Chapter 366: Interest

Rhayne keeps looking at me after the question.

"What ring?"

Her reaction takes a few seconds.

Her fingers stay on the one earring she still wears, while her face loses the hesitation she’s been carrying since the square. She doesn’t look surprised, exactly. I think part of her already knew what the answer would be. She just needed to hear it from me.

"You don’t remember buying anything for Lola in Lost Ark?"

I search.

Lost Ark is still there.

I remember the streets, part of the markets, the strange nights in that place, and Lola complaining about small things that seemed enormous to her. I remember Rhayne with me in a lot of those moments too. The problem starts when I try to fit a ring into the middle of all that.

There’s no image.

No sound.

Not even that vague feeling you usually get when you forget a detail but know where it should be.

"I remember Lost Ark."

Rhayne waits.

"I remember the three of us walking around there. But I don’t remember buying her a ring."

She breathes out through her nose and lowers her eyes.

"You traded a Lunaria Fruit for it."

Nothing.

"It was made of rainbow metal. Lola said it looked like my eyes, only without the storm."

The words reach me and stop.

I know what rainbow metal is. I know what a Lunaria Fruit is. I know perfectly well who Lola is, and I can imagine some absurd remark coming out of her mouth.

Even so, there’s no memory behind that sentence.

"I don’t remember."

Rhayne nods slowly.

Only then do I notice how much that saddens her.

It isn’t a dramatic sadness. She doesn’t start crying or try to make me understand the size of what I gave away. She just stays there, quiet, looking at me with her eyes lowered, until she shifts a little closer on the bench.

Her gloved hand comes up.

Rhayne touches my face.

Her palm rests on my cheek, the fabric keeping her skin away from mine. I feel the light pressure of her fingers near my jaw, careful even though she knows the glove makes the contact safe.

When I look at her, Rhayne smiles.

It’s a small smile, extremely tender, despite the sadness still sitting in her eyes.

"Thank you, Den."

Her voice almost disappears into the noise of the square.

"Really."

I don’t answer right away.

There’s something uncomfortable about receiving gratitude for something whose weight I can no longer measure. I know I sacrificed an important memory. I know who was inside it. I can feel the absence when I search that part of my head, but I can’t compare the emptiness to what was there before.

Rhayne can.

She saw all of it.

Maybe that makes the loss more real for her than for me.

I put my hand over her gloved wrist.

"You’d have done the same."

Rhayne’s eyes drop for a moment to her own earring.

She doesn’t answer.

She doesn’t need to.

We stay like that for a few seconds before she takes her hand back. The faint red returns to her cheeks the moment she realizes how long she held the touch, and Rhayne turns her face toward the people crossing the square.

"I need to go."

"There are still hours left."

"I know. But I have a few things to do before I go back."

She runs her fingers through her hair and takes a deeper breath.

"It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Earth."

The way she says it carries more dread than anticipation.

"How long?"

Rhayne makes a thoughtful face, then gives up on the math.

"From here? It feels like another life."

I understand.

Time piles up strangely when you split your existence between two worlds. Earth is still the place where your body is, where family waits, bills come due, and clocks obey a less cruel physics. Even so, after staying too long in Thirstfall, going back can start to feel like a visit.

"Are you nervous?"

"A little."

She admits it without trying to hide it.

"I remember the clinic. The people. I know exactly where I’m going to open my eyes. But I don’t know if it’ll still feel like home."

I look at her for a few seconds.

"Then find out when you get there."

Rhayne lets out a quiet laugh.

"That’s your advice?"

"I’m tired. The good advice ran out in the dungeon."

Her smile lasts a little longer.

Then Rhayne stands.

So do I.

She settles her bag on her shoulder, checks her Reentry Pearl, and stays in front of me for a few seconds, apparently deciding whether to say something else. In the end, she just reaches out with her gloved hand and squeezes my fingers.

"See you there."

"Nine hours after me."

"I remember."

