He took a seat opposite her.
Without wasting time, she handed him something.
A silver badge.
It shimmered faintly with an enchantment, one he recognized. This was her official ID badge.
“This is my badge,” she said. “With it, you’ll have the same authority I do for today’s mission. Use it to issue commands. Anyone who doesn’t listen to you will be disobeying me.”
Isaac blinked and stared at the badge. “Is that really okay?”
She nodded. “You’re already assigned to the Command Team. Your role is to make quick decisions depending on the flow of battle. But many of the others won’t respect your word. They’ll look at you, realize you’re new, and second-guess your orders. With this, they won’t.”
Isaac held the badge a little tighter. She wasn’t just giving him a pass, she was putting her own name on the line. If he made a mistake, it wouldn’t just reflect on him.
“Thank you,” he said.
The badge would help him tremendously. A position of command was the opportunity he needed to show his skills. It would help him recruit talented awakeners in the future.
Professor Catherine leaned back, and her expression softened. “Don’t mind it.”
“But does this mean you’re not participating anymore?” he asked.
“I’ve another task to do,” she said simply.
Isaac didn’t press for details. If she wanted to share more, she would.
After a short pause, she stretched and finally allowed a small smile to appear. “I’m hungry. Is there anything in the kitchen?”
“There is. I’ll warm it up for you.”
He stood and walked off. A few minutes later, he returned with a reheated breakfast, setting the plate down in front of her. She thanked him and ate in silence. Once she was finished, she stood, adjusted her coat, and gave him a nod before heading out.
He watched her go.
Roughly twenty minutes later, Alice and Emily came back from the backyard. Their hair was damp, their clothes had changed, and both looked sharper, and more refined.
“We should leave soon,” Emily said as she hovered gently beside him, still floating on the pillow Isaac had gifted her. “The mission will start soon.”
“Right,” Isaac said.
They left together, loading into the same jeep. This time, Tyr didn’t come along. With Isaac’s current strength, he no longer needed Tyr’s protection.
Besides, someone had to stay behind and watch over the shop. Tyr understood his role, and had accepted it without complaint. He sent Isaac away by giving him a loud cheer of encouragement.
As they reached the stronghold border, Isaac showed the guards his ID. Once cleared, they continued to drive until they reached the edge of the Sector 3 Ruins.
There, they parked. The terrain ahead was too rough and unstable for vehicles.
Dozens of other vehicles were already there, and a small camp of gathered Awakeners surrounded the staging area. Isaac spotted a familiar group—the Titan Edge Guild.
Celia waved and walked over.
“Morning,” she greeted with a slight smile.
Isaac nodded. “Morning.”
They moved toward the main gathering area together. Emily floated nearby, eyes sparkling with excitement. She’d been browsing the internet a lot recently, learning more about people and events in the awakened world. Although she wasn’t a fan of any celebrity in particular, she knew how famous Celia was.
And today, she was practically buzzing with excitement.
“Hi! I’m Emily!” she said, offering an eager wave from her pillow.
Celia chuckled. “Nice to meet you.”
“I’ve seen a lot of your clips. You’re so cool! What team are you on today?”
“I’m leading the Bombardment Team,” Celia replied.
Emily’s eyes widened. “Whoa. That’s amazing.”
Celia smiled at the genuine praise. “What about you? Which team are you in?”
“I’m on the Scout Team!” Emily said proudly.
Celia’s gaze flicked to Isaac, then to Alice.
Isaac answered before Alice could. “I’m part of the Command Team and Support Team. Alice is with Support as well.”
Alice didn’t speak, but she gave a small nod.
Celia didn’t seem surprised by Alice’s silence. She focused back on Isaac. “You’re in the Command Team and still heading to the battlefield?”
“I have Mana Resonance. My job is to suppress the ambient mana so the hive can’t use ambient mana to recharge its mana pool. This way, the hive would be running on a limited mana pool.”
“Sounds like a risky role.”
Isaac gave a thin smile. “It is.”
The staging area continued to fill as more participants arrived. The full scope of the mission became clearer.
The Command Team consisted of five specialized Awakeners. Each had skills like General’s Command, which temporarily boosted stats of nearby allies when giving orders, or Signal, which allowed for long-distance telepathic communication.
Most of them would remain far from the battlefield, coordinating movements through observation spells and communicators.
Isaac, however, would operate closer to the action.
His Title, Mana Resonance, allowed him to influence the ambient mana directly.
His role was vital—to prevent the Metavore Brood from refueling its core through ambient mana. A task only possible from within range.
Then came the Bombardment Team. They had twelve members, each trained in large-scale destruction.
Their mission was to rip open holes in the underground hive. The hive had only one official entrance, but it was heavily guarded by traps and defensive tentacles. Entering through that route would lead to unnecessary losses.
The Bombardment Team would solve that by attacking from above and tearing through the earth with force.
Scout Team’s job was to map the hive’s interior, locate traps, find out the monsters’ numbers, and tag the locations of [Cores] for coordinated attacks. They’d move in quickly, assess, and get out without engaging unless necessary.
Support Team had the quite a few members—twenty-five in total. They were healers, purifiers, barrier mages, and buffs specialists. Their job was to keep the infiltration teams alive and functioning.
And lastly, the Infiltration Team.
They had fifty members, divided into seven squads: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, and Omega.
Each squad had specific roles depending on their composition, and they would be entering the Hive from different locations.
Alpha, the leading strike force, was headed by Vale, Titan Edge Guild’s leader.
Each squad would be assigned support members to keep them sustained during combat. Alice was joining Delta.
Each of these infiltration squads had one key responsibility—engage, distract, and dismantle the monsters inside the hive while Scout Team fed information to Command.
Once the Nodes and Central Core were identified, Command would give the attack orders, and the Infiltration Teams would strike at the heart.
After the Cores were destroyed, the hive’s structure would collapse, and the Metavore Brood would lose its shared intelligence and coordination. At that point, Support Team’s purifiers would move in with the infiltrators to clean up the remaining threat.
Isaac glanced across the teams. There were over a hundred awakened here. All of them had gathered for the same reason—to take down a growing threat.
And this time, he wasn’t just a participant. He had a badge in his pocket, one that gave him authority equal to Catherine’s.
He could give orders.
He could direct the battle.
He looked at Alice and Emily. They were calm, and focused. Their presence reassured him more than anything else.
He didn’t speak, but a quiet thought passed through his mind.
’Let’s do this right.’