For a normal cat, Iris was quite agile.

It widened the distance whenever Kai and Matilda approached, forcing them to exert their bodies more than they were expecting. Now, the white cat is hiding inside the fold of roots of a medium-sized tree.

Out of reach.

"Kitty, kitty, kitty...." Matilda was still trying to lure Iris with the fish. "I won’t hurt you."

Kai crossed his arms and covered his mouth with his fist, holding back laughter.

He could tell that she was actually trying.

Failing would be really embarrassing for her, especially after the confidence she showed in ridiculing his attempt. Even now, while she was still trying, her face was already turning red. "You know, it’s okay if you can’t, right?"

"I’m still trying, so I haven’t failed yet," Matilda retorted without looking.

"I won’t say anything if you give up," He swore assuringly. "Really."

Matilda exhaled through her nose roughly, staring at Iris, who didn’t budge under the roots. It was hard to do, still hesitating to even trust Kai, but she eventually stood up and stood beside Kai, letting him deal with the white cat.

"Don’t even say a word," She warned, seeing the twitch on his lips.

"I won’t," Kai stole a glance at her, and then said in a mocking way. "Are you dumb?"

He wasted no time and ran.

Matilda rolled her eyes hard, realizing that she should’ve known Kai wouldn’t keep his word.

She knew it in her gut, but decided to ignore it.

Now look at him, chuckling like he finally found one good thing from her at last.

Kai squatted down beside the intertwining tree roots and stretched his hand.

Frankly, he didn’t know how to get Iris out of there, but he tried anyway. Worst-case scenario, he would uproot the whole tree, though it would be a lot of work, and most certainly attract unwanted attention.

But it didn’t need to be like that.

Iris hesitantly approached Kai’s hand and sniffed it.

He then noticed a faint stain on his hand, but it wasn’t mud. It was a mana stain.

One that belonged to Professor Evie.

It seemed she had somehow engraved this mana stain on Kai for exactly this reason.

Eventually, Kai took Iris out in his arms and smirked at Matilda.

Moments later.

The mining pressed on, and this time they worked with greater urgency. Night is coming, and the Fire Swamp would only be even more dangerous. Sticking to the same tactic, Matilda and Kai evaded the Awakened Monsters and also steered clear of going into deeper areas.

Initially, Kai had assumed the far side, opposite to where the Ichor Legion entered, was the dangerous part of the Fire Swamp. But he was wrong. Even now, he hadn’t come across the glowing red water bodies, which were filled with monsters.

Those water bodies must lie deeper in.

The swamp, it seemed, was structured in rings—the outer area and the inner area.

And the inner area is where the Star Beasts are located.

Kai didn’t want to meet them.

At least, not until he had gathered and secured the required mana ores.

Out of the three of them, Perion was the busiest. On top of locating mana ore clusters, he was also tasked with carrying Iris around. Kai couldn’t afford to be distracted. If he got ambushed while tending to the cat, he’d be in real trouble.

On the other hand, if Perion was ambushed, he’d simply return to the House of Night.

Speaking of House of Night, Kai devoured another steel-tusked boar and opened his status window.

His eyes were solely fixed on his primordial lock.

[Primordial Lock: 1 (80%)]

Kai leaned his arm over a tree bark and held his face with his other free hand; the blur returned as soon as the Primordial Lock’s percentage reached eighty percent. But it was far worse now. The whispers are louder, and the Nightborns that flashed to his vision are closer.

One was even a few steps away from him.

Almost like they were getting closer to him the higher the percentage gets.

Why? That’s the question Kai wanted an answer to.

I really need to stop and meet Noxian.

Kai looked up. Through the gaps in the canopy, he saw salvation—the sky had deepened to near-black. Not quite nightfall—but close. He could already feel the night’s presence settling over the swamp like a held breath.

And that meant he could use the Deep Slumber.

"How many have we harvested right now?" He asked.

Matilda was dragging the mined mana ores into the leather sack, already used to the mud that smeared into her arms. "Hmm..." She paused for a second, thinking. "If we want to be on the safe side, we’re about three hundred short."

"Okay, let’s rest for a bit."

"Agree on that."

After finding a suitable shelter behind a large rock, a natural barrier that limited any threat to the front and sides, Kai sat down and settled against it. His body was heavy with exhaustion, but the one he was worried about the most was the heaviness inside his mind.

Matilda noticed the distress in his posture but said nothing, simply letting him rest.

In her mind, mining and retaining Perion must have been exhausting.

Or at least, she thought it must be exhausting.

And there’s also the problem from his Patron God, so she knew he was struggling right now.

Kai casts the Deep Slumber on him.

