Nobody moved for a long time.
The Titan was dead.
The mountain remained.
Wind swept through the valley.
Birds slowly returned to the sky.
The survivors stood scattered across the battlefield, staring at something none of them truly understood.
A mountain had died.
And somehow become a mountain.
Jax remained standing where he had landed.
Peacemaker rested across his shoulder.
Below him, the Titan's colossal body continued changing.
Stone spread across ancient flesh.
Crystal veins faded into the earth.
Grass emerged in waves.
Entire groves of trees erupted from the newly formed slopes.
Blue fruit appeared among the branches almost immediately.
Flowers bloomed.
Streams formed.
Life spread.
Not slowly.
Instantly.
As though centuries of growth had been waiting for permission.
The survivors watched in stunned silence.
One of the rescued adventurers finally whispered.
"Is it blessing the land?"
Nobody answered.
Because it certainly looked that way.
Warden approached quietly.
The knight bowed his head and then lifted it and stared toward the mountain.
"He fed kingdoms once."
Jax glanced toward him.
"The Hollow King provided food during winters. Water during droughts. Shelter during war."
His voice softened.
"Before the curse."
The words carried centuries of grief.
"The world forgot him."
Nobody spoke.
Warden eventually lowered his head.
"He would have preferred this ending."
Jax hoped so.
Gods, he hoped so.
The System chimed.
RAID COMPLETE
SPECIAL REWARD CONDITIONS MET
TITANIC REMNANTS AVAILABLE
Jax frowned.
That was new.
He approached the enormous severed head.
Unlike the rest of the body, it had not yet transformed into stone.
Blue light still pulsed beneath the skin.
Mana.
Enough mana to make even Jax pause.
"Uh..."
Bunny immediately looked concerned.
"That's never a good sound."
Jax activated Inspect.
The results made him whistle.
TITAN HEARTSTONE
UNKNOWN RANK
WARNING
WARNING
WARNING
Highly Concentrated Primordial Mana Source
Recommended Extraction Volume: Minimal
Risk of Environmental Destabilization: Extreme
"Oh."
Zee frowned.
"What does that mean?"
"It means we're absolutely not harvesting this entire mountain."
Nyxian blinked.
"Why?"
"The System just told me doing that would be a terrible idea."
The Vixens accepted this immediately.
When the System issued three warnings in a row—
People usually died.
Jax spent the next several hours examining the remains.
The conclusion became obvious.
Most of the Titan needed to remain exactly where it was.
The mountain wasn't dying.
It was healing.
Removing too much might destroy whatever miracle was taking place.
So Jax harvested only a handful of materials.
The Titan Heartstone.
A section of crystalline skull.
Several fragments of spinal crystal.
A pair of enormous crystalline eye cores.
A handful of marrow-rich bone segments.
Even that nearly filled his storage.
The mana radiating from the materials felt alive.
Ancient.
Heavy.
Important.
The moment the final piece was collected, the transformation accelerated.
The remaining body became entirely stone.
Trees multiplied.
Flowers spread.
Fruit-bearing groves appeared across entire hillsides.
Streams widened.
The mountain became a paradise.
And Jax immediately saw opportunity.
Not greed.
Opportunity.
He reached into storage.
Then pulled out something that made Zee blink.
"You brought one?"
A portal anchor.
A complete Transit Nexus gate.
Jax shrugged.
"I wasn't sure which town I'd want to connect next."
Nobody was surprised.
Jax planned for possibilities the way normal people planned for weather.
Within hours, workers from Solmere began arriving.
Then farmers.
Then surveyors.
Then merchants.
The nearby town of Darkthorn had nearly collapsed after years of economic decline.
Now?
Its future had changed overnight.
The fruit enhanced mana recovery.
The flowers improved potion potency.
Even the water carried beneficial properties.
Contracts began before sunset.
Harvest operations started before dawn.
And by the next afternoon, caravans weren't even necessary anymore.
Darkthorn had become the newest Transit Nexus destination.
The Hollow King had fed kingdoms in life.
Now he would feed them in death.
The return to Solmere took hours instead of days.
When they arrived, Guild Master Kaelor and Miriella listened to the entire story behind closed doors.
Nobody interrupted.
Nobody joked.
Nobody moved.
By the time Jax finished, Kaelor had emptied three glasses.
Miriella looked stunned.
