The screen held her image—elegant, composed, perfectly lit as always—but Damien saw it immediately.

So did Dominic.

The subtle tightness around her eyes. The way her shoulders, usually poised like a portrait, lifted and lowered too fast for someone truly calm. Her lips were relaxed—but not from indifference. From the effort of holding something heavier back.

Vivienne Elford was trying to look normal.

And failing, just enough for the people who knew her to see through it.

Damien's voice cut through gently. "Mother."

That single word softened her. Not visibly, not fully—but it was there. A flicker. A warmth trying to stay hidden under polished restraint.

"I see you're still breathing," she said lightly.

A faint smile tugged at the corners of Damien's mouth. "Despite your expectations."

Her eyes narrowed—not coldly. Almost fond. "Don't be dramatic. If I expected you to fail, I wouldn't have been calling half the military-grade relay points in the capital."

Her tone was dry, smooth, and it almost worked.

Almost.

But Damien saw it. The edges of emotion pressing behind the words. The flicker of brightness in her eyes that hadn't been there when she first appeared on the call.

She was relieved.

And she was proud.

"You've done well," she said finally, voice low but unmistakably sincere. "Better than I dared hope."

Damien didn't answer with words. He just gave a small nod—nothing showy, nothing rehearsed. Just an acknowledgment. Between them, that was enough.

Vivienne's lips curved into something gentler. Still sharp, still framed in elegance, but no longer guarded.

"I'll be waiting for you," she said. "Come home."

Another pause.

Then her gaze shifted, smoothly, back to Dominic.

And whatever softness had been there with Damien—vanished.

Her expression didn't change dramatically. There was no sudden venom. Just that tilt of her chin, that sharpening in her eyes. The way stillness became tension.

She looked at her husband the same way she might study an unbalanced equation.

Dominic met her gaze without flinching.

But that didn't mean he looked comfortable.

******

The silence in the car was not awkward. It wasn't tense in the way most people imagined tension—no shouting, no side-eyes, no shuffling in seats.

But it was still.

A heavy kind of stillness, draped over leather and silence like a tailored coat.

Dominic kept his gaze out the window, jaw set in that carefully neutral posture that meant he was thinking far too much and would say absolutely none of it. His comm was back in his coat pocket. Whatever storm had passed between him and Vivienne had technically ended.

Technically.

Damien didn't bother offering sympathy. Why would he? That entire exchange had been Father's mess. He was the one who forgot to call. Damien had just done what was required.

He leaned back in his seat, letting his arms rest loosely, fingers steepled across his stomach. His breath was calm. Steady.

This silence?

He could live in it.

More importantly, it gave him room to think.

System.

The familiar cascade of windows blinked to life inside his vision—clean, efficient, perfectly synced. No fanfare, no delay. The synchronization remained flawless.

-------------------

[STATUS]

[Synchronization: Complete]

▶ Name: Damien Elford

▶ Age: 17

▶ Awakened Rank: G–

▶ Awakened Potential: ?????

▶ Level: 5

▶ SP: 1000

Traits:[Reforged One] [Does Not Bend] [Singularity] [Sociopath] [Anarchist] [Neural Predator] [Limit Breaker] [Resonance of Fate]

Passive Skills:

[Merchant's Intuition] [Physique of Resistance] [Predatory Focus]

----------------------------

He flicked open the sub-panel for his core, watching the digital rendering flicker to life—a perfect sphere of ambient threads orbiting a hollow center. It didn't glow, exactly. It pulsed. Quiet. Confident.

Refined.

Five minutes, he thought, lips twitching faintly.

That was all it had taken. From the moment his feet hit solid ground in that chamber, his body—wracked, shaking, bloodless—had found its rhythm again within minutes.

Five minutes to stabilize.

Dominic had said it took the fastest recorded survivor twenty-four hours.

Damien let that settle in his mind.

Twenty-four hours of screaming, reshaping, burning from the inside out just to get your core to settle.

And him?

Five. Fucking. Minutes.

He leaned his head back against the seat, smirk faint but sharp. His eyes stayed half-lidded, watching the ceiling, but his mind was already spinning through implications.

That wasn't just a win.

That was a signal.

Damien's smirk lingered, quiet and self-contained, as he scanned the rest of the panel. Numbers. Titles. Data points still forming around the raw core of something far bigger than a leveling system.

But the important thing was….

And this feeling—

This feeling—

It wasn't excitement.

It was hunger.

A low, burning coil deep in his gut. Not desperation. Not need. Just pressure. Rising. Growing.

He wanted to test it.

To move.

To grind.

He wanted to find something that could bleed and see how far his body had come. How far his power reached now. Every cell was singing with potential, and all he was doing was sitting here in the dark, wasting that song on silence.

His core didn't just pulse—it whispered. Resonance curling against the inside of his skin like it was daring him to stop holding back.

And what—he was supposed to sit around politely while everyone else played catch-up?

That didn't make sense.

None of this "wait and recover" crap did. He wasn't broken. He wasn't spent. He wasn't fragile. The system didn't even call for rest—it was ready.

And so was he.

I should be cultivating.

I should be threading mana through the core until it burns white. I should be testing the Resonance Cycle against real weight. I should be—

A shadow flicked in the corner of his vision.

Dominic was watching him now, one arm resting on the side panel, expression unreadable. Eyes narrowed just slightly—not suspicious, but calculating.

Still a strategist. Still a commander.

Still his father.

"When we return…" Dominic said slowly, voice smooth but decisive, "we'll do a quick check-up on you."

Damien didn't react right away.

Didn't flinch. Didn't tense. Just let the words settle the same way he let mana settle in his veins—natural, expected.

Because of course there'd be a check-up.

He'd stabilized his core in a fraction of the time. Walked out of the Cradle whole, aligned, and awake. If they weren't planning to tear him apart for analysis, he'd be disappointed.

He tilted his head toward Dominic, the corner of his mouth tugging upward.

"Thought you might."

Dominic gave a short nod. "It's already arranged. Once we're back at Blackthorne, you'll be scanned by the vault medics. Nothing invasive—just readings. Core fluctuations. Neural load. You've undergone a full reconfiguration, Damien. Even you don't know what's changed yet."

Damien didn't argue. He'd already felt it—raw, electric, too new to map but too sharp to ignore. Whatever had fused inside the Cradle wasn't just an upgrade.

It was a recasting.

Dominic continued, voice steady but edged with purpose. "After that… if you want it, I can assign guidance for your cultivation. Experts from the family division. High-ranking Awakened. People who've plateaued beyond what the Academies teach."

Damien almost laughed. If he wanted it?

He didn't need a baby-sitter. But access to experienced perspective? Templates to bend or break? That was useful.

Dominic's gaze held. "But that's not the priority."

Damien lifted an eyebrow. "No?"

Dominic shook his head. "No. The foundation is your mana. Your control. The resonance you built—it's yours. You need to understand every inch of it before you let someone else's interpretation poison the method."

He nodded once toward Damien's chest. "So that comes first. You'll focus on cultivation in a sealed chamber. Once the scans are done, the room will be prepped for you."

Damien's smirk widened. Still relaxed. Still leaned back in his seat like a prince waiting for the throne to roll up to him. But his eyes gleamed now.

"Won't take long."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.