The silver leaves of the Origin-Tree didn't just glow tonight; they shivered.
Han sat on the porch of his home, his breath coming in ragged, shallow gasps. He had pulled his sleeve back, revealing the gray patch that had started at his knuckles. It had now crawled up to his elbow. The skin didn't just look dead; it looked like cracked stone, and from the cracks, a faint, sickly red light pulsed in rhythm with his heart.
"Warning," the System hissed, its voice flickering like a dying radio. "Entropic Corruption: 14%. Sovereign's Mana flow is obstructed. Skill efficiency reduced by 30%."
"I told you not to touch it directly," Elina said, her voice sharp with worry. She was kneeling before him, her hands glowing with a frantic emerald light as she tried to bridge the cracks in his skin.
"I didn't have a choice, Elina," Han grunted, wincing as a sharp pang of cold shot through his arm. "If that Herald had touched the gate, the refugees would have turned to ash before I could blink."
"Malakor didn't send that Herald to kill you, Han. He sent it to infect you," she whispered, looking up at him. her eyes were wide. "This isn't just energy; it's a seed of the Void. It's feeding on your Tier 2 mana. The more you fight it, the faster it grows."
Han looked toward the garden. Ishaan was sleeping, protected by the golden barrier of the tree, but even the boy seemed restless. The boy's connection to the land meant he could feel his father's pain.
"How do we stop it?" Han asked.
"We don't," a new voice joined them.
Han's hand flew to his scythe, but he winced as the gray decay flared in response to his aggression. Standing at the edge of the porch was one of the new refugees—an old man with a scarred face and eyes that had seen too many worlds fall.
"Who are you?" Han demanded.
"A survivor of the Andromeda trial," the old man said, stepping into the light. "My name is Kael. I saw Malakor do this to my Sovereign. Once the mark reaches the heart, the Sovereign becomes a General for the Hive-Mind. You won't die, Han. You'll just become the monster that harvests your own village."
The silence that followed was heavy. The wind died down. Even the hum of the Oasis seemed to stutter.
"There must be a way," Elina insisted, her emerald light intensifying.
"There is," Kael said, pointing toward the dark mountains beyond the Oasis boundary. "Sector 39. The Hive-Mind is building a Null-Pillar there. It's what's fueling the decay in your arm. If you destroy the pillar, the corruption loses its source. But..."
"But what?" Han growled.
"But you have to do it without using your mana. If you flare your Tier 2 energy near that pillar, the corruption will hit 100% instantly."
Han looked at his gray, stony arm. He was a Sovereign whose greatest weapon was now his greatest liability.
"New Mission: The Silent Reclamation."
[Objective: Destroy the Null-Pillar in Sector 39.]
[Constraint: Use less than 5% Mana. Failure results in Total Corruption.]
"I'll go," Han said, standing up. His legs felt heavy, like they were made of lead.
"You can't even walk to the gate!" Elina cried.
"Then I'll crawl," Han replied. "Kael, stay with the elders. If I don't come back by dawn, tell them to take Ishaan and run toward the coast."
Han didn't take his mana-scythe. Instead, he reached into his tool shed and pulled out his old, rusted farming hoe—the one he had used before the System ever appeared. It felt light, mundane, and safe.
He slipped out of the Oasis under the cover of darkness. The moment he crossed the boundary, the world turned into a nightmare. The air was thick with the smell of rotting ozone. The sky was a bruised purple, and the ground was covered in a black, oily film that moved like it was alive.
Without his mana-enhanced speed, the journey to Sector 39 felt like an eternity. Every step was a battle against the decay in his arm. The cold was spreading to his chest.
Suddenly, the ground ahead of him rippled. Three Void-Crawlers—beasts the size of wolves with multiple rows of jagged teeth—emerged from the sludge. They sniffed the air, their blind eyes turning toward Han.
Han gripped the wooden handle of his hoe. He couldn't use his skills. No 'Domain Expansion'. No 'Sovereign's Call'. Just the muscles of a man who had spent years tilling the earth.
The first Crawler leaped.