"Don’t oversleep."

"Den."

"Right."

She lets go of my hand and starts walking away.

I watch until she disappears among the people in the square.

Once I’m alone, the silence seems bigger than it should be.

I open the HUD.

My OXI is still embarrassing after Hope, the walk, the chase, and everything else.

[OXI: 436 / 5,000]

[Scales: 1,577]

I need to fix that before I think about anything else.

The nearest refill machine is a few streets away, at a small service station for Divers passing through the city. I put my hand on the panel and select a full charge.

[Required OXI: 4,564]

[Payment: 183 Scales]

I authorize it.

The machine swallows the Scales and a warm pressure runs through my arm, filling my inner channels with OXI without the violence of chewing raw fuel.

[Scales: 1,577 → 1,394]

[OXI: 436 → 5,000 / 5,000]

Better.

Much better.

I stand there for a few seconds, feeling my body readjust to a full reserve.

Now I have time.

And a debt to collect.

Rae is at the Academy.

Of course he is.

Some things survive dungeons, altered timelines, and Rank B monsters trying to drag people out of the forest. Rae sitting behind a desk finding ways to turn information into debt is one of them.

The walk to his office gives me time to organize the conversation.

I want a Rank S WaterStrand.

I also know I’m not going to get one.

A WaterStrand at that level is worth close to three million credits at this point in the timeline. Three million for a single filament capable of changing water infrastructure on Earth in a way conventional technology would take years to reproduce. That item alone would make my family millionaires.

After the Tidefall, the price will get close to eight million.

If I survive that long.

The problem gets even funnier in practical terms: I don’t have enough Scales to pay the fee to transport a Rank S WaterStrand back to Earth.

If Rae actually put one on the table, I’d have to thank him, put it in my inventory, and stay poor until I figured out how to export it.

But he won’t put one on the table.

I already know the man.

So I’m going to poke until something falls out.

I knock twice.

"Come in."

I open the door.

Rae is reading documents near the window. He looks up when he sees me and spends a few seconds studying my condition, probably looking for injuries or clues about where I’ve been the last few days.

"Sands."

"Rae."

He sets the papers on the desk.

"You look tired."

"I had a bad week."

"That usually means someone around you had a worse one."

I ignore it.

I pull out the chair and sit.

"My WaterStrand."

Rae doesn’t move.

Then he adjusts his glasses.

"Straight to the point."

"I’m too tired to pretend I’m interested in a long conversation."

He walks to the chair behind the desk.

"I already explained that items at that level take time. A Rank S WaterStrand doesn’t show up in a warehouse because you decided to collect on it."

"I didn’t decide today."

"I have contacts looking."

"For how long?"

Rae doesn’t answer right away.

"Long enough to know the market is worse than I expected."

I let him talk.

He explains supplier networks, the restricted circulation of aquatic materials, a few failed expeditions, and the political risk of trying to acquire a Rank S piece without drawing attention. Part of it must be true. Rae rarely built a whole lie when he could use real facts to hide the part that mattered.

I listen until he finishes.

Then I stand up.

"All right."

Rae frowns.

"All right?"

"You couldn’t get it."

I take hold of the door handle.

"I understand."

"Dryden."

I keep going.

"I have things to do before I go back to Earth."

My hand touches the knob.

"Sit down."

I stop.

The tone has changed.

There’s no sarcasm in it.

I turn my head.

Rae is still behind the desk, but his posture looks less comfortable.

"I have something that might interest you."

"I figured."

He shoots me an irritated look.

I go back to the chair.

Rae opens a drawer protected by two layers of runes and takes out a narrow crystal container. Inside it, a filament of water hangs suspended without touching the walls. The current folds over itself slowly, forming curves that defy gravity, tilt, and any other suggestion that it might be an ordinary liquid.

My HUD responds when he sets the container on the desk.

[WaterStrand]

[Rank: B — Tide]

Better than I expected.

