On the eastern shore of the Dark Continent, beside the endless East Sea...
In a nation comprised of tens of thousands of hot springs, the "City of Purification" receives guests daily, unknowingly burdened with "defilement"—
In Valen's western suburb, famed as the "City of Purity," at No. 54-09, 7th Street, Shui Lan Alley, lies a hot spring.
Vanessa Siren dragged her weary tail, forcing a smile as she saw off the last group of customers... [Toadmen], instructing her sister Laurel to close the shop for the night. She skipped dinner and went straight up to the second floor.
The silver scales on her snake tail scraped against the wooden stairs with a rustle... With a creak, the door closed. Unlike Vanessa, Laurel, slightly smaller, hung the "Closed" sign and followed her sister upstairs.
Seeing her sister flop onto the bed, tail curled up, she said with concern, "You don't have to work so hard, sister. If we're really demoted, I can just marry a man and demand a bride price of a hundred or eighty thousand 'Qin Pills'!"
Laurel put her hands on her hips, her ample chest prominent as she spoke confidently, only to be met with a pillow thrown by Vanessa, who feigned anger and said, "I don't need to sell you to maintain the pool. Go to sleep, don't bother me."
"Hehe, I won't... I'm going to stick with you and sleep..."
Laurel's emerald snake tail slithered onto the bed, and like a big monkey, she clung to Vanessa with both hands and tail.
The two snake tails, one white and one green, entwined. Vanessa playfully tugged at her head, pretending to be annoyed, "Stay away from me, don't drool on me later!"
Laurel stretched out her long tongue to lick Vanessa's palm, giggling, "I just won't!"
With her playful antics, the sisters frolicked for a while... Moments later, Vanessa cradled Laurel, watching her fall asleep, the soft sound of her snoring filling the room. Vanessa reached out to smooth the hair by her sister's ear, and on her bright and gentle face, a deep fatigue and worry once again surfaced....
Valen, the "City of Purity," owes its name to the Siren family, who inherited the Nenryoku "Siren's Tears." By dropping them into the hot springs, they help clients cleanse the "contaminants" lingering in their bodies due to natural backlash from their Faith... In other words—
The Sirens are a well-known clan of Thought Erasure Masters, nestled in a corner of the Dark Continent!
It's said that when the "Great Siren" awakens, even gods-like figures with issues can be cleansed, or even healed... To see, the Siren family is crucial to the magical beasts or humans of the Faith faction!
They're undoubtedly the "doctors" of this world, capable of saving people from harm, preventing them from becoming mindless beasts or "disasters"!
However, "doctors can't heal themselves," and "thought erasure" doesn't mean the "Nen" can truly be erased!
The Siren family uses "Siren's Tears" to wash away the "pollution" from their clients, storing these "contaminants" temporarily within themselves, to be absorbed regularly by distributing "Qin Pills" as guided by the "Great Siren." Otherwise, over time, the accumulation of pollution would ultimately explode, forcing the person to lose reason, turning into monsters or disasters, and being cleared away by Valen's "Cleanup Squad," left to fend for themselves.
Vanessa didn't tell her sister Laurel that their parents, due to not meeting "performance" standards back then, couldn't obtain enough "Qin Pills" and had to leave Valen on their own accord, seeking another way in the depths of the East Sea just before the Cleanup Squad intervened...
Now—it's her turn to face this problem!
Afraid of accepting too many clients due to pollution buildup, and with fewer clients, the performance doesn't meet the mark. The hot spring's rating was downgraded, leading to a decrease in "Qin Pills," causing more pollution accumulation... She watched as this vicious cycle continued... Vanessa stroked Laurel's small face, recalling their parents, even entertaining thoughts of joining them.
But Laurel is still young. How could she leave her alone to walk the same path as herself and their parents?
Vanessa wouldn't bear nor want that. Drowsy and overwhelmed, she slept beside her sister....
A wisp of ethereal mist silently crept into her subconscious, carrying a part of her awareness towards Roy's dream realm....
.....
Northern frontier of the Dark Continent.
Kobold tribe settlement.
Howling Moon Wolf King territory, in the town of Broken Bone Valley, near a small river, scattered dozens of households formed a secluded village named Huang Village.
Late at night,
At the west end of Huang Village, old Kohler quietly got out of bed while his wife and children slept. He lit a dim oil lamp, went to the wood shed, lifted a floorboard, revealing a narrow, deep basement, and silently stood by, watching for a while. Then, he hunched down his wrinkled dog head and slipped inside...
"Tap... tap...."
Footsteps echoed throughout the pitch-black night...
The basement, closed for years, was damp and stuffy... Old Kohler carried the oil lamp, coughing a few times, as he slowly walked to the end of it... Against a corner of the wall, he saw a long-sealed, dusty old wooden box.
The box was locked,
Old Kohler gently placed the oil lamp on an iron hook protruding from the left, fumbled around, and took a key from his chest. He squatted down, inserted the key into the lock, and upon hearing a click,
the box opened, revealing a faint orange-yellow aura of "Nen" energy...
The aura was weak, seemingly because it had been sealed for too long. The "Nen" was growing thin, on the verge of scattering...
Staring blankly, old Kohler reached into the box to touch it. Inside was a set of broken plate armor and a rusty spiked mace, representing a poem of untold years....
"You're thinking of going on an adventure again?"
At this moment, a hoarse voice echoed from behind old Kohler... He shivered uncontrollably, quickly putting on a smile before turning around. His dog head scrunched up with wrinkles, completely hiding his eyes, as he swiftly closed the box and, with a lick of his face, fiddled with his wife's waist and said:
"Just one last time... I promise, truly the last time..."
"This year's harvest wasn't good, and a few days ago, Mark's son encountered misfortune, dragged away by green-skinned beasts and eaten..."
Old Kohler rubbed his wife's growing belly, "This pregnancy, who knows how many we'll have. I was thinking, maybe do some work, earn some baby formula money before the child is born...."
"You always have a reason,"
"Kohler," Jenny caressed old Kohler's dog head, the deep wrinkles like ravines, clearly not young... She said, "Do you really think you can still lift the hammer and wear the armor?"
"What if...."
Jenny looked at him with concern, "You mentioned the incident with Mark's family,"
Jenny leaned against old Kohler, her dog nose affectionately rubbing his, murmuring, "I can't lose you."
"Yes... yes... enough talking, let's go to sleep..."
That night,
Old Kohler coaxed his pregnant wife back to bed,
Half-awake, he drifted into the realm of dreams. His consciousness floated, carried by a faint, hazy dream mist to roam in the ocean of "collective" unconscious....
Upon opening his eyes again, he found himself in a vast area, impossible to discern direction, looking up...
He saw,
a young man with an obscured face and a humanoid "Class Monster" with a snake's tail...
His dog eyes suddenly shrank!