"Little Tal, you were too impulsive just now. It really didn't mean any harm..."
Alina gently comforted her friend beside her, whose breathing had yet to settle.
"You're saying that creature actually meant no harm?" The white-haired dragon girl in her neat military uniform frowned deeply.
"But the way it carried you off didn't look like the work of a good person at all!"
"It's fine, 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 forceful, but her slightly trembling hand 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 small shake with a hint of coquettishness.
"W-what..."
Talulah's carefully maintained imposing aura instantly crumbled. Her body unconsciously relaxed, and her voice softened as well.
"Don't be mad. It really was just an accident. Besides..."
She took the walnut-sized black seed from the pocket close to her body.
"It was looking for food through its pet because the children at home were starving, and it gave me this as payment."
Talulah's gaze fell upon the strange-looking seed. Her brows knitted even tighter as she took it and examined it carefully.
Noticing her serious expression, Alina asked in confusion,
"Is there something wrong with this seed...?"
"Alina, you said before... this seed came from several black trees that looked alive, compressed together?"
"Mm." Alina nodded, recalling that astonishing sight.
"Isn't that incredible? It was practically like witchcraft from the legends."
No... it wasn't a legend. Talulah thought to herself.
At the very least, under Koschei's "guidance," she had once been forced to learn certain things.
Twisted giant trees, as if they possessed life, flesh, and blood... that description sounded exactly like the work of Carrion Eaters.
Talulah shook her head hard, throwing the association from her mind.
How could Carrion Eaters have reached deep into the remote frozen wilderness of Ursus? Their area of activity shouldn't have been here.
Perhaps... this was merely some rare and unusual manifestation of Originium Arts?
But...
Talulah's thoughts involuntarily drifted 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, Shadow Wolf seemed to have suddenly received some kind of enhancement.
It had completely ignored her blazing flames. Even her blade had struggled to leave any meaningful wounds on it, and she could only watch as it forced its way through her attacks.
And...
That appearance... was it really a creation of Originium Arts?
Talulah stared at the quiet seed in her palm as a trace of gloom quietly crept into her heart.
"Little Tal... Little Tal!"
"Huh?"
Alina's worried call pulled Talulah back from her chaotic thoughts.
She came back to her senses and 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 the snow from Talulah's shoulder.
"It's nothing." Talulah shook her head.
"I'm just a little puzzled. This thing's origin is far too unusual."
After pondering for a moment, she handed the seed back to Alina, her tone solemn.
"Alina, after you get home, keep it stored away. Don't carry it with 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 it said about using it when you encounter danger is true, something of unknown origin carries uncontrollable risks in itself."
She paused, straightened her back, and spoke with ringing conviction.
"Besides... as long as I'm by Alina's side, anyone who wants to hurt you will have to step over my corpse first!"
"My sword and flames will clear away every threat for you!"
Seeing Talulah's oath-like seriousness, Alina could not help laughing.
"All right, all right~ 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 snow.
Yet at that moment, Talulah abruptly 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 on the vast snowfield like a silent watcher.
At the tips of its branches, which resembled antlers and withered claws, several clusters of cold light flickered faintly like graveyard ghost fires.
Alarm bells rang loudly in Talulah's mind.
She knew this terrain well. There had definitely been no such conspicuous monstrous tree when they came!
"Little Tal?"
Alina noticed something was wrong and followed her gaze, but all she saw was a vast expanse of white wind and snow.
Talulah did not answer. She signaled Alina to remain quiet, then turned back to look in that direction again—
It was gone...
The spot was completely empty, as if everything she had just seen had merely been an illusion.
"!"
Talulah's pupils contracted sharply. She yanked Alina behind her and drew her sword.
Blazing flames erupted around her, and a circular wave of fire rapidly spread outward.
The ring of high-temperature flames instantly melted and vaporized the surrounding snow, exposing the black frozen ground beneath and creating a clear field of vision.
"What's wrong, Little Tal!?"
Talulah did not reply. She tensely scanned the area cleared by the flames, sensing for heat sources.
Nothing...
Other than the two of them, there were no other life signs or abnormal heat signatures...
But... that definitely had not been an illusion!
"What's wrong, Little Tal?"
Talulah suppressed the unease in her heart, and the flames surrounding her gradually receded.
"It's nothing, Alina. Maybe some wild animals were wandering nearby. I've already scared them off."
She reached out and gently patted Alina's back to reassure her.
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"Don't worry. I'll take you back to the village first."
Alina looked at Talulah's deliberately composed face and pushed her doubts back down.
"...All right."
The two did not linger any longer. They quickened their pace toward the village.
"..."
Amid the wind and snow, the "tree" slowly rose from the shadows and watched their retreating backs.
