Allen watched the crimson light flood the arena, his expression remaining perfectly calm while the sheer pressure of the core pushed the other applicants back toward the walls.

’Not a bad plan in theory,’ he thought, his eyes tracking the violent surge of mana locking Elise, Sable, and Hajin in place. ’Using a three-point synchronized strike to cancel out a static frequency is a textbook high-ranker tactic.’

He took a slow, measured breath.

’But they treated the core like a rock,’ he continued, a cold sense of fascination settling over him. ’People see lower-tier cores as mere batteries, but higher-tier cores, especially those harvested from a dragon, are essentially still alive. They possess active defense traits that treat any hostile mana as an invader to be eradicated.’

The air around the three trapped examinees started to warp, the heat rising so fast that the floor beneath their feet began to crack.

Allen narrowed his eyes, quickly calculating the density of the feedback loop.

’They will probably last two minutes,’ he concluded. ’Maybe less if they don’t come up with a counter soon. Once their internal cores rupture, they’ll burn from the inside out.’

His hand twitched slightly from watching them be in so much pain. As the Guildmaster, he had the authority and the power to shatter the connection before it killed them. He could step in right now, sever the hostile mana thread, and end the exam as a failure for all three.

But he didn’t move, instead, his gaze shifted from the two struggling girls directly to Hajin.

The young man was currently acting as the anchor for the entire group, taking the absolute worst of the backlash through his golden ring.

’Show me,’ he thought, his grip tightening on the railing. ’You walked in here with a legendary core and a royal recommendation. Let’s see what a monster like you does when you’re actually cornered.’

Hajin’s mind was racing, his eyes locked on the light bleeding from the core.

’What just happened?’ he thought, gritting his teeth against the crushing pressure. ’Is this thing actually attacking us? Dammit, now what? I can’t even move a single muscle.’

The heat in the air was suffocating, making his lungs burn with every shallow breath.

’Is this really how it ends?’ he wondered, a spike of genuine panic finally breaking through his usual calm. ’No, fuck that. There has to be a way out of this.’

He considered forcing his entire mana reserve into the connection to violently sever the link. It might work, but he knew the sudden vacuum of power could just as easily cause the feedback loop to backfire and instantly kill Elise and Sable.

While his thoughts spun in circles, a faint, familiar voice echoed directly inside his head.

"...can you hear me?"

He blinked, his focus breaking for a split second. The voice wasn’t coming from the stream chat, it was coming from his pocket, from the small, dull ring he had bought from the dwarf’s junk shelf.

"If you can hear me, I can help. Do you want some help?"

’That ring?’ he thought, genuine surprise washing over him. ’The five-copper piece of junk that hasn’t made a single sound since the day I bought it? Why now of all times?’

He didn’t have the luxury of debating it. The core energy was already crawling up his arm, burning the fabric of his sleeve.

"I can hear you," he forced the words out, his voice a strained whisper. "Yes."

The moment he spoke, the low-energy voice suddenly spiked with absolute joy.

"Oh my goodness! You can actually hear me!" The voice cheered, happy that someone could finally respond.

"Do you have any idea how long I’ve been stuck in here? It’s been millennia! It was so dark and lonely. I tried talking to the last guy but he just exploded, so I thought..."

"Shut up!" He gasped, his vision starting to blur at the edges. "I am literally dying over here!"

The voice went quiet for a second, then came back much softer.

"Right, sorry about that," it said, sounding genuinely embarrassed. "I got a bit carried away. It’s been a really long time since anyone could hear me."

"Then help me!" he hissed through clenched teeth, feeling the hostile energy tighten its grip around his bones.

"I want to, I really do, but I can’t do anything in my current state," the voice explained, its tone shifting into something more serious.

"For me to use my power, you need to form a contract with me first. Normally that requires physical contact with both hands on the band, but since you can’t move right now, a verbal contract will have to do."

"Then start talking."

"Repeat after me," the voice said, and for the first time, the playful tone was completely gone. "I, the bearer of this ring, offer my name as the foundation of our bond."

He repeated the words through gritted teeth, each syllable fighting against the pressure crushing his chest.

"I accept the spirit within as my partner, bound by trust until the ring is broken or the bearer falls."

He forced the second line out, his voice barely above a whisper while the hostile mana from the core continued to tear through his pathways.

"And I swear on my mana that this contract is made of my own free will."

The moment the final word left his lips, the ring in his pocket began to vibrate. A thin beam of silver light shot through the fabric of his coat, and the ring slowly floated out on its own, hovering in the air for a brief moment before it drifted toward his left hand.

It slid onto his pinky finger with a soft click, fitting perfectly despite its size, and the dull gray metal suddenly pulsed with a faint, warm glow.

A system screen immediately popped up in front of his eyes.

[ Item Contracted ]

[ Name: Unnamed ]

[ Type: Spirit Ring ]

[ Rank: Divine / Transcendent ]

[ Core Ability: Assimilation ]

[ Description: Absorbs and permanently integrates the properties of any mana source the bearer comes into contact with. Absorbed properties can be stored, combined, or deployed independently. ]

[ Current Stored Properties: 0 ]

’Divine?’ he thought, his eyes widening despite the agony tearing through his body. ’A five-copper ring from a junk shelf is a Divine-tier item? And what the hell is Assimilation?’ 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Before he could process any of it, a second prompt appeared directly beneath the first.

[ Do you want to integrate this ring into your bloodline? ]

[ Yes ] / [ No ]

He had no idea what "integrate into your bloodline" actually meant, but the hostile mana from the core was seconds away from rupturing his insides.

"Yes," he said.

The ring on his pinky finger erupted with light as a high-pitched, girlish scream echoed inside his head.

"Wait wait wait!" the voice shrieked. "I wasn’t ready! What is happening to my body?!"

The dull gray metal melted away, reshaping itself around his finger into a sleek, polished band of dark silver with a single thin line of gold running through its center, pulsing in perfect rhythm with the golden ring around his wrist.

[Integration complete]