Chương 25: Apparently, More Life Solves Everything

Matt woke feeling entirely rested. He remained in bed for a moment, listening to Cinderfall Camp through the thin walls of Trailer C-87. Engines. Generators. Someone moving heavy equipment nearby. Voices from the neighboring trailer row. The Camp was not quiet. It probably never became quiet. Matt opened his COPY interface. SOUND SLEEP He had kept Sound Sleep in one of his three active COPY slots overnight. The Skill hadn't silenced the Camp. It had simply allowed him to sleep through it. Matt smiled.

"That's staying." Not literally. He needed the slot back. Matt unequipped Sound Sleep and restored his normal combat loadout. ACTIVE COPIED UNIQUE SKILLS Anchored Step Quick Frame Overmuscle Three slots. Already insufficient again. But that was a problem for later. For now— coffee. Perfect Temperature. Then work. CRAFTING COPIES Vital Imprint — 10 / 10 Elemental Ward — 10 / 10 Weighted Edge — 10 / 10 Quickened Temper — 10 / 10 Matt moved through the familiar production routine efficiently.

The Life-and-Resistance line remained the reliable economic core of the operation. ESTABLISHED LIFE / RESISTANCE CRAFTING BASELINE Average Daily Economic Gain: approximately $4, 000 The weapon and Attack Speed side remained less predictable. Useful, promising, but not yet something Matt wanted to build precise daily income expectations around. That was fine. He finished the listings and closed the market interface.

"Now the actual job." Matt paused. Looked at the Crafting counters.

"… The second actual job." He opened his planner. Yesterday had been mostly reconnaissance: first Ignite, first panic retreat, advice from Marcus, the embarrassing discovery that his Off-hand had been empty, an overpriced Backwater Wall, and a second run where regeneration finally beat the observed burn. That had been enough for one day. Today— he wanted an actual run.

CINDERFALL — NEXT RUN Push beyond the entrance region Identify additional monsters Observe mixed encounters Watch for different Ignite pressure Check E-rank loot Leave before Boss No Fortune's Harness Matt glanced toward the desk drawer. Inside it rested a twenty-thousand-dollar Unique Belt.

"No." The drawer remained silent.

"Still no." He reviewed the rest. CURRENT LOADOUT Main Hand: Rare Foundry Longsword Off-hand: Backwater Wall Maximum Life: 555 Fire Resistance: 75% (Maximum: 75%) Normal Life Regeneration: 47. 6 / second Cleave still had Increased Attack Speed Support. Matt looked at Multistrike sitting in storage. He liked Multistrike. A lot. Three attacks from one activation had turned Ironvale's normal packs into a demonstration of industrial food processing. But Cinderfall was still unfamiliar. Matt had only seen Ember Hounds.

"One proper run first." He left Increased Attack Speed Support in Cleave. Then geared up. Sword. Shield. Combat Belt. Beginner Set. Flasks. Elemental Shield. Everything ready. Matt headed for the Gate. ◆ He selected a Boss-Defeated Instance. Instance 94 — 26/64 — Boss Defeated Recon was over. That did not mean Boss Rush. Portal. Transition. Heat. Cinderfall Basin unfolded around him again. Black basalt. Burning fractures. Ash. That impossible dark-red sky. Matt adjusted Backwater Wall on his left arm.

Foundry Longsword in his right.

"Round three." The first entry had ended in panic. The second had tested the Shield. This time Matt intended to actually learn the Dungeon. The first Ember Hound appeared ahead. Matt barely reacted emotionally. That alone was progress. The creature's throat glowed. Fire projectile. Matt recognized the telegraph. Quick Frame. Move. The Fire passed. Matt entered range. Cleave. Basic strike. The Ember Hound collapsed. Ash. Mana Stone. Matt collected it.

"Known." Another pair appeared farther in. One lunged. Matt avoided the first attack. The second clipped him. HIT IGNITED 35 Life / second Yesterday that icon had immediately dominated his attention. Today Matt glanced at it. Normal Life regeneration: 47. 6 / second His Life continued trending upward despite the burn.

