Chapter 58: Ten Million Arrives—and the Regional Warden Seat Is Mine
An hour later, three announcements appeared in the Battle Channel almost back to back.
[Seraphine Valcrest has successfully defended against invasion wave 17.]
[Cassian Vale has successfully defended against invasion wave 23.]
[Elara Vayne has successfully defended against invasion wave 14.]
After wave twenty-one, the Demons had entered a different tier entirely.
It was not just their Levels continuing to rise.
Rare enemies were appearing in groups now.
And for the first time, Epic targets were entering the Beacon’s field of view.
During wave twenty-three, a Level 35 Epic Flamecrest Fiend had barely stepped out of the war fog before the temperature across the front half of the canyon climbed.
Cassian checked its Core Trait as usual.
Nothing.
Then there was no reason to preserve it.
This time, Aurelia did not ask whether she should draw her sword.
She watched the first line herself.
Then she looked at Veyra’s rotation signal.
Only after Cassian nodded did her silver-white wings fully spread.
Thunder Crown crashed down.
The cluster of Rare Demons around the Epic Fiend broke apart immediately.
The Fiend itself survived.
All twelve Stormlance followed.
Veyra’s Eclipse line did nothing except keep it pinned exactly where the concentrated fire could hit it hardest.
No one abandoned their assigned position to chase the kill.
Cassian remained behind the second line.
He did not go in personally.
The creature’s Core Trait field was empty.
It was not worth disrupting the formation’s rhythm for.
When wave twenty-three ended, the first seriously injured Legionnaire had to be carried away from the first line.
He was alive.
But he would not be coming back anytime soon.
Veyra recorded the name.
"First one."
"Yeah."
"There’ll be more."
Cassian looked over the recovering formation.
"Then from now on, we don’t give up a single second of the ten minutes."
Veyra nodded.
This time, she did not tease him for finally learning how to slow down.
At this stage, everyone still fighting understood the same thing.
Speed no longer mattered.
Staying on the field did.
Elara appeared in the Battle Channel not long afterward.
She did not contact Cassian privately.
[Elara Vayne: Fourteen waves is my limit.]
[Elara Vayne: I can take the next one too, but the cost stops making sense there.]
Seraphine answered quickly.
[Seraphine Valcrest: Withdraw.]
Elara sent a very short pause marker.
[Elara Vayne: You’re surprisingly decisive when it’s me.]
[Seraphine Valcrest: I’m telling you. Not myself.]
Cassian glanced at the exchange.
Elara added one more line.
[Elara Vayne: Fine. You two keep going.]
[Notice: Elara Vayne has ended her personal Regional Boundary Defense.]
Only two names remained lit in the Battle Channel.
Cassian.
Seraphine.
Veyra read the notice.
"Finally just the two of you."
"Yeah."
"Going to ask for another advance?"
"I’m not asking twice."
"Good."
Cassian looked at her.
"You’re very supportive of her refusing me."
"I’m very supportive of someone reminding you that not every account can be settled before it comes due."
"This one can."
"Then win first."
Veyra pushed a fresh shield back into the first line.
"There. I finished her answer for her."
Two more hours passed.
So many Demon corpses had piled up in Riftwind Canyon that the Rocketiers had to blast open a dedicated clearing route through them.
[Cassian Vale has successfully defended against invasion wave 28.]
When that announcement appeared, Seraphine had only just finished wave twenty-five.
Her Domain no longer looked anything like it had at the start.
Three layers of outer wall had been reduced to one and a half.
Two Rare melee units had been removed from the rotation completely.
The ranged units were still functioning.
Dame Maelin was still standing too.
But their recovery supplies were almost gone.
Maelin finished reporting the number of Aether-recovery potions they had left.
She did not try to persuade Seraphine.
She only stated the facts.
"If we continue at full output."
"Three waves at most."
"If we open every high-grade skill from wave twenty-six onward, we can clear that wave quickly."
"But after twenty-seven..."
She paused.
"People will die."
Seraphine looked at the Battle Channel.
Cassian: twenty-eight.
Her: twenty-five.
It was not simply a difference of three waves.
She could survive perhaps three more.
Cassian clearly could survive more than that.
And from wave eleven onward, he had stopped using War Drums to cut the recovery intervals.
The gap had not disappeared after he returned to full rest windows.
It had become steadier.
Seraphine was quiet for several breaths.
"Maelin."
"Here."
"Wave twenty-six."
