Twenty years ago, a blinding flash of natural lightning had pierced the cavern roof. The bolt of electricity had startled the beast just long enough for the tiny, weeping boy to crawl away through the mud. For his entire life, Gorak had viewed himself as a helpless victim who only survived through a random stroke of luck.

An act of nature had saved him when Troglodyte steel had failed.

Gorak closed his eyes as the realization hit him.

’I am no longer the victim crawling in the mud,’ Gorak thought, his blood boiling with newfound clarity. ’And I will never rely on blind chance again. I belong to the Red Spiral. I command the Vanguard. I claim the storm.’

He reached outward into the void, conceptualizing that terrifying, flash of power that had saved his life. He visualized the untamed energy of the lightning bolt, pulling it down from the imaginary cavern roof and dragging it directly into his own soul.

When the Hydra lunged downward to bite him in half, Gorak finally opened his eyes.

They glowed with crackling blue light.

Sparks of electricity danced across his sizzling bone plates. The ambient mana in the void violently condensed, the air growing thick with the scent of fire.

Gorak became a natural disaster as he thrust his fist upward.

The air split open with a crack of thunder, and a pillar of concentrated lightning erupted from his knuckles, tearing through the cavern and striking the Hydra dead center.

The conceptual beast didn’t regenerate this time. The overwhelming electrical surge vaporized the monster instantly, reducing the Pale Doom to a cloud of harmless mist.

Silence reclaimed the shores of the black lake.

The phantom of his father slowly lowered his chipped hammer. Grog looked at the lightning-wreathed Warlord his son had become, offered a proud, silent nod, and faded away into the void.

[ Trial Passed: The Storm Claimed. ]

[ Mana Core Awakened: Abyssal Thunder. ]

Gorak woke up with a sharp gasp.

He found himself resting inside a fortified coastal bunker, completely surrounded by a clicking, chittering wall of Red’s protective Hive beasts. The creatures parted slightly, allowing him to sit up and look out toward the distant Extradimensional Rift.

Gorak looked down at his hands. Arcs of volatile blue lightning leaped between his thick fingers with enough raw voltage to melt solid iron. A thrumming core of pure thunder now rested firmly within his chest.

He clenched his fist, extinguishing the sparks, and let out a rumbling laugh that vibrated through the bunker walls.

The nightmare was finally dead, and the Warlord was ready to return to the front line.

Red remained seated in his sanctuary, watching his Vanguard awaken across the globe. He tapped the glowing interface to bring up the master roster once more. He located the golden-highlighted name of his first Apostle and selected Krug to initiate the Divine Conduit, sending the Chief of Bastion into a spiritual slumber to face his own trial.

With his commanders empowered and his primary forces preparing for the next phase of the invasion, Red opened his personal inventory. He retrieved the Trait Pull Ticket he had acquired during his recent ascension and activated it.

[ Acknowledged. Consuming 1x Trait Pull Ticket. ]

[ Initializing randomized trait selection. ]

The digital console expanded into a massive spinning wheel of golden text. Various abilities flashed across the screen in quick succession, blurring into lines of light.

Red watched the names pass by, catching glimpses of titles like ’Celestial Blacksmith’, ’Void Strider’, and ’Abyssal Regeneration’. The rotating wheel gradually lost momentum. It clicked past a few final options before coming to a complete halt on a brilliantly glowing card.

[ Congratulations! You have acquired a new A Trait: Rebate. ]

Red leaned forward to read the detailed description panel that materialized on his interface.

[ Trait: Rebate ]

[ Grade: Passive ]

[ Effect: Grants an automatic ten percent return on any and all Divine Points spent by the host. These refunded points bypass the primary balance and accumulate inside a dedicated Rebate Counter. The host may collect the accumulated DP from this counter at any time to add it back to the primary balance. ]

A new numerical display appeared in the upper corner of his vision, sitting completely empty at zero DP. Red stared at the screen, immediately calculating the long-term value of the ability.

He spent millions of points upgrading infrastructure and deploying troops on a daily basis. Getting a permanent discount on every single purchase going forward would save him an astronomical amount of resources over time.

’This completely changes my economic strategy,’ Red thought, dragging a hand through his hair. ’I can reinvest those refunded points directly into the faction to accelerate our growth.’

A sudden thought crossed Red’s mind as he studied the newly acquired trait. He needed to confirm a very specific mechanical interaction regarding his currency.

He opened the system store and purchased a standard architectural blueprint for fifty thousand Divine Points.

[ 50,000 DP Consumed. ] 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

[ Trait: Rebate Triggered. ]

[ 5,000 DP added to Rebate Counter. ]

Red opened the Rebate Counter menu. The interface displayed the five thousand points next to a glowing golden "Collect" button.

He tapped the detailed settings attached to the collection option to view the exact transfer parameters. The text confirmed his wildest suspicion. His SSS-rank 100x growth multiplier applied to all incoming currency distributions, including the rebate payout.

Red threw his head back and let out a loud laugh that echoed across the sanctuary.

The sudden noise startled Glitch. The small pet jolted awake from his nap on Red’s lap, looking around in complete confusion with wide eyes. Red patted the creature affectionately to calm him down while keeping his gaze locked on the glowing numbers.

’This is entirely broken,’ Red realized, a massive grin spreading across his face.

Rebate was an A-rank trait granting a ten percent return on any spending. Earning five thousand points back on a fifty thousand purchase was a decent recovery mechanism on its own. But yhe true absurdity lay in the system’s interaction rules.

When Red pressed the collect button, his SSS-rank multiplier would activate to enhance the incoming value.

That five thousand DP payout would immediately multiply by a hundred. He would receive five hundred thousand Divine Points from the collection.

He spent fifty thousand points to buy a blueprint, and the system was going to pay him half a million points as a refund. He would literally earn ten times more points than he originally spent on any given purchase. The math created an infinite loop of divine wealth.

Now, he simply had to find ways to spend his DP, only to make ten times more. And now that his followers would start using magic and consume his DP, he would be getting ten times more.

The more they used, the stronger and efficient they would become to achieve mastery over the magic, while Red would be getting ten times more than what they would use.

From this instance, he had no need to worry about running out of DP or de-ranking.