SSS Awakening: I Can Devour Gods to Evolve My Goddesses

The Stormrunner War Set lay in front of the Gloomhoof Warcamp.

Dark-silver armor plates, bracers, a war bow, and lower-body armor rested together as four wind patterns immediately linked across the pieces.

[Stormrunner War Set]

[Quality: Legendary]

[Level Requirement: 10]

[4-piece Set]

[Set Effect: Stormrun]

With all four pieces equipped, the wearer gained a major increase in shooting stability at high speed, impact resistance, and short-burst penetration.

None of those effects was absurd on its own.

The real value was that the four pieces covered the exact weaknesses most likely to make a Rare Gloomhoof fail the Higher-Bloodline Trial when it went in alone.

Speed.

Ranged firepower.

And enough frontal resilience that a Rare body no longer had to absorb everything by itself.

Veyra stood beside the Warcamp gate.

”So you spent a million just to send a Rare troop into an Epic Trial wearing Legendary gear?”

”The rules allow equipment.”

Cassian answered.

”So I’ll give it the best equipment.”

Only five Gloomhoof stood nearby—the ones that had just returned to Forgotten Shrine from the mountains.

The other twelve were still working at the mines, along the routes, and around the Domain.

Cassian had no intention of emptying every assignment just to test one idea.

The Gloomhoof he had used to unlock the Higher-Bloodline Trial was already Rare Level 10.

That was enough for the first test.

The Stormrunner War Set adapted around its body.

All four dark-silver wind patterns lit at once.

[4-piece Set Effect: Activated]

Aurelia watched the Gloomhoof move its shoulders and test its hooves.

”The equipment hasn’t changed its Quality.”

”Of course not.”

Cassian looked at the gate.

”It’s just keeping the weaknesses of a Rare body from becoming the reason it fails its own Trial.”

He activated it.

[Battle Essence -12,000]

The black-stone gate at the center of the Warcamp slowly opened.

The Level 10 Gloomhoof gripped the Legendary war bow and walked in alone.

No Hero could follow.

No second Troop could follow.

The gate closed behind it.

This time, Cassian did not stare at every segment of Trial progress.

He already knew the rules.

He only waited for the result.

A little over twenty minutes later, the black-stone gate opened again.

A forehoof covered in dark-silver armor stepped out first.

Then the rest of the body followed.

The Stormrunner War Set had several obvious scratches now, but all four pieces were intact.

The Gloomhoof itself was different.

Dark blood-patterns had appeared through its formerly gray mane. Its shoulders were broader, and when all four hooves touched down, the old stone beneath the Warcamp trembled at once.

The system settlement showed only the lines that mattered.

[Higher-Bloodline Trial: Passed]

[Gloomhoof Centaur → Gloomhoof Highblood Centaur]

[Bloodline: Gloomhoof → Highblood Gloomhoof]

[Quality: Rare → Epic]

[Level: 10]

[Existing Skills Retained: Rapid Shot / Charge]

Epic.

Not a temporary buff.

And not the Legendary Set temporarily propping up its stats.

The bloodline itself had crossed a full grade.

Eira picked a complete Dwarf Heavy Shield out of the Royal Hall loot and set it against a stone wall two hundred meters away.

It was the same heavy-shield type carried by the Level 14 Rare Ridgewardens.

During the earlier mountain fight, the five Rare Level 6 Gloomhoof hadn’t wasted arrows shooting those shields head-on. They had gone for knees, ankles, and axe wrists instead.

At the time, frontal fire against those shields simply hadn’t been a reliable way to break through.

”Take the Set off and test it?”

”Exactly.”

Cassian removed all four Stormrunner pieces.

The dark-silver wind patterns went dark.

[Stormrunner War Set: Intact]

[Bound: No]

[Removable / Re-equippable]

The Gloomhoof Highblood Centaur took up its ordinary war bow again.

Cassian gave one order.

”Shoot.”

The bowstring cracked.

A heavy arrow with no Set bonus crossed two hundred meters.

BANG!

The center of the Dwarf Heavy Shield caved backward.

The arrowhead punched through the shield and buried itself in the stone wall behind it.

Eira walked over and pulled twice.

It didn’t move.

She looked back.

”That’s still just an ordinary shot. Rapid Shot wasn’t even used.”

This time, Veyra didn’t accuse Cassian of exploiting a loophole.

She was looking at the Highblood Centaur standing there without the Legendary Set, its panel still firmly showing Epic.

”Now it counts.”

Aurelia tapped one of the scratches on the Stormrunner chest piece.

”And the key survived.”

Cassian smiled.

That was the important part.

The first Epic proved the route worked.

Now it was time to scale it.

He pulled the other four recently returned Rare Gloomhoof into the growth interface together.

[Gloomhoof Centaur ×4]

[Level 6 → Level 10]

[Battle Essence ×32,000]

”Raise them.”

Four streams of growth light descended together.

[Current Level: 10]

Cassian handed the Stormrunner War Set to the second Gloomhoof.

All four pieces adapted again.

The Set effect lit back up.

[Higher-Bloodline Trial]

[Battle Essence ×12,000]

”Open it.”

[Battle Essence -12,000]

The same black-stone gate opened again.

The second Gloomhoof walked in alone.

Three Level 10 Rare Gloomhoof remained outside.

Cassian kept them in place.

”When this one comes out, strip the gear and send the next one in.”

He looked at Veyra.

”Keep them rotating through in order while I’m gone.”

Veyra folded her arms.

”The next three follow the same process?”

”Yes.”

Cassian added one more instruction.

”Don’t recall the other twelve yet. Their assignments stay as they are. Rotate them through in batches.”

This was no longer a vague plan for later.

The second Gloomhoof was already inside the Trial.

The third, fourth, and fifth were already Level 10 and waiting outside.

And the first Legendary Set had already proven it could be reused.

What had once required passively waiting for the Warcamp’s tiny natural chance of producing an Epic higher-bloodline unit was now a troop-growth route Cassian could advance deliberately, one unit after another.

At the same time.

Seraphine Valcrest’s Domain.

Dame Maelin had just finished another battlefield review when a private communication crystal from House Valcrest lit up on the table.

Seraphine opened it.

The message was short.

[The next Troop Sigils and Hero Contract you requested have been allocated and locked in House Valcrest inventory.]

[This is an inventory reservation only. The physical assets cannot enter your Domain until a legal transfer channel into the newcomer Realm opens.]

Seraphine read it for several seconds.

”Finally.”

She pushed the crystal aside and looked up at Maelin.

”While I was dealing with things on the family side, what happened in the region that I should look at first?”