Chapter 88: Return to Riverdale

Chapter 88: Chapter 88: Return to Riverdale

By the time Sunday morning arrived, Eric’s operational checklist was completely locked in.

His first stop had been his personal lab in Research Building 1. He checked on Moon’s climate-stabilized enclosure, ensuring the atmospheric circulation runes were humming smoothly.

To guarantee she would neither starve nor stall while he was away for the Riverdale mission, Eric grounded an entire month’s reserve of Mortal-rank mana stones into a glistening mountain of fine mineral dust, distributing it across several partitioned porcelain feeder dishes. The silver-winged butterfly trilled a sweet, bell-like chime, nuzzling his fingertip with her fuzzy cheek before settling down to feast.

Back in his room in Dormitory Building 17, Eric packed his tactical field gear with methodical precision.

He slipped into his fitted Shadow Drake Scout Armor, the supple, midnight-scaled leather flexing effortlessly over his joints to provide silent movement, environmental dampening, and reinforced kinetic dispersion. At his left hip hung the polished scabbard of his sword, the wavecaller, its balance centered and ready to end its enemies in a split second. Along his belt, he secured a pouch of standardized healing salves and nutrient pellets to endure prolonged frontier ambushes.

Tucked neatly inside his system inventory were three matched pairs of completed Tracking Runes, the harmonic resonance loops carved so cleanly into the F-rank mana stones that a mental pulse could lock onto an anchor from two miles out. It would be very important to find the base of the syndicate.

Eric pulled up his status interface one last time to assess his stats before leaving.

│ STATUS PANEL

│

│ Name: Eric

│ Race: Human

│ Cultivation Stage: Soldier

│ Level: 3 (26%)

│ Talent: Appraisal (Rank D), Skill Comprehension (Rank C)

│ Skills:

│ - Shadow Steps (Rank D) [Mastery: Major]

│ - Advanced Swordsmanship (Rank D) [Mastery: Major]

│ - Crescent Slash (Rank D) [Mastery: Entry]

│ Contracted Beast: 1/2

Thanks to the unrelenting cycles of the Seven Star Mana Circulation Manual, Eric’s starlight-dense liquid mana reserves had reached 26% of Soldier Level 3. While Crescent Slash still lingered at Entry mastery, the pressurized arc had stabilized into a deadly, consistent razor edge capable of shearing heavy timber from ten paces out.

He shifted his focus to the crow perched calmly atop the brass coat rack:

│ CONTRACTED BEAST STATUS

│

│ Name: Coal

│ Race: Bonepecker Crow

│ Cultivation Stage: Soldier

│ Level: 3 (57%)

│ Rank: D

│ Element: Shadow

│ Skills:

│ - Skystride (Rank C)

│ - Shadow Talons (Rank D)

│ - Shadow Clone (Rank D)

"Fifty-seven percent," Eric noted with a low whistle.

Coal had been steadily devouring the peak Soldier-rank mineral cores Eric had discreetly lifted from the laboratory vault, his obsidian plumage now carrying a polished, metallic sheen that deflected light like oiled armor plating.

"Alright, Coal," Eric extended his left arm, letting the heavy crow hop onto his leather pauldron with a solid thud. "We’re as ready as we’ll ever be. Time to link up with our employer."

Eric stepped out into the fourth-floor corridor, crossed the runner rug, and knocked twice against the brass plate of Room 402.

CLICK.

The heavy oak door pulled open, and Eric’s breath caught for half a second.

Alena stood framed in the doorway, clad in combat gear that looked centuries ahead of anything forged in the frontier smithies. She wore a tailored suit of matte-black composite leather layered beneath dark-blue segmented plates. The alloy hugged her slender frame with sleek, kinetic elegance, its micro-joints interlocking with seamless fluidity that gave it an almost mechanical, hyper-modern aesthetic.

"Woah," Eric blurted out, his dark eyes tracing the glowing runic circuits etched across her armor. "What kind of armor is that?"

"Oh, this?" Alena glanced down, tapping the lapel lightly with a gloved finger.

"It is a new-generation runic exosuit prototyped by one of the Blackthorn family’s defense workshops. The core matrices passively expand mana reservoir conductivity, amplify Mana potency by thirty percent at the very least, and reinforce impact dispersion with high defensive capability. It also integrates an internal temperature regulation loop to maintain core body temperature in extreme environments. The last part might sound fancy, but it is extremely useful in extreme environmental situations."

As she spoke, she threw a heavy, raven-black traveling cloak over her shoulders, fastening the clasp at her throat.

Eric grinned. "The armor suits you well. Looks lethal and protective."

"Thank you, Eric. You look quite sharp yourself," Alena replied, her crimson eyes scanning his drake-scale cuirass with an approving nod.

"Now, let us avoid burning daylight. The Academy’s long-range transit array has already cleared our departure corridor. We take the spatial portal straight to Riverdale, bypass the civil hub, and establish our forward reconnaissance immediately."

"Lead the way."

They descended to the underground vaults beneath the administrative complex, arriving before the heavily guarded Institutional Portal Chamber.

Massive granite rings humming with violent spatial mana dominated the cavernous hall. Two Captain-rank gatewardens in full plate armor stepped forward, inspecting Alena’s mission dossier and institutional exit permits alongside Eric’s scout clearance. Everything checked out with administrative perfection.

"Clearance verified. Aperture locked to Riverdale Outpost Sector 4," a gatewarden announced, driving a heavy rune-key into the console.

VUUUUUUM—!

The spatial rings spun with a deafening, whistling roar, ripping open an oval tear of swirling cerulean light.

Eric and Alena stepped into the vortex together.

A momentary sensation of weightlessness gripped Eric’s chest, followed by the familiar, jarring snap of spatial displacement.

STEP.

His boots met rough, cold stone.

Instantly, the suffocatingly rich mana density of the capital evaporated, replaced by the thin, sharp, pine-scented air of the outer frontier. The ambient energy here felt hollow and raw, a stark reminder of how privileged the central territories were compared to the outer borderlands.

They stood in the low-ceilinged transit hall of the Riverdale Teleportation Bastion. Portal guards in battered iron mail stared at Alena and Eric’s academy insignia with wide, wary eyes.

Alena walked forward with aristocratic composure, presenting the imperial dispatch scrolls to the station commander to log their arrival.

Eric stepped toward the stone archway, looking out over the familiar, snow-dusted timberline of his hometown with a slow, focused breath.

He was finally back.