Third Bro: Guys, I've Got Looks Anxiety

"Little Tal, you were too impulsive just now. It didn't actually mean any harm..."

Alina softly tried to comfort her friend, whose agitation had yet to settle.

"You're saying that creature didn't actually mean any harm?" The white-haired dragon girl in a crisp military uniform furrowed her brows.

"But the way it carried you off didn't look like something a good person would do!"

"It's okay, Little Tal." Alina smiled, trying to soothe Talulah's anxiety. "Didn't it send me back completely unharmed? And look, I even got a gift." She patted her pocket.

"That still doesn't justify it abducting you!" Talulah's tone remained firm, but her slightly trembling hands betrayed her true feelings. "Do you know how worried I was just now? That monster suddenly came out of the shadows and took you away! I almost..."

"Little Tal~"

Alina's voice softened. She reached out, grabbed Talulah's arm, and gave it a little shake with a hint of coquettishness.

"W-what..."

The imposing air Talulah had forced herself to maintain instantly crumbled. Her body relaxed involuntarily, and her tone softened as well.

"Don't be mad. It really was just an accident. Besides..."

She took out the walnut-sized black seed from an inner pocket.

"They were trying to find food for the hungry children at home, so they had their pet look for food. They even gave me this as payment."

Talulah's gaze fell upon the oddly shaped seed. Her brow furrowed even more deeply as she took it and examined it carefully.

Noticing her serious expression, Alina asked doubtfully, "Is there something wrong with this seed...?"

"Alina, you said before... this seed was made from several black trees that looked alive, compressed together?"

"Mm." Alina nodded, recalling that shocking sight. "Isn't it incredible? It was practically like witchcraft from the legends."

No... it isn't a legend, Talulah thought.

At the very least, under Koschei's "guidance," she had been forced to learn certain things.

Twisted giant trees that seemed to possess life and flesh... That description sounded exactly like the work of Carrion Eaters.

Talulah shook her head hard, casting the association from her mind.

How could Carrion Eaters have penetrated so deeply into the remote frozen wastelands of Ursus? Their sphere of activity shouldn't be here.

Perhaps... this was merely some rare and unusual manifestation of Originium Arts?

But...

Talulah's thoughts drifted involuntarily back to her brief clash with that black beast not long ago.

She had clearly held the upper hand at first, yet at some point, that Shadow Wolf seemed to have suddenly received some sort of enhancement.

It had completely ignored her blazing flames. Even when her blade struck its body, it had been difficult to leave any meaningful wounds. She could only watch as it forced its way through her attacks.

And...

That appearance... was it really the creation of Originium Arts?

Talulah stared at the quiet seed in her palm, and a shadow of unease silently crept into her heart.

"Little Tal... Little Tal!"

"Huh?"

Alina's worried call dragged Talulah back from her tangled thoughts.

Coming back to herself, she met the clear, pure eyes of the Elafia girl.

"What's wrong, Little Tal? You've looked completely distracted since earlier."

Alina asked softly, gently brushing snow from Talulah's shoulder.

"It's nothing." Talulah shook her head. "I'm just a little suspicious. The origin of this thing is far too unusual."

After pondering for a moment, she handed the seed back to Alina, her tone solemn.

"Alina, once we get home, put it away. Don't carry it on you, and don't use it lightly."

"Little Tal is worried that..." Alina did not finish, but Talulah understood what she meant.

"Mm." Talulah nodded. "Even if what they said about using it in danger is true, something of unknown origin carries uncontrollable risks in itself."

She paused, straightened her back, and declared in a firm voice, "Besides... with me by your side, Alina, anyone who wants to hurt you will have to step over my corpse first!"

"My sword and fire will clear away every threat for you!"

Seeing Talulah's oath-like seriousness, Alina could not help laughing.

"Alright, alright~ Our Little Tal is the strongest~"

"Honestly! I mean it!"

Talulah grumbled with slight dissatisfaction, yet tightly held Alina's hand.

The two smiled at each other and trudged toward the village through the deep snow.

But at that moment, Talulah suddenly turned around, her sharp gaze shooting toward the distant horizon blurred by wind and snow.

She saw—

An abnormally tall, twisted black tree standing alone upon the vast snowfield like a silent sentinel.

At the tips of its branches, which resembled antlers and withered claws alike, several clusters of cold lights flickered faintly like ghostly graveyard flames.

Alarm bells rang in Talulah's mind.

She knew this terrain well. There had absolutely been no such conspicuous, monstrous tree when they came through here!

"Little Tal?"

Noticing something strange about her, Alina followed her gaze, but she saw only a boundless expanse of snowy wind.

Talulah did not answer. Signaling Alina to stay quiet, she turned back to look in that direction again—

It was gone...

There was nothing there, as if everything she had just seen had merely been an illusion.

"!"

Talulah's pupils constricted. She yanked Alina behind her, then drew her sword.

Blazing fire erupted around her, and a ring-shaped wave of flames rapidly spread outward.

The high-temperature circle of fire instantly vaporized and melted the surrounding snow, revealing the black frozen earth beneath and creating a clear field of vision.

"What is it, Little Tal!?"

Talulah did not answer. Tense, she swept her gaze across the area cleared by the flames, sensing for heat sources.

Nothing...

There were no other living beings or unusual heat signatures besides the two of them...

But... that had definitely not been an illusion!

"What's wrong, Little Tal?"

