Names were already being remembered.
Alaric felt it before anyone spoke to him.
The shift was subtle—too subtle for ordinary cultivators to notice—but it pressed against him all the same, like a change in air density after a storm had already passed. Eyes lingered longer. Conversations dipped when he moved too close. Even the hum of the auction hall's formations seemed to hesitate as he stepped away from the platform.
Recognition had replaced curiosity.
That was worse.
He did not leave immediately.
Leaving too fast would confirm suspicion. Staying too long would invite examination. Alaric chose the space between—long enough to appear ordinary, short enough to avoid being cornered.
As he turned toward the exit, a presence slid into his path.
An elder.
Not the kind that radiated pressure openly. This one stood with his hands clasped behind his back, posture relaxed, cultivation folded inward so neatly it was almost invisible.
Almost.
"Walking away already?" the elder asked mildly.
Alaric stopped.
He inclined his head just enough to be polite. "I've made my purchase."
"So I saw." The elder's gaze flicked—not to Alaric's face, but to the dull metal token at his waist. "Provisional."
"Yes."
The elder smiled faintly. "You spent like someone without one."
Alaric met his eyes calmly. "The item justified the cost."
"Did it?" the elder asked.
A beat passed.
The elder gestured lightly toward the side passage leading out of the hall. "Walk with me."
It was not a request.
Alaric complied.
They moved through a quieter corridor where the noise of the auction dulled into background hum. As they walked, Alaric became aware of the differences between them—not in cultivation alone, but in ease.
The elder reached once into empty air.
A small jade vial appeared in his hand.
No pouch. No sleeve movement.
A storage ring.
The elder noticed Alaric's glance and chuckled softly. "Still watching hands, even now?"
Old habit, Alaric thought.
"Careful," the elder continued. "Observation can be dangerous when it goes both ways."
They stopped near a sealed door etched with layered formations.
"I'll be direct," the elder said. "You are unregistered, injured, and recently involved in a disturbance. And yet you correctly identified the value of an unstable beast core that most people here dismissed."
Alaric said nothing.
The elder studied him openly now. "That combination attracts interest."
"From whom?" Alaric asked.
The elder smiled again. "From people like me."
Silence stretched.
Then the elder spoke again. "You know that core can't be absorbed normally."
"Yes."
"And that attempting to refine it with standard methods would cripple you."
"Yes."
The elder's smile faded slightly. "Then why buy it?"
Alaric answered without hesitation. "Because I don't intend to use standard methods."
The air shifted.
Just a fraction.
The elder's gaze sharpened. "Careful."
"I am," Alaric replied.
Another pause.
The elder nodded once, as if confirming something to himself. "Good."
He turned and waved a hand. The sealed door behind them hummed, then opened.
Beyond it lay a narrow chamber—bare stone, reinforced walls, a single table at its center. A place meant for conversation without witnesses.
"Sit," the elder said.
Alaric did.
The elder remained standing.
"You are not being detained," the elder said calmly. "Nor are you being recruited. This is neither punishment nor favor."
"Then what is it?" Alaric asked.
"A test," the elder replied. "And an opportunity."
Alaric waited.
"Your provisional tag limits you," the elder continued. "No high-grade auctions. No sect libraries. No leaving the settlement without notice."
Alaric nodded. "I'm aware."
"I can remove some of those restrictions," the elder said. "Temporarily."
At a cost.
"What do you want?" Alaric asked.
The elder's eyes gleamed faintly. "There is a location outside the settlement. Officially abandoned. Unstable. Dangerous."
Unofficially watched.
"A remnant site," the elder continued. "The formations there have begun to misalign. Beasts behave erratically. And recently…"
He paused.
"…the land has started responding to presence."
Alaric's pulse quickened.
Barely.
"You want me to investigate," he said.
"I want you to enter," the elder corrected. "Alone. Observe. Retrieve anything of note."
"And if I refuse?"
The elder spread his hands. "Then your provisional status remains exactly what it is. And attention will continue to accumulate."
A net, tightening slowly.
Alaric considered.
The task was dangerous.
But danger had structure.
Being watched without context did not.
"I accept," he said.
The elder nodded. "Good."
He reached into empty air again and produced a thin jade slip—plain, unmarked. Not a cultivation manual. A directive.
"This grants temporary passage beyond the settlement wards," the elder said. "Three days. No extension."
He placed it on the table.
Alaric did not reach for it immediately.
"What happens if I find nothing?" he asked.
The elder's expression cooled. "Then we learn you are not as interesting as you appear."
"And if I find something?" Alaric asked.
The elder smiled. "Then your name stops being remembered… and starts being discussed."
Alaric took the jade slip.
Cold.
Temporary.
Like everything else.
As he stood to leave, the elder spoke once more.
"Be careful with that beast core," he said quietly. "If you survive the site, it may be the least dangerous thing you're carrying."
Alaric inclined his head and turned toward the exit.
Outside the chamber, the noise of the auction hall rushed back in—voices, movement, the normal chaos of people who did not yet know what they were stepping around.
Alaric moved through it steadily.
By the time he stepped into the street, the sun had begun to dip.
Three days.
A site the sect didn't want to enter themselves.
And land that responded to presence.
Alaric looked toward the edge of the settlement, where stone gave way to broken ground and old scars in the earth waited without invitation.
This was not an opportunity.
It was a narrowing path.
And he intended to walk it anyway.