The ascent up the eastern mountain took significantly less time than any of them had originally anticipated, primarily because they did not encounter a single hostile monster on the way up.
The dense, zero-mana domain pressing down on the forest had driven out the standard wildlife, leaving the rocky trail eerily silent as they marched higher into the crags. Thick veins of raw, unrefined gold occasionally broke through the gray stone under their feet, confirming Marrick's panicked assessment about the sheer wealth hidden in the sector.
Juna kept her ears pinned back flat against her head, constantly scanning the dead treeline while holding her posture stiff.
"Something is extremely wrong here," she muttered, glancing down at the sheer drop falling away from the narrow path, "a territory this dense with resources should be crawling with high-tier monsters fighting for dominance."
