Julius's mouth curved into something that wasn't quite a reassuring smile. "With Lily beside Sofia, you don't need to panic about her immediate safety. Those two have enough Teleportation Scrolls between them to escape most situations before things get truly catastrophic."Marco's shoulders loosened slightly. "Right. If things go badly, they can use the scrolls and pull out.""Wrong," Julius said, his tone carrying the particular flatness of someone correcting a mistake they'd expected to be made. "The Gold Family dimension is not the kind of place where scrolls work the way you're imagining. From the moment this war started, their dimension became somewhere you could enter but not leave. And it won't be long before it becomes somewhere you can't do either."Marco stared at him. "The Gold Family controls an entire dimension? Like the Wilderness?""Not like the Wilderness at all," Julius said, picking up his tea again. "The Wilderness was controlled by Demon King Yan using a top-tier d

The moment Marco drew the Blood Holy Sword, Old Hank's expression shifted from casual contempt into something considerably more professional."Don't embarrass yourself too quickly," the old man said, rolling up his sleeves. "I want a proper fight, not charity.""You'll get one," Marco said.Old Hank moved first.The Thunder Warrior profession system activated the moment he settled into his stance, the air around him responding to something deeper than physical technique. Dark clouds rolled in from the sky above the shop's open courtyard, gathering with unnatural speed, their undersides flickering with contained electricity."Liberation," Old Hank said quietly.A lightning bolt as thick as a river dropped from the sky and engulfed him completely, the light so intense that the surrounding buildings flickered in the reflection. Marco felt electrical energy dissipating into the surrounding air with every breath, the atmosphere itself carrying a tingling charge that ran across his skin and

Marco climbed out of the herb cauldron while Roland was still making his way through the inn's front door, his timing impeccable in the specific way that unwanted visitors always seemed to arrive at the worst possible moment.Roland looked at Marco dripping herb water onto Julius's kitchen floor, took in the entire situation, and managed an expression that suggested he found this deeply satisfying."I came to apologize on Louise's behalf," Roland said."Then apologize," Marco said."She prepared everything at the garrison. Had her people selected, equipment sorted, ready to move the moment headquarters approved." Roland's voice carried something technically resembling regret. "They didn't approve. They sent someone to bring her back directly. They were worried their vice-captain might do something impulsive and die pointlessly in Yuan Hua.""Julius predicted that," Marco said."Julius predicts everything," Roland agreed. Then his expression shifted into something considerably less dip

Heide was halfway through explaining the teleportation formation's technical specifications when Marco stopped listening and asked the more interesting question."How exactly did you end up with the bar owner?" Marco said. "Two days. You've been in this town for two days."Heide's professional composure dissolved immediately into something considerably more personal, a light entering his eyes that hadn't been there during any of his formal duties."It was falling in love at first sight," he said, with complete sincerity. "The moment I saw Miss Helen, I understood certain things that had previously been unclear to me." He glanced back toward the bar with visible longing. "I have to thank you for bringing me to this town, Master Tu. Without that, I never would have met her.""I don't know her background," Marco said, patting his shoulder with the honest concern of someone who'd watched people underestimate small-town connections before. "But she carries herself like there's something be

The encirclement pressed tighter, the Gold Family forces finding their rhythm after the initial disruption, rotating their lines with the efficiency of soldiers who'd trained specifically for sustained engagement.Marco moved to the front of the group, putting himself between the heaviest concentration of incoming force and the Thunder warriors behind him."Pull back," he called to Old Hank. "Get the team out of town. I'll cover the rear.""You'll cover a hundred people alone?" Old Hank's voice carried genuine skepticism."Just move!"Old Hank didn't waste time arguing. He raised both hands and began channeling, electricity gathering between his palms with the specific density of a major technique requiring full commitment."Thousand Thunder Pool!"The thunder waterfall began forming, massive and descending, the kind of technique that could clear an entire street in a single deployment.Dozens of Gold Family Mages activated simultaneously from elevated positions across the town, their