Yuki looked up at the stars shining brightly in the night sky from the terrace.

She said, “First, thank you for helping me take my mother back.”

“It was nothing. I gained a lot thanks to you as well,” Seong-Hwi replied.

“Really? That’s good to hear.” Silence momentarily lingered before Yuki asked, “Are you part of the pioneering faction, Cheon Seong-Hwi?”

“I’m not affiliated with any faction, but I suppose I align with the pioneering faction the most.”

“Why?”

“Because the Master Stone is in the center of the Mirror World.”

Yuki smiled and said, “That’s a first.”

“A first what?”

“Meeting a human who genuinely aims to obtain the Master Stone.”

She stared at Seong-Hwi oddly and thought, He’s undoubtedly goal-driven, but I never thought his goal would be the Master Stone, which no one knows if it even exists.

She asked, “It can grant everything you could imagine, so what is your wish?”

“My wish, huh?” Seong-Hwi looked up at the shining stars in the night sky and answered, “I wish to shine brightly and grasp my destiny. Not just mine, but all of humanity’s.”

“That’s quite abstract. You’re more heroic than I thought. I expected you to tell me a personal wish,” Yuki replied as she summoned the mannequin Onie Rikako. “If I obtain the Master Stone... I’ll wish for my mother to return to life.”

She caressed the hard and cold mannequin of her mother and continued, “I’ll ask the Master Stone to bring back her warmth, joy, and smile. This has been my wish since my days on Earth.”

Yuki used to work at a clothing store in Mitsukoshi Ginza. Over a dozen mannequins stood behind glass for the customers to see. She changed the mannequins’ clothes and set specific poses for them.

She liked doing it because it felt like she was playing with dolls. Perhaps she had substituted her mother for the mannequins she could move however she desired, or it caused her to reminisce about playing with dolls as a child.

Her fantasies were shattered whenever a mother and daughter visited the store. Her heart ached, and she felt pathetic whenever she looked at them, locking arms as they picked clothes.

One day, while preparing to close the store by herself, she stopped before the mannequins as she was sweeping the floor. She looked around to check that no one was around and locked arms with one of the mannequins. She chuckled as she felt the hard and cold sensation and undid her arm.

“If you find the Master Stone, please make my wish come true as well,” Yuki said to Seong-Hwi.

“Sure thing, if it’s as omnipotent as they say,” Seong-Hwi replied. He then asked, “Have you decided to join Black Market?”

“Yeah. It’s not bad to be affiliated with a group.”

“Kabuka was the cornerstone of Black Market. Since he’s gone, they won’t be able to refuse you.”

“About that... Are you sure about not telling anyone that you were the one who killed Kabuka?”

“I didn’t kill him through sheer skill. I’m still not on the level of a High Ranker.”

“But I have a feeling you’ll soon be,” Yuki remarked.

Seong-Hwi did not deny it.

Yuki shook her head and continued, “Maybe... I’m beside a future World Ranker.”

“I could say the same about you, Onie Yuki. You took Kabuka’s corpse. You’re planning on turning him into a mannequin, right?”

“Of course. I’ll show you once it’s complete. I have a feeling it’ll be my greatest masterpiece,” she said as she extended her hand toward Seong-Hwi.

Seong-Hwi stared at her hand momentarily and grabbed it to shake.

“Once again, thank you, Cheon Seong-Hwi,” Yuki said.

“No problem.”

“Would you consider us as friends?” she asked.

Seong-Hwi smiled and answered, “I’d welcome the idea of being friends with Onie Yuki.”

She giggled and remarked, “Yuki is fine. If the opportunity arises, let’s be on the same team again. I don’t think I’d die with you on the team.”

“Sure, but next time, I’ll be the main commander,” Seong-Hwi replied.

***

Once the farewell party was over, the team members scattered. Enrique decided to create a dungeon-finding clan, grasping the opportunity of increased rates of reclamation. Since he had enough funds, all that remained was to find suitable members.

Yuri headed to Yeouido, the newly reclaimed city in the fourth zone, to battle even stronger Chaos. After recruiting Yuki, Sonya set out to take full control of Black Market.

Frank attended the celebration of Gustav von Seyffer, the Sword Emperor and the leader of Clan Martial, who was promoted to a High Ranker after Kabuka’s death. Lastly, Leo returned to the Maasai village after telling Seong-Hwi he would consider his offer.

Seong-Hwi returned to the Fence Hotel in Beverly Hills and opened the door to the room labeled Manager’s Office. Inside were Jurie, Gerard, and Thumper.

“Welcome back, Friend Seong-Hwi! The Capital is a paradise!” Thumper said as he waved his tiny hand while holding a vanilla ice cream cone in the other.

