Keizeix stared at the words until they blurred.
**Estros:**
*Yes some of us are far older than you could imagine. Earth was destroyed long long ago. We survivors have been being born for millennia.*
Millennia.
Keizeix's mind rejected the word.
He remembered Earth as though he'd been standing on it less than a year ago.
Snow beneath his feet.
Denver's freezing air.
His friends laughing.
Then portals.
Monsters.
Camps.
Zeithia.
Earth exploding beneath the power of a god whose strength had made humanity's greatest weapons seem meaningless.
It had happened to him recently.
Yet apparently not to everyone else.
**Keizeix Silversilk:**
*That doesn't make sense. I remember Earth being destroyed before I woke up here. It hasn't even been a year for me.*
Estros took nearly a minute to respond.
**Estros:**
*For you.*
Keizeix frowned.
**Estros:**
*Whatever saved us did not throw every surviving soul into new lives at the same point in time.*
Another message.
**Estros:**
*Some appeared centuries apart. Others thousands of years apart. There are Chosen Ones who remember Earth as freshly as you do despite being born into worlds where others from Earth have already lived entire lifetimes.*
Keizeix sat completely still.
"So we're scattered through time too..."
That frightened him more than he expected.
He'd secretly hoped the communication network would eventually let him find his friends.
But what if they hadn't been reborn yet?
What if they'd been reborn two thousand years ago and already died again?
Could Chosen Ones die permanently?
Could they reincarnate twice?
He started typing questions.
Then stopped.
One at a time.
**Keizeix Silversilk:**
*Do you know how many survived?*
**Estros:**
*No.*
That answer arrived immediately.
**Estros:**
*Anyone claiming to know is lying.*
Keizeix appreciated the bluntness.
**Estros:**
*The platform only reveals those who awaken access to it. Some awaken young. Some old. Some apparently never do. Some die before awakening.*
Keizeix looked toward the dark tent around him.
Ten thousand humans had remained at the end.
Maybe that old voice had saved all of them.
Maybe only some.
He had no way to know.
**Keizeix Silversilk:**
*I've seen people asking if anyone remembers Earth.*
**Estros:**
*Ignore most public channels until you learn how to filter them.*
**Keizeix Silversilk:**
*Why?*
**Estros:**
*Because announcing emotional weaknesses to several thousand strangers is stupid.*
Keizeix snorted.
There was the Death Dragon again.
**Estros:**
*Open Communication. Filters. Select Verified Chosen Origin.*
Keizeix followed the instructions.
The flood of messages instantly shrank.
Hundreds remained, but the nonsense disappeared.
Keizeix breathed and realized.
Some names had account ages measured in years.
Others centuries.
One was over eleven hundred years old.
Keizeix stared.
**Keizeix Silversilk:**
*This is insane.*
**Estros:**
*You are a reincarnated spider prince speaking telepathically with a Death Dragon through a system spanning worlds.*
A pause.
**Estros:**
*Adjust your standards for insanity.*
Keizeix laughed hard enough that one of the guards outside his tent asked whether he was all right.
"I'm fine!"
He lowered his voice.
"Completely losing my mind, apparently, but fine."
Estros spent the next hour showing him functions he'd missed.
Marketplace history.
Seller reputation.
Protected exchanges.
Core-grade sorting.
Trade escrow.
Blocking unsolicited contracts.
Hiding his current activity.
Preventing strangers from seeing when he entered or exited private channels.
Keizeix immediately enabled the last one.
**Keizeix Silversilk:**
*There.*
**Estros:**
*Finally.*
**Keizeix Silversilk:**
*Now I can call you an asshole privately.*
**Estros:**
*You could already do that.*
Keizeix paused.
**Estros:**
*I simply enjoyed telling you I knew.*
Keizeix stared at the message.
"Definitely an asshole."
But this time he was smiling.
Before closing the platform, Estros sent one final lesson.
