Chapter 49: Environment Foundation Reaches C—and the Resource Collection Ranking Opens
When the first Seal shattered, there was no burst of golden light.
Pale green patterns spread outward from Forgotten Shrine’s Domain Core like rain soaking into cracked earth, continuing until they reached the boundary.
[Domain Environment Foundation: F → E]
[Acquired: Restored Grounds]
[Effect: Slightly improves fatigue recovery and comfort for units residing within the Domain long-term.]
Cassian waited two seconds.
No second combat-power notification appeared.
Veyra looked around.
"Didn’t make anyone stronger."
"No."
"Regret it?"
Cassian had already taken out the second Seal.
"There are two more."
[Use Domain Environment Advancement Seal | D?]
"Use it."
This time, the change appeared in the wind first.
The mountain air outside Forgotten Shrine was naturally cold. Once it crossed the Domain boundary, the temperature softened. The air did not suddenly become warm, but the worst of the damp chill faded away.
[Domain Environment Foundation: E → D]
[Acquired: Adaptive Climate]
[Effect: Within reasonable limits, the Domain’s climate will gradually adjust toward conditions suitable for long-term residence and training.]
Bram was walking over from the Forge with two craftsmen.
The moment he crossed the boundary, his steps slowed.
"The wind changed."
"You can tell?"
"Easily."
Bram looked up at the sky.
"If it stays like this, night shifts will waste a lot less stamina fighting the weather."
Cassian nodded.
Together, the first two Seals amounted to one thing: the Domain was simply a better place to live and work.
The last Seal was the reason he had been willing to spend 1.1 million.
"Keep going."
The C-grade Seal shattered.
HUM—
The whole of Forgotten Shrine seemed to lift by the slightest fraction, as if something beneath the ground had pushed upward.
Threads of faint silver-white mist began appearing in the clear air above the Domain Core.
It was not water vapor.
Aurelia looked up first.
She held out a hand.
One strand curled around her fingers before quickly dispersing.
"Aether."
Veyra stopped as well.
The casual look on her face faded.
[Domain Environment Foundation: D → C]
[Acquired: Aether Mist]
[Domain Environmental Aether Concentration: Base ×10]
[Effect: Significantly improves Aether replenishment during training and power recovery after battle.]
[Does not directly increase Level / Quality / panel combat power.]
Cassian read the last line.
No direct combat-power increase.
Good.
A number that lit up today and disappeared tomorrow would not have been worth 1.1 million.
Aether Mist would still be here every day.
More than two hundred Eclipse Troops could draw on it while training.
The Stormlance Valkyries could recover what they spent on Storm Body faster.
Aurelia could restore the power burned by her high-output skills more efficiently while inside the Domain.
And Veyra most of all.
The seven Eclipse Chains had not loosened because of the Mist.
But the power she could recover outside those seals was still power recovered.
Veyra closed her eyes for several breaths.
When she opened them again, she immediately turned toward the Eclipse Muster Hall.
Cassian asked, "Where are you going?"
"Changing the training schedule."
"Adding more?"
"One extra round."
Veyra did not look back.
"The rows still carrying injuries from yesterday’s training don’t get the extra round."
"Stagger the Praetorian and Legionnaire recovery windows. The Hill King goes into Aegis Fold again this afternoon, not immediately after the morning session."
She took another step, then added,
"If recovery is faster now, don’t leave it sitting unused."
Cassian smiled slightly.
That was the answer he had wanted.
Not ten more stars on a panel.
Veyra had felt the difference and immediately decided she could push today’s training one level harder—while still knowing exactly which rows should not be pushed with it.
"Training’s yours to arrange."
"It already was."
Veyra glanced back at him.
"You’re only remembering that now?"
Cassian: "..."
Aurelia laughed quietly beside him.
Veyra was already walking away.
Cassian did not follow.
Instead, he opened his storage.
The Wild Tide Lure was still there.
Five Highbloods had completed the first promotion batch.
The other twelve Gloomhoof were still at their assigned posts.
He could throw the Lure out now and get a fight.
But there was only one Lure.
