"I procured this myself. Do you have any idea how difficult it was for me?" The old man showed the dark screen to Lilith.

It was clear that he was angry, judging by the essence around him shivering.

"...Click on the button again," Lilith said, this time her voice tired and flat.

Hearing this, the old man did what she instructed. The moment the home screen appeared, the essence around him quickly returned to normal.

"I got worked up a bit there. Excuse me, young lass," he apologized, then continued on with what he was previously doing.

Hearing herself referred to as young, Lilith dropped every bit of bitterness she was building up. "It's fine."

"You've stayed here for around a week, yes? What will you do once you're allowed to travel?" she asked.

The swordsman paused. "I'll definitely treat Artemis to a place called a mall. She's been bugging me to do so."

"Artemis, that dragon lady I took in for a short while?" Lilith was a bit surprised. She knew that these two were foreigners, but she didn't know their relationship.

"I took her in as an apprentice when I found her abandoned. She hasn't explored around the ring world she was born in, and also not here.

So I was quite surprised when she suddenly asked for that."

Lilith rested her head. "That's strange. She's quite fierce.

When I asked them to announce the last examination in my stead, she slaughtered around a hundred of the examinees who were too rebellious."

Lilith switched her gaze to the towering warrior. "Even more so than your underling."

A cold breath slipped out from the openings of his helmet. He spoke with an unnaturally deep tone.

His stillness made him akin to a speaking statue. "He's old enough to control himself, and besides—

it's inevitable for a student to separate from their teacher.

What happens to him does not concern me."

Finally, the figure moved slightly toward Lilith, but only a little. "If I'm not mistaken, you bunched him and that girl into a group of promising villains?

I've seen them before, and they do not impress me—"

From out of nowhere, the air around the swordsman began to darken, causing that statue of a man to freeze up.

"—except for that girl. The rest are second-rate at best."

The warrior continued, "If I was the proctor for this exam, I would've met the quota in under a year.

Your way of raising fighters is weak and pathetic. That's why it took so long.

Even a diamond in the rough can be destroyed if it's constantly surrounded by roughness that chips away at its shine."

Lilith puffed her chest, slightly looking away from him. She redirected her attention back to the corpse. "It's about time, Zipperman. Go deal with whoever it is you're dealing with."

The corpse dropped their cup of tea. "That Zipperman gig was funny while it lasted.

Thank you for the snacks."

Standing up, Kerio's corpse signaled at Lumine to activate her blessing.

She stared at the only door in the room for a few seconds before nodding slightly.

The corpse opened the door and saw a deep void, but when he stepped inside, he didn't fall.

Closing the door behind him, he walked for a few seconds and eventually encountered a familiar steel door that emerged from a cloud of darkness.

The opened door drenched the corpse in warm light, but it did not affect the void around him.

Once he adjusted his vision, he was quite dumbfounded by what he saw.

A shattered lock, and the cell was open.

"That's... not good."

***

The air slowly burned Ferris's skin, but he didn't care.

He wanted to take a longer look at the egg, which was obviously sucking up the essence in the atmosphere.

"A dragon egg?" Ferris compared the ones he saw before to the one floating in front of him.

Right outside the womb, an egg would be around the size of a human child. Its texture would be pure white, with a slimy substance protecting it like a coat.

Then, after about a decade of growth, it would continue to grow to the size of two relatively tall adult males.

Then its shell would now grow and match the scales of its species. For example, if it was a fire dragon, then the egg would have a warm color.

But the one in front of him was a light pinkish color, as if it was only a few months old. It had scales, but Ferris could tell that it was unnaturally small given its apparent age.

It's starving... Ferris felt a bit of pity, but what must be done, must be done.

Ferris focused his gaze on the trail of red mist.

He deliberately left the door open as he followed the trail back to the vase he accidentally broke.

Looking at it closer, Ferris saw a bit of white dust that was evaporating much faster than the vase itself. This must be the contents. What even is it?

Ferris begrudgingly took a wooden stick-like artifact nearby and used it to poke the strange material. The moment he did so, the tip of the stick turned into ash.

Well, it is wood.

Then, he stole another museum piece, this time a rusty golf club.

The same thing happened, but this time it occurred slower, and it only changed the color of the metal because of the heat.

Tossing the club away, Ferris looked at his hand that he used to hold the shattered vase part with, and thankfully it was free from any signs of burning.

Ferris sighed in relief.

Dust in a vase.

"A burial jar?" Ferris joked, laughing at the possible scenario that he actually just desecrated a tomb.

. . .

. . .

. . .

Ferris suddenly shot up and walked away with a concerned expression.

It might actually be a burial jar. He covered his mouth.

But then, what if it was? Could it be worse than him destroying a prized prop and two other important museum pieces?

His destruction might have cost him millions already.

Sizzle...

"!!!"

Ferris jolted sideways, but not because he felt a stinging pain, but rather the sound of something burning behind him.

He instinctively knew where it was.

Twirling around like a dog chasing its own tail, Ferris managed to catch a glimpse of what was happening.

Somehow, the red mist made contact with the plant parasite, causing it to burn away.

But what was more shocking to Ferris was that he didn't feel any pain in his heart!

When he tried pulling it out a while ago, he could feel a deathly clutch around his heart, but this time there wasn't. This is it!

Without waiting a single second, Ferris rushed back to the shards and positioned himself on all fours with his back facing the ground.

He angled his butt close to the evaporating red mist, allowing the flowing trail to slowly chip away at the leaf.

But unfortunately, it was already too late as the dust was eventually used up, leaving only the vase jars intact.

Thinking quickly, Ferris grabbed a pile of the shards and headed straight to where the dragon's egg was.

He hoped that just like the last time, the vase would also be turned into a cloud of red mist.

It didn't bother him that the last time it happened, it almost burned his hand.

In fact, it would've been better, as the resulting burst of that mysterious mist would engulf the parasite overwriting his essence layer.

Hmm... Ferris touched the leaf, noticing that it was quickly healing itself using his essence.

Once he saw the steel door and the firestorm-like wind emerging out from it, he pushed through it, taking out the shards and placing them near his tailbone.

However, there was no combustion.

The burst from before was actually due to the residual dust that clung onto it, and because of the closeness to the egg, the dust heated up instantaneously, transferring the heat to the vase, causing it to also explode into a similar-looking dust.

Clicking his tongue, Ferris released his grip on the shards, which caused them to be blown away by the fiery winds.

Ferris's expression went blank, dozing off from reality.

What makes that vase so special? he thought, holding himself steady using the door frame.

Clatter.

The shards scattered across the floor, skittering outward until they formed a jagged cone.

But there was one particular piece that stopped sliding like the rest—it was pressed down by a small foot.

Through the whirlwind of dust and rushing air, Ferris squinted, he saw the silhouette of a woman tinier than him, but of course, that was the case if he excluded her towering wings that added extra height.

There was also a distinct horn on her forehead and the obvious tail.

Artemis kneeled down, grabbing the shard and bringing it close to her mouth.

She tasted it with her serpent tongue, and almost immediately, there was a burning fire building up inside her.

"What the hell were you doing?"

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