The first core ice fortress was obviously the rough-and-ready Origin Ice Fortress—carved out of a natural ice valley with open-pit Ice Solid Stone mines nearby, it could get finished in record time.

Carlos already had spots picked out for the rest of the ice fortresses, just waiting for his sister to send the next wave of personnel so he could get things rolling.

....

In Ember City's downtown district, at the grand and imposing Sacred Fire Cathedral, a high-level powwow was in full swing.

High Priest Aulina settled into the main seat and said gently:

"About the Valois family's proposal—let's hear what you all think."

Around the round table, a projection kept looping:

An ice valley fortress taking shape, with Psionics cracking whips, herding countless monsters to build ice walls...

"This is the first dark mist layer?"

Garrison Commander-in-Chief Raskin's bull-like eyes went wide as saucers and he nearly yanked out his own beard.

"No point doubting it—this is the real deal, straight from the first dark mist layer."

If the accompanying priest hadn't also sent back intel to back this up, even High Priest Aulina would've had a hard time buying it.

With the High Priest's stamp of approval, the brass naturally didn't question whether it was legit—they just got even more blown away.

Monster Research Institute Director Marcellus stared at the tamed Lulu monsters in the projection. His alchemical eye in his right socket spun like a top, making buzzing noises as he muttered:

"Dark mist monsters actually got tamed?

If it was just a few strays, that wouldn't be earth-shattering, but a whole army of monsters—what kind of tricks did they pull?"

Compared to monster taming, Grand Disciplinarian Yade was more worried about what this whole thing really meant.

His steel-forged face showed pure disbelief as his booming voice filled the room: "Taming monsters is small potatoes. Being able to throw up a fortress in the nightmare zone of the first dark mist layer—I think everyone gets what this really means."

Head of Covert Operations Warner nodded: "The Valois family really threw us a curveball. With just one family's muscle, they actually pulled off what humanity's tried over and over but always face-planted on due to not having enough firepower."

Warden Clementine kept her mouth shut, just licked her black lips, her eyes flickering with all kinds of scheming thoughts.

Right across from her sat Rose Exchange owner Sabina, who shot a disgusted look at this backstabbing witch and said icily:

"Clementine, stuff those little schemes back where they came from!"

Warden Clementine's face went rigid. Before she could fire back, Sabina suddenly got dead serious:

"I'm backing the First Dark Mist Layer - Human Fortress plan!"

The High Priest gave a slight nod. Sabina's support was exactly what she'd expected.

Though she couldn't figure out why, when it came to anything involving that kid, Sabina was always gung-ho—this time wouldn't be any different.

"I'm in."

A clear voice rang out—this was half-elf Guard Captain-General Constance, speaking up for the first time all meeting.

The meeting had barely gotten started, but already two top dogs had thrown their weight behind the plan—something that almost never happened in the past.

After these two made their calls, the others were still on the fence.

"This plan's got obvious perks on paper. But there are some fishy details that need looking into.

I hope everyone holds off on deciding until we get to the bottom of things."

Grand Disciplinarian Yade laid out his concerns.

Hearing this,

Warden Clementine's eyes lit up like Christmas morning: "Yade's got a point—how about I handle the digging around!"

Hearing this, Sabina drummed her fingers on the table, her brow creasing:

"Investigate what exactly?

Which one of us doesn't have some skeletons in the closet, some dirty little secrets!"

"Don't you? Or maybe you don't?"

Sabina swept her gaze over several interested bigwigs, flashing them a knowing look.

"What the hell are you getting at?"

Warden Clementine's expression turned cold as winter, and the meeting's vibe suddenly got heavy, like the calm before all hell breaks loose...

First dark mist layer, Origin Ice Valley. Carlos had just wrapped up his rounds when he suddenly spotted something weird with Blood Silver.

The super life form larva Blood Silver, which had always clung to his arm like a vampire bat sucking blood to grow, was now actually pulling out its little fangs on its own.

The pale blood-red markings on its snow-white horn, originally faint as whispers, were now bright and bold.

"Moo moo!"

Blood Silver yawned, then shut its bright red eyes, looking like it was about to crash. But its stubby little limbs still gripped Carlos's arm tight with no plans to let go.

At the same time, the blood-red patterns on its snow-white horn suddenly spread like wildfire, covering Blood Silver's baby-smooth skin in just seconds. A faint blood scent gradually filled the air...

Carlos could definitely feel the 'passenger' on his arm getting heavier. After thinking it over, he figured this super life form was probably about to hit its growth spurt.

He carefully reached out, trying several times before managing to pry Blood Silver off his arm with some serious effort, setting it down on the ground.

"Moo moo~"

Cut off from the familiar vibe, the transforming Blood Silver made pathetic little sounds, its tightly shut eyes looking ready to pop open.

Seeing this, Carlos worried about screwing up the transformation and could only suck it up and crouch down, sticking out his arm.

Blood Silver immediately latched on like it was meant to be, going back to its quiet state and getting on with the transformation...

In the room, the blood scent got thicker and thicker. Dense blood mist wrapped around Blood Silver, forming a blood cocoon that glowed with soft light. Blood Silver's real makeover had kicked off...

Several days later, in the lord's mansion.

"Moo moo! Moo moo!! Moo moo!!!"

A weird creature with blood-patterned little horns on its forehead tore around Carlos at breakneck speed, leaving streaks of afterimages.

The constant circling made Carlos's head pound.

"Blood Silver, chill out."

This was Blood Silver fresh out of its transformation. Its originally tiny size had shot up to reach Carlos's chest.

With blood-patterned horns on its forehead and pure white skin, its holy aura was getting more obvious by the day, but its bright red eyes gave people a strange, mesmerizing feeling.

"Moo!"

Blood Silver stared with big puppy-dog eyes, not getting why 'mommy' was giving it grief.

But it instinctively stopped goofing around and nuzzled Carlos's cheek with its smooth face, making happy little humming sounds.

Taking advantage of Blood Silver chilling out, Carlos checked out Blood Silver's stats.

[Blood Silver: Super Alchemical Life Form (Growth Stage)]

[A super alchemical life form born after Carlos Valois donated massive amounts of blood to finish the final nurturing phase.]

[Having ditched the baby stage and entered the growth phase, the Moon-Devouring Power locked inside has been set free.]

[Moon-Devouring Power: Born chasing the moon, loves lunar essence, devours lunar source, packs endless spiritual power.]

"Moon-Devouring!"

Carlos's hand petting Blood Silver suddenly froze solid, his look toward Blood Silver getting complicated as hell.

In the original timeline,

The first expansion was the Northern Territory going to hell in a handbasket—the caught-off-guard northern city-states got steamrolled, humanity took a beating, and in the end paid through the nose to build the massive, sprawling Northern Wall, barely keeping the whole territory from turning into monster central.

That kicked off the second expansion, Wall Watch, where humans and monsters duked it out in several brutally nasty battles around the Northern Wall.

Until one day, when the blood moon went haywire, the third expansion Blood Moon's Cry began...