2026-04-24 18:27:18Mia stood by the bed, her fingers trembling as she watched her father’s chest heave. They had spared no expense. Since the moment the Elder had collapsed, they had flown in the most decorated medical minds from across the continent.
They’d hired a Sage from the Southern Peaks who charged ten thousand gold a minute, and a specialized surgical team from the Royal Capital. Each one had arrived with a chest full of glowing scrolls and rare herbs, and each one had left shaking their head, claiming the God-tier toxin was "beyond the current reach of medical science."
Now, they were down to this—a local scum who looked like he was about to faint and a boy from the slums who looked like he’d just finished a shift at a scrap yard.
"A few medicines?" the doctor repeated, his voice rising to a shrill, mocking pitch. "The audacity of this brat is truly limitless! Do you even know who has stood in this room? We have had the finest healers in the world at this bedside. Men who have forgotten more about anatomy than you will ever learn in your miserable life. And you think you’ve spotted something they missed?"
The doctor turned to Mia, his face flushed with a dark, ugly red. "Lady Mia, he is mad. Truly. There is no other explanation for such a claim. He is a lunatic who has somehow stumbled into a VIP room and now thinks he is a god of medicine."
"He’s not a lunatic," Mia hissed, her eyes narrowing as she glared at Riley. "He’s a scammer. He’s seen how desperate we are, and he’s trying to play on our fear so he can stay in this suite a few hours longer. It’s a classic slum trick. Give them an inch of hope, and they’ll strip your pockets bare."
She stepped away from the bed, her fair skin tight with rage. "You’re a vulture, Riley. You saw a dying man and thought you saw a payday. It makes me sick."
Riley didn't flinch. He didn't even look at her. His gaze remained fixed on the old man’s purple face. "I don't need your money, good ma. I have a room, remember? I'm just telling you what I see. Your father is being treated for the wrong thing. If you keep going, he’ll be dead before the sun hits the floor."
"Shut up!" the doctor roared. "You have no right to speak! You have no title, no degree, and no business even breathing the same air as a Blue-Blood Elder!"
"Wait," Harold interrupted. He had been silent, his eyes darting between Riley’s calm expression and his father’s struggling form. Harold was a man of logic, and something about Riley’s absolute lack of fear was bothering him. Riley didn't sound like a man making a desperate gamble; he sounded like a man stating the weather.
Harold stepped forward, his shadow falling over the doctor. "Riley, you’re making a very bold claim. You’re saying everyone else is wrong and you’re right."
"I'm saying his blood is too thick to move and his heart is being forced to pump sludge," Riley replied simply. "You don't need a degree to see that the veins in his neck are about to burst."
Harold took a deep breath, his heart pounding. "I want to believe you. Heaven knows the 'experts' haven't done a damn thing but watch him die. But I can't just hand my father's life to a stranger without knowing who I'm dealing with."
He looked Riley in the eye, his voice dropping into a tone of heavy authority. "What is your medical qualification? Where did you study? Who was your master?"
The doctor sneered, crossing his arms. "Yes, boy. Tell us which prestigious university produced a genius like yourself. I'd love to see the transcript."
Riley shifted his weight, looking around the room as if he were trying to find a way to explain something very simple to very slow children. He let out a short, careless sigh.
"I don't have a qualification," Riley said, his voice flat and unimpressed. "I wasn't so good with the formal stuff. I was just an apprentice to an old man in the waste-links for a couple of years. That’s it. I'm just an apprentice and nothing more."
The silence that followed was broken only by the doctor’s sudden, hysterical laugh. "An apprentice! A slum apprentice! Harold, you heard him! He hasn't even finished his basic training in a gutter clinic, and he wants to treat a God-tier poisoning!"
Mia’s face went from pale to a deep, dangerous crimson. The hope that had briefly flickered in her chest was replaced by a wave of pure, unadulterated humiliation. She had actually listened to him for a second. She had let a "slum apprentice" tell her that the world’s best doctors were hacks.
"Get out," Mia whispered, her voice trembling with a rage so cold it felt like the temperature in the room dropped ten degrees. "Get out before I kill you myself. Harold, throw him out! Now!"
