Vale's eyes widened slightly as he watched Evelyn slowly lower herself to the floor. She moved with a weary grace, one knee touching the snow as she exhaled sharply, her expression tangled in frustration and quiet self-reproach.
Vale hesitated, then glanced from her to Callum.
Callum merely shrugged, utterly indifferent, as though Evelyn collapsing mid-conversation was something he had seen dozens of times before.
Vale cleared his throat after a moment. "Uh… are we still going to pick them up?" he asked, his tone uncertain.
Evelyn looked up at him and let out a long, exhausted sigh. "Well, they're already gone, so we can't," she said plainly. "The combat lesson was only supposed to take about three hours."
Vale nodded slowly, letting out a small sigh of his own.
As Evelyn pushed herself back to her feet, she paused, her gaze unfocused as she drifted into thought. For a few seconds she seemed completely elsewhere, then she straightened slightly as an idea occurred to her.
"I'll ask Rose if they can just stay here with you until we finish your training," she said.
Vale tilted his head. "The distance isn't ideal," Evelyn added with a mild shrug, as though dismissing the inconvenience.
She then shifted her gaze, looking Vale up and down as if reassessing him from head to toe. Without warning, she turned to Callum. "Wanna grab something to eat?"
Callum chuckled softly.
Vale simply nodded and followed them as they headed back toward the building.
As they walked, Vale noticed the last remnants of the gathering dispersing. No announcements were made. No orders were given. People simply left, one by one, as though guided by some unspoken understanding. Within minutes, the clearing felt strangely empty.
They passed through a thick, reinforced door separating Chimera's enclosure from the main walls of the facility. Evelyn raised her medallion and held it up to a scanning device beside the door.
The mechanism hummed, and the door slid open.
Vale frowned.
Strangely enough, it had already looked open before Evelyn even scanned the medallion.
As they walked through, Vale leaned slightly toward Callum. "Hey, Callum… why did Evelyn scan the medallion if the door was already open?"
Callum glanced at him briefly. "There's an energy field embedded in the doorway," he explained. "If someone passes through without proper authorization, it sends an alert. Every soldier in the wing would've surrounded us within seconds, minutes at most."
Vale blinked. "Ah. Right."
That explained it.
He sighed lightly as they continued, pulling out his phone and checking the time. Half past four in the afternoon. A little early for a proper meal, but after everything that had happened, he wasn't about to argue.
After several minutes of walking, Vale looked toward Evelyn. "So… where are we eating?"
"There's a restaurant here," she replied, her eyes fixed forward. "It's actually pretty high quality."
Vale frowned slightly. "Why is there a restaurant in a place this dangerous?"
Evelyn sighed. "Soldiers want decent food once in a while. There's an all-you-can-eat cafeteria in every wing, but everyone's allowed to eat at the restaurant once a week." She shrugged. "Gives them a sense of normal life, I guess."
Vale mulled that over as they walked.
Callum smiled faintly beside him.
Vale found it strange how often Callum smiled, but at the same time, he felt he had no right to judge. From what he had seen so far, most people associated with the Rosemary family were… unusual, to say the least.
They walked in silence for a while before another question surfaced in Vale's mind.
"Hey, guys," he said, drawing their attention.
He cleared his throat. "How many Paragons are there right now?"
Callum slowed slightly, his expression shifting into something more contemplative. Evelyn turned forward again, letting him answer.
"Well, clearing the Fourth Trial doesn't automatically make someone a Paragon," Callum said carefully. "And it's not measured precisely."
Vale sighed, disappointment creeping in.
"But," Callum continued, "if I had to guess? Somewhere between thirty and forty."
Vale's eyes widened slightly.
He wasn't surprised by how rare they were, but he was surprised that Callum could estimate at all.
Paragons were beings of extraordinary might, surpassed only by Anchors—individuals who had reached such impossible heights of power that they could, in theory, wipe out humanity on their own. As far as Vale knew, only one Anchor had ever been confirmed: Dagon, who had long since surpassed even the Paragons.
"Between the Rosemary family and the G.V.O," Callum added, "there should be around twelve. But I really couldn't say for the Dynasties."
Vale exhaled slowly.
The Dynasties cooperated with the G.V.O., but they guarded their secrets fiercely, especially their true strength.
As Vale thought about it, something clicked.
Trials didn't grant strength.
They granted freedom.
Clearing trials merely allowed someone to use their power without restriction. In theory, a person could clear all four trials and still be weak, at least compared to others.
