chapter 22 Assimilation River
The door didn't just open; the atmosphere in the room seemed to bow as she entered. Fighter recognized her instantly from the novel. This was Saint Veera. Currently a Chapter Four [Mate], she was a important figure who would eventually become one of the few people Kaizer truly trusted.
Saint Veera: "My name is Veera. I am an instructor here at UCA. Like you, I was born in the filth of the slums. Before we begin your examination, do you have any questions?"
Kaizer glanced at Fighter, his golden eyes wide with a fear he couldn't hide. Fighter, despite the suffocating pressure, gave Kaizer a thumb-up, followed by a playful beheading gesture and a wink.
Kaizer didn't find it funny. He was spiraling. He thought of his sister, Heena, and the weight of his capture. He looked at Veera with the desperate resolve of a man standing before a firing squad.
Kaizer: "What will happen to me? I don't know what your 'process' is, but I will never apologize. I won't beg for mercy from people like you."
He was bracing for execution. He regretted his weakness, his lack of intelligence, and the fact that he'd been caught before he could find his sister. He expected a blow; he got a laugh.
Saint Veera: "What? What are you babbling about, you brat? You were brought here for an education, not a hanging. Why on earth would I want you to beg?"
Kaizer froze, his aggression deflating into pure shock. Fighter, however, remained calm. He knew Veera's secret: she protected slum-born students because she saw herself in them.
Saint Veera: "Listen to me. You two are incredibly lucky—especially you, Kaizer. Most people from the slums don't survive the Bearing process. Their bodies are too weak; they turn into Horrors before they even take their first breath of power. Last year, not a single student from the gutters made it. This year, I have two."
She turned her sharp gaze toward Fighter.
Saint Veera: "And you... you were smart to come here on your own. Now, enough talk. Let's see if you're worth the effort of keeping alive."
Fighter tried to peer at her Aura, but his vision hit a wall of absolute, shimmering nothingness.
'A level cap,' Fighter realized, his heart sinking. 'She's so far beyond my current stage that my eyes can't even register her existence.'
Before he could process the thought, the world blinked.
The stone walls of the interview room vanished. In a heartbeat, the oxygen turned heavy and damp. Fighter and Kaizer found themselves standing knee-deep in a vast, endless quagmire. The "water" was a thick, viscous sludge that smelled of iron and old memories.
Fighter recognized it instantly from the novel's descriptions. This was the Assimilation River.
Saint Veera was no longer in front of them. She was hovering in the air above, her feet resting on nothingness as she looked down at them with cold, expectant eyes.
Saint Veera: "This is the Assimilation River. It was a place of profound danger, although the current has been halted for a long time. For now, it is merely a swamp. Your task is simple: cross the quagmire. Go as far as you can. Begin."
Kaizer: "Something is wrong... this place feels like death!"
Kaizer's instincts were screaming. He shouted toward the sky, but his voice seemed to be swallowed by the sludge.
Fighter looked around, feigning a look of "stutified horror" for Veera's benefit. He knew that in this world, the weak had to scheme to survive. He would play the fool, but he wouldn't underestimate the river. He knew what happened to things that stayed in these waters for too long.
They didn't just drown. They were absorbed.