The gravel path winding back to the student dormitories cut between gnarled oak trees and weathered marble statues of long-dead border generals, their features worn smooth by centuries of wind and void-touched rain. Laia walked with her hands tucked deep into the sleeves of her scuffed academy robe, her boots scuffing loose pebbles across the stones, her mind still turning over Lord Thorne's final pronouncement.
One rare-tier inherent trait, in one academic year.
The other apprentices had looked like he'd asked them to climb the highest peak in the empire barehanded. Even Murong Xue, with the full weight of the imperial treasury behind her, had pressed her lips tight, already mentally tallying the cost of every blessed relic and ritual she'd need to force a new trait into her divine realm.
Laia slowed to a stop beside a mossy stone bench, glanced over her shoulder to make sure the path was empty, and tapped the faint rune etched into the inside of her left wrist. A translucent status panel flickered into view, glowing soft pale blue in the dappled shade.
Divine Realm: Twin-Border Marches
Rank: Late Third Tier
Inherent Traits:
Soulbane (Rare) – All subjects deal innate soul-eroding damage. Void and abyssal creatures suffer accelerated corruption breakdown on contact.
Abyss-Touched (Uncommon) – Realm veil is naturally thin. Subjects gain minor resistance to all corrupting energies. Void-derived material production efficiency increased by 25%.
Void Resistance (Rare) – Subjects suffer negligible adverse effects from low to mid-tier void fog. Realm structural integrity remains stable through regular void storm cycles.
Paradox Symbiosis (Epic) – Dual-aspect realm sustains itself through cyclic energy conversion. Core essence upkeep cost reduced by 40%. Subject adaptability drastically enhanced.
Laia stared at the glowing list for a long, quiet minute, then tapped the rune again to shut the panel off.
Four traits. One of them epic tier.
And Lord Thorne was over here asking them to earn one rare-tier in twelve months.
She huffed a quiet laugh and kept walking, kicking a loose pebble down the path. It wasn't like she could tell anyone. Letting word get out that a broke scholarship student had four inherent traits—one epic—would be like nailing a giant "come exploit me" sign to her dorm door. The imperial family, the Shaw clan, every old noble house in the empire would come crawling, wanting to study her realm, marry her into their bloodline, leech whatever fluke had given her this much raw potential before she'd even hit Fourth Tier.
No thank you. She had enough trouble paying her monthly essence maintenance fees without adding political scheming to the list.
Her thoughts drifted back to Zhou Han, the third apprentice, and his damaged divine core. Void essence burn, from charging into the Exile Marches without proper resistance training. Lord Thorne had said a void core could fix it, but that they were contraband, scarce, not worth wasting on a student reckless enough to get himself hurt in the first place.
Laia frowned.
She'd stumbled into a deep void pocket once, almost a year prior. She'd been patching a thin spot in her realm's veil on the cheap, and she'd slipped right through by accident. On the other side, coiled around a chunk of pure void core the size of her head, had been a Fifth Tier void warden. She'd run for it, obviously. She'd only been early Third Tier back then; the thing would've eaten her alive.
But now? With her subjects' resistance, and the tunnel tactics they'd perfected in the tournament, and all the slime charges and frost traps they'd built since?
Maybe… maybe not impossible.
If she could get her hands on even a shard of that void core, she could sell it for enough essence crystals to keep her realm running for five years. Easily. Maybe ten, if she found the right discrete buyer.
She was so busy daydreaming about stacks of glowing crystals that she almost walked straight past the campus mission board. The great oak slab was bolted to the side of the administration building, plastered with hundreds of tattered parchment scraps: essay tutoring, minor realm repair work, auxiliary border patrol shifts, even beast-taming lessons.
One notice pinned in the lower corner caught her eye.
Exile Marches Foraging Run – Low Risk
Escort a supply caravan to the outer perimeter. Harvest abyssal moss and void-thistle sap. Duration: 3 days. Reward: 1,200 divine crystals, plus 20% share of all harvested materials. Prerequisite: proven low-tier void resistance.
