Kae leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he stared into the shifting embers.
He adjusted his posture to project a bit of his natural executive authority.
“Well, since we are gathered around the campfire, why don’t you give us the full breakdown of this world?” Kae asked, looking across the flames at Lisa.
“We need to know about its structural regions, its currency, and the basic economy so we actually know how to navigate this world with ease.”
Pixel raised her head just enough to let out a smug meow.
“Well, look at that.
That is easily one of the most intelligent questions you have managed to formulate, peasant.
I was beginning to think your processor was permanently stuck in the loading phase.”
Kae twitched but kept his mouth shut as Lisa unrolled a weathered, high-fidelity leather map across a flat stone, pinning the edges down with two daggers.
“Alright, let’s run a basic system diagnostics on the geography,” Lisa said, pointing to a heavily forested marker on the far right edge of the parchment.
“We are currently in the southern borderlands of the Eastern Continent, heading toward the fortified gates of Oakhaven.
It’s a vital trading town—the perfect place to trade raw materials and upgrade your basic gear.
Kae leaned forward, his gamer-brain instantly memorizing the layout.
“Break down the structural regions for me.
What’s the macro-layout?”
She traced her finger along the broader lines of the map, her expression growing more serious.
“Well, you see, our world is made of five main continents, alongside a few scattered sub-regions.
The primary territories are the Eastern region, the Western region, the Northern region, and the Central Plains.
Each of these territories is ruled over by a sovereign King or Queen, holding massive military and magical infrastructure.”
Let’s start at the top: The Northern Continent.”
“The North is where the elites reside,” Lisa continued, her expression turning slightly cynical.
“It’s crowded with royals, nobles, princes, princesses, rich corporate merchants, and top-tier government officials.
If you’re born there, you’re basically swimming in generational wealth.
But the cost of living in that sector is completely unhinged.”
“How unhinged are we talking?” Kae interrupted, crossing his arms.
“Give me the metrics.”
“A basic example?” Lisa laughed dryly.
“A single loaf of bread in the Northern capital costs about 20 pieces of silver.
That is literally ten times the cost here in the East, where a loaf only costs about 2 or 3 silver pieces!
It’s ridiculous.”
“A perfectly logical economic filter,” Pixel chimed in mentally, shifting her position on the mat.
“High prices keep the low-tier commoners from cluttering the server.
It’s basic premium tiering.”
“Shut up, furball,” Kae muttered aloud.
Lisa blinked at his sudden outburst, then shook her head and continued.
“The North is currently ruled by Queen Athena, who took over the throne after the tragic death of her late husband, King Michael.
Because of their pure bloodlines, the people there are born with tremendous, broken amounts of natural mana.
It’s full of A and S-ranked monsters of combat.”
“And the left side?” Kae asked, pointing to the dense, green-shaded land mass to the west.
“The Western Continent,” Lisa said, her voice dropping into a cautious tone.
“That is the ancestral domain of the Elves.
Now, look…
they aren’t exactly the most friendly people you’ll ever meet.
A huge portion of them suffer from severe racial superiority complexes and backward minds.
They think anyone without pointy ears is an optimized piece of garbage.”
Karen shifted uncomfortably, clutching her staff a little tighter.
“But some are actually amazing, friendly people,” Lisa quickly added, smiling warmly.
“Like Lora, our guild master, and Olivia, one of the top S-rank adventurers in our own guild.
But as a collective unit, Elves are terrifying.
They are born with massive, overwhelming mana pools, making them some of the most fierce magical combatants in the entire Void.
They have incredibly distinct features—pale complexion, long pointy ears, and they are highly recognized for their striking, light-colored hair, especially silver…”
Kae froze.
His eyes snapped over to Karen, analyzing her metrics.
“Wait a minute.
Silver hair, pale skin, high-output mana capacity…
She matches the baseline data perfectly.
But if she’s part of that bloodline, is her hair not silver?”
Pixel didn’t even bother opening both eyes, letting out a heavy, telepathic sigh that echoed inside Kae’s skull.
“Because she is a half-elf, you absolute dummy.
Her genetic code is a hybrid build.
Honestly, I am starting to wonder if your internal memory has a permanent leak.”
Lisa instantly slapped her open palm against her forehead, her face twisting in pure disappointment.
“Seriously, Kae?
Were you completely AFK during our last session?
She literally told us the entire truth about her origins and her family background yesterday!”
