The morning sun had barely cleared the horizon when Hajin walked out of the administrative building, his coat sweeping over the dirt as he headed straight for the eastern gate of the town.

Marrick scrambled after him, struggling to keep pace while awkwardly hugging a ledger against his chest.

"My Lord, please wait," he pleaded, struggling to keep his grip on the ledger as he hurried to catch up, "is this really a good idea? You are marching blindly into a death trap."

Hajin did not slow down, keeping his eyes locked on the distant peaks of the eastern mountain range looming over the horizon.

"The gold mountain is essentially a myth at this point," Marrick continued, his voice bordering on sheer panic as he practically jogged to keep pace, "nobody has actually seen it in fifty years because everyone who enters that sector dies. Is it really worth taking such a massive risk for a rumor?"

"I need four hundred thousand gold pieces, Marrick," he replied without slowing down, "unless you know a way to magically spawn that much money out of thin air, a legendary death trap is currently my best and only option."

"But if you die, the entire region falls back into chaos," the clerk argued, desperately trying to appeal to his sense of responsibility.

Hajin finally stopped near the edge of the town, turning slightly to look over his shoulder at the terrified clerk.

"I am not going to die," he stated simply, his voice completely devoid of any boastful arrogance or false confidence, stating it merely as an absolute fact.

Juna walked past Marrick without sparing him a single glance, her hair catching the morning wind.

Vella followed right behind her, offering the clerk a polite but dismissive smile while Loccy trailed in the back, completely ignoring his panic as she chewed on a piece of dried meat.

Aria floated up from Hajin’s shoulder, her form hovering right in front of Marrick’s face.

"Statistically speaking," the system mascot chimed in, her tiny voice completely deadpan, "the only thing in danger of dying today is whatever happens to be sleeping on that mountain."

Marrick froze, his eyes crossing slightly as he stared at the projection floating inches from his nose, completely unsure of how to respond to a talking light.

"Go back to the office and organize the logistics for the rebuilding effort," Hajin told him, turning his attention back to the peaks in the distance, "I will be back by tomorrow with the funds."

He did not wait for the clerk to argue again, stepping past the boundary markers of the town and walking straight into the untamed wilderness of the eastern sector. The transition was immediate, the sparse grass of the town rapidly giving way to dense, overgrown brush and towering trees that completely blocked out the morning sun.

The air inside the forest felt noticeably heavier, carrying a thick, unnatural pressure that pressed down on their shoulders the deeper they walked.

"He was not entirely wrong about the death trap part," Juna murmured, her ears twitching constantly as she scanned the canopy above them, "there is zero ambient mana in the air here. Something massive is passively draining it all."

"I can feel it," Vella agreed, her eyes narrowing as she looked at the dead, graying bark of the surrounding trees, "it feels exactly like a localized domain, meaning whatever owns this mountain has been mutating here for a very long time."

Juna slowed her pace slightly, giving Hajin a knowing smirk, "you and Aria were completely lying to that clerk, weren’t you?"

"Obviously," he answered without a shred of guilt, brushing past a thick patch of thorns, "a monster that can effortlessly annihilate Great House armies would wipe the floor with us right now. We have absolutely zero chance of killing it."

"Fascinating," Vella drawled, stepping over a rotting log while Loccy chewed loudly behind them, "so we are marching directly into a localized domain belonging to an unkillable apex predator. What exactly is your plan here?"

Hajin stopped walking, turning back to look at the three girls with a completely serious, almost proud expression.

"I am going to use my absolute best skill," he declared, adjusting the collar of his coat.

Juna raised an eyebrow, "which is?"

"Negotiation," he answered deadpan.

The sheer absurdity of the statement hung in the air for exactly two seconds before Vella and Juna both burst out laughing, leaving Loccy as the only one nodding in absolute, unquestioning support.

"What is so funny?" He asked, genuinely confused as he looked between the two laughing girls, "I am excellent at negotiating."

Before either of them could respond, the stream chat appeared in the corner of his vision.

[Stream Chat: 20,192 Viewers]

[ CringeSlayer91:] bro really said negotiation 💀

[ NewViewer_02:] your idea of negotiation usually involves blunt force trauma

[ ashley (MOD):] don’t listen to them, i believe in your negotiation skills!

He stared at the screen, letting out a long, tired exhale as he dismissed the chat with a flick of his wrist.

"Whatever," he muttered, turning his back to them and walking deeper into the forest, "let’s just go find the oversized lizard or whatever it is."

Miles away, perched high on the peak of the mountain overlooking the entire sector, the apex monster sat near the edge of a jagged cliff, tracking the four tiny figures moving through its domain.

A sharp, elegant smile pulled at its lips as it watched the young lord marching directly toward the center of the territory.

"My, my, how incredibly interesting," a smooth, melodic voice echoed against the wind, "he actually came all the way out here."

The watcher leaned forward against the harsh wind, its glowing pink eyes locking onto the figure in the dark coat leading the group. It remembered exactly when the boy had first crossed into the region, completely bypassing the barrier that was supposed to flag any incoming threats.

It had let him live for the past week out of sheer curiosity, watching the bold little piece completely dismantle the corrupt local power structure without an ounce of hesitation.

But now, that same piece was walking straight into the most dangerous sector of the board.

Its eyes shifted slightly, taking in the bizarre assortment of pieces moving alongside him. It noted a wolf beastkin radiating the dense, feral mana of a Unique evolution, a tall woman with dark violet hair walking completely unbothered by the domain, and a white-haired rabbit beastkin happily chewing on dried meat while completely ignoring the suffocating pressure of the air.

It was easily the most ridiculous strike team the watcher had ever seen in decades of observing the Great Houses and their rigid, predictable armies.

Normally, it would send a pack of mutated drakes to test their actual strength before they even reached the foothills. But this particular game was far too interesting to end early without seeing how it played out.

It raised a single, slender hand, snapping its fingers to command the entire eastern sector to stand down, clearing a direct path straight to the peak.

"Let us see what kind of game you want to play," the watcher hummed with a quiet, playful tone, waiting patiently on the peak for him to arrive.