Chapter 84: Crystal One’s First Fight—Now This Is the Troop I Wanted

"First fight."

"You’re up."

The moment Cassian spoke, the lead Troll came charging down the scree slope.

It stood more than three meters tall, dragging a Stone Club behind it hard enough to spray gravel to both sides.

Crystal One stepped forward.

She did not draw a weapon.

She did not need one.

"Crystal Shaping."

Her translucent arms lengthened from the elbows down. Pale gold spread through the Crystal Body, flowing outward until, a breath later, both forearms had become nearly three-meter blades.

Narrow. Straight. So thin at the edge that the thickness was almost impossible to see.

The Troll had only just raised its Stone Club when Crystal One was already in front of it.

She did not meet the club head-on. She slipped beneath the swing instead.

A hair-thin golden line ran from the Troll’s shoulder to its waist.

Crystal One was already past it.

The Troll took two more steps before its body suddenly shifted apart.

Thud!

Its upper half crashed into the rubble. The lower half remained standing for one more breath before toppling after it.

[Crystal One killed: Troll]

[Level: 48]

Celia’s hand, which had been resting on Lifeless Edge, paused.

"Fast enough."

Aurelia was looking at Crystal One’s blades instead.

"That wasn’t just the edge."

"Eight hundred and forty Physique went into the speed too."

Cassian had seen the same thing.

Crystal One had not used Crystal Ray or Crystal Storm. That strike had been nothing more than direct melee.

And yet that Crystal Body, which looked almost too light to belong to a heavy front-line unit, had cut a Level 48 Troll in two.

A second Troll lunged in from the side.

Cassian did not have her repeat the same attack.

"Change it."

Crystal One turned her head.

"Blunt weapon."

The golden blades retracted at once.

Her right arm did not return to a human hand. It kept swelling outward instead, layer after layer of Crystal thickening until it became a massive golden hammer taller than Crystal One herself.

The Troll entered three meters.

Crystal One swung.

Boom—!

There was no cut this time.

Its skull and half its shoulder simply collapsed under the impact. The Stone Club spun more than ten meters away, and a shallow crater opened beneath the Troll’s feet.

Aurelia finally laughed.

"That definitely wasn’t a blade."

"Yeah."

Cassian kept watching Crystal One.

Crystal Shaping was not giving her a fixed weapon set. It let her decide what part of her body became the weapon.

Blade.

Hammer.

Spear.

Shield.

As long as the Crystal Body could form the structure, the weapon was already part of her.

The remaining Trolls were closing in.

Cassian raised a hand.

"Ranged."

Crystal One’s arms flowed back into translucent hands.

The next second, more than a dozen wrist-thick white-gold Crystal Rays fired at once.

Hiss—!

Crystal spread rapidly across the Trolls in front.

Legs. Shoulders. Chests.

Wherever the Rays struck, the surface crystallized first. Then the movement beneath it slowed.

Three Rays punched through one Troll’s chest in succession. It staggered back two steps, but did not fall immediately.

Cassian was not surprised.

Crystal One’s most absurd stat right now was Physique.

Her Spirit was still only 240.

If the same Troop had put all 240 points of Crystal Load into Spirit instead, those Rays would have looked very different.

But he had already seen enough of that side.

"Metamorphosis."

Crystal One looked up.

Her entire body seemed to soften beneath an invisible hand. The hard Crystal outline loosened. Her humanoid shape disappeared, her arms spread into wings, and her torso narrowed.

A few breaths later, a Bloodcrystal Bat with a wingspan approaching ten meters swept into the air.

[Crystal Metamorphosis]

[May transform into recorded Crystalkin Templates.]

[After transformation: Core Attributes remain unchanged. Gains the inherent capability of the selected Crystalkin form.]

[Current Templates: Crystal Spider / Crystal Fox / Crystal Wolf / Bloodcrystal Bat]

[New Templates may be recorded by absorbing compatible Crystalkin Crystal Samples.]

[Template recording belongs to Crystal Metamorphosis itself and is unrelated to Cassian’s SSS DEVOUR.]

