Chapter 85: Riftward Breaks Into the Top Ten—and the Truth Slips Out

The night Lysa Harrow relocated into Riftward, a new Building appeared in the deepest part of the Deep Layer.

It was not tall.

A square stone base supported five dark-violet Crystal needles set into the upper structure.

The light coming from them was faint.

But when Cassian stood beneath the Tower, the system opened its full functions at once.

[Mindseal Tower | Epic]

[Level: 0]

[Truth: Active function. May impose a Truth constraint on a target within Forgotten Shrine’s Domain range. When answering a direct question asked by Cassian, the target cannot knowingly give an answer they know to be false.]

[Targets below the Building’s current suppression threshold do not automatically notice when Truth takes effect.]

[Enslave: Active function. Establishes stable mind-level Control over 1 target. Current Capacity: 0 / 1.]

[The higher the target’s Level / Quality / Spirit, the stronger the resistance. If the target exceeds the Building’s effective level, the attempt may fail.]

[Each Mindseal Tower Level increases Enslave Capacity by 1.]

Veyra reread the last line.

"So Level Zero is enough to verify one person."

"Yeah."

"And enough to take one."

"First I want to know whether she is one."

Cassian did not decide Lysa was guilty simply because he now had an Epic control Building.

If everything she had said was true, Truth would not invent a Black Banner identity for her.

But if she was acting—

once she brought the act inside Forgotten Shrine, she would no longer be able to keep acting.

The Mindseal Tower stayed in the Deep Layer.

Invisible from the main layer.

Completely unknown to the Regional Channel.

——

Over the next several days, Riftward kept moving at the same pace.

Lysa showed nothing unusual either.

Her Domain expanded normally.

Hunting.

Gathering.

Submitting Kill Points.

She spoke in the Regional Channel from time to time, but never fought for attention and never tried too hard to get close to Cassian.

From the outside, she looked exactly like an ordinary Lord who had moved in for Riftward’s eight Fortune.

Meanwhile, Crystal Bastion had become a stable Kill-Points route.

The twenty Rocketiers completed another Overload.

Fire rolled over the Crystal slope.

Once the first Rocketier group withdrew through the Gate, six Crystal Rays crossed the side of the battlefield.

Crystal spread across the Crystal Wolves emerging from the side ravine, slowing them before they could build momentum.

Then five Physique-oriented Legendary Crystal Maidens hit the front.

Crystal Shaping.

Spears.

Heavy blades.

Hammers.

Different weapon forms appeared almost at the same time.

None of them had Crystal One’s 840 Physique, and they were only Level 10.

But Legendary Crystal Metamorphosis was now available across the whole line.

When mobility was needed, all twelve could become Bloodcrystal Bats.

The five in front did not transform now. They simply used their current Physique direction to absorb a section of pressure that Stormlance had previously needed to cover personally.

Sigrid only took her people after the higher-Quality targets.

Aurelia and Celia no longer needed to remain in the densest part of the field the entire time.

On the other side of the Gate, Veyra watched one rotation finish.

"At least the other eleven aren’t decorations."

Cassian stood on the Crystal slope.

"They were never going to be."

"Where’s Crystal One?"

Cassian looked up.

High above them, a massive Bloodcrystal Bat was gliding along the Crystal cliffs into the distance.

Not hunting.

Scouting.

Crystal Metamorphosis kept core attributes unchanged after transformation.

What Bloodcrystal Bat gave Crystal One was Flight, the capability of that form itself.

If she became a Crystal Spider later, she would gain a different set of form capabilities.

Crystal Wolf and Crystal Fox worked the same way.

And the template list was not permanently limited to the four she had now.

As long as she absorbed a new compatible Crystalkin Crystal Sample, any Crystal Maiden with Metamorphosis could continue recording new Templates.

That was what truly satisfied Cassian about Legendary Crystal Metamorphosis.

Not that it could make a Troop fly.

That the same Troop could keep gaining new tactical forms.

Cassian changed Crystal One’s direction.

"Keep going northeast."

"Prioritize areas where Monster Levels start dropping."

The farther a high-level Outer March extended, the more useful that pattern became.

If Monster Levels began falling consistently across an area, there was a good chance a nearby Lord had been clearing and occupying that zone for some time.

It was not a guarantee of finding another Region.

But it was better than flying blindly five hundred kilometers in every direction.

That evening, Crystal One brought back a result.

It was not Black Banner.

Not a Wild army either.

Across a Level-30-range wasteland, she had found unmistakable traces of Lord activity.

A cleared road.

Artificial watchtowers.

And a Region insignia that clearly did not belong to Black Banner.

Crystal One hadn’t gotten close enough to bring back a complete insignia.

For now, it could not be matched precisely to the existing Shattered Marches Region roster.

Cassian recorded the coordinates, terrain, watchtower style, and the partial insignia.

Then he asked only two questions.

"Hostile?"

"No."

"Did anyone chase you?"

"No."

"Then come back."

Crystal One nodded.

"Understood, Lord."

Cassian did not turn a confirmed non-hostile Region into a target simply because Lord, Hero, and Troop kills were worth ten times more Kill Points.

Ten times was a rule.

It was not an order to attack everyone he found.

——

At noon the next day, the Second Regional Ranking refreshed again.

The day before, Riftward had already reached Rank 15.

Today, the golden list moved down.

