Hajin spat another mouthful of blood onto the ground, keeping his eyes locked on the tiny boy smiling cheerfully at him.

He pressed a hand against his bruised ribs, genuinely wondering how a literal newborn could casually throw a punch harder than a four-armed gorilla.

The boy just stood there across the cavern, tilting his head with an innocent expression like he had not just ruptured half of Hajin’s internal organs.

[ Scanning Target... ]

A screen appeared in front of his face, but instead of standard system text, Aria’s voice echoed directly through their mental link.

"The subject is an unnamed Guardian Beast of apex lineage," she stated plainly, running the analysis without physically appearing. "Its hostile intent is currently zero, and its current status is imprinted."

He stared blankly ahead, his tired mind struggling to process the sheer magnitude of those implications before her voice returned.

"The subject detected you as the first present entity upon hatching," she continued without an ounce of inflection, effortlessly delivering the worst possible news. "A primary caretaker bond has been established, and the subject views you as its parental figure."

He processed her words twice, letting out a long, exhausted sigh as he realized the ancient monster had not left her offspring unguarded, she had accidentally dumped it right into his lap.

"I am not your daddy," he told the boy bluntly, finally pushing himself up from the ground.

The boy just giggled, vanishing from his spot and instantly reappearing right next to Hajin’s leg, happily wrapping his tiny arms around his knee.

"Daddy," he repeated, looking up with bright, unblinking eyes.

He sighed, reaching down and trying to peel the tiny monster off his leg with brute force, only to realize the boy felt like he was permanently glued to his skin.

"You are applying unnecessary force," Aria informed him coolly, "I recommend utilizing a gentle approach to disengage physical contact."

"Gentle," he muttered dryly, glaring ahead before looking back down at the boy stubbornly clinging to his thigh.

He reluctantly loosened his grip, awkwardly extending two fingers and scratching the boy just under his chin like a stray cat.

The boy instantly let go of his leg with a happy squeak, using the momentum to jump straight up and latch securely onto his chest instead, wrapping his arms tight around his neck.

"Fucking hell," he cursed tiredly, staring blankly at the wall as the boy buried his face into his collar.

He slowly lifted his head, staring out into the dark corners of the cavern.

"I know you can hear me," he called out, his words hanging unanswered in the air, "come back here and get your kid before I leave him on this mountain."

He waited for a response, but no matter how long he stood there, the only sound in the cave was his own exhausted breathing. He eventually dropped his gaze back down to his chest, finding the tiny boy staring back up at him with an undeniably proud smile.

"Damn it," he muttered under his breath, finally accepting that the monster was not coming back to claim her offspring.

The system interface flickered back to life as a string of comments rapidly scrolled across the corner of his vision.

[ CringeSlayer91: ] LMAO congratulations on the adoption!

[ JunaFanClub: ] Baby’s first punch! I’m crying 😂

[ ShadowMage44: ] A literal toddler apex predator, this show is peak.

[ CringeSlayer91: ] he really just tanked a hit from a baby and lost

[ LoreSeeker99: ] wait, is the mother really gone? he just has a kid now??

[ JunaFanClub: ] Juna is going to be so confused when he brings it back.

[ ShadowMage44: ] "I am not your daddy" famous last words before fatherhood.

[ CringeSlayer91: ] bro’s entire party is just strays he picked up in the woods at this point.

[ LoreSeeker99: ] 10/10 parenting skills, scratching it under the chin.

[ ashley (Mod): ] That actually looked like it hurt a lot... are you okay?

He stared at the scrolling text, feeling his existing headache instantly double in intensity.

He was currently bleeding on an isolated mountain peak with a kid attached to his chest, and Earth was treating it like a sitcom.

"I am turning this off," he muttered, raising his hand to swipe the interface away.

[ Fragment Recovery: +120 Soul Energy ]

[ Fragment Recovery: +150 Soul Energy ]

[ Fragment Recovery: +200 Soul Energy ]

He stopped mid-motion, his hand hovering in the air as the recovery numbers started jumping faster than they had all week.

Earth viewers loved disaster, and apparently, there was no greater disaster than him failing miserably at impromptu fatherhood.

He slowly lowered his hand, deciding he could endure a little public humiliation if it meant repairing the Goddess fragment that much faster.

"Fine," he grumbled, awkwardly patting the boy on the back to secure him, "but if you throw up on my armor, I am leaving you here."

The boy just giggled again, burying his face deeper into his collar like he had already won.

High above the cavern, hidden from the world below, the watcher rested her head against a crag.

She stared down through the mountain, watching the human interact with her offspring, a proud smile stretching across her face. She had guarded that clutch for generations, watching every other egg turn to ash as the mana of the world decayed around her.

Her final child had remained dormant in that shell for centuries, refusing to wake for anyone, stubbornly clinging to its slumber while she withered away.

Scores of humans had climbed this peak to steal it, bringing nothing but greed, forcing her to slaughter them to protect the only legacy she had left.

Yet the moment this particular human approached, carrying the scent of the old world within his soul, the shell finally cracked.

He possessed a foundation built on ancient principles, a resonance that echoed the very era she had sworn to protect.

"Indeed... that young lord is special," she murmured to the wind, her voice rumbled across the peak.

She closed her eyes, letting out an exhausted breath as she finally allowed her muscles to relax for the first time in an age. Every bone in her body ached with weariness, her core failing under the strain of continuous vigilance.

With a new protector chosen for her child, she could finally rest, no longer needing to burn through her own energy just to keep this region secure.

For hundreds of years, she had anchored her life force to the mountain itself, feeding her vitality directly into the runes carved within the bedrock.

She had sacrificed her strength to maintain the pressure covering the valley, ensuring the things buried far beneath the earth remained asleep.

The humans below believed she was merely a territorial beast hoarding a mountain, oblivious to the corruption she was actively suppressing beneath their feet. She did not know how much longer the chains below would hold without her fueling the arrays, but she hoped the young lord would keep her child safe when they finally snapped.

Her offspring deserved to walk under the sky, far away from the cursed duty that had chained her to this peak.

"Grow strong, little one," she whispered, letting her eyes finally drift shut as she sank back into the stone to recover her strength. "Mother will return for you when she wakes."