The Pacific Ocean was no longer a symbol of tranquility. From the deck of the Aegis-7, a specialized mana-carrier the size of a small city, the horizon looked like a jagged wound. The sky was bruised purple, and the waves didn't crash; they throbbed with a rhythmic, low-frequency hum that set the teeth of every Hunter on board on edge.
Han Jue stood at the prow, the salt spray catching the dark fabric of his new cloak. He wasn't wearing the scorched rags of a scavenger anymore. He wore the Dread Sovereign's Regalia, a suit of matte-black armor that seemed to drink the morning light. It was lighter than silk but stronger than titanium, forged from the compressed essence of the Grave-Warden he had slain.
[Item: Dread Sovereign's Regalia (Rank B - Growth)] [Passive: 'Usury' - Every strike received converts 5% of the attacker's Mana into your Stamina.] [Active: 'Shadow Mantle' - Partial intangibility for 3 seconds.]
"The energy readings are spiking again," a voice said behind him.
Han Jue didn't turn. He knew the resonance of that mana. It was Han Ling. She looked transformed. No longer the pale, sickly girl in the hospital bed, she stood tall in a white-and-violet combat suit. Her hair was tied back, and her eyes—those shimmering violet orbs—were fixed on the rift.
"You should have stayed at the headquarters, Ling-er," Han Jue said, though there was no real bite in his tone. "The True Gate isn't like the Abyssal Gate. There's no ceiling to hide behind out here."
"I spent two years behind a ceiling, Brother," Ling-er replied, her voice steady. "The Void doesn't want me to hide. It wants me to watch. Besides..." She looked at the other ships in the fleet. "You're going to need someone to watch your back. The other 'Sovereigns' are already circling."
Han Jue followed her gaze. The Aegis-7 wasn't the only heavy hitter in the water. To the west sat the Jade Emperor, a vessel owned by the Eastern Coalition, and to the east was the Vatican's Spear.
[Debt Sense: Massive High-Value Targets Detected.] [Scanning...]
Suddenly, Han Jue's vision flared red. A notification didn't just appear; it screamed.
[WARNING: RIVAL AUDITOR DETECTED.] [Target: Li Chen] [Class: Celestial Arbitrator (Level 72)] [System Type: The Heaven's Balance.]
A small, sleek scout craft detached from the Jade Emperor and glided toward them, propelled not by engines, but by golden lotus petals made of pure light. Standing at the front was a man who looked like he had stepped out of an ancient painting. He wore white silk robes and carried a jade fan. His aura wasn't dark and heavy like Han Jue's; it was blindingly bright, smelling of incense and mountain air.
Li Chen looked down at Han Jue from his floating craft, his expression one of polite, lethal boredom.
"So," Li Chen said, his voice carrying effortlessly over the roar of the ocean. "This is the 'Dread Sovereign' I've been hearing about? The one who collects souls like a common street thug?"
Han Jue tilted his head, his hand resting on the pommel of a new weapon—the Sovereign's Quill, a heavy black broadsword that could "rewrite" a monster's stats upon impact.
"And you must be the 'Arbitrator,'" Han Jue replied. "The one who dresses like a wedding cake while the world burns."
The air between the two carriers turned brittle. The Hunters on both ships reached for their weapons. It was the classic collision: the Dark Debt versus the Heavenly Balance.
"The True Gate belongs to the Heavens," Li Chen said, his jade fan snapping shut. "Its loot is to be distributed according to merit, not greed. Your 'Audit' has no jurisdiction here, Han Jue. If you try to siphon the King's core, I will be forced to... balance your accounts."
[New Mission: Contested Audit.] [Objective: Secure the 'Heart of the Deep' before Li Chen.] [Reward: Class Evolution Shard.] [Penalty for Failure: 50% Permanent Stat Reduction.]
"Merit?" Han Jue laughed, a cold, sharp sound. "In my world, merit is just another word for survival. You want to balance my accounts, Li Chen? Step into the water. Let's see whose system is more stable."
The Gate Opens
Before Li Chen could respond, the ocean simply... stopped.
The waves froze in mid-air, suspended in a state of temporal stasis. Then, the center of the Pacific didn't explode; it imploded. A hole three miles wide opened in the surface of the sea, revealing not the ocean floor, but a spiral staircase of blue-green energy leading down into a dark, aquatic abyss.
[The True Gate: The Sunken Palace of the Tides is now OPEN.] [Rank: S (Global Threat).] [Boss: Emperor of the Trench.]
"Move!" Elena Sol's voice crackled over the ship's comms. "All S-Rank and A-Rank teams, deploy! If that Gate stabilizes, the resulting mana-tsunami will wipe out the West Coast!"
The peace was over. The lotuses beneath Li Chen's feet surged forward, a golden streak toward the hole.
"Ling-er, hold the perimeter!" Han Jue commanded.
"What about you?" she shouted over the rising wind.