Twelve.

Eleven.

Then the next line appeared.

[Rank 10 | Riftward]

The Regional Channel exploded.

[Anonymous Lord: Top ten!]

[Anonymous Lord: Fifteen yesterday and ten today?]

[Tobias Reed: Back when we hit forty-five, people were still guessing Forgotten Shrine had somehow mass-Recruited another army out of nowhere.]

[Rowan Ashford: Stop staring at the list. Submit the transport orders like normal.]

[Anonymous Lord: Four days left. If we can hold top ten, that’s Fortune.]

Cassian paused on the last message.

Ranks 4 through 10.

Region Fortune +1.

But this was only a daily refresh.

Not settlement.

Still, Riftward had climbed from outside the top hundred into the top ten.

The Crystal Bastion route was clearly still accelerating.

Veyra had seen it too.

"Ten."

"Yeah."

"Want first?"

Cassian did not answer immediately.

Who was currently first, how large the Kill-Points gap was—both were still moving.

"Take today’s points first."

Veyra gave a quiet snort.

"You didn’t say first this time."

"Saying it less doesn’t make first easier to take."

"That wasn’t how you talked last time."

"Last time there were only two left."

Veyra laughed once and let it go.

——

Not long after the Ranking refresh, Elara called.

Eastern Mountain Route was still visible behind her.

This time, she did not start with the Royal Hall.

She held a piece of deep-blue ore directly in front of the communication view.

"Is this what your Rank VI panel is missing?"

Cassian looked up.

The system identification appeared first.

[Gem Ore]

[Source: Gem Vein]

He opened Forgotten Shrine’s advancement panel.

For the first time, one of the Rank V-to-VI requirements lit green.

[Forgotten Shrine | Rank V → Rank VI]

[Other Requirements: Satisfied]

[Missing Key Resource: Gem Ore]

[Key Resource Match: Gem Ore]

The sample was enough to confirm the resource type.

It was not enough to fill the requirement.

The only thing still missing was a sufficient amount of Gem Ore from that Vein.

"Where?"

"Deeper into the eastern mountains," Elara said. "Brogan found it while the Dwarves were pushing the line outward."

"The things guarding it aren’t weak."

"I didn’t let them force it."

"Good."

Elara paused.

"Is that the second time you’ve said that?"

"Last time was to Tobias’s people."

"Then shouldn’t I get something?"

Cassian looked toward the Epic Moonrice storage in the Deep Layer.

"No address needed."

"Open the Gate."

A few minutes later, a small crate of Epic Moonrice arrived at Eastern Mountain Route.

Not the whole Harvest.

Just one batch of high-Quality supplies for Elara and the Dwarf line working with her.

Elara looked at the crate.

"This is the stuff that knocked Sable down to negative two a few days ago?"

"Part of it."

"No wonder they’re still complaining."

She accepted the crate.

"I’ll keep watching the Gem Vein."

"We’ll have the guard count mapped today."

"If you can clear it, clear it."

Cassian nodded.

"Take enough Gem Ore for the advancement first."

"The rest can wait."

He did not reroute everything he was doing just because the Rank VI key had appeared.

That evening, he had already planned to call a few people back.

Riftward had broken into the top ten.

It was not final settlement.

It was not worth holding a Region-wide victory feast.

But Tobias, Rowan, Elara—the people who had helped hold Riftward together all the way here—could sit down for one meal.

Cassian messaged the three of them first.

Then he opened Lysa Harrow’s channel.

[Cassian Vale: Come to Forgotten Shrine tonight.]

[Cassian Vale: Riftward broke into the top ten. A few of the core people are having dinner. You just relocated in, so come meet them.]

Lysa answered quickly.

[Lysa Harrow: All right.]

Cassian sent one more message.

[Cassian Vale: Come twenty minutes early. We’ll do your Warden registration first.]

[Lysa Harrow: Understood.]

——

That evening, Lysa arrived before everyone else.

There were no Eclipse soldiers on the main layer.

Veyra was not waiting outside Oath Hall either.

She was in the Deep Layer.

So was the Mindseal Tower.

Cassian stood alone beside the table.

"First time at Forgotten Shrine?"

"First time."

Lysa smiled naturally.

"Quieter than I expected."

"Most of the main force is outside farming points."

"That explains it."

Cassian poured her a cup of water.

He did not ask about Black Banner first.

He did not put any evidence on the table.

In the Deep Layer, one dark-violet Crystal needle lit without a sound.

[Mindseal Tower: Truth Activated]

Lysa did not look up.

Did not hesitate.

Did not even know she had entered the effect.

Cassian asked as casually as if they were making conversation.

"How long were you in Dunmar Reach?"

"Since the Region opened."

True.

"You moved into Riftward for Fortune and the Ranking?"

"That’s part of the reason."

Still nothing unusual.

Cassian looked at her.

"Is Lysa Harrow your real name?"

She almost nodded on instinct.

"Of course—"

The word changed on its way out.

"No."

The smile was still on Lysa’s face.

"My real name is Kara Voss."

"I’m a Black Banner infiltrator."

"Lysa Harrow is the identity I’ve used since I entered Dunmar Reach."

Her voice stopped.

She was the first one to freeze.

Cassian did not move.

Even the cup remained where it was.

The person across from him had thought she was still acting.

But from the moment Truth took hold—

she had already lost the ability to lie.