The sun didn't reach the Gilded Quarters.
Not because it couldn't—but because it wasn't allowed.
Neo-Ilium's upper towers reflected light like mirrored spears, blinding the city below while bathing their own floors in perpetual gold. Everything here gleamed—glasswalk towers, chi-smoothing cobblestone, breathing walls that filtered toxins with trademarked biotech.
And stamped on everything: the Hydracores seal.
A serpent, devouring its own tail.
Jian Lin didn't belong here.
His hoodie was damp from Skyfall's rain. His boots were patched. His chi signature flickered like static. But inside him, something was burning—a path branching without permission.
> [SEED PATH SYNC: 14%]
[ACTIVE STYLE: IGNITED THREAD v0.1 | CHI FLOW: STABLE]
[RECOGNIZED STATUS: UNLICENSED | MASKING ACTIVE]
He stepped off the maglift into District Halo-7, keeping his gaze down as street-clean drones glided past on silent runners.
Surveillance nodes pinged his implant. He let the signal bounce through a dozen junk protocols Wren had buried in his firmware.
Still… he felt it.
Eyes.
---
They blocked the crosswalk like statues with breath.
Two masked disciples stood to either side, but the center figure stepped forward—a man dressed in crimson silk-trim robes lined with chi-threaded gold. Impossibly symmetrical. Engineered perfect.
Kavien Sunblade.
Junior Blade Master of the Jade Assembly. Sect-sealed. Licensed. Trained in corporate vaults since birth.
Jian had seen him once, years ago—on a screen.
Now he stood here, glowing with rank.
"Unregistered chi," Kavien said, eyes narrowing. "Flame-tainted. Broken Cloud signature. And you're letting it leak in public?"
Jian didn't reply.
"You're either very brave," Kavien said, "or very disposable."
He rolled up his sleeve, revealing combat tattoos glowing with active contracts—kill licenses encoded into his skin.
"I'll offer you a choice. Kneel. Submit your scroll. Or die with a name no one will remember."
Jian's hands tingled. Chi curled around his knuckles like smoke.
"I just started writing," he said. "I'm not deleting anything."
Kavien sighed.
"Then I'll show you the difference between style and discipline."
---
The first strike was beauty in motion.
A ripple of invisible chi lashed outward—pure force so sharp it carved through a cargo crate behind Jian without touching it. Jian ducked, slide-rolled into position, then countered with a palm burst from Ignited Thread.
Kavien caught it mid-flow. Redirected it with an open hand.
> [JADE TECHNIQUE: WIND-SILK REDIRECTION v2.9]
[EFFECT: DEFLECTION + KINETIC ABSORPTION]
The blow rebounded into Jian's own chest.
He hit the ground hard, sliding across polished tile.
> [ALERT: CHI FEEDBACK LOOP DETECTED]
[COUNTERMEASURE: SEED PATH EMERGENCY RESPONSE TRIGGERED]
He coughed once, blood in his mouth.
Then he planted his hands. Grounded his breath. Focused inward—not on fire, but on stillness.
Like roots sinking into deep soil.
His chi changed.
Not fast. Not sharp.
But solid.
---
Kavien advanced.
His next strike—a silver-threaded thrust—was textbook perfect.
It touched Jian's shoulder… and stopped cold.
Jian didn't move.
He absorbed it. Let the force pass through him like wind through stone.
> [SEED BRANCH UNLOCKED: ROOTED THREAD v0.1]
[STATUS: DEFLECT → STABILIZE → COUNTER]
He pivoted around Kavien's overextension, hooked the elbow, and drove a palm strike into his core with chi-infused torque.
The air cracked.
Kavien stumbled. His perfect posture wavered. One of the initiates behind him stepped forward—
—and froze at Kavien's gesture.
Kavien's HUD glitched for a moment. His eyes narrowed.
"You're adapting mid-strike. That shouldn't be possible."
"I'm not adapting," Jian said, exhaling steam. "I'm becoming."
---
Kavien sheathed his blade. Not in surrender—but in warning.
"This isn't over, stray. The Assembly doesn't forget. Hydracores sees everything."
He turned and walked into the alley mist. His attendants followed in silence.
---
Jian stood alone.
The crowd of upper-class passersby began to move again, their heads lowered, pretending not to notice.
His hands were trembling.
Not with fear.
With evolution.
> [SEED PATH: 17% UNLOCKED]
[NEW BRANCHES AVAILABLE: IGNITED THREAD / ROOTED THREAD]
[OBJECTIVE UPDATED: SURVIVE JADE RESPONSE | FIND A ROGUE STYLE ARCHIVIST]
[LEAD: BELOWLINE – "THE ARCHIVIST"]
Jian looked up at the towers, gleaming above him like sharpened teeth.
He didn't have a sect.
Didn't have a scroll.
But for the first time, he wasn't walking someone else's path.
He was writing one.
And the next page would be underground.
---