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“I thought I might finally learn something this time.”

Clang! Clang!

Haniel’s pickaxe, swung irritably, struck a rock slightly protruding from the ground.

Sweat poured down her forehead like rain, but Haniel moved her body vigorously without showing any signs of fatigue.

Her blazing gaze was fixated persistently on one point.

Clang!

Clang! Clang!

“Hah…”

It’s tiring. Actually, more mentally than physically. Haniel put down her pickaxe and wiped her face with a towel.

Usually when mining, she would empty her mind and work, but the reason her head was so complicated right now was surely… because of Regan.

That guy.

‘Even after being so physically intimate, are we still strangers? If not that, then…’

Why wouldn’t Regan say anything?

Haniel wiped the moisture from her wet eyelashes with a towel and shook her head.

He called her his mate. His female.

Though she didn’t know what would happen once his mating season was resolved, it seemed certain that she held some special position for Regan. So why wouldn’t he tell her anything about his past or himself?

Haniel frowned as she recalled their conversation from just hours ago.

‘His expression was extremely cold… but he also seemed afraid of something.’

What was frustrating was that she couldn’t understand what was causing him to harbor such emotions.

Given how he subtly slipped away when the conversation turned to Rifts and the area outside this territory, the forest… perhaps it had something to do with his actions before coming to this forest, his past.

“Hmm…”

Wait. Come to think of it, what animal therapy? He’s just a furry troublemaker.

“Ugh… this… dog-like… arrrgh!”

Clang! Clang! Claaang! Bang! Clang!

Haniel channeled her frustration into angry pickaxe swings.

The notification sounds of skill success rang madly in her ears.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

“That’s it!”

Thud! Haniel threw down the pickaxe she was holding.

After staring at the rocks scattered on the ground, she turned toward the flashing status window. Her gaze contained such a fierce energy that it would make not only people but even the status window itself freeze.

“Hey, status window!”

Don’t try to change the subject!

If the status window were human, it would probably be sweating profusely by now.

Haniel barely unclenched her fist and pointed at the status window.

“You told me to close the Rifts. Why didn’t you tell me earlier how dangerous they are? All that information about Rifts that Regan told me, I was hearing it for the first time, you know? Are you on the Rifts’ side? Are you a spy? You’re the mastermind behind this!”

“You gloomy thing. Be honest… huh? Do you actually want me to be devoured by these Rifts or dungeons or whatever? And then you’ll s*ck out my soul!”

Haniel wrinkled her nose bridge.

What were those square black things blocking some of the status window text?

Though unclear, the status window seemed to be trying to convince her that even hostile life forms that might exist in the “Rifts” would be affected by Haniel’s ability.

That Rifts weren’t dangerous to her.

But honestly, that wasn’t entirely reassuring.

Haniel gritted her teeth and argued:

“Are you going to say something different later? Claiming it’s necessary for improving my home, trying to bait me with something I can’t refuse…”

The suspiciously blinking status window soon disappeared from view with a cheerful “ding” sound.

Curses spilled from between Haniel’s teeth.

“You’re disappearing? Disappearing again because you have nothing to say? This dog… there’s more than one dog at home.”

Could anything be more frustrating?

Regan barely told her anything about himself and just warned her not to enter the forest because Rifts made it dangerous, while the status window just spouted infuriating nonsense about wishing for her health and prosperity.

It was suffocatingly frustrating.

Is this the harm of a small society… limited human relationships?

But that didn’t mean Haniel could find more sources of information or people to confide in here.

There was no local community marketplace or social media here.

Haniel put the pickaxe and minerals into her inventory and trudged toward the nearby water tap.

After roughly wiping off her sweat, she plopped down on a nearby bench and caught her breath.

I need a friend.

Haniel whispered with a tired sigh.

A friend, a friend… wait.

‘I feel like I’m forgetting something…’

Didn’t she have such a being in this world?

Someone who was gradually being forgotten as she grew accustomed to the empty space these days…

Just as Haniel was scratching her temple, trying to remember who that insignificant being was:

Ding!

Pyororong!

“!”

A cry echoing from the forest.

Haniel opened her eyes wide and quickly stood up, turning toward the source of the sound.

Yes, that’s right.

“Saedol!”

Flap flap!

Pirong, pyororong, pyorong!

Haniel smiled with her mouth wide open.

Besides Regan, there was only one being who had received an entry approval mark from Haniel, the owner of this territory.

From beyond the forest, a blue bird that hadn’t shown its face for a while, who knew where it had been wandering, was flying toward her.

Two pairs of wings and blue feathers.

At a glance, it was Haniel’s first friend, “Saedol.” Haniel’s face immediately brightened as she extended her arm to create a perch for Saedol to land on.

But.

“Welcome back! Uh… huh?”

Flap flap… flutter.

Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.

As the distance closed, a strange wind sound could be felt, and there was an increasingly strong sense of dissonance about “Saedol’s” appearance.

‘Wait a minute. Is that thing…’

Was it always that big?

As it approached closer, the blue bird, which had been at most the size of a large crow, was growing larger and larger.

With the whooshing, gusting wind sound, the large crow was becoming a blue raptor larger than any bird she had ever seen before and…

Flutter!

“Whoa!”

While Haniel stood there dumbfounded, the massive shadow that had approached within arm’s reach in the blink of an eye enveloped her.

Flap flap. Thud.

The momentary dizziness from wings falling on her face soon gave way to the sensation of enormous wings wrapping around her.

The now-gigantic Saedol was embracing her.