The system chimed again—soft, universal.
Leon felt it as a familiar pressure behind his eyes as he and Elena walked along the inner avenue, arms linked. Morning traffic parted around them naturally, the city already accustomed to their presence together.
[Global Notification Acknowledged]
Leon opened his interface while walking.
[System Storage]
High-Grade Mana Stone ×4
Mid-Grade Mana Stone ×38
Low-Grade Mana Stone ×186
He exhaled slowly.
"That much?" Elena murmured, peeking sideways without breaking stride.
"More than I thought," Leon replied. "Enough to be a problem if I sit on it."
She nodded once. "Then exchange it. Elnor's safer—for now."
"For now," he echoed.
They turned toward the exchange district, their pace unhurried. To anyone watching, they were just another married couple on a morning walk—quiet, coordinated, dangerously composed.
Neither of them noticed the two figures exiting the exchange hall across the plaza.
And Lucas didn't notice them either.
He and Adithya had just stepped back into the sunlight, the faint hum of the exchange seals still lingering in the air.
"That place drains you," Lucas said, rolling his shoulder. "Even when you're not fighting."
Adithya glanced back once. "Because it turns effort into numbers."
They walked on.
As they passed beneath the last of the wedding lanterns—now dim and slowly descending—Adithya looked up. "These are still from yesterday's wedding?"
"Yeah," Lucas replied. "Aurelion lets them fade on their own. Symbolic or something."
Adithya nodded, then after a pause asked, "You seem to know a lot about what happens here."
Lucas hesitated.
"…I have friends," he said. "They're already established."
Adithya looked at him sideways. "Friends?"
"Leon and Elena," Lucas continued casually, careful not to emphasize the names. "They're from Earth too. Strong. Capable. They got here earlier than most of us."
"How strong?" Adithya asked.
Lucas didn't answer immediately.
"Strong enough," he finally said.
They continued walking.
Behind them, Leon and Elena entered the exchange hall from a different street, their presence subtly shifting the air. Leon was already calculating conversion rates, considering how much to exchange, how much to keep.
Two paths crossed within the same morning.
Two groups tied together by the same world.
Yet neither side felt the other pass.
Aurelion, vast and indifferent, simply recorded the transactions—
And waited.