Chapter 77: Severing Void Edge, The 450x Rare

Alvian stopped. His arms dropped to his sides. The cracked short-sword hung from his right hand, its edge smoking faintly with residual Clearwater energy. His breath came in controlled bursts. His VIT 855 kept him from collapse, but the sustained effort had pushed even his enhanced body to its limits.

The proficiency pool sat in his System interface. 100,000 base proficiency EXP. The brass and steel wheel waited, reels dark, ready to spin.

If he released it now, the wheel would roll on the pool. A Common roll would produce a modest evolution. An Uncommon would be better. A Rare would push Severing Sword Aura into something interesting.

An Epic would produce something S-Rank.

A God Roll would produce something that broke the rules entirely.

But the World Will was at CRITICAL. An Epic roll would trigger Fate Enforcer deployment immediately. The 46-hour window would collapse to zero.

’Can I afford an Epic roll? If it gives me a conceptual-level Skill, that might be exactly what I need to fight the Enforcers. But if the Enforcers arrive before I can use the Skill...’

The math was ugly. An Epic roll would give him the tool he needed and simultaneously summon the enemy he needed it for. He’d have to use the evolved Skill in combat immediately, with no practice, no testing, no understanding of its full capabilities.

’Or I release the pool now, hope for a Rare roll, and get something B-Rank or A-Rank that helps but doesn’t solve the problem.’

Five percent chance of Epic. Ninety-five percent chance of something lower.

He thought about Martha breathing clearly for the first time in months. He thought about Leo’s drawings. He thought about the copper credit he’d left on the Treasury pedestal.

’I didn’t break into the Royal Treasury to play safe.’

"Spin," he said.

The brass and steel wheel ignited.

—

The brass and steel wheel screamed to life.

Three reels of polished metal spun in Alvian’s vision, each one a blur of symbols and colors. Bronze for Common. Silver for Uncommon. Gold for Rare. The probability tiers he’d grown familiar with over weeks of gambling with reality itself.

His INT 192 tracked each reel independently. Angular velocity. Symbol spacing. Stopping position probability. The calculations ran in parallel, three streams of mathematical prediction feeding into a single tactical assessment.

Reel one began to slow.

Bronze. Bronze. Silver. Bronze. Gold.

The reel locked on Gold. A deep hum filled the subway platform. Cracked concrete vibrated beneath his feet. The air pressure shifted as the System’s proficiency engine drew energy from the surrounding dimensional field.

Reel two followed.

Silver. Bronze. Silver. Gold. Silver. Gold. Gold.

Two Gold. Rare tier locked as the minimum. The 100,000 base proficiency pool sat waiting, ready to be multiplied by whatever the third reel produced. Even the worst Rare result would produce millions of proficiency EXP. Enough to trigger evolution.

The third reel slowed.

Bronze. Silver. Bronze. Silver. Gold. Silver. Bronze. Each symbol visible for a fraction of a second before the next replaced it. His INT 192 calculated the stopping distribution. Thirty-four percent Bronze. Twenty-eight percent Silver. Twenty-two percent Gold. Sixteen percent higher.

The reel stopped.

Silver.

Three reels. Gold. Gold. Silver. Rare tier confirmed.

[DING!]

[RARE PROFICIENCY MULTIPLIER!]

[450X!]

[Proficiency Pool: 100,000 base EXP × 450 = 45,000,000 Proficiency EXP!]

[Severing Sword Aura proficiency cap: EXCEEDED!]

[A-Rank maximum threshold: BREACHED!]

[Evolution triggered!]

Forty-five million proficiency EXP flooded into Severing Sword Aura’s profile. The Skill detonated past its cap and into evolution territory. The System’s analysis engine engaged, processing the factors that would determine the evolution’s outcome.

[Analyzing evolution factors...]

[Host Stats: STR 530, AGI 290, VIT 855, INT 192, Essence 180.]

[Talent Resonance: Clearwater/Dissolution (S-Rank mutation active).]

[Proficiency Multiplier: 450x (Rare tier).]

[Weapon: Cracked short-sword (bonded through sustained use).]

[Combat history: Phased dimensional creatures. A-Rank bodyguards. Rank 5 Calamity Boss. Royal Treasury wards.]

The System paused for three seconds. Then the notification came with a weight that made the air feel heavier.

[SEVERING SWORD AURA EVOLVES!]

╔══════════════════════════════╗

║ NEW SKILL: SEVERING VOID EDGE

║ Rank: S

║

║ Effect: Sword strikes generate

║ blades of dissolved space

║ extending 25 meters from the

║ blade’s edge. The air blades

║ carry dissolution at a

║ dimensional level, cutting

║ through physical matter AND

║ energy constructs.

║

║ Wounds created by Severing

║ Void Edge resist healing as

║ the space around the wound

║ remains dissolved.

║

║ Cost: 15 Essence per blade

║ Range: 25 meters (scales

║ with INT)

║

║ Note: Approaches but does

║ NOT breach conceptual tier.

║ Conceptual evolution requires

║ Version 3.0 unlock.

