I called Zeke as soon as we got back to the tower. I didn't waste any time heading for my room and when I spun him up on my scan ring he answered pretty quickly. His face was exasperated. "What now? In order to find you a place to live I need to actually do that. I can't focus on negotiating things like a lease when I'm on a call with you twenty four seven." His voice was teasing despite the chiding words, and he was clearly in a good mood.

A mood that just as clearly evaporated like snow on a spring day when I showed him the card. He cursed. I raised an eyebrow. "Who or what is this from? Why are they calling me a heretic? Because I'll be honest, the imagery does a pretty good job of making it clear that these people aren't someone to mess with. I can't think of a more imposing design to plant on someone, and the literal blood on the card makes it that much worse."

He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "The Heartripper Society. They're a sleeper sect of the Black Sorrow Cult. They're annoying. The members undergo deep hypnosis from a young age. They're completely unaware of their identities except for brief periods of time where they get activated. It makes finding them a huge pain in the ass without dedicated scanners, and we don't have any on a backwater like this."

I frowned at that. "That's the second time the Black Sorrow Cult have come up since I became an Ascendant. It's weird that they're so active isn't it?" The thing with Stricture had been a fluke I was pretty sure. Maybe they were pissed I interrupted his mission and got them all that attention from the higher ups? But in that case why would they call me a heretic?

Zeke hesitated. "It...is. They aren't usually this active on small planets without a reason to be. They would only act like they have if you'd gotten their attention-" He stopped talking with a wince. The geas from my dad. Which meant he was talking about something he shouldn't be, either my mom or something pertaining to my candidacy. I was leaning towards the latter.

I raised an eyebrow. "Do the Black Sorrow Cult have some kind of enmity with the WCP?" Even as I asked I knew I wasn't going to get an answer. Something about this situation was making him lock up, and I couldn't ask what because it would only hurt him. Like I thought he stayed quiet so I waved him off. "Never mind. Tell me more about this Heartripper Society. Edgy name by the way."

He snorted at that. "Yeah, the Black Sorrow Cult are basically pure edge. It's why they get along so badly with the Church of the Red Revenant. The Church are all holier than thou, and it drives the Cult batty. Plus the whole competing gods thing. The Revenant and Black Sorrow are not fans of each other. That rivalry has been going on for millennia." He spoke casually but I froze at the information.

I tried to figure out the best way to ask this without sounding stupid. "Wait...gods are real? Like I knew the Church and the Cult worshipped gods but I assumed they were like S rankers or something. You just used the word gods, does that mean they're actually a thing?" Because that was...weird. I'd always been mainly secular in my thinking. Sure I swore by the Revenant same as anyone else, but it was just an expression. I didn't BELIEVE in him. The Church didn't have a big presence in the Conglomerate as far as believers went.

Zeke look unsure for a second, but then smiled. "Huh, guess that's not off limits. Apparently it's so far above your level that it doesn't pertain to candidacy. Short answer is yes, gods are real. Long answer is also yes, but they're also cultivators. Gods are what comes after S rank. Don't ask me how you don't need to know, but yes the Church and the Cult have gods. In point of fact all the factions have a god. It's what qualifies you to be a faction in the first place."

Wait, what? I blinked at that. "The Conglomerate has a god? But religion is kind of a non starter here. I also feel like I would have heard if there was a god in the Empire, though I guess with the information blockade they might have kept it a secret. But still, finding out all the factions are secret religions is weird." I wasn't sure how to feel about that. The Church and the Cult were considered a bit radical even by the other factions, was that where we were all heading?

He snickered. "Your mortality is showing kid. Gods aren't religious figures. It's a level of power. Unity is the Conglomerate's god. Though admittedly he's a young one. His weird ability links him to his organization so his renown grows as they do. Don't ask me how, no one knows. Point is, you've probably heard of all the gods from all the factions, they just usually don't call themselves that."

That made sense. I'd just been thinking the other day about how Unity was the reason we were a faction, and I felt stupid for jumping to conclusions. I furrowed my brow. "Ok, so Unity, Black Sorrow, and The Revenant. I'm guessing the Emperor is one, and the Queen too probably. The WCP count's as a faction I think, though not one of the five, so...the Wishmaster? But you said Unity was the youngest."

He waggled his hand. "The WCP doesn't count towards the alliance because we have very little stable territory. We are a faction though. The original Wishmaster is a god. One of the three strongest too, though he's the weakest of those three. He shook his head. "We're getting off track here, you don't need any of this information right now. You asked about the Heartripper Society." I nodded, embarrassed at having been distracted from the sect of assassins who were currently threatening my life.

