Part 1: Morning Corridor and the Bro Council
We strolled down the stone corridor at a slow, leisurely pace, enjoying the quiet morning hum of the sanctuary.
Eve and Jamie were pressed flush against my sides, their soft curves leaning into me with every stride, while Meko and Rika held tightly to my hands and forearms. All four of them were sporting adorable, blushing pouts because I hadn't stopped casually reaching down to cup and squeeze their shapely rear ends the entire walk from the bedroom.
I laughed, thoroughly enjoying their warm, shuddering reactions. A confident husband doesn't neglect his duties.
Reaching the dining hall, I paused by the bench. Leaning down, I gave each of my four new wives a deep, lingering kiss on the lips before letting them slide into their seats.
"Save some room for the road," I smiled, giving Meko's hip one last playful tap before spinning on my heel toward the kitchen. "I’m going to help the cooking crew wrap up the trail rations."
At the table, Eve, Jamie, Rika, and Meko sat flushed and radiant. They were practically floating on cloud nine as the soul-bound resonance of our marriage rings pulsed with warm, unwavering security.
Across the stone table, Genta and Ibuki nearly choked on their water.
Genta leaned over, violently elbowing Ibuki in the ribs. "Bro... look at their hands. Rings. Every single one of them. And look at their necks! Don't tell me he conquered the vice rep and the archery captain before breakfast?!"
"Shut up, Genta," Ibuki groaned, staring at his plate like his brain had melted into slag. "I can't take this anymore. Wait... look at Yuki’s neck! His collar looks like a damn war zone! Fresh hickeys everywhere! That bastard is living in an anime heaven!"
Genta threw his head back, laughing so hard the plates rattled. He slammed a heavy, encouraging hand onto Ibuki’s shoulder.
"Cheer up, man! Once we cross this death forest and hit a real human city, we're finding our own six-foot-tall muscle mommy knights to sweep us off our feet! Just you wait!"
Ibuki rubbed his neck, a determined, manic grin breaking across his bruised face. "Damn straight. Muscle mommies or bust."
Part 2: Domestic Warmth and the Eggshell Conundrum
I stepped into the kitchen, the air rich with sizzling savory aromas. Rena, Ridley, Shizuku, and Lilica were working seamlessly together behind the stone counters.
Moving silently, I slid up behind Ridley, wrapping my arms firmly around her waist and pulling her back against my chest.
"Eep?!"
Ridley jumped, her breath hitching as a brilliant pink blush rushed to the tips of her ears. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw my grin and melted immediately, leaning her head back against my shoulder.
"Morning, honey," I murmured, resting my chin against her collar. "What’s on the skillet?"
"Lilica found a nest of wild forest fowl eggs near the outer ridge," Ridley smiled, skillfully flipping a golden, savory roll in the pan. "So I’m making fresh, high-protein egg rolls for the march."
"Smells incredible," I said, my hands tightening affectionately around her waist. "Our very first isekai breakfast specialty."
From across the counter, Rena looked up from her prep board, her long elven ears twitching with an amused smile. "Yuki! Stop distracting the chef and come handle the trimmings so we can plate breakfast."
"On it," I chuckled.
I turned Ridley smoothly in my arms, tilting her chin up to seal her lips in a deep, possessive kiss.
When our lips finally parted, I nuzzled the warm curve of her ear, whispering, "I love you, honey."
Her Astraeum sapphire flared with soft blue light. "I love you too, Yuki."
Stepping over to the prep station, I cleared the vegetable ends and marrow trimmings with [Cooking (Lv. 10 MAX)], but stopped at a massive pile of discarded eggshells. I focused my cosmic vision on them.
Nothing. No crafting prompts, no alchemical tags.
I sighed, resting my hands on my hips. "Man... I hate wasting material, but these shells don't have a single system recipe."
Rena wiped down the adjacent board, glancing at the pile. "Can your skills process them, Yuki?"
"Nope. Dead junk. But that’s fine—we used literally every other gram of food in this cave."
Rena swept the shells into the compost chute with an understanding smile. Together, we carried the towering, steaming platters out to the main dining table.
The twenty-three survivors dug in like starving wolves. Ridley’s fresh mountain egg rolls were an instant hit—rich, fluffy, and infused with minor regenerative mana that cleared the remaining fatigue from their limbs.
Once plates were cleared and the processed rations were safely distributed into everyone's spatial bags, I stepped into the center of the living quarters, clapping my hands firmly.
"Alright, ladies. Final prep before we march."