"Still works." He finished the fight. The Ignite faded. Life returned to full. Yesterday, the red icon had meant: Something is wrong. Today it meant: Known mechanic. Current recovery exceeds observed pressure. Much better. Matt moved on. ◆ The environment changed as he pushed beyond the entrance region. The relatively open basalt gave way to broken shelves of black stone. Pillars interrupted sight lines, glowing fissures divided the path, and the terrain created blind corners and awkward approaches. Matt slowed.

A faint scraping sound came from above. He looked up. Something gray dropped from a rock shelf. ASH STALKER Cinderfall Basin — E Rank Four-legged. Lean. Its hide was matte gray instead of the glowing, furnace-cracked surface of an Ember Hound. Very little Fire. Very little noise. Then it moved. Fast. The Stalker darted laterally instead of charging directly. Matt turned with it. The creature kept moving. Trying to get around him.

"Flanker." It lunged. Matt adjusted with Quick Frame. Sword. One clean attack caught it. The Stalker collapsed. Matt looked down.

"Fast." Then at the ash left behind.

"But fragile." Different problem. Good. That was what he wanted to learn. He continued. Near another glowing fissure, movement above caught his eye. A small hunched figure stood on elevated rock. Roughly humanoid. Dark body. Orange glow around its mouth and hands. CINDER SPITTER Cinderfall Basin — E Rank The creature raised an arm. A small Fire projectile came toward Matt.

"Ranged." Matt stepped aside. Then raised the Foundry Longsword. Blade Projection. A Mana-formed copy of the sword crossed the distance. Hit. The Spitter staggered. Another Blade Projection. The creature dropped. Matt lowered the weapon.

"Okay." Three basic enemy types now. Ember Hounds supplied frontline pressure and Ignite. Ash Stalkers moved quickly and tried to flank. Cinder Spitters attacked from range. Individually, none presented a major problem. Hounds were durable enough to require respect, Stalkers were fast but fragile, and Spitters were annoying at range but vulnerable once he focused them. Matt looked deeper into Cinderfall.

"This is fine." He stopped.

"…That sounded dangerous." He continued anyway. ◆ The next encounter explained the difference. Matt spotted a Cinder Spitter first. Elevated position. Clear line of sight. He raised his sword. Then heard movement from the side. Ash Stalker. Another sound from ahead. Ember Hound. Matt lowered the sword slightly.

"Oh." The monsters spread naturally across the terrain. Not military formation. Not human-level tactical coordination. But their different behaviors fit together. The Hound pushed from the front. The Stalker refused to stay directly in front of him. The Spitter remained at range and kept firing. Matt watched for a moment. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"…They're combining." The Hound charged. Matt moved aside. Exactly as expected. Which put him into the path of the incoming Fire projectile he had stopped watching. HIT Life dropped. IGNITED 35 Life / second Matt glanced at it. 47. 6 regeneration. Ordinary Ignite pressure handled.

"Right." The Ash Stalker came from the side. Matt twisted away with Quick Frame. Claws passed close. The Hound turned. The Spitter prepared another projectile. Matt backed away. The problem became obvious. It wasn't that any one enemy had suddenly become overwhelming. Every answer exposed him to another threat. Dodge the Hound and the Spitter gained an angle. Turn toward the Spitter and the Stalker found the flank. Focus too long on either and the Hound returned to melee.

F-rank encounters had let him solve problems one at a time. Cinderfall wanted several answered at once.

"Okay." Matt's voice remained calm. Enemy priority. Ranged first. He raised the sword. Blade Projection. Hit the Spitter. It survived. The Hound closed. Matt used Cleave to force it back. The Stalker attacked from the opposite side. He moved. Not fast enough. HIT Life dropped again. Matt didn't panic. He looked up. Spitter. Still alive.

"First." Another Blade Projection. The Spitter fell. Good. One problem gone. That moment of attention cost him. Hound. Hit. Stalker. Another hit. The remaining enemies pressed before Matt could fully reset. His Life dropped hard. Then dropped again. Not zero. Not even close. But the bar crossed the halfway point. The interface changed. LOW LIFE Matt's eyes widened.

