Inside the den, the atmosphere was a sharp contrast to the chaotic morning outside.

Under the steady, brilliant white light, the ’kitchen’ began to take shape. Hana was done with fire pits and spits for roasting boars and deer. She was going to have a functional kitchen.

Hana directed them to set up the stainless steel counters and the Aegis-brand induction stove she’d pulled from the locker.

"What is this magic stone?" Caspian asked, poking a finger at the black glass surface of the induction cooktop. "It has no heat, but you say it cooks?"

"It uses magnetism, Caspian. No fire, no smoke," Hana explained, splicing the last of the power leads into the dedicated kitchen circuit. "It’s cleaner. It means I don’t have to smell like a bonfire every time I want a snack."

She looked at the digital readout on her tablet.

> [INFRASTRUCTURE UPDATE: KITCHEN MODULE 85% COMPLETE]

> Current Load: Stable.

Good.

She had set up multiple kitchen units in the apocalypse every time she had to move hideouts, but she had never set up one so complex and permanent.

And that’s because, unlike then, she had more resources and had no reason to worry about her hideout getting found and seized by a group of hungry jackals.

As they worked, the silence from Raiden became impossible to ignore. He was helping—actually helping—moving the smaller crates without being asked, but his emerald eyes remained fixed on the entrance of the den, as if someone he hated would just walk in and ruin his mood even further.

Hana walked over to him, leaning against a silver crate. "You want to tell me about it? Or am I going to have to guess why you want to burn down a forest?"

Raiden stopped, a heavy coil of black wire in his hands. He didn’t look at her and stayed silent.

Just when Hana thought she might just let him be until he was ready to speak, he spoke up.

"They’re traditionalists, Hana. They believe the Fox Tribe is pure because we don’t mix with ’lesser’ beasts. They live in the past, worshipping shadows and ’Elders’ who haven’t had a new thought in a dozens of years."

He gripped the wire tighter. "My mother... She was a fox, but wasn’t one from the Ravine. She was what she called a traveler. She had stories of the world beyond this large Emerald forest. They called her a corruption. They used their ’sacred’ laws to justify what they did to her when my father wasn’t there to protect her."

He finally looked at Hana, and for the first time, she saw the raw, jagged edges of the boy he had been before he learned to hide behind smiles and jokes.

"They exiled me because I wouldn’t stop ’playing tricks,’" he whispered, a dark, twisted smile touching his lips. "But the tricks were never for fun. I made sure every Elder who laid a hand on her never had a full night’s sleep again. I stole their relics. I fouled their altars. I made their ’sacred’ life a living hell until they threw me out."

Hana reached out, her hand steady on his arm. She wanted to ask him what his father did during all this, but she decided not to.

She would find out once they were there.

"Cheer up." She said, "You’re going back with a dragon king, the falcon warrior, and me, who can strip their ’sacred’ cave to the bedrock. They have way more than your tricks to worry about."

Raiden’s smirk finally reached his eyes, though it was cold. "Exactly. I don’t want their forgiveness, Hana. I want to show them that the world moved on while they were rotting in the dark."

Hana nodded, her mind already shifting back to the mission. "Then we finish here today. We will test the water filters tonight. Tomorrow morning, we will move out. We have a bunker to crack and a fox tribe to humiliate."

> [QUEST UPDATED: THE WHISPERING CURSE]

> Objective: Reach the Whispering Ravine.

> Reward: +4,000 Karmic points

"I like the way you think, Hana," Raiden purred, the narcissist finally starting to peek back through the cracks. "It’s why I love you so much."

Love. Well, if that was how he was going to put it, she wouldn’t correct him.

"But we really must do something about my outfit before we go. I really should look my best for the occasion."

Hana rolled her eyes, but she felt the tension in the den finally break. "Just help me with the sink, Raiden. Then you can worry about your hair."

Hana spent the rest of the day in a state of high-intensity focus. She didn’t have time to dwell on Raiden’s tragic backstory, but she kept a sharp eye on him.

The way he handled the stainless steel sink—scrubbing a smudge off the metal with more aggression than necessary—told her everything she needed to know.

Caspian and Kulu worked together to haul the heavy water filtration unit from the Aegis locker. It was a sleek, vertical tower of carbon filters and UV purifiers.

"Hana," Kulu called out, his voice steady as always. "The intake hose is too short to reach the spring outside. Should I extend it with the black vines?"

"No, use the reinforced PVC pipes from Crate Four," Hana directed, not looking up from her tablet. "The ’vines’ are for power. Water goes through the gray ones. If you mix them up, you’ll give the water an electric personality nobody wants."

By sunset, the kitchen was a gleaming anomaly in the center of the jagged rock. The induction stove sat flush against a metal counter, and the sink was connected to the newly purified water line.

For the first time, Hana didn’t have to worry about parasites or the metallic taste of mountain runoff.

Hana stood back, her hands on her hips, admiring the 100% completion status on her HUD.

I’d say I outdid myself this time. She confidently thought.

> [INFRASTRUCTURE UPDATE: KITCHEN & FILTRATION COMPLETE]

> Reward: +5000 karmic points

> Current Balance: -986,880

> Note: A clean kitchen is the foundation of a clean empire.

"Alright," Hana clasped her hands together, feeling excited for the job well done. "Dinner," she announced. "We’re going to have a real dinner. And I’ll cook."

And so, she gave them a list and description of the herbs she needed.