Night fell, and with it, the world sank into a velvet darkness.
All across the town, light bloomed, flames, lanterns, and odd contraptions pulsing with borrowed energy flickered to life, casting their warmth onto cold stone and open streets.
The air seemed to settle as if the territory exhaled with relief, then filled again with motion.
People began to trickle into the streets once more.
Especially the newly summoned ones, confused, displaced, but clinging to the hope that this place, unfamiliar as it was, might become a better home than the one they left behind.
It was difficult for them to adapt, but not impossible.
There was purpose in their steps.
The streets swelled with life.
Mortals and Awakeners moved side by side beneath the soft glow of lamps, their silhouettes trailing long behind them.
It was a sight that would've been unthinkable in most corners of this world.
Here, Awakeners stood shoulder to shoulder with commoners, not elevated above them, not flanked by servants or bowing citizens.
There was no need to make way.
And the Awakeners knew better now.
After today, none among them would be foolish enough to stir trouble, not after witnessing the power that ruled here.
The scene narrowed, zooming toward a particular building nestled along the main street.
A restaurant.
It loomed tall, ten stories of aged beauty, its design reminiscent of an eastern temple.
High above, in one of the private suites, a familiar figure sat quietly at the side of a low table.
The space was elegant in its simplicity, minimalist.
The table was short, styled like those from old Japan, and the décor whispered of a subtle eastern flair.
Two figures sat on small cushioned couches across from each other.
The table between them bore a spread of steaming dishes and a porcelain teapot, pale tendrils of heat drifting lazily in the air.
"So."
The voice that cut through the room was crisp.
Like frost cracking underfoot.
Klein flinched.
His shoulders jerked as if the word had struck him, and his eyes darted toward the woman across the table.
"May I ask," she continued, voice smooth but laced with edge, "why you spread the news of the underground dungeon this early?"
"A-ah, this... Senior, I"
It was Klein.
And honestly, he hadn't meant to meet her like this.
At least not while seated across from the infamous cold-blooded beauty, being questioned over expensive food he'd ordered himself.
He nearly choked on air, and the ancient spirit sealed in his ring refused to respond, likely pretending to be asleep, refusing to be dragged into this.
Klein treaded carefully, every word in his head now a landmine.
One wrong step, and he'd be dead meat.
Just earlier tonight, he'd watched as the soldiers of this territory tore through the sky like thunder.
Compared to them, he was nothing a weakling with a fragile shell.
And now he was trapped here.
With her.
If he said the wrong thing, she could snap him in half, and no one would bat an eye.
His throat clicked as he swallowed.
Across the table, Mize sipped her tea without urgency, her eyes briefly meeting his.
'Since this is just a clone body, it's not cheating, right? Even if I do something… excessive?' she mused idly, her gaze steady but her mind elsewhere.
After all, the body was different. Only the soul was the same.
Was there even such a thing as cheating on a soul-level?
'Is that even possible?'
Klein's lips parted at last. He'd finally cobbled together a response he hoped wouldn't get him killed.
"I—I couldn't hide it, Senior."
His voice came out shaky but sincere. "Once I got out of the portal, I was immediately caught by the guards. Then Lord Elias came and interrogated me. I... I couldn't lie."
"I see."
Mize's gaze sharpened, a faint glint flickering in her eyes. "Then how do you think I should punish you?"
And just like that, she cornered him.
Klein's legs itched to run, but his brain knew better. There was nowhere to go.
He forced a grin. It looked more like a grimace of surrender.
Then he let out a long breath, his shoulders sinking. "P-please go easy on me, Senior."
"Let me think," Mize said, her tone untouched by his plea. Her words landed like falling snow.
Silence settled in.
Mize returned to sipping her tea, completely calm.
Meanwhile, Klein sat like someone perched over a boiling cauldron, every second stretching like a year.
Eventually, she placed her cup gently on the table and looked at him again.
"Where are you from, originally?"
"Ah... this..."
"I'm from a city in the inner region," he managed.
"Inner region?"