He chuckled at my rueful expression. "It's fine kid, you aren't the first person to be distracted talking about the mysteries of the universe. Newbies always get all excited when they first hear about higher level cultivation." His smile dropped. " Now, The Heartripper society are assassins, but their main goal is recon. They'll be driven to infiltrate your life when they're in their inactive state, get close to you, learn about you. They won't know why they're doing it but they will."

I winced. That sounded horrible. "Is there any way to know who they are? Any way at all? Because assuming every person I run into is secretly a hypnotized assassin befriending me to learn my hidden weaknesses is a pretty sure way to drive me into an early grave from stress." I paused. "Can Ascendants die from stress? I feel like Vitality would patch that kind of damage up even if Impact didn't prevent it."

The eye roll felt overdramatic. "I don't fucking know kid, there are nerds with testing powers who look into that shit. No, there's no way to tell who they are. Not without some serious scanning gear or an ability. Even Focus and investigative skills don't help because they don't have tells. The only good news is that they don't tend to be particularly outstanding in terms of abilities. Part of a spy's job is not to stand out too much so they usually do the bare minimum. Which doesn't help much finding the bastards but it makes the assassination attempts easier to survive at least."

That was something at least, but out of a million plus students all at H or higher it wasn't MUCH. Even middle of the road students were stronger than me right now. I'd need to step it up and get to G rank immediately. The extra impact would help. I groaned in annoyance. Fucking Black Sorrow Cult. "Fine. Any advice then? I don't need detailed instructions but a general direction would be appreciated."

He blew out a breath. "Honestly there's no trick to dealing with the Heartrippers. Just...don't die. At higher levels assassinations become a bit commonplace. The Heartrippers are more circumspect than most assassin orders. The lower level forces tend to just spam you with slowly improving ranks of killer. It's stupid but the more people have failed a job the more benefit an Ascendant gets for completing it. The extra rep for a low level killer who manages to get lucky means there's usually not a shortage of cocky idiots willing to take that shot."

I thanked my uncle for his lack of insight, which got a laugh and hung up, before flopping down on my bed. Great. Another possible killer scenario, except instead of one there was a whole society and they were specifically aimed at me. Assuming that this was in retaliation for what happened with Stricture I could rule out the people I knew before that. Benny and Jessie were out probably, Callie was way too famous to fit the thin profile I'd been given. Shadowthorn had been a big scandal and was a higher up in the Unity so probably not her either.

Granted I could be making a faulty assumption there but honestly it wasn't really a choice. I was incapable of operating with zero support, I had to trust SOMEONE. If Benny was secretly a sleeper agent planted by my side since childhood I was going to die, but I'd probably die in that case anyway, especially with the Black Sorrow Cult able to give out high ranking knives. Same went for Jessie and Callie. best to focus on new people trying to get close, it made more sense anyway.

I fished out the damn card again, staring at the intimidating image of a skeletal hand gripping a stylized heart. It was all in black, and something about the design was just...chilling. The hand was cradling the organ so casually, not like it had just been ripped out but like an apple the owner was about to bite into. I put the card back. I might be projecting a bit there, it was just an image on a card. I exhaled and got up walking over to rifle through my bag. I found my Ruby but put it aside because I didn't want to waste it on practice, then took out some blank wood I brought and sat down.

Enchanting helped me think, and I hadn't used any of my points today. I had four available since Lesser Enchanting Mastery doubled the amount of runes per point of Impact. I started to draw out plans, coming up with something to do to the baton. I settled on my normal force enchantment, because having a backup weapon was never a bad idea, especially when the primary was a temporary artifact that would blow up after a specific number of uses. It was calming, working on my runes, and the more I practiced the better I got at them. Each time I used the same pattern my enchanting was a bit smoother, with one of the stacked instances of carving going slightly faster.

I did three runes, one form, one Might, and one expression, and then I tossed the baton back in the bag and called it done. I still had one point of Impact untapped so I didn't pass out, but I WAS exhausted and sweaty from the effort, which was exactly what I wanted. I collapsed into bed, completely wiped, and let myself drift off to sleep. Sure, it was a bit early, but hell, I was an adult and I could sleep when I wanted. Hopefully I would be less agitated when I woke up. Maybe I'd have a bit more perspective. Either way, it would at least kill some time.