With a wave of my hand, I opened my inventory, withdrawing a massive, glittering armory of basic Legendary gear sets tailored from the Floor 29 vault.
I systematically handed out balanced shortswords, reinforced recurve bows for the archery girls, fluid casting spears, and heavy war clubs to match their athletic backgrounds.
Then, acting as the sovereign head of the house, I stepped into their circle to personally help all fourteen un-geared girls change out of their worn uniforms and strap into their new armor.
I didn't rush.
I took my sweet time. My warm hands brushed deliberately against bare skin as I adjusted snug leather straps across smooth shoulders and tightened buckles against delicate ribs. I knelt to secure thigh sheaths against their bare legs, playfully squeezing their curves and admiring their figures while ensuring every piece fit like a second skin.
Every single girl was bright crimson from head to toe, trembling under my hands-on attention as I handed them [Equipment Toggle Rings].
I chuckled, flashing them a confident, dominant grin. "Don't be shy. You’re all stunning, and I’m keeping every single one of you alive out there. I’m just waiting to put real rings on your fingers later."
Their eyes sparkled with eager, blushing smiles.
FLASH.
In a soft wave of light, their heavy armor layers compressed into the silver bands, leaving them standing in comfortable, lightweight travel clothes, fully armed and inconspicuous.
After handing out five high-tier [God Potions] to every single person in the assembly, we gathered our packs.
We stepped out onto the rocky cliffside under the morning sun. With a mental command, I activated the earth seal, disguising the cave entrance beneath seamless stone and moss.
Our company of twenty-three turned west, stepping off the ridge into the Level 900 wild.
Part 3: The Abyssal Ambush
An hour into our trek through the primeval canopy, the atmosphere shifted.
The air turned heavy, humid, and freezing cold. Sensing the sudden drop in pressure, Genta reached for his battleaxe while Ibuki drew his broadsword, planting his boots firmly in the moss.
"Easy, everyone," I called out calmly to the trembling students behind us. "Remember the rules: land a single strike, throw a heal, or toss a support buff, and you bank full EXP. These monsters will read absurdly high on your HUDs, but inside my territory grid, their stats are forcefully compressed to Level 10 to 20."
Ibuki frowned over his shoulder. "Wait, Yuki... if they're scaled that low, how does that give us endgame EXP?"
BOOM!
Before I could answer, the earth ahead detonated.
Two massive reptilian hounds lunged from the shattered loam, their crimson eyes burning with abyssal hunger, snarling through rows of jagged fangs.
🐺 [WILDERNESS VANGUARD: ABYSSAL KOBOLD (×2)]Native Tier: Level 920 ➔ [Suppressed]: Level 12HP: 986 / 986 | MP: 321 / 321💪 STR: 1,265 | 🛡️ VIT: 2,096 | ⚡ DEX: 2,534 | 🍀 LUK: 878
Seeing raw stats that high even on a "suppressed" Level 12 beast, the two athletes didn't waste a microsecond.
They slammed their vanity rings.
FLASH!
Genta’s [Titan-Forge Plate] and cosmic greataxe locked into place, the constellations on the blades blazing with violent purple light. Beside him, Ibuki’s [Fulgurite Bastion] plates erupted with high-frequency blue-white plasma, crackling furiously across his broadsword and the monolithic Shield of the Beholder Sovereign.
I chuckled, taking a step back to give them room. "Look at that. You boys have a lot of pent-up anger from that campsite, don't you?"
Genta grinned, his eyes burning with battle hunger. "Leave these two to us, Yuki!"
"All yours. Covering your six."
Extending my palm, I cast our umbrella buff: [Physics Resistance Buff (Lv. 6)], granting a massive +200% VIT boost to my wives and a solid +100% VIT modifier to my allies for twelve full hours.
The golden-iron shroud wrapped around their armor just as the two kobolds blurred forward at terrifying velocity.
CLANG!
Ibuki stepped into the breach, driving the base of the Beholder’s tower shield deep into the bedrock. Both monsters struck the metal simultaneously.
The concussive shockwave cracked the stone under Ibuki's boots, but his feet didn't slide an inch.
"Get off my shield!" Ibuki roared.
Genta came sweeping in from the flank, swinging Astraea’s Verdict in a horizontal cleave. The kobolds leaped back, using their high dexterity to clear the edge, but the sheer atmospheric vacuum of the divine greataxe hurled them backward into the dirt.
Genta vaulted into the air, bringing the heavy weapon down in a crushing forward slam.
CRASH!
The blade cleaved deep into the bedrock, sending a seismic shockwave that shattered the monsters' footing. But the heavy axe bit too deep into the stone.
