The underground safe house smelled like roasted garlic and something herbal Jin couldn't quite place.

  ? Rosemary…?

  “Also coffee, old stone, and that faint metallic tang of blood,” Jin said. “You know the one that had soaked into fabric and wouldn't quite wash out, no matter how many times you scrubbed.”

  He inhaled once more, slower this time.

  Home. Or close enough.

  Twenty-three hours had passed since the battle with Nourma. Jin had checked his watch maybe forty times in the first six hours, then stopped because obsessively tracking minutes wouldn't make his body recover faster. The others had spent most of that time in meditation, cycling essence, and forcing their bodies to accept the advances they'd clawed out of fighting an ORDER IV ranker.

  You didn't get stronger through gentle cultivation sessions and peaceful reflection. You got stronger by refusing to die when every rational calculation said you should, then spending the aftermath forcing your mind and body to remember what that felt like.

  Rudy had broken through something fundamental in his cultivation path. Jin had watched it happen a couple of hours back.

  Rudy had been sitting cross-legged on the floor when his aura just suddenly went wham and boom, surging in power. The Heart That Refuses Ruin, that’s what Rudy called it. The first step of the first stage.

  Jin felt it suited Rudy perfectly. The technique allowed him to decide that falling down wasn't an option, making his body believe it. Simple in theory. Horrifically difficult in practice.

  On the other hand, Reyana's connection to her Mantle had deepened significantly. Jin had to spend hours just to extract and purge it all out of her system.

  Death essence was the nastiest essence Jin had ever come in contact with. It demanded one thing from its wielders: death, yours or your enemies.

  Jin's own gains were harder to quantify but no less real. He now had a realization and an idea of where he wanted to go. There were still many problems with that, and he had to prepare if he wanted to become worthy of standing next to his team. He still had the remains of Nourma to harvest, and if it was left to him, he would have jumped the gun and harvested the ORDER IV.

  ? How many times do I have to tell you… Extracting that much death… pure death out of Reyana had strained your channels and internal pathways to their limits. ?

  “Yeah, yeah.” Jin scoffed. “I know, still I can’t just be sitting idly when I have a piece of power ready to harvest!”

  ? You know what… Go on, try harvesting. I’d love to see you burst apart! ?

  “Well, seeing you’re so sincere in your warnings… I will be foolish not to heed your word, bro!” Jin said.

  ? … Coward. ?

  ???

  Right now, Reyana was trying very hard not to laugh at Rudy's expense.

  "I'm just saying," Rudy insisted, sprawled across one of the safe house's battered chairs like a cat claiming territory, "the fact that my arms didn't break the second time I grabbed that sledgehammer is objective proof of improvement."

  "That's not how improvement works," Reyana said with amusement. "Well, now that I think about it… You are indeed right."

  “See!” Rudy exclaimed. “I knew you would understand—”

  “Improvement in being even more stupid!” Reyana interjected with a chuckle.

  "yeah…” Rudy frowned. “No!”

  “Yes,” Reyana nodded.

  “No!”

  "My point exactly."

  Rudy threw a crumpled piece of paper at her. She didn't react beyond a slight upturn at the corner of her mouth. "Wasn’t that the sheet on which you were writing what Dad asked of you?"

  "…Oh shit." Rudy's eyebrow rose. "Where”

  Reyana snapped her fingers.

  The paper ignited midair, curling into blackened fragments before it hit the floor.

  “Oops,” she said mildly. “My fingers slipped.”

  Rudy exhaled through his nose and slumped back in his chair. “Women.”

  The temperature dipped.

  It was subtle at first, but Rudy felt it immediately. Reyana’s eyebrows lifted by a fraction, her gaze burning on Rudy.

  “What was that?” she asked.

  Rudy opened his mouth on instinct, then closed it just as fast. Something about her glare reminded him of Amelia. Jin’s cousin, who looked like an angel, but get on her wrong side and she was scarier than a demon. He had learnt that the hard way.

  He swallowed.

  “What I meant,” Rudy said carefully, hands lifting in surrender, “is that as a man, I am prone to making wrong judgments.”

  The cold eased. Slightly.

  From the kitchen came the steady hiss of hot oil, followed by Jin’s voice, “Rudy has invested at least several hundred stat points into [Dumbness].”

  “Hey!” Rudy snapped.

  “Well,” Reyana called back without looking away from him, “your plan to fight an Underlord ranker involved an impressive amount of ‘hopefully we don’t die.’...”

  “The contingency was ‘don’t die,’” Jin said, his head rising over the half-wall. "And yet here we all are. Not dead. I'd call that a success."

