113. You Need to Work on Making Enemies

In the cloud palace, Belinda and Sophie enjoy lavish freedom but fear the cost. They test boundaries, learn most areas are open, and judge escape from the palace trivial yet impossible beyond Adventure Society grounds. They debate Jason’s motives, weighing Jory and Clive’s faith in him against Lamprey’s pursuit and Arella’s leverage.

In Boko, Jason, Rufus, and Gary toast Farrah and review Jason’s goal to make Sophie an adventurer to sever Lamprey’s hold. They assess political risks: Arella’s reliance on broad, weak participation doomed the expedition and invites Continental Council censure. Rufus, enraged by Farrah’s death shielding weaker adventurers, wants confrontation, but Jason urges restraint until there’s strategic value.

Meanwhile, Danielle and Emir declare the expedition over. They dismantle a network of astral magic nodes—fifteen types of engraved columns—securing samples and destroying the rest, plus collecting construct remnants for the Magic Society. Danielle reports Jason, Gary, and Rufus left for the city. Emir plans ongoing silver‑rank patrols to let the astral space recover and prepares to return to Greenstone after visiting Boko’s Adventure Society.

Hester, Emir’s portal specialist, later returns Emir, Jason, Gary, and Rufus to Greenstone beside the cloud palace. Over dinner and drinks with Constance, they debrief: Emir will delay a planned iron‑rank venture and import stronger talent, judging Greenstone’s adventurers wanting. He teases a challenge—an iron‑rank‑only place holding a prize iron‑ranks can’t use.

They turn to Sophie’s fate. With Arella likely to face removal after Danielle’s formal protest and the expedition’s losses, Jason aims to quickly lock Sophie’s indenture and push her Adventure Society membership to grant protection. Constance doubts the precedent; Gary notes Jason’s pattern of risky rescues. Rufus warns Jason about making powerful enemies, which Jason accepts as the price of winning.