As soon as Ash appeared in the office of Serena, he brought out the four Elves. Everything happened so fast that the elves didn't even have the chance to understand what had just occurred.

They only felt the world spinning and twisting around them again and again before it finally stopped. Confusion lingered in their eyes, as if their minds were still trying to catch up with their bodies.

Looks like she is not here...

Ash thought as his eyes moved toward the empty seat of Serena. But before another thought could form, a green portal bloomed in front of him like a ripple in the air, and from it, the World Tree's avatar stepped out in her human form. Her presence filled the room with a faint fragrance of nature, calm yet ancient.

"It's a pleasant surprise to see you here," she said softly, her tone graceful but heavy with meaning. "It seems you came to return my children who were sold to slave traders."

Her voice changed slightly at the end, becoming cold and sharp like frost spreading across glass, making the atmosphere tense for a moment.

"Yup," Ash said, tilting his head with a sly grin. "I found them being sold, so I brought them here. There might still be more of them out there, but I can't come back every time. My mana is already running low, and if I take too long, another elf might end up being sold. If only I had some artifact that could hold living beings… things would be so much easier."

He exaggerated a heavy sigh, letting his shoulders slump as if the weight of the world rested on him. Then he leaned just slightly closer, his voice dropping to a teasing, almost mischievous tone. "It's such a tragedy… really. I mean, I wish I could handle it all myself, but maybe… someone could step in and help me a little? Otherwise, who will save them?"

The World Tree's lips twitched slightly. Her hands even trembled for a moment, as if she had to resist the urge to smack the shameless boy standing before her. She clearly understood what he was implying. He wanted her to give him something that could solve his mana problem or allow him to store living beings safely.

She wanted to scold him, but she held herself back. In truth, after her long slumber, she had learned the bitter truth that many of her own people had betrayed their kind, selling elves to traders for wealth. Those traitors were already punished, their roots cut off from the World Tree's grace forever. But she still couldn't save those who had already been sold.

If Ash could truly help her bring them back, perhaps his shamelessness could be overlooked for now.

With a calm gesture, she raised her hand. A small leaf formed in the air, glowing softly with green light, and drifted toward him.

"If you place this leaf on the ground," she said, her tone returning to its usual calmness, "it will open a portal that connects directly to me. You can send my children through it, and the mana will be drawn from me instead of you."

Hearing her explanation, Ash smiled with satisfaction. "Thank you. I'll send everyone I find back to you."

In the next moment, he vanished without another word, leaving behind a faint shimmer of spatial energy. The World Tree avatar stood silently for a while before letting out a soft sigh, her expression a mix of helplessness and reluctant amusement.

Then her gaze shifted to the four elf girls, who were still trembling slightly with their eyes covered by the black eye patches.

They looked lost, afraid to even move. The World Tree's expression softened as she slowly walked toward them, her presence gentle like a soothing breeze after a storm.

***

As soon as Ash appeared inside the dark cage again, he wasted no time. His mind was already running a hundred steps ahead, planning to stea-errr-borrow some treasures from the black market before they could even be auctioned.

He sent out his mental energy, scanning the area carefully, and was relieved to find no guards nearby.

The air was thick with the hum of magic and tension, and hundreds of slaves were scattered throughout the zone, each one trapped in a cage or chained to the walls.

Ash's detection told him there might even be thousands, spread across the immense space that stretched farther than he had expected.

He moved cautiously, keeping to the shadows, noting the mix of races among the slaves. There were elves, dwarves, humans, and even some strange beasts, each one exhausted, fearful, and caged. There were also some demons caged here, which he certainly did not expect to see.

For now, he resisted the urge to free them all except the demons, because a single wrong move could trigger alarms or alert the patrolling drones.

The 5th layer was unlike anything he had seen before. The cages were stacked twenty to thirty high, arranged in long, seemingly endless rows. Each row repeated with mechanical precision, creating a labyrinth of misery and metal.

From his perch at the top of one row, Ash finally saw the zone of slaves end, giving way to a massive bunker that stretched as far as his eyes could see.

It looked more like a super-advanced warehouse than a treasury.

Shelves climbed toward the ceiling, crammed with transparent boxes, each one filled with goods and treasures so numerous that counting them felt impossible.

