Inside the privileged room, Jayden slowly looked up when the two men entered. His expression remained cold, but the tension around his eyes sharpened immediately after hearing Rael’s name.

"What kind of lead?" he asked while standing from the chair.

One of the exhausted men swallowed once before answering. "We found several corpses near the mountain range. Monsters had already mutilated most of them badly, but based on the equipment and remaining features, they should belong to Rael’s group."

Jayden’s eyes narrowed slightly. Almost immediately, he remembered the earlier conversation Zich had with Arnold. During their exchange, Zich had casually mentioned finding a dungeon around the mountainside, and at the time, Jayden had not thought too deeply about it because the brat’s attitude had irritated him more than his words.

Now the pieces aligned too neatly.

The second man stepped forward carefully. "We also investigated the event rankings again. Around the same period Rael’s team disappeared, Zich suddenly began overtaking multiple participants rapidly."

The report made sense and yet confused Jayden simultaneously. If Rael and his men had died, their points could have been taken afterward either by Zich or by some unrelated third party who simply arrived later and cleaned up the aftermath.

Still...

The timing was terrible enough to become suspicious.

"He thought ahead," Jayden muttered quietly.

The two lackeys exchanged confused looks.

Jayden rarely complimented anyone, especially someone he disliked, but the more he thought about the situation, the more irritatingly clever it appeared. If Zich truly killed Rael, he had done it during a chaotic event filled with monsters, hidden dungeons, and collapsing battlefields.

There were no witnesses. No direct evidence. All he had were guesses.

And the worst part was that Zich’s calm reaction earlier suddenly looked far more believable because of it. A guilty person acting nervous would attract suspicion immediately, but Zich had remained perfectly calm while answering.

Jayden clicked his tongue softly while grabbing his coat. "I have another job for you. The family head is already beginning to ask questions. I cannot keep this up for too long, so I need you to force the answer out of him."

---

Inside his room, Zich remained completely unaware of the discussion happening elsewhere.

He sat cross-legged on the bed with the marketplace interface open before him, and after briefly scanning the skill section again, he finally located the listing he wanted.

[Skill Scroll — Blink]

[Price: 20 Soul Stones]

Without hesitation, he confirmed the purchase.

[Ding! Transaction complete.]

A silver scroll appeared directly in his hand.

[Blink LV.1]

[Details: Short burst teleportation. Limited range. Instant activation]

Zich opened it immediately, and the moment the seal broke apart, faint symbols burst from the paper before flowing directly into his body. A strange sensation spread through his muscles and nerves afterward, not painful but sharp enough to make him sit still for several seconds.

New understanding settled naturally inside his mind.

He slowly raised one hand afterward and activated the skill.

FWOOSH!!!

His figure vanished from the bed and reappeared beside the opposite wall almost instantly.

The movement lasted less than a fraction of a second, but the sudden displacement still made his heartbeat quicken slightly. The distance was limited for now, barely enough to cross the small shelter room cleanly, but the usefulness was obvious immediately.

’Good.’ His lips curved slightly upward.

With this, surviving dangerous situations would become significantly easier. Dodging fatal attacks, repositioning instantly, escaping traps, closing distance unexpectedly... the possibilities were enormous for a skill obtained this early.

After testing it several more times carefully, Zich finally stopped before the mana consumption became excessive.

He exhaled once and looked toward Slimy, resting quietly near the bed. "Guard the room."

Slimy bounced once in agreement.

So far, very few people knew about Blood Leech’s existence, and Zich planned on keeping it that way for as long as possible because hidden cards only remained useful while hidden.

Closing his eyes afterward, he entered the graveyard.

---

Cold rain greeted him again the moment the familiar world appeared.

The gray sky stretched endlessly overhead while rows of tombstones stood quietly across the dark land, and compared to the noisy shelter outside, the graveyard felt almost peaceful in an unsettling way.

Twenty-five tomb slots now filled the area completely.

The six tombs belonging to Rael’s lackeys stood together near one side, the three failures, and several monster graves from the hard-ranked and Ape Settlement dungeons rested farther away, and beyond all of them towered the enormous tombstone of Tiamant, radiating pressure heavy enough to distort the surrounding air slightly.

Everything he killed now rested here.

At the center of the graveyard, a system panel appeared before him again.

[Ding! Do you wish to absorb or create a new summon?]

Zich selected Create immediately without hesitation.

The moment his choice finalized, the entire graveyard reacted violently.

BOOOOM!!!!

Dark energy exploded outward from the center area, and the cold rain above intensified instantly while the ground trembled hard enough to crack open several long trenches across the cemetery floor.

Unlike Blood Leech’s creation, this reaction felt far heavier and more powerful.

The tombstones vibrated visibly. Even Tiamant’s massive grave emitted a low pulse afterward, causing the surrounding rainwater to rise several centimeters off the ground before crashing back down again.

Zich’s eyes widened while watching the process begin, struggling to contain his excitement.

The last time he had gotten this reaction, he had created a powerful monster.

This time, it was even fiercer than before.

---

At almost the exact same time, outside Zich’s shelter room, Jayden’s two lackeys crouched quietly near the locked door.

One pulled out a thin metal tool while glancing around the corridor nervously.

"Hurry," the other whispered.

A faint click echoed softly, and the lock opened.

Slowly, they pushed the door inward and stepped inside the room cautiously, but the moment their eyes landed on the stacked bags of gold coins and the faint glow leaking from several improperly hidden soul stones near the bed, both men froze completely.

Silence filled the room for several long seconds.

Then slowly, greedy smiles spread across their faces.

"Brother, it seems we’re extremely lucky this time."