After Cale put on the pants and shirt, he looked down at himself. The clothes were too big, clearly spares of Darius, but they made him feel empowered. Like he had earned them.


    Cale watched Darius as he dressed. The tall man operated his bracelet. He opened up a portal and started scooping in the crystals with his umbrella. Last he deposited the mana attuner and to Cale’s surprise, Scarroid’s body.


    Cale quirked an eyebrow at that.


    “Will decide later what to do with his body,” Darius said as he closed the bracelet portal. “Might sell it back to Chimera Corp if I can convince them I didn’t sniff out their secrets. Might sell it to our RnD or put him into the black market. I’m sure the Whispers would be interested…”


    “Did he have an Integra?” Cale asked.


    Darius shrugged and threw a small sack of crystals at Cale. He oofed but caught it and grinned.


    “Don’t spend it all at once,” Darius said. “As for your question, it’s for once not a completely stupid one. The tail was an Integra. But theirs are special. It was a biomechanical graft that they grew in a lab from some messed up mixture of genes.”


    “Sounds gross,” Cale said.


    “Yeah, don’t even get me started,” Darius said and nudged his head at the hole in the wall Scarroid had blasted through. “Anyway, time for you to put that advancement into some use.”


    With a single graceful leap, a hand in his pocket, Darius jumped up fifteen feet from a standstill and landed on the edge of the bridge. Then he looked down. “Remember what I said. Don’t waste my time.”


    Cale hesitated as he looked up at the broken bridge above. “Can I make the jump?”


    Darius shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. You’ll have to risk it, because that’s the only way forward, kid.”


    This was what it meant to become stronger, wasn’t it? Not just surviving, but choosing to risk the fall. To leap, even when the odds weren’t in his favor.


    Cale nodded and took a few paces back. He swallowed. He hadn’t looked down again, but he knew that the abyss below went so deep he would completely explode when he hit the ground. The gap between the broken bridge and the ledge seemed immense. Impossible. Ten feet forward, fifteen feet upward. No human can make that leap.


    But I am becoming more than human…


    Still, he hesitated. What if he couldn’t make it?


    “Come on, Cale,” Aura said, her voice uncharacteristically soft. But it was still sassy. “It’s just a pit. You’ve stared down murderbots and mid tier cultivators. This is easy.”


    Easy… Sure…


    Cale glanced up at Darius, who stood waiting on the far side with that unimpressed expression on his face, one hand in his pocket, the other resting lazily on the curved handle of his umbrella.


    Cale nodded and sprinted. The new power surged through him and when he breathed, he routed the mana to his legs, empowering them. Every step further than the last, Cale gathered speed, until he was at the edge. From there he jumped with arms and hands flailing as he shouted. Shouted from fear, from excitement, from a sheer will to live.


    For a fleeting moment, the air rushed around him, whipping his hair and tearing at his clothes. The abyss opened below him and endless darkness ready to swallow him.


    He didn’t land.


    Instead he found himself grabbing on to the ledge of the broken bridge with both of his hands. One of the handholds crumbled under his strained grip and he yelped when that hand was let free.


    He felt a lurch in his stomach, and the feeling of kicking at emptiness below him filled him with urgent dread.


    But Cale did not falter. He didn’t go through pain and battle to die here. With focused muster he stopped swinging and kicking and grabbed the ledge with his free hand. He hoisted himself up and fought gravity until both of his elbows were at the edge.


    “Good work, kid,” Darius said and offered a hand. Cale grabbed it and Darius pulled him up.


    “Was half convinced I would have to go down there to retrieve what was left of you,” Darius remarked and flashed a lopsided grin.


    “You would have liked that, wouldn’t you?” Cale asked, just a smidge sullenly.


    Darius shrugged. “Maybe. I have a feeling that would have saved me a dozen headaches. But I’m willing to bet on you, just to see how you play.”


    Cale scoffed but didn’t reply. He turned back to look at the gap he’d just crossed. The chasm gaped silently, a void that now seemed smaller, less menacing. A grin spread across his face.