He activated Omni thought, allowing his mind to think in multiple directions at once, calculating the safest and fastest way to move through the zone and collect the treasures he had targeted. Within a minute, a confident, almost mischievous smile appeared on his face.

Let's do this… it has the best chance of success without getting caught.

With fluid, silent movements, he began slipping through the aisles, his senses alert to every sound and shadow.

What Ash did not realize was that a large squad was already heading toward the Grand Auction house, tasked with retrieving their young master Adam, the very man Ash had killed to gain entry to the auction, as well as the 4th layer.

The timing was precarious, and the collision of their plans was inevitable.

***

Ash's plan had been daring from the start. He had first considered finding an artifact that could let him merge with shadows and vanish completely, blending into darkness like a ghost.

But the thought of searching for something so rare in a place as vast and heavily guarded as the Black Market made him abandon the idea. It would take too long and risk exposing him before he could even start.

Instead, he conceived an even bolder approach. If he could pull it off, he might be able to clear the entire warehouse without anyone noticing. The task was daring and dangerous, yet thrilling. He needed to know the place inside and out before making any move.

For the next fifteen minutes, Ash moved swiftly and silently through the massive warehouse, mentally scanning every corner. Thanks to his eidetic memory, he could recall the complex layout perfectly, storing each passage, cage, and vault in his mind as if he had drawn a map there himself.

The drones that patrolled overhead and the scattered guards made the task trickier, but he avoided them carefully, slipping through shadows and using every angle of cover to remain unseen.

Eventually, he located the teleportation array where goods were moved from the warehouse to the treasure chamber on the fourth floor.

Beyond the cages and storage areas, he spotted countless sealed vaults. Their sheer number and size suggested treasures that required even more protection, and he knew he would need Snow's help if he wanted to loo-errrr-enter them.

Snow was already in the deep sea, wandering across the vast, unknown waters in search of the mermaid kingdom. In truth, the mermaids were not natives of this world, and no one had known of their existence until much later.

When the world of Akumia was on the brink of destruction in the novel, these races were forced to surface on land, the people of Akumia finally realized that there were more races other than what they knew.

The mermaids were not alone in this. Alongside them, the Nagas and the Sirens had also crossed over from their original world.

According to their testimonies recorded in the novel, all three races had come from a world where the oceans had become uninhabitable.

When their home began to die, a sudden portal appeared before them, offering a way to survival. They passed through this gate and entered Akumia, bringing their civilizations with them. In their old world, these races had been enemies, constantly fighting one another, but the destruction of their home forced them into a temporary peace.

They agreed to coexist, setting aside old rivalries to establish new lives in this strange, unfamiliar world.

Upon arriving in Akumia, each race founded its own kingdom beneath the waves. The mermaids, Sirens, and Nagas all carved out spaces for themselves, building communities and adapting to the new ocean while maintaining a cautious distance from one another.

Peace prevailed for a time, and they were able to rebuild, but the appearance of dungeon gates in the ocean brought continuous threats. Monsters and other dangers emerged from these portals, forcing the three kingdoms to remain vigilant at all times.

Despite these challenges, the deep-sea races were not powerless. Each kingdom had sacred artifacts that protected them and maintained a balance among their people. Through careful coordination, the mermaids, Sirens, and Nagas created a fragile but effective balance that allowed them to defend their territories and protect their citizens.

Snow's current mission was to locate the sacred artifact of the mermaids, because the last Rune on this planet had merged with it. If Ash wanted the Rune, he first needed to find their kingdom, which was no simple task.

The ocean was vast, covering more than half of their world, and the waters were filled with countless unattended dungeon gates and dangerous monsters lurking in every shadow.

Navigating this chaos to find the hidden kingdoms was nearly impossible for anyone.

Only Snow could accomplish it without causing a bloodbath.

Her unique abilities, combined with the power of runes, allowed her to move through the deep sea with precision and efficiency.

With her abilities, even the most treacherous areas became manageable, and her task of locating the mermaid kingdom and their sacred artifact was made far more achievable than it would have been for anyone else.

And it would also allow her to grow stronger. But, for now, his priority was clear: he needed Snow's assistance.

She had gained some new abilities that would make handling the vaults and treasures far easier, and without her, his plan might fail before it even began.

****

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