The silence after the raiders' retreat was heavier than before. Isolde stood calmly, cleaning the edge of her dagger with a cloth produced from a hidden pocket. She didn't look at Kaelen, giving him a moment to let his heart slow from its frantic hammering.
"Thank you," Kaelen finally managed, the words feeling inadequate.
Isolde sheathed her blade with a soft click. "Gratitude is a currency I accept," she said, her tone businesslike. "But let us be clear. That was not a gift. It was a demonstration. Valeria would have told you to fight, to test your strength against them. A waste of energy before your Trial has even truly begun. I showed you that a reputation, carefully built, can be a shield far stronger than any you can conjure."
She began to walk toward the direction of the objective ping in his mind, not waiting for him. After a moment's hesitation, Kaelen fell into step beside her. The mist seemed to part for her, as if unwilling to touch her leathers.
"The 'Sunken Star'," she mused, almost to herself. "An interesting choice for your Trial. It's a fragment of an old-world relic, imbued with a fading light energy. Nasty thing to handle for an Umbral Aspect like yourself. It will fight your very nature. The System does enjoy its irony."
"How do you know what my objective is?" Kaelen asked, startled.
She gave him a sidelong glance, a sly smile playing on her lips. "The Citadel's walls have ears, little key. And some of those ears report to me. Valeria's command center is not as secure as she believes." She paused, letting the implication of her reach sink in. "The location it sent you to is a trap. Not by the System's design, but by circumstance. A pack of Howlers has made its den there. Nasty creatures. All teeth and rage. Stronger than a Shade-Stalker. Even a full squad of Valeria's soldiers would think twice about assaulting it directly."
A cold dread washed over Kaelen. "Then how am I supposed to…?"
"By not playing the game the way it's presented," Isolde interrupted. She stopped and pointed toward a different direction, away from the blinking point in his mind. "The Howlers are drawn to energy signatures. The Sunken Star's light calls to them, keeps them agitated and territorial. But their den… their den has a back passage. A narrow fissure in the rock, too small for their bulk. It is unguarded."
She looked at him, her eyes glinting in the gloom. "Valeria would have you believe power is about facing obstacles head-on. True power is about knowing the path of least resistance. Your objective isn't to defeat the Howlers. It is to retrieve the fragment. So why fight them at all?"
The simplicity of it was breathtaking. And utterly contrary to everything he thought he knew.
"Follow this ravine," she instructed. "Half a mile. You will find the fissure. The fragment is in a small cavern at the end of it. Grab it and return. The Howlers will never know you were there."
Kaelen stared at her. "You're not coming with me?"
Another low, melodic laugh. "This is still your Trial, Kaelen. I am merely… providing a map. My presence any closer would be detected. Some things you must do alone to earn the System's favor." Her expression softened, but the calculation never left her eyes. "Consider this the first payment on my investment. I have given you the key to your survival. I expect your loyalty will be the return on that investment when the time comes. Now go. Your time limit is ticking."
She melted back into the mist, leaving him alone once more, but armed with a secret that changed everything.
The journey down the ravine was tense. Every shadow seemed to move, and the distant, echoing howls of the creatures guarding his supposed destination made his blood run cold. But Isolde's directions were perfect. He found the fissure—a crack in the cliff face so narrow he had to turn sideways to slip through.
The air inside was cold and damp. He summoned a small, marble-sized orb of Umbral light, just enough to see by. The passage twisted downward before opening into a small, secluded cavern. And there, in the center, resting on a pedestal of natural rock, was the Sunken Star.
It was a shard of crystal about the length of his hand, its heart glowing with a soft, golden light that pulsed like a heartbeat. The moment he entered, the light flared, and a wave of searing heat washed over him. The Umbral energy inside him recoiled, the darkness within him hissing in protest against the relic's pure, light-based energy.
Gritting his teeth, he approached. The closer he got, the more it hurt. It felt like holding his hand in a furnace. This was the test. Not the Howlers. This.
He remembered Valeria's words. Control the energy, do not let it control you. He remembered Isolde's lesson about choosing his path.
He focused, not on fighting the pain, but on wrapping his Umbral energy around his hand like a glove, a barrier between his skin and the relic's punishing light. The darkness smoked and sizzled where it touched the light, requiring constant effort to maintain. It was exhausting, a relentless drain on his willpower.
With a final lunge, his protected hand closed around the crystal.
Agony spiked up his arm, but he held on. He shoved it into the leather pouch on his belt, and the moment it was covered, the direct assault on his senses faded to a dull, throbbing ache against his hip.
He had done it.
He retraced his steps through the fissure, emerging into the gloomy light of the wilds. The Howlers were still howling in the distance, oblivious.
As he began the trek back, a new notification seared across his mind.
{Trial of Ascension Complete.}
{Rank Up: F-Rank -> E-Rank}
{Lifespan Extension: +25 Years Awarded.}
A wave of energy, warm and invigorating, flooded his body. It was a feeling of profound vitality, of cells singing with renewed youth. The constant ache of his old hunger, the deep-seated fatigue from years of survival, simply vanished. He felt… stronger, clearer. The Umbral energy inside him felt calmer, deeper, more his to command.
But alongside the System's message, another, quieter thought whispered in his mind, sounding suspiciously like Isolde's voice: Remember who gave you the key.
He had passed his Trial. He had gained decades of life. But he had also taken a decisive step into the Spymaster's web. The debt had been incurred.