We hit the academy supply shop.

I needed supplies. I also needed to arm myself the way Chaos Theory was likely to demand of me—which is to say, for every contingency I could afford and a few I couldn’t.

I bought another 43 OXI Candies. Topping out at 50.

[Scales: 19,453 → 19,033]

Now that I have capital, I don’t have to ration anymore.

Rhayne watches me with a look that doesn’t fully understand.

"What is that, Dryden?"

A more expensive consumable. She probably never asked or even needed. With Void Link, she pulls OXI directly out of anything alive or any machinery carrying it. OXI Candies aren’t part of her vocabulary.

"OXI Candies. You can recharge OXI mid-combat."

"You mean ignoring Ocean’s Law? Every time I tried eating Scales mid-fight, I got nauseous and threw up."

"Right. Candies bypass that."

Veric grabs a few himself. His look at her says he’s quietly judging.

"Looks like Miss Vesper doesn’t need them."

Rhayne gives him a crooked, awkward smile.

I go through the rest of the inventory: bread, Lunaria juice, a survival kit with rope, flint, the small tools that keep you alive by simple means. I close the round at the alchemy house and pick up bone powder from a half-dozen monsters I’ve crossed paths with, plus a basic kit for mixing and brewing.

Carrying everything on Oliver’s back wasn’t fair to begin with. And he isn’t here.

[Lunaria Juice: 10]

[Royal Potato Bread: 5]

[Survival Kit: 1]

[Coral Drenodor Bone Powder: 10 sachets]

[Reef Stalker Bone Powder: 10 sachets]

[Reef Hydrox Bone Powder: 10 sachets]

[Coral Longbey Bone Powder: 10 sachets]

[Coral Mandrax Bone Powder: 10 sachets]

[Alchemy Kit: Tier 1]

[Scales: 19,053 → 17,003]

Two thousand Scales gone. A serious cut. Necessary for what I have in mind.

Veric takes forever to pick his items. The academy shop doesn’t carry what he wants. He pulls back, marches off to the royal castle to procure proper noble-grade gear, and our entire afternoon goes with him.

The training session slips to tomorrow.

Rhayne uses the gap to upgrade her armor.

A Rank C combat outfit. I don’t see the item tag because the academy items are already appraised.

When she comes out wearing it, I genuinely cannot pull my eyes away.

She looks like a kunoichi now. Less fabric, more leather and tight cloth, every layer chosen to maximize movement and elasticity. The new gloves are thinner. More feminine. The whole outfit would draw a lot more attention if the Cloaked Cape weren’t doing its job hiding most of her shape.

"That suits you."

"Old habits..."

Her face goes red. She tugs the Cape a little tighter around her shoulders, an instinct I recognize now—the spy reaching for invisibility the second she feels seen.

I pretend I didn’t catch it.

It’s already night by the time Veric comes back through the door.

"If you’d taken any longer, I’d have started splitting your inheritance with Rhayne."

"Charming."

"My money was on one of three causes: ambush, drowning, or you finally found a tailor capable of finishing a hem in under six hours."

Veric shoots me a look.

"That last one isn’t a joke, and you know it."

Rhayne is hiding a small smile behind her hand.

We head back to the dorms.

Rhayne was supposed to share a room with me, but I have things to test alone tonight.

"Here, Rhayne. Take one." I hold out a Crest of Azurea.

"What is that?"

Veric steps in before I can answer. "Protection from my father. Whoever wears it is under the King’s protection."

I just nod.

Rhayne smiles. "Thank you."

I leave the room. Move them both into mine—better location, better defenses. I take the smaller one for myself.

The night is mine alone.

I have two plans. The first is to find the perfect concentration formula for an OXI drop. The second is to test [Consume] the last echo fragment I have left.

I lay out the alchemy kit on the small desk. Mortar, pestle, a row of glass vials, each one no bigger than my thumb, a dropper, and a rune-marked plate that registers pH as a low blue glow shifting toward red as acidity climbs.

The runes on the rim hum a soft tone when active—a quiet little teacher confirming what the eye already saw.

I start with what I already know.

Lunaria juice on its own pulls in an OXI base of about one-twelfth a Scale per ounce. The trench formula concentrated that base by adding raw ground bone matter. The bone catalyzed faster absorption, sometimes ten times faster, but it carried the acidity into the gut. After enough field use, the lining gave out. Veterans who relied on it long-term ended up trading combat efficiency for a stomach they couldn’t fix.

The trick is the bone. Not whether to use it. Which one.

Five sachets in front of me. Five candidates. I work systematically—measure, mix, stir, test, taste, reset.

I ignite Eventide along with Memories of Lightwaves to burn my OXI and prevent overloads on every check.