Her brow rose slightly, just enough to betray her unfamiliarity.
Klein caught the cue and sat straighter.
'She must not be from around here,' he thought.
Quickly, he clarified, "It's the central part of the region. I came from there."
"Ah... I see..."
Mize went quiet for a beat, her mind spinning. She began to ask more questions, this time about the region itself.
Even if her stay was temporary, she figured it wouldn't hurt to know more about where she was.
And so, Klein talked.
Piece by piece, he laid out the general structure of the land.
The region was divided into four quadrants: east, west, south, and north.
Their territory? It lay tucked into the farthest corner of the west.
Much like in those old cultivation novels, the closer one was to the center, the denser the warp energy, and the fiercer the beasts.
In the western quadrant alone, thousands of cities were governed by independent city lords.
Some loved war. Most preferred peace.
The structure of power mimicked the region itself: the closer to the center, the more dangerous the rulers.
Still, Klein explained, the strongest lord in the western quadrant was a Tier 6 existence, seated in the largest city here.
As for the other quadrants, north, east, and south, he admitted he didn't know much. He'd never stepped foot outside the west.
He wasn't born into nobility, after all. His knowledge was limited.
But there were names he did know.
The top forces. The true giants that ruled over everything, wealth, power, life, and death.
The Adventurer Guild.
The Alchemist Association.
The Ascension Hall.
The God's Hand.
The Baizong Chamber.
Each one a monstrous organization, their influence stretching across all quadrants.
Some even extended beyond the region.
Mize listened closely.
Not because of awe, but because these were potential hunting grounds.
Places where protagonist-like figures might gather.
And where protagonist-like figures gathered… she could harvest them later.
"Then… what do you think of me?"
Mize's voice came out of nowhere, soft but sharp enough to slice straight through the calm.
Klein nearly choked on his drink.
He coughed hard, placing the glass down in a panic, wiping the bit that had dribbled down from the corner of his lips. "I...uhhh…"
"I don't get it, Senior," he stammered, eyebrows furrowing. "What do I think of you?"
"Yes."
She tilted her head slightly to the side, that kind of subtle gesture that made her look like she genuinely didn't understand what was so strange about the question she'd asked.
That quiet confusion, paired with her gaze, made Klein sit up straighter out of instinct.
"In the central region," Mize continued, her tone as calm as always, "what do you think of me? Would I be considered on par with the hidden powerhouses in those forces?"
"Oh... that." Klein finally pieced it together, letting out a small exhale as he tried to pull himself back together.
He nodded quickly, speaking as if to shake off the awkward weight in the air.
"Yes, of course. Senior would naturally be respected everywhere in the central region"
"A true lord's presence… that's already the ceiling when it comes to combat power around there."
"I see." Mize's eyes glinted faintly at his response, thoughtful but unreadable.
"Th-then… what about the punishment, Senior?" he asked hesitantly, a sliver of unease lacing his words as he braced for whatever strange sentence might befall him next.
Instead, she gave him another slight head tilt. The kind that made her hair, long and dark like woven threads of deep-sea silk, slide over her shoulder with a glacial grace.
Her face, that impossible combination of cold perfection and effortless cuteness, hit him like a brick wall.
Klein's brain stuttered again, and his cheeks turned so red they looked like they'd been slapped raw.
"I already punished you," Mize said, blinking slowly. "What do you mean? Do you want more punishment?"
She sounded genuinely confused, innocent even, as if the idea of punishing someone twice had never once crossed her mind.
Klein couldn't stop himself, he laughed, rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish hand.
"A-ah, sorry, Senior. I didn't realize…"
The room fell silent after that.
Awkwardly silent.
Mize didn't seem the least bit bothered by it.
If anything, she looked content, maybe even slightly amused.
She had no plans to speak up again, clearly enjoying watching Klein squirm with each passing second.
Klein sat stiffly, every tick of silence stabbing into him like hot needles.
He flinched with every minor sound, practically vibrating like a beetle trapped in a cooking pot.
