The staircase sealed behind them with a soft, organic thump, like a great heart settling into a slow, steady rhythm.
Sai Ji exhaled.
The air in the main sanctuary felt thin after the dense, living presence of the Den below. His body still hummed with the new stats—a thousand HP, hundreds in Strength, Agility, and Instinct.
It wasn't just power; it was armor three sizes too large, coiled tight in him.
He turned to Fen and Lura. They were staring like he'd personally invented gravity.
"Right," he said. "We're going to Silvermarch. Rules: no wolf forms. No Sovereign 'leaks.' No accidentally making guards prostrate themselves because we smell like authority."
Fen and Lura shared a guilty glance.
"…What did you two do in the last dynasty in cities?" Sai Ji asked.
"Nothing of lasting consequence!" Lura said too quickly.
"Minor… economic realignment," Fen muttered.
"One bakery chain! The bread screamed for a week!"
"Stressful week for carb-based commerce," Lura added.
Sai Ji pinched his nose where it would have been human. You were never good at blending in, Sal Vera's voice said in his mind.
Not helping, he thought.
I have a relic for that, she continued.
A soft silver pulse coalesced in his palm and resolved into a crescent moon amulet on a thin chain.
"It rewrites your appearance," she said.
"Restores your human face while containing all your current power.
A sheath for the sword."
He put it on.
The transformation was seamless.
Fur receded, muscles shifted, height adjusted.
Dark hair flowed, eyes storm-lit twilight.
His aura, compressed behind the mask of normality, coiled tight.
Fen and Lura let out a synchronized gasp.
"Master—!"
"Your… face!"
Sai Ji stumbled to a polished section of the sanctuary wall. A stranger stared back.
"That… was me?"
Preferred human form from the last dynasty, Sal Vera said.
People wrote ballads about this face.
"I… wow," he muttered.
"Don't smile," Fen warned.
"Civilians might spontaneously fall in love and burn the city."
"Can you two manage normal?" Sai Ji asked.
"No promises," they said in perfect unison.
SILVERMARCH GATE
The city moved like organized chaos.
Merchants yelled, guards gossiped, adventurers compared scars like philosophers comparing equations.
Sai Ji tried to look normal in a cloak and boots.
It didn't work.
Fen and Lura flanked him, equally striking in human form.
The gate guard's eyes widened.
"Name, business… marital status?"
"What?" Sai Ji blinked.
"Unavailable," Lura said sweetly.
"Permanently," Fen added.
"We're adventurers. Guild registration," Sai Ji said.
The guard gulped. "Maybe… don't smile indoors."
I warned you, Sal Vera purred. You were made to command rooms, not vanish into them.
SILVERMARCH ADVENTURERS' GUILD
The moment the guild doors opened, everything froze.
Mugs mid-swig. Daggers dropped.
One adventurer even sneezed into his own armor.
A hundred eyes fixed on the trio.
An elite party whispered.
"Exiled nobility?"
"Too polished. Must be glamours."
The scarred warrior leader spat:
"Pretty boys. Always trouble. Or demons. Or demonic trouble!"
Her mage whispered:
"Preemptive strike?"
"YES!" she yelled.
Sai Ji froze.
Flat, calm, unimpressed.
The kind of look that could make mountains stop moving.
A fraction of his aura leaked.
The elite party's courage collapsed.
"Friendly drink… later?"
"Retiring!"
Sai Ji approached the Guild Classification Crystal.
Blue. White. Gold.
High-pitched whine. Flashing script.
[ERROR: ENTITY PARAMETERS EXCEED]
[ERROR: RANK MATRIX OVERFLOW]
[CRITICAL: OBJECT INTEGRITY]
KRAAAA-BOOOOOM!
The crystal exploded into a cloud of glitter, raining down on everyone.
Sai Ji was coated head-to-toe in sparkling prismatic dust.
Fen coughed. "Master… you… outperformed the crystal."
Lura nodded. "And now you are fabulous."
The Guild Master burst from his office like a man possessed.
"WHO DESTROYED THE CRYSTAL?!"
"I… am?" Sai Ji muttered.
"You're… unranked," the Guild Master said, sliding a black card across the desk.
"Unranked?"
"It's only for entities the system can't even classify: liches, sealed calamities, 'Ambient Apocalypse.'"
Sai Ji pocketed it.
The elite party approached again. He raised the black card. Crimson script blinked:
[INTERACTION NOT RECOMMENDED]
[THREAT ASSESSMENT: CATASTROPHIC]
They scattered, leaving only faint whispers of fear.
Sai Ji sighed.
This is blending, Sal Vera's voice teased. One artifact destroyed. Official confirmation: terrifying.
Fen and Lura nodded.
"I hate this world," Sai Ji muttered.
No, you don't, Sal Vera said softly. You're just remembering how exhausting it is to be a king in a world of ants.
He walked out, shadows at his heels, leaving sparkling footprints—and a legend just starting.