True strength came from battle. From defeating Spawn. From absorbing their energy.
That energy permanently expanded a person's reserves, allowing them to draw more power from their plane. Experience, not trials, was what truly separated the strong from the weak.
In that sense, it made far more sense to hunt Spawn first, gain experience, grow stronger, before attempting higher trials.
Another question formed in Vale's mind.
"Hey," he said again, "what's the lowest rank someone's had after clearing the Fourth Trial?"
Callum turned, thinking, but Evelyn answered immediately.
"As far as I know, Brother Samuel is a Great Elder despite having cleared the Fourth Trial," she said.
She paused briefly before adding, "Though he rarely engages in combat."
Vale lifted a hand to his chin, thoughtful.
'A Great Elder… without fighting much?' vale thought suspiciously.
As they continued walking, Vale found his thoughts drifting back to everything he had just been told.
If there truly was a minimum rank in power associated with progressing through the Trials, then that alone implied something important, perhaps something most people never questioned. There had to be requirements. Unspoken thresholds that determined whether someone could even attempt a Trial, let alone survive it.
Vale slowed slightly, his gaze dropping to his own hands.
'I'm a Flicker,' he thought.
The lowest rank a Visorian could possibly hold.
At his current level, he was barely qualified to fight the weakest Spawn, creatures so insignificant that most trained soldiers considered them little more than nuisances. Against anything stronger, he would be crushed outright.
Yet as that thought settled, something else surfaced.
His eyes narrowed faintly.
Korin's words echoed in his mind.
Korin's ability… removed physical limitations entirely. It allowed him to grow exactly as strong as he needed to be in order to defeat his enemy, no more, no less. In theory, it was an ability without limits.
But in practice…
Vale exhaled quietly.
The cost was unacceptable.
Korin's curse, no, his circumstances, made using that power reckless at best and suicidal at worst. Every increase in strength came at the expense of stability, control, and safety. It wasn't a gift meant to be used freely. If anything, it was something that demanded restraint.
For Vale, keeping his power sealed wasn't a choice born of fear.
It was survival.
He touched his chin absently, lost in thought, so deep in his own reasoning that he failed to notice when Callum abruptly stopped walking.
Vale walked straight into him.
"Oh, sorry!" Vale stepped back quickly, offering an awkward smile. "My bad."
Callum turned and laughed softly, his expression warm. "Don't worry. You're fine."
He gestured forward. "Also… we've arrived."
Vale blinked and looked past them.
Before him stood a massive restaurant, its exterior crafted from dark stone accented with deep crimson lines that pulsed faintly with ambient energy. The interior was dim, illuminated by soft red lighting that reflected off pristine onyx tables. The atmosphere was calm, almost intimate, despite the sheer number of people inside.
Soldiers, officers, and other figures sat in quiet groups, enjoying their meals as if this weren't one of the most dangerous facilities on the planet.
They stepped into line.
Almost immediately, Vale felt eyes on them.
People whispered. Some stared openly. Others cast quick, disbelieving glances before turning away, as though afraid of being caught looking too long.
Vale let out a slow breath.
'Yeah… I guess this is normal for them,' he thought.
Callum and Evelyn weren't just powerful, they were legends. Protectors. Symbols. As much celebrities as they were warriors. It made sense that their presence alone drew attention.
As they waited, a lone guard hesitantly approached Callum. The man stood straight, though his hands trembled slightly.
"I, I apologize, Sir Shining Knight," the guard said, bowing his head just enough to show respect without disrespecting protocol. "I just wanted to express my gratitude."
Callum turned fully toward him, listening intently.
"You saved a lot of people," the guard continued, his voice tightening. "One of them was my niece. She was caught in a Level Five Rift Break." He swallowed. "I wanted to thank you. It felt like the right thing to do."
Vale instinctively focused his senses.
For just a moment, he reached outward, measuring the guard's energy.
His eyes widened slightly.
'What…?'
The guard's energy was _stronger_ than Callum's.
Stronger than Evelyn's, too.
Vale quickly loosened his focus, forcing himself not to stare.
'Are they really suppressed this heavily?' he wondered.
He knew their devices repressed their presence to avoid overwhelming others, but he hadn't realized just how extreme the suppression was. Without those restraints, their mere existence might have crushed weaker beings outright.
Callum smiled at the guard, a bright, genuine smile, and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't thank me, soldier," he said calmly. "I love saving people. I'll keep doing it as long as there are those who need help."
His gaze softened. "Praise isn't necessary. Knowing my work matters is more than enough."