  "Guys, guys!” Rudy said, straightening with renewed confidence, “Let’s not forget both of you were passed out on the street, and it was me who hauled your arses safe until Joe showed up.”

  Reyana clicked her tongue.

  “Tch.”

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  “You’re welcome, by the way,” Rudy added smugly.

  "Yeah, you have my undying gratitude for that, bro!" Jin replied, already disappearing back into the kitchen. “Eternally. Also, food’s almost ready, so save the ego stroking until after you’ve eaten.”

  Something aromatic hit the air, rich and sharp enough to make Rudy’s stomach growl loud enough to embarrass him.

  "When did you learn how to cook?" Rudy shifted in his chair. "I've never seen you do anything in a kitchen except boil water for instant noodles."

  "Joe's teaching me," Jin said. "Says cooking helps with essence control. Something about managing multiple processes at once, and precise timing, translates to better combat spell management. Also, stress relief."

  Reyana and Rudy exchanged glances.

  "They're bonding well," Reyana said.

  "It's weird," Rudy whispered.

  "Probably."

  "I can still hear you." He sounded amused.

  Rudy leaned closer to Reyana and whispered, “Now he’s talking like Joe.”

  He lowered his voice further. “It’s the Joeover virus.”

  A small door opened, and books dropped straight down.

  “Ow!” Rudy yelped as several hardbound volumes bounced off his head and slid into his lap.

  Reyana covered her mouth.

  Her shoulders shook once before she looked away, failing spectacularly at hiding her laughter.

  ???

  After a couple of minutes, Rudy was focused on finishing his journal entry, which Salvatore insisted on writing, especially after a fight.

  Reyana was reading a book when movement from the kitchen caught their attention.

  Jin emerged first, and Rudy had to physically bite his tongue to keep from laughing loud enough to be rude.

  Jin wore a pink apron. Covered in little cartoon cats with oversized heads and expressions that ranged from cheerful to maniacally happy.

  Joe followed a moment later, wearing an identical apron, and the sight of an underlord ranker in a pink cat apron carrying a steaming platter was really absurd.

  "Not. One. Word." Jin pointed a serving spoon at both of them. His expression dared them to comment.

  "I wasn't going to say anything." Rudy lied so badly that even he didn't believe it. The smile threatening to split his face rather undermined the innocent tone.

  "The aprons were all I had clean," Joe said without any apparent embarrassment, setting his platter on the table. "And before you ask… yes, they were a gift. No, I don't know why someone thought an Underlord needed cat-themed kitchen wear. Yes, I kept them anyway because they're surprisingly well-made. Good stitching and quality craftsmanship."

  "It suits you," Reyana murmured, but her eyes were already tracking the food appearing on the table.

  The first platter held a turkey.

  Not carved yet. Whole. Skin browned and tight, glossed with fat and herbs, steam still lifting from it in lazy curls that carried the smell of salt, butter, and something roasted long enough to matter.

  “This is a Vespra Rooster, high overmortal spirit beast.” Joe set it down with care. Had brined it overnight before storing it in my dimensional storage,” he said. “Kept it simple. Salt, citrus peel, there are spirit herbs though.”

  The second platter came next, heavy with sides. Potatoes whipped smooth and pale, butter melting into shallow craters. Green beans cooked just enough to still snap, tossed with garlic and oil instead of being drowned in it. A dish of stuffing dense with bread and onion and sausage, the top crisped dark where it had caught the heat.

  “Nothing too fancy,” Joe added, glancing at them. “But after three small kittens won against an Underlord, I had to do at least this much.”

  A third dish followed. Ornaberry sauce, tart enough to make your mouth water just looking at it, studded with orange peel. Another plate held thick slices of bread, crusty and torn instead of cut, still warm when Jin set it down.

  Joe placed a pitcher. “It’s called orcasun, a delicacy from the eastern lands.”

  "You guys made all this in an hour?" Rudy asked.

  "Hour and a half," Jin corrected, removing the ridiculous apron and tossing it vaguely toward the kitchen. "And Joe did most of the work. I just assisted and managed not to burn anything. Low bar, but I cleared it."

  "Cooking is magic." Joe took a seat at the table. "Which is just controlled essence reactions with different materials. Once you understand the principles, execution is straightforward. Temperature control, timing, and proper reagent combination. Same skills, different application."

  "That is absolutely not how normal people think about cooking," Reyana said.

  "I'm not normal person."

  "Fair point."

  They served themselves in silence that felt earned rather than awkward. And for several long minutes, the only sounds were eating noises and the occasional involuntary groan of satisfaction.

  Rudy took his first bite of the roasted meat and had to stop. Just stop moving, stop thinking, stop everything except experiencing what was happening in his mouth. "This is really good."