Cassian stared at it for two seconds, then put it away again.
"Wait."
Veyra had already walked some distance away. She turned her head.
"You already have five Epics and you’re still waiting?"
"For the next batch."
"You even need your trouble to ripen first?"
"I only have one."
Cassian answered evenly.
"Of course I’m using it when I can get the most out of it."
The Wild Tide Lure remained unused.
---
Just before eleven in the morning, a new regional announcement suddenly appeared in front of every Lord.
[The region’s overall resource production and development speed is significantly above the same-period average.]
[Special Ranking Triggered: Resource Collection Ranking]
Cassian pushed aside the Environment panel he had just closed.
The rules continued unfolding.
[Scoring Rule: After Ranking activation, newly acquired and first-registered resources score according to Quality.]
[Common Resource: 1 point / unit]
[Refined Resource: 10 points / unit]
[Rare Resource: 100 points / unit]
[Epic Resource: 1,000 points / unit]
[Direct trades between Lords and repeated transfers do not generate collection points.]
[Resources obtained from Chests, resources created through first-time dismantling of loot, and new output from resource points may generate collection points normally.]
[Rank 1: Epic Chest ×1]
[Ranks 2–10: Rare Chest ×1]
[Ranks 11–100: Refined Chest ×1]
[Settlement Time: Tomorrow, 12:00]
Veyra had just reached the entrance of the Muster Hall.
She turned around again.
"Another Ranking."
"Yeah."
"Not Heroes this time either."
"And not Troops."
Cassian read through the rules once.
Then he said one word.
"First."
One of Veyra’s brows lifted.
"Again?"
"Yes."
It was not because he had just made a ten-million-Aether wager with Seraphine and now needed to win every Ranking to prove something.
This Ranking had simply put the other half of the Regional Warden issue directly in front of him.
Resources.
Production.
Accumulation.
If first place was sitting within reach, he had no reason to give it away.
The Regional Channel was already moving fast.
Elara shot toward the top almost immediately.
Her high-quality resource points had always been productive.
Seraphine followed close behind. House Valcrest had never built her opening Domain entirely around combat, and her resource chains were far more complete than those of most newcomers.
Rowan entered the top ten quickly as well.
Cassian’s name started much farther back.
Both Gold Veins were producing.
The Forge and Smelting Yard were still running.
But stable production was exactly that—stable. It did not suddenly spit out hundreds of thousands of points just because a Ranking had appeared.
Veyra glanced at the board.
"You’re finally not first at the start."
Cassian did not answer.
He had already opened his storage.
The first things he saw were the five Rare Chests left from the mountain battles.
Three from the Ridgewardens.
Two from the Ironhorn Ram Cavalry.
Of course he would open them.
But five Rare Chests were not enough.
His gaze continued down the storage list.
Then stopped on another batch he had never been in a hurry to process.
[Dwarven Royal Hall Outer-Garrison Loot]
When the Royal Hall battle ended, Cassian had not allowed the damaged equipment to be melted down on-site.
He had divided everything into three categories instead.
Complete pieces stayed intact.
Repairable pieces stayed intact.
Even equipment that was completely ruined had been hauled back first instead of being discarded immediately.
The complete Dwarf Heavy Shields, Rare Lances, and repairable Stormforged Armor had later been sealed away separately by Bram.
What had been sitting at the back of the processing area ever since was the third category.
Split shield rims.
Twisted gun barrels.
Torn breastplates and shoulder plates.
Broken Gunner Core housings.
Stormforged fragments that had been shattered by lightning but still retained high-grade material properties.
The Royal Hall outer battle had not involved twenty or thirty Dwarves.
The first volley alone had come from more than a hundred Gunners.
After that came Ridgewardens, Ironhorn units, and heavy-armored formations pressing forward one after another.
When the loot had been hauled home, it had been recorded according to whether it could still be used—not according to how many system-recognized resource units it might produce after dismantling.
Cassian contacted Bram.
[Cassian Vale: How far have you gotten with the damaged pieces from the Royal Hall?]
Bram replied quickly.
