can't keep that form for a long ti yet . Practically 5 minutes ".
"Do you take ti rging?"
"No we rge imdiately."
"I see".
I looked around these three would be our main force. They have big attacks and can provide a reasonable amount of ti for us . I looked around at the faces staring at . The rest of us would be make a nice distraction. While Yelena prepares for her attack .
" Alright, Cael , Ryn , kael , Noah , serlene and I . We would be the punching bags . We are going to give it everything we've got while Yelena prepares her attack. "
" Ryn , you are going to protect Yelena personally while she creates her attack, anything rhazar throws at her you take it . Understood? "
"Yes ." He said without hesitation.
"The rest of us are going to stall as long as possible. Aurora and Auren you won't participate till yelena is prepared to attack. E need to conserve your aura and mana".
"Understood "
I ran my capabilities against the plan: Strength 70 gives the physical reach to press and brace; Agility 50 keeps in the window for reactive steps; Intelligence 130 is the actual weapon here — analysis latency low, pattern recognition near-instant. Mana and Aura sit at fifty; I can hold and shape but I cannot brute the field. Reactive Step, Gravemind, Vyre Sweep — those are the tools: evasion, destabilize, stealth strike. They pair with the scalpel role I just assigned myself.
Seris. Her race's essence is tied to emotion; she can be see-through, a ghost slipping through a seam. She is the only one who can get to the artifact without imdiate registration — not because she's the strongest, but because her signature is the least expected. That's not heroism. That's selection bias exploited. She sneaks in. Everyone else provides enough spectacle for her to be a shadow.
I considered Noah. He is an Expert — not a god. From what I saw, his blend of aether, mana, and aura gives him hybrid utility unmatched in his tier. Fast, adaptable, and when others trust him, his synchronization multiplies output. I need that multiplicative factor with on the lattice. I called his stat in my head the sa way I called mine: useful, permanent, finite.
We have to be realistic about casualty ratios. If the node is distributed, we need more than one strike team. If it's centralized, we have a single chance. If Rhazar is not alone — if there is a second anchor or an external reinforcent — probabilities collapse. My brain ran the branches until the marginal returns fell below acceptable risk.
We're not accepting acceptable casualties as lodrama. We accept them only as math. The point of being a strategist is to make sure whatever is lost buys the maximum future advantage.
I assigned tirs. Pulse troughs are our windows. We move on the negative phase—not when the do is still, because stillness implies monitoring. We move on the dip. We move with the dip.
I looked each of them in the face as I finished. No speeches. No promises. Just roles.
Noah t my gaze. No theatrics, only functionality. He understood being useful without needing to be beloved.
I ran my own evaluation one last ti. Can I hold the center? Can I read and alter a lattice under pulse strain? Yes — if the system points were not in my balance I'd be gambling. We are already gambling. This is controlled.
We set the departure on the next trough.
*****
In the center field,where the artifact was located. The boy with silver hair was seated holding a beating heart in his hands . Dead mutilated bodies surrounded him .
He smiled because he was waiting for them . He knew they were coming and he couldn't wait to play .
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