Laia's eyes lit up.
Twelve hundred crystals.
For three days of picking weeds, basically.
That was almost enough to cover two full months of realm upkeep. And she'd been needing more abyssal moss for the underground farm expansion anyway.
She ripped the notice off the board, folded it small enough to tuck into her belt pouch, and kept walking. As soon as the seven-day Abyss chamber trial was over, she'd sign up. Easy money.
By the time she let herself into her tiny dorm room—a cramped single in the cheapest student wing, with a cracked window and a lumpy straw mattress—she was already mentally running through supply lists for both assignments. She locked the door, sat cross-legged on the floor, and closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, she was standing in the great central cavern of her divine realm. The air smelled of turned earth, wood smoke, and baking rye bread. The three tournament clan leaders were already gathered around the stone war table, along with Vorath, Elowen, and Gimli, all leaning over a crudely drawn map of the standard Abyss trial chamber layout.
"Took you long enough," Vorath rumbled, not looking up from the map. "Heard the old war horse gave you homework. Seven days in low-tier Abyss, no resupplies, no divine heals."
Laia blinked. "How did you—"
"Messenger crows gossip with the forest ravens," Elowen said, smiling as she placed tiny clay tokens on the map. "Word travels fast. We've known since an hour ago."
Laia sighed. Of course they had.
"Lord Thorne wants ninety percent survival rate from me," she said, pulling a stool up to the table. "Seventy percent for everyone else."
Borgul grunted and kicked a loose pebble across the stone floor. "Ninety? That's it? We've survived worse void storms in the western valleys. Low-tier Abyss is barely stronger than a foggy Tuesday back home."
"Only problem is the rations," Korg said, thumping a fist on the table hard enough to make the clay tokens jump. "Seven days of dried meat and moss bread? Boring. We should bring the crab preserves. And the chili powder."
Lirael looked up from the map, her pale eyes glinting in the moss-light. "We bring foraging tools too. Low-tier Abyss grows blackcap mushrooms and stone root. Both edible. Both sell for decent coin in the mortal markets. We can stock up while we're there."
Laia stared at them.
Every other apprentice in the academy was probably panicking right now—burning blessed incense, memorizing warding chants, spending a fortune on protective talismans for their subjects. And her clan leaders were over here arguing about seasoning and side profits.
She shook her head, but a small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.
"Fine," she said. "Bring the spices. Bring the foraging bags. But no starting wars with the local Abyss spawn. We're there to pass the assignment, not conquer the place."
Gimli snickered from where he was polishing a new set of stone picks. "No promises, lass. If they've got good ore veins down there, all bets are off."
Laia rolled her eyes, but she didn't argue. She leaned forward and tapped the air above the table, bringing up her divine trait panel for everyone to see.
"Other thing. Lord Thorne says we all need to unlock one new rare-tier trait this year. I was thinking… Abyss Materia Affinity. Let us process corrupted materials without them rotting. Make the farms more efficient. Turn Abyss spawn drops into usable stuff instead of just tossing it."
Vorath nodded slowly, his tail tapping once against the stone floor. "Smart. Practical. Fits the realm. Better than wasting essence on flashy combat traits we don't actually need."
"Then it's settled," Laia said. "We focus on Abyss Materia Affinity this year. We use the trial to get a head start. And we don't tell anyone how many traits we already have. Got it?"
A low, rumbling murmur of agreement went around the table.
Outside the cavern, a distant dragon roared. Somewhere in the lower tunnel networks, slimes bounced and gurgled as they tended to the moss farms. The warm smell of baking bread drifted in from the surface granaries.
For the first time all day, Laia felt her shoulders relax.
The apprenticeship would be fine. The trial would be fine. The trait would be fine.
And if she played her cards right, she might even make enough crystals to stop worrying about rent for a while.
What more could a god ask for?