"Oh." Backwater Wall reacted immediately. BACKWATER WALL Regenerates 100 additional Life per second while on Low Life Normal regeneration: 47. 6 While below half: TOTAL LIFE REGENERATION: 147. 6 / second The Life bar surged upward. Fast. Very fast. Matt looked for less than a second. Then forced his attention back onto the enemies.

"Okay." Yesterday, unexpected movement in his Life bar had produced panic. Today, the trigger and the response were both known. The number climbed aggressively, then crossed back above the Low Life threshold. Immediately, the additional +100 regeneration stopped. LIFE REGENERATION: 47. 6 / second Matt understood.

"There it is." Not invulnerability. An emergency recovery layer. Life fell into the danger zone. The Shield pushed it back toward safety. Once he was above half, the emergency effect shut off.

"It's a safety." The Hound lunged again. Matt moved. The Stalker followed. He had gained exactly what the Shield was designed to buy. Time. Time to notice what had happened. Time to reposition. Time to reduce the number of attackers. And— Warrior advice. Matt remembered Marcus from yesterday. Life Flask.

"Right." He used one. The Flask stacked on top of his regeneration and pulled his Life farther into the safe range. No need to calculate its exact contribution. The important part was that the bar was moving where Matt wanted it. Now deal with the remaining problem. Ash Stalker first. It moved. Matt waited. Then: Heavy Strike. The Stalker collapsed. Hound. Cleave. Move. Another attack. Ash. Silence. Matt stood alone in the clearing. His Life continued recovering. He watched until it reached full.

Then slowly exhaled.

"Okay." For the first time, Cinderfall had stacked enough pressure to put his defensive layers through their full sequence. Resistance reduced elemental pressure. Life absorbed what got through. Normal regeneration handled ordinary Ignite and chip damage. Low Life triggered Backwater Wall's emergency recovery, and the Flask gave him another layer while he corrected the fight. Matt looked at the Shield.

"That's very good." Then reconsidered the encounter.

"Also…" He looked toward where the monsters had been.

"They're smarter." Pause.

"Or the Dungeon is better at putting them together." That was probably more accurate. The individual Hound hadn't demonstrated higher mathematics. The Stalker didn't suddenly speak English. The Spitter wasn't commanding troops. But the encounter was more dangerous because the creatures naturally filled different combat roles. Matt summarized. Spitter first. Remove ranged pressure. Stalker second if it had room to flank. Hounds controlled through positioning and Cleave. Different questions. Same fight.

Wes had said: E gives you less room. Matt finally understood it beyond Ailments. F-rank had given him more opportunities to deal with problems sequentially. E-rank increasingly wanted them answered at once. He looked at his Life again. Full.

"Life is ridiculous." ◆ Matt sat for a moment in a safe stretch of basalt and opened his Skill interface. CLEAVE Supported By: Increased Attack Speed Support Good Support. He still liked it. It made his normal attack rhythm easier to manage. But now Matt understood the enemies better. More importantly, he had identified the real problem with the mixed encounter. Enemies that stayed alive kept contributing pressure. The longer the Spitter lived, the more Fire projectiles it could throw.

The longer the Stalker lived, the more chances it had to find his flank. The longer the Hound lived, the more frontal pressure he had to manage. Matt looked at the stored Support. MULTISTRIKE SUPPORT Effect Supported attack repeats twice after the initial attack. Total: 3 attacks per activation. Increased Attack Speed gave him a straightforward rhythm. Multistrike required more commitment. But in exchange— three attacks. And Cinderfall's basic monsters were no longer completely unknown.

He knew the Hound's major tells. He had seen the Stalker's behavior. He understood the Spitter's projectile pressure. Backwater Wall had also given him a larger defensive margin than he'd had on his first entry.

"Maybe." Matt looked ahead. Then smiled slightly.

