Chapter 30: The Rank II Reward Just Dropped—and First Place Was Already Mine
By the time Cassian returned to Forgotten Shrine, the sky had gone dark again.
Veyra was still outside the Oath Hall.
She looked at Eira and the five Stormlance who had returned with him, then back at Cassian.
"Six missing."
"Guarding the mine."
"The hawk?"
"Still alive."
One of Veyra’s brows lifted.
"The owner?"
"Got away."
She was quiet for a beat.
Then she laughed.
"So you can lose track of something."
Cassian unfastened one shoulder clasp of Wraithplate.
"First time I followed the hawk."
"Won’t happen next time."
Veyra watched him.
"You came back and the first thing you talked about wasn’t the mine."
Cassian paused.
"I want Shared Sight more."
The smile at the corner of her mouth deepened.
"So you’ve finally admitted that some things aren’t just useful. You actually want them."
Cassian glanced at her.
"I admitted that yesterday."
"Pity you didn’t get it."
"Haven’t gotten it yet."
Veyra did not press the joke.
She turned toward the Oath Hall.
"Then let’s look at what you did get."
Inside the Oath Hall, the dim outline of Eclipse Muster Hall still hung in the system interface.
The first four requirements had not changed.
The last one was finally no longer zero.
[Eclipse Muster Hall]
[Aether Crystal ×500,000]
[Stone ×2,000]
[Black Oak ×1,000]
[Refined Iron ×500]
[Gold Ore ×1/300]
Veyra studied the panel.
"Two hundred ninety-nine left."
"Better than three hundred."
"That’s a very plain way to cheer yourself up."
"It’s accurate."
Veyra gave a quiet huff.
Cassian closed the panel.
The Gold Vein had started producing.
Bram had stayed at the site to oversee the first extraction work. Sigrid and five Stormlance were guarding them.
As long as the mine kept operating, Eclipse Muster Hall was no longer blocked by a material they had no source for.
Now it was a matter of time.
The important part wasn’t the one piece of ore. It was having a source.
Dinner was nothing new.
Moonrice.
Roasted meat.
And a pot of soup that was at least better than what they had been eating a few days ago.
Only after Cassian sat down did he realize he had barely eaten since the afternoon.
Veyra had already taken a bowl of Moonrice.
"Was that mine worth skipping a meal for?"
Cassian looked up.
"I thought you said this was ordinary."
"Ordinary doesn’t mean inedible."
"Fair."
Eira sat on the other side of the table. The corner of her mouth visibly twitched.
Cassian ignored it.
He was halfway through dinner when the regional system chimed.
Not an ordinary Regional Channel notification.
An announcement.
[Regional milestone condition met.]
[Rank II Domain Progress Milestone is now active.]
[Lords who have already completed Rank II advancement will be evaluated retroactively by completion time.]
Cassian’s spoon stopped.
Veyra looked over.
"Weren’t you Rank II already?"
"That’s what makes this interesting."
The next announcement came almost immediately.
[Rank II Domain Progress Milestone: First Place — Cassian Vale]
[Completion Time: Earliest in Region]
[Regional Renown +100]
The Regional Channel had barely started lighting up.
Nobody even had time to open another betting pool.
Settlement was already over.
Cassian looked at the announcement.
"That was fast."
Veyra tilted her head.
"What was?"
"Nobody had time to bet."
She stared at him for two seconds.
"You’re disappointed?"
"A little."
This time Eira actually lowered her head to hide a laugh.
Cassian went back to eating.
First was still first.
A betting pool did not change that.
But the system was not finished.
A new panel unfolded beneath the ranking notice.
[Your Regional Renown has reached: Known]
[Special Event Triggered]
[Wandering Caravan]
[A caravan traveling through the surrounding region has heard your name, changed its route, and is now heading toward Forgotten Shrine.]
Cassian put down his spoon.
Veyra looked at the line.
"A caravan?"
"Yeah."
"Do you need Aether?"
"Not right now."
"Then why do you look interested?"
Cassian scrolled down through the event description.
No merchandise list.
No prices.
Not even the size of the caravan.
Only one statement.
It was coming.
That made him more interested, not less.
"A caravan like this won’t carry only standard goods."
Veyra leaned back in her chair.
"So?"
"Monster lures."
Cassian continued.
"Unusual seeds. Production blueprints. Old maps. Small things nobody bothers putting on the Regional Exchange."
He paused.
"Preferably something that looks useless."
Veyra gave him a knowing look.
"That sounds more like you."
Cassian did not argue.
His purchase request for monster lures on the Regional Exchange still had no match.
There were plenty of ordinary defense blueprints.
Nothing that opened a genuinely new option.
A caravan willing to bring its own inventory to his door was worth checking.
The interface finally settled on one line.
[Wandering Caravan: En Route]
Cassian watched it for a few seconds.