After the two disappeared beyond the edge of its vision.
"Go home."
A faint flash of light appeared, and the Wendigo's tall figure reappeared in the forging room.
"Looks like they're friends... I guess I was overthinking it."
Third Brother muttered to himself, his deer skull shaking slightly.
The warm scene between the girls made him feel that his worries had been unnecessary.
"Awoo~"
Shadow Wolf immediately sidled up to him, letting out a somewhat fawning low howl as it tried its best to explain that it had strictly followed orders this time and had not caused trouble.
Third Brother skillfully rubbed Shadow Wolf's head.
"I understand. It wasn't your fault."
Based on Shadow Wolf's instinctive attacking posture when it appeared, Third Brother could roughly infer what had happened—
Shadow Wolf had probably looked too terrifying when it emerged from the shadows, causing the white-haired dragon girl to mistake it for an attacker. The two had likely clashed because of that.
"After all..."
Third Brother lowered his head to look at himself, then at the ferocious Shadow Wolf beside him, a hint of bitterness welling up in his heart.
"We really don't look like good people. Being mistaken for monsters... is only natural."
"But..." Third Brother fell into thought.
He understood Shadow Wolf's strength. Even without the boost from Frost Ash Wolf Assault, its abilities were enough to handle most conventional threats.
Yet according to Shadow Wolf's vague feedback, that girl who looked like a village maiden had actually managed to suppress Shadow Wolf for a time?
"Even a village girl can contend head-on with my summon?"
Third Brother's voice carried a trace of disbelief.
"Is this world's power scale really this absurd?"
If even the residents of a single village possessed such strength, then this world's threat level was far higher than he had estimated.
"I still need to become stronger..."
Third Brother muttered in a low voice, feeling the power within him.
If I can become stronger, I'll be able to protect everyone.
When Eldest Brother loses control, I'll be able to take charge of the situation.
Then an ordinary person like me... after gaining this body, has also become this powerful.
Then could I...
"..."
"That's right... I'm no longer ordinary."
Third Brother gathered his thoughts and began inspecting the gains from this Dungeon run.
The shadows writhed and spat out several items. The first thing that caught his eye was an entirely black longsword.
Its blade seemed to absorb light, carrying a strange sense of stillness.
Third Brother picked it up, momentarily speechless.
"Void Sword..."
He recognized this rather special weapon from the game.
Its physical damage was not particularly outstanding among weapons of the same type, but its true value lay in its special effect—
It could actively release a gravitational wave, forcibly drawing nearby enemies closer.
Within certain tactical setups, especially when paired with modifiers in Evil King Mode, it could produce effects worthy of a crowd-control artifact.
Soul Knight's weapon rarities, from lowest to highest, were—
White, green, blue, purple, orange, red, and the even more special Apotheosis tier.
But unlike many games, rarity here was not an absolute symbol of strength.
Among red weapons were some players called "trash," while lower-rarity weapons could also contain astonishing "artifacts."
The Void Sword before him was one such strategic weapon of blue rarity.
"But..."
Third Brother lightly flicked the black blade with his fingertip.
"This isn't Evil King Mode. Where am I supposed to find those enhancement modifiers...?"
In a real-world environment, actively pulling enemies closer was not necessarily a good thing.
For Third Brother, who preferred using his summons to steamroll enemies, this sword felt somewhat underwhelming.
"I'll give it to Fourth Brother to study. Maybe he can develop some novel use for it."
Third Brother shook his head and stuffed the somewhat awkward "artifact" back into the shadow space.
As he sorted through the other items again, his gaze swept over the sparse few things on the forging table, and he fell silent.
Biomass x 4
Magic Fragment · Blue x 2
Iron Ore x 2
Seeing these paltry gains, the corner of Third Brother's mouth could not help twitching.
Though Dungeon bosses in the game were indeed not known for generous drop rates, still...
Wasn't it a little unreasonable for such a huge boss to have only this much junk stuffed in its treasure chest?
With a disgruntled expression, Third Brother swept the materials aside and checked the final item with a sliver of hope—currency.
He reached into the shadows and pulled out a heavy object glimmering with dim golden light.
"What is this thing..."
Looking at the red gold brick before him, Third Brother was utterly confused.
"A gold brick? Was there even such a thing in the game?"
Third Brother tilted his head back and let out a long sigh at the ceiling.
"Couldn't you just give me blue coins... How am I supposed to use this thing...?"
(Blue coins: another, more universal in-game currency. 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 woke up!]
[Fourth Brother: That fast?!]
[Big Brother: Coming right away.]
[Third Brother: On my way.]
After replying in the group, Third Brother slowly headed outside.
"Guess I'll take it one step at a time..."