"All right." He removed Increased Attack Speed Support. Socketed Multistrike. CLEAVE Supported By: Multistrike Support"Let's try the other answer." ◆ The next Ember Hound came directly at him. Matt stepped into range. Activated Cleave. The initial sweep struck. Then Multistrike repeated the supported attack. Once. Twice. Three rapid Cleaves from one activation. The Hound survived the first. The second hit drove it backward. The final repetition finished it. Ash. Matt smiled.

"Yeah." Another Hound. Same result. The sequence tore through its remaining Life much faster than the cautious single-attack rhythm he'd been using.

"The Ironvale food processor is back online." An Ash Stalker appeared. Matt didn't immediately activate Cleave. Wait. The Stalker moved laterally. Matt tracked it. It committed. Now. Cleave. Initial attack. Repeat. Repeat. The Stalker didn't survive the sequence. Matt nodded.

"Good." That distinction mattered. Multistrike wasn't: press button whenever enemy exists. It was: use it when he understood the window. Next encounter. Cinder Spitter farther away. Matt didn't waste time trading Blade Projections while the rest of the Pack approached. Leap Slam. He crossed the open space and landed beside the ranged monster. Movement complete. Then— Cleave. Three rapid attacks. The Spitter fell. Matt immediately turned toward the approaching Hound.

"Much better." Dead enemies stopped contributing to the combination. The Spitter couldn't create ranged pressure if it was ash. Removing a Hound reduced frontline pressure, and a Stalker had fewer distractions to exploit when the rest of the pack was already dead. Matt grinned.

"Damage is defense." Technically reductive. Emotionally correct. ◆ Another mixed encounter. Matt approached differently. Spitter. Priority. Leap Slam to close the distance. Cleave. Three attacks. Spitter gone. Stalker moved. Matt didn't chase. Let it come. Quick Frame. Cleave. Gone. Hounds next. Cleave. Heavy Strike when appropriate. One Hound managed to land a Fire attack. IGNITED 35 Life / second Matt saw it. His regeneration continued to exceed the Damage over Time. No change in plan. He kept fighting.

The Ignite eventually faded. Life recovered. The final monster turned to ash. Matt lowered his sword.

"This feels good." After another successful encounter:"Really good." He checked Life. Already recovering toward full.

"The stability is ridiculous." Yesterday, thirty-five per second had felt like an emergency. Today, ordinary observed Ignite pressure was handled passively, while Backwater Wall's Low Life effect gave him an aggressive push back toward safety when mixed direct hits became dangerous. That was enough. Matt was beginning to understand why Warrior guides talked about Life so often. Armor, Evasion, and Resistance all mattered. Life gave those layers room to fail once. A bad dodge. A bad angle. A missed projectile.

A combination he hadn't predicted. Five hundred fifty-five Life gave Matt time to see the mistake and react before it became something worse. Matt looked at the number. MAXIMUM LIFE: 555"Okay." He smiled.

"I understand why Warriors like Life now." Not invincible. Far from it. A stronger source of Ignite could exceed 47. 6 regeneration. A harder direct attack could remove much more of his buffer. Shock, Chill, and Boss mechanics would create different problems. But five hundred fifty-five Life gave him time. That was valuable. ◆ Matt continued through the safer parts of the Basin. New terrain. More mixed encounters. E-rank Mana Stones. Bases. Ordinary loot. Nothing spectacular. No jackpot. No Unique.

No Fortune's Harness whispering psychological nonsense from his waist. Good. He deliberately avoided pushing toward the Boss. Today had already answered enough questions. Eventually Matt checked his Life, Flasks, and Inventory. Still comfortable. Which meant this was a good moment to leave rather than waiting until he wasn't.

"Lunch." He activated a Portal. Stepped through. No panic. Just hunger. ◆ Cinderfall Camp felt almost cool after the Dungeon. Almost. Matt returned to the trailer first. Stored the loot. Cleaned up. Then walked toward the Camp's food area. He bought something to eat and found a place at one of the long picnic tables. Matt set Backwater Wall beside his leg. Then heard something heavy placed nearby. He glanced over. Another Warrior had sat down. Armor. Food. And leaning beside the bench— a dark iron Kite Shield.