Finally Kaelor leaned back.
"You found a Titan."
"Apparently."
"You killed a Titan."
"We helped."
Kaelor rubbed his face.
"You are becoming a paperwork problem."
"Papercuts can be deadly, I've heard."
Even Miriella snorted.
Then Jax leaned forward.
"I need three favors."
Kaelor immediately laughed.
"The irony is not lost on me."
The room relaxed slightly.
"First," Jax said, "I want Darkthorn and the Hollow King's mountain kept quiet."
Kaelor nodded immediately.
That wasn't difficult.
"There are resources there that need time to stabilize."
"Agreed."
"Second," Jax continued, "I don't want our S-Rank status becoming public."
Miriella blinked.
Kaelor stared.
"You just killed a Titan."
"Exactly."
The Guild Master looked genuinely confused.
Most adventurers wanted fame.
Jax seemed determined to avoid it.
After a long moment, Kaelor laughed.
"Done."
Miriella looked disappointed.
She'd clearly been imagining the headlines already.
"And third?"
Jax smiled.
"I need guild assistance transporting and installing a permanent Transit Nexus gate in Darkthorn."
Kaelor froze.
Then slowly lowered his glass.
"You're building another one?"
"Already built it."
Silence.
Then Kaelor poured himself another drink.
"Of course you did."
By the time the meeting ended, everything had been arranged.
Darkthorn would remain off official maps.
The Titan would remain out of public records.
The Vixens would remain quietly classified as S-Rank.
And the newest Transit Nexus would be operational within days.
Only Kaelor.
Miriella.
The Vixens.
And a handful of trusted personnel would know the truth.
The forge received visitors later that evening.
Brannic was excited.
Merriweather was excited.
That lasted approximately twelve seconds.
Then they examined the Heartstone.
Then the spinal crystal.
Then the eye cores.
Then they examined them again.
Silence filled the workshop.
Finally—
Brannic took three steps backward.
Slowly.
Merriweather did exactly the same.
Jax blinked.
"That's usually my reaction."
The dwarf pointed toward the Heartstone.
"What is that?"
"Titan material."
"No."
Brannic shook his head.
"That's not a material."
Merriweather swallowed.
Her wings twitched nervously.
"Materials are dead."
She pointed.
"That isn't."
The workshop fell silent.
Brannic folded his arms.
"No sales."
Jax blinked.
"What?"
"No sales."
The dwarf pointed at the materials.
"Nobody gets access to this."
Merriweather nodded immediately.
"Nobody."
Not Grathok.
Not nobles.
Not kingdoms.
Not anyone.
Brannic pointed toward the Vixens.
"This is for them."
Then toward Jax.
"And for you."
The upgrades took weeks.
Experiments.
Failures.
Sleepless nights.
More failures.
Then finally—
Success.
The changes were immediate.
Starpiercer felt lighter.
Sanctaris carried enough mana that Zee noticed before touching it.
Earth Breaker vibrated softly with contained force.
Lilith's Kiss became...
Odd.
Nyxian discovered that first.
The whip moved.
Not constantly.
Not dramatically.
But enough.
Sometimes she would set it down.
Then find it coiled beside her chair.
Or around her wrist.
Or resting near her bed.
Like a particularly dangerous pet.
"It likes you," Merriweather said.
"I am not discussing the emotional state of my weapon."
Lilith's Kiss immediately wrapped around her shoulders.
Everyone laughed.
Even Nyxian.
The same thing happened to the others.
Weapons answered when called.
Armor responded to intent.
Equipment returned to storage on command.
Distance no longer mattered.
It wasn't telekinesis.
It wasn't magic.
It was something stranger.
The equipment knew its owners.
And the owners knew their equipment.
Brannic studied the phenomenon for nearly an hour.
Then finally said:
"I have absolutely no idea what's happening."
Which was the most concerning thing he'd said all year.
The remaining Titan materials were locked away afterward.
Not sold.
Not traded.
Not displayed.
Future projects waited.
Ideas formed.
Possibilities grew.
Jax noticed Brannic and Merriweather exchanging looks whenever they examined the remaining Titan materials.
The kind of looks inventors gave each other when they knew they were standing on the edge of something impossible.
Neither would explain.
Not yet.
But one thing was certain.
The Hollow King's final gift had changed everything.
And somewhere in the forge, a future masterpiece was already waiting to be born.