She didn’t move.

Yeon-woo sighed. He thought she would have some kind of reaction if she saw his face, but nothing changed. Still, Yeon-woo continued to speak to Ananta. Even if she showed no reaction, she was probably listening somewhere in her subconscious.

Once she woke up, he hoped that she would tell him everything she had struggled with. Yeon-woo was the one who wanted Ananta to regain her senses the most. He wanted those who remembered and cherished his brother to be happy.

He put his mask back on and turned around to see Brahm there with a bitter smile.

“Thank you, as always.”

“That’s what I should be saying.”

“Are you leaving now?”

“There’s no need to spend any more time here.”

“Sesha will be angry if you leave without saying anything. Last time, I had a hard time trying to appease her because you left without a word.”

Yeon-woo laughed. “Please convince her we…” Before Yeon-woo could finish, there was a crashing sound in the hallway, and the door burst open.

“Uncle!” Sesha jumped into Yeon-woo’s arms with her short legs. Yeon-woo quickly caught her in case she got hurt. “Uncle! You were going to leave me behind again, weren’t you?” Sesha looked Yeon-woo, puffing her cheeks. Whenever Yeon-woo put his mask back on, it meant that he would leave soon.

“That’s…” Yeon-woo broke out in a cold sweat, not knowing how to make an excuse.

“You left me last time, too! How can you do that to me?”

“S-Sesha.”

“You’re gonna play with me first, right? Hm? Or…” Sesha looked down at the ground with a sad face. “Do you not like spending time with me?”

Yeon-woo sighed. Who could be cold in front of such a cute niece? He took his mask off. “No. Of course not. What do you want to do?”

“Hehehe! I want to do what you taught me last time! Hopscotch! That was fun!” Sesha broke out into a huge grin, as though all her worries had disappeared. Then, she grabbed Yeon-woo’s hand and pulled him out to the yard. Yeon-woo followed her, shaking his head. He’d heard that the boys in the village were crazy for Sesha and he now had an inkling why.

Brahm smiled as he watched Yeon-woo and Sesha leave. “He loves his niece so much.” It was rare to see such a touching scene in the Tower.

Ananta watched them silently. Her eyes focused and blurred again.

* * *

Creutz clucked his tongue. ‘Tartarus, the One-horned tribe, and now Blood Land? When did he make all these connections?’ He didn’t say anything because he promised to follow Yeon-woo quietly, but he was surprised that they were visiting Blood Land. He was curious about Yeon-woo’s relationship to Blood Land. ‘If it’s a good relationship, the Regiment will have to rethink our relationship with Blood Land, too.’

Creutz and the rest of the Fantasy Regiment had a simple assessment of Blood Land: crazy psychos. They were better than the truly lunatic Devil Army, though, since there were still some reasonable people in Blood Land that the Fantasy Regiment had ties with.

However, they thought poorly of Blood Land because of one thing: ‘There’s no way to guess what the Gluttony Emperor is thinking.’ Blood Land was modeled after an empire, which meant that the emperor had total authority and power. The people were deeply loyal to the emperor, who decided on the clan’s direction according to his whims.

The Gluttony Emperor’s will was the will of the empire, and because he was impulsive and flighty, the Fantasy Regiment couldn’t respect him. He would suddenly change his mind in the middle of a task, and sometimes, he would disappear from the battlefield simply because he was feeling hungry. However, he was powerful enough to be one of the Nine Kings, and no one could stop him except for the Martial King.

‘The Gluttony Emperor also has a horrifying side. He’s really crazy.’ And Yeon-woo was heading to a place like that. Creutz was worried, but the gears in his head were moving. The Regiment Leader was deeply interested in Yeon-woo and even said that he wanted the Hoarder at his side all the time. If Yeon-woo entered the Fantasy Regiment, he would be given a high position, and his relationships to other organizations would in turn influence the Fantasy Regiment’s stance.

‘Isn’t there a word for people like that?’ Creutz remembered something his subordinates had said about people who had a lot of friends and hung out with many people. ‘I thought he was an outsider. But he’s totally an insider…’

[You have entered the Outer Space ‘Land of Red Sunsets’.]

A pink-orange dusk greeted Creutz when he entered the portal after Yeon-woo. A red carpet had been rolled out, and soldiers in red armor began to blow their trumpets and beat their drums.

Yeon-woo’s eyes widened at the fancy reception. He was beyond surprised—he was bewildered. When had they prepared something like this? Blood Land was famous for having different welcome ceremonies for different visitors: Red, White, Blue, and Black. Red was reserved for their most honored guests, like Yeon-woo.

