SSS Awakening: I Can Devour Gods to Evolve My Goddesses

Veyra stood beside him.

”You’re sending them out again?”

”The Ranking settles in a little over twenty minutes.”

”So?”

Veyra turned toward the first returning squad. Fresh gouges covered their shields, but the squad had not lost anyone.

Cassian gave one order.

”Take the next route.”

The second sweep was staggered instead of sending all nine squads back out at once. The first three to return stopped to inspect shield faces and spear shafts. The other six switched to the second set of routes already verified by Blackfang. When the next group returned, these three would rotate out again.

Cassian was not grinding the same squad until it broke. He was rotating nine squads through every monster concentration around Forgotten Shrine that had already been mapped. Veyra followed the rotation without asking again. A dark-gold trace from the Temporary Covenant still clung faintly to the new troops’ armor.

Cassian’s active troop count was still below three hundred.

The Regional Channel was another world entirely. One Lord had posted his troop count outright.

[Anonymous Lord: Newly recruited basic troops today: 1,437!]

A Domain image followed. There was barely any open ground left. Tents. Wooden shelters. Temporary cooking pits. And more than a thousand Level 1 soldiers carrying the cheapest basic spears available.

The channel immediately exploded.

[Anonymous Lord: More than fourteen hundred? Are you insane?]

[Anonymous Lord: Can a Rank I Domain even fit that many?]

[Anonymous Lord: Forget whether it fits. Calculate the points!]

Someone quickly explained the simplest part of the math. Continuing to level an existing basic troop cost more and more resources as the troop climbed. Recruiting a fresh Level 1 basic troop gave you a new chunk of panel power immediately.

If the only thing that mattered was the total before noon today, fresh recruits were cheaper. And this Lord was not the only one doing it.

One thousand.

Thirteen hundred.

Fifteen hundred.

Someone else was already pushing toward two thousand. Basic recruitment materials on the Regional Exchange had almost been swept clean. Less than half a minute was enough. Cassian closed the channel. These Lords were not bad at arithmetic.

They were doing the math perfectly well—which was exactly why they were willing to mortgage the next few days of their Domains for one ranking result.

A communication request appeared.

Elara.

Cassian accepted.

”How many troops did you recruit today?”

”New ones?”

”Obviously.”

Cassian glanced toward the Hall.

”Two hundred nine.”

Elara paused.

”Two hundred nine?”

”Yeah.”

”Not even three hundred?”

”Yeah.”

Elara paused for two seconds.

”Someone out there already has over fourteen hundred.”

”I saw.”

”Seraphine is worse.”

Cassian’s head came up. ”How many?”

”Nobody knows the exact count,” Elara said. ”But she bought enough basic recruitment contracts for close to two thousand troops today.”

”And she already had several higher-grade squads.”

”People in the channel are basically assuming first place is hers now.”

Cassian checked the panel he had never made public.

[Eclipse new-army panel power: 3,524]

Then he closed it.

”That’s good.”

A beat passed.

”What do you mean, that’s good?”

”At least she didn’t stop.”

”You want her to keep recruiting?”

”She wants first place. Of course she’ll keep going.”

Elara paused, then seemed to catch on.

”Wait.”

”What exactly are those two hundred nine troops?”

Outside the Hall stood nine Epic Praetorians and two hundred Rare Legionnaires. Not one basic troop among them. Cassian let the question hang.

”Wait for the Ranking.”

Elara paused again.

”I’m starting to hate that sentence.”

Cassian smiled faintly.

”Complain after noon.”

A little after 11:40, the second hunting rotation began returning to Forgotten Shrine. They had not stayed out for another full forty-plus minutes. Settlement was getting close, and Cassian recalled every squad. The nine Praetorians returned to the front. The two hundred Legionnaires adjusted their spacing at the three positions Veyra had pointed out earlier.

There was no celebration over the nine hundred-plus kills, and no one lingered over combat-power numbers either. Bram simply brought people over to replace the outer plates on two shields that had cracked. A message arrived from Sigrid at the Gold Vein.

[Mine site normal.]

There was no new warning from Tobias about groups gathering to the south. Forgotten Shrine was quieter than the Regional Channel. Veyra stood in front of the formation for a while.

”You changed the third spot.”

”Yeah.”

”You left the first one alone.”

”It didn’t need changing.”

Veyra turned her head. ”Why?”

”When we gave ground on the right side of the dry riverbed, that position didn’t jam.”

Veyra studied him for two seconds, then nodded.

”You remember faster than I expected.”