╚══════════════════════════════╝

S-Rank. His third S-Rank Skill. But the note at the bottom burned brighter than the rest.

Approaches but does NOT breach conceptual tier.

The Fate Enforcers were conceptual entities. They existed on the level of laws and rules. They didn’t fight in physical space. They corrected anomalies by removing the source. His three S-Rank Skills, all physical in nature, would slide off them like water off glass.

He needed conceptual. The System was telling him he couldn’t get there from here.

Three S-Rank Skills. Abyssal Dissolution Domain. Void Step Annihilation. Severing Void Edge. All physical. All useless against enemies made of crystalline law.

He lowered his cracked short-sword. The blade hummed with new energy. The Clearwater resonance in the steel had deepened, the bone-level corrosion now active in the weapon itself. He swung once at the far wall.

The blade that launched was not a silver crescent of compressed air. It was a tear in space itself. A line of absolute nothing that crossed the platform and struck the concrete. The wall didn’t crack. The section of concrete the blade touched simply stopped being connected to the space around it. A three-meter gash appeared, edges smooth and smoking. The concrete within the gash hadn’t been destroyed. It had been severed from the space it occupied.

Useful against physical targets. Probably useful against energy constructs. But the Enforcers weren’t physical or energy. They were rules wearing the shape of warriors.

[DING!]

[World Will status: CRITICAL (unchanged). No Epic roll detected. No escalation triggered.]

[Fate Enforcer ETA: 45 hours, 52 minutes.]

[The System notes that the Host now has more S-Rank Skills than most Guild Grandmasters.]

[The System also notes that none of them will help against Fate Enforcers.]

[The System suggests the Host find a different solution.]

[The System recommends reviewing the VIP Shop.]

Alvian sat on the cracked concrete. His sword lay across his knees. The new Skill hummed in his interface, powerful and useless at the same time.

He opened the VIP Shop. The Concept Override Token sat there, locked behind 2,000 KP. He had 53. The gap was a canyon.

He opened the EXP Shop. Familiar items. Skill evolution catalysts. Weapon modules. Flesh limit expansions. Then his INT 192 caught something at the bottom of the inventory he hadn’t seen before. A new entry glowing with faint gold border.

╔══════════════════════════════╗

║ KARMIC EXCHANGE

║

║ Convert Banked EXP to Karma

║ Points.

║

║ Rate: 1,000,000 EXP = 10 KP

║

║ Maximum per transaction:

║ 50,000,000 EXP (500 KP)

║

║ Note: Exchange is permanent.

║ Converted EXP cannot be

║ recovered.

╚══════════════════════════════╝

His INT 192 locked onto the entry. The calculations ran instantly. One million EXP for ten KP. He had 224,400,000 in the Bank. If he converted 200,000,000 EXP, he’d get 2,000 KP. Enough for the Concept Override Token.

But he’d be left with 24,400,000 EXP. Down from 224 million. Nearly all of his reserves, accumulated through weeks of combat, God Rolls, and Epic multipliers.

’Two hundred million EXP. Weeks of work. Months of risk. The Bloodhound fight. The Estate raid. The Calamity Rift. The God Roll. All of it converted to currency for a single-use Token.’

The Concept Override Token would allow his next Skill Roll to breach the conceptual tier. One use. One chance to produce a conceptual-level Skill that could fight Fate Enforcers.

He would need a Skill at maximum proficiency to evolve. He checked Clearwater Palm.

╔══════════════════════════════╗

║ Clearwater Palm

║ Rank: D (Enhanced)

║ Proficiency: 91% of D-Rank cap

║

║ Evolution available at 100%

╚══════════════════════════════╝

Ninety-one percent. Nine percent from maximum. Nine percent from evolution. If he used another Minor Skill Evolution Catalyst and farmed proficiency for an hour, he could push Clearwater Palm to maximum. The evolution with the Concept Override Token active would produce a conceptual-level Skill.

Clearwater Palm was dissolution. If it evolved into a conceptual Skill, it might become something that dissolved concepts themselves. Laws. Rules. The fundamental building blocks of reality.

The kind of thing that could fight Fate Enforcers.

He activated the Karmic Exchange. Four transactions of 50,000,000 EXP each.

[DING!]

[Karmic Exchange initiated.]

[Transaction 1: 50,000,000 EXP → 500 KP.]

[Transaction 2: 50,000,000 EXP → 500 KP.]

[Transaction 3: 50,000,000 EXP → 500 KP.]

[Transaction 4: 50,000,000 EXP → 500 KP.]

[Total converted: 200,000,000 EXP.]

[Total KP gained: 2,000.]

[Current KP: 2,053.]

[EXP Bank: 224,400,000 → 24,400,000.]

[Note: This transaction is permanent.]

[The System reminds the Host that 200 million EXP took weeks to accumulate.]

[The System also reminds the Host that being erased from existence is worse.]

[The System approves the Host’s priorities.]

Two thousand and fifty-three Karma Points. The Concept Override Token’s icon in the VIP Shop shifted from grey to gold. Available.

He purchased it.

[DING!]