The dawn of the following morning did not bring warmth; it brought a heavy, electrical tension that made the hair on Jia-Hao's arms stand up. In his pack, the three Micro-Fusion cells hummed—a low, rhythmic thrumming that synchronized with his own heartbeat. To the villagers of Xi-An Base 4, he was no longer just a boy who had fought off nomads. As he walked through the muddy paths toward the communal kiln, they looked at him with a mixture of religious awe and bone-deep terror.
He was the boy who had robbed the Graveyard of Gods and lived.
"Jia-Hao! Aiyo, look at his eyes," an old woman whispered, clutching her prayer beads made of smoothed river stones. "They are glowing blue. He has eaten the lightning."
Jia-Hao did not stop to correct her. His mind was occupied by a shimmering interface only he could see.
[SYSTEM STATUS: LEVEL 3 (ASPIRANT)][ACADEMIC REFINEMENT (LOGIC): Level 5][CURRENT OBJECTIVE: ESTABLISH THE 'MERITOCRATIC FORGE'][Warning: Local Infrastructure Efficiency at 4%. Fusion Cell Integration required.]
Inside the village kiln—a massive, soot-stained structure of mud-bricks—Elder Mao was waiting. He looked smaller today. The silk robe he wore seemed like a shroud for a dying era. Beside him stood the village blacksmith, a man named Zhao whose arms were like knotted tree roots, yet whose eyes were hollow from years of trying to shape cold, brittle scrap metal.
"You brought them," Mao whispered, his eyes darting to the blue light leaking from Jia-Hao's pack. "You actually brought the 'Blue Fire'. Jia-Hao... the High-Bloods will scan this energy signature from the Spire. They will send the Judicators. You have invited a dragon into a chicken coop."
"The dragon was already here, Elder," Jia-Hao said, stepping into the center of the dark, cold forge. "It was just sleeping. Now, it is time for the Han people to wake up."
He turned to Blacksmith Zhao. "Master Zhao, your furnace. It can barely melt lead. How can you forge the destiny of a nation with a fire that flickers in the wind?"
Zhao wiped his brow with a greasy rag. "Boy... I use what I have. We burn sun-oak and dried dung. It is not enough to temper steel. The metal stays soft, like the hearts of our men."
"Not today," Jia-Hao said.
He reached into his pack and pulled out the first Micro-Fusion cell. The blue glow filled the dark forge, casting long, dancing shadows against the soot-covered walls. It was a marvel of 2025 engineering—a stabilized plasma core contained in a magnetic bottle.
[ACADEMIC REFINEMENT ACTIVE: 'STRUCTURAL RECONSTRUCTION'][Skill Triggered: 'Sovereign's Blueprint']
Jia-Hao's vision shifted. The rusted, primitive furnace of the village began to glow with green schematic lines. He saw where the heat leaked, where the bellows failed, and where the core of the fusion cell needed to be seated to create a "Sub-Critical Thermal Loop."
"Move," Jia-Hao commanded.
With a strength that defied his thin frame—the result of his Martial Refinement (Level 4)—he hoisted the heavy fusion cell and slammed it into the base of the furnace.
"Jia-Hao! You'll blow us to the stars!" Mao shrieked, ducking behind a water trough.
Jia-Hao ignored him. His fingers moved with a blur of mechanical precision. He began to strip the copper wiring from a nearby scavenged motor, weaving it around the furnace in a complex, recursive pattern. Through his Academic Pillar, he was "hand-shaking" with the ancient AI inside the cell.
[LINK ESTABLISHED: EMERGENCY POWER MODE][Thermal Output: 0.01%... 5%... 20%...]
WHOOSH.
A pillar of pure, white-hot flame erupted from the center of the mud furnace. It didn't smoke. It didn't flicker. It roared with a sound like a distant jet engine. The air in the forge suddenly became so hot that the soot on the ceiling began to flake off and burn.
"The metal," Jia-Hao shouted over the roar. "Zhao! Throw in the 'Iron-Wolf' scrap! Throw in everything!"
Zhao, moved by a primal instinct he hadn't felt in decades, began to shovel the rusted rebar and broken bike frames into the maw of the white fire. In seconds—not hours—the metal turned into a glowing, liquid gold.
[MUSIC PILLAR (EMOTIONAL REFINEMENT): 'THE HYMN OF INDUSTRY'][Team Morale: 42% -> 78%][Observation: The rhythm of the hammer creates the heartbeat of the state.]
