With a flash of white light, the Scout appeared midair—a fluffy white bundle tumbling out of the teleport.

And the moment Lin Jun laid eyes on the scene outside, he was stunned.

Three moons…

Against the indigo night sky hung three full moons.

To the east, a silver-blue moon shimmered with frost-crack patterns of ghostly light.

To the west, a crimson moon “burned” low on the horizon, scorching the nearby clouds yellow.

And above all, the largest, a pale-golden moon pulsed with light, brightening and dimming like a slow, steady breath.

This world had three moons!?

Gravity tugged at the Scout’s body, but Lin Jun was too entranced to care.

After a short fall, a cloud of mycelium burst up from the forest floor.

Moments later, the Scout wriggled free, shedding its soft fungal armor like a cicada leaving its husk.

【HP: 1021 / 1120】

It had lost a little health from the impact, but nothing serious.

With 【Mycelium Regeneration LV3】, the wounds would heal in minutes anyway.

Only now did Lin Jun shake himself out of awe at the triple-moon sky.

He had deliberately chosen a quiet time to use the scroll, but never expected to see something so extraordinary.

No wonder Inanna or Dylan had never mentioned it—when they spoke of “night,” of course they never specified “three moons.” For them, it was common sense. Just as Lin Jun had always assumed there was only one.

Strangely, though the moons had such different hues, their lights blended into a plain, clean white glow, no rainbow at all.

Now, the Scout stood in a dense forest, no trace of human presence anywhere.

Lin Jun sensed the direction—south of Amethyst Dungeon.

No wonder.

The dungeon’s entrance faced north toward Windless Town. To get here, one would have to circle a great distance. Naturally, no humans would wander this far.

“Grrr…”

A beast’s growl rose from the shadows.

So that was it—no people meant monsters instead.

Gray-white shapes slipped from the trees—wind wolves, circling the Scout.

Muscles taut, shoulders low, they crept through the brush, silver eyes reflecting moonlight.

Clearly, this was their territory. With the racket the Scout had made falling, of course they came to investigate.

But… just these level-20 wolves?

One of the Scout’s bladed tentacles lashed out. A wolf that had crept too close split neatly in two before it could react.

The scent of blood whipped the pack into a frenzy. Growls echoed from every side.

Lin Jun, however, felt no fear.

Ordinary wolves couldn’t even scratch the Scout’s scales.

“Awoo—!”

The pack split apart, making way. Two much larger wolves padded forward, pelts glistening under the moon.

Wolf Kings.

Their claws glinted like knives, wind gathering between their jaws.

Together, they advanced slowly, deliberately.

Hah! Instinct wasn’t always reliable.

Not even level 40, yet so bold? Fine—come closer.

The Scout spun its four bladed tentacles and charged, stubby legs thumping over the grass.

By the time Dylan finally emerged from the fifth floor and circled around to the dungeon’s far side, an entire night had passed. It was nearly noon the next day.

He arrived to a battlefield littered with wolf corpses, long since drained of blood.

And the Scout Puchi was… weeding?

Lin Jun noticed Dylan’s arrival.

A tentacle snagged the huge backpack from Dylan’s shoulders, dumped everything out, then stuffed armfuls of cut grass inside.

“This… what’s this for?” Dylan asked, bewildered.

If it were wolf corpses, he could understand—but grass?

“Don’t ask. Just take that pack to the first floor mycelium mat. It’ll be hugely useful to us!”

The bag was stuffed to bursting.

Since the boss said so, Dylan hefted it and hurried back the way he came.

Lin Jun wasn’t lying. These grasses were treasures.

Just like Firefly Grass had the 【Luminescence】 skill—

These ones carried 【Photosynthesis】!

And not the ordinary kind either.

This “photosynthesis” produced mana!

Perfect for Dylan.

【Mana Storage】 meant he no longer needed to constantly chug potions—he could fill up once and be good for a while.

But 【Photosynthesis】—that was the true key to solving his long-term mana problem!

Come to think of it… did Sunstones count as “sunlight”?

——

“Night Owl, what are you doing!?”

The commotion around the Silverthorn Squad drew eyes their way.

Her ability to move through shadows was uncanny, but there were experts here who could see her path—among them, the knight captain she was charging at.

Facing a diamond-ranked adventurer’s sudden assault, the captain showed no panic.

He raised his knight’s sword, holy light flaring.

【Sacred Slash LV8】

He had already judged this intruder as an enemy. His strike was merciless.

But Night Owl wasn’t so easily taken.

She sprang from the shadows, clashing steel against light. The blade grazed her arm, leaving a shallow wound.

“Night Owl!!” x3

Nova and the others screamed, nearly having heart attacks.

At a time like this!? Here, of all places!? What was she thinking!?

Ignoring them, Night Owl twisted past the strike and dove—straight into the captain’s shadow beneath his feet.

For the first time, he wavered. Spinning, he tried to drive his sword into the darkness—

But the blade stopped, frozen mid-thrust.

A massive claw of black mist gripped the sword.

The silver blade bent under the strain, cracks spreading across the metal.

The screech of rending steel rose higher, until at last the sword shattered into three pieces, the broken hilt still trembling in the knight’s hands.

The claw flung the wreckage aside.

Still paralyzed, the captain was hurled bodily into the crowd, his fate unknown.

And in his place, towering over four meters tall, a shadow demon loomed, darkness writhing around its body.

In its right claw, it clutched an elf—Night Owl.

She looked pitiful.

In mere seconds of battle within the shadows, her right arm was gone.

Her remaining hand pressed weakly against the demon’s grip, unable to move it an inch.

The shadow demon scowled at the nuisance who had ruined its timing.

If not for its urgent mission, it would have dragged this elf away to torment her to death.

Instead, it tossed Night Owl toward the charging adventurers and knights, then dissolved into black mist—

Shooting straight at the summoning circle, where a blazing pillar of light now reached skyward.

Within it… a human silhouette was beginning to take form!