Talulah suppressed the unease in her heart, and the flames swirling around her gradually subsided.

"It's nothing, Alina. Maybe there were just some wild beasts wandering nearby. I already scared them away."

She reached out and gently patted Alina's back to reassure her.

"Don't worry. I'll get you back to the village first."

Alina looked at Talulah's composed facade and pushed her doubts back down.

"...Okay."

The two did not linger any longer. They quickened their pace and headed toward the village.

"..."

Amid the wind and snow, the "tree" slowly rose from the shadows, watching their retreating backs.

Once the two disappeared beyond the edge of its vision—

"Go home."

A faint flash of light flickered, and the Wendigo's tall figure appeared once more inside the forge.

"Looks like they're friends... I was probably overthinking it."

Third Bro muttered to himself, gently shaking his deer skull.

The heartwarming scene between the girls made him feel that his worries had been unnecessary.

"Awoo~"

The Shadow Wolf immediately came over, letting out a somewhat fawning low howl as it desperately insisted that it had strictly obeyed orders this time and had not caused any trouble.

Third Bro skillfully rubbed the Shadow Wolf's head.

"I know. It wasn't your fault."

Combining that with the Shadow Wolf's instinctively aggressive stance when it appeared, Third Bro could roughly infer what had happened—

The Shadow Wolf's appearance from the shadows had probably been too frightening, causing that white-haired dragon girl to mistake it for an attacker. The two sides had likely clashed because of that.

"After all..."

Third Bro looked down at himself, then at the ferocious Shadow Wolf beside him, and a trace of bitterness rose in his heart.

"With appearances like ours, we really don't look like decent folk. Being mistaken for monsters... is only natural."

"But..." Third Bro fell into thought.

He knew the Shadow Wolf's strength well. Even without the boost from Frost Ash Wolf Assault, its abilities were enough to deal with most ordinary threats.

Yet according to the Shadow Wolf's vague feedback, that girl who looked like a village maiden had actually managed to suppress it for a time?

"Even a village girl can face my summon head-on?"

Third Bro's voice carried a hint of disbelief.

"Is this world's power scale really that absurd?"

If even the residents of a village possessed such strength, then the threat level of this world was far higher than he had estimated.

"I still need to become stronger..."

Third Bro murmured in a low voice, feeling the power within his body.

If I can become even stronger, I can protect everyone.

When Eldest Bro loses control, I'll be able to take charge of the situation.

Someone as ordinary as me... after gaining this body, I've become this powerful too.

Then does that mean I...

"..."

"That's right... I'm no longer ordinary."

Third Bro collected himself and began checking the gains from this dungeon run.

The shadows writhed and spat out several items. The first thing that caught his eye was a completely black longsword.

The blade seemed to absorb light, carrying a strange sense of stillness.

Third Bro picked it up, momentarily at a loss for words.

"Void Sword..."

He recognized this rather unusual weapon from the game.

Its physical damage was not outstanding among weapons of its kind, but its true value lay in its special effect—

It could actively release a gravitational wave, forcibly drawing nearby enemies closer.

Within specific tactical setups, especially when paired with modifiers in Evil King Mode, it could achieve an effect worthy of being called a crowd-control divine weapon.

In Soul Knight, weapon rarity ranked from lowest to highest as—

White, green, blue, purple, orange, red, and the even more special Apotheosis tier.

But unlike many games, rarity here was not an absolute indicator of strength.

Even red-tier weapons included ones players called "trash," while low-rarity weapons could also include astonishingly powerful "divine weapons."

The Void Sword before him was precisely such a strategic weapon among blue-tier equipment.

"But..."

Third Bro lightly flicked the black blade with a fingertip.

"This isn't Evil King Mode. Where am I supposed to find those enhancement modifiers...?"

In a real-world setting, actively drawing enemies toward himself was not necessarily a good thing.

For Third Bro, who leaned more toward steamrolling with controlled summons, this sword seemed somewhat useless.

"I should leave it to Fourth Bro to study. Maybe he can develop some novel use for it."

Third Bro shook his head and stuffed the somewhat awkward "divine weapon" back into the shadow space.

As he sorted through the other items again, his gaze swept over the few things on the forge table, and he fell silent.

Biomass x 4

Magic Fragment · Blue x 2

Iron Ore x 2

Looking at those pitiful gains, even Third Bro's mouth twitched.

Though dungeon bosses in the game really had not been especially generous with drops, still...

Wasn't it a little unreasonable for such a huge boss to have nothing but this junk stuffed into its treasure chest?

With an annoyed expression, Third Bro swept those materials aside and checked the final item with a trace of hope—the currency.

He reached out and pulled a heavy object glimmering with dim golden light from the shadows.

"What the hell is this..."

Third Bro stared at the reddish-gold brick before him in confusion.

"A gold brick? Was there even something like this in the game?"

Third Brother tilted his head back and let out a long sigh at the ceiling.

"Can't you just give me blue coins... How am I supposed to use this thing...?"

(Blue coins: another, more universal currency in the game. Character upgrades, buying skins, weapon forging, armor forging, and so on all required this currency.)

Just as Third Brother was worrying, Second Brother's voice rang out in the mental chat group.

[Second Brother: Are you guys done yet?! The kid's awake!]

[Fourth Brother: That fast?!]

[Big Brother: Be right there.]

[Third Brother: Coming.]

After replying in the group, Third Brother slowly headed outside.

"Guess I'll take it one step at a time..."