I Evolve 10,000 Times Faster

Vespera’s cold eyes hadn’t left Holden since she’d walked into the throne room.

He could feel her studying him, measuring what she’d just witnessed and trying to reconcile it with everything she knew about him. She was a Rank 4 powerhouse with decades of combat experience. There was no way she believed a Rank 1 student with a defensive necklace had just killed a Rank 4 monster.

But Vespera also knew how to read a room.

The dead Emperor lay on the floor. The Royal Guards were kneeling. Half the throne room had been destroyed, and in the middle of it all stood a sixteen-year-old boy who looked relaxed, leaning against a broken pillar.

"Nice necklace trick, Your Majesty," Holden said, tapping the pendant beneath his shirt. "But my jewelry is better."

Vespera’s eyes flicked toward his chest before returning to his face.

Something passed between them.

No words were necessary.

Holden gave her a small shrug. "It was a really crazy sword swing, Instructor. The pendant blocked most of the heavy stuff. Got lucky, honestly."

Vespera stared at him for a moment.

Then she turned away.

"Secure the perimeter," she ordered the enforcers. "The Emperor is dead. The Crown has fallen. Vanguard Academy will maintain order in the Capital until Parliament can convene. Nobody enters or leaves this palace without my authorization."

"Yes, ma’am!"

The enforcers immediately went to work. The Royal Guards were disarmed and escorted from the throne room while medics were brought in for the wounded. Within minutes, the battlefield had become a command center.

Vespera walked over to the broken throne and looked at it for a moment before sitting on the steps with the casual authority of someone who had just conquered a nation.

"Get your team out of here, Voss," she said without looking at him. "You’ve caused enough damage for one day."

"We really haven’t caused that much."

She slowly turned her head, her expression turning cold.

"Out."

Holden gestured toward his team. "You heard the lady. Let’s go."

Nobody noticed what happened after that.

As the others moved toward the exit, a brief flash of white light pulsed through the ashes left behind by the Emperor’s body.

The light disappeared into his System Inventory.

A Diamond-Tier chest.

Whatever was inside, he could examine it later.

For now, he followed his team out.

They left the palace through a side entrance with a group of Vanguard enforcers clearing a path ahead of them. The streets were still chaotic, but the riots had started to lose their momentum. News of the Emperor’s death was spreading quickly, and people stood in groups along the roads, staring toward the palace as though they were waiting for someone to tell them what happened.

Nobody tried to stop Team Soup.

By the time they reached the hotel, the Royal Guards who had searched the building earlier were gone. Most had been called back to the palace to deal with the aftermath.

Maeve was waiting for them at the entrance.

Her screens were still filled with breaking news and political updates, but the moment she saw Holden, her attention shifted completely to him.

"You’re alive."

"Surprisingly, yes."

"The Emperor is dead."

"Also yes."

She stared at him.

"Did you do that?"

Holden smiled. "My sword did most of the work."

Maeve watched him for another moment before returning to her screens.

"I need a shower and about twelve hours of sleep," Lyra said, looking exhausted. "The last two days have been..."

"A lot," Renna finished. "That’s the word. It’s been a very intense weekend, and I really need a nap."

"Agreed." Emric dropped heavily onto the couch. "My shield arm is experiencing significant muscular fatigue, and my cognitive processing is operating at approximately sixty percent capacity."

Renna stared at him.

"Did you really have to say it like that?"

"It’s an accurate assessment."

Holden shook his head. "Go rest. All of you. I’ll see you in the morning."

Lyra gave him a tired smile before heading toward her room. Renna waved and followed her, while Emric gave Holden a stiff nod before disappearing down the hallway.

Maeve stayed behind, quietly typing at her screens.

Holden went into his bedroom and locked the door.

Once he was alone, he opened his System Inventory and selected the Diamond Chest.

It appeared on the bed in a flash of white light.

The chest was smaller than the others, roughly the size of a shoebox, but it didn’t look like it had been made from any ordinary material. Its surface resembled solidified starlight, with tiny facets catching the light and scattering it across the room.

Holden reached out and opened it.

[Ding!]

[Diamond Chest Opened!]

[Item Acquired: Rank 3 Aether-Crucible]

[Description: An ancient alchemical forge of unknown origin. The Crucible can process raw monster cores and purify them into 100% safe, impurity-free Cultivation Pills. Pills produced by the Crucible are tailored to the user’s elemental affinity and carry zero risk of meridian damage during consumption. Can process cores up to Rank 3.]

Holden stared at the object inside the chest.