    There was only one way he would play.


    To win.


    *


    Darius guided them out of the ruins, and they passed a dozen rooms and corridors with destroyed murderbots of varying brutality. There were even a few dead goons, clearly from the same faction as Scarroid, Chimera Corporation.


    Cale wanted to stop and observe the crumbled murals and spindly spiraling pillars and clean, efficient angles of Nevani architecture, but Darius was not joking about not wasting time— the man kept a blistering pace that had Cale gasping for breath when they finally got outside.


    The ruins were in the middle of a forest that had grown over structures of stone eons ago. The forest was thick with large trees of leathery leaves and thick red trunks.


    Cale looked back. The archway of stone into the Nevani ruins was buried under a mound of grass. On top of the mound grew a large knotted tree with thick roots. The roots tendriled protectively around the mound, like guarding a long forgotten dream.


    Cale stopped to look. He was a part of that forgotten world. A relic of the past, lost in the future. It made him feel lonely. At least he had Aura. They were lost together.


    “Hey,” Darius called. His voice carried and filled the air. “Stop daydreaming.”


    “Yeah,” Cale said and stumbled into a jog. “Coming.”


    “We’ll be raiding a lot of Nevani ruins, once we get some juice in you,” Darius said twirling the umbrella resting on his shoulder. “In time you can go on your own expeditions, and waste your time sniffing old stone, if that gets your rocks off.”


    “I’m heartened that you’re so invested in me.”


    Darius barked a laugh. “Just trying to say whatever to get you moving.”


    “How long will it take for me to train up so I can do what you’re doing?”


    “Largely up to you,” Darius said. “You’re looking at one of the most talented men in service of the largest and richest organization, The Gray Lotus Syndicate. If I think you’re worth investing into, it’s all up to you. But that coin comes with another side.”


    “I need to be worthy of that investment.”


    “Touché, kid,” Darius said. “This is a quid-pro-quo arrangement. I give you a chance, and you make something out of it. You willing to do that?”


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    Cale smiled. “Watch me.”


    Darius looked over his shoulder and gave Cale an assessing look. With a hint of a smile he nodded. “We’ll see.”


    Cale follow Darius through the forest. The pace Darius set with his long legs and superior cultivation was fast, but he seemed to be mindful of Cale.


    The fresh forest air was delicious. There was a hint of moisture in the air and it was a clear, chilly night. Cale did not mind the cold. It made him feel alive.


    He looked up above the canopy. A starry sky glittered at him like a million mystical diamonds. He remembered the sky from his memories. It was different, but still the same. It made him feel better. He stopped to admire the sky and wondered who he was, where he was and why this was happening to him.


    The ruins had been dark, cold, and filled with death and uncertainty. But out here, under the stars, the air was clean, the sky wide and full of possibility. For the first time, Cale felt the weight of the world he was stepping into—a world that had no place for fools. But that was fine. He would be fine.


    I survived. I grew. I had to suffer through pain and fear. I had to push forward in a world completely alien to me. I had to kill a man in cold blood to advance. All of this I did. And now I am stronger. But this is only the beginning, isn’t it? I’m a small fry, and I barely know anything yet. Scarroid won’t be the last hard choice I make, won’t it? I will have keep growing.


    “Was it right to kill Scarroid..?” Cale whispered to himself.


    “You made the right choice,” Aura said. “Had you hesitated, you would have died.”


    They travelled a short while until they reached a forest opening, in the center of which stood a ship. It had a sleek, efficient design and glowing blue and green runic patterns dotted it. Shaped like a fat missile with wings, jet black and a flat underbelly, that glowed with mana.


    “Oh,” Aura said excitedly. “Those sigils are for flight and speed. I shall memorize them, in case you some day reach an aptitude that allows their use. Unlikely, but I try to stay optimistic.”


    “That’s definitely your winning feature,” Cale muttered.


    “I only get one?!”


    “I like your healing too,” Cale said.


    “About that,” Darius said and turned, his face fixed on him intently. “No word about that either. Not even to the mortals.”


    “Mortals?”