[Current Form: Bloodcrystal Bat]

[Form Capability: Flight]

No new Physique appeared.

Her Load did not return either.

Eight hundred and forty was still eight hundred and forty. Two hundred and forty was still two hundred and forty. Crystal Load, already spent down to zero, remained zero.

The shape changed.

The capabilities changed with it.

The Bloodcrystal Bat swept over the Trolls’ heads. Instead of diving into another frontal collision, it climbed, cleared the rocky ridge, then curved back from the opposite side.

Every Troll slowed by Crystal Ray was now exposed beneath it.

Cassian raised his hand.

"Come back."

The Bloodcrystal Bat dove.

At ten meters above the ground, its wings began to fold. Crystal flowed again, and by the time it landed, the enormous bat had become the pale-gold Crystal Maiden once more.

She steadied herself.

"Lord."

Cassian looked at her for two breaths.

Then he smiled.

Not much, but this time he did not hide it.

"Now this is the Troop I wanted."

Aurelia glanced at him.

"She can cut."

"Crush."

"Fight at range."

"And fly."

Celia added, "And her weapons don’t need a Forge."

Cassian looked over.

"Bram wouldn’t like hearing that."

The corner of Celia’s mouth moved.

There was no need to keep testing the last few Trolls.

Aurelia pinned down the left side. Celia cut through the right. Crystal One reshaped both arms into golden longblades.

Less than a minute later, the scree slope fell quiet again.

Cassian did not push deeper.

He already had the answer he wanted from the first battle.

Crystal One was not simply a high-Physique melee Troop.

What made her scarce was something else.

One body.

Different combat forms, whenever she needed them.

——

The Warden Gate opened again.

Back at Forgotten Shrine, Cassian did not leave the other eleven Crystal Maiden Embryos sitting in his Inventory.

The first one had fought.

Whether this Troop line deserved more investment was no longer a question.

Eleven translucent Embryos were arranged in a row.

Veyra came over from the training area just as the first began to glow.

"All of them?"

"All of them."

"Not saving any this time?"

Cassian looked at the eleven Embryos.

"The first one already gave me the answer."

"What would I be saving them for?"

Veyra arched a brow.

"Good."

"That sounds better than ’we’ll see later.’"

Cassian raised a hand.

"Recruit."

The first Embryo cracked.

Then the second.

The third.

All the way to the eleventh.

Crystal flowed out of the shells in layers until eleven new Crystal Maidens stood in a line.

At recruitment, they remained on the original Epic line.

[Crystal Maiden ×11]

[Race: Crystalkin]

[Quality: Epic]

[Level: 1]

[Skills: Crystal Assimilation / Crystal Shaping / Crystal Ray / Crystal Storm]

No Crystal Metamorphosis.

The first recruit had already proven where that ability came from.

Legendary Quality.

Cassian raised their Levels first.

Battle Essence fell in wave after wave.

One.

Two.

Eleven.

When the last growth light faded, all eleven had reached Level 10.

[Crystal Maiden ×11 | Level 1 → 10]

[Battle Essence: -110,000]

[Forgotten Shrine Active Troops: 274 → 285]

Cassian did not stop there.

The Crystal materials brought back from Crystal Bastion over the past few days were pulled from storage and separated according to the directions Crystal Assimilation could use.

Physique-oriented.

Spirit-oriented.

Aether-oriented.

Crystal One had already taken the first route to its extreme.

This time Cassian split the eleven into two groups.

Six toward Spirit.

Five toward Physique.

Then he opened the Fountain’s output record.

During the five Realm Days of the Agriculture Duel, the Fountain had continued producing on Realm Time as usual.

Five Daily Outputs of Life Essence were still sitting in the Fountain pool, never withdrawn.

Add the one portion already in his Inventory.

Six.

The first Embryo had already proven that Crystal Maidens were compatible with Life Essence.

Cassian placed the six portions in front of six Crystal Maidens.

All five Physique-oriented units.

And the first of the six Spirit-oriented units.

"Use them."

Six masses of pale-green Life Energy sank into six Crystal Cores one after another.