He had no idea what to say, how to act, or even how to breathe properly around someone who could probably flatten a mountain with a lazy flick of her fingers.
His smile twisted into something awful, a lopsided grimace of pure survival. The kind of smile a man wore when death would've been a mercy.
From inside the ring on his finger, the old man's laughter echoed like thunder in his head.
Klein's lips twitched.
He gritted his teeth and silently swore that the first thing he'd do when he got back to the inn was toss this cursed ring straight down the toilet and never look back.
'This territory is insane…'
'I thought with my current strength I could handle whatever this place threw at me, but I was way, way off…'
Klein chewed on a piece of dry bread like it was his last meal, trying not to cry in front of her.
Emotion swelled quietly in his chest, frustration, disbelief, a touch of fear, all hidden behind a half-hearted bite.
Mize, meanwhile, sat quietly across the table, her face as blank as a polished mask.
She looked out the nearby window, gazing up at the night sky that had just rolled in, its stars faintly shimmering above the darkness.
After a long internal debate, Klein finally found the nerve to speak again.
"U-umm… Senior…"
"Yes?" Mize's head turned back so suddenly it almost looked like someone had yanked a string from behind her.
Her expression remained calm, curious, flawless. "What is it?"
"Ah, umm…"
He fidgeted, then finally spat it out, his voice nearly cracking.
"W-what do you think the lord of this territory is fighting against? Y-you must've seen those soldiers today, right? They were everywhere. I mean… what are they up against to need that many troops?"
Despite the way he mumbled it out like a mosquito caught in a rainstorm, Mize heard him clearly. She always did.
And she didn't seem the least bit bothered by the question.
If anything, her eyes lit up, like a child hearing the word "storytime." There was no reason to hide the truth now.
Or maybe… she just liked explaining lore.
'Lore time', she thought, and in the next moment, her voice shifted.
It dropped into the air like a falling snowflake that froze everything it touched.
"They're fighting monsters. A horde, or something like that."
Klein's eyes widened. "Monsters?"
Even the old man inside the ring perked up, his voice quiet for once.
"Yes. Monsters." Mize waved her hand casually.
A projection sprang into the air beside her, illuminating the room with a flickering light.
The scene displayed a battlefield near the dome boundary, shadow soldiers locked in combat with a massive, surging tide of grotesque creatures.
She flicked her fingers again. The projection zoomed in, bringing the horde into focus.
Klein winced.
The things looked like nightmares given flesh. Misshapen bodies, bulging limbs, faces twisted beyond recognition.
They didn't resemble anything he'd ever seen in this world.
Even the old man inside the ring fell silent, a rare moment of speechlessness.
He searched his memories, flipping through every strange creature he'd encountered… but none came close to this.
"What… are those things?"
"Human-eating horde," Mize said lightly, almost flippantly. "They're not from this world. They came from where I came from."
"Where… Senior came from?" Klein asked.
"Yes. Outside."
"Outside…?"
"Outside?"
This time, both Klein and the old man spoke at once. The words layered over each other.
Mize nodded.
"Your world, everything inside it, it's just…"
"...a testing ground," the old man finished for her.
Mize blinked, briefly surprised, then smiled. "You're well-informed."
"So it's true…" the old man muttered. "The old speculations… they were real."
Klein looked from one to the other, completely lost. "Testing ground? What does that mean? What the hell are you two talking about?"
"That our world… our entire world… was made just to be a testing site for these lords?" he asked, half in disbelief.
"Yes," Mize replied without pause.
"And I'm a lord myself," she added. "The world beyond this one is infinitely bigger. If you value your life, stay within this territory until the end comes. When it does, you'll know."
Klein stood up so fast his chair scraped back loudly against the floor. His whole body stiffened.
"What…?"
The old man said nothing.
He floated downward into the ring again, his figure dimming, shrinking away without another word.
Something about his silence made the room feel colder.
Klein stared at Mize, eyes wide by this sudden revelation.
But she didn't look at him.
She only turned her face back to the window, watching the stars with the same calm expression as before