Cassian turned to her. ”I thought you only watched for where the line would break.”

”I still am.”

She lifted her chin toward the formation.

”So far, it hasn’t.”

After that, she left the Ranking alone. Cassian did the same. The scars on the shields were there, along with nine hundred forty-seven kill records and fifty-eight thousand four hundred Battle Essence. All of it was right there in front of them.

In the Regional Channel, the discussion around first place kept converging on one name. Seraphine had not revealed her Troop Power. No new betting pool had appeared like the one around Hero Power Ranking. Even so, her name was already being treated as the favorite.

[Anonymous Lord: How many troops did Valcrest recruit today?]

[Anonymous Lord: If it wasn’t two thousand, it was close.]

[Anonymous Lord: Add her existing Rare troops. Who’s catching that?]

[Anonymous Lord: What about Cassian?]

Neither Elara nor Rowan answered for him. A moment later, a familiar name appeared.

[Cassian Vale: Fewer than three hundred.]

The channel went still for a beat.

Then:

[Anonymous Lord: Fewer than three hundred?]

[Anonymous Lord: So he really isn’t going for first this time?]

[Anonymous Lord: Even high-grade troops can’t make up that kind of number gap, can they?]

[Anonymous Lord: Top hundred should be safe. Top ten might be rough.]

Cassian left it at that.

The number was true.

Fewer than three hundred.

He simply had not said what quality those fewer than three hundred troops were. Veyra glanced at the channel.

”They seem very worried about you.”

”Good.”

”What’s good about it?”

”Means they won’t spend the last twenty minutes asking me questions.”

Veyra gave a short laugh. Then another message from Elara appeared. It was not another question about his troops. It was something else entirely.

[Elara Vayne: Remember the ridge behind the Nightstripe mine?]

Cassian paused.

[Cassian Vale: I remember.]

[Elara Vayne: My people just ran into another squad back there.]

[Elara Vayne: Twelve of them. All Level 14. All Rare.]

Cassian had been leaning against the broken wall.

Now he stood straight.

Twelve Rare targets—and they were not wild monsters that had simply wandered into the same place. Elara’s next messages arrived immediately.

[Elara Vayne: Same shields. Same short axes. Same positioning. They changed formation twice on their own during the first contact. My people only touched the front line once before I pulled them back.]

[Elara Vayne: They look more like a formed squad than wild monsters that happened to gather together.]

Now he was listening.

Twelve targets with the same level, the same quality, matching equipment, and coordinated formation changes. If they were only a normal wild spawn, they were far too uniform. There might be more than one squad deeper in the ridge. There might even be an undiscovered wild Troop building hidden somewhere in the ridge.

The Wild Tide Lure remained untouched in storage. The Regional Channel was still guessing where his ”fewer than three hundred” troops could possibly place. And the countdown had not finished yet.

Cassian’s reply was brief.

[Cassian Vale: Save the record.]

[Cassian Vale: Send it to me after the Ranking.]

Elara answered quickly.

[Elara Vayne: Fine.]

Cassian closed the communication window. He left the full battle record unopened and kept the Ranking in front of him. For now, he would wait until noon. As for the twelve Level 14 Rare targets in the ridge—

if there really was a wild Troop building behind them, their value was far greater than twelve enemies. Once the record arrived, he would look at it himself.

——————————

11:57 a.m.

Only three minutes remained before the Troop Power Ranking settled. Cassian had already closed the Regional Channel when another message from Elara came through.

[Elara Vayne: I missed one line earlier.]

[Elara Vayne: System identification: Ridgewarden. Dwarf troop. Rare. Level 14.]

Cassian paused on the name.

Ridgewarden.

Twelve of them. Same level, same quality, same shields and short axes—and they changed positions on their own once combat started.

That no longer looked like twelve wild monsters that happened to gather in one place. It looked like a standard squad that had walked out of a building.

[Cassian Vale: How many did you lose?]

A few seconds passed.

[Elara Vayne: Three frontline troops didn’t make it back.]

[Elara Vayne: So I’m not pushing farther in today. I’ll send you the full record after the Ranking, like we agreed.]

Cassian checked the Wild Tide Lure in storage and left it where it was.

If there really was a wild Troop Building somewhere inside that ridge, dragging all twelve Ridgewardens out was not the priority.

Finding the entrance was.

Twelve Rare targets were gone once they were killed. A Building that could keep producing high-grade troops was something else entirely.

[Cassian Vale: Keep the record.]

He sent the message and turned immediately.

”Eira.”