Han stepped aside, the movement slow but precise. He swung the hoe with the raw strength of a professional farmer. The blade caught the beast in the throat, the rusted metal tearing through flesh. The creature shrieked and dissolved.
The other two charged simultaneously. Han felt a surge of panic. His instinct was to flare his mana, to blast them away with golden light.
"Corruption: 16%... 17%..." the System warned as his heart rate rose.
"Quiet," Han hissed at the golden box.
He dropped low, sweeping the legs of the second Crawler with the handle of the hoe, then brought the blade down on the third one's skull. It was brutal, physical work. His lungs burned. His muscles ached. But the gray decay didn't move.
He continued toward the center of Sector 39. There, he saw it.
The Null-Pillar was a jagged spike of obsidian reaching fifty feet into the air. It was pulsing with a dark, rhythmic energy that sent ripples of gray death across the landscape. Surrounding it were dozens of Void-beasts, all kneeling as if in prayer.
And standing at the base of the pillar was the Herald he thought he had killed. Or rather, a reconstruction of it.
"I knew you would come, Farmer," the Herald's voice echoed in his mind. "You bring a stick to a god-fight? How pathetic."
Han didn't respond. He looked at the base of the pillar. He didn't need mana to see the structural weakness. He had spent years studying the way roots cracked stone. He knew where the pressure points were.
"You're not a god," Han muttered, his voice raspy. "You're just a weed in the wrong field."
Han didn't charge the Herald. Instead, he lunged for a nearby overhanging rock. The Herald fired a bolt of entropic energy, but Han rolled behind the stone. The beasts began to swarm.
Han reached into his pocket. He didn't have mana, but he had something else—the Origin-Seeds he had harvested back in Volume
1. They were dormant, but they were pure.
He threw the seeds at the base of the pillar.
"Now!" Han roared, and for a split second, he allowed exactly 4% of his mana to flow—not into a weapon, but into the soil.
The reaction was instantaneous. The Origin-Seeds, fed by the mana and the concentrated energy of the pillar, exploded into growth. But they didn't grow into trees. They grew into massive, pressurized roots that tunneled deep into the obsidian base of the pillar.
CRACK.
The pillar shuddered. The Herald shrieked as its power source began to leak.
"No! You are destroying the connection!"
Han didn't stop. He ran forward, dodging the claws of the Crawlers. He reached the pillar and, with a final, desperate scream, slammed his rusted hoe into the largest crack in the obsidian.
"Sovereign's Strike (Physical)!"
The pillar shattered. A shockwave of pure, white light erupted from the explosion, incinerating the Void-beasts and the Herald instantly.
Han was thrown back, slamming into a pile of rubble. The world went black for a moment.
When he opened his eyes, the gray sky was beginning to turn blue. He looked at his arm. The gray stone was receding. The cracks were closing. The red light was gone.
"Mission Complete: The Silent Reclamation."
[Corruption Purged. Mana Flow Restored.]
[Sovereign's Armory Unlocked: You may now manifest the 'Earth-Breaker' Scythe.]
[Level Up! Level 23 -> Level 25.]
Han sat up, coughing out black dust. He looked at his old hoe—the wooden handle was snapped in half. He smiled tiredly.
"Sometimes," Han whispered, "the old ways are better."
He stood up, his body feeling lighter than ever. But as he looked back toward Jalpura, he saw something that made his blood run cold.
The village wasn't under attack. It was glowing. A pillar of golden light was shooting from the Origin-Tree into the sky, acting like a beacon for every monster within a thousand miles.
"Ishaan," Han gasped.
Malakor hadn't been trying to kill Han. He had been waiting for Han to leave the village so he could force the Origin-Seed to reveal its location.
The beacon was a dinner bell. And the Great Harvest was officially starting.
"The Beacon is Lit! Han is Level 25, but the whole world now knows where the Oasis is. Every Void-beast on Earth is heading for Jalpura!
Can Han defend his home against an army? And what is the 'Earth-Breaker' Scythe? Support the Sovereign with your Power Stones and Reviews to help him prepare for the Siege of Jalpura!"