Seven days.
For exactly one hundred and sixty-eight hours, the subterranean vault of Deep Karakorum had been silent.
There were no P.A.C.I.F.I.C. Cleaners breaching the rock-fold. No Alpha predators clawing at the sealed entrance. The Warlord's cover-up at Extraction Point Delta had held; the corporate elites had flagged the sector as a total loss and severed their tracking feeds.
For the first time since the Tutorial ripped them from their lives, the Faction had time to breathe.
Will stood near the edge of the Black Pool, watching the steady rhythm of the camp. The [Warlord's Star-Moss] had carpeted the cavern floor, casting a soft, violet glow over the stone. In the center of the clearing, Tyson and Don were sparring, their movements sharp under the light of the dormant Abyssal Forge.
The week of silence had given Bram the Forgemaster time to sweat. Tyson was deflecting blows with a pair of jagged, purple-scaled gauntlets forged from the Alpha's fangs. Don tracked him over the sight of his reinforced, bone-plated P.A.C.I.F.I.C. crossbow.
But the most surprising upgrade wasn't the gear. It was the camp's newest nursemaid.
"Don't you dare put that in your mouth," Curtis snapped, snatching a glowing blue mushroom from a toddler's hand.
The former actor looked miserable. For the past week, Curtis had lived under the iron jurisdiction of Helen, the Faction's [Quartermaster]. Since Will refused to give him a weapon, Helen had assigned him the only job left: diaper duty and chasing the children around the grotto.
He had resisted once. On day two, Curtis had thrown a tantrum about being treated like a servant. Allison, who had been shaping a stone table nearby, didn't even look up. She simply flicked her fingers and opened a smooth, ten-foot chute directly beneath Curtis's boots, sliding him into a dark pit for an hour until he apologized.
He hadn't complained since.
Over the last three days, Curtis had actually started trying. He was exhausted, covered in spit-up, and constantly muttering, but he was doing the work. He had managed to earn a fraction of Helen's trust—enough that she allowed him to take the older children to the far ridge to skip pebbles into the ravines.
Will watched him from across the camp, his arms crossed.
"You're actually letting him watch them," Maddie said, stepping up beside him. She wasn't wearing her Mythic carapace, just her fitted kinetic-weave undersuit.
"Helen trusts him," Will said. "And if he tries anything, Allison will drop him in a hole again."
Maddie snorted, leaning against the wall. "I give it ten minutes before he cries about his back."
A grinding crack echoed from the far ridge.
Will and Maddie's heads snapped up. Up on the rocky ledge, a boy had misjudged a jump, kicking a heavy boulder loose from its resting place.
The boulder rolled. It hit the edge, plummeted twenty feet, and smashed into the cavern floor with a deafening crash. The bedrock fractured and caved in entirely, revealing a dark, forgotten tunnel beneath the vault.
From the depths of the hole, a shriek tore through the air.
A mutated Dire Scavenger Rat—the size of a wolf and gorged on ambient magic—burst out of the fractured floor. Its eyes were milky and blind, but its oversized incisors snapped as it leaped toward the ridge, aiming directly at the screaming child.
Will didn't have time to draw his bow. The beast was too close.
But Curtis was closer.
Maybe it was panic. Maybe it was a spark of the heroism he usually faked. As the rat launched, Curtis screamed, squeezed his eyes shut, and dove off the ledge.
He collided with the rat mid-air.
The beast shrieked as Curtis's weight slammed into its ribs, ruining its trajectory. They tangled together in a blur of limbs and fur, tumbling over the edge and straight down into the hole the boulder had created.
"Curtis!" Don yelled, dropping his training gear and sprinting toward the ridge.
The core fighters converged on the fractured hole. Will slid to a halt at the edge, his [Warlord's Aura] flaring as he peered into the dark.
Thirty feet down, the giant Dire Rat lay crushed and motionless beneath the multi-ton boulder that had fallen first.
Ten feet above the carcass, dangling from the sheer wall, was Curtis. He had managed to draw the small combat knife Will allowed him to keep for rations, burying it to the hilt in a narrow fissure. He was clinging to the handle with both hands, his legs kicking over the empty air.
