The following morning broke with a sense of profound and unsettling stillness. After leaving the broken form of Elias in the back alley, Kaelen had returned not to his squalid apartment, but to a different kind of sanctuary: the sterile, anonymous quiet of the city's main public library. His own university's library was still barred to him, a door locked by his poverty, but this public institution, with its long, silent halls and hushed atmosphere, served his purpose. He had spent the remainder of the night not reading, but absorbing. He sat in a secluded carrel, his eyes closed, his mind processing the torrent of information he had extracted from the Valerius family's enforcer.
He was building a map in his mind, a detailed schematic of the city's hidden power structures. The Valerius clan was a small, arrogant fish in a murky pond, but they were connected to larger, more dangerous predators. Understanding those connections, understanding the flow of power, was as critical as cultivating his own. A sovereign did not just command power; he understood the terrain upon which that power was to be wielded.
As dawn cast its first grey, watery light over the city, he finally left the library. His body, now fortified by his initial cultivation, no longer felt the crushing weight of mortal exhaustion. Instead, there was a quiet, thrumming energy beneath his skin, a patient, coiled power waiting to be unleashed.
He returned to his apartment. The chair was still wedged under the broken door. The room was still a testament to poverty and neglect. But it felt different now. It was no longer his cage. It was merely a temporary shell, a cocoon he was about to shed.
He sat on the floor in a meditative pose and began to circulate the wisp of Chaos Energy through his meridians, continuing the slow, patient process of tempering his new body. He had planted his seeds. Now, he simply had to wait for the harvest.
He did not have to wait long.
Around midday, his cheap, cracked phone buzzed on the floor beside him. He opened his eyes, the meditative calm vanishing, replaced by a cold, analytical focus. The caller ID was a number he had saved just yesterday. Viktor.
He let it ring three times before answering, a small, petty assertion of dominance.
"Yes," he said, his voice flat and calm.
The voice that came through the speaker was almost unrecognizable. The deep, rumbling arrogance of the loan shark was gone, replaced by a high-pitched, almost frantic excitement that bordered on hysteria.
"Master Kaelen!" Viktor practically shrieked, the honorific sounding both foreign and deeply sincere coming from his lips. "Master, it's done! You won't believe it! It's a miracle! An absolute miracle!"
"I am aware of the properties of my own creations, Viktor," Kaelen replied, his tone dry. "Be specific. Report."
"Yes, yes, of course! The pills! I did as you instructed. I was discreet. I have a… client. An old man, very wealthy, a shipping magnate. He's been suffering from a degenerative nerve condition for years, confined to a wheelchair, his doctors gave him six months to live. He's spent millions on treatments, specialists, quacks—nothing worked. He was desperate. I offered him one of the pills. I told him it was an experimental, holistic treatment from a mysterious master. He laughed at me. He almost had me thrown out. But he was desperate enough to try."
Viktor paused, taking a huge, shuddering breath. Kaelen could hear the frantic pounding of the man's heart even through the cheap speaker.
"Master Kaelen… I watched it happen with my own eyes. He took the pill, and… he stood up. He just… stood up from his wheelchair. After ten years. He said the pain was gone. He said he felt like he was twenty years old again. He wept like a child. His family, his doctors… they are calling it a divine intervention."
Kaelen remained silent, allowing Viktor to bask in the afterglow of the miracle.
"He didn't just pay me," Viktor continued, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial, awe-filled whisper. "He gave me everything I asked for and more. He wired the money without a second thought. He wants to meet you. He wants to worship you! He wants to know when he can get more! The other pill… I have a list of buyers, Master, a list of the wealthiest and most powerful people in this city, and they are willing to pay almost anything. Anything! We are going to be richer than kings!"
"We are not," Kaelen corrected him coldly. "I am. You are my steward. Do not forget your place, Viktor. The profits are merely a tool."
The reminder was a splash of cold water. "Yes, of course, Master," Viktor said, his tone instantly becoming more subservient. "My apologies. I was… overcome. The money has been transferred as per your instructions."
"Good," Kaelen said. "Await my next contact."
He ended the call without waiting for a reply. He sat in the silence of the room for a moment. The first phase of his plan was complete. He had capital.