Since the night hadn’t settled for good, the process wasn’t instant.

It was a gamble, too, whether the House of Night would even open to him tonight.

But Kai really needed answers right now. Needed to know whether it was a good idea to keep feeding his Primordial Lock, and this was the only path he had. Noxian is the only one he can rely on.

As his eyelids grew heavy and slipped shut, his consciousness drifted into the dreamland.

Hoping he’d arrived at the House of Night.

The last thing he felt was Iris settling onto his lap before he fell asleep.

After the darkness, there was the cool sensation. One that he recognized to be the familiar air within the House of Night. Then, sound began to seep into his ears. For some reason, he wasn’t met with the House of Night’s regular silence.

He was greeted by a culmination of noises, instead.

Growls, whisperers, screams, splashing water—everything came at once, irritating his ears.

Kai slowly opened his eyes and adjusted.

He needed to blink several more times to realize what was going on.

And when he did, his breath was stuck in his throat.

It was chaos.

Kai could see more than a dozen shadowy figures straining toward him; their lethal hands stretched out to seize him. Nightborn. A lot of them. And behind the first wave of monstrosity, more were gathering, a flood of darkness approaching fast.

Their bodies melted into liquid ink, merging with one another, turning into a united titan.

"What in the—?"

The House of Night had turned against him. He didn’t know why, but that fact was crystal clear to him right now. Kai pushed to his feet, ready to flee—but his body was too slow. He’d already called the night for a short-range teleport, but the Nightborns were faster, swarming him before the night could even answer.

Clang—!

A loud, clanging sound resounded like a thunderclap.

Kai’s eyes flew wide as a tidal wave of purple energy swept through the Nightborns, hurling them back and buying him precious seconds. But he didn’t move. He couldn’t. His gaze was locked on the armored back of the figure who had come to his rescue.

It was Noxian.

"Snap out of it!" He roared. "You’re not supposed to be here!"

Noxian caught Kai’s frozen expression and gritted his teeth behind the helmet.

No choice now, he had to stall. He turned to face the tide of Nightborns, abominations with black hearts. Both his arms shifted, thickening and elongating before taking the shape of thick swords edged with glowing purple light.

And when he moved, his body simply vanished.

Kai was staring ahead, but his eyes couldn’t pick up Noxian’s movement at all.

All he could see was the aftermath: purple sparks and the painful wails of the Nightborns.

It took him almost a minute to snap out of his daze.

"Damn..." He looked down at his hands and saw them shaking. "What am I doing?"

Kai was scared so much by the writhing abominations that he was frozen completely still in utter fear. Even now, as he watched the tide being held back easily by Noxian, he could still feel a chill running down his spine.

Across, Noxian recoiled backward and landed on two strong feet.

Just then, Kai’s eyes bore witness to the magnificent, boundless power brought forward from the deepest fragment of Noxian’s being.

His right sword-arm swelled larger, and then he drew it back. Purple energy pulsed through it in violent, building waves. He fed more and more into his sword-arm until the air around him itself trembled. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Then, he swung—a crescent arc of purple devastation that carved through the Nightborns.

An energy that pushed the monstrosities back until they vanished into the distant dark.

It was only then that Noxian walked back to Kai.

"Did you kill them?" Kai asked.

"No," Noxian shook his head and reverted his arms back to normal. "Nothing can die here. Just erased. And it’s not something easily done." He paused, staring at Kai sternly. "Leave the House of Night. You’re not supposed to be here right now."

"Leave the House of Night," He said sternly. "You’re not supposed to be here right now."

"Not supposed to be here? Why?" Kai asked. He knew it had something to do with what the quest described as Night Elevation, but he wanted to know exactly why. "Why can’t I be here right now?"

"If you come back before finishing the Night Elevation, then you’ll be devoured by them."

"What is the Night Elevation anyway? And why does it anger the Nightborns so much?"

"Just go. The longer you linger in here, the harsher the Night Elevation becomes, and the longer it takes for you to finish it, the worse it gets. Stay out of the House of Night until it’s over. If you find yourself here, leave immediately. I’ll explain everything later."

Noxian turned away and stared into the distance, seeing that the Nightborns were returning.

"Go!" He shouted.

Kai immediately called the night and left the House of Night.

He woke back up with a deep gasp, startling Matilda, but he didn’t care.

Right now, his mind was solely fixated on what had happened.

"So, it is because of the Night Elevation," He covered his mouth with his hand and stared at the muddy ground, contemplating hard. "Just what would happen if it reached one hundred percent? Should I do it right now or wait until I’m stronger?"

It was a tough choice, but Kai decided to follow his gut.

He’ll postpone completing the quest until he is truly prepared.