Chapter 143: Crystal Harvest
The Capital was burning with news.
Every screen in the city seemed to be showing the same footage. The Duke of Sterling being marched out of his estate in chains. The Royal Envoy standing on the palace steps with the black ledger raised in one hand like a trophy. Headlines rolled across the bottom of every broadcast, each one worse than the last.
DUKE OF STERLING ARRESTED FOR HIGH TREASON.
DECADES OF TAX FRAUD EXPOSED.
STERLING FAMILY TITLES REVOKED BY ROYAL DECREE.
Maeve had the hotel room’s screen turned on while she ate a bowl of cereal. Renna was sprawled across the couch beside her, stuffing pastries into her mouth without really tasting them. Emric sat at the small desk, reading through news reports on his wrist display with the focused look of someone preparing for an exam.
Holden stood by the window.
Lyra had left an hour ago.
She hadn’t said much before leaving. Just that there was something she needed to do. One last thing she had to take care of. Holden had nodded and told her to go.
Now he waited, watching the city lights through the glass with one hand resting on the pendant beneath his shirt.
She returned forty minutes later.
The door opened and Lyra stepped inside. Her face was calm and composed, the same noble mask she’d worn for years. But her eyes were different. Lighter somehow, as though she’d finally put down something heavy she’d been carrying for too long.
Holden pushed himself away from the window.
"Hey."
"Hey."
Lyra walked past him and sat on the edge of the bed, smoothing her skirt with slow, careful movements.
Maeve lowered her cereal bowl.
"You okay?"
"I’m fine."
Renna stopped chewing.
"Did you see him?"
Lyra looked at her.
"I did."
The room went quiet.
Nobody asked anything else. They all knew what Lyra had gone to do, and they knew better than to dig into it.
After a moment, Lyra looked at Holden.
"He asked me to use my Champion status to petition for his release."
Holden frowned slightly.
"What did you say?"
Lyra was quiet for a few seconds.
Then she lifted her chin, and something cold settled into her expression.
"I told him, ’You made your bed, Duke Sterling. Now die in it.’"
Maeve’s eyes widened.
Renna froze with a pastry halfway to her mouth.
Even Emric looked up from his display.
Lyra seemed to realize what she’d just said, but she didn’t take it back. Instead, she stood and crossed the room toward Holden.
Then she wrapped her arms around him and held on tightly.
Her face pressed into his shoulder, and for a long moment, she said nothing.
Holden wrapped his arms around her.
He didn’t ask what happened.
Later that night, the hotel went quiet.
Renna was asleep in the room she shared with Lyra, her mouth hanging open as she snored softly. Emric had fallen asleep at his desk with his face pressed against a tactical manual. Maeve was curled up under a blanket on the couch, her glasses still on and one hand resting on her tablet.
Holden locked the door to his room.
He stood and opened his System Inventory. The familiar interface appeared in his vision, showing rows of stored items.
Gold bars, bags of coins, jewels and the crystals.
The Aether Crystals.
Dozens of them, all high-purity and refined. The Sterling family had spent generations gathering them, and each one held enough concentrated energy to be worth more than most people would see in a lifetime.
Holden selected them all and chose Extract.
Light poured from his inventory.
The room filled with color as the crystals appeared one after another. Blue, red, green, white, gold. They spilled onto the floor, quickly forming a growing pile around him. The mound kept rising until it reached his waist, its combined glow turning the small bedroom into a sea of colored light.
Holden stood at the edge of the pile and looked down at it.
A mountain of pure Aether like this could keep a small clan supplied for years. Used properly, it could push a talented fighter through several ranks. Some academies would probably start a war over a fraction of what Holden had sitting in front of him.
And he’d taken all of it from one of the most powerful noble family in the Capital.
Holden lowered himself into the middle of the pile and sat, surrounded on every side by glowing crystals.
Then he closed his eyes.
A normal cultivator couldn’t simply sit in a pile of raw Aether and absorb it. The impurities would tear through their meridians long before they could make use of the energy. They would have to filter it slowly through meditation, taking in small amounts over months or even years.
