Chapter 138: Twenty-Eight Fortune

[Your fleet has defeated the Sea Dragon guardians.]

[Your contribution: 82%.]

[Riftward has gained 28 Region Fortune.]

[You have the highest contribution. Ownership of the Fortune Temple is available. Occupy?]

"Occupy."

Cassian opened the Temple’s interface.

[Fortune Temple]

[While occupied, grants the owner’s Region 1 Fortune each month.]

He could not keep the delight off his face. The Temple had accumulated far more Fortune than he had expected.

His share of the contribution came as no surprise. His forces had killed the Epic bosses and the Legendary King, while the Crystal Maidens’ Black Holes had wiped out great swathes of lesser monsters.

The monthly point was pleasant enough. Beside what he had just received, it hardly caught his attention.

The Realm had been open for less than two months. Riftward already had fifty-two Fortune.

At the same moment, every Lord in the Region received a notice.

[Cassian Vale has occupied a Fortune Temple.]

[Riftward Region Fortune +28.]

[Current Region Fortune: 52.]

People stared at their interfaces.

Twenty-eight!

All their Ranking victories and Fortune Duels had brought Riftward to twenty-four. Their Warden had gone out on one expedition and returned with more than that again.

A deep rumble seemed to pass through the Region. Space expanded, resources changed, and wild monsters advanced.

Elara and the other officers had known about the Temple expedition. Even they had never expected this much. Everyone else went wild.

[Riftward Lord: Long live the boss!]

[Riftward Lord: An Epic Merman Chief! It killed a whole squad of mine. I’m going after it now. Come on, give me an Epic Troop Sigil!]

[Riftward Lord: We’ve lost another one.]

[Riftward Lord: Look at the coordinates! Our Region has almost doubled in size. It’s over a thousand kilometers across!]

Elara sent Cassian a private message.

[Elara Vayne: There’s another Hill King available at the Royal Hall! Its production interval is down to fourteen Realm Days!]

Her next message sounded much less triumphant.

[Elara Vayne: My family has no money left. Mother still hasn’t raised everything we owe you for the Life Essence.]

Cassian smiled.

[Cassian Vale: It’s fine. Take your time paying it back.]

In the Regional Channel, Rowan was making a proposal.

[Rowan Ashford: Our resources, our monsters, our drops—we have all of this because of Cassian. I say we give him half the Region to develop.]

He was being generous with a great deal of land that was not his. Strangely, no one objected.

[Riftward Lord: Give him the land!]

[Riftward Lord: The faster he grows, the more we all get out of it!]

Cassian replied at once.

[Cassian Vale: I have enough hunting territory for now. If I need more, we can discuss it then.]

Just after he sent the message, Cassian felt something stir in Forgotten Shrine.

An image of his Domain appeared in his mind. Aether light rose from the ground, gathering into a dragon-shaped form ten meters long. Light gleamed along its scales, claws, and horns as it circled above the Domain.

Its head turned toward the empty courtyard. The glow dimmed a little, and the form coiled back into the earth.

Notifications followed.

[Domain Aether Vein]

[Current Fortune Resonance: 52%.]

[Existing effects improved.]

[Fortune Resonance has exceeded 50%. New effect unlocked.]

Cassian opened the full panel at once.

[Daily natural condensation: Aether ×520,000.]

[Improved chance of higher-Quality Wild Resource Points appearing in or near controlled Domain territory.]

[Improved chance of higher-Quality candidates from Buildings with random Recruit results.]

[Lord / Hero / Troop units formally belonging to Forgotten Shrine: standard loot-drop probability from valid kills +104%.]

[Cassian Vale: base probability of a High-Fortune Result when opening a random-result Chest / Reward Container ×5.]

[New effect: Natural growth cycles of animals and plants within the Domain reduced by half. Quality mutation chance: 10%. A successful mutation raises Quality by one tier, to a maximum of Legendary.]

Cassian’s smile widened.

Twice as many harvests. And now even his Epic Moonrice had a chance to mature at Legendary Quality.

One good thing after another. This trip had been worth every moment.

Not everyone at the Temple was quite as pleased with their reward.

Aboard Mercer’s warship, Darian looked at Cassian.

"My contribution was three point one percent. I got one Fortune. Don’t tell me you got more than twenty."

"A little luck," Cassian said, smiling. "Just a little luck."

They had expected to divide the Temple’s Fortune fairly evenly. One or two points each would have made the long journey worthwhile.

Fortune could not be split into fractions. Apart from Cassian, only the next seven Lords by contribution had received a point each.

Corin sighed, then grew serious.

"You earned it, Cassian. I have no complaints. And you saved our lives."

The other Lords nodded.

Then they compared the contribution shares and discovered that Adrian had received a point too.

"That bastard still got something out of this."

Cassian felt no happier about it than the others.

He turned to Darian.

"Do you have a way straight into Coldridge?"

Darian’s eyes lit up.

"You mean to..."

"Are you coming?"

"Of course I am!"

"It’s too dangerous," Mercer said immediately. "Adrian controls the Marches’ Waygate access. On his ground, you’d be fighting hundreds of thousands of Lords."

Cassian bought a fresh Epic Regional Spatial Lock Scroll and a Communication Seal Scroll through the Exchange. He took out the pair.

"Catch him by surprise. Seal transit, cut his communications, kill him, and leave."

He knew the procedure well by now.

"My contact is in Coldridge Region itself," Darian added. "A little over two hundred kilometers from Adrian’s Domain. If we’re careful, we can do it."

The others began to look interested.

"Good!" Seraphine clapped her hands. "Why wait to repay a betrayal? Leaving him alive would ruin my whole day."

"You people from Riftward are all mad," Corin muttered. Then he frowned. "We’re out at sea. It’ll take hours just to get back within reach of our Domains. He’ll be ready by then."

Cassian smiled.

"Come with me."

Before long, they were aboard Ghost One.

Seraphine laughed when she saw the Gate on its deck.

"Building Support too! What else does this ship have?"

"So once we’re clear of the sealed water, we can go straight to Coldridge Region," Corin said, delighted. "He won’t have time to prepare!"

"I’m coming," Lydia said firmly.

Cassian looked at Darian.

"Get me your contact’s Gate number."

Killing or controlling Adrian was something he could manage alone. He doubted he would even need a Hero or a troop. One full-force Origin Fist might be enough to demolish the man’s whole Domain.

That was why he dared to go into Coldridge.

Finding a way there was the problem. Without Darian’s contacts, a conventional journey could take days.

Ghost One sailed clear of the sealed area. Darian supplied the Gate’s number and the owner’s permission. Cassian registered the temporary destination and paid the ordinary Link cost.

Light flashed across the deck.

The raiding party disappeared through the Gate, their Heroes and troops following them.

Mercer watched them go and sighed.

"Young people have so much energy."