Galaxy Fall: All My Skills Are Maxed-Chapter 107: Valley Of Death

"What just happened? Or is that an imposter pretending to be my young master?!" Zoginoi asked in sheer disbelief, his meticulous composure breaking as he stared at Hitachi’s back.

​"I am also completely speechless," Elizabeth added, crossing her arms. For Mirabella to agree to such a morally upright promise was like watching a dragon swear to become a vegetarian.

​Cupcake, however, remained silent, her small eyes tracking the group of three. She was the only entity currently bound to her master’s soul through the System. While the others heard a noble vow, Cupcake felt the cold, pragmatic calculation vibrating along their bond.

​’Sometimes, it’s better not to believe what you hear,’ Cupcake thought, a tiny sigh escaping her snout. Mirabella hadn’t promised out of the goodness of her heart; she had promised because having a Master Teacher’s absolute trust was a tactical advantage she couldn’t afford to pass up.

​Hayatobi stared at the two for several seconds, his silver eyes searching theirs for any hint of deception. Satisfied—or perhaps just willing to accept the lie for now—he finally nodded his head.

​"Ok then, come with me... We’re going to the Valley of Death." He looked ahead, addressing Elizabeth and Zoginoi over the heads of his students.

​"Both of your journeys end here. We will go on our own from here on out."

​He said, stepping forward and placing his massive palms squarely on both Hitachi and Mirabella’s shoulders. Before anyone could protest, a violent surge of spatial energy erupted beneath them, and instantly, the three vanished with a sound like tearing silk.

​"Hey!!" Elizabeth yelled in disbelief, waving a hand through the empty air where they had just stood.

​"What should we do now?" Zoginoi asked, adjusting his eyeglasses, his analytical mind trying to process the sudden departure.

​"How would I know?!!" Elizabeth snapped, her expression darkening as she scanned the energy trails. "Lord Hayatobi completely hid his scent and their exit trajectory. Not to mention they’re heading to the Valley of Death of all places."

​"The Valley of Death? What exactly is that?" Cupcake asked, rising her head from Elizabeth’s shoulder.

​Elizabeth began walking back toward the towering gates of the academy, her heels clicking sharply on the cobblestones. "It’s a massive, quarantined rift valley down south. It’s essentially a primordial basin filled with monsters of all sizes and grades. For high-level cultivators, it’s like a limitless monster card farming ground. But it’s also a natural anomaly—not only is it deadly, but once you enter the Valley of Death, anyone from the outside won’t be able to detect your energy signature. It’s like you turn completely invisible to the rest of the world."

​She paused, looking back toward the horizon where the capital ended and the wilderness began. "Anyway, Lord Hayatobi is with them, so they’ll be perfectly safe. Probably." She added, though she didn’t sound entirely convinced.

​"Hey, I read in the archives that Lord Hayatobi actually conquered some of the territories deep within that Valley... Some said it’s just a rumor," Zoginoi asked, falling into step behind her.

​"Oh, it’s true alright... Lord Hayatobi indeed carved out a safe space there through sheer force. And I am guessing that’s exactly where he is taking those two to train without prying eyes." Elizabeth waved her hand dismissively, picking up her pace to walk ahead of Zoginoi.

​"Just take this day as your official day off... Enjoy it while you can," she added over her shoulder.

​Zoginoi stopped, staring at her and Cupcake’s retreating figures, then back at the massive city gate, and finally sighed.

​"Day off? What do normal people even do on their day off?" he muttered to himself, completely lost without an assignment.

____

​[The Valley of Death]

​WHOOSH!

​The spatial displacement ended with a violent crack of thunder. In the center of a wide, open landscape, surrounded by towering, prehistoric trees with blood-red leaves, Mirabella, Hitachi, and Hayatobi materialized.

​"Huh?"

​Mirabella instantly moved her gaze around the unfamiliar terrain, a slight frown creasing her forehead as the oppressive, heavy spirit energy of the region pressed against her senses. "Wait, isn’t this the Valley of Death?!" she asked in genuine surprise, her hand instinctively hovering near her inventory interface.

​Hayatobi crossed his arms, staring down at the stunned Mirabella with a knowing smirk. "You are from another world, yet you tend to know everything about the hidden danger zones in this world... I think I finally have the full picture of your story."

​Mirabella’s heart skipped a beat. ’Shit!! Did he discover something about my regression?’ she thought, her mind racing for a cover story.

​Hayatobi stared at her for several agonizing seconds, building the tension, before finally revealing his grand deduction:

​"You are the hidden heiress of the Sun family. Your family secretly sent you to that backwater Earth world just to keep you safe from the political workload here, and to let you experience new things! But the cosmic invasion reached Earth, and the Galaxy Fall protocol brought you back home! The moment you arrived here and leveled up, your dormant Sun family bloodline powers unlocked, which is why you’re this monstrously powerful, right?"

"....?!!"

​Mirabella blinked, utterly stunned. Hayatobi’s wild theory wasn’t even close to the brutal truth of her past life and regression, but at the moment, it was the perfect alibi. She immediately decided to just go with the flow.

​"How... How did you figure such a thing out?" she asked, brilliantly feigning an expression of shocked disbelief and reluctant admission.

​"Yeah!! I knew it!" Hayatobi boomed, looking immensely pleased with himself. "Anyway, forget the past politics. That isn’t the primary reason why I brought you two here."

​He turned his broad back to them and moved his gaze across the desolate landscape, staring at the dense, corrupted forest in the distance, approximately 200 meters away from their current clearing.

​The two students followed his gaze, staring at the treeline, where unnatural, massive shadows were moving within the gloom.

​"Is that...?" Mirabella activated her Eagle Gaze skill. Her vision zoomed and pierced through the thick, miasmic forest, clearly outlining the terrifying, high-level creatures moving in the dark underbrush.

​"Monsters?" she muttered, a deep frown settling on her face. In her past life, she had heard horrific tales of the Valley of Death, but she had never dared get close to it, let alone enter it for training.

​"So you can see them clearly too," Hayatobi nodded, staring at Mirabella with renewed interest.

​’She doesn’t have the Celestial Eyes of the Azul clan or the Mythical Eyes of the Sword Empire, but her visual tracking skill is almost on par with those two bloodlines. At least, in terms of pure sightings,’ he thought. He clapped his massive hands together, the sound echoing like a gunshot, drawing the two students’ attention back to him.

​"Now, for the main reason I brought you two out to this hellhole."

​He snapped his fingers, his spirit energy flaring. From his spatial storage, two pristine, Golden Skill Scrolls appeared behind him, hovering gently in the heavy air.

​"It’s time to drastically strengthen your arsenal," he yelled with a big, savage smirk on his face, fully ready to see their shocked faces when they realized the tier of the gifts he was offering.