The bell that rang was different. Softer. Deeper. A tone of conclusion rather than commencement.
Qin Ye stood on the highest podium. Stone was cool beneath his feet. Banners bearing the Azure Cloud insignia hung motionless in the sudden stillness. The crowd's roar had settled into a respectful hush, punctuated by the controlled breaths of Inner Gate officials on the dais.
The head official stepped forward with a lacquered box. Black silk. A polished jade medallion—Champion. When it settled against his chest, the System's promises became objects and heat.
"Silent River" slid into his storage—less weight than intent, a dark, fluid balance that promised clean geometry rather than noise. The Supreme Immortal Body Fragment opened like submerged sunlight in his dantian, warmth threading meridians and refining edges. In the vault, numbers spiked: one hundred million spirit stones—already a language he spoke without awe.
The official's words concluded. The platform breathed. The System spoke.
[Ding! New Main Quest: Inner Gate Trial — Countdown: 10 days.]
[Objective: Pass the Inner Gate exam; rank within Top 20 of intake cohort.]
[Early Completion Bonus: ??? (hidden).]
On the dais, officials traded glances they didn't intend him to catch. A runner pinned a sealed notice to the announcement board with heavy wax. A path drawn in public.
⸻
He descended past the Inner Registry. A simple stone stele waited. Familiar light.
[Daily Sign-In available.]
[Location: Champion's Podium Perimeter.]
[Sign-In? Yes / No]
Yes.
[Ding! Sign-In successful!]
[Reward: Trial Pass (logistics-only fast channel, 1 use) + Prep Thread (Lv.1, 30 breaths — clarity for study/training montages).]
A token that made lines shorter. A thread of focus for the kind of work that never looked like victory while you were doing it.
The crowd parted.
He Rulong stood at the path's edge. No smile. A nod cut from steel. "The foundation is laid," he said—acknowledgment, not grace. Then he turned away, his own route unmuddied by excuses.
Duan Qi watched from farther back, face set in law-abiding winter. No threat. A promise: the game had changed boards, not ended.
Liu Shan approached with quiet steps and a sealed scroll. "Your Compliance Record," he said. His tone was neutral; the subtext wasn't. You're being seen. Your armor is the seeing.
Qin Ye took the scroll. Paper was lighter than gravity.
⸻
Dormitory 13 held the hum of the Spirit-Gathering Talisman like a memory. The bed was the same. The room was smaller.
He sat and planned.
Stones were numbers until they were decisions. He made them decisions.
High-grade stamina pills for endurance segments. Reinforced grip wraps that match Inner Gate regs. A certified copy of the Inner Gate Rule Compendium with index tabs pre-marked. Nothing showy. Everything useful.
He touched Silent River only in his mind: a practice cut that mapped the blade's balance; a second cut that stopped before it began because law forbade unsheathing here. Control was still the point.
He activated Prep Thread.
For thirty breaths, his mind was a clean surface. Tasks arranged themselves. Purchases sequenced. Clauses cross-referenced. A training block slotted between two admin windows. Time that should have taken hours lined up and saluted in half a minute.
When the thread eased, he had a ten-day map that fit inside his lungs.
⸻
Night. The arch that marked the Inner Gate precinct loomed like a horizon chosen by hand. Beyond it, lantern markers walked into shadow, each one a quiet promise of tests to come.
At the base of the arch, a faintly luminous pattern traced the stone. A node. First of the new arc.
He set his palm to the cool carve, just long enough to learn the touch of it.
Ten days.
He turned and walked back into the work.