Matt stared at it. Then looked down at his. Then back. Same shape. Same metal. Same Unique. BACKWATER WALL Matt blinked.

"…Seriously?" The other Warrior noticed him staring. His eyes dropped to Matt's own Shield. He smiled.

"Backwater?" Matt sighed.

"Backwater." The man's smile widened.

"Local shop?"

"…Yeah."

"Two grand?" Matt stared.

"Two grand." The man laughed.

"Same." Matt started laughing too.

"So everyone really does this."

"Every new Warrior who realizes he has an empty left hand after Cinderfall sets him on fire."

"That is almost exactly what the clerk told me."

"Because it's true." The man extended a hand.

"Dan."

"Matt." They shook. Dan picked up his food.

"First Cinderfall?"

"First E-rank." Dan paused.

"Ah." Matt narrowed his eyes.

"That reaction again." Dan smiled.

"How'd it go?"

"I Portaled out after my first Ignite." A short laugh.

"Then you bought the Shield."

"Immediately."

"Correct sequence." Matt tapped Backwater Wall.

"Guy named Marcus pointed me at it." Dan nodded.

"Then you already got the lecture."

"The one about my empty hand?"

"That's the one." Matt tapped the Shield again.

"Went back in yesterday. Today a mixed group dropped me below half." Dan's expression changed slightly.

"Low Life activated?"

"Yeah."

"How was it?" Matt thought about the Life bar suddenly surging upward.

"Like cheating." Dan laughed.

"Good roll?"

"Forty-two."

"Nice." Dan tapped his own Shield but didn't bother showing the roll.

"Backwater keeps beginners alive." Matt took another bite.

"So Ignite is the easy Ailment?" Dan considered.

"For a Life Warrior?"

"Yeah."

"Probably." That surprised Matt slightly.

"What about Shock?"

"Honestly?" Dan shrugged.

"Doesn't scare me that much."

"Really?" Matt had read enough about Shock to know what it did. Damage Taken increased. The next hit became worse. Dan nodded.

"You've got enough Life, you see that you're Shocked, you stop being stupid." Matt laughed.

"That's the counter?"

"It's dangerous." Dan pointed his fork at him.

"I'm not saying it isn't." Then:"It's just not the one I hate." Matt already knew the answer.

"Chill?" Dan's expression darkened instantly.

"Chill is shit." Matt laughed.

"…That fast?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Damage makes sense. You lose Life, so you Flask, regenerate, back off, or build Resistance." He gestured vaguely.

"Shock? You see the Status. You know you're taking more Damage. Stop taking hits until it goes away." Then he grimaced.

"But Chill changes how your own character feels. You move slower. You swing slower. All the timing you trained suddenly feels wrong." Matt remembered the Frostmere video. Dan continued.

"You know the dodge. You make the dodge." He shook his head.

"And the Dungeon tells you your body was late." Matt slowly put his food down.

"…I don't want to go to Frostmere anymore." Dan grinned.

"Nobody does the first time." Matt tapped Backwater Wall.

"At least this has Freeze reduction."

"Freeze?" Dan nodded.

"Yeah." Pause.

"Chill is still Chill."

"…Great." Frostmere remained bookmarked. Very bookmarked. For later. Much later. ◆"So this is the E-rank initiation?" Matt asked. Dan thought about it.

"Basically."

"Ailments?"

"Ailments."

"Mixed packs?"

"Yep."

"Gear changes."

"Supports."

"Enemy priority." Dan shrugged.

"More things start mattering at once." Matt nodded. That matched what he'd seen.

"F gives you more room to think about those things one at a time," Dan continued, pointing toward the Gate.

"E starts stacking them." Exactly. Matt liked that description.

"But here's the secret." Dan leaned slightly closer. Matt waited. Dan tapped Backwater Wall.

"Life." Matt smiled.

"Life?"

"Life solves problems." That sounded suspiciously like a religious statement. Dan didn't care.

