Chapter 363: An emergency call

(Planet Vorthas, Town Hall, War Chamber, Twelfth Elder’s POV)

The chamber was alive with noise.

Union leaders from the ore-mining guilds, alloy refineries, and missile-part manufacturers all spoke at once, their voices overlapping with urgency as they discussed raw material quotas and revised timelines.

At the center of it all stood the Twelfth Elder, listening with measured patience as he calmly negotiated production boosts and wartime cooperation without compromising planetary morale.

“We will double the output in Sector 7, but I want hazard pay implemented immediately. We are not beasts. We are builders,” the ore mining union leader said firmly, earning a round of nods and muttered agreements from the gathered representatives.

“What are your thoughts on this twelfth elder?” Someone asked, when suddenly a soft buzzing sound rang across the chamber.

*Bzzzt*

*BZZZZZ*

The hum started low, but it grew sharp and violent, as the Twelfth Elder’s private communication crystal vibrated against his belt with enough intensity to draw every eye in the room.

‘Huh? I was not supposed to get any communication requests today–’ The twelfth elder thought, as he glanced down towards his belt and looked at the small image being projected upon it.

‘Its Mu Fan—’ He realized, as his expression shifted instantly.

“Excuse me, this matter cannot wait,” he said, his voice colder now, authority layered with urgency, as without another word, he turned and strode into the adjacent antechamber, sealing the soundproof door behind him with a wave of his hand.

*THUD*

—————-

(Private Room, Communication Link Established)

“What is it?” Noir said, his voice clipped. “You weren’t scheduled to contact me today.”

There was a hitch on the other end—then Mu Fan’s voice came through, breathless, urgent, and almost disbelieving.

“He’s done it… Twelfth Elder, Leo has found a way to enter the Black Serpents’ Treasury Vault. He’s now asking for our help to plan the heist.”

“He came through! Just like you said he would. He’s already done it!”

Silence followed.

A long one.

Noir’s pupils contracted, his knuckles whitening around the edge of the communication crystal.

“…Impossible.”

He took a step back, as if the revelation had landed like a blow to his chest.

“It hasn’t even been six weeks since we assigned him the mission… and he’s cracked open a path that we were not able to breach in over thirty years?”

His mind surged with disbelief—then steadied, overtaken by the slow, unmistakable rhythm of rising awe.

‘That… that’s the quality of a true dragon.’

A rare smile spread across his lips—unusual, but unmistakably real.

The Dragon, as the legends said, was the one who brought light where none existed, who made the impossible bend, and turned despair into destiny.

Noir had once believed he would never witness such a figure again—not after Noah died.

But Leo Skyshard… was beginning to prove him wrong.

“Are you certain?” he asked, his voice cracking slightly, as he became unable to suppress the excitement in his pitch.

“How did he do it? You’re sure it’s not a trap?”

For the first time in decades, the carefully composed facade of the Twelfth Elder, the calm, stoic tactician, was cracking, revealing the spark of something far more dangerous beneath.

Hope.

Hope that the boy he decided to groom on a longshot was turning out to become the savior his people needed.

“No it’s not a trap. He apparently completed a really difficult mission for the Serpents and has earned the right to enter the vault and pick an item of his choosing as the reward.

He’s gonna get the chance to enter in two weeks, and he’s seeking our help to smuggle the scroll out without being killed,” Fan said with enthusiasm, as Noir fell silent yet again.

His gaze remained fixed on the wall infront, his fingers slowly curling into a fist as he processed the information.

“Unbelievable…” he whispered, almost to himself. “This boy… he’s exceeding even the wildest expectations I set for him.”

His breath caught in his throat, mind torn between awe and the cold, calculating realization of what this breakthrough could mean for the cult as a whole and for Leo’s destiny.

With the council having already agreed to name him Dragon if he brings back the scroll….. this could almost guarantee his selection as the next Dragon!

*Step*

He paced once, then again, before stopping mid-step.

“Tell him…” he said slowly, his voice regaining its edge of command, “he doesn’t need to perform any complicated heist or extraction.”

He turned toward the crystal, his eyes sharp and brimming with purpose.

“All he needs to do is smuggle a dimensional portal point into the vault and secure it in a fixed, undisturbed spot.”

He paused to let the gravity of the plan sink in.

“If he can manage that, the cult operatives will handle the rest.

We’ll initiate a remote portal sync and storm the vault in one clean, coordinated sweep, where we loot everything inside, from the scroll, the relics, the assets…. we’ll take everything within twenty minutes.”

His fingers tapped against his thigh, calculating the variables.

“But make sure he understands… this will burn his identity as a righteous faction citizen permanently. Once that portal goes live, there will be no denying his involvement.”

Noir’s voice grew colder now, more precise.

“He must get to safety and enter Cult territory before we trigger the portal, because, if we succeed, the Black Serpents will issue a black-rank mission under his name almost immediately.

There won’t be a single Black Serpent operative who won’t take the mission of finding and killing him, as for the rest of his life he will live as the most wanted man in the universe–”

Noir exhaled, as he steadied himself.

“Make sure he’s ready for the consequences…. Make sure that he understands that by taking this mission, he’s going to turn 90% of the universe into his permanent enemy.

And that, his only option would be to stay aligned with the Cult from then on,” Noir instructed, as Fan nodded from the other end.

“Understood, elder,” she said with conviction as Noir ended the line, his hands trembling with excitement, as he rushed out of the room to go find a dimensional portal point at once.