"I'm going to go collect a down payment," Han Jue said.
He didn't take a boat. He didn't use a flyer. He stepped off the edge of the Aegis-7 and fell into the abyss.
[Skill Activated: Shadow Step - Vertical!]
In mid-fall, Han Jue became a black streak of light. He wasn't falling; he was hunting. As he descended into the Sunken Palace, the screen of his System began to scroll with unprecedented speed.
[Debt Detected: Trench Guardian (Level 45) - Soul Value: 12,000.] [Debt Detected: Abyssal Eel (Level 42) - Soul Value: 10,000.]
Hundreds of them. Thousands. The palace was guarded by an army of fish-men clad in coral armor.
Han Jue landed in the center of the staircase, the impact shattering the energy-steps beneath him. He was instantly surrounded by twenty Trench Guardians, their harpoons glowing with high-pressure water mana.
"Executioner's Mark: Area Audit," Han Jue whispered.
A massive, glowing red 'X' appeared over the entire courtyard.
"Your lives have been mismanaged," Han Jue said, drawing the Sovereign's Quill. "I'm here to close the branch."
He moved like a reaper. The broadsword didn't just cut; it erased. Every time the Quill struck a Guardian, the System didn't just report damage—it reported Asset Liquidation. The fish-men didn't leave corpses; they turned into streams of blue data that flowed into Han Jue's armor.
[Extraction! +12,000 Soul Points.] [Extraction! +12,000 Soul Points.]
[Current Balance: +290,000 Soul Points.]
"Not enough," Han Jue growled. He looked up. Li Chen was above him, his golden lotuses exploding like suns, vaporizing hundreds of monsters at a time. Li Chen wasn't extracting; he was cleansing.
"You're too slow, Shadow-Dweller!" Li Chen's voice echoed from the heights. "The Emperor's chamber is mine!"
Han Jue didn't look up. He looked at the floor of the palace. His Debt Sense was picking up something Li Chen's "Holy" system couldn't see. Beneath the palace wasn't just rock—it was a Vault.
"He's going for the head," Han Jue muttered, a dark smirk playing on his lips. "But I'm going for the bank."
The Hidden Vault of the Tides
While the "Heroes" and the "Arbitrator" fought their way toward the throne room, Han Jue used Shadow Mantle to slip through the floorboards of the grand library.
He found himself in a chamber filled with bubbles of air, each containing a relic from a sunken civilization. But in the center sat a black, pulsating pearl the size of a human head.
[Artifact: The Ledger of the Lost (Rank S - Fragment).] [Status: Unclaimed.] [Condition: Pay 500,000 Soul Points to unlock.]
"A pay-to-win artifact?" Han Jue scoffed. "Typical."
He looked at his balance: 290,000. He was 210,000 short.
Suddenly, the ceiling of the vault groaned. A golden spear of light pierced through the rock. Li Chen had found him.
"I see," Li Chen said, descending slowly, his robes untouched by the seawater. "You weren't fighting the Emperor. You were looking for the treasure. How typical of a scavenger."
"It's called efficiency, Li Chen," Han Jue said, standing between the rival and the pearl.
"That pearl is the 'Heavenly Balance' of this dungeon," Li Chen said, his jade fan glowing with a terrifying intensity. "It belongs in the Jade Emperor's treasury. Move aside, Han Jue. You are Level 22. I am Level 72. Your 'Debt' cannot bridge a gap of fifty levels."
"You're right," Han Jue said. He reached into his interface. "But I'm not playing with my own money today."
[System Action: Call in the Life-Debts.] [Targets: Kael (Cripple), The Priest, The 120 Guild Members of 'The Sovereign Audit'.]
Across the world, back in District 7 and on the ships above, every member of Han Jue's guild felt a sudden, sharp pull on their mana. They weren't being killed, but their "surplus" was being siphoned.
[Siphon Successful!] [Received: 250,000 Soul Points (Interest Collection).] [Current Balance: 540,000 Soul Points.]
"Unlock it," Han Jue commanded.
[Transaction Confirmed.] [The Ledger of the Lost is now yours.]
The black pearl shattered, and a whirlwind of dark ink swirled around Han Jue. It seeped into his eyes, his skin, and his Quill.
[Class Evolution Initiated: Dread Sovereign → ABYSSAL GOVERNOR (In Progress).] [New Skill: 'Audit of the Divine'.] [Audit of the Divine: For every 10 levels the target is higher than you, their damage is reduced by 15%.]
Li Chen's eyes narrowed. He felt his own mana—the light that had always been his pride—diminish. The gap of fifty levels didn't feel like a mountain anymore. It felt like a hill.
"What... what did you do?" Li Chen demanded, his jade fan trembling.
"I just adjusted the exchange rate," Han Jue said, his voice now layered with the echoes of the abyss. He raised his Quill, which was now dripping with black, liquid shadows. "Now, Li Chen. Let's talk about the 'Merit' of your life."