Golden lines lit up in sequence.

[Life Essence ×6: Consumed]

[Crystal Maiden ×6 | Quality: Epic → Legendary]

[Crystal Metamorphosis: Unlocked]

[Available Life Essence: 6 → 0]

The remaining five Spirit-oriented Crystal Maidens stayed at Epic, Level 10.

Cassian assigned the Fountain’s next five Realm-Day Life Essence outputs to them as well.

One portion per day.

One portion per Maiden.

Only after the fifth completed its Quality Growth would the entire first group of twelve truly enter the Legendary line.

The six that had already crossed over began Assimilation first.

Five Physique.

One Spirit.

"Assimilate."

The Crystal materials melted at once.

Light pressed visibly into the limbs and torsos of the five Physique-oriented Maidens. The Spirit-oriented one drew hers toward the brow and the Core in her chest.

No one recovered any Crystal Load.

Once the Load was spent, it couldn’t be reset and redirected into another attribute.

Once a direction was chosen, they kept going down it.

The materials for the other five Spirit-oriented Maidens were set aside separately.

Once Life Essence carried their Quality across the line, they would follow the same Spirit route.

Cassian still wanted two different combat branches.

One to push Crystal Ray and Crystal Storm farther.

The other to reinforce close combat, line-holding, and Crystal Shaping.

Veyra looked over the twelve Crystal Maidens assembled together again.

Crystal One stood in front.

The other eleven were all Level 10. Six had just crossed into Legendary, while five were still waiting on the Fountain’s next five days of Life Essence.

"At least you didn’t make all twelve into the same mold."

"What would I need twelve copies of the same mold for?"

"Fair."

Veyra lifted a hand.

"But one thing first."

"They go to the Outer March."

"My Eclipse aren’t going out there to fill gaps for you."

Cassian looked at her.

"I wasn’t planning to touch your line."

"Good."

She closed the Mistveil March Training Manual.

"I have my own training here."

The boundary was clear.

Cassian would push the new Crystal Maidens into the field.

Veyra would continue running Eclipse training inside Forgotten Shrine.

——

That same day, all twelve Crystal Maidens were folded into the Crystal Bastion farming line.

Crystal One and the six newly advanced Legendary Maidens already had Crystal Metamorphosis.

The remaining five Spirit-oriented Maidens were still waiting for the Fountain’s upcoming Daily Outputs, but their original Crystal Ray and Crystal Storm skills were already available. There was no reason to keep them out of the rotation.

Crystal One continued taking the high ground, cliffs, and longer-range routes.

The six Spirit-oriented Crystal Maidens staggered their firing windows around the Rocketiers. Crystal Ray and Crystal Storm pinned down scattered targets that were poor fits for rocket saturation.

The other five stayed closer to the Stormlance side, using Crystal Shaping to cover melee gaps.

The twenty Rocketiers’ Overload cycle was not replaced.

It became smoother.

After each rocket volley, Stormlance, Aurelia, and Celia had previously carried the entire recovery gap themselves.

Now the Crystal Maidens could absorb part of it.

Kill Points kept climbing.

Cassian did not stand at Crystal Bastion and watch all day.

The route was already running.

He returned to the Deep Layer.

A black-steel bar loaded beyond its normal training weight was waiting in the Warbody area.

The sixty Free Attribute remained untouched.

Cassian did not suddenly dump them into the panel simply because he had added twelve Crystal Maidens today.

He continued the Warbody work he had already started.

Load.

Impact.

Recovery.

One cycle after another.

Then a communication alert sounded outside the training area.

Cassian stopped.

Not Tobias.

Not Rowan.

Not Elara.

An unfamiliar name.

[Lysa Harrow]

[Current Region: Dunmar Reach]

[Request: Private Trade]

Cassian opened it.

The first message already carried an item attachment.

[Blood Lure | Rare]

Lysa Harrow’s next line followed.

[Lysa Harrow: Warden Cassian, I found this at a Wandering Stall.]

[Lysa Harrow: I heard you’ve been buying Monster Lures.]