Much worse than what we agreed on.

"Rank B," Rae says. "It’s the only one I have available right now."

’Lie.’

The part about it being the only one available might be true.

The implication that a Rank S would show up later isn’t.

Rae couldn’t get one now.

Maybe in a few years, with different connections and bigger markets. Right now, the promise of a Rank S mostly serves to keep me interested in the deal.

I pick up the container.

The WaterStrand reacts to my hand coming close. The filament inside stretches toward my fingers before going back to turning slowly.

"I’ll take it."

Rae’s shoulders relax almost imperceptibly.

"Good. Then—"

"As interest."

His expression stops.

"As what?"

I put the WaterStrand in my inventory.

"Interest."

Rae leans over the desk.

"Sands, this isn’t a consolation prize. Do you have any idea the work it takes to get a Rank B WaterStrand?"

"I do. That’s why I’m taking it."

That answer doesn’t help.

I watch his jaw harden.

"We made a deal."

"Exactly."

I keep my voice calm.

"And I’m starting to think the deal only exists when you need my part of it."

The irritation shows for real now.

Rae takes off his glasses and sets them on the desk with excessive care.

"Careful."

"With what?"

"With this idea that you’re the only person in this relationship capable of recognizing an advantage."

"I never thought that."

"Your behavior suggests otherwise."

"My behavior suggests I’m tired of hearing that you’re ’almost’ getting what you promised."

He runs a hand over the bridge of his nose.

"You don’t know what I moved to get this piece."

"And you don’t know what I’ve moved to stay useful to you."

Rae goes quiet.

I don’t need to turn this into a fight.

I know where to press.

"You always have an explanation. You need more time, you need someone else, you need to wait on the market, you need to talk to someone above you. And meanwhile you keep coming to me whenever there’s a problem that needs someone to do what you can’t do in public."

"I’ve protected you more than once."

"And you billed me for every time."

His hand closes on the desk.

The control is still there, but now it takes effort.

"You’re confusing patience with weakness, Dryden."

"No. I’m telling you I’m starting to feel cheated."

That one lands better.

Rae stands.

He takes two steps to the window, stays there looking out, and comes back. The carefully built calm around him has picked up small cracks.

"The Rank S will come."

I hold his gaze.

I don’t need to call it a lie.

We both know.

"I hope so."

Rae puts his glasses back on.

"Then we understand each other."

I stand.

"Not yet."

He stares at me.

"The Rank B is the interest for me to keep considering our deal alive. It isn’t payment. It doesn’t reduce the debt."

"You’re imposing new terms."

"No. I’m collecting on the old one."

Rae opens his mouth and gives up on the first answer.

The irritation shows in the way he reorganizes a few papers that don’t need reorganizing.

"You’re getting harder to work with."

"Funny. I was thinking the same thing."

I don’t wait for an answer.

I leave.

I eat in the Academy cafeteria.

A lot.

I only notice how hungry I am once I start chewing.

I get meat, rice, vegetables, a hot soup, and go back for more before I’m halfway through the first plate. A full OXI tank keeps the body working. It doesn’t erase bad nights, exhausted muscle, or the kind of tiredness that builds up behind the eyes after a dungeon.

I eat until my stomach finally convinces the rest of my body that we’re not running from the Saporotug anymore.

Then I walk for almost an hour without hurrying.

I don’t want to go back to Earth carrying the dungeon’s rhythm in my chest.

I find a simple room near the transit sector, pay very little, lock the door, and set the alarm for an hour before my Reentry.

I’m asleep before I finish taking off my boots.

The alarm wakes me with my body heavy and my head much better.

I stay a few seconds looking at the ceiling until I remember where I am.

Then I sit up.

There’s still an hour left.

Time for one last thing.

I open my inventory and take out the small Tear of the Goddess.

The relic still looks too fragile to carry Rank SS. A crystalline fragment shaped like a teardrop, translucent, with a clear light trapped at the center.

