Chapter 121: The Top Ten Wall

The celebration started before anyone had decided where to go.

Rhea had been cleared to leave the treatment room with a warning that she needed several days of rest, which she immediately interpreted as permission to attend dinner.

Lily had argued against it for several minutes before finally giving up, and by the time they reached the restaurant, Rhea was already acting as though she had never been injured in the first place.

The restaurant was quieter than the one they had visited after receiving the Grand Meal Ticket, which suited them perfectly. There were no crowds waiting outside and no curious Awakeners trying to approach them. For once, they could simply sit together and enjoy the fact that they had reached the Top 20.

Reinhard chose a large table near the back. "Everyone’s sitting here."

Mara looked at the size of the table before looking at him. "There are enough seats for everyone."

"Exactly."

Nobody argued. Within a few minutes, the Ashcrofts and Nephilim were mixed together without anyone making an effort to arrange it. Rhea and Lily sat beside each other, Maki and Seraphine were already discussing the Bloodkin, Emily and Rika were comparing their decisions during the previous mission, while Yuna and Mara had started talking about command formations. Kael and Adrian sat across from each other, quietly listening to the conversations around them.

Rhea reached across the table and took something from Lily’s plate.

Lily looked at her hand, then at Rhea. "That’s mine."

Rhea continued eating as though she hadn’t heard her. "You weren’t eating it."

"I was going to."

"You took too long."

Lily reached for the plate, but Rhea moved it farther away. A moment later, Kael quietly moved his own plate to the other side of the table. Rhea noticed and stared at him like he’d just committed treason.

"You learned."

Kael nodded calmly. "Yes."

Adrian looked between them. "How long did it take you?"

Kael thought about it for a moment, the way a man considers a question he’s already fully prepared for. "One meal."

Rhea looked genuinely offended. "Why is everyone learning so quickly?"

Lily took back what remained of her food while Rhea was distracted. "Because you’re predictable."

"That’s rude."

"You started it."

A few people laughed. Even Kael’s expression softened slightly, which for Kael counted as a full emotional display.

Reinhard watched them for a moment before taking a sip of his drink. "At least nobody’s bored."

Rhea pointed at him. "You’re encouraging her."

"Of course." He said it like an accusation he fully intended to keep earning.

"You could tell her to stop."

"I could. I’m choosing not to."

"Why?"

"Because it’s the best show at this table, and I already paid for dinner."

Lily shook her head. "You’re all terrible."

Maki and Seraphine continued their conversation, the two of them already a few mental steps ahead of everyone else at the table.

"So they weren’t simply defending their territory," Maki said. "They were controlling how we moved through it."

Seraphine nodded. "Exactly. They wanted us to believe we were choosing our route."

"Which means they were predicting our reactions."

"And they were learning from them."

Maki smiled slightly. "I don’t like that."

"Neither do I."

Reinhard glanced toward them without missing a beat of his own meal. "Then remember it."

"That’s the plan."

Across the table, Emily and Rika were having a different conversation.

"I still think the first attack was similar to what I remember," Emily said. "The way they positioned themselves before the ambush reminded me of Bloodkin I fought years ago."

Rika shook her head. "The beginning was similar, but the rest wasn’t. They adapted too quickly, and you were expecting them to behave like the ones you fought before."

Emily was quiet for a moment before nodding. "You’re right."

Rika seemed slightly surprised that Emily accepted it so easily.

Emily smiled. "Old experience is useful. It just can’t be the only thing I rely on."

"That’s better."

Nearby, Yuna and Mara were discussing the mission from an entirely different angle.

"If we had needed to abandon the western route earlier, I would have moved Rhea and Lily first," Yuna said. "The formation would have become uneven, but we would have reduced the chance of another injury."

Mara shook her head. "I would have moved the entire center instead. The Bloodkin were using the western route to pressure our decisions. Moving the entire formation would have forced them to change their plan."

Yuna considered it before smiling. "That’s why I prefer having another commander beside me."

Mara gave her a small smile. "And that’s why I prefer having someone who can disagree with me."

Reinhard listened for a while before looking around the table. The conversations had stopped being divided by teams. That was nice.

Rhea suddenly looked toward Reinhard. "Why are you smiling?"

"I’m not."

"You are."

Lily glanced at him. "He is."

Reinhard sighed, the sigh of a man being caught enjoying himself in public. "I was just thinking that everyone seems to be getting along."

Rhea immediately pointed toward Lily. "She’s still stealing my food."

"That’s because you stole hers first."

"That sounds like getting along."

The table broke into laughter again.

After the meal had gone on for a while, the conversation eventually shifted toward the ranking. Maki looked toward the Association display on Reinhard’s tablet. "We’re number eighteen now."

Rhea leaned closer. "Top twenty."

She looked at the rankings before asking, "What’s next?"

Mara answered without hesitation. "Top ten."

Rhea’s eyes lit up. "Then let’s go."