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183
Riley had barely finished documenting the latest notification when another message arrived from Commander Voss.REPORT TO BRIEFING ROOM. 09:30.He checked the time.9:12.The monitoring technician had left less than fifteen minutes earlier, and the Guild was already requesting another meeting. Whatever they were doing with the new event, they were moving faster than before.Riley put his notebook away and left his room.Miles and Jessica were waiting near the elevator.“Another emergency?” Miles asked.“Meeting at half past nine.”“I'm starting to think the Guild has forgotten how to communicate through anything other than meetings.”Jessica glanced at Riley. “Did they explain why?”“No.”“Then let's hear what they've found.”The three entered the administrative wing together.Inside the briefing room, Helena Voss was examining a document on the main screen. Commander Voss stood beside her, while the archive technician sat at the far end of the table.The display showed the latest not
182
Riley woke to the sound of his terminal vibrating.He reached across the bedside table and checked the screen. A message from the archive division had arrived at 7:03 a.m.ARCHIVE REVIEW UPDATESUBJECT: HISTORICAL IDENTIFICATION EVENTSREQUEST: ATTENDANCE REQUIREDHe read the message again.The Guild had already reviewed his latest notification the previous evening. There had been no unusual external transmission, no measurable energy activity, and no evidence that his interface had communicated with the archive.Why another meeting?Riley got dressed and left his room.Miles was waiting outside, holding two cups of coffee. He handed one to Riley.“Jessica said we have another meeting.”“How does she know before I do?”“She checked the residential schedule. Apparently, our names are on the attendance list.”Riley accepted the cup.“Did they give a reason?”“Something about an unscheduled review.”They found Jessica near the elevator. She looked up as they approached.“Did either of yo
181
The following morning, Riley found a message waiting on his terminal.It had arrived at 6:10 a.m., before he woke.COMMANDER VOSS — ATTEND ARCHIVE REVIEW AT 08:00.There was no explanation attached.He read it once, got dressed, and left his room.Miles was already in the corridor, leaning against the wall with his arms folded. Jessica stood beside him, scrolling through something on her tablet.“Another meeting?” Miles asked.“Eight o'clock.”“Wonderful. I was beginning to think we'd have a peaceful day.”Jessica looked up. “Did they say what it's about?”“No.”“Then let's find out.”They walked together toward the administrative wing. Riley had spent much of the previous night thinking about the latest notification. The words identity unresolved had stayed with him long after the display vanished.He had recorded everything and reported it, just as instructed.He hadn't asked Jade a single question.That restraint was becoming harder than he expected.When they entered the briefing
181
Riley had barely finished breakfast when Commander Voss summoned him again.This time, the message included a request for Miles and Jessica to accompany him.That was unusual.The Guild had generally kept the investigation discussions between Riley and the senior personnel, allowing his friends to attend only when their presence was directly relevant. Their inclusion suggested something had changed.Miles seemed to reach the same conclusion.“If this is another meeting about a missing document, I'm leaving.”“You said that yesterday,” Jessica reminded him.“And I meant it yesterday.”Riley followed them toward the administrative wing.The briefing room was already occupied when they arrived. Commander Voss stood beside the main display, while Helena sat at the table with several printed sheets in front of her. The technician from the previous meeting was also present.“Sit down,” the commander said.Riley took the nearest chair. Jessica sat beside him, and Miles dropped into the seat
179
The Guild responded to Riley's report eleven minutes after he submitted it.He was still sitting at his desk when the acknowledgment appeared on the small terminal beside his bed. The message contained no explanation, only a request to attend a supervised review in the administrative wing.He read it twice before standing.The latest event had given him nothing he could act on. Historical identification. Partial reference match. No confirmed retrieval. The same collection of uncertainties, arranged in a slightly different order.Yet the Guild wanted to review it immediately.That alone made him uneasy.When Riley arrived, Jessica and Miles were already waiting outside the briefing room. Miles held a breakfast sandwich in one hand and looked deeply offended by the fact that someone had interrupted his meal.“Please tell me they found something useful,” he said.“They called me eleven minutes after I reported the event.”“So they found something useless very quickly.”Jessica ignored hi
178
Riley woke to three knocks on his door.He opened his eyes but didn't move immediately. The room was dim, the curtains still drawn, and the clock beside his bed showed 6:42 a.m. He had slept badly, waking several times to check the event log he had copied into his notes before going to bed.Nothing new had appeared during the night.That should have been reassuring.Instead, it left him wondering whether the silence meant the unidentified process had stopped or simply had no reason to announce itself.The knocks came again.“Riley?” Adrian called from the corridor. “Commander Voss wants you in the briefing room.”“Is something wrong?”“I don't know. I was only told to bring you.”Riley dressed, checked that his notes were still in his pocket, and stepped outside.Miles emerged from the room across the corridor, rubbing sleep from his eyes. Jessica appeared a moment later, already dressed and carrying a small notebook.“You too?” Miles asked.“Apparently,” Riley said.Jessica glanced a
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