“Thumper, you’re not eating just ice cream for the three meals in a day instead of carrots, are you?” Seong-Hwi asked.

“Carrots? What are those? Are they edible?” Thumper asked innocently as he happily licked the ice cream.

“The patissier we recently hired to work at the lobby’s coffee shop has an ice cream scoop as their D Weapon. They’re quite skilled,” Jurie said with a smile. “Carrots were all Thumper could eat while stuck in Carrot.”

“That’s right! The adults are too harsh!” Thumper shouted.

Seong-Hwi smiled and asked Jurie, “How’s Lina doing?”

“She’s been inside her laboratory for days,” she said as she pointed downward.

Lina had renovated the underground boiler room into her laboratory, with Jurie’s permission and help.

“I went downstairs to check up on her this morning, but she seemed restless. Oh, right! She told me to tell you to wait three weeks,” Jurie remarked.

“Three weeks, huh?”

It likely meant the gene extraction would take three weeks. It was enough time since the Ferrum Festival would be held in a month.

“There have been more and more reclamations lately, right?” Seong-Hwi asked.

“Yeah. After the massive influx of Lambs, the clans centered around the Capital began to reclaim new cities. People are even calling it the era of the Great Reclamation.” Jurie tapped on her smartphone and continued, “On top of that, major clans are also jumping to reclaim fourth zone cities after the success of the Yeouido reclamation.”

“I’m sure they would. The rewards one could get from it are likely enormous.”

The fourth zone was still a mystery to humankind. Whoever marked the territory first owned it. Defeating stronger Chaos rewarded more Karma, and the area was likely filled with unexplored dungeons.

The issue is with the other races. They wouldn’t like that humans are getting closer to the center, Seong-Hwi thought.

He was sure they would endlessly wage war against humans to keep them in check. Fortunately, Necrophilia, one of the most powerful factions in the Mirror World, was amicable to humans.

Cadaver is under Necrophilia’s banner. It appears Lee Kang-San decided to side with Gula.

Kang-San had likely used Mitasra to negotiate with Gula and gained the demons’ and the undead’s favor. Of course, it had also resulted in Biphatogenes and the massive faction Echion holding a grudge against humanity.

I’ll help with the reclamation during the three weeks for Lina to extract the genes.

Since Seong-Hwi had more than enough Coins, he could hire warp gate users as much as he liked. On top of that, he could also gain rewards in the future through the race quest Adaptation by helping with the reclamation.

“Jurie, there are clans applying for reclamation aid, right?” Seong-Hwi asked.

“Of course. The Network’s job board is overflowing lately. It’d be harder not to find a job.”

“Can you recommend one?” 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

“Recommend? Hm...” Jurie trailed off as she tapped her smartphone. “Clan Watercolor is recruiting healers... Clan Icegear is recruiting ranged attackers... Clan One Tree is recruiting a nuker for a boss raid...”

“Wait. One Tree?” Seong-Hwi asked, his eyes shining.

It was the name of the clan that Shin Jun, whom he had met during the mandatory quest, had created.

“Wanna take a look?” Jurie said as she showed him her smartphone display.

Recruiting a nuker, Single-A and up.

Clan One Tree is looking for a nuker, at least a Single-A. Our clan has successfully cleared several dungeons, and we will deal with all the Chaos except for the boss.

We aim to reclaim the city of Garapan, located between the second and third zones. We are preparing to raid the Uluhatu-rank Chaos, Carrombus.

We will reward you with...

Seong-Hwi smiled after reading the recruitment notice.

He’s grown rather quickly. He’s already reclaiming a city, huh?

He could tell what Clan One Tree had in mind through their notice.

They believe they can reclaim the city once they defeat the boss Chaos.

“Are you interested in this job? Carrombus is a pretty famous insectoid Invasive Chaos. It gained its fame from annihilating Clan Finale long ago,” Jurie said.

“Get in contact with them, but don’t reveal my name. Just tell them that I’m a poacher,” Seong-Hwi replied.

The poacher position was a soccer term for someone skilled at scoring goals. They were adept at stealth and surprise attacks and were usually short-range nukers.

“That was unexpected. I thought you’d go to the third zone,” Jurie remarked as she tapped on her smartphone.

Seong-Hwi answered, “There’s a seed I’d sown a while back. I want to check if it has budded or rotted in the ground.”

***

A city was in the middle of a forest with grass as tall as one’s waist. Palm trees were grown throughout the asphalt and dirt roads, and houses with ivory walls filled the city.

“Garapan... It’s as beautiful as I’ve heard,” mumbled a girl around the age of a middle schooler as she stared at the city.

She was Ha Rin, a member of Clan One Tree, and was a transformation human with the cowardly Yorkshire Terrier Chocho as her D Weapon.

“How are their movements, Rin?” a short-haired man asked as he approached from behind.