Holden had no such problem.
He activated his 10,000x processing speed.
The world slowed around him.
His heartbeat became distant. His breathing stretched into long, steady cycles, and the System behind his eyes came alive.
Holden inhaled.
The crystals responded.
Energy began flowing into his body, drawn from the entire pile at once. Raw Aether poured through his pores and into his meridians before reaching the System’s processing core.
There was no struggle.
The 10,000x processor broke the energy down almost instantly. Impurities were separated and pushed out before they could cause damage, while the pure energy was filtered, compressed, and sent toward his cultivation core.
Inhale.
Filter.
Absorb.
Exhale.
Again.
The crystals pulsed with each breath.
Their glow slowly faded.
Blue became pale gray.
Red became gray.
Gold, green, and white followed.
One by one, the crystals lost their light and became empty shells.
Woosh.
A cluster of blue crystals beside Holden crumbled into dust.
Woosh.
The red crystals on his other side followed.
Then more.
Woosh. Woosh. Woosh.
The mountain began shrinking.
At first, the crystals disappeared one group at a time. Then faster. The 10,000x processor found its rhythm, and the flow of energy became almost constant. It was no longer coming in small waves. It was a river pouring into Holden’s body.
His meridians filled.
His core grew heavier.
The energy spread through every part of him, feeding his muscles, his bones, and the Iron-Body enhancement woven through his skeletal structure.
Every part of his body seemed to drink in the energy.
His muscles tightened and relaxed.
His body grew denser.
And the crystals kept disappearing.
Woosh.
Woosh.
Woosh.
The mountain was gone.
All that remained was a wide ring of gray dust covering the floor around Holden. Every crystal had been drained completely. Not a single bit of useful energy had been wasted, and not one impurity had entered his body.
Then the energy inside Holden hit a wall.
His 7-Star core was full.
More Aether than he’d ever held before pressed against the boundary of his current rank. The pressure kept building, pushing against the barrier like water trapped behind a dam.
Holden focused.
Then he pushed.
The 10,000x processor gathered every bit of energy and concentrated it against the barrier.
The wall trembled.
A thin crack appeared.
Then another.
Tiny fractures spread outward from the point of impact.
Holden pushed harder.
The cracks widened.
Energy began forcing its way through the gaps, and the more that passed through, the more pressure Holden could build behind it.
The cracks spread farther.
Then—
The dam broke.
A powerful wave of energy surged through his meridians.
It exploded outward from his core and flooded his limbs, organs, and bones. Holden’s entire body locked up as the sudden change hit him, every muscle tightening at once.
Then the pressure vanished.
The energy settled.
[Breakthrough Complete!]
[Rank Updated: 2 (8-Star)]
[Physical Enhancement: Iron-Body density increased by 18%. Neural response time improved. Energy capacity expanded significantly.]
Holden slowly opened his eyes.
The room was dark.
Gray crystal dust covered the floor, his clothes, and even his hair.
He looked down at his right hand and clenched it.
The feeling was strange.
His hand felt heavier.
Denser.
Holden flexed his fingers again, feeling the strength running through them. The Iron-Body enhancement had already been impressive at 7-Star, but the increase at 8-Star was obvious.
He could feel the difference in his bones.
The density in his muscles.
The strength packed into every movement.
His body had been pushed even farther beyond normal human limits.
Holden stood.
The floorboards creaked under his increased weight.
Gray dust swirled around his ankles as he walked over to the window.
Outside, the Capital was still glowing beneath the night sky. The city was still buzzing with news of the Sterling family’s downfall.
Somewhere inside a royal prison, a Duke was probably learning exactly what happened when he made enemies with the wrong people.
Holden looked at his reflection in the glass.
Same face and clothes.
The same guy who had been a slum orphan only a few months ago.
But underneath it all, he was different now.
He was stronger and far more dangerous than anyone in this city realized.
Holden brushed the crystal dust from his shoulders.
Then he went to bed.