It looked like a miniature forge, made from the same strange starlight material. It floated a few inches above the bed, slowly rotating while a small golden flame burned beneath it.

An alchemy forge that could turn monster cores into perfect cultivation pills.

No impurities, side effects or risk.

Holden immediately thought about his team.

Emric, Renna, and Lyra were still Rank 1. The 10x buff had made them far stronger than ordinary cultivators at the same rank, but there was only so far raw strength could carry them.

If they were going to survive everything that was coming, they needed to advance.

And now he had a way to make that process much safer.

He stored the Aether-Crucible in his inventory and lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

For the first time in days, he allowed himself to relax.

The next morning, Team Soup gathered in the living room.

Maeve had ordered breakfast from room service, and the table was covered with actual food instead of the military rations they’d been surviving on. Eggs, toast, fresh fruit, pancakes, and coffee filled the room with a smell Holden hadn’t realized he’d been missing.

The news was still playing on the wall screen, but the volume was low. Reports about the Emperor’s death and the political situation in the Capital continued to scroll across the bottom.

Renna was destroying a plate of pancakes like she hadn’t eaten all week. Emric sat beside her with a cup of coffee, reading something on his wrist display, while Lyra picked at her food, looking tired but much better than she had the night before.

Holden walked out of his bedroom, placed something on the coffee table, and sat down.

Everyone looked at it.

A small cauldron made of glowing white material floated above the table, a golden flame flickering beneath it.

Emric leaned forward.

"What is that?"

"Found it in an Abyssal ruin."

Holden wasn’t technically lying.

The Emperor had certainly become an Abyssal ruin by the end.

"It’s called an Aether-Crucible. It processes monster cores and turns them into cultivation pills. No impurities. No meridian damage."

Lyra set down her fork.

"Holden, that’s..."

"Extremely valuable? Yes."

He grabbed a piece of toast.

"And useful? Even more so."

He looked around the table.

"You guys have done great. The outpost, the Spire, the Capital. The 10x buff has made all of you much stronger than normal Rank 1 cultivators."

His expression became more serious.

"Lyra, you’re already 8-Star. Renna, you’re 7-Star. Emric, you’re 6-Star. That’s good progress."

He looked around the table.

"But you’re still Rank 1. And the things we’re going to face won’t care how strong you are for your rank."

Nobody argued with that.

"I’m not going to let you stay there."

Emric pushed his glasses up.

"Are you suggesting a core-hunting expedition?"

"Exactly."

"Because the requirements for a safe Rank 2 breakthrough are significant. We’d each need a high-quality core that matches our elemental affinity, and those aren’t exactly easy to find."

"Which is why we’re going to find them."

Holden looked toward Maeve.

"You’re already on it, aren’t you?"

Maeve, who had been pretending to focus on her cereal, looked up.

"I’ve been on it since you said ’Aether-Crucible.’ Give me ten minutes."

She grabbed her tablet and started typing.

The screens on the wall changed from news broadcasts to detailed maps.

"The Academy controls the Royal Archives now," she said, her fingers moving quickly. "Which means I can access restricted wilderness data. There’s a zone in the northern mountains called the Brewed Valleys. It’s an elemental canyon system with a high beast density. Mostly peak Rank 2 territory."

She pulled up another map.

"It’s extremely dangerous for normal hunters."

"What kind of cores?" Lyra asked.

Maeve brought up a manifest.

"Earth-element cores for Emric. Storm-element cores for Renna. Both can be found in the mid-range canyons."

She paused when she reached Lyra’s information.

"Your frost affinity is different. Standard ice cores won’t work properly with it. You’d need a Rank 3 Ice-element core from the deepest part of the valley."

Renna’s eyes widened.

"Wait. Rank 3?"

Holden nodded.

"I’ll get it."

Renna looked at him.

"You’ll get the Rank 3 core from the most dangerous part of the valley. Just like that."

"Just like that."

"And what do the rest of us do? Sit in a safe zone while you go fight everything?"

Holden leaned back in his chair.

"You save your energy for your breakthroughs. I’m handling the heavy lifting. This isn’t a survival test."

He pointed at the Crucible.

"It’s a grocery run."

Emric and Lyra exchanged a look.

Renna stared at Holden, then at the floating Crucible, then back at Holden.

"We’re actually doing this?"

"We are."

She looked down at her pancakes.

"Okay, but can we finish breakfast first? Because if I’m going to break through to Rank 2 today, I feel like I need fuel."

Holden smiled.

"Eat fast. We leave in an hour."

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