He picked up the phone again. With a few taps, he accessed the mobile banking application he had set up the day before, using a series of anonymous firewalls and routing protocols that would have made the most skilled mortal hacker weep with envy. He had created a numbered, untraceable account based in a small, neutral country with notoriously lax financial laws.
He logged in. And he saw the balance.
It was a staggering sum, an amount that would have been incomprehensible to the boy who was Kaelen Vance. It was enough money to buy this entire apartment building ten times over. It was a fortune that could grant a mortal man a life of unparalleled luxury and ease.
Kaelen looked at the string of numbers on the screen, and he felt… nothing.
There was no joy, no excitement, no relief. It was like looking at the ammunition count for a weapon. It was a resource, a tool, a means to an end. Its only value was in what it could help him achieve.
His first priority was the university.
He navigated to the Keystone University student portal. He logged in using Kaelen Vance's credentials. The portal's main page was dominated by a large, flashing red banner: ACADEMIC PROBATION. TUITION PAYMENT OVERDUE.
He found the bursar's payment page. The outstanding balance was listed, a sum that had once been an insurmountable mountain, the source of countless sleepless nights for the boy he used to be.
Now, it was a triviality.
With a single, indifferent tap, he authorized the payment. He transferred the full amount from his new, anonymous account. The transaction was processed instantly.
The red banner on the portal vanished. It was replaced by a simple, green message: Payment Received. Account in Good Standing. Welcome back to Keystone University.
The door that had been slammed shut in his face was now open again. The library, the archives, the databases—they were all his to command once more.
He had achieved this not with celestial power, not with earth-shattering techniques, but with the simple, crude, yet undeniably effective application of mortal currency. It was a valuable lesson. In this world, money was its own form of power.
The moment the payment was confirmed, the familiar, ethereal chime echoed in his mind. The blue screen of the System materialized before him, glowing with a triumphant, golden light.
[Main Quest: A Sovereign Owes No Debts - Complete!]
[Objective: Settle the $10,000 mortal debt. Status: Accomplished.] [Objective: Resolve the threat of academic expulsion. Status: Accomplished.]
[Calculating performance… Host has completed the objective with overwhelming efficiency, establishing a long-term financial foundation far exceeding the quest parameters. Bonus rewards will be issued.]
[Rewards Issued:] 1. [Physique Strengthening Elixir Recipe (Grade 1)] has been added to your Alchemical Knowledge Base. 2. 10 System EXP Gained. 3. Bonus Reward: 50 System EXP Gained. 4. Bonus Reward: [Lesser Qi Pill Recipe (Grade 1)] has been added to your Alchemical Knowledge Base.
Kaelen felt a genuine flicker of satisfaction. He had not just completed the quest; he had excelled. He had turned a simple debt into the foundation of a business empire. The System had recognized his sovereign-level performance.
Then came the notification he had been waiting for, the true prize.
[Total System EXP has reached 60/10. System has met the requirements for level up.]
[Initiating System Upgrade… Please Wait…]
The blue screen went blank for a moment, then returned, brighter and with a more complex, intricate border.
[System Level Up! Current Level: 2]
[New functions unlocked!]
[Unlocked Function: [Abilities (Locked)] tab is now accessible.] [Unlocked Function: [Inventory]. A 1-cubic-meter personal storage space has been created in a pocket dimension, accessible by Host's will.]
Kaelen's entire focus narrowed in on a single line.
[Abilities (Locked)] tab is now accessible.
His heart, a mortal organ he was still growing accustomed to, gave a single, powerful thud. This was it. This was the key. This was the beginning of his true return.
With a will that trembled with a sliver of anticipation for the first time since his reincarnation, he focused his mind on the once-greyed-out tab.
The padlock icon on the [Abilities] tab dissolved into motes of golden light. The tab shimmered and became solid. It was open. It was accessible.
He knew what lay beyond it. A near-infinite list of the divine arts he had mastered over ten millennia. The techniques that had bent the laws of physics, the arts that had forged stars and silenced gods. They were still locked, he knew. He did not have the power to wield them yet. But the path to them, the door to his former glory, was no longer sealed.
He had his first taste of real power, he had secured his mortal foundation, and he had unlocked the armory of a god.
He looked around the squalid little room, at the peeling paint and the broken door. This was not a cage anymore.
It was a launching point.
And the universe had no idea what was about to be unleashed upon it.