After finding a safe place to rest, Alex and Dim Dim stood guard as the first watch of the night.
"Dim Dim, do you think we can win against that thing?" Alex asked.
To his surprise, Dim Dim didn’t reply immediately. Instead, the little one locked eyes with Alex, studying him in silence. They stared at each other for almost a full minute, until the Dim Sum God finally smiled and gave a small nod.
Alex smiled and lightly patted the Dim Sum God’s head because he understood what it was trying to tell him.
Even though it was difficult, he had no choice but to win.
For that was the only way to continue his journey in the world of Arcana.
"You’re right, Dim Dim," Alex said softly. "Conquering adversity is what gamers like us do best, you know? It’s just a Boss Monster. I’ll kill it and get some experience points to level up!"
"Dim!" Dim Dim’s smile widened after hearing the young man’s reply.
After having a chat with the Dim Sum God, Alex decided that it was no use worrying about the what-ifs in life.
As a gamer, he had faced countless bosses before. Sure, he’d died more times than he could count, but he’d always come back for another round.
"Svalinn." Alex lightly touched the surface of the black shield he had summoned from his storage ring. "I don’t know if you are sentient or if you understand my words. But I hope you will lend me your strength when the right time comes.
"Someone has to take hits, and none of the Catkins can do that. Only tanks like me dare to face a blow head-on. However, I can only do so much. In order to tank hits, I need a good shield, you know?"
Svalinn remained silent and simply listened to the young man’s words.
At least, Alex wanted to believe that the shield was listening to him.
Two hours later, he lightly woke the Catkin supposed to serve as the night watch alongside Lavinia up.
Since he didn’t dare to casually touch the second princess of the Hartwell Clan, he decided to let one of her people handle that instead.
As soon as he was sure Lavinia had woken up, Alex went to a corner and slept.
Just like everyone else, the young man was also tired physically and mentally.
Lavinia’s shift went smoothly, and after her, Lioren watched guard.
The Catkin glanced in the direction where Alex was sleeping before maintaining his vigil with his subordinate.
"I heard the environment of the first floor changes at midnight every day," Lioren’s friend said. "Is that really true, or is it just something the adults only say to scare us?"
"It’s true," Lioren asserted. "My father warned me about it. He has emphasized that I should find the path that leads to the second floor as fast as possible before the structure of the first floor changes."
The Catkin then glanced at the hourglass beside him.
’Anytime now,’ Lioren thought.
Suddenly, just as the first floor was about to undergo some changes, Svalinn slipped out of Alex’s storage ring and placed itself on the young man’s chest, where Dim Dim was currently sleeping.
A few seconds later, the environment around Lioren and his subordinates transformed.
Instead of the makeshift camp everyone had set up together, they now found themselves near a river.
The two Catkins immediately started a headcount to check if one of their people was missing.
Fortunately, everyone else was accounted for, making the two sigh in relief.
But Lioren’s subordinate suddenly noticed something different.
"Where’s the human?" the Catkin asked. "I don’t see him anywhere."
Lioren frowned as he turned to look in the direction where Alex was supposed to be sleeping.
But he saw no one in that spot.
Even the young man’s "pet" was missing. The frown on Lioren’s face deepened.
Still, after thinking about it, he only shook his head and looked at his subordinate with a serious expression on his face.
"I guess he went somewhere before the domain shift happened," Lioren said.
"A-Are you sure we shouldn’t wake up Young Miss to tell her about this?" the Catkin asked.
"No," Lioren replied. "He just went to relieve himself. He will be back soon. There’s no need to wake Young Miss up."
The Catkin reluctantly nodded before lowering his head.
Lioren’s gaze scared him, so the only thing he could do was agree with his leader’s statement.
Meanwhile, outside of the Etherion Domain, Ramza held an emergency meeting with the Elders of the Hartwell Clan.
His explanation of what was happening inside the dungeon made everyone present anxious.
"Is there really no way for us to bring the children out of the domain?" asked one of the Elders whose grandson was currently taking a trial.
"If there is a way, I would have already done it," Ramza answered. "Don’t forget—Lavinia is also inside the domain."
The Elders were aware of the Mirrors of Etherion, which could see what was happening inside the domain.
However, the mirrors’ views were limited to the teenagers taking the trial.
It couldn’t lock on the location of the monster that was currently on the second floor, patiently waiting for Ramza’s seal to weaken.
"Then are we just going to wait until the kids are dead?" another Elder asked in frustration. "Maybe we can destroy the gate and brute force our way in."
"Feel free to try." Ramza sighed. "This won’t be our first attempt to break into the domain by force."
A depressing silence descended upon the meeting room. They had already thought of every possible way to cancel the trial, but there was simply no way to do it.
"The only thing we can do is to watch over them," another Elder said through gritted teeth. "If the kids really die by that monster’s hand, I will personally enter the domain and tear it to pieces."
All the other Elders nodded in agreement, for this was also what they wanted to do.
That night, the decision makers of the Clawford Tribe assigned a few Elders to watch the mirrors and inform them if something unexpected happened.
They all decided to rest in the Hartwell Residence, so they could quickly gather in case of an emergency.
All of them hoped the giant jumping spider would leave the children alone.
Because if it didn’t, the chances of the teenage Catkins leaving the domain alive were nearly non-existent.
Still, they hoped for a miracle.
After all, unless the worst-case scenario came to pass, the young Catkins would be able to live to see another day.