Chapter 65: Black Banner Opens the Pool—Riftward at 8.0 Odds
After Gareth Halvern entered the Shattered Marches Channel, his first message was for Cassian.
[Gareth Halvern: Is the Warden from the first Region here?]
Tobias still had not gotten up to leave Forgotten Shrine.
"He’s looking for you."
Cassian replied.
[Cassian Vale: Here.]
[Gareth Halvern: Stoneward Keep used to be only my Domain’s name. Now that the Warden seat has settled, the Region is officially Stoneward.]
[Newcomer Region officially named: Stoneward]
Gareth did not ask about the Fountain.
He did not ask how Riftward had pushed past four million points either.
He only put his own result on the table.
[Gareth Halvern: We deliberately waited until one hundred war Lords were fully prepared before opening Regional Boundary Defense.]
[Gareth Halvern: We entered better prepared than you and still didn’t catch your score. I’ll work out where we fell short myself.]
Cassian looked at the message a little longer.
[Cassian Vale: Congratulations.]
[Gareth Halvern: Congratulate me after the Ranking settles. Right now I’m only second.]
Not warm.
Not conceding either.
The fact that both Regions were outside Black Banner did not mean Gareth considered Stoneward beneath Riftward.
---
Not long after, the third Region completed Regional Boundary Defense.
[Regional Warden: Mira Calder]
[Official Region Name: Northwatch]
Mira did not enter the channel talking about the Ranking.
She confirmed one thing first.
[Mira Calder: Riftward, Stoneward. If Black Banner reaches my side first, I’ll share route intelligence. Same arrangement in reverse.]
Gareth replied quickly.
[Gareth Halvern: Agreed.]
Cassian did the same.
[Cassian Vale: Agreed.]
Mira added one more line.
[Mira Calder: To be clear, exchanging intelligence does not mean Northwatch is joining anyone else’s Region structure.]
[Cassian Vale: No one asked you to.]
[Mira Calder: Good.]
Seraphine was still sitting on the other side of the stone table.
She tapped one finger against the rim of her cup.
"I like this one too."
"Which part?" Tobias asked.
"Knowing when to cooperate."
"And making the boundary clear before doing it."
Tobias looked at her.
"Do all of you people who want to be Wardens enjoy talking about boundaries first?"
Seraphine answered, "If you don’t settle them first, you pay for them with lives later."
The fourth Region succeeded soon after.
This time the public system information included a rare label.
[Regional Warden: Darian Frost]
[Official Region Name: Ironwake]
[Lord Path: Warbound]
Elara raised a brow.
"Warbound."
Rowan looked up as well.
Unlike Gareth’s route of organizing one hundred war Lords around recovery, reserves, and backup lines, Warbound concentrated more of that growth in the Lord himself.
Higher risk.
And a Lord who survived that route long enough to win a Warden seat could not be valued like an ordinary Lord.
Darian himself sent only one message.
[Darian Frost: I’ll compete for the Ranking. And if war reaches the Region border, I’ll stand on the first line myself.]
Cassian read it once.
He did not count Darian as an ally.
He did not count him as an enemy either.
He simply added Darian Frost to the list of Ranking rivals worth watching separately.
A Warbound Warden willing to stand on the front line himself was not someone to judge by ordinary Region-Leader standards.
---
By the time the fifth Region succeeded, the Shattered Marches Channel was noticeably busier.
When the sixth notice appeared, Elara sat up straight.
[Regional Warden: Varek Sorn]
[Official Region Name: Sable March]
Black Banner Cohort.
And this was the Region directly southeast of Riftward.
The map updated with the new name.
Riftward and Sable March shared a border.
No third Region stood between them.
The Warden Gate was not built yet.
Legal cross-Region transit was not connected yet either.
But both sides now had a Warden and an official Region name.
The Dwarven Royal Hall mountain route was no longer a gray future problem on a map.
Varek entered the channel.
[Varek Sorn: Riftward. 4.42 million on the first blind run. Not bad.]