Cassian’s attention paused there.

The Wild Tide Lure was long gone.

But in a Kill Points Ranking, something like a Lure was only going to become harder to buy.

He sent one reply.

[Cassian Vale: Selling?]

The answer came almost immediately.

[Lysa Harrow: Yes.]

Then another message appeared.

[Lysa Harrow: But there’s something else I want to discuss.]

[Lysa Harrow: I want to relocate into Riftward.]

Cassian did not answer.

Lysa continued on her own.

[Lysa Harrow: I have a valid Relocation Writ.]

[Lysa Harrow: I’m not going to pretend my reason is noble. Riftward has eight Fortune now, and your Kill Points are climbing.]

[Lysa Harrow: I want to be in a Region where I have a better chance to survive—and a better chance to earn rewards.]

Blunt.

She had even volunteered that she was coming for the Fortune.

Logically, there was nothing wrong with it.

Riftward was exactly the kind of Region that should be attracting people now.

Cassian opened her public record.

Rank III Domain.

No public Black Banner tag.

No known hostile record.

Her public hunting activity over the past few days looked normal too.

Veyra came over from the other side of the training area.

"Who?"

"Someone who wants to move in."

"Why?"

"Eight Fortune."

Veyra read the screen for two seconds.

"Pretty honest."

"Sounds that way."

"You don’t believe her?"

Cassian did not say yes.

He did not say no either.

He bought the Blood Lure at the going rate for a Rare Lure, then opened his Warden Authority.

[Inbound Domain Relocation Request]

[Lord: Lysa Harrow]

[Origin: Dunmar Reach]

[Destination: Riftward]

[Relocation Requirement: Satisfied]

The confirmation was underneath.

Cassian pressed it.

[Approved]

Veyra turned her head toward him.

"You actually approved her?"

"Yeah."

"You were doubting her a second ago."

"Letting her in and believing her—"

Cassian closed the Warden Authority.

"—aren’t the same thing."

A few minutes later, a relocation notice appeared in the Riftward Regional Channel.

[Lysa Harrow has completed Inbound Domain Relocation.]

The Registered Lord count changed with it.

[402 → 403]

Welcome messages appeared almost immediately.

Lysa played along easily.

[Lysa Harrow: Thanks, everyone.]

[Lysa Harrow: I’ll admit I came for the Fortune. I’ll still pull my weight now that I’m here.]

Nothing in it looked obviously wrong.

Cassian finished reading and said nothing else in the channel.

Lysa’s reason made sense.

Her public record had no obvious flaw either.

But "I can’t find a problem" had never meant "there is no problem."

Cassian turned toward the Deep Layer.

Veyra followed for two steps.

"You already approved her."

"I did."

"And you’re still checking?"

"Of course."

"How?"

Cassian opened his Inventory.

Not Beacon records.

Not a Blackfang route.

He pulled out a Blueprint that had sat at the bottom of the list since the Hall of Renown, never high enough in the build order to matter before now.

[Mindseal Tower Blueprint | Epic]

[Source: Hall of Renown]

[Function Preview: Truth / Enslave]

It had come back to Forgotten Shrine in the Hall’s final 2,120-Realm-Renown exchange, alongside the Field-related Blueprints, agriculture Skill Books, and Production Training Manuals.

Until now, there simply had not been a target worth building it for.

Now there was.

Veyra read the two functions.

"Truth."

"And Enslave."

"Yeah."

She glanced at the relocation notice that had just finished scrolling.

"You’re going to verify her directly."

"Yes."

Cassian handed the Blueprint to Bram.

"Build it."

Bram asked only one question.

"Where?"

Cassian looked deeper into the Deep Layer.

"Inside."

"Keep it out of sight."

Bram took the Blueprint.

Veyra remained beside Cassian.

"She only just entered Riftward."

"Which makes now the best time."

"And if she really did come here just for eight Fortune?"

"Then Truth will only prove she was telling the truth."

Cassian closed the Warden Authority.

"If she wasn’t—"

He looked at the Epic Blueprint.

"Then I don’t need to wait for her to make a mistake."