"Armor is good. Evasion is good. Resistance is good. Energy Shield is good if that's what you're building." He shrugged.

"But eventually something gets through." Matt listened.

"You mistime the dodge. You miss the projectile. You get Chilled. Something hits harder than you thought." Dan looked at him.

"Life buys you the mistake." Matt stopped. That sentence connected immediately to the fight from earlier. The mistake had already happened. Life hadn't erased it. It had prevented the mistake from ending the run before Matt had time to correct it. Then the Shield had bought even more time. Matt nodded slowly.

"Yeah." That was exactly it. Dan looked at him.

"What are you at?"

"Five fifty-five." Dan's eyebrows rose.

"At Level Eleven?"

"Yeah."

"That's good." Matt felt an unreasonable amount of pride.

"You mean actually good?"

"Yes."

"Not beginner-good?"

"Matt." Dan looked amused.

"You are a beginner."

"…Fair."

"But yes. Five fifty-five at Level Eleven is good." Matt took a drink. Then curiosity won.

"What does a serious high-level Warrior get?"

"Life-focused?"

"Yeah." Dan considered.

"Around four thousand isn't crazy." Matt froze.

"…Four thousand."

"Sure." Matt looked at his own Life bar. Then imagined 4, 000.

"That escalated."

"Levels do that." Matt wasn't finished.

"What about the top?"

"Top what?"

"Highest famous Life Build." Dan smiled.

"Oh." He knew one.

"There's an S-rank guy people always bring up. Maximum Life around fifteen thousand." Matt stopped chewing.

"…Fifteen thousand."

"Around there." Matt looked wounded.

"I just got proud of five hundred fifty-five." Dan laughed.

"You should be. You're Level Eleven."

"Still."

"Don't compare a starter Warrior to an S-rank Life specialist." Matt knew that. Emotionally— still. Fifteen thousand. A Fire hit that removed fifty from Matt would barely be visible against that kind of Life pool. An S-rank Dungeon presumably produced numbers to match. Still. The scale was startling. Dan shrugged.

"That's Delving. Level One Hundred. S-rank. SSS. Artifacts." He picked up his drink.

"You look upward long enough, normal numbers stop meaning normal things." Dan's phone buzzed. He glanced at it.

"Huh." Matt looked over.

"What?" Dan frowned slightly at the screen.

"Still no Rejuvenation Potion this month." Matt paused.

"…What?" Dan looked up.

"Rejuvenation Potion."

"No, I heard the words." Matt pointed at the phone.

"What is that?" Dan stopped. Then stared.

"Wait."

"What?"

"You're in E-rank."

"Yes."

"And you don't know about the Rejuvenation Potion?" Matt frowned.

"Should I?" Dan looked deeply confused.

"How long have you been Delving?" Matt thought.

"About two weeks." Dan's drink stopped halfway to his mouth.

"…What?"

"Roughly."

"You've been a Delver for two weeks."

"Yes."

"And you're Level Eleven."

"Yes."

"And this is your first E-rank."

"Yes." Matt waited.

"Is that weird?"

"Yes." Immediate. Matt frowned.

"Really?"

"Yes." Dan looked him over again.

"How?" Matt gave the answer he'd been assembling for a while now.

"Severance package." Dan blinked.

"What?"

"I quit a logistics job with money in the bank. Bought good Gear immediately instead of grinding up to it." That was true.

"Then I got lucky with a Crafting arrangement that pays daily." Also true.

"And I read a lot of guides." Very true.

"…Right." Dan clearly didn't believe that was the entire explanation. It wasn't. But it was consistent, boring, and financially plausible. Which was exactly why Matt had prepared it.

"Okay." Dan set his food down.

"You're actually new."

"Very."

"Then we start from the beginning." Matt nodded. Dan held up his phone.

"S-rank Dungeons can drop things we call Artifacts."

"Like Unique items?"

"No." That answer came immediately.

"Unique Gear is System Gear." Dan tapped Backwater Wall.

"Powerful. Sometimes weird. Bought and sold all the time." He looked back at Matt.