"This is the first core of the Dual-Core Strategy," Jia-Hao said, his voice echoing with a power that vibrated in the villagers' teeth. "The Arcology has the tech, but we have the fire. We are the Agrarian Core. We provide the labor, the spirit, and the steel. From this day, Xi-An Base 4 does not produce mud-bricks. We produce Mandate Alloy."
For the next six hours, Jia-Hao didn't rest. He worked alongside Zhao, his hands moving in a synchronized dance. He wasn't just forging tools; he was forging a new social order. Through the Meritocratic Governance Interface, he assigned roles to the men standing at the door.
"You! Da-Wei! You have the highest Survival Refinement here. You lead the 'Scout Unit'. You take the new spears and guard the perimeter. If a Nomad bird flies over, I want to know its wing-beat."
"Lin-Na! Your Academic Refinement is level 2. You will manage the distribution. No more 'Elder's Share'. Every soul in this village eats based on the sweat they give to the forge."
Elder Mao watched his power crumble with every hammer strike. He was a relic of a time when greed was the only way to survive. But in the presence of Jia-Hao's white fire, greed felt small. Greed felt cold.
Suddenly, a sharp, piercing alarm rang in Jia-Hao's mind.
[WARNING: EXTERNAL SCAN DETECTED][Source: Dragon's Tooth Arcology - Sector 7 Diplomatic Wing][Estimated Arrival of 'Inquisitor': 10 Minutes]
Jia-Hao stopped mid-swing. The sweat on his brow felt like ice.
"They are here," he whispered.
"The Iron-Wolves?" Zhao asked, wiping his blackened face.
"No," Jia-Hao said, looking toward the open door of the forge. "The High-Bloods."
The village went silent. The roar of the furnace seemed to dim. From the sky, a low-frequency hum vibrated the ground. A white, teardrop-shaped craft—sleek, silent, and terrifyingly beautiful—descended from the clouds. It didn't use engines; it rode the magnetic ley-lines of the Earth.
It landed in the center of the muddy square, right next to the sickly Sun-Oak tree.
The door of the craft slid open with a sound like silk tearing. A woman stepped out. She was dressed in a suit of shimmering, iridescent fabric that looked like liquid pearl. Her skin was flawless, her eyes a piercing, synthetic violet. She looked at the mud, the filth, and the starving people with the detached curiosity of a scientist looking at mold.
This was Inquisitor Yan, a diplomat of the Zone C Arcology.
"Energy spike detected," she said, her voice amplified by a neck-implant so it sounded as if she were speaking from everywhere at once. "Unsanctioned use of a Class-A Micro-Fusion cell. This sector is under 'Managed Decay' protocols. Who has violated the Mandate of the High-Bloods?"
The villagers fell to their knees. Even Zhao dropped his hammer. The sheer presence of a High-Blood—a literal god from the clouds—was enough to break their newfound spirit.
Only Jia-Hao walked out of the forge.
He was covered in soot. His tunic was torn. He smelled of sweat and white-hot iron. But as he stood before the Inquisitor, the Conquest System flared with a blinding, golden light.
[QUEST GENERATED: THE SOVEREIGN'S PARLEY][Objective: Do not kneel. Negotiate for the 'Autonomous Zone' status.][Reward: +5 Academic Refinement, Unlock 'Diplomatic Aura'.][Failure: Immediate 'Culling' of the Village.]
"The Mandate you speak of is a ghost," Jia-Hao said, his voice steady, using the 'Asian English' of the old scholars—formal, rhythmic, and heavy with intent. "The High-Bloods hide in the Spire while the Soil turns to salt. I have not violated the Mandate. I have reclaimed it."
Inquisitor Yan tilted her head. Her violet eyes scanned Jia-Hao, and for a moment, a flicker of genuine shock crossed her face.
"You... you are Level 3," she whispered, her voice losing its mechanical amplification for a second. "How? There hasn't been a 'System Awakener' in the Low-Zones for three hundred years. You are a 'Variance'. A glitch in the Great Reset."
"I am the son of this soil," Jia-Hao replied. "And I have a proposition for your masters in the Spire."
"A rat does not propose to a hawk," Yan regained her composure, her eyes narrowing. "You will surrender the fusion cells, and you will come with me for 'Biological Re-calibration'. The village will be sterilized to prevent further variance."
