Chapter 77: Agriculture! Three Points of Fortune on the Line
[Selection Countdown: 00:09:41]
Outside Hall of Renown, the first place to erupt was not the Shattered Marches Channel.
It was the Riftward Regional Channel.
[Anonymous Lord: Sable March has more than twice our numbers?]
[Anonymous Lord: The Region Duel counts the entire Region, not just the Warden?]
[Anonymous Lord: How are we supposed to compare Troop Power? We only have four hundred and two Domains.]
[Anonymous Lord: Resource Acquisition scales with numbers too. Mines, workers, transport—everything does.]
[Anonymous Lord: And Agriculture doesn’t?]
No one was actually relaxed.
Riftward had never been a Region famous for farming.
Most Lords had prioritized mines, timber, Troops, and walls. Plenty had built Fields, but almost no one had treated agriculture as a main line capable of overcoming a Region with more than twice as many Domains.
The system provided only the most important explanation.
[Agriculture Index: Evaluates effective cultivated area, Field Quality, Crop Quality, crop-growth progress, and valid Harvests completed within the settlement window.]
Settlement at noon in five Realm Days.
That one line was enough to make the channel even more tense.
High-Quality Fields and Crops could make up points.
But high-Quality crops were usually slower too.
Having things available inside the Hall now did not mean they would be mature five days later.
Tobias looked at Cassian.
"At least Agriculture lets Quality make up for numbers."
Cassian did not confirm immediately.
Not because he lacked an answer.
Because this Duel belonged to all of Riftward.
He opened the Regional Channel.
[Cassian Vale: Which one do you think we can compete in?]
The channel paused for a beat.
Then the messages started moving fast.
[Anonymous Lord: Don’t pick Troop Power. They have more than twice as many Domains. We can’t win a straight contest of total Troop Power.]
[Anonymous Lord: Resource Acquisition is rough too. Our resource Quality is better, but mines, workers, and convoys all scale with numbers.]
[Anonymous Lord: The Hall has high-Quality Seed and Field Blueprints right now.]
[Anonymous Lord: I still have Renown. I’m going back to exchange for some.]
[Anonymous Lord: I have two Fields already built.]
[Anonymous Lord: I have a Farmer team I can recall immediately.]
A moment ago, people had been asking how the Duel could possibly be won.
Now they were listing what they actually had.
Some had no Fields.
Some had no Renown.
But others were already opening Warden Gates back toward the Hall.
Riftward had only just won five Fortune.
No one wanted to hand it back this quickly.
Tobias watched the channel.
"Looks like they want Agriculture too."
"Mm."
Cassian looked at the three Categories again.
Troop Power was the hardest.
Resource Acquisition was not impossible.
But Agriculture fit best.
Riftward had Lords willing to put existing Fields, Seed, and Farmers on the table.
Cassian had one more card Sable March could not see.
Time.
The ten Rare Field Plot Blueprints and ten batches of Rare Moonrice Seed from the Hall were already in his Inventory.
Forgotten Shrine’s Deep Layer had already proven Time Acceleration worked.
Farming had been low priority before because it was slow.
Now someone was putting Region Fortune on the table and giving "slow" a price.
Cassian raised a hand.
[Riftward confirms Contest Category: Agriculture Index]
The Regional Channel filled with replies immediately.
[Anonymous Lord: Fine. Then we farm.]
[Anonymous Lord: I’m going back to the Hall.]
[Anonymous Lord: Count my two Fields.]
[Anonymous Lord: My Farmers are already on the way home.]
Cassian read the messages and did not explain further.
They were choosing what they could put on the table.
He was choosing how to win.
Sable March.
When Varek saw Riftward choose Agriculture, his first reaction was not to laugh.
He read the rules again.
Only then did he look at the population comparison.
Riftward: 402.
Sable March: more than double.
Hall of Renown had indeed appeared inside Riftward at exactly the right time.
But the Hall had only a little more than ten minutes left.
And Black Banner had more than one Region behind it.
Seeds could be bought.
Field Blueprints could be bought.
As for Farmers and already-built Fields, Sable March already held the advantage.
Nadia stood beside him.
"He chose Agriculture."
"I saw."
"How much are you staking?"
The system had already opened the Stake interface.
[Sable March Current Region Fortune: 1]
[Initiator Fortune Overdraft Allowance: 2]
[Maximum Stake: 3]
Nadia studied the last line.
"You can overdraw two points."
"Mm."
"If you stake three and lose, you go negative two."
Varek did not confirm immediately.
He had already misjudged Riftward once in the Ranking.