Kae’s face instantly flushed a vibrant red as he went into high-gear defense mode, frantically adjusting his gear straps to salvage his executive presence.
“Ah!
Right!
I didn’t forget, okay?!
I was just…
stress-testing her consistency metrics!”
Karen let out a soft, nervous giggle behind her oversized glasses, her shoulders relaxing slightly as the tension broke.
“It’s okay, Kaelen.
It is a bit of a weird combination…”
Anyway, the Western Continent is ruled by Queen Fiona, and Elves possess the absolute longest lifespan in this world.
Their military infrastructure is top-tier; you’ll easily find S, SS, and even S+ ranks there.
Though, honestly, an active SS or S+ unit hasn’t been spotted anywhere in this world ever since the fall of the last SS King…
the Wraith King.”
“The one the red cores ambushed?” Kae asked, his jaw setting.
“The very same,” Lisa nodded grimly.
She shifted her finger down to the bottom of the map, where the leather was stained a dark, ominous crimson.
And then, there is the fourth…”Lisa murmured, her voice dropping as she looked up at the bruised sky.
“The Southern continent.
The cursed domain where the Demon King’s curse originates, actively bleeding its dark energy outward.”
Back in the Wraith King’s era, this was one of the strongest, most prosperous regions in the entire world.
But ever since he was assassinated, the Demon King army and followers took over and claimed it as their personal throne room.”
A heavy silence fell over the camp as the fire crackled violently.
“The entire continent is completely corrupted,” Lisa said, her voice laced with deep disgust.
“The soil is dead; it never bears a single crop.
The water is poisoned, and the animals are born sickly and mutated.
It has a dangerously low human population because the citizens there are forced to worship the Demon King and offer regular sacrifices to his generals just to survive.
It is crowded with freakish monsters, bandits, demons, and those awful Red Core Wraiths.
It’s the last place in the universe you’d ever want to visit…
but it also houses the famous Mercenary Guild, which is full of freakish, unnaturally strong guys who sell their blades to the highest bidder.”
“Sounds like a completely broken zone,” Kae observed, his digital mind calculating the threat levels.
“A high-level endgame dungeon.”
“Exactly.
But to balance the darkness, look at the center,” Lisa smiled, moving her finger to the heart of the map.
“The Central Continent.
This is the merriest, most vibrant place in the world.
Some people call it the Demi-Human Continent.
The population is entirely made up of beast-kin, elves, and half-breeds.
The people there are incredibly amiable, social, and hardworking.
And honestly?
They look absolutely adorable.”
“An entire continent of emotional fluff,” Pixel scoffed mentally, rolling her eyes.
“Disgusting.
Zero corporate discipline.”
“This region is the most fertile in the entire world,” Lisa continued, ignoring Kae’s twitching eye.
“They grow the finest crops, fruits, and grains, and transport them to all the city markets across the continents.
It’s ruled by Demi-King Richard and Queen Sophia.
But because they focus entirely on agriculture and trade, most of the population is physically weak.
They are farmers, not fighters.
Their military infrastructure is mostly made up of B-ranks, with only a few A-ranks kept strictly for defense purposes.”
“And finally,” Lisa concluded, tapping the eastern zone with a proud grin.
“The Eastern Continent, ruled by King Ronald the Third.
Our capital is Oakhaven.
Because of our open trade borders, this continent is a melting pot.
Humans, dwarfs, demi-humans, displaced royals—everyone from everywhere crowds into our streets.
And this is where our guild, the Silver-Sieve, is registered.”
“The guild of misfits,” Kae noted with an annoying, confident smile.
“Hey!
We might be considered one of the weakest guilds by the upper management in the capital,” Lisa huffed, crossing her arms defensively.
“But we have a highly diverse roster!
We have ranks ranging from E all the way to B, and like I said, our Guild Master Lora is an absolute powerhouse.”
Kae leaned back against a smooth boulder, absorbing the massive influx of world data.
It was a long, exhausting day of system updates, physical training failures, and near-death encounters.
A heavy yawn escaped his throat.
“Alright,” Kae said, rubbing his eyes.
“That was a massive lore drop.
My internal battery is at five percent.
Let’s hit the tents and go to sleep.”
“Agreed,” Lisa said, stretching her arms.
“In a day or two, we march through the eastern gates.” Visit g.com for the full chapter.
“WHAT?!” Kae and Karen screamed in a unified, frantic chorus, their voices shattering the quiet night air.