"Help!" Curtis shrieked, his voice echoing up the shaft. "I'm slipping! I killed it, but I'm slipping!"
Will stared at the dead rat under the rock, then at Curtis. The grifter hadn't killed anything; gravity and a lucky stone had done the work.
Allison stepped to the edge, her eyes glowing gold. She didn't bother with ropes. With an upward flick of her wrist, the stone wall beneath Curtis shifted. A flat ledge extruded beneath his boots. Once he had his footing, Allison elevated the stone platform, riding him up the shaft like a geological elevator.
The moment his boots hit solid ground, Curtis collapsed, gasping. The children crept over, their eyes wide.
"Did... did you slay the monster, Mr. Curtis?" a little girl asked.
Curtis coughed, clutching his ribs. "I had to," he wheezed, puffing his chest out. "It was going right for you. We wrestled in the air... a fierce beast, but I drove my blade home before we hit the bottom."
Don looked at Will, his eyes narrowing. He knew his brother. He stepped toward the edge to verify the story.
Will's hand shot out, grabbing Don's shoulder. He shook his head once. A silent command. Leave it.
Will stepped forward, looking down at Curtis. The actor flinched, expecting Will to call the bluff and humiliate him.
Instead, Will extended a hand.
Curtis stared at it before reaching up. Will hauled him to his feet with a single pull.
"You saved the kid, Curtis," Will said, his voice carrying across the camp. He clapped a hand on the actor's shoulder. "Good work."
Curtis's eyes widened. The lie hadn't just survived; the Warlord had endorsed it. A genuine smile broke across his face as the children cheered, rushing to hug his legs. For the first time, the grifter wasn't smiling because of a con. He was smiling because he liked being the hero.
A chime sounded in Will's periphery.
[Title Earned by Faction Member (Curtis): Fortuitous Fraud]
Effect: +5% Charisma when exaggerating a combat encounter.
Will suppressed a laugh, swiping the prompt away.
You let him keep the lie, Khan's voice rumbled with tactical approval. A man who learns to love the taste of glory will stop eating garbage. You manipulate the soul as well as the sword, Warlord.
Will turned away, catching Maddie's eye. The Vanguard was leaning on her sword. She had seen the bottom of the hole. She knew why Will had given Curtis the win. Her assessing gaze softened into something deep and fiercely loyal.
Hours later, the cavern was quiet. The camp was asleep, bathed in the violet pulse of the moss.
Will sat on his bedroll inside his tent, pulling up the Faction UI. Deep Karakorum was mathematically secure.
The canvas flap pushed aside. Allison stepped in, dressed in her undershirt and cargo pants. She offered him a tired, beautiful smile, the golden tether of the [Warlord's Anchor] humming warmly between them.
"The kids are asleep," Allison whispered. "Curtis is snoring. I think he exhausted himself signing invisible autographs."
Will let out a quiet laugh, pulling her down beside him. "He earned it today. Even if he tripped into it."
The canvas flap pushed aside a second time.
Maddie stood in the entrance. She wasn't wearing her armor. She wasn't carrying her sword. She simply stood there, her athletic frame silhouetted by the glowing moss outside.
Allison didn't look surprised. She shifted her weight on the bedroll, a quiet smile touching her lips as she looked at her oldest friend. Maddie let the flap fall shut, sealing the three of them in the dark.
The air in the small tent grew dense. A translucent blue prompt flickered in the corner of Will's vision.
[System Alert: Foundation for Faction Synergy (Warlord's Vanguard) detected. Conditions pending...]
Maddie took a slow step forward, her gaze burning with an undeniable heat. She looked at Will, who was staring at her as if he'd forgotten how to breathe.
"You've been a very good boss today, Will," Maddie whispered, her voice dropping to a husky register as she closed the final gap. "I think it's time you collected your reward."
Deep in Will's mind, the soul of Genghis Khan let out a booming, earth-shaking growl.
Finally.