99. Someone Else’s Game

Dean Tuckell’s road-patrol team grumbles through empty noticeboards until a trap-weaver job dissolves mid-claim, implying someone else is clearing work ahead of them.

Back in the city, Jason files a stack of completed contracts, declines incentivized assignments to leave opportunities for others, and unwinds in a park. He practices the Dance of the Sword Fairy, deepening mind–body alignment, and senses a hidden observer. Emir Bahadir, a gold-ranker with Rufus’s accent, reveals himself. Jason deduces his identity from aura control and appearance, and piques Bahadir’s interest by linking the Magic Society’s delta excavation to the erased Order of the Reaper.

Later, at a wrecked coastal village, Jason prepares to solo a bronze-rank tidal troll under Vincent’s supervision. Before sundown, Vincent asks a favor: remove the “thief girl” contract as a political flashpoint. He explains the director’s reforms have provoked entrenched powers, and Jason’s skillset makes him ideal. Jason agrees only to look into it, wary of being used.

At dusk, the tidal troll returns to its lair. Jason harries it with mobility and afflictions: Umbral Snake Venom from Night Fang, leeches, and stacking Vulnerable from Ruin, while Inexorable Doom and sin-curse effects crater its resistances. When the troll attempts to flee to the sea, Jason remains stationary and triggers Punition for cumulative affliction damage, then casts Verdict, a transcendent execute.

The troll is annihilated into rainbow smoke, auto-looting yields gear, coins, a bronze core, and quest rewards. Vincent, stunned by the transcendent effect from an iron-rank ability, presses Jason, who deflects with gallows humor. Jason closes by calling his familiar Colin, the sea air ill-suited for it.