"Come on, then."
This time, he wanted to see what other people had hidden in the boxes they were bringing to him.
------
The Wandering Caravan event was still hanging in the system interface.
No merchandise preview.
No arrival time.
Cassian set it aside.
The caravan would come when it came.
What arrived first was another regional announcement.
And this one was bigger than the Rank II milestone.
[Announcement: Overall Troop Power in the current region is significantly above the average for this stage.]
[Special Ranking Triggered: Troop Power Ranking]
[1st Place: Epic Chest ×1]
[2nd–10th Place: Rare Chest ×1]
[11th–100th Place: Refined Chest ×1]
[Calculation Rule: Sum of the displayed panel combat power of all troops under the Lord.]
[Settlement Time: Two days from now, 12:00 noon.]
The Oath Hall went quiet for half a beat.
Veyra finished reading the rules, then looked at Cassian.
"This time Heroes don’t count."
Cassian was looking at the same line.
"Yeah."
"Finally, a ranking where you can’t just use me as the answer."
Cassian raised his eyes.
"Who said I planned to rely on you?"
Veyra smiled.
"Good."
That answer genuinely pleased her.
First place in the Hero Power Ranking had been something Cassian took with Veyra standing beside him.
This ranking was different.
It counted troops.
The army he had gathered, raised, and kept alive one force at a time.
Of course Cassian wanted first.
The Regional Channel exploded.
[Anonymous Lord: Wait! Read the rule! It isn’t your strongest troop—it’s the total power of every troop!]
[Anonymous Lord: So I should just recruit like crazy right now?]
[Anonymous Lord: Two days left. Food, Aether—recruit everything you can!]
Rowan posted soon after.
[Rowan Ashford: This isn’t the Hero Power Ranking.]
[Rowan Ashford: One high-tier troop can be very strong. But a thousand low-tier troops still add up.]
Elara followed.
[Elara Vayne: Assuming you can feed them and have somewhere to put them.]
Seraphine sent only one line.
[Seraphine Valcrest: This ranking is really about production capacity.]
That made the channel even louder.
People started buying food.
Others wanted basic barracks blueprints.
High-priced buy orders for recruitment and supply materials began appearing on the Regional Exchange.
The whole region seemed to decide to expand its armies at once.
Cassian did not open a recruitment menu.
He checked what he already had.
Twelve Stormlance Valkyries.
All Epic.
All Level 5.
Seventeen Gloomhoof.
Twelve Rare Level 6.
Five Rare Level 1.
The Gloomhoof Warcamp still produced one base unit every four hours.
There was also the Forgotten Garrison.
And—
The Eclipse Muster Hall that still had not been built inside the Oath Hall.
Cassian’s attention settled there.
[Eclipse Muster Hall]
[Gold Ore ×1/300]
Other Lords saw two days and immediately wanted to recruit as many low-tier troops as they could.
Cassian did not.
Forgotten Garrison could recruit more Shrine Guards, but they were F-grade basics.
His eyes returned to Eclipse Muster Hall.
Veyra followed his gaze.
"You’re betting on it?"
"No."
Cassian said.
"We needed the Gold Ore anyway."
"The ranking just makes me less interested in waiting."
Veyra nodded.
Now there was simply a two-day deadline attached to the same path.
Cassian opened his storage.
[Epic Hero Sigil ×1]
Still untouched.
This ranking counted troops, not Heroes.
The stored Repeater Ballista Tower blueprint stayed untouched too. Defense towers did not count.
"The first three hundred Gold Ore still go to the Hall."
Cassian said.
Veyra looked at him.
"You just got back."
"I know."
"And you’re already thinking of going again?"
"No."
Cassian sat back down.
"Sigrid is guarding the mine."
He did not need to stand over every job himself.
Veyra went quiet for a moment.
Then the corner of her mouth lifted.
"Finally learned."
Cassian looked at her.
"I always knew."
"You just didn’t always do it."
Cassian did not argue.
The Troop Power Ranking had been open for less than ten minutes when the Regional Exchange filled several pages with unread notifications.
Basic weapons.
Food.
Low-tier barracks materials.
Purchase prices were already climbing.
Cassian’s eighty-eight remaining Dark equipment listings were receiving new inquiries too.
Before he could adjust anything, a private message appeared.
Seraphine.
[Seraphine Valcrest: How much of that Dark equipment on the Regional Exchange do you still have?]
Cassian checked.
Eighty-eight.
Not one fewer.
[Cassian Vale: Plenty.]
Her reply came quickly.
[Seraphine Valcrest: Stop listing them one at a time.]
[Seraphine Valcrest: Send me the full catalog.]
Cassian looked at the two messages, then at the Troop Power Ranking still hanging above them.
The ranking was still nowhere near settlement.
His old inventory had already drawn a bulk buyer.
Cassian opened the list.
"Perfect timing."