[Bram Alder: Complete and repairable pieces are sealed away. The scrap section is mostly untouched.]
[Bram Alder: When we inventoried everything after returning, there were more than eleven hundred major scrap pieces and close to four thousand separately registered fragments. A single heavy armor set or shield can become several entries once it breaks apart.]
[Bram Alder: If we dismantle all of it into system-recognized resource units, the number will be much larger than the equipment count.]
Cassian looked at the Ranking rules again.
[Cassian Vale: Start dismantling now.]
Bram paused for two seconds.
[Bram Alder: Everything?]
[Cassian Vale: Only what can’t be used directly and isn’t worth repairing.]
[Cassian Vale: Complete Rare equipment stays intact. Repairable pieces stay sealed.]
[Cassian Vale: Do one batch first. I want to see the points.]
[Bram Alder: Understood.]
Less than ten minutes later, the processing area outside the Forge came alive.
Grand Craft did not turn broken armor into higher-Quality material.
It simply let Bram separate high-grade material that would otherwise be ruined or mixed into waste during ordinary dismantling, preserving as much of its original Quality as possible.
The first batch was not large.
Several dozen shield rims too badly split to repair, plus a group of completely deformed Gunner barrels.
Bram sent the recovery report quickly.
[Rare Usable Metal Resource: 96 units]
[Refined Usable Metal Resource: 324 units]
The next notification appeared immediately.
[Resource Collection Points +12,840]
Cassian’s name jumped upward.
Eighth.
Fourth.
First.
The Regional Channel froze for half a breath.
Then exploded.
[Anonymous Lord: ???]
[Anonymous Lord: More than ten thousand in ten minutes?]
[Tobias Reed: Don’t look at me. I’ve seen his mining carts. Two Gold Veins do not produce like that.]
[Rowan Ashford: That’s not normal collection speed.]
Veyra looked at Cassian.
"So it isn’t the mines."
"It was never the mines."
"You already knew that scrap could push the Ranking?"
"No."
Cassian’s tone stayed calm.
"I only knew it had to be dismantled eventually."
"Doing it today instead of next week happens to come with a Ranking."
Even then, he did not tell Bram to send the complete equipment into the processing line.
That was the difference.
The scrap was going to be dismantled sooner or later; the Ranking just made doing it today more valuable.
It had not magically turned usable Rare equipment into garbage.
The five Rare Chests were brought outside the Muster Hall as well.
Veyra had just paused the first round of Formation training. When she saw the Chests, she looked at Cassian first.
"Mine again?"
"You have a track record."
"You’re finally learning to respect expertise."
"Open them."
The five Rare Chests opened one after another.
Ordinary equipment and miscellaneous items were pushed aside.
The resources that counted toward the Ranking were quickly consolidated.
[Rare Resources: 120 units]
[Refined Resources: 560 units]
[Common Resources: 610 units]
[Resource Collection Points from this batch: 18,210]
There were several Building Blueprints as well.
Field Plot.
Pasture.
A Beacon Watchtower Blueprint.
And a Spring Node Blueprint.
Cassian only glanced at them before pushing all of them back into storage.
Now was not the time to inspect Buildings.
First, he wanted first place secured.
Half an hour later, the leading score had already crossed thirty thousand.
It was still climbing.
Back in her Domain, Seraphine finally stopped writing.
She did not post in the Regional Channel.
Maelin stood beside the table and looked at the Ranking once.
"Inventory."
"I know."
Seraphine had reached the same conclusion.
A one-time dismantling burst from old loot.
That kind of score increase could not continue forever.
But as she watched the number beneath Cassian’s name continue rising at a steady pace, her brow slowly tightened.
"Dozens of pieces, sure."
"Hundreds, maybe."
She looked up at Maelin.
"He can’t actually have an entire warehouse of high-grade scrap sitting around, can he?"
Maelin did not answer.
Forgotten Shrine.
Bram had just cleared a path through the first processing section.
Beyond it, row after row of registration tags still hung from the Royal Hall scrap stockpile.
Cassian sent one message.
[Cassian Vale: Continue.]