Roman’s jaw dropped, not happy with the outcome at all.

"Ah shit..."

He pondered for quite a while and finally accepted it.

"It’s alright then. I don’t even want to make the poor Soldier Blade Ant sad after all. It can be useful in some cases."

He then went ahead to process the rest of the options. The Blade Ant Queen, the Blue Goblin King, and the Dire Wolf Alpha that had almost devoured him.

"It’s high time I start putting them to work," he said, giving a firm nod of approval.

"I can’t keep hunting with Rena every time, or else I won’t be able to do certain things that would make everything easier."

He tried figuring out how to manage that, and just in time, a thought struck him.

"Hunting in the day..."

"Hunting outside Blood Trail Valley."

He knew the second idea was strictly against the rules, but at this point Roman wasn’t going to start fearing consequences.

Not if he wasn’t going to get caught.

The valley stretched across up to a hundred square kilometres, and if he were to leave it, the journey out and back would take long enough to raise suspicions. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

If Roman was ever going to do this, he would need a very solid plan first.

So for now, hunting in the day without Rena was the better option.

He dismissed the Talent stat and shifted his focus to the media section of the BSP. He had accumulated a considerable number of notifications, especially from the group chat, but today Roman made the posts and Forum his priority.

[Edwin Aang (A Ranker) — 10 Ways To Become A Successful Entrant.]

[Gregor Whitestone (B Ranker) — Top 5 Best Guilds To Join As A Promising Talent.]

[Edwin Aang (A Ranker) — Top 20 Best Communities In The Reach.]

[Rest Crow (A Ranker) — Top 3 Suspected Theories About Places Beyond The Reach In The Badlands.]

[Edwin Aang (A Ranker) — How To Reach The E Rank Before Privilege Day.]

There was so much content that at a certain point he couldn’t stop scrolling. He just picked one and started reading.

These were articles written by veteran Adventurers in the Badlands, and if there was anyone worth listening to, it was them.

Roman clicked on Rest Crow’s post about the theories surrounding discoveries beyond the Reach.

The Reach was the only explored and dominated section of the Badlands, yet most Adventurers still sought to push past its boundaries. Even though it was broadly understood that unexplored parts of the Badlands existed, the difficulty of reaching them or surviving the attempt had kept most people accepting the Reach as the practical limit.

[Rest Crow (Follow).]

[Top 3 Suspected Theories About Places Beyond The Reach In The Badlands.]

[The Badlands has continued to be a mystery, even as the World Government and the significant top forces within it have worked to uncover more. The pursuit is difficult, it is dangerous, and most of the time, every piece of new knowledge seems to come at a cost.]

[The last seven S rankers who attempted to cross the Dead Sea in search of land on the other side have not been heard from in over ten months, and the more believable conclusion is that they did not make it.]

[However, there are deep theories and suspected discoveries that later generations of Entrants made through difficult trials.]

[The first suspected discovery involves five different islands on the other side of the Dead Sea. This was what the seven Adventurers set out to confirm, and it does not appear that they succeeded.]

[The second suspected discovery concerns the Void Realm. A region of the Badlands filled with nothingness, and one that does not require crossing the Dead Sea to reach, only the death of an Entrant. This has revealed that once a person becomes an Entrant, they become fundamentally different from ordinary people in the World, and will not find the same afterlife upon death unless they die outside the Badlands. That is why many Entrants choose to retire at some point rather than risk dying inside.]

Roman let out a long sigh, absorbing the context immediately. He hadn’t come across any of this during his time at the academy, which made the Forum feel more important than he had initially given it credit for.

Even Proprietor Eddan Ghosthead had told them to read Forum articles regularly to gather information they might need later. Roman now understood that the Proprietor had not said that without reason.

[The last suspected discovery lies beyond the Dead Sea and the seven islands. The other side of the Badlands world entirely.]

[The Worstlands.]

[I know. You were probably expecting something better on the other side. But no. It is worse.]

[Note that these are theories built on available evidence, not confirmed facts. They may not be entirely accurate, but they are credible enough to take seriously. Do not be too surprised if they turn out to be accurate in the future. That future, however, could be a very distant one, because fully exploring the Badlands will not be a quick or easy undertaking. It may take many more generations to get there, or perhaps no one ever will. That is all I have for now. Happy hunting. Rest Crow.]

Roman dismissed the article after finishing it, and without question, the third theory was the one that had taken hold of his mind completely. He kept turning it over, pulled toward it in a way he couldn’t immediately explain.

Because he had heard something like this before. He had once found one of his mother’s record books and read something that pointed in the same direction.

A place beyond the beyond.

A place far beyond the Badlands itself.

A place where the monsters and nightmares made the Apocalyptics look manageable.

"What kind of place would that even be? It would be completely unsurvivable," Roman muttered.

Even taking down a single Apocalyptic monster would require dozens of SS rankers with no guarantee of success.

Roman sat with that thought, completely drawn in, already wanting to know more.

It didn’t take long before he reached North’s chat to see the recent message she had sent.

[North: Want to know what the Cross Operation is all about?]

[Roman: Yes, really.]

It had taken a while before she responded, and the short little reply she gave was..

[North: It’s more about getting our asses out of the Reach. When you get to see me, you’ll learn more.]