I look at my boots.

Ironwake Reef did more for me inside the Ferryman’s Toll than any piece at that Rank should manage. Pressure Step, combined with Drifter Mode, turned a Rank C body into something Freya could barely follow with her eyes.

If any piece of equipment deserves to keep up with my growth now, it’s this one.

I activate the Tear.

The light leaves the crystal and runs over both boots.

The metal vibrates against my feet.

Small valves open along the sides of the soles, venting thin steam while internal pressure lines light up from heel to toe. The outer shape barely changes, but I can feel the system reorganizing itself under the surface.

The message appears.

[Tear of the Goddess consumed.]

[Eligible Upgradable Item detected.]

[Ironwake Reef — Evolution initiated.]

The vibration grows.

For a few seconds it feels like there’s a small engine strapped to each foot.

Then it stops.

The new profile opens in front of my eyes.

[Name: Ironwake Tide]

[Rank: B (Tide)]

[Type: Thruster Sabatons]

[Durability: N/A]

[LORE]:"They say momentum is earned. But pressure doesn’t negotiate—it accumulates. In the sealed darkness of a boiler, the heat has nowhere to go but forward. The engine doesn’t choose to move. It simply reaches the point where standing still is no longer an option."

[Hidden Passive: Dead Rail]The pressure network has evolved beyond fixed discharge chambers. Micro-valves distributed across the heel, sole, and forefoot continuously redistribute accumulated pressure according to the user’s vector, dramatically reducing kinetic loss during chained propulsion.

[Effect 1: Pressure Step]Releases a high-pressure directional discharge from the heel, sole, or forefoot, generating an explosive mid-range propulsion step against any physical surface. Vector control has been significantly improved, allowing abrupt redirection while preserving part of the accumulated momentum. Consecutive activations within a 4-second window progressively increase discharge pressure, kinetic output, and maneuverability, with increasing OXI consumption.

[Effect 2: Departure State]Upon reaching the consecutive activation threshold, the sabatons enter Departure State. Propulsion cost drops to near-zero and accumulated momentum becomes partially self-sustaining. Directional corrections during Departure State no longer fully reset the pressure chain. Duration scales proportionally with the user’s Agility attribute.

I read it twice.

Dead Rail changed more than it looks like.

Before, Ironwake needed a very clear relationship between foot, surface, and direction. Now there are valves all across the sole, able to redistribute pressure mid-movement. Instead of each Step working as a separate shot, the boots are starting to treat the sequence as a single propulsion system.

That opens up interesting possibilities.

Very interesting.

I get up and find some space between the bed and the wall.

Better not test a full chain inside a rented room.

I gather a small amount of OXI.

Pressure Step.

The whole sole answers.

The push comes out cleaner than before, without that instant where my body had to decide which part of the foot would take the recoil. I cross nearly the whole room in a single movement and have to turn my hips so I don’t go through the wall.

I stop with one hand braced against it.

I look at the boots.

"Right..."

The distance isn’t the most interesting part.

It’s the control.

If this keeps evolving, there may come a point where the surface stops mattering as much as the pressure.

I file the idea away.

I’ll have time to play later.

Right now there’s another world waiting.

I gather my things, check the Rank B WaterStrand in my inventory, and touch the Reentry Pearl to confirm it’s still there.

The counter is close to the end.

I leave the room.

The city has changed rhythm while I slept. More Divers are on the streets, vendors are opening stalls, and transit is starting another cycle that seems completely indifferent to the fact that I spent the last few hours losing memories, negotiating with statues, and being chased by a homicidal turtle.

I walk to the Oathmark.

The structure rises between the buildings, surrounded by Divers going in and out of the transit routes.

I stop in front of it.

Full OXI.

WaterStrand in my inventory.

Reentry Pearl ready.

On Earth, a few hours separate me from the clinic where Rhayne will open her eyes.

I look at the counter we set up earlier.

’Almost zero.’

Time to go up.