    Two beautiful women dressed in pencil skirts and vests that revealed their slender shoulders stepped outside the ship, in the middle of them a man, almost as dapperly dressed as Darius. He bowed deep to Darius.


    “Master Darius,” the man in the middle said smoothly. “You have returned from your expedition.”


    “Sure have,” Darius said, thumbing at Cale. “Brought some souvenirs too.”


    “I see that all that came have not returned,” the man said. “Shall we wait?”


    “The Chimera Corporation representatives couldn’t make it,” Darius said and grinned. “They bit off more than they can chew. Me.”


    The man blinked, but gave no other expression. “Very good, sir. We shall be leaving immediately.”


    “Good man,” Darius said and produced a small mana crystal and gave it to the man. His eyes went wide and he grabbed it with both of his hands. Cale could see it was hard for him to keep his composure.


    “Thank you deeply, lord Darius,” the man said and bowed again. “Please sit down in the lounge and the staff will bring refreshments.”


    *


    The interior of the jet was luxurious. The walls were lined with smooth, dark panels that shimmered faintly with embedded sigils, casting a soft, ambient glow. A strip of blue light ran along the edges of the ceiling, highlighting polished floors that gleamed like obsidian. Plush leather sofas, trimmed with silver stitching, flanked a low table made of crystal-clear glass. Every surface radiated quiet opulence, exuding both comfort and a sense of technological superiority.


    Cale and Darius sat on opposite sofas, the table between them loaded with an impressive spread of pastries, fruits, deli cuts, and cheeses. Cale didn’t hesitate. The moment he sat down, he attacked the table like a starving wolf, shoving half a pastry into his mouth while reaching for a slice of cheese with his other hand. This was one of those rare moments Cale wished he had a third hand. And a second mouth.


    Flakes of pastry crust scattered across his lap as he tore into a juicy orange, juice dribbling down his chin. His focus was singular, the rest of the room forgotten as he devoured whatever was within reach, chewing with the ferocity of someone who hadn’t eaten in days.


    Darius leaned back on the sofa, watching Cale tear into the food. With a faint smirk, he took a sip of coffee. “I didn’t realize I’d picked up a stray. You’re one missed meal away from chewing the upholstery, kid.”


    Cale didn’t bother acknowledging the remark. He was too busy stuffing deli meat down his gullet.


    “For all your numerous faults, I had no idea you had absolutely no table manners to boot! What a disgrace.”


    “My AI thinks I’m a pig too,” Cale said between bites.


    Darius gave him an amused look and pointed a finger at his face. “You got a little something there… No… the other side… yeah there too. Everywhere actually.”


    Cale finished eating and one of the women came up to fill Darius’s coffee cup. Cale noticed that her hands were trembling and she looked nervous. She brushed away a lock of brown hair off her face and looked at Darius expectantly with hands behind her back.


    “Thank you dear,” Darius said and looked at the woman intently. “You’re a new face. What’s your name?”


    “L-Lucinda, sir.”


    “Do cultivators make you nervous, Lucinda?” Darius asked, sipping on the coffee.


    “Not usually, sir. It’s just… I have heard of you.”


    “All good, I hope,” Darius said and kept his gaze until Lucinda blushed. “Don’t worry, Lucinda. I don’t bite.”


    “I— thank you, sir. Would you like anything else?”


    “That will be all, Lucinda,” Darius said and turned back to watching Cale who was still shoveling food in his face.


    After Cale had thwarted the worst of his hunger he leaned back and sighed contently. “Ah, that did the trick. So where are we going?”


    “Gray Lotus HQ,” Darius said brusquely. “There you’ll need to follow a few rules.” He looked behind him to see if the mortals were within earshot. They weren’t so he leaned forward. “You keep that Integra and its abilities to yourself. This shit needs to be on a need-to-know basis, or you’re going to end up as deli meat. Understood?”


    “I concur,” Aura said. “Sometimes this big oaf of a man manages to be astute. Keeping me secret will give you protection. If there is one thing you do not want to do as a cultivator is to stand out and be weak!”


