The incense in the private royal quarters had barely drifted an inch from its coal when T'Challa's eyes snapped open. He was seated on the woven mat in his meditation room, the quiet hum of Wakandan technology vibrating through the floorboards.
He stood up, his body feeling denser, more permanent. The Beta-Level High-Speed Regeneration had anchored itself to his essence, a silent promise of immortality that hummed beneath his skin. He stepped out of the meditation room and headed toward the family wing.
In the sun-drenched private parlor, his father T'Chaka, his mother Ramonda, and Shuri were gathered. Shuri was hovering over a holographic interface, her brow furrowed as she looked at a remote sensor feed of T'Challa's room.
"Fifteen minutes exactly," Shuri muttered, looking up as he entered.
"The Castle is a fair host, sister," T'Challa said, his voice carrying a new depth that seemed to vibrate the very air of the royal council chamber. He looked at his father, T'Chaka, who sat with the quiet dignity of a man who had carried the weight of a hidden nation for decades. "Father, Mother... the harvest was successful beyond my expectations. The Sefirah Castle has provided us with the foundations of an eternal dynasty."
T'Challa sat with them, his eyes locked onto his family. "The System has offered a new protocol: Beta-Level High-Speed Regeneration. It is the ultimate survival power. It allows for the regeneration of entire limbs in real-time. Even if the body is severed, it will reassemble in a moment. But there is a secondary effect, a passive blessing—it grants a lifespan of five hundred years while keeping the body in its physical prime. I have already paid the tribute. I have brought back three of these specific blessings for you."
T'Chaka's eyes widened slightly, his weathered hands gripping the arms of his chair. "Five centuries? T'Challa, that is a burden as much as it is a gift. To lead for that long... to watch the world turn while you remain unchanged... it is the lifespan of the Orisha themselves."
"It is a necessity for the era we are entering, Father," T'Challa replied firmly. "The world is no longer a place where a King can afford to grow old and frail. We need a steady hand that spans generations, not decades."
Shuri, who had been hovering near her holographic monitors, looked up with an analytical gaze. She looked intrigued. "In my previous research on your physiology after your first visit to the Castle, I searched for genetic markers. I scanned for telomere modification or protein synthesis changes that would explain your enhanced state. I found nothing. The DNA was pristine. It was as if the biological laws were simply being ignored."
T'Challa nodded toward his sister. "Because, as you discovered, Shuri, the law of the Castle supersedes the law of biology. There is no change to our DNA. No scientist, not even with your genius, will ever find a trace of this power in our blood. It is an anchor on the soul—a metaphysical imprint. The body simply follows the soul's new blueprint. You won't find a mutation because there isn't one. It is a 'Blessing' that includes both the Super Soldier foundation and the High-Speed Regeneration."
Shuri tapped her chin, her mind already racing. "So, you've brought three of these 'Anchors.' One for Father, one for Mother, and one for me. Each one carrying the strength of a hundred men and the clock of five hundred years. It's the ultimate stealth upgrade. No one can steal it, no one can clone it, and no one can even prove it exists."
"Exactly," T'Challa said, he stepped toward the center of the council chamber, where a massive holographic projection of Wakanda's topography shimmered in deep violets and blues. "But the preservation of our bloodline is only the first movement of the harvest. To secure our nation's wealth—to ensure that no force on this Earth or beyond can ever hold Wakanda hostage—I have acquired a Pocket Dimension. A 'Void Vault' of ten thousand cubic meters."
He gestured, and the holographic map shifted. A black, void appeared in the center of the Great Mound, the mountain that housed the heart of their vibranium.
"It exists within the fold of the Sefirah Castle, tucked away in the gray fog where time does not flow and space has no meaning. It is accessible only by me, through the authority I hold as a member of the Club. No living thing can breathe there; no bacteria can thrive. It is an airless, timeless vacuum. We will begin the migration of our processed vibranium reserves immediately. Our strategic treasury will no longer sit in a mountain that can be mapped by seismic sensors or invaded by tunneling drones. If the world looks at Wakanda with greed, they will find a mountain of stone. Our true strength will be safe in the Void Vault."
The Queen Mother, Ramonda, looked at her son. Her face was a landscape of pride, yet a flicker of ancient trepidation remained in her eyes. She reached out, her fingers tracing the air where the holographic void spun.
"And what of our people, T'Challa?" she asked, "We have hidden for ten thousand years. We have let the world think we are a land of farmers and mountains while we built a paradise in the dark. Does this power—this immortality, this vault—mean we are to hide for five hundred more years? Are we simply building a bigger, more eternal cage?"
T'Challa turned to her, and for a moment, the light of the vibranium lamps reflected in his eyes, making them look like two molten gold coins.
"No, Mother. It means the absolute opposite," T'Challa declared, "The isolation of Wakanda was a defensive crouch—a necessity born of fear. We saw the world tearing itself apart. We saw empires rise on the backs of the broken and fall into the hands of the corrupt. We could not trust the children to play with the sun, so we hid the sun. But the crouch is over. It is time for the Panther to walk among the nations."
Shuri and T'Chaka watched him, the air in the room thick with the gravity of his words.
"I have decided," T'Challa continued, "to take our kingdom public. As a sovereign superpower. We will join the new Earth Federation as a founding member. We will no longer be a secret; we will be the standard."