He wore light armor that protected his neck and chest, and had a circular sheet metal shield on his back.

“They’ve noticed our presence, Jun oppa. I can smell aggression from their pheromones... They’re rubbing their wings as if they’d attack us at any moment,” Rin answered.

Shin Jun nodded. Just then, a man wearing leather armor and a yellow bow in his left hand jumped down from a tree. He was Namgung Min-Jae, the emission captain of Clan One Tree.

“There are over a thousand of those damn Lucanids. As we’ve discovered from our morning battle against them, they have high defense. Are you sure about this?” he asked.

“We’ve already made ample preparations, Min-Jae hyung. We can do this.”

Lucanids were a stag beetle Chaos, difficult to hunt due to their hard exoskeleton and antler-like mandibles.

“They’ll be formidable foes. They’re at least Armed Chaos. Even if we’ve gotten stronger, it’ll be difficult for everyone except for the elite few,” Min-Jae remarked. He was one of the few who opposed the Garapan reclamation. “Don’t you think reclaiming a city between the second and third zones was too big a gamble? Why don’t we try a city in the second zone?”

Jun shook his head and replied, “This place is our best option geographically. Garapan is between the major cities Brussels in the second zone and Stockholm in the third zone.”

“That only matters if we manage to reclaim the city.”

“I became sure of it from the morning battle. The repellent works, and the weakness of the Lucanids is their thin legs. Once we seal their mobility, the nukers can destroy their exoskeletons.”

“That’s true, but...” Min-Jae trailed off anxiously.

Jun did not even think about changing his target city.

If we compromise on a city in the second zone, our next step will become even harder. We must take this one big step now!

They couldn’t pass up the chance to take off. Clan One Tree would rise exponentially through this reclamation.

“Let’s say we somehow manage to defeat all the Lucanids. What about Carrombus?” Min-Jae asked the most important question.

Carrombus was a Uluhatu-rank Lucanid that earned a name through its infamy. This Named Chaos was mainly why other clans gave up on reclaiming Garapan despite its geographical advantage. Its exoskeleton was said to be impenetrable, its mandibles were razor-sharp, and rumor had it that it also used a powerful poison.

“Thankfully, we managed to hire a mercenary. They’re at least a Single-A attacker. According to Ye-Ji, they’re a poacher,” Jun replied.

“What? We did? For real?” Min-Jae asked, wide-eyed in disbelief.

“Wow!” Rin expressed amazement.

They had been unable to advance further because they did not have an attacker who could deal effective damage against Carrombus. If this problem were solved, they could advance immediately.

“Did we have enough Coins to hire a Single-A attacker? That would mean they’re at least a Semi Ranker in the five-hundreds. Did you promise them that artifact we found in the dungeon?” Min-Jae asked.

“Yes, and we negotiated a reasonable reward since he wanted this to be quick because he was carrying out the Adaptation quest,” Jun answered.

“What’s their name?”

“I believe it was Smith.”

“Smith?” Min-Jae asked.

He thought about the name, but did not recall anyone among the Semi Rankers with such a name.

“I believe Smith is a common surname in America,” Rin remarked.

Min-Jae’s expression hardened. “So, it’s an alias. Could he be... that kind of human?”

“I have already considered that, but since we need him, please don’t set him off,” Jun said.

“Of course... I suppose I’ll have to keep an eye on him. When is he coming?”

“He said he would arrive as soon as he hired a warp gate user, so—”

Just then, a blue light flashed from their outpost.

“Whoa! What the hell? That scared me!”

“Is that a warp gate? Who’s coming?”

The One Tree clansmen gathered around the oval gate shining blue. Jun also approached the warp gate. Two men appeared as if walking out of water. One was sweating profusely as he panted heavily—he seemed to be the warp gate user.

Then the man beside him must be the Single-A human, Jun said inwardly as he examined the man.

He was wearing black combat boots, green military cargo pants, and a black hoodie with its hood covering the man’s head.

He’s wearing Earth clothes. If they’re not secondhand nostalgia, they must be artisan-made.

A recurve knife was sheathed on his back, and an oriental sword was at his waist. The Western man with blue eyes looked around while asking, “Who is the clan leader?”

“I am,” Jun said as he walked forward.

He thought, His lip movements indicate he’s speaking English. It looks like he’s Caucasian.

“Nice to meet you. I am Smith. Your objective is to defeat Carrombus, correct?” Smith asked.

“That’s right.”

“When will you commence the operation? As I’ve notified, I’m in the middle of the Adaptation quest. Time is money.”

Smith—no, Seong-Hwi, who copied the face and appearance of a random white man on the street via the Myriad Cheoyong Mask, smiled as he stared at Jun, whom he had not seen in a while.