"Everything."
Maelin did not ask why.
"Understood."
Seraphine turned toward the other side of the defense line.
"Use every recovery potion."
"Ranged teams empty their skill reserves."
"Do not repair the walls a third time."
"Make this wave look good."
One of her officers finally could not help asking,
"And after that?"
Seraphine smiled.
"Then I concede."
The officer froze.
Maelin only looked at her once.
"You’re certain?"
"Certain."
Seraphine looked again at Cassian’s wave-twenty-eight announcement.
"I’m not spending lives just to prove I’m unhappy about losing."
"This time..."
"He won cleanly."
Wave twenty-six.
For the first time, the Valcrest Domain committed every high-grade force at full output.
Maelin’s combat art ripped open the center.
The remaining Rare ranged units poured out the last of their Aether.
Three minutes.
[Seraphine Valcrest has successfully defended against invasion wave 26.]
Then she did not wait for the next countdown to finish.
[Seraphine Valcrest has ended her personal Regional Boundary Defense.]
Only one name remained lit in the Battle Channel.
Cassian Vale.
Riftwind Canyon.
Veyra saw it immediately.
"She’s out."
"Yeah."
"This time you actually won."
Wave twenty-eight had already ended.
There were no living Demons left inside the sector.
Cassian had not touched the withdrawal option.
Golden text appeared before he could.
[No other valid competitors remain in the Regional Warden Contest.]
[Cassian Vale is the only candidate Lord still defending.]
[Final individual ranking locked.]
[Regional Warden Contest formally settled.]
The ranking did not scroll upward from the bottom.
The first line appeared immediately.
[Regional Warden Points #1]
[Lord: Cassian Vale]
[Obtained: Regional Warden seat]
[Individual #1 Reward: Free Attribute +10]
[Settling the Regional Warden seat does not end Cassian Vale’s currently active Defense Sector.]
[Later Warden Points continue counting toward the Shattered Marches Newcomer Region Ranking.]
Cassian’s Attribute panel changed.
[Free Attribute: 60 → 70]
Then a completely new list of permissions unfolded.
[Regional Warden Authority unlocked.]
[1. Standard Hero Contract Capacity +1]
[2. Formal Vassal Lord Capacity +1]
[3. Domain Building Speed +10%]
[4. Controlled Resource Point Collection Speed +10%]
[5. Obtained Warden-exclusive Building Blueprint: Warden Gate]
[6. May appoint Regional Officers within the current Newcomer Region]
[7. May set Lord entry / exit rules within the current Newcomer Region]
[8. May formally name the current Newcomer Region]
Cassian paused at the fifth item.
Warden Gate.
He did not expand it yet.
Not now.
His attention moved to the fourth line instead.
Controlled Resource Point Collection Speed +10%.
Two Gold Veins.
The Battle Essence Spring.
As long as they were still under his legal control after the Domain returned, that ten percent was not a decorative number on a panel.
Bram would see the difference in actual output tomorrow.
Veyra read through the full list beside him.
"Finally sitting in the seat."
"Yeah."
"Satisfied?"
Cassian looked at the Shattered Marches Ranking.
"One seat."
"And another ranking."
Veyra gave a quiet laugh.
"Of course."
The Regional Channel received the Warden announcement at the same time.
[Regional Warden: Cassian Vale]
The channel went silent for two seconds.
Then messages started pouring in.
[Tobias Reed: Congratulations. Separate question: do Regional Officers get paid?]
[Rowan Ashford: You haven’t even seen the job titles and you’re already asking about salary?]
[Anonymous Lord: So does Cassian own the whole Region now?]
[Elara Vayne: Management authority does not mean everyone’s Domain becomes his. Read the system description first.]
[Anonymous Lord: What about the Region name?]
Cassian happened to be looking at the final authority on the list.
He thought for two seconds.
He did not name it yet.
Instead, he sent two messages into the Regional Channel.
[Cassian Vale: Taking Region name suggestions.]
[Cassian Vale: Put ideas under this message.]
Veyra saw it.
"Too lazy to think of one yourself?"
"No."
"Then what?"
"I want to see what they want to call the place they’re going to live in."
"And then you decide whether to use any of them?"
"Yeah."
"Still you."
A private transfer notice covered the Regional Channel.
[Seraphine Valcrest has transferred Aether Crystal ×11,000,000 to you.]
Cassian’s hand stopped.
Eleven million.
Not ten.