    “Understood,” Cale said and wiped his flaky pastry hands on the dress shirt.


    “And never let me see you do that to your uniform ever again.”


    “Don’t worry,” Cale said. “This is yours, not mine.”


    Darius rubbed his forehead. “Keep it…”


    “Anything else I need to know?” Cale asked.


    “Too much, kid,” Darius said. “The thing about special or secret abilities. Like I said, every cultivator needs one. If you don’t got one, why are you even playing?”


    “Don’t compete without an edge.”


    Darius raised an eyebrow. “By the old ones, I have a disciple who listens. “That Integra you have? The wrong people find out, and you’re dead. Or worse. The Nevani didn’t just play the game, they wrote the rules. It’s mostly old monsters that have old tech inside of them. You need to be very careful of who you trust in my world. The answer to that question? Trust no one.”


    “Not even you?”


    Darius smiled enigmatically. “You can trust my motives. If there’s one thing I do well, it’s stacking the deck. I’ve created a win-win situation for me. If you screw up, I’m going to dig Aura out of you. If you manage to actually become a player, I’ll reap the rewards.”


    “What rewards?”


    “The way this works is that you’re my direct associate. I recruited you. So when I put you into the academy and you start getting jobs, I get a slice from each of your successes. You do that for fifty-sixty years for me, and you’ll make us both rich.”


    “The academy?”


    “Corussi Academy. Heart of the Skyreach city. It’s where all operatives from all the big six factions go for education,” Darius said and looked at the coffee in his cup. “You’ll learn the ropes there, maybe even stay there if you have the guts… Now’s not the time to get into it. We’ll need to get you stronger before you can apply.”


    “You said you’ll get a cut of all my work? What happens if I surpass you?” Cale asked and watched Darius for a reaction.


    He burst out laughing. A loud hearty laugh straight from the belly. Darius slammed his fist on the table, and Cale was surprised the glass didn’t shatter. “Good one, kid. I really enjoy your spirit. First of all, I’ll keep getting a slice even if you surpass me. It’s part of the organization design. Secondly… Good luck with that.”


    Darius tilted his head and watched Cale. “So what did you just learn?”


    Cale chewed on his lip for a bit, trying to read through the lines. “It’s every man out for themselves. Don’t trust anyone unless you can understand their motives, ally or foe.”


    Darius nodded slowly. The amused smirk never left his lips, but there was a tinge of respect behind those quietly laughing eyes. “You might just make it. Having said not to trust anyone, you’re a fool if you try to play games of power alone. Make alliances, get leverage on people, both carrot and stick. Be mindful of your peers. There’s rivals, allies, enemies, friends, anything in between in the academy. It’s a melting pot of ways to play the game. You’ll quickly find out if your way to play works or not. But if it doesn’t, you might not get a second chance.”


    “Bah! With my help, we’ll rewrite their rules, not play by them. Soon our time will come, an immortal reign of terror! They will bow to me!” Aura declared in a shrill voice.


    “Calm down, you demon,” Cale said and laughed. “Until then, I have to learn the rules,”


    Darius raised an eyebrow. “Aura?”


    “Yeah,” Cale said. “Look, I’m going to keep saying things out of pocket, so you should get used to it.”


    Darius nodded. “You’re right, you do need to learn the rules. Here’s another rule: Don’t talk to yourself like that unless you’re in the right company. Which is no one in the academy.”


    “Got it. When will I go to the academy?” Cale asked, stifling a yawn.


    “Like I said, I’ll need to get you trained up first. Have you go on missions, get experience, and cultivate further. It won’t be tomorrow,” Darius said and then produced a piece of glass from his pocket. He tapped it and numbers and letters started dancing on the surface. Darius opened some files and started reading them.


    After a minute he looked at Cale under his brows. “I need to present you to my boss when we arrive in four hours. My boss isn’t as patient as I am, so make sure you don’t embarrass me. Get some rest, kid.”


    Cale didn’t have to be told twice. He pulled a lever that kicked the seat back and sighed as sleep took him immediately.