"Top 20 and Top 10 aren’t separated by ten numbers."

Rhea’s excitement faded into curiosity. "What does that mean?"

Reinhard took the tablet and opened the detailed ranking information, already enjoying himself far more than the moment probably warranted. "It means you should look before you run."

Rhea frowned. "That sounds less exciting."

"It’s supposed to."

The display changed. The Top 20 teams appeared first. Most had several C-Rank Awakeners, one or two B-Rank members, specialized combat roles, established leadership, and dozens of completed missions. Their records stretched across years of operations, and many had already developed reputations for specific types of missions.

Then Reinhard opened the Top 10, and the difference became obvious. The first team on the list had existed for thirty-seven years. The second had three B-Rank combatants under a single A-Rank leader. Another had completed more than a thousand recorded missions. One maintained its own relic archive, while another possessed a dedicated Abnormality research division that rarely entered the battlefield. Several had their own medical personnel, intelligence divisions, transportation teams, analysts, and support Awakeners.

They weren’t simply bringing stronger people into a mission. They had built entire organizations around surviving missions.

Maki stared at the Top 10 for a while before speaking. "We’re small."

Mara nodded. "Yes."

Maki looked at the rankings again. "But we’re climbing."

Seraphine smiled. "Very quickly."

Lily looked toward Reinhard. "So we just keep going."

Reinhard nodded, no hesitation in it at all. "Exactly."

Rhea leaned over the table. "How far?"

Reinhard looked at the rankings like a man glancing at a menu he’d already decided on. "Top ten first."

"And after that?"

"Top one."

Rhea grinned.

"Top one," Lily repeated, mostly to herself, like she was trying the words on for size.

Mara looked at him. "You say that very casually."

Reinhard shrugged. "Should I say it nervously?"

Rhea laughed. "No. Keep talking like that."

Nobody argued. The information hadn’t discouraged them. It had simply shown them what the next wall looked like. They didn’t need to pretend they were ready for the Top 10 today. They only needed to keep climbing.

Before anyone could discuss their next step, Reinhard’s tablet received a notification.

[High-Intensity Abnormality Suppression.]

[Difficulty: B-.]

[Recommended Team Ranking: Top 20.]

[Recommended Experience: 20+ Missions.]

[Primary Objective: Locate and suppress the Abnormality cluster.]

[Secondary Objective: Rescue trapped Awakener personnel.]

[Additional Objective: Prevent Mana contamination and secure the Abnormality core.]

[Casualty Priority: Minimize civilian casualties.]

Mara leaned over to read it. "This is much more dangerous than our previous missions."

[Environmental Instability: Severe.]

[Abnormality Behavior: Unpredictable.]

[Previous Teams: Two Failed Attempts.]

The table went quiet.

Rhea looked at the mission details. "So we’re going?"

Mara looked toward Reinhard. He was already reading through the information again. "Yes."

Rhea smiled.

Mara raised an eyebrow. "You decided that quickly."

Reinhard put the tablet down. "We’re trying to reach the Top 10." He looked around the table. "This is what comes next."

"Then we’ll prepare properly."

"Good."

Rhea’s smile widened, but Lily immediately looked at her. "You’re still recovering."

"I’ll be fine by then."

"You said that yesterday."

"I was mostly right."

"You were lying in bed."

"That’s part of recovering."

"You’re not allowed to reopen the wound."

Rhea looked at her for a moment before smiling. "Then don’t let me."

Lily stared at her before finally smiling back.

The mission preparations began shortly afterward. Everyone separated briefly to handle equipment and rest, but Reinhard remained behind with the mission report.

He read through the information again. Something in the previous mission report caught his attention. Buried near the bottom was a line he hadn’t noticed before.

[Territorial Contract: Unresolved.]

Reinhard’s expression changed. He remembered the Bloodkin leader standing at the edge of their territory.

You have repaid nothing.

He read the line again before opening the new mission’s regional information. Another detail stood out.

[Unidentified Blood Mana activity detected along the eastern boundary.]

Reinhard narrowed his eyes. The Bloodkin might not be finished with them.

He found Mara before she left.

"Mara."

She turned. "What?"

Reinhard showed her the report. "What exactly was the territorial contract?"

She looked confused. "We didn’t make a contract."

Reinhard turned the report toward her. Mara read the line, and her expression slowly turned serious. "We didn’t agree to anything."

"Apparently, they disagree."

Neither of them spoke for several seconds. The Bloodkin had allowed them to leave. They hadn’t pursued them. They hadn’t explained what they believed the Ashcrofts had taken. But their final words had made one thing clear.

The matter wasn’t finished.

Reinhard closed the report. He looked toward the ranking display.

Number eighteen. Top twenty.

They had reached the place they’d been chasing. But after seeing what waited above them, he understood that Top 20 had never been the destination. It was simply the next step.

Reinhard smiled. "Top ten."

Then he walked away.