Outside the ancient ruin, the lower ranks waited.
Beginners, Initiates, Adepts, Advanced, and the remaining Experts who could not open the barrier themselves floated in a loose, tense cloud of auras. Dozens of them. Then more. The crowd kept swelling as new arrivals continued to appear at the edges of the void, drawn by the lingering energy signature. The last Master had entered some time ago. No new overwhelming presence had appeared since then. The torn gaps in the barrier still hung open like wounds that refused to close. Jagged edges of broken seal glowed faintly in the darkness, marking the places where Masters had simply ripped their way through.
The void around the ruin felt heavier than before. Thick with unspoken greed. Thick with calculation. Thick with the kind of silence that comes right before a storm breaks.
Everyone watched the gaps. Everyone measured the distance. Everyone calculated the odds.
