Extra's Survival: Raising SSS-Rank Characters Is My Only Option

”Not a miracle,” Encrid said. ”It’s a procedure.”

The Reaper’s eyes remained on him.

”Miracles cannot be tested. This can. Every part of it can be checked by your own healers before you commit to anything.”

Encrid walked over to the mounting block where he had left his coat.

He reached inside and pulled out the papers he had been carrying close to his body for the past nine days.

Ever since his meeting with the branch manager of the Blue Moon, he had known this meeting would eventually happen.

He had simply not known when.

There were three sheets he had prepared - and all of it came from his knowledge from the novel.

Each one was covered in neat handwriting.

Encrid held them out.

The Reaper crossed the distance between them so smoothly that Encrid barely noticed him move.

He took the papers and held them beneath the blue light.

”Her star is running backwards,” Encrid said.

The Reaper’s eyes moved across the first page.

”You probably already know that, or at least your healers have begun to suspect it.”

Encrid continued.

”Her star wasn’t awakened properly and as such the energy in the Star is rotating in the wrong direction, and the Verdant Star is now consuming the energy it should be using to heal her.”

He paused.

”The silver appearing in her veins is not a disease.”

The Reaper’s eyes stopped moving.

”It is her own star energy moving in the wrong direction.”

For the first time, the Reaper’s expression changed slightly.

Encrid continued before he could ask anything.

”That is why eleven years of strengthening medicines have failed to cure her. They have only given more energy to the thing that is killing her.”

He pointed toward the papers.

”That is also why this treatment is not medicine.”

”It is a rite.”

The Reaper continued reading.

”The star has to be sealed and opened again, but this time it must be done correctly, over the seal.”

Encrid pointed to the first sheet.

”Page one contains the preparation. It takes fourteen days. The instructions have to be followed exactly because the rite will use her own reserves. If she does not have enough strength when it begins, the rite could kill her.”

His finger moved to the second page.

”Page two contains the rite itself. The pattern, the order, and the timing.”

He looked directly at the Reaper.

”It must be performed during the winter solstice, at the hour when her star is at its weakest.”

Then he pointed to the final page.

”Page three explains what happens afterward.”

”The first three days will be difficult. She will have a high fever, and she may appear worse before she begins to recover.”

”The silver will then begin disappearing from her body, starting from her fingers and toes and slowly moving inward.”

Encrid took a breath.

”If everything goes according to the procedure, she should make a full recovery within one season.”

The Reaper finished reading.

Then he read the three pages again.

He took his time.

The blue lamps continued to hiss above them, and Encrid watched the stillest man he had ever met stand in the cold while holding three sheets of paper as though they were the edge of a cliff.

Finally, the Reaper spoke.

”The rite requires a Star Guide.”

He did not look up.

A Star Guide was a profession practiced only by highly knowledgeable mages who specialized in helping others awaken their Stars.

It was a prestigious and highly sought-after profession, especially among the nobility. Noble families were willing to pay enormous sums of money to give their heirs the best possible chance of safely awakening their Stars.

However, Star Guides were extremely rare.

Becoming one required far more than simply understanding Star cultivation. A candidate needed extensive knowledge of the human body, Star cultivation, awakening methods, and the risks involved in the process.

They also had to pass a series of examinations conducted by the Magic Tower Association and receive an official certification before they were legally allowed to practice as a Star Guide.

Because of this, even wealthy noble families often had to wait months or years to secure the services of a highly reputed Star Guide.

”It requires the same star guide who performed the original ritual.”

Encrid remained silent.

”The original awakening was created using his personal method. The pattern is connected to his technique. If someone else performs the sealing and reawakening, the damage could become worse.”

Encrid kept his voice calm.

”He’s alive.”

The Reaper’s fingers stopped moving.

”You have kept him alive for eleven years because you hoped that one day you might find a way to save your daughter.”

Encrid looked directly at him.

”You know where he is.”

The Reaper slowly raised his eyes. The papers remained completely still in the Reaper’s hands.

”But know this, he will refuse,” Encrid continued. ”He will tell you that performing the ritual again is impossible.”

Encrid’s voice became colder.

”He’s not wrong - he might really not know how to perform it again but that’s not the reason he would refuse to try.”

The papers lowered slightly.

”He will refuse because performing the ritual again would prove that the first one was not an accident.”

For the first time, the Reaper’s calm expression showed a crack.

Only a tiny one.

But Encrid saw it.

”He was paid,” Encrid said.

”Ask him who paid him. You will probably want to know.”

Silence filled the drill ground.

It became so quiet that Encrid could hear the frost shifting beneath his boots.

The Reaper looked down at the papers.

”Eleven years.”

His voice was barely above a whisper.

”I have spent eleven years taking this empire apart piece by piece, searching for the reason this happened to her.”

He slowly looked at Encrid.

”And you - someone who was wasting away in the North not long ago-tell me that very reason as if it’s obvious.”

His eyes dropped to the papers again.

Encrid did not respond.

The Reaper carefully folded the three sheets.

He placed them inside his grey cloak, directly over his heart.

When he looked at Encrid again, his face was just as calm as before.

But the calmness had become frightening.

”The price, my lord.”

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