"For better future operations, I will divide our Fated Circle into five rings."
The Master's voice carried calmly through the underground hall, but the moment those words left his mouth, the atmosphere shifted.
People straightened.
Boots stopped moving.
Even the small sounds like cloth rustling, someone clearing their throat, or a footstep sound had disappeared.
It felt like the air itself had become heavier.
I stood still among the other children, trying not to move too much. When too many strong people gathered in one place, my body sometimes reacted before my thoughts did. My shoulders stayed stiff, and my eyes kept moving, counting distances and exits without meaning to.
The Master raised his hand slightly.
"Patriakis Assombrir, come."
A man stepped forward from the crowd.
I recognized him immediately.
Patriakis.
Leader of the Assombrir clan.
The one Theo talked about whenever he told stories about his family.
My uncle is terrifying, Theo had once said proudly.
Now that I was seeing him in person, I finally understood.
Patriakis wasn't tall or bulky like some warriors in the room. His body looked lean, almost ordinary.
But something about him felt… wrong.
I try to sense his mana instinctively.
And then I froze.
I couldn't sense anything.
No mana.
Not even a trace.
Every person in the hall had dense mana swirling around their bodies like heat rising from fire.
Except him.
Where Patriakis stood, there was nothing.
My eyes kept trying to focus on him, but the feeling was like staring into a hole. The space where his mana should have been felt empty in a way that made my skin crawl.
For a moment, my chest tightened.
It reminded me of something.
The silence inside the Cave of Honor just before the old man there almost killed me.
That strange moment when the air had felt completely still before the blade came down.
I swallowed slowly and forced myself to breathe normally.
"Patriakis will be the leader of the Information Gathering Ring," the Master said. "Or the Info Ring for short."
Patriakis stood with his hands behind his back, his expression unreadable.
"He will operate an information guild disguised as a merchant guild. If you need information or a fake identity for your future missions, contact him."
Fake identities.
I didn't know much about those things, but the words made the hall feel colder somehow.
Patriakis didn't speak.
He simply bowed slightly and stepped back into the crowd.
My eyes followed him longer than they should have.
A man with no mana.
That felt more frightening than someone with too much.
"Seyren Duvent, come."
A sudden gust of wind swept across the hall.
Several cloaks fluttered.
Before the movement of air even finished, a green-haired man stood beside the Master as if the wind had carried him there.
Seyren Duvent.
Margaretha's eldest brother.
He looked young, maybe twenty, but the mana surrounding him was so dense that it felt like standing near a storm.
When his gaze passed across the hall, my body reacted instantly.
My hands trembled.
For a moment, I couldn't breathe properly.
Because the way he stood…
The way his shoulders were straight, his chin slightly raised…
It looked like someone else.
Frans.
For a moment, my vision blurred.
Run.
The word appeared in my head without permission.
Run Rick.
My heart began pounding.
Run.
My legs felt ready to move.
Run Rick run Rick run…
Something poked my arm.
Hard.
"Rick," Margaretha whispered sharply.
The hall snapped back into focus.
I blinked several times.
Margaretha was staring at me with concern.
"You're shaking," she whispered.
I hadn't noticed.
I clenched my hands and forced them still.
"I'm fine," I whispered back.
She studied my face for another moment but didn't say anything else.
Up front, the Master continued speaking.
"You will lead the Assassination Job Ring. The Job Ring."
Seyren nodded calmly.
"You will manage the underground assassin guild disguised as an underworld organization. All assassination missions will be selected and approved by me before reaching your ring."
Underworld organization.
The words made me uneasy.
My father used to talk about places like that.
People who sold stolen goods.
People who killed for money.
Dishonorable things.
But looking around the hall, I realized something.
None of us had normal choices anymore.
Not after everything the Empire had done.
"Havan Lafeu, come."
A flash of fire suddenly appeared beside the Master.
The flames twisted for a moment before collapsing inward, revealing a red-haired man stepping calmly out of them.
Agni and Pritha's brother.
Havan.
Pritha talked about him often.
She always said he protected them during the Empire's hunt.
When I looked at him now, I understood why.
His mana was just as dense as Seyren's.
But it felt different.
Seyren's presence was sharp like wind cutting across skin.
Havan's was warm.
Like standing near a fire on a cold night.
For a brief moment, the shape of his shoulders reminded me of Frans again.
My chest tightened.
But this time, I forced the memory away before it could grow.
Not him.
I focused on the flames slowly fading around Havan's boots.
The warmth of his mana helped steady my breathing.
"You will lead the Talent Scout Ring," the Master said. "The Scout Ring."
Havan bowed slightly.
"You will be responsible for finding and recruiting individuals suitable for our cause. You will operate under the disguise of a small mercenary guild."
The Master looked across the hall.
"What is our goal?"
"TO KILL THE EMPEROR," the room answered instantly.
The words echoed against the stone ceiling.
"Good."
The Master nodded.
"Spiro Assombrir, come."
Before I even had time to blink, Spiro vanished from where he was standing beside us.
A small ripple moved through the air.
Then he appeared beside the Master.
Theo grinned proudly.
"Uncle Spiro's getting faster," he whispered.
I could feel it too.
Spiro's mana had grown stronger over the past month.
"You will lead the Treasure and Bounty Hunter Ring," the Master continued. "The Hunter Ring."
His gaze rested on Spiro.
"You will gather equipment and funding for our operations. You will also train our younger members who are not yet ready for larger missions."
He paused briefly.
"You will operate under the identity of a treasure and bounty hunter group."
Only then did something click in my mind.
The past month.
The monster hunts.
The bandit missions.
The training that never stopped.
It hadn't just been preparation.
It had already been our work.
We were strengthening ourselves while earning money for the organization.
For some reason, instead of feeling nervous about it, I felt something else.
Useful.
At least I wasn't dead weight.
"And lastly," the Master said, "Elder Howard Duvent, come."
This time, there was no dramatic entrance.
No wind.
No fire.
Just slow footsteps.
An old man walked forward calmly.
Margaretha's grandfather.
Grandpa Howard.
Margaretha had told me many stories about him.
How he escaped with them while her parents stayed behind to hold off the Empire's soldiers.
I had seen him many times during training.
He would stand quietly at the edge of the yard watching us.
Margaretha always waved enthusiastically when she spotted him.
"That's my grandpa!" she would say proudly.
But he always left before I had a chance to speak with him.
"You are the sole member of the Archive and Library Ring," the Master said. "The Library Ring."
Grandpa Howard stood calmly with his hands folded behind his back.
"You will archive and safeguard our documents. You will gather historical records, myths, and useful knowledge from across the Empire."
The Master paused slightly.
"You will operate under the identity of a bookstore owner in Rucksal City."
Rucksal City.
The nearest real city to us.
Three days away from Entree Village.
Margaretha once told me her grandfather knew the answer to almost any question she asked.
Looking at him now, standing calmly among warriors and assassins, the role felt perfect.
A quiet guardian of knowledge.
For an old man, there probably wasn't a better duty.
Margaretha smiled proudly beside me.
And for the first time since the gathering started, the heavy feeling in the hall seemed to ease, even if just a little.