Chapter 120: What Yorel Already Knew
He reached the scythe section.
And during that section, Nathan didn’t omit anything.
He explained the System query. The level ten reached by eliminating the alpha. The three new skills unlocked: Reaper’s Scythe, Reaper’s Toll, Death Weave. The mental calculation of available mana. Extended Harvest on the forty residual signatures in the clearing. The Emergency Manifestation that required sacrificing 135 HP to complete the 500 mana needed.
The four-minute operating margin before dying.
Selene wrote everything without interrupting.
When Nathan finished the description, Selene set the pen aside.
“Nathan.”
“Yes?”
“The Emergency Manifestation is a System mechanism I had never heard of. Not in SSS Classes nor in minor god Classes. This is the first time I’ve heard of a Seal System allowing direct HP-to-mana conversion.”
“Is it common for Systems to have options like that?”
“No. Most Classes have a fixed mana that regenerates through rest. Some have EXP-to-mana conversion, but that’s rare. HP-to-mana conversion at a one-to-one ratio is unheard of in my experience.”
Liaraen intervened.
“What does that suggest?”
Selene thought about it.
“It suggests that the seventeenth’s Seal has a System different from the official Pantheon’s Seals. The seventeenth was a different god from the other sixteen. His doctrine probably included elements that weren’t replicated in the Seals of his peers. HP-to-mana conversion could be a unique feature of his design, not a variant of standard features.”
Nathan processed that.
“And what does it mean in practical terms?”
“It means your Class is more versatile than typical SSS Classes are, but also more dangerous to yourself. If you make the wrong decision about how much HP to sacrifice, you die. And you have to make the decision in seconds, under pressure, with incomplete information. It’s not a safe mechanism.”
“I know.”
“Nathan.”
“Yes?”
“Next time you consider using Emergency Manifestation, before activating it, calculate twice. And if Liaraen is with you, consult her on the calculation before proceeding. Two pairs of eyes on an irreversible decision is safer than one.”
“Alright.”
Selene continued writing.
Nathan watched her work. Then he spoke again.
“Selene.”
“Yes?”
“There’s something else I didn’t mention.”
“Go ahead.”
“During the fight with the scythe, Yorel said something before dying. ‘Draken will know.'”
Selene raised the pen. She looked at him.
“Were those his exact words?”
“Yes.”
“And what did you answer?”
“‘Let him.'”
Selene lowered the pen.
For nearly a minute she didn’t speak.
Then, with the lowest tone she’d used all morning:
“Nathan.”
“Yes?”
“That’s a warning you shouldn’t take lightly.”
“Can Draken know?”
“Draken knows what the practitioners of his Seal know, on some level. It’s not direct contact. It’s not telepathy. But divine Seals function as feedback channels. If Yorel died knowing who killed him, that information probably passes to Draken in the form of a generic impression. Name, signature, Class.”
“So Draken now knows that a bearer of the seventeenth’s Seal killed one of his practitioners.”
“Probably yes.”
“What does Draken do with that information?”
“Depends on Draken. He’s a minor but active god. He’s not going to appear in person to avenge a fallen practitioner—that’s not how Pantheon gods operate. But he can mark his next available practitioner to seek the responsible bearer. He can filter the information to other minor gods with whom he has tacit alliances. He can simply archive the information and act on it years later when it suits him.”
Nathan processed that.
“So I have a divine target on me?”
“You have something more subtle than that. You have divine attention. Which, in a human kingdom city, is rare. Most Hunters never attract direct attention from any god. You now probably have the seventeenth’s attention because of the Seal, Draken’s attention because of the fallen practitioner, implicit Yeva attention through your association with Liaraen, Solrath’s attention through your association with Sella and Kalen who are his illegitimate children, and possibly the attention of the unofficial deity of the Karak settlement whose daughter you killed during the fight.”
Nathan stopped counting.
“Alright.”
“And in a human kingdom city, that amount of divine attention is exceptional.”
“Is it bad?”
“It’s neutral. Attention isn’t attack. But it means your margin of error in future decisions is smaller than an average Hunter’s. Any move you make is probably going to be noticed by at least one of the five divine channels open.”
Nathan nodded.
Slowly.
“Alright.”
Selene continued writing.
After a few seconds, Liaraen intervened.
“Selene.”
“Yes?”
“The unofficial deity of the settlement. Can you investigate it?”
“I can try. It won’t be easy because unofficial deities have scarce documentation by design. But the Veil has some contacts with groups that study the primary cycle. I’m going to send the question through the appropriate channels.”
“I appreciate it.”
Nathan continued the report.
He finished with the return to the horse, the nighttime journey, the improvised shelter where they’d slept the first night, the conversation about emotional counterweights, and the arrival in Greywall at dawn.
When he finished, Selene closed the notebook.
She placed it on the small table.
And she breathed, for the first time all morning, at the slow rhythm of someone who had been containing accumulated tension for two hours.
Nathan looked at her.
“Selene.”
“Yes?”
“What’s going to happen now?”
Selene closed the inkwell. She placed it beside the notebook.
Then she leaned back against the chair.
“Nathan. What’s going to happen now is a lot. Let me organize it.”
—
Selene started with the operational impact of the report.
“A Draken practitioner operated undetected for twenty years in a settlement two days from Greywall. That means one of two things. First: the Veil network has larger gaps than I believed. Second: Draken practitioners have better concealment techniques than what we had documented. Probably both at the same time.”
Nathan nodded.
“What does it imply for the network?”
“It implies that we need to review identification protocols in all small settlements under Veil influence. If Yorel could operate in Karak without any of the regional coordinators noticing, there are probably other practitioners operating in other small settlements that we treat as safe.”
“How many regional coordinators are going to need the report?”
“At minimum the three covering the Greywall-Aelthoren route. Halden in Marren. Tomen in Valcrest. Renric in Halloch. All three handle small settlements similar to Karak within their jurisdictions. Each is going to have to verify whether there are similar patterns in their zones.”
“Are there more?”
“There’s a coordinator who operates further south, near the border with the mining kingdom. He’s also going to need the information because Yorel’s techniques are probably used in other practitioners of the same Seal. And there are two coordinators in the elven kingdom who maintain contact with the human Veil through House Sael’thoryn. Those too.”
Liaraen looked up.
“House Sael’thoryn is now me, formally. If you’re going to send information through that channel, it goes through me first.”
Selene nodded.
“Correct. I’m going to draft the elven report separately and pass it to you for review before sending.”
“I appreciate it.”
Selene continued.
“Operationally for the two of you, there are several pending decisions.”