**Estros:**
*Cores are the blood of the marketplace. Learn their grades before spending them.*
**Estros:**
*A mountain of low-grade cores may be worth less than one core from a sufficiently powerful being.*
**Estros:**
*Never judge wealth by quantity.*
Keizeix mentally looked at his storage.
His mountain suddenly seemed less impressive.
Still useful.
But perhaps he wasn't rich.
Not yet.
---
Morning arrived.
This time Keizeix was awake before Shirespoke.
When his mentor entered, Keizeix was already waiting.
Shirespoke stopped.
"You're awake."
"Disappointed?"
"Suspicious."
Keizeix laughed.
Outside, Sia stood beside Marike.
Sia immediately looked at him.
"Three."
Keizeix's mood soured.
"Good morning to you too."
"Three."
"Yesterday is over."
"Yet history remains."
Keizeix moved closer.
"You want to discuss history? I won the two days before that."
Sia's legs stamped.
Marike stepped between them.
"No."
Neither moved.
"I said no."
Shirespoke walked past.
"Let them exhaust themselves. Perhaps they'll kill fewer people today."
Keizeix and Sia immediately turned toward him.
"No," they said together.
Shirespoke sighed.
"Of course."
---
The humans had changed tactics again.
Keizeix noticed immediately.
Their lines were deeper.
More organized.
Large polished mirrors had been mounted behind several mage formations, reflecting magical light across areas that had previously contained shadows.
"Creative."
Keizeix examined the field.
"But annoying."
His soldiers waited.
Keizeix pointed one front leg toward the mirrors.
"Break those first."
Archers fired.
Human mages answered.
The battlefield erupted.
Keizeix charged.
His strength had increased enough that armored humans barely slowed him anymore.
A shield wall formed.
He hit it directly.
Metal folded.
Three soldiers were thrown backward.
Keizeix followed them through the opening.
Silk snapped outward.
A mage's staff disappeared beneath white cords.
Another mage turned.
Keizeix vanished into his shadow.
He reappeared behind him.
Strike.
Dead.
The notifications began.
**Kill registered.**
**Growth accumulated.**
Again.
Again.
Again.
Hours disappeared.
By midday Keizeix's Strength passed twenty-three thousand.
By afternoon it crossed twenty-five.
But growth was slowing.
Noticeably.
Enemies he'd once gained meaningful improvement from now barely moved his statistics.
Estros's warning about cores returned to him.
Power had value because stronger power was harder to obtain.
He could slaughter weak humans forever.
Eventually they would provide almost nothing.
Keizeix didn't like that realization.
He liked the next one even less.
Soon he'd need stronger enemies.
Something exploded in the distance.
Black-purple lightning climbed into the sky.
Keizeix stopped.
"Sia."
Another blast.
He narrowed his eyes.
"Absolutely not."
He attacked faster.
---
Night came.
Dinner came.
And with it came the report guard.
Keizeix and Sia were already staring at each other before he entered.
Marike whispered to Shirespoke.
"How much would you wager?"
"On whom?"
"Either."
"I value my cores too much."
The guard bowed.
"Today's results."
Two scrolls opened.
"Prince Keizeix Silversilk: thirty-one thousand four hundred and two confirmed kills."
Keizeix nodded slowly.
Good.
Very good.
The second scroll opened.
"Princess Sia Silversilk..."
Sia leaned forward.
"...thirty-one thousand four hundred and two confirmed kills."
Silence.
Keizeix blinked.
Sia blinked.
"What?"
The guard glanced down.
"Thirty-one thousand four hundred and two."
"No," Keizeix said.
Sia immediately nodded.
"Incorrect."
The guard paled.
"My prince? Princess?"
"There must be another report," Sia demanded.
Keizeix pointed a leg toward the scroll.
"Count again."
"We already verified—"
"Again."
Shirespoke started laughing.
Marike joined him.
Keizeix looked at them.
"This isn't funny!"
"It is extremely funny," Shirespoke replied.