That was exactly why this time he was not staking on emotion.
He looked only at the public conditions.
More than twice the number of Domains.
Black Banner’s external market and supply network.
A five-day settlement window.
And no top-tier agricultural trump card Riftward had ever shown publicly.
Cassian could hide twenty Rocketiers.
He could hide a Legendary Hero.
No one would be surprised anymore if he hid more Troops.
But a Region Duel was not asking how many soldiers one Cassian Vale could hide.
It was asking whether four hundred and two Domains could outgrow more than twice that number in five days.
Varek raised his hand.
"Stake three."
Nadia looked at him.
"This isn’t a probe anymore."
"It was never meant to be."
Varek confirmed.
"If these conditions are only worth one point, why would I use the Writ at all?"
Golden text refreshed immediately.
[Sable March confirms Stake: Region Fortune ×3]
[Current Fortune: 1]
[Fortune Overdraft: 2]
[Riftward automatically matches Stake: Region Fortune ×3]
[Riftward Current Fortune: 5]
[Duel Established]
[Contest Category: Agriculture Index]
[Settlement: 5 Realm Days later, 12:00]
[Winner receives Region Fortune ×3 from loser.]
[If Sable March loses: Region Fortune will settle to -2 under valid Overdraft.]
Varek read the last line and did not withdraw his hand.
If he lost—
Sable March would not go from one to zero.
It would drop straight to negative two.
He still made the bet.
Because from his perspective, Riftward’s real weakness this time was not the lack of another Cassian.
It was the full Domain-count gap sitting in plain view.
The announcement appeared in the Shattered Marches Channel at the same time.
[Sable March vs Riftward | Region Fortune Duel]
[Category: Agriculture Index]
[Stake: Region Fortune ×3]
[Settlement: 5 Realm Days later, 12:00]
This time, the channel truly stopped for several seconds.
Darian appeared first.
[Darian Frost: Three points?]
Seraphine followed immediately.
[Seraphine Valcrest: Sable only has one.]
[Seraphine Valcrest: He put the two overdraft points in too.]
Gareth sent only one line.
[Gareth Halvern: That’s not a probe.]
Someone from Black Banner answered quickly.
[Black Banner Lord: Four hundred and two against more than double. How does Agriculture turn that around?]
[Black Banner Lord: No matter how good the Hall is, it only has a little over ten minutes left.]
Then Varek himself appeared.
[Varek Sorn: This Duel is about the Region.]
[Varek Sorn: Not how many Troops Cassian can hide by himself.]
He did not keep provoking them.
He did not need to.
Those two lines put his entire judgment in front of everyone.
Another Black Banner Lord went further.
[Black Banner Lord: If Riftward still wins Agriculture five days from now, I’ll publicly admit I got this wrong and apologize to Riftward in this Channel.]
Tobias answered almost instantly.
[Tobias Reed: No need.]
[Tobias Reed: I saved it.]
The channel exploded.
Some people laughed.
Some immediately started betting on the result five days from now.
Others demanded to know what Riftward could possibly use to overcome a population gap of more than two to one.
The two sides had only just finished tearing into each other over Riftward’s Rank 1 result.
Now three points of Region Fortune had thrown fresh fuel onto the fire.
Every public condition favored Sable March.
This time, hardly anyone thought Varek was acting impulsively.
He had staked heavily because it looked as if he had been handed a question where numbers guaranteed the answer.
The Riftward Regional Channel sounded completely different.
[Anonymous Lord: Three points?!]
[Anonymous Lord: We just got five. If we lose, we’re straight down to two?]
[Anonymous Lord: Sable is the side that goes negative two if they lose. He actually dared to stake it.]
[Anonymous Lord: The two Fields I just reported to Rowan still count, right?]
[Rowan Ashford: They count. Anything you’re willing to contribute counts.]
[Anonymous Lord: I still have Renown. I’m going back to the Hall.]
[Anonymous Lord: I have idle Farmers. They won’t touch my mine line.]
[Anonymous Lord: I have some Seed. Quality isn’t great, but I’m putting it in.]
A moment ago, they had only been anxious.
Now people were actually moving.
Not because Cassian ordered the Region to stop everything else.
Because with three points of Fortune on the table, some of Riftward’s Lords had no intention of giving back what they had just won.
Tobias stared at the line marked Stake ×3 for a long moment.
Then he turned.
"You said someone was bringing you Fortune."
"Mm."
"Now it’s three points."
Cassian looked at the number.
"More than I expected."
Tobias watched him for two seconds.
"You really think you can win?"
Cassian finally looked at him.