It was usually something they brought out for a leader of one of the Eight Large Clans or someone of equal status.

‘And they’re doing that for me?’ It was true he had tricked them to gain their trust, but he didn’t know they held him in such high regard. Aside from that, the Gluttony Emperor was the leader of a large clan. Even if he liked Yeon-woo, it was within his prerogative to treat him indifferently.

Of course, this kind of welcome wasn’t a bad thing for Yeon-woo. If they accepted him like this, it meant that he could take more from them.

“Oho! Who’s this?! If it isn’t my close friend, the Hoarder!” A fancy palanquin arrived from the palace, carried by over a hundred slaves. Behind it, Duke Tuan Tien, Duke Moglay, and about thirty-six marquises followed like servants.

A violent aura that reeked of blood whirled around them as the fat Gluttony Emperor wobbled up from his fancy chair. He was smiling kindly, but there was still blood on his chin. It was a gruesome sight.

“Nice to meet you, Your Majesty.” Yeon-woo didn’t blink and bowed—or at least he tried to, but the Gluttony Emperor suddenly jumped down from the palanquin, making the ground quake. His flesh jiggled as he wobbled over the Yeon-woo and helped him up.

“What are you doing?! You don’t have to greet a close friend so formally. Your reputation is my reputation! Are you planning on making others look down on me?” The Gluttony Emperor patted Yeon-woo’s shoulder and grabbed his hand. “Anyway, don’t just stand there. Come in! We have many things to talk about. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting?” The Gluttony Emperor forced Yeon-woo to board the palanquin and looked around. He glared at the marching band and the welcoming committee. “What are you doing?! A special visitor has come. Greet him heartily this instant!”

They marched forward with trumpets blaring.

* * *

“Hahaha! It’s not much, but I hope you enjoy it!” The Gluttony Emperor burst out laughing and told Yeon-woo to sit down at the long table.

‘This isn’t much?’ Yeon-woo stared in disbelief at the wine, duck drenched in honey, and delicacies. Flames danced on the tips of golden candles. Everything Yeon-woo had seen so far had been extravagant.

Servants bowed to him, and the soldiers greeted him even more dramatically than the welcoming committee had. In the dining hall, Yeon-woo sat next to the Gluttony Emperor, who was seated at the head.

The Gluttony Emperor signaled for him to eat, his curved eyes making Yeon-woo uncomfortable. However, he couldn’t refuse the invitation. He was hungry anyway, so he slowly moved his hand to the spoon. Even if it was poisoned, his Disabling Poison Blood could resist most poisons.

As soon as he tasted the soup, Yeon-woo’s eyes widened. ‘This is…?’

The Gluttony Emperor laughed. “Hahaha! How is it? Isn’t it incredible? Our chef, Duke Tuan Tien, went through a lot of trouble to make it. Come here.”

“Thank you. I hope our visitor enjoys it.” Duke Tuan Tien smiled brightly in his white chef’s outfit.

Yeon-woo laughed. ‘Crazy bastards. They’re serving soup with the roe of a soul shark as an appetizer?’ The soul shark was a rare monster on the sixty-eighth floor that moved freely between reality and the imaginary world. It only appeared once every ten years and was famous for having roe that had a great amount of holy power.

Ordinary players would be able to control their magic power better by eating the roe, but Blood Land had crushed the roe and turned it into soup. Also, the milk of the Taranian Mountain Sheep that they’d used as an ingredient in the soup was known for increasing one’s vitality. The soup was an elixir that anyone would rush to devour. It would eat up a year of a clan’s budget to make it.

Yeon-woo carefully drank the fruity wine, wondering what it was. A fresh taste wrapped around his tongue. Although he only had a sip, his magic power increased rapidly.

[Your magic power has increased by 8 points.]

[Your magic power has increased by 6 points.]

It was definitely mixed with ambrosia from the fruit of gods that grew only on the seventy-first floor. Yeon-woo opened his Draconic Eyes to look at the other ingredients.

[Fenghuang Soup]

[Triple Head Troll’s Meat]

[Golden Apple’s Honey]

[Mermaid King Tail Steak]

[Rare Divine Wine]

……

Yeon-woo was so flabbergasted that he couldn’t even laugh anymore. Creutz nodded to himself as he watched Yeon-woo. ‘He’s being received in such a grand manner. He’s definitely an insider.’