Sia stamped angrily.
"A tie is unacceptable!"
Marike nearly choked.
"Why?"
"Because someone must win!"
Keizeix nodded firmly.
"For once, I agree with her."
The report remained unchanged.
A perfect tie.
The two spiderlings spent the rest of dinner accusing one another of somehow arranging it.
Neither had any evidence.
Both remained convinced.
---
Later, Keizeix returned to his tent.
He checked his statistics.
**Strength: 27,814 / 100,000**
**Health: 27,109 / 100,000**
**Magic: 25,663 / 100,000**
**Intelligence: 28,440 / 100,000**
**Mana: 25,663 / 25,663**
Progress.
Good progress.
Yet Heroic remained far away.
He closed the window.
Then opened Marketplace.
This time he wasn't searching for Gravefang.
Estros had convinced him to wait.
Instead Keizeix practiced.
He checked seller histories.
Compared prices.
Sorted cores by grade.
Looked at completed trades.
Then he found something interesting.
**Seller: Tiestra**
**Race: Water Nymph**
**Stage: Intermediate**
The listing showed a folded piece of brilliant blue-green material that shimmered like liquid beneath sunlight.
**Edenweave**
**Produced from living water-thread and spirit-fed aquatic plants.**
**Suitable for light armor, magical garments, enchantment backing, and moisture-preserving storage wraps.**
Keizeix stared.
It looked incredible.
Then he saw the requested payment.
Cores.
Not high-grade ones.
Several lower-grade cores.
He frowned.
The price seemed strangely low compared with similar materials.
Keizeix checked the seller's history.
Only nine trades.
All successful.
No disputes.
Her profile was young.
Very young compared with Estros.
Keizeix opened the listing details.
**Seller note:**
*Will consider additional core-based exchanges. Seeking reliable access to advancement materials.*
Keizeix's attention sharpened.
Advancement materials.
He mentally opened his storage.
Thousands of cores waited.
A slow smile formed.
"Oh."
He understood immediately.
Wherever Tiestra lived, cores were difficult to obtain.
Keizeix had piles of them.
And apparently her people could create materials nobody in his world had.
I've locked in the platform rule exactly as you described: **only the original 10,000 Earth souls can ever perceive or interact with it, under any circumstances.** Your edited stopping point is also the official Chapter 7 version. Here is the replacement ending from that exact point:
Keizeix continued staring at Tiestra's listing.
He had thousands of cores.
And apparently her people could create materials nobody in his world had.
His eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
Estros had told him not to waste cores before understanding their value.
That didn't mean he couldn't investigate.
Keizeix opened a private message.
**Keizeix Silversilk:**
*Greetings. I saw your Edenweave listing. Your note says you're interested in reliable access to advancement materials. Are cores especially difficult to obtain where you live?*
He sent it.
Unlike Estros, Tiestra didn't immediately respond.
Keizeix browsed several more listings while waiting.
Two minutes passed.
Then five.
Finally—
**Private response received.**
He opened it.
**Tiestra:**
*YES.*
Keizeix blinked.
Another message appeared almost instantly.
**Tiestra:**
*Sorry! That sounded desperate.*
A pause.
**Tiestra:**
*I am slightly desperate.*
Keizeix chuckled.
At least she was honest.
**Keizeix Silversilk:**
*How difficult are they to get?*
This time she responded immediately.
**Tiestra:**
*Extremely. My world is peaceful. Beautiful, but peaceful. There are dangerous creatures in the deepest oceans and a few places nobody willingly enters, but most intelligent races here haven't had a major war in generations.*
Keizeix stared.
That sounded absurdly pleasant.
**Tiestra:**
*Great for living. Terrible for getting stronger.*
Another message followed.
**Tiestra:**
*Almost everything powerful enough to have a useful core is either protected, ridiculously dangerous, or so rare that killing it would make everyone hate you.*
Keizeix imagined living in a world where the biggest problem was that nobody wanted to murder one another.
