"Stop."

  The voice in Arthian's head didn't shout. It whispered.

  He stopped walking. His hands clenched tight. The veins at his wrists began to darken.

  The soul core in his chest trembled. Not from fear, but because it was being compressed from within.

  9.8%

  9.9%

  Just a little more.

  Just one more drop.

  And it would break through 10%.

  Or explode.

  Arthian didn't know which, and that made him feel alive.

  The hiding place had no walls, no camps, no safety in the traditional sense.

  It was merely "a gap not yet claimed by anyone."

  Ellyn sat three meters away. Not looking, not asking. Just waiting.

  She had learned that some people need space more than comfort.

  Arthian sat down. Back straight. Breath still.

  He didn't train, didn't refine, didn't absorb more power.

  He reviewed.

  The territorial rules of the Domain Holders.

  Rules not written for justice, but to "make everything docile."

  Verin's blood.

  Blood exchanged for accelerating power beyond structure—violent, fast, and breaking beautifully.

  Ellyn's stillness.

  A stillness with no momentum, no demands, no expectations.

  These three things didn't fit together.

  But when layered, they created an "answer."

  Arthian let his soul core expand.

  Not fast, not slow. No pain, no ecstasy.

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  Only "resistance" that was accepted and crushed from within.

  *Pop.*

  A faint cracking sound rose from his chest.

  Not loud like an explosion, but like ice fracturing from inside.

  The soul core crossed the line.

  9% → 10%

  No lightning, no announcement.

  But something in the Indigo Rift began to feel "uneasy."

  Arthian opened his eyes.

  His right hand trembled. Wouldn't stop.

  He stared at it for a long time, then clenched it tight.

  "This is the price."

  He murmured to himself.

  His fingernails began to turn pale purple. The tips of his fingers went slightly numb.

  He hadn't just broken through 10%.

  He paid with his nervous system.

  "How long?" Ellyn asked from where she sat, not getting up.

  "Don't know," Arthian answered directly. "Could be three days. Could be three months."

  "Or could be for life."

  Ellyn said nothing. She just nodded slightly.

  People who choose this path don't need comfort.

  Arthian stood up. Tried to walk.

  But his left leg stumbled.

  Not from weakness, but because his brain sent signals 0.2 seconds late.

  He stopped.

  This wasn't just numbness.

  This was his body and soul core beginning to "desynchronize."

  "Do you see anything?" Ellyn asked softly.

  Arthian didn't answer immediately. He looked at his own hands.

  In that moment, he saw something he'd never seen before.

  The world hadn't changed.

  But the way he looked at it changed.

  The ground beneath his feet wasn't stone—it was an arrangement of compressive forces relying on a single stable axis.

  If that axis shifted, everything would collapse in an instant.

  The air around him wasn't empty—it was a force field borrowing stability from elsewhere.

  He saw the seams.

  Saw the unbalanced points.

  Saw the positions where the world chose to "sacrifice a part" so the whole wouldn't collapse.

  "I see," he finally answered.

  "See what?" Ellyn asked.

  Arthian turned to look at her.

  In his new vision, she wasn't bright, wasn't prominent.

  But...she had no seams.

  Her energy was weak, but it wasn't borrowed, wasn't bound, wasn't supported by anyone's rules.

  She was something that "could exist on its own."

  Even if she couldn't exist for long.

  "I see that..." he paused briefly.

  "...this world isn't as strong as people think."

  "It's just good at hiding its weak points."

  Arthian stepped forward again.

  This time he adjusted the rhythm, sending signals 0.3 seconds early.

  His legs walked normally.

  He had learned how to adapt to a body out of sync.

  This wasn't victory.

  But it was compromise.

  "Where are you going?" Ellyn asked.

  Arthian stopped, looking toward the Domain Holder's castle in the distance.

  This time, he didn't look with fear.

  He looked with "understanding."

  He could see now where that structure stood.

  Could see what it relied on.

  And most importantly—could see that if that point was disturbed, how everything would collapse.

  "I'm not going."

  He answered.

  "Yet."

  Arthian turned back, walking slowly. Every step had weight.

  "Before I go, I need to learn first."

  "Learn what?"

  "How to touch without being seen."

  Ellyn didn't ask further. She knew that answer would come on its own.

  On the day he was ready.

  In the darkness far away,

  the Domain Holder stopped moving.

  The hand that was lifting froze mid-air.

  He could feel it. Not power, but change.

  Something that shouldn't change was changing.

  He turned to look at the aide standing beside him.

  "It crossed," he said flatly, not angry, not surprised.

  The aide didn't answer, not knowing what to say.

  "What does 10% mean?" the aide finally asked.

  The Domain Holder sat down. Not from exhaustion, but to think.

  "It means..."

  He paused briefly.

  "...it's beginning to see the structure."

  "And if it sees,"

  "it will start to touch."

  He raised his hand. A black symbol appeared in mid-air.

  The command was sent out.

  "Reinforce inner defenses."

  "Recall all three power nodes."

  "No one leaves the base without permission."

  He paused briefly.

  "And send someone to see...what it's doing."

  The aide bowed before asking.

  "What if it does nothing at all?"

  The Domain Holder smiled thinly. Not a warm smile.

  "That's what's more frightening."

  "Someone who crosses the line and doesn't rush to use power"

  "is someone who's planning."

  Arthian returned to the same spot. Sat down.

  Ellyn watched him. Said nothing.

  He closed his eyes, but didn't rest.

  He was reviewing.

  Reviewing everything he saw. Every seam. Every weak point.

  "Aren't you going to sleep?" Ellyn asked softly.

  "Can't sleep," Arthian answered without opening his eyes.

  "Every time I close my eyes, I see structure."

  "I see what this world stands on."

  "And I'm beginning to understand."

  "Understand what?"

  Arthian opened his eyes, looking at the starless sky.

  "Why they're afraid."

  "Not afraid of me."

  "But afraid that...I'll start touching."

  Ellyn didn't ask further.

  Because she already knew.

  That the man before her wasn't running anymore.

  He was learning.

  Learning how to destroy without being seen.

  And when he finished learning,

  the Indigo Rift would never be the same again.

  [End of Chapter 30]