  “I know now if you are not eating,” Jin said. “I’ll gladly take that off your plate.”

  “Oh… hell nah!”

  ???

  Rudy leaned back after finishing his second helping, one hand on his stomach. "New rule. After every life-threatening mission, someone has to cook like this. It's mandatory now. I'm making it law."

  "Seconded," Reyana agreed. "Joe hardly cooks. Jin, learn all you can from him…. Though we could skip the life-threatening missions and just have the food?"

  "Where's the growth in that?" Jin asked.

  "The not dying part seems like adequate motivation for growth."

  "Details."

  Joe cleared his throat, drawing attention without raising his voice. His expression had shifted from relaxed to something carrying more weight. The casual part of the meal was ending. "I'm proud of you three."

  Rudy felt something warm expand in his chest. Reyana's hands went still on her utensils. Jin looked sideways, expression unreadable but not quite managing the nonchalance he was going for.

  "You took down an Underlord. Not just any Underlord… Nourma was a legitimate threat even by ORDER IV standards. Sure, he may not have a natural aura, but he made up for it with all the blessings." Joe's gaze moved across each of them in turn, meeting eyes, making sure they understood this wasn't casual praise. "That means something. More than you probably realize right now."

  "Though," and Joe's expression shifted into something more serious, "I should mention that Threnval escaped."

  "What? Really?" Jin said.

  “I saw your domain... everything was dark and red!" Rudy said.

  “Yeah, Joe. That’s not very like you…” Reyana said with a frown. “You should have killed it.”

  "Well," Joe sighed, and for a moment looked every one of his years. "Threnval is a monster. His fighting capabilities were beyond a Lord ranker, and when you factor in divine blessings, connection to the Veil, and pure combat experience... the fight was never guaranteed."

  "We would have to make sure the next time we see him, he is 6 feet under," Jin said flatly. “Threnval can access the veil to locate us. We don’t know if there are more cults capable of doing this, but…”

  "He will show up, eventually. Probably not for weeks… I wounded him badly, and his connection to the Darkened One was severed during the fight. He'll need time to recover." Joe's expression turned grim. "But yes. We need to be more vigilant. We should limit ourselves to travel under a presence suppression spell."

  “Agreed.” Jin nodded.

  "That darkness you used," Rudy said around the spoon, then pulled it out because talking with utensils in your mouth was apparently rude even underground, "was that your domain? I've only heard bits and pieces. Dad said domains are... what was the phrase... 'proof of lordship manifest.' That you control everything inside like a god."

  "Not quite like a god. But not entirely wrong either." Joe's smile was slight but genuine. “The darkness was Threnval’s domain, a very nasty one.”

  "A domain is something you need to master to become a Lord rank or ORDER V, whichever terminology you prefer,” Joe said. “Domain is the external manifestation of your Lord sparks, your Mantle, and your path, all crystallized into territory you can impose on reality itself. Inside your domain, normal rules bend to accommodate your nature. Your enemies suffer significant suppression. It's not omnipotence, but it's the closest thing mortals can achieve."

  "But yesterday wasn't a full domain," Jin said.

  "Correct. Both Threnval and I are one step away from true ascension to Lord rank. We can force a portion of our domains into reality for a limited duration. Bounded fields that have some domain properties but are restricted in scope, power, and sustainability." Joe made a gesture with his hands, holding something fragile. "Think of it as a preview. A taste of what's coming. But nowhere near the real thing in scale or capability."

  "And in a full domain?" Reyana asked.

  "In a full domain, Threnval wouldn't have escaped. I would have had complete control over spatial manipulation within the boundaries. His attempts to use the Veil's power would have been suppressed or redirected. The fight would have ended definitively within minutes." Joe paused, expression distant. "But I'm not there yet. Neither is he, which is why the fight between us could have gone either way. We're evenly matched right now."

  “Yeah, only if you deployed your domain first,” Jin said.

  Joe paused, looking at Jin with a raised eyebrow. “That’s specific, don’t know how you knew that, but yeah, if I managed to catch him in my domain first.”

  Jin stood and stretched, joints popping softly as the last of the tension worked its way out of his shoulders.

  “Speaking of growth,” he said, “while you two were meditating, Joe and I went over the things that nearly got us killed.”

  “And?” Rudy prompted.

  “And we fixed and made a couple of new items,” Jin replied.

  He lifted a hand, and a box appeared. “Who’s excited for the upgrades!”

  ~~~

  A/N: A bit of slower chapter before we enter the final arcs of BOOK ONE.

  PS: Psst~ Psst~ Advanced chapters are already up on patreon. It would be awesome if you guys, you know...

  ? ? ?