”Here.”

”You and the five Stormlance still at Forgotten Shrine. Get ready to move.”

Eira had just hooked her short spear back at her waist. She looked up.

”We leave as soon as the Ranking ends?”

”Yes.”

Cassian also called back four Blackfang that had just finished an outer scouting rotation.

At that moment, an empty cart team returning from the mining area rolled into Forgotten Shrine with replacement tools. Escorting it were the five Rare Gloomhoof that had remained at Level 1 while handling mine transport security.

Cassian opened their growth interface as soon as he saw them.

The last time, raising twelve Gloomhoof from Level 1 to Level 6 had cost 36,000 Battle Essence. The system’s batch price for these five came to exactly 15,000.

[Gloomhoof Centaur ×5]

[Level 1 → Level 6]

[Battle Essence: 15,000]

”Upgrade.”

Five waves of light fell in succession. The bow limbs that had still looked noticeably lighter than those of the older Gloomhoof tightened, and the sound of their hooves striking the ground deepened.

[Gloomhoof Centaur ×5]

[Current Level: 6]

Veyra glanced at the countdown.

”You remembered these five with three minutes left?”

”This isn’t for the last three minutes.”

Cassian closed the interface.

”I’ll need them in the mountains.”

Their higher combat power would count toward the Ranking, of course, but that was incidental. After noon, all five Gloomhoof were leaving with him.

Veyra stood beside the Eclipse lines and asked, ”You’re not taking the Praetorians?”

Cassian looked at her.

”Mountain road.”

Veyra tipped her chin toward the nine tower shields.

”Good. You still remember what you chose them for. This army’s best at turning a frontal line into its own ground, not wearing heavy armor and racing the Stormlance up a mountain.”

Cassian had never planned to drag more than two hundred new Eclipse troops into the ridge at once. He removed the last backup route from his map.

”The fast units scout first. We find the Building, then decide whether the line needs to move.”

A faint smile touched Veyra’s mouth.

”You didn’t make me finish the thought for you this time.”

”You usually say it faster.”

Eira lowered her head and coughed once.

[11:59:48]

Twelve seconds.

Messages in the Regional Channel were moving too fast to read. Some Lords were still squeezing in one final recruitment batch. Others were asking whether anyone had basic-troop contracts left. A few had already started regretting recruiting only three hundred extra troops instead of five hundred.

Cassian did not touch the recruitment interface again.

Nine Level 2 Eclipse Praetorians.

Two hundred Level 2 Eclipse Legionnaires.

Twelve Stormlance Valkyries. Seventeen Gloomhoof. Twelve Blackfang.

Every troop that had actually finished recruitment before noon was already inside the system count.

Ten.

Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

Six.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

A sheet of golden light burst across the sky.

[Troop Power Ranking calculation closed.]

[Settlement beginning.]

The Regional Channel went silent.

The first placements appeared immediately.

Unlike the Hero Power Ranking, this one did not make everyone wait through names one by one. From one hundred down through the lower ranks, golden entries flashed forward at high speed.

Lords who had been showing off troop counts only moments earlier started cheering—or stopped talking entirely.

[Anonymous Lord: I made it! Ninety-seventh!]

[Anonymous Lord: I missed it by that much!]

[Anonymous Lord: Anyone know roughly what #100 needed?]

No one had the attention to answer properly.

The list tore through twentieth, fifteenth, eleventh—and finally slowed at tenth.

The Lord who had publicly shown off 1,437 newly recruited basic troops that day was sitting right there.

[Troop Power Ranking #10]

[Reward: Rare Chest ×1]

The channel froze for a beat before that Lord laughed first.

[Anonymous Lord: Tenth! One thousand four hundred thirty-seven. Worth it!]

Instead of discouraging anyone, that result made the Lords who had swept up basic-recruitment supplies even more excited.

So raw numbers really could push someone into the top ten.

Then ninth appeared.

Eighth.

Seventh.

All the way to fourth.

Cassian’s name never showed.

Elara’s private chat lit first.

[Elara Vayne: ...]

Cassian did not answer.

The Regional Channel caught up a moment later.

[Anonymous Lord: Wait.]

[Anonymous Lord: Didn’t Cassian say fewer than three hundred?]

[Anonymous Lord: Fourth is already out. Where is he?]

[Anonymous Lord: Don’t tell me he fell out of the top hundred.]

[Rowan Ashford: Impossible.]

Only one word mattered in that reply.

Fourth place had already appeared, and Cassian was nowhere from third through one hundred.

Only three answers remained.