Amelia and I spent the next hour examining the building.

"So tell me, what do you think, is it good enough for the two of us?" she asked.

"The two of us?"

She frowned, which caused two small creases to appear on her forehead.

"You ask me to help you with running the guild, remember?"

"I know, I’m just teasing you," I reached out and rested my hand on her head. "You did good. Thank you."

Amelia lowered her head shyly.

"Also there is something I should tell you. I met your sister today."

"You did what?!"

"Coincidentally, she just happens to be my professor at the university."

Her eyes had this murderous glow, and for once I was glad it wasn’t directed at me.

"You look really cute when you’re mad."

"What?!"

"Nothing."

"This can’t be a coincidence. I bet she 0lanned this like some kind of stalker creep just to mess with me." Amelia stamped her onto the ground with all her might but it barely produce a sound.

’Is this what she looks like when she’s exploding with anger?’

"For a girl who has received formal training, you’re pretty weak."

She looked up as if she had finally noticed my presence which caused her face to glow red with embarrassment.

"If father somehow finds out," her anger suddenly flipped to anxiety.

Strangely, it was as if she was a different person whenever she mentioned her father.

"How dangerous is your father?"

"Just pray you never meet him."

That sounds like another reason why I should increase my strength.

"I should talk with her," she sighed. "By the way, what did you think of her? My sister, I mean. Did you like her?"

She didn’t say it, but I could tell from a glance that she cared a lot about her sister.

"I did. She was strange and her actions seemed contradictory at times, but I think she’s a good person."

Amelia’s face lit up in warmth as her lips curved upwards into a small smile.

"That’s good... So should we go home?"

"Let’s have lunch together." At the same time I made that proposition, I removed Lily from storage space.

It wasn’t uncommon to see certain players with their summons, and though Lily might look out of place, it wouldn’t be a cause for alarm.

Lily seemed excited by the prospect of us having lunch together, so the three of us went to a small restaurant nearby.

...

A few hours later, Lily and I arrived back at our apartment while Amelia went to have a meeting with the person we were leasing the apartment building from.

We didn’t waste a second before logging back into Vesperia.

I peeked my head out of the soil and used my antennae to detect if there were any suspicious monsters nearby.

Luckily, the wyvern was gone, and there wasn’t anything to flag our notice.

Immediately, I went back to the spot where I killed the colossal tarantula to see if luck was on my side, but unfortunately it wasn’t.

The corpse was already gone.

"So what will we do now?" Lily asked.

"We’ll hunt. Come with me."

Since she didn’t have any wings, Lily climbed atop my back, and I took to the sky.

Before, when I was being chased by the wyvern, I spotted something that piqued my interest and now that I got the chance, I wanted to see it up close in person.

My elongated body stretched and moved through the clouds like a piece of cloth flapping in the wind. The sight was eerily familiar to a Chinese dragon, except with two pairs of wings.

Since I wasn’t in any rush, I allowed myself to drift lazily as I took in the scenery, as awful as it was.

Just a few minutes into our flight, the sound of a raging stream could be heard.

Curiously, Lily peeked her head over my carapace to take a look at what was below.

"A river!" she chirped happily.

Somehow, in this corroded land, the river remained untouched from any impurities.

Along the river, there were scores of monsters lined up along the bank.

Even monsters needed to eat and drink. They were all in their different groups, and each group kept their distance from each other.

This was common for monsters. They would gather together in their own species and compete with each other.

While the boss monster would be the apex predator, the one who stood above all of them.

The boss monster’s role was very important as they were the ones who maintained order in this ecosystem.

He doesn’t control the monsters; he only maintains order so that one species doesn’t dominate over the others.

The boss monster sets limits as to how many members of a certain species can enter the dungeon and the amount of hunts that can be conducted within a day per species.

A dungeon break happens when the boss monster decides to expand their territory, so they leave their dungeon and expand to the outside world.

With no dungeon and no suitable boss monster to lead, they’ll just continue creating monsters as they please until they amass a horde so large they begin pouring into the other territories.

That is where I come in. My goal is to take over the role of boss monster. This entire kingdom will act as my dungeon and so will the other kingdoms I plan to claim.

I won’t be controlling the monsters; instead, I’ll be the only thing keeping them in line.

For that, I need to become the apex predator among them.

The best way to get them in line is to take away their only drinking supply and seize it for myself. Once they realize they can access the river without my permission they’ll eventually come to heel.

After increasing my bloodline purity, I was much stronger than before though I only had a D-ranked threat level.

Plus, I have 15,553 biomass to evolve myself until I am the strongest among them.

"Are we going to hunt them?" Lily asked.

"Not just yet."

Before I attack, I have to study them. Currently, there were 38 monsters below us, but there were more further up the stream.

Six of them were massive elk monsters with light green fur and pointed horns made of a material that resembled iron.

Five of the elk monsters were drinking from the river, while one stood behind them as a lookout.

The lookout had its eyes set on a troop of baboons who stood just a few meters away, allowing them to drink from the river.

These baboons were also massive. They had dark fur and a red, swelled-up face that almost looked inflamed. Their fangs were at least seven inches long and hung out of their mouths.

There were six of them, and they all carried various weapons and even wore armor. But the strangest thing about these monsters was that they weren’t drinking the water; instead, they were collecting it inside leather pouches.

Not far from them was a pride of lion-like beasts. Their bright yellow manes were engulfed in flames. This pride had 13 members.

These lions seemed to be the more aggressive ones of the bunch, as they growled and flashed their fangs at the other groups.

Part of the reason why they were so agitated was because they were just a few meters away from a few of my cousins.

Giant millipedes.

After counting their heads, I realised there were seven millipedes in total. Their bodies were entangled, and they even walked over each other.

On their backs were giant purple spikes, which I had a strange feeling was venomous.

They crawled over each other with their many legs just to get a sip of the water from the river.

And finally, the last group was actually inside the water. The river was murky, so it was impossible for the other creatures to see the bottom.

But just below them were monsters that resembled crocodiles. Though I couldn’t see them clearly myself, my mana sight skill allowed me to see the outline of their bodies.

There were six of these crocodile monsters inside the river.

"You ready, Lily?"

"Yes!"

With all the information I needed, I dove from the sky without any of them being the wiser.