“C’mon, two days?!” Kae protested, throwing his hands up in complete disbelief.
“That is a major efficiency bottleneck!
We barely have enough inventory supplies to survive out here for that long!”
Lisa raised both palms, trying to wave down their sudden explosion of panic.
“Alright, calm down, calm down!
I know you guys must be completely exhausted from all the trekking, but there is quite a considerable distance from this border alcove to our destination.
If we are traveling on foot, it will possibly take us two more—”
“Noooo!
Two days?!” Kae and Karen interrupted simultaneously, their voices overlapping in absolute desperation.
“What the—?!”
STOMP!
Lisa slammed her armored boot against the stone floor with a violent, resounding thud that sent a small tremor straight through the dirt.
“SILENCE!” Lisa shouted, her voice booming like a high-tier sonic spell.
Kae and Karen snapped their mouths shut instantly.
Their postures went completely rigid, and they sat in a terrified, wide-eyed freeze, desperately trying not to get on the absolute worst side of Lisa’s explosive temper.
The sheer aura of her A-tier authority was enough to force immediate order.
Lisa took a deep, shuddering breath, smoothing down her armor as she wrestled her temper back into alignment.
She looked at the two trembling recruits and sighed.
“If we can find ourselves a ride…
it will only take us a few hours to get there, okay?”
Karen stood up, her face lighting up with a sudden desire to be useful.
She gripped her wooden staff with both hands, channeling her massive, uncalibrated A-rank mana reserves.
“Oh!
Before we sleep, let me handle the camp logistics!
I can cast a High-Level Protective Barrier around our tents!
It’ll keep us completely safe from—”
“NOOOOOOOOO!”
Kae, Lisa, and Pixel all screamed at the exact same fraction of a second, their voices echoing in a unified chorus of pure, unadulterated panic.
Karen froze mid-chant, her staff vibrating with glowing gold energy as she stared at them, completely startled and hurt by the sudden rejection.
Her eyes began to well up behind her glasses.
“Oh…
okay.
I…
I understand.
You still think my magic is a liability…”
Realizing the clumsy healer was about to have an emotional breakdown, Kae and Lisa instantly went into high-gear damage control, waving their hands frantically with incredibly fake, reassuring smiles.
“No!
No, Karen, that’s not it at all!” Lisa lied smoothly, her voice hitting a high, frantic pitch as she jumped to her feet.
“We…
we are just looking at the environmental data!
Since we’re right on the edge of the Southern borderlands, the local night-cycle completely alters the enemy spawn rates.
Using high-output mana at this hour acts like a homing beacon for nocturnal, mana-sucking Wraiths!
They actively hunt for dense magical signatures to feast on!”
“Exactly!
Basic optimization protocol!” Kae chimed in aggressively, nodding his head like a broken bobblehead.
“The system metrics clearly show that an active barrier right now would draw a massive aggro-pull from every wraith in a ten-mile radius!
It’s mathematically redundant and highly dangerous.
What your character build needs right now is a complete system recharge.
You’ve got to conserve your energy and let your internal battery rest up so your stats are at one hundred percent for tomorrow’s trek!”
Pixel poked her head out from under her blanket, letting out a soft, unusually gentle meow that translated perfectly into Karen’s mind: “Yes, clumsy maiden, do sit down and take your unit offline.
If you deploy a high-level barrier with your uncalibrated tracking system, you will not only trigger every wraith on the server, but you will also accidentally launch a tactical nuke that will vaporize our tents and leave us sleeping in a smoking crater.
Rest your engine.”
Karen blinked, her tears instantly drying up as she absorbed their frantic, deeply passionate explanations.
A warm, touching smile spread across her face, her eyes shining with pure gratitude.
“Oh…
wow.
You guys…you care about my health and safety that much?
Thank you so much!
You’re right, I should rest my mana.”
Kae and Lisa let out a massive, synchronized sigh of relief, wiping the cold sweat from their foreheads.
“Yeah…
totally.
We care a lot,”
Within minutes, the fire died down to a low, rhythmic crackle, casting a soft, dim amber glow over the quiet camp.
Karen and Lisa retreated to the safety of the left tent, while Kae threw his frame onto his sleeping mat.
Pixel curled into a tight ball right next to his shoulder, her breathing turning slow and steady.
And beneath the heavy, absolute silence of the corrupted valley, the Vanguard officially closed its eyes, drifting into a deep, well-earned sleep as the distant spires of Oakhaven waited for them on the horizon.