"Artifacts are different."

"How different?" Dan smiled faintly.

"Artifacts are the things that make the news." Matt leaned forward. Dan continued.

"Some of them feel like somebody asked humanity what it wanted most…" Pause.

"…and the Dungeon answered." Matt stared.

"That sounds ominous."

"Sometimes." Dan unlocked his phone, tapped through a few screens, then slid it across the table.

"This is the famous one." Matt looked. ◆ THE EBBING OF TIME, POTION OF REJUVENATION Rarity: Mythic-tier Type: Elixir / Artifact Effect The person who drinks the entire Elixir has the physical time of their body rewound by exactly 10 years, while preserving their memories and personality completely. This Artifact is a miracle condensed from the laws of the world itself. It cannot be imitated or duplicated by magic or technology. Flavor Text Kings built castles with gold, and heroes built legends with strength.

But time turns all of them, without mercy, into sand. They surrender half their fortunes to purchase ten years. What they truly buy is not youth. It is the right to reign over their empire for another decade. Matt stared. Then reread it. It wasn't cosmetic youth or vague lifespan extension. The body itself went exactly ten years backward while memories and personality remained intact. Matt looked at Dan.

"…Ten years?"

"Yep."

"Actually younger."

"Physically." Matt looked back at the screen.

"That is…" Nothing came. Magic medicine was already absurd. Dungeon treatment technology had rewritten healthcare. But this was something else entirely. Not healing. Age reversal. Literal age reversal.

"Mythic Artifact," Dan said. That apparently explained everything. Matt looked at the Rarity line again. Not Unique. Something above it.

"Is that a separate scale?"

"Different category entirely." Dan shrugged.

"Unique Gear is equipment. Artifacts are events." Matt kept reading.

"How often does this drop?"

"Worldwide?"

"Yeah."

"Roughly once a month." Matt looked up.

"One?"

"Around one."

"No schedule?"

"Nope." Dan gestured toward the phone.

"That's why people start watching when the month gets late and none has appeared yet." One Artifact, roughly once a month worldwide. Ten years of physical time. Matt's logistics brain went straight to scarcity.

"…So every time one drops, rich people start hitting each other with bank accounts." Dan laughed.

"Pretty much."

"Auction?"

"Usually."

"Global?"

"Very." The ultra-rich. People for whom ordinary medicine was already effectively unlimited. People who owned companies, empires, assets measured in billions. And now— one bottle. Ten years. Matt looked at the Flavor Text again.

"How much?" Dan took another bite. Thought. Then answered casually.

"Around eighty billion dollars." Matt inhaled coffee incorrectly. He coughed hard enough that Dan moved his food slightly farther away.

"Eighty billion?"

"Recent territory."

"Billion."

"Yes."

"With a B." Dan laughed.

"Yes." Matt stared into the middle distance. Backwater Wall was approximately one thousand dollars nationally and two thousand locally. Fortune's Harness had cost twenty thousand. His Spatial Expansion Pickup goal sat around three hundred thousand. This— $80, 000, 000, 000 Matt slowly set the coffee down.

"Those are not the same economy."

"No." Dan seemed delighted by Matt's reaction.

"Who pays eighty billion dollars for ten years?"

"People who can." Dan paused.

"And who don't want to die." That was— annoyingly sufficient. Matt looked again at the Artifact. He imagined someone elderly. Founder. Investor. Corporate ruler. Someone who had spent a lifetime accumulating power. For that person, ten physical years wasn't merely youth. It could mean another decade actively controlling everything they'd built. Dan tapped the Flavor Text.

"That's why this line is famous." Matt read it. It is the right to reign over their empire for another decade. He swallowed.

"That is a very expensive ten years."

"Worth more to some people." Matt sat back.

"Okay." He glanced toward Cinderfall's Gate. Then toward the Shield beside him.

"I think I finally understand why the top end of Delving is so rich." Low-rank Delvers sold Mana Stones, Gear, Bases, and Crafting Currency. At higher ranks, individual drops could become fortunes. And at the very top, a Dungeon could produce something that forced the wealthiest people on Earth to compete for ten years of their own bodies.

