Finn, the old hunter at the head of the party, raised his right hand.

The group immediately went on alert. The guards gripped their shortswords, the cold metal pressing against their clammy palms.

As they drew closer, a peculiar smell reached them—a fresh, sweet-and-acrid scent mixed with the thick stench of rot.

Velin pushed aside a massive fern frond, and the sight before them made everyone’s pupils shrink.

A monster the size of an ox, but with four eye sockets, had been torn in half by some immense force.

Its flesh had been devoured clean, leaving only a stark white skeleton and a tattered hide.

"A Four-eyed Marsh Ox. A Level 2 Magical Beast."

The hunter’s voice was a little hoarse. "Look at this wound. It was bitten through in one go."

The party continued forward. Similar carcasses became more frequent, and enormous three-toed footprints began to appear on the ground.

Each print was the size of a washbasin, pressed deep into the dried mud.

"Gray Swamp Giant Crocodile," the old hunter identified the owner of the tracks, his voice laced with fear. "An old friend of ours."

Ola Stonebeard stared at the footprint and cursed gruffly.

"Dammit. A bunch of walking wallets."

The men behind him, though nervous at the sight of the giant footprints, had an unconcealable glint of greed in their eyes.

The hide of a Gray Swamp Giant Crocodile was, after all, a top-grade material for making armor.

However, when they finally crept up a gentle, high-ground slope, the full view of the basin below unfolded before them.

That pathetic little spark of greed instantly vanished without a trace.

What lay below couldn’t be called a nest.

It was a crocodile kingdom.

The massive, ring-shaped basin swarmed with Gray Swamp Giant Crocodiles.

The smaller ones, about two meters long, were dutiful sentinels. They patrolled back and forth between the turbid water and skeletons, their orange, vertical pupils scanning every inch of their territory’s border.

The even larger adults, easily exceeding four meters in length, lazily buried half their bodies in the mud, exposing only sections of their spines, which were covered in moss and resembled rotten logs.

A quick count revealed at least fifty of them.

"By the Stonebeards..."

Ola’s hand gripped the wooden rail of the cargo wagon so tightly that the hard wood groaned under his palm.

’This isn’t an expedition!’

’We’re here to feed the crocodiles!’

A series of sharp inhales was heard from the party. Yet, amidst the atmosphere of terror, the reactions of two people stood out as completely out of place.

The Mage apprentice, Ryo, was trembling slightly, his face flushed as if he were drunk.

Far from being frightened, he spread his arms, closed his eyes, and, ignoring the foul odor in the air, took a deep breath.

"Aether... such rich Aether..."

His voice was like a sleep-talker’s. "They’re breathing... Yes, that’s right, the entire basin is breathing with them... Oh, Creator, this is a living... this is a living Magic Array!"

The surrounding soldiers all shot him furtive glances, as if looking at a madman.

As for Velin, his gaze hadn’t lingered on the giant crocodiles for more than a second from the very beginning.

He was searching for more useful information, his eyes quickly scanning the entire basin—a dense network of waterways, mudflats everywhere, dotted with strange rocks.

A giant crocodile slipping into the water caught Velin’s attention. Its massive body left only a nearly imperceptible ripple on the turbid surface before vanishing without a trace.

His heart sank. ’This swamp is their domain, a natural killing field.’

’And the Bader Dung Beetles I rely on have their advantages in burrowing for surprise attacks and positional warfare.’

’In this ankle-deep mud, their ability to burrow and organize would be swallowed by the sludge. Even their hard carapaces wouldn’t allow them to move freely in the mire.’

’The enemy’s home-field advantage is almost overwhelming...’

Besides observing the terrain, Velin was also examining the details.

The distance was a bit too great for Velin to use [Inspect] directly. He scanned the inconspicuous plants scattered around the lair, recalling what Valerius had taught him from the *Encyclopedia of Magical Plants*.

Growing in the crevices of several rocks were clumps of dark red herbaceous plants.

Their leaves were thick and fleshy, with serrated edges, and their tips held droplets of liquid that looked like beads of blood.

[Dragon Blood Grass]

’Nice. The core ingredient for Frenzy Potions.’

His gaze then shifted to a pool of water near the center of the basin. The water there was clear, a stark contrast to the surrounding mud.

Floating on the surface were a dozen or so half-opened lotus flowers.

[Moonlight Water Lily]

’It can stabilize Spiritual Power and is the main ingredient for making End Meditation Potions. A very marketable product.’

’But... something’s not right,’ Velin’s brow furrowed.

The Moonlight Water Lilies—their distribution wasn’t random.

They formed a nearly perfect circle around the edge of the pool.

The distance between each lily was almost equal. This was clearly not a natural growth pattern.

"Ryo," Velin’s voice suddenly cut through the Mage apprentice’s dreamlike muttering. "Look at those Moonlight Water Lilies. Aren’t they growing... a little too neatly?"

Ryo froze, followed Velin’s pointing finger with his eyes, and a second later, snapped his own eyes shut, focusing all of his Spiritual Power to perceive.

"It’s not neatness, my lord!" His face was deathly pale, his voice trembling so much it was off-key. "It’s... it’s guidance! All the Aether flows are being guided! The center... in the deepest part of the basin... that big guy that’s sleeping! It... it’s the center of the vortex!"

Velin looked in the direction of his trembling, pointing hand.

There, a massive, hill-like shadow rose up. Most of its body was buried beneath the mud, with only a short section of its rugged, bone-spiked spine exposed, rising and falling slightly with a heavy rhythm.

"All the Aether, all the energy, flows into its body first and is then exhaled!"

Ryo was so excited he was becoming incoherent. His hands traced shapes in the air, trying to depict the invisible flow of Aether.

A flash of lightning cut through the fog in Velin’s mind.

He recalled certain symbiotic phenomena he had seen in his past life; the scene before him was strikingly similar.

’No wonder they’ve stayed deep within the Gray Sea Marsh all these years and never come out.’

’No wonder such a small marsh can support so many giant crocodiles.’

’This sleeping behemoth isn’t just sleeping.’

’It’s using its own power to cultivate a high-yield garden of magical plants for its entire clan.’

’It’s "farming".’

Velin slowly retracted his distant gaze.

He turned to look at the men behind him, their faces a mixture of fear and greed.

The challenge was unprecedented.

The rewards, too, were immeasurable.

His expression remained as impassive as ever.

In his eyes, this wasn’t a hopeless deathtrap, but a thesis waiting to be written.

"It seems," Velin said, a hint of interest in his voice, "we need to prepare for the next phase of our plan."