[Aether Crystal: 338,466 → 11,338,466]
Seraphine’s call request appeared immediately afterward.
Cassian accepted.
The tension from the battlefield was gone from her face.
Her hair was somewhat disordered.
There were scorch marks on one shoulder plate.
But her expression was calm.
"Got the money?"
"One million too much."
"Ten million is the wager."
Seraphine continued,
"The other million."
"Information fee."
Cassian understood.
"You want to know where you lost."
"Yes."
Seraphine got straight to the point.
"I’m not asking for all your hidden cards."
"I want one answer."
"Why were you willing to treat the system’s ten-minute recovery window as optional during the first ten waves?"
She had clearly been holding onto that question for a long time.
Cassian did not pretend not to understand.
One million.
For one answer.
Fine.
He isolated one piece of public information from Environment Foundation.
Not his full Domain panel.
One line only.
[Aether Mist]
[Improves power-recovery efficiency inside the Domain after training / battle.]
Seraphine stared at the line for several breaths.
Then she leaned back.
"So it was the environment."
"Yeah."
"That means the 1.1 million you spent on Environment Foundation wasn’t some development line you casually filled in after reaching Rank III."
"No."
"After wave one, your Legionnaires returned to combat-ready condition before the full ten-minute interval ended."
"Yes."
Seraphine closed her eyes for a moment.
When she opened them again, she was smiling.
"One million."
"Worth it."
She did not ask about Aegis Fold.
She did not ask how many Epic units Cassian actually had.
The information fee had been one million.
That was the boundary.
Then she spoke again.
"I’ll give you another million."
"For what?"
"Take back what you said before."
"About me being too expensive."
Cassian thought about it.
"No."
Seraphine’s brow lifted.
"That’s not for sale either?"
"My judgment hasn’t changed."
"..."
Veyra was standing beside him.
This time, she laughed openly.
Seraphine clearly heard it.
"Veyra is there too?"
"Yeah."
"Never mind, then."
Her tone suddenly became lighter.
"Forget I asked."
Cassian had not ended the call yet when Seraphine noticed another interface hovering beside him.
[Shattered Marches Newcomer Region Ranking]
She paused.
"You’re still going to fight?"
"Yeah."
"The Warden seat is already yours."
"So the rest isn’t for Warden."
Cassian pulled the Rank 1 line forward.
[Regional Warden Free Attribute +50]
[Region Fortune +5]
Seraphine understood.
"You want that."
"Yes."
"The Regions behind us know the rules now."
"I know."
"They’ll be better prepared than we were."
"That’s why I need to widen the lead now."
Seraphine looked at him for several seconds.
Then she said only,
"Don’t win Regional Warden and empty your whole Domain on the first day."
Cassian looked over his line.
"I won’t."
"I’m not taking your word for that."
Seraphine said,
"Let Veyra decide whether she believes you."
The call ended.
Veyra folded her arms.
"She handed the problem to me."
"Do you believe me?"
"Half."
"Which half?"
"You won’t empty the Domain."
Veyra looked toward the next-wave countdown.
"As for whether you’ll squeeze every last bit of value out of everything you have..."
"I reserve judgment."
Cassian did not argue.
The Warden seat had settled.
Riftwind Canyon had not disappeared.
War fog still rolled ahead.
The current Defense Sector continued.
[Next Wave: 29]
Veyra turned toward the first line.
"My line again."
"Yeah."
"How do you want to handle this one?"
Cassian opened the warehouse.
The Spring Node Blueprint was still there.
And the ten million had arrived.
He had once been choosing between Fountain of Life and some future Legendary Troop Building worth taking.
Now the Regions behind them would enter with the complete rules in hand.
And his army had already fought through twenty-eight real battlefield waves.
Cassian took out the Blueprint.
"For the next few waves."
"Drag them out a little."
Veyra stopped walking.
"Your first battlefield order after taking Regional Warden."
"And you want me to stall?"
"Yeah."
"What are you doing?"
Cassian unfolded the Rare Blueprint.
At the bottom, the Legendary branch he had looked at so many times lit up again.
[Deep Evolution Branch: Fountain of Life]
[Evolution Cost: Aether Crystal ×10,000,000]
Cassian looked at the ten-million price.
"Spending her money."
Veyra looked back.
At the Blueprint.
Then at him.
This time, she did not laugh.
She only tightened her grip on Crimson Oath.
"Then spend it."
"I’ll give you the time."