’Right flank, archers first.’

Three goblins had positioned themselves on a raised ledge of rock at the back of the chamber, crude shortbows drawn, arrows tipped with a viscous green substance that glistened even in the dim light.

They were focused on Ren, waiting for an opening in his shield coverage.

They never saw Damon coming.

[AGI 23] closed the distance in seconds. He crossed the chamber in a blur of motion, weaving between skirmishes and overturned barricades, his borrowed longsword already coming up.

The first archer turned, yellow eyes widening, a startled hiss escaping its throat—

The blade took its head off.

[GOBLIN ARCHER DEFEATED]

[EXPERIENCE GAINED: 25]

[SOVEREIGN’S TRIBUTE: +2]

The second archer spun toward him, bow snapping up, but Damon was already inside its reach. He drove the longsword through its chest, the steel punching through the crude leather armor and out the other side.

The goblin crumpled without a sound.

[GOBLIN ARCHER DEFEATED]

[EXPERIENCE GAINED: 25]

[SOVEREIGN’S TRIBUTE: +2]

The third archer abandoned its bow entirely and lunged at him with a jagged dagger. Damon sidestepped, caught its wrist, and ran it through with a single clean thrust.

[GOBLIN ARCHER DEFEATED]

[EXPERIENCE GAINED: 25]

[SOVEREIGN’S TRIBUTE: +2]

[TRIBUTE: 22]

The main swarm was still pressing hard against Ren’s shield, and Kara’s flames were starting to gutter, her stamina clearly running low.

Damon dropped from the ledge and cut his way toward them.

The goblins on the chamber floor weren’t archers. These were warriors, larger and meaner, armed with chipped swords, rusted axes, and spiked clubs.

They fought in loose clusters, using the clutter of the nest for cover, coordinating their attacks with more intelligence than the slimes ever had.

One broke off from the main group and came at him with a hand axe raised high. Damon parried the swing, the impact jarring his wrist, then kicked the goblin square in the chest.

It flew backward into two of its companions, all three tumbling into a heap of scavenged scrap.

Another came from his left. He ducked the swing, stepped past its guard, and brought his sword down across its back.

[GOBLIN WARRIOR DEFEATED]

[EXPERIENCE GAINED: 30]

[SOVEREIGN’S TRIBUTE: +3]

Damon glanced back at the rest of the party and saw they were doing far better now. With the poison archers gone, Kara had moved out from behind Ren’s cover and was fighting on her own.

Her fists caved in goblins’ chests with a single punch, and a wild, manic smile stretched across her face.

"So they could’ve handled this after all," Damon muttered. "They just didn’t have anyone who could reach the archers."

The area was cleared soon after. The goblins wouldn’t regenerate until the next cycle, but the fight had made one thing obvious.

Kara was strong. Undeniably stronger than him when it came to raw striking power. She was a C-Rank, and the gap between ranks wasn’t something a few stat points could close overnight.

She’d probably run this cave a hundred times during the two years he’d spent as a dud.

The difference in stats was massive.

The only reason the nest had given them trouble wasn’t the number of goblins. It was the poison. Even a C-Rank couldn’t reliably tank those arrows, and without someone fast enough to shut the archers down, the team had been stuck fighting defensively.

That was where Damon had fit in.

"Clear!" Kara called out, shaking goblin ash from her gauntlets. "Harris, status report."

"Everyone’s alive. That’s the good news."

Harris was already moving among them, pressing a healing salve into Ren’s forearm where a goblin blade had found a gap in his armor.

"Bad news is we’re officially out of stamina draughts, and I’ve got maybe one good heal left before I’m running on empty."

"We pushed too deep." Ren set his tower shield down, the edge sinking an inch into the dirt. "The nest was supposed to have half this many. Someone must have cleared the outer chambers recently and driven them all inward."

"Or they’ve been breeding faster than the academy estimated." Kara cracked her neck and turned to Damon. "Not bad, Persival. You took out those archers before they even knew you were here."

"They were focused on Ren. Made them easy targets."

"Easy targets or not, that speed of yours is something else." She studied him with those pale gray eyes, the same assessing look her uncle had given him in the prep chamber. "You’re faster than half the C-Ranks I’ve trained with. What are your stats looking like?"

Damon hesitated for only a moment before summoning his status screen. After the King Slime and the goblin fight, there wasn’t much point in hiding it.

[SYSTEM STATUS – RESONATOR: DAMON PERSIVAL]

[CLASS: SOVEREIGN]

[LEVEL: 2]

[STR: 18]

[AGI: 23]

[VIT: 17]

[MAG: 21]

Kara leaned in, her eyes moving down the numbers. Ren glanced over from his shield. Even Harris stopped fussing with his potion satchel to stare.

"Twenty-three agility," Kara said slowly. "At level two."

"And twenty-one magic," Ren added, his deep voice carrying a note of genuine surprise. "What kind of class spreads stats like that?"

"Gods... you really are the son of Lucas Persival. I guess it runs in the family?" Kara joked.

Kara let the words hang for a moment, then shook her head with a short laugh.

"Alright, enough gawking. We’re not done yet." She turned to Harris. "How’s everyone holding up? Honestly."

Harris finished wrapping Ren’s forearm and straightened. "Ren’s got a gash that’ll need proper attention when we get back, but he can keep going. I’m fine. Kara, you’ve been burning through stamina faster than usual."

"I’m aware."

"And Persival..." Harris paused, his expression unreadable. "You’re fine. Somehow."

"Somehow," Damon echoed.

"Right." Kara clapped her hands together, the sound echoing through the chamber. "Here’s the situation. The dire wolf alpha is still in the central chamber. We could push toward it now, but with our potions running low and Ren injured, that’s a risk we don’t need to take."

"We fall back?" Ren asked.

"We fall back. We’ve already gained good exp from the nest, and Persival here proved he can handle himself. That’s enough for one session." She looked at Damon. "Unless you’ve got objections?"

Damon shook his head.

"No, I’d like to grab something to eat too. But before we part ways, I’ve got a favor to ask."

He paused, glancing between the three of them.

"Can you vouch for me with the professor? I want solo authorization."

Kara’s eyebrows rose. "Solo authorization? You want to farm alone?"

"Yeah."

The three exchanged glances. It wasn’t a small thing to ask. Solo authorization meant trusting someone to survive without backup, without support, without anyone to pull them out if things went wrong. Most students waited months before applying.

But they’d just watched him clear an archer nest that had their whole team pinned down. He’d moved faster than half the C-Ranks Kara had trained with. Whatever doubts they might have had were tempered by what they’d seen with their own eyes.

"Sure," Harris said. "We can do that."

Damon blinked. Of the three, Harris was the last one he’d expected to speak first.