Cassian did not reply with "thank you."
Varek clearly had not meant it as simple praise.
His next message gave the comparison directly.
[Varek Sorn: Sable March is currently at 4,086,920.]
[Varek Sorn: I just finished Wave 42. Defense Sector still Active.]
Riftward’s 4,423,540 was higher.
But Cassian had stopped at Wave 45.
His Sector was over.
His score would not move again.
Sable March was only a little more than three hundred thousand behind.
And Varek was still fighting.
That was the comparison the market would care about.
Stoneward’s public score had already climbed past 3.7 million, and Gareth was still Active.
Ironwake and Northwatch were lower, but they were still fighting too.
Riftward was currently first.
It was also the only Region near the top whose number had already stopped moving.
Varek sent one more message.
[Varek Sorn: The first Region tested War Drums, recovery windows, and the high-level waves for everyone behind it. Of course later Regions will go farther.]
Cassian had already reached the same conclusion himself.
That was why he had not stopped when he won the Warden seat.
He had pushed all the way to Wave 45.
Now someone was finally putting real money behind the question of whether 4.42 million would hold.
---
The public wager did not come from Varek.
It came from Nadia Serr, a name already present in Black Banner’s intelligence network.
[Nadia Serr has opened a public wager on the Shattered Marches Exchange.]
[Wager: Final Rank 1 in the Shattered Marches Newcomer Region Ranking]
[Seed Pool: Aether Crystal ×3,000,000]
The pool displayed only the easiest public facts to compare.
[Riftward: 4,423,540 | Wave 45 | Defense Ended]
[Sable March: 4,086,920 | Wave 42 | Active]
[Stoneward: 3,700,000+ | Active]
Then the odds.
[Sable March: 2.1]
[Stoneward: 4.6]
[Ironwake: 5.2]
[Riftward: 8.0]
Tobias stared at the last line.
"We’re first right now."
"8.0?"
Rowan only looked at the three status lines.
"First right now."
"But the score is finished."
Seraphine added, "Sable is only a little more than three hundred thousand behind, and it hasn’t even started Wave 43 yet."
"Black Banner also went in knowing the rules."
"Based only on what you’ve made public, 2.1 isn’t strange."
Cassian agreed.
The market knew Riftward had gone first.
It knew they had exposed the rules for every Region that came later.
It knew Riftward’s Sector was already over.
What it did not know was what Fountain of Life had done to the Rocketiers’ Overload cycle.
It did not know Celia and Aurelia were both Level 20.
It did not know the A-grade Environment had added a Deep Domain Layer.
It definitely did not know Cassian still had ninety Free Attribute unassigned.
So Riftward at 8.0 was not some baseless insult.
It was a price built from incomplete public information.
That made it useful.
Veyra stood behind him.
"What did you find this time?"
"Someone put a price on first place."
"Aren’t you first right now?"
The corner of Cassian’s mouth moved.
"That’s why it’s interesting."
---
The pool had barely opened when the first stake appeared under Riftward.
[Riftward: +10,000 Aether Crystal]
Cassian’s brow moved.
Tobias had already lowered his interface as if nothing had happened.
Cassian turned.
"Tobias."
"Yeah?"
"That was you?"
"Supporting the Warden."
"Can you pull it back?"
"Not after confirmation."
Tobias looked perfectly satisfied with himself.
"And it’s 8.0."
"If we really finish first, I make seventy thousand."
Cassian watched him for two seconds.
"Next time you support me."
"Ask first."
Tobias blinked.
"Why?"
Cassian looked back at the odds.
"You lowered them."
The stone table went silent for one beat.
Elara laughed first.
Rowan pressed a hand to his forehead.
Seraphine looked at Cassian.
"How much are you planning to put in?"
Cassian did not answer.
His balance was still there.
[Aether Crystal: 298,466]
So was Black Banner’s three-million-Aether seed pool.
Riftward.
8.0.
Someone else had already named the price.
Now Cassian only had to decide how much of it he wanted.