Coral Drenodor. The pH plate flares hot red the moment I pour. The runes hiss louder, almost protesting. Sharp, mineral taste, like swallowing iron filings dipped in vinegar. Aggressive absorption. Brutal on the throat. Trench-grade. Trench-only.

I set it aside.

Reef Stalker. Lower acidity. The plate’s red dims to a dull orange. The taste shifts to something earthy, but a strange sourness sits underneath—a leftover note that lingers behind the molars long after the swallow. Better, but still no human could drink it often.

Coral Longbey. Disappointing. The plate barely shifts color. The runes don’t even sing. Almost no catalyzing reaction at all. The OXI Drop works at half the speed of a normal Scale. Useless for refuel.

Coral Mandrax. Volatile. The mixture starts off sweet for two seconds before it tears my tongue apart. Whatever Mandrax bone does, it’s reacting with the lunaria sugar in a way that destabilizes after exposure to air. Drink it within ten seconds or it turns to acid soup. Dangerous and impractical.

I set it aside too.

Reef Hydrox.

The plate shifts to a soft, calm blue. The runes settle into a low, almost contented hum. The opposite direction.

I almost don’t believe it the first time. I run it again. Same result. A third time, with double the bone powder. The blue holds, deeper now, the plate registering the most stable neutral mix it has tasted tonight. The Hydrox bone is a pH neutralizer—not just blunting the acidity from the lunaria base, but actively pulling it down toward something the human stomach reads as friendly.

I taste a single drop on the tip of my finger.

Smooth. Sweet. The closest comparison I can find is a hazelnut syrup—thick, warm at the back of the tongue, finishing clean without bitterness. The OXI absorption hits a heartbeat later, a pleasant warmth blooming behind the sternum. Combat absorption rate slower than Drenodor bone, but still well within the useful window. And every Diver in Thirstfall, from grunt to Rank S, would drink this every day for the taste alone.

I check the OXI recovery. The numbers are insane—85% base recovery per scale. There’s no way I can sell this. It would break the economy. A single bottle could keep someone topped off for ages.

I try it with 50% demineralized water... but it’s still too strong.

60%—Almost getting there.

75% water. I take a few drops and check the OXI recovery again. Around 20% of 1 Scale. A small vial costing 20 Scales would be able to restore 600 OXI.

Excellent.

This way I’m not selling a refuel. I’m selling dreams and pleasure.

Trench warriors chugging this stuff will earn me tons of scales. They’re used to chewing expensive OXI Candies or taking high-efficiency OXI drops that disable them in a matter of months.

This... this is like giving them a ’cola’ that restores OXI.

I lock the formula with a magic rune I learned from some alchemists in the trench. I don’t want anyone reverse-engineering my formula and stealing my business.

[Three measures of Hydrox-bone powder, ground fine by mortar and pestle, per ounce of Lunaria juice. Steeped for 90 seconds. Strained twice. Diluted with 75% distilled water and sealed in a small dropper vial. The rune-plate should hold a steady blue glow throughout.]

Got it.

The first half of my plan is ready.

[Scales: 17,003 → 16,950]

------------------------------------------------------

By the time I push back from the desk, the sky outside the window is already lightening at the edges. Dawn coming in.

I throw myself onto the bed.

Lola’s old room.

The same ceiling she used to look up at when she stayed over here. I let my eyes follow a small crack in the plaster across the corner—a small imperfection only kids like her and insomniacs ever notice—and I let myself, for one minute, picture her wherever she is.

Still alive.

Doing what?

How?

Is anyone bringing her food?

Is she scared?

Is she keeping that bored half-smile on her face just to hold the rest of herself together?

She used to do that for me.

I shut the thought down before it gets traction. Spinning on it doesn’t help her or me.

I sit on the edge of the bed. Pull the last echo fragment out of my inventory. Hold it up between two fingers. Watch it shimmer. The blue inside it is deeper than any sea I’ve ever seen on Earth, and the surface light moves across the cut of the crystal like something alive trying to look back at me.

I open the description. I don’t even remember whose this one is.

[Sebastian Conor]

[Scout Ranger — Rank D]

[Killed by a strike to the chest in ████████]

[Date of death: ████████]

Right. The man I killed in the subway station that was lost inside the system. I consumed the other souls in the suicidal push at the Gatekeeper without checking who they were.

I regret that a little.

Not enough to undo it. Just enough to remember it now, with a name I never bothered to learn while he was alive.

My fingers brush the bright blue crystal. Less an apology, more asking permission to use what’s left.

A scout. A man with eyes trained to see what nobody else saw. Whatever he carried is going to flow into me now.

I hope not. I hope [Consume] is different.

Here we go.

[Are you sure you want to use [Consume]? Y/N]

Yes.

A new sound rings in my HUD.

And from that moment forward, everything was going to change.