Kim Hajun exhaled and looked up. The road ahead was long and steep. If he wanted to obtain the unique hidden piece within the first floor, he had to climb to the top of a mountain. It was a vertical mountain, one with sheer cliff faces on all its sides—perhaps it could even be described as a pillar. Kim Hajun didn’t have any climbing gear, but he did purchase seven vials of gecko juice back in the commercial district. He took one of the green vials out of his bag and uncorked it. The smell was far from pleasant, but he didn’t let it stop him from smearing the contents all over his hands and feet, which were bare.

Kim Hajun took in a deep breath and pressed his hand against the rocky surface. For the next half an hour, he’d be able to stick to any surface like a gecko thanks to the tiny little flesh hairs that had grown on his palms and soles like a furry blanket. Rather than questioning the mechanism of the potion, Kim Hajun climbed. At first, he started slow to grasp the functions of the tiny hairs, but once he figured it out, he climbed up as fast as a person ran.

In the distance, not too far away, a skeletal bat peered out of a cover made of foliage within a tree’s branches. Its eyes were trained on Kim Hajun, watching the well-dressed man’s every movement.

***

“That’s not very fair, don’t you think, Auntie?” Tafel asked, watching as Lindyss produced animal skeleton after animal skeleton out of her pocket. The cursed elf breathed life into them as she did so, releasing them to scamper outside of the igloo.

“Only losers complain about fair,” Lindyss said after placing a mongoose skeleton onto the ground. It promptly dug into the ground despite how solid the frozen tundra was. “Vur’s using his elementals to search, so why can’t I use my skeletons?”

“Vur only has four elementals,” Tafel said. “You’ve taken over a thousand animal skeletons out of your pocket. How do they even fit in there? How much space do you even have?”

“I think you’re misunderstanding something about how my pocket works,” Lindyss said, raising an eyebrow. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a bird skeleton. “Then again, it’s probably best you don’t understand. Rather than complaining about fairness, why don’t you start searching as well?”

Tafel rubbed her chin and leaned back in her seat made of ice and covered with fur. It might’ve been her idea to make it a contest to search for the unique hidden piece, but she didn’t even know where to begin when it came to looking. First of all, she didn’t know what the unique hidden piece looked like, and second of all, she had no idea what the land looked like either; after all, she hadn’t left the igloo yet. The challenge could end up even tougher than finding a needle in a haystack; if she didn’t approach it with the right strategy, she was bound to fail. What was the most important aspect of this challenge? Information.

Tafel climbed to her feet and took a look at Kax and Jeffery. The two men were part of the gamble, but they sure didn’t act like it. Jeffery was sipping on the ant honey tea, and Kax was sitting while staring at a small rectangular piece of paper. “How are you two going to approach this?” the demon couldn’t help but ask.

Jeffery raised his head. “No rush,” he said. “I’ve been looking on and off for over a decade. If I stumble upon it, then I’ll be grateful.”

Kax put away the paper he was looking at, his root bracelet glowing amber as he did so. He met Tafel’s gaze. “Kax has no search ability. Kax follow Jeffery, and if Jeffery finds, Kax steals.”

Jeffery turned to the side with an expression on his face that asked, “Bro, what’d you just say?” Then, he saw the red-haired man’s bulging muscles and decided he wasn’t going to fight someone who had quadriceps larger than his face. In the end, Jeffery shrugged. It honestly didn’t really matter; Jeffery was sure the unique hidden piece would remain as such, hidden.

Tafel scratched her head upon hearing Jeffery’s and Kax’s answers. If only Kim Hajun, the self-proclaimed prophet and information dealer were here, then wouldn’t she be able to buy the location of the hidden piece from him? Tafel turned her head to the side, and she raised an eyebrow. “Vur? What are you doing?”

Vur glanced up from his seat in front of the table. Stella was standing on the table, wearing a long white cape. In Vur’s hands, there was a triangular piece of cloth that he was helping Stella step into. Sticky threads came out of his fingers, bunching the fabric up so it remained on the fairy queen’s body. “Stella wants to summon the puppies.”

“She looks….” Tafel stared at Stella and let her words trail off. Only a fool would insult a fairy capable of cursing someone with minor inconveniences. “Fantastic.”

Lindyss nodded while letting a human skeleton walk out of the door, which was a giant, movable sheet of ice Mistle had created for a perfect fit. “She looks exactly how fairies should look in my mind.”

“This time, you’re joking, right?” Erin asked from Lindyss’ shoulder.

Lindyss shrugged. “Think what you will.”

Before Erin could respond, Stella shouted, “Hundred Puppy Massacre!”

“Woof, woof!”

Dozens of bright lights appeared on the ground around the group. They gradually expanded and took the shape of glowing dogs. The glow rapidly increased in intensity, and when it was nearly impossible to see, the light vanished, and ninety-three puppies appeared in place of the light.

Tafel’s eyes lit up upon seeing a puppy, and she bent down to pick it up. “Oh my gosh, it’s so cute!” she said while beaming. She turned her head towards Vur and held up the spotted puppy in her hands. “Look!” Before Vur could say anything, a furrow appeared on Tafel’s brow, and she turned to glare at Jeffery. “You let seven of these puppies die? How could you?”

Jeffery blinked. How was he supposed to respond to that? “I bear chased me into a tree, and it wouldn’t go away, so….”