Before Genta could wrench the blade free, the first kobold lunged, driving its jagged iron club violently across his ribs.
Genta’s health bar dropped: 🩸 [HP: 1,935 ➔ 1,335].
"Genta!"
Ibuki surged forward, executing a devastating [Shield Dash]. The scaled face of the tower shield struck the attacking kobold like a runaway freight train, blasting it twenty feet into the brush. Pivoting on his heel with fluid momentum, Ibuki leaped, driving a ferocious roundhouse kick into the second beast's jaw, forcing the two monsters apart.
Genta ripped his greataxe free, veins bulging across his neck. "My turn, you bastard!"
The first kobold scrambled up, leaping with a vicious downward swipe. Genta met it head-on.
Their weapons collided in a shower of white sparks.
"Die!" Genta roared.
A blood-crimson warrior aura erupted from his chest: 🩸 [HP: 1,335 ➔ 1,035]. With an authoritative, overwhelming heave of his upper body, Genta shoved through the monster's guard. The divine edge sheared cleanly through the iron club—and cleaved the kobold vertically in half.
Pixelated ash scattered into the wind.
A few yards away, Ibuki was holding the line. He stood like an immovable iron mountain, rhythmically deflecting a barrage of savage claws and club strikes against the Beholder’s shell.
Clang. Clang. Clang.
On the tenth consecutive block, the internal capacitors of the [Fulgurite Bastion] hit capacity.
BZZZZZZT!
A deafening, unblockable discharge of blue-white chain lightning blasted from the shield, enveloping the monster's nervous system and locking its limbs in absolute paralysis.
Genta jogged up from behind, grinning through his helmet. "Stop playing with your food, dummy! Finish it!"
Before Ibuki could swing, the paralyzed beast's eyes turned pitch-black.
Berserk State.
Overriding the stun through primal desperation, the monster vanished, instantly reappearing at Ibuki's flank. Its heavy club slammed flush across Ibuki's helmet.
CRACK.
The kinetic force launched Ibuki across the clearing, skipping off the dirt before crashing hard into a jagged rock wall.
Thanks to the Divine plates and my Physics Resistance buff, the armor absorbed the fatal blow. But the blunt trauma bit deep. Ibuki pushed himself out of the rubble, spitting a mouthful of crimson blood as his health plunged: 🩸 [HP: 38,712 ➔ 12,938].
Completely ignoring the high-tier God Potions sitting in his pocket, Ibuki's eyes went wild with pure, berserker adrenaline.
"You think that hurt?!" Ibuki roared, his voice shaking the trees.
He launched himself from the crater like a missile. Closing the distance in a fraction of a second, Ibuki drove the [Genesis Brand] upward in a savage, rising arc.
SHING!
The pure-white holy steel sang through the air, shearing the berserk monster's right arm cleanly from its shoulder socket! Brilliant, blinding white fire from [Paladin's Decree] ignited the stump, scorching the wound with agonizing holy damage.
The beast shrieked, scrambling backward—
WHAM.
Ibuki’s [Tyrant’s Shieldguard] aura slammed down like a hydraulic press, crushing the beast flat to the dirt and tanking its core statistics by a brutal 300% thanks to [Crushing Domain].
"Now, Genta!" Ibuki spat blood, his teeth bared in a feral grin. "Take its damn head!"
"ON IT!"
Genta leaped thirty feet into the canopy, his battleaxe blazing with starlight. Bringing the heavy twin blades down with both hands, he delivered the execution strike.
The celestial edge sliced cleanly through the monster's neck, sending its severed head tumbling into the ferns as its body dissolved into a roaring geyser of golden experience particles.
📈 [COMBAT MILESTONE PAYOFF]Suppression Zone Clear Confirmed — Native Lv. 920 EXP Applied!✨ Massive Level Ascension:🥇 Genta: Level 15 ➔ Level 98! [Vanguard Heavy Smasher Unsealed]🥇 Ibuki: Level 20 ➔ Level 85! [Tyrant Shieldguard Fortress Active]
Golden pillars of level-up light erupted around the two athletes, shooting fifty feet into the sky.
Genta and Ibuki stood in the quiet clearing as their stats multiplied by hundreds of percent, staring down at their glowing hands in stunned, hysterical disbelief.
"Ninety... ninety-eight?!" Genta yelled, his voice cracking.
I chuckled, walking up and resting my staff on my shoulder.
"Told you. Native Level 920 EXP for Level 12 effort. Welcome to the big leagues, boys."