"This morning I was excited about a Shield."

"You should be."

"It cost two thousand dollars." Dan nodded solemnly.

"You got robbed."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." Matt laughed. ◆ Dan took his phone back.

"Seriously, though."

"Yeah?"

"If you're going to keep Delving, start reading Dungeon news."

"I read guides."

"That's not the same thing." Dan counted on his fingers.

"Artifact drops. Major First Clears. Important high-rank drops. New discoveries. Market changes. Stuff that actually moves the Dungeon economy." Matt thought about his media diet. Road-trip Delvers, Build guides, DelverForge, Marketplace listings, forums, Dungeon walkthroughs. He had paid enormous attention to the slice of the world directly relevant to his own Build. Very little to everything above it.

Yesterday, he'd realized he had spent weeks walking through Dungeon Camps without actually looking at the people living in them. Today, apparently he'd discovered he'd been ignoring the top of the entire Dungeon economy too. That was becoming a pattern.

"I keep only looking at the shelf in front of me." Matt nodded.

"Fair." He pointed toward Dan's phone.

"So when you said this month's hasn't appeared…"

"People are watching."

"Rich people getting nervous."

"Very rich people." Matt smiled. Then noticed the absurd path their conversation had taken.

"We started talking about Life." Dan didn't miss a beat.

"Still are." Matt laughed.

"Life bar to lifespan." Dan lifted his drink.

"Same species." Pause.

"Different market." Matt nearly choked again. ◆ Dan finished his meal. He stood. Picked up Backwater Wall. Matt looked at the Shield. Then his own. Two locally overpriced members of the same club.

"Good luck in Cinderfall," Dan said.

"You too."

"Keep the Shield."

"Definitely." Dan took a step. Stopped.

"And don't deliberately test Low Life." Matt smiled.

"Ethan disagrees." Dan looked back.

"Ethan sounds stupid."

"Sometimes." Dan nodded as if satisfied. Then:"Oh, and Matt?"

"Yeah?"

"Two weeks to E-rank is fast." Matt considered that.

"Good fast or bad fast?" Dan smiled.

"Ask me when you're still alive at C-rank." Matt laughed.

"Fair." They separated. ◆ Back in Trailer C-87, Matt opened his laptop. For once, he didn't search for the best Warrior Passive, the best low-level sword, a Cinderfall Boss guide, or Crafting Base values. He typed: National Delver News Results. News sites. Industry feeds. Dungeon-market publications. Dedicated high-rank trackers. One headline near the top immediately caught his attention. WHERE IS THIS MONTH'S EBBING OF TIME? Rejuvenation Potion Watch Continues as the Month Runs On Matt clicked.

The article summarized previous appearances, auction competition, enormous global demand, and the fact that there was no guaranteed schedule. Worldwide supply averaged roughly one Potion per month. Sometimes earlier. Sometimes later. This month— none confirmed yet. Matt found the pricing section. RECENT SALES Entered the approximately $80 billion range Matt stared.

"Still insane." It hadn't become less absurd just because Dan had explained it. He closed the article. Then opened Status. MAXIMUM LIFE: 555 Matt smiled. Earlier that day, five hundred fifty-five had felt enormous. A mixed Cinderfall encounter had pushed him below half, but Life had absorbed the mistake, Backwater Wall had reacted, and Matt had gotten the time he needed to recover. Dan had been right. Life buys you the mistake. Five hundred fifty-five was good. For Matt. Now. At Level Eleven.

Above him were Warriors with Life pools measured in thousands. Above that was a world where Dungeons could produce ten years of human life and send billionaires into an eighty-billion-dollar auction. Matt looked toward Backwater Wall resting beside the Foundry Longsword. Two thousand dollars. Twice the national market price. Still worth it.

"I think I need to start reading the news." His phone buzzed. Matt glanced down. Ethan: DID YOU TEST LOW LIFE Matt stared at the message. Then muted the conversation. Apparently, more Life solved a lot of problems.