"I’m not guessing."
"I can win."
Only a few minutes remained on the Hall of Renown countdown.
The Riftward Lords around them were already rushing back inside.
Some went looking for Seed.
Some for Field Blueprints.
Others had already started recalling Farmers.
Cassian added only one line to the Regional Channel.
[Cassian Vale: Use what you can spare. Don’t tear apart what your Domain is already running.]
No one stopped because of it.
Instead, more replies appeared.
[Anonymous Lord: Relax. I’m using idle capacity.]
[Anonymous Lord: We just got five Fortune. We’re not giving it back this fast.]
[Anonymous Lord: I don’t have much Seed, but I’m putting it in anyway.]
Three points of Fortune had pulled all of Riftward into the Duel.
On the other side, Black Banner had already begun sweeping the market.
[Sable March buying: High-Quality Seed / Field Blueprint / Farm Tool]
[Average price for matching-Quality goods: Rising]
Several Black Banner Regions followed almost immediately.
Field Blueprints that had not been urgent to sell began disappearing.
High-Quality Seed was bought up in rapid succession.
That was Varek’s confidence.
Having more than twice as many Domains wasn’t enough.
He wanted every resource Black Banner could mobilize pressed onto the table too.
Only two minutes remained above Hall of Renown.
Cassian did not leave.
"Still looking?" Tobias asked.
"It hasn’t disappeared yet."
Cassian opened his exchange list one more time.
This time, he did not touch tactical scrolls.
Field Plot Blueprints.
Agriculture-related Skill Books.
Production Training Manuals.
And one high-grade Building Blueprint he had left near the bottom of the list.
[Mindseal Tower Blueprint | Epic]
[Function Preview: Truth / Enslave]
It had nothing to do with the Agriculture Duel in front of him.
But once the Hall disappeared, there was no telling when he would see another Building of the same kind.
Cassian took it with the last batch of long-term Domain resources.
The final exchange appeared.
[Realm Renown -2,120]
[Realm Renown: 8,800 → 6,680]
Cassian stopped there.
The countdown reached zero.
The white-stone Hall began fading from the edges.
After the last group of Lords was sent outside in soft light, the entire Building vanished within a few breaths.
Whatever could be taken from the opportunity had been taken.
The Riftward Lords nearby did not scatter.
"I’m planting as soon as I get back."
"My Farmer team isn’t leaving tonight."
"Win or lose, we’re not letting them take this easily."
Cassian looked at them.
"Do what you can."
He did not announce that the win was guaranteed.
The Black Banner Lord who had just made that bold claim was still in the public channel.
Cassian turned and opened the Warden Gate.
"Back."
Forgotten Shrine.
Veyra was still in the Deep Layer.
By the time Cassian entered, she had already seen the Region Fortune Duel announcement.
"He staked three points."
"Mm."
"And you stayed in the Hall until the last second."
"Take the thing that can disappear first."
Veyra glanced at the Rare Field Plot Blueprints and Rare Moonrice Seed he had brought back.
"How sure?"
"A hundred percent."
One brow rose.
"You don’t even know how long they take to mature."
"That’s why we start now."
Cassian opened Folded Sanctuary.
On the far side of the Deep Layer, an empty area of more than a thousand square meters was marked off on its own.
"Bring over the Settlers who used to handle the Moonrice Patch and grain storage."
Several Settlers arrived quickly.
Cassian handed them the ten Rare Field Plot Blueprints and ten batches of Rare Moonrice Seed.
"Mark out the positions first."
The moment people entered, the empty area came alive.
Surveying.
Dividing plots.
Clearing planting lines.
Cassian opened Aether Allocation next.
The agriculture sector’s Aether allocation was pushed directly to the highest level currently allowed.
Aether Mist flowed toward the planting lines, the previously thin layer visibly thickening.
This was not a reservation.
The sector was live.
Then he opened the Time Acceleration setting he had already tested before.
[Time Acceleration: 10×]
[Subjective Duration: 10:00:00]
[Cost: 60,000 Aether Crystal]
Cassian confirmed.
[Aether Crystal: 3,575,266 → 3,515,266]
The sense of time inside the Deep Layer shifted.
The Settlers did not suddenly start moving faster.
But the bells filtering in from the main layer were clearly slowing down.
Veyra finally smiled.
"So the one point he had wasn’t enough."
"He went two points into debt to you first."
"It hasn’t settled yet."
"Still won’t call it yours."
She looked at the agriculture sector now in motion.
"They bet on five days."
"Mm."
"And you?"
Cassian closed the interface.
"I buy time."