Jia-Hao took a step forward. He didn't reach for a weapon. Instead, he activated the Music Pillar.
[SKILL: HARMONIC DISSONANCE][Frequency: The Song of the 9 Billion.]
A low, mournful vibration began to emit from Jia-Hao. It was the sound of the floods, the sound of the fires, the sound of the billions who had died so that the High-Bloods could live in their glass needles. It was a sound that bypassed the ears and went straight to the soul.
Inquisitor Yan stumbled. Her iridescent suit flickered, the shielding failing against the raw emotional frequency.
"Stop that... stop that noise!" she gasped, clutching her chest.
"The 'Great Harmony' you claim to maintain is built on silence," Jia-Hao said. "But the Soil has a memory. I have the power to feed these people, and I have the power to jam your Spire's sensors until you are blind. You can kill us today, but the 'Variance' is already in the air. More will awaken. The Mandate is moving."
He paused, letting the silence return.
"Or," Jia-Hao continued, "you can grant Xi-An Base 4 the status of an 'Autonomous Experimental Zone'. We will provide you with the 'Mandate Alloy'—a steel stronger than your carbon-fibers—and in return, you leave us to grow. You need resources from the Soil that your synthesizers cannot create. We are the 'Dual-Core'. You are the Brain. We are the Heart. Without us, the Brain eventually starves."
[ACADEMIC REFINEMENT: 'GAME THEORY' CALCULATION...][Probability of Acceptance: 64%. Probability of Execution: 36%.]
Yan looked at the villagers. She looked at the forge, where the white fire was still roaring. Finally, she looked at Jia-Hao. She saw not a boy, but a terrifyingly fast-evolving consciousness.
"You speak of a 'Sinicized Asia Agenda'," she said, reading the metadata leaking from his presence. "You intend to unify the mainland. If we grant you this status, you will eventually become a threat to the Arcology itself."
"If I do not unify them," Jia-Hao said, "the Nomads will eventually find a way into your vents. Chaos always finds a way in, Inquisitor. Only the Great Harmony can keep it out."
Yan was silent for a long time. The wind whistled through the Sun-Oak. Finally, she tapped a device on her wrist.
"Sector 7 Status Update: Variance identified as 'Non-Hostile Resource Node'. Recommending Autonomous Trial Period. Duration: 100 Days."
She looked at Jia-Hao. "You have one hundred days, Han Jia-Hao. If your 'Mandate Alloy' does not meet our specifications, or if your level exceeds the 'Safety Threshold' of Level 10 before the trial ends... we will drop a kinetic slug from orbit. There will be nothing left but a glass crater."
"One hundred days," Jia-Hao nodded. "It is more than enough."
As the white craft ascended back into the clouds, the villagers remained on the ground, trembling. But Jia-Hao turned back to the forge.
"Zhao! Da-Wei! Get up!" he roared. "The High-Bloods have given us a window. But the Iron-Wolves won't be so polite. We have one hundred days to turn this mud-pit into a fortress!"
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: DIPLOMATIC VICTORY!][REWARD: +5 ACADEMIC REFINEMENT, +2 MUSIC REFINEMENT.][NEW QUEST: THE SOVEREIGN'S FEAST][Objective: Use 'Cuisine Refinement' to celebrate the new autonomy. Consolidate 100% Loyalty.]
That night, for the first time in centuries, the village of Xi-An Base 4 didn't smell of dust and death. It smelled of roasting meat—a gift from the High-Blood 'Diplomat' as part of the treaty—and the sweet, steaming porridge of the Mandate.
Jia-Hao sat under the Sun-Oak, watching his people eat. He felt a deep, hollow exhaustion in his marrow. He was Level 3. The High-Bloods had threatened him at Level 10.
They are afraid of Level 10, he thought, his eyes reflecting the blue glow of the forge. They have no idea that there is no max level.
He looked at the map in his mind. The white dot of Xi-An was glowing brighter. Beyond it lay the flooded plains, the warring tribes, and the ruins of a thousand cities.
"One hundred days," Jia-Hao whispered, his fingers tracing the patterns of the 'Mandate Alloy' spear in his lap. "In one hundred days, I will be the one setting the thresholds."
The fire in the forge roared late into the night, a white star in the middle of a dark world. The Conquest was no longer a dream of a boy. It was a political reality.
The 3088 Mandate had officially begun its countdown.