The aftermath of the Rebirth Tree's stabilization stretched on like a heavy fog.
Even though the corrupted cultists had been neutralized and the environment was beginning to heal, a sense of unfinished business gnawed at Li Kai's mind. He stood at the base of the colossal Tree, gazing up at its now-slumbering Core. The golden light from the Stabilizer shimmered faintly, like a candle in a vast darkness.
Around him, the team moved through the wreckage. Jax gathered discarded weapons, tossing aside those too warped by corruption. Serin was securing cultists who had survived the purge, binding them with enchanted chains. Ilya perched high in the branches, eyes scanning for any lingering threats.
Xiaomei's voice buzzed in Li Kai's ear again.
"Status nominal. Environmental readings are stabilizing. But..." She hesitated.
Li Kai straightened. "But what?"
"I detected an energy spike just before the Tree stabilized. Something... left."
Li Kai's blood ran cold. "Left? Where?"
"Unknown. It moved too fast. Direction: southeast, toward the old ruins near the Forgotten Abyss."
Jax stomped over, dragging a bound cultist. "Boss, these guys keep mumbling about a 'Second Awakening.' Sounds bad."
Li Kai frowned deeply. The mission had been a success, technically. But now it seemed they had merely clipped the wings of a larger beast.
He turned to his team. "We're not done yet."
Serin grinned, wiping her blade. "Good. I was just getting warmed up."
After a brief rest, they made their way back to the Store through a hastily summoned portal, courtesy of a Stabilization Beacon Xiaomei had planted earlier.
The moment they crossed the threshold, the Store came alive with noise and light. Customers from across dimensions buzzed around, shopping, haggling, marveling at newly stocked goods.
Li Kai breathed in the warm, comforting scent of fresh parchment, herbal potions, and roasting meats from the adjacent food court he'd opened a few days ago.
For the first time in what felt like weeks, he smiled genuinely.
But that smile faltered when he opened the System's new notification panel.
Urgent Priority Mission Unlocked: "Hunt the Escaped Seed"Difficulty: SSSDescription: A fragment of the Vitality Seed's corruption has escaped stabilization. Left unchecked, it will form a new nexus of power, threatening all surrounding realms.
Rewards:
Permanent Expansion Rights (10 Store Floors)
Exclusive Artifact: "Heart of the Worldroot"
Mystery Gift Box (Legendary Tier)
Penalty for Failure: Catastrophic Multiversal Instability.
Li Kai stared at the blinking red alert.Catastrophic. Multiversal. Instability.
In other words, game over.
Later that evening, Li Kai held an emergency meeting in the Store's upgraded Operations Room. Holographic maps hovered above a polished obsidian table, showing terrain models of the Forgotten Abyss.
The Abyss was a scar upon the world—an ancient battleground where civilizations had risen and fallen, now reduced to a labyrinth of shattered ruins and unstable magic fields.
"Perfect place for something nasty to hide," Ilya muttered, arms crossed.
Serin prodded the map with her dagger's tip. "If that thing nests down there, it'll be almost impossible to dig it out."
Jax grunted. "Then we bring the mountain down on it."
Li Kai chuckled softly. "If only it were that simple."
He turned serious. "We're going to need help. We can't brute-force this. Not against an evolving Seed Core fragment."
"Allies?" Serin raised an eyebrow. "Anyone you trust?"
Li Kai thought for a moment, fingers drumming the table. Then he made his decision.
"I'll call on the Guild of Twilight Merchants. And... the Wandering Keepers."
Even Jax's stoic expression faltered at that. "The Keepers? Aren't they... mercenary relic hunters?"
"The best," Li Kai replied. "Expensive. Unreliable. But when it comes to navigating ruins and dealing with ancient magic, there's no one better."
Ilya tilted her head. "You trust them?"
Li Kai grinned grimly. "No. But I trust their greed."
The next day, representatives from the Guild and the Keepers arrived at the Store, drawn by the promise of immense rewards and access to Li Kai's exclusive trade network.
A silver-haired woman clad in flowing merchant robes introduced herself as Myra of the Twilight Guild. Her eyes gleamed with a mix of ambition and curiosity.
"We don't usually take joint contracts," she said, sipping tea in the lounge. "But for you, Storekeeper, we'll make an exception."
Beside her stood a rugged, scarred man named Dren, leader of the Wandering Keepers. His armor looked like it had seen a thousand battles—and lost none.
"You promise us first pick of any relics not tied to the Seed Core," he growled. "We'll get your job done."
Li Kai nodded. "Deal."
Inwardly, he tightened his guard. These weren't friends. They were opportunists. But sometimes, you had to dance with wolves to survive.
Preparations consumed three days.
Weapons were upgraded. Supplies were enchanted against corruption. Xiaomei installed emergency recall beacons in case things went south.
Li Kai himself received a personal boon from the Store System: a new Relic-class item called "The Merchant's Sigil."
Merchant's SigilGrants the bearer temporary negotiation authority over minor reality constructs. Allows limited environmental manipulation in unstable zones.
In short: it would let him "talk" to the Abyss itself, maybe persuade parts of it to reveal the Seed's location.
If he was lucky.
Which, history suggested, he usually wasn't.
Finally, the expedition set out.
A caravan of armored mounts and floating skiffs moved southeast toward the Abyss.
The land grew colder and more brittle the closer they came. Vegetation gave way to twisted stone. Rivers dried into cracks. The sky above the Abyss shimmered unnaturally, like a mirage of broken dreams.
At the edge of the chasm, they made camp.
Li Kai stood at the precipice, gazing down into the labyrinth of ruins and shifting pathways. Strange lights moved below, like the last gasps of ancient magic trying to cling to life.
"This place is wrong," Jax muttered.
Serin rested her hand on her sword hilt. "Always has been."
Ilya simply notched an arrow and kept it ready.
Myra of the Twilight Guild stood beside Li Kai, expression unreadable.
"The Seed fragment will nest," she said quietly. "It will grow. It will call to the old things that sleep down there."
Li Kai didn't look away from the Abyss.
"Then we'll wake them up first," he said. "And we'll burn everything that answers."
Behind them, the camp prepared for battle.
Tents shimmered with protective runes. Warriors sharpened their weapons under enchanted torches. Healers mixed potions that glowed ominously in the dark.
Tomorrow, they would descend.
Tomorrow, the real war would begin.
And somewhere deep in the ruins below, the escaped Seed Core pulsed with malevolent life, weaving new nightmares from the bones of a forgotten age.
Li Kai tightened his grip on the Merchant's Sigil.
The Store had survived corruption once.
It would survive again.
No matter the cost.