Earth would've killed for that.
Literally, apparently.
**Keizeix Silversilk:**
*So you trade what your world produces for cores.*
**Tiestra:**
*Exactly.*
**Tiestra:**
*Water-thread. Spirit plants. Healing moss. Living fabrics. Ocean crystals. We have things other worlds apparently have difficulty producing.*
Keizeix looked back at the Edenweave.
**Keizeix Silversilk:**
*And you personally make this?*
There was a noticeable delay.
**Tiestra:**
*My family does.*
Then quickly:
**Tiestra:**
*I help.*
Keizeix laughed.
**Keizeix Silversilk:**
*Meaning your family makes it.*
**Tiestra:**
*I HELP.*
He liked her already.
Keizeix mentally opened his storage and inspected several of the cores he'd appraised earlier.
Beginner.
Intermediate.
Master.
He selected a group mentally but didn't remove them.
**Keizeix Silversilk:**
*Hypothetically, if someone could regularly provide Beginner and Intermediate cores, could your family produce things besides Edenweave?*
No response.
Ten seconds.
Twenty.
Then—
**Tiestra:**
*Define regularly.*
Keizeix hesitated.
Estros's warnings returned immediately.
Don't reveal too much.
Don't advertise wealth.
So he deliberately kept the answer vague.
**Keizeix Silversilk:**
*Enough that you wouldn't have to wait months between purchases.*
Tiestra didn't respond for nearly a minute.
Then:
**Tiestra:**
*Keizeix.*
Another message.
**Tiestra:**
*How many cores do you have?*
Keizeix grinned.
**Keizeix Silversilk:**
*Enough.*
Three dots appeared.
Vanished.
Appeared again.
Vanished.
Finally:
**Tiestra:**
*I think you and I need to become very good friends.*
Keizeix laughed quietly.
**Keizeix Silversilk:**
*That depends.*
**Tiestra:**
*On what?*
**Keizeix Silversilk:**
*What you can make me.*
There was a long pause.
Then Tiestra sent him a private catalogue.
Dozens of items appeared.
Waterproof enchanted cloth.
Self-repairing underarmor.
Spirit-water containers.
Healing wraps.
Mana-conducting fabric.
Plant-grown leather substitutes.
Materials he'd never even heard of.
Keizeix's excitement grew with every entry.
"Now this..."
He scrolled.
"...is interesting."
Then—
**BOOOOOOM.**
The earth shook.
Keizeix's entire tent jumped.
Dust fell from the supports.
He instantly closed the platform.
Outside, soldiers began shouting.
Then a horn sounded.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Shirespoke tore open the entrance to Keizeix's tent.
Keizeix had never seen his mentor look like that before.
No amusement.
No pride.
No irritation.
Only deadly seriousness.
"Young master. Up. Now."
Keizeix immediately rose.
"What happened?"
Another explosion rolled across the distant battlefield.
This one made the ground beneath his feet tremble.
Shirespoke looked toward the southern horizon.
"The humans have finally realized what you and the princess are doing to their army."
Keizeix followed his gaze.
Far in the distance, something was approaching.
Even from the camp, Keizeix could feel it.
Pressure.
Heavy.
Powerful.
Far beyond the thousands of soldiers he'd been slaughtering.
Shirespoke's voice dropped.
"They sent someone strong enough to stop you."
Keizeix's eyes narrowed.
"How strong?"
For the first time since becoming his mentor, Shirespoke did not answer immediately.
Then he spoke.
"Heroic."
Keizeix went completely still.
Across the camp, black-purple lightning suddenly exploded into the sky.
Sia had felt it too.
Shirespoke turned toward Keizeix.
"Tomorrow's battle is canceled."
Keizeix looked at him.
Shirespoke's expression hardened.
"Because if that thing reaches this camp tonight..."
Another thunderous explosion shook the horizon.
"...you and Sia may not live long enough to see morning."