System: Daily login!!, jackpot on the first day!!!

- With Anindha.

"Anindha," Askara's voice crackled through the Family Crest on her chest, roughened by static. "Stay put. Same as Kiara. Secure somewhere safe. I'll gather you all one by one"

"Alright," Anindha replied lightly. Then, with a tilt of her head, "Then… where's Latina?"

Silence stretched for a beat. The Crest buzzed, faint distortion crawling through.

Then-

"Don't call me Latina, you idiot." The voice was sharp, irritated, undeniably Litani. "It's Litani. And yes, I'm here. The forest's thick, but-"

*BOOM!*

The line warped, carrying the echo of an explosion. When Litani's voice returned, it was ragged but unbroken.

"…Why the hell am I the only one teleported next to a beast?! Shit-"

Anindha chuckled. "Wow~ what a great way to start the trial. Now, what should I do? Aska says stay put somewhere safe, but…" Her gaze wandered over the endless forest, shadows moving between the trees. "I don't think there's such a thing here"

Her smile sharpened. "Well… I can always make one"

*Tap*

Her foot struck the ground. The earth shuddered in response, stone and soil rising beneath her as if answering a call. In moments, a pillar towered upward, lifting her high into the canopy.

"To this and like this," she murmured, guiding it with a lazy flick of her wrist.

The forest obeyed. A nearby tree groaned, its trunk bending, branches interlocking with others. Leaves knit themselves together so tightly that even the air seemed to choke, until the canopy reshaped into something entirely new, a wide, cushioned platform of woven life, a bed suspended above the wilds.

Anindha stepped from her pillar onto the living mattress, the ground below sinking back into silence as though nothing had ever disturbed it.

"Perfect," she whispered, brushing a hand over the leaf-surface, then lying back with a sigh.

This was no spell. No incantation. Her power was older than magic. The blood of the Green Dragon once bound to nature flowed within her, but Taufik's vampiric lineage had twisted it into something else, something hungrier, sharper. Not communion with nature… but control. Anything tied to soil, root, leaf, or stone bent to her whim.

She called it simply: "My Area"

Much like Anggana's dominion, hers was a domain. Wherever she stood, the world itself became her weapon, her shield, her home.

And now, nestled high above the forest, with the canopy breathing faintly at her command, Anindha closed her eyes, the faintest smile curving her lips before she opened her eyes again.

"...Hah~ What should I do now?" Anindha murmured, lying back on her bed of leaves. The canopy cradled her like silk, its surface shifting faintly beneath her as though breathing with her. She stared at the sky above, it was bright, yet sunless, an endless pale dome without warmth. "...Let's just read a book-"

Her hand reached lazily for her crest, where the family Crest was, fingers brushing against it, but she never finished the motion. A ripple of commotion stirred the air below. Distant, but not far.

She stilled.

Something struggled. Something alive.

Usually, she wouldn't care. But her bloodline sharpened her senses; the pulse of life itself resonated beneath her, and this one… wasn't human.

Curious, she leaned forward and parted the leaves.

"Hmm~"

Below, a group of five figures fought in a clearing, their slender forms moving with desperate coordination. Pointed ears caught the shimmer of light, elves. Not from the Saranjana Kingdom either. Their pale green cloaks bore a crest she didn't recognize.

"Oh? Elves? And outsiders at that," she whispered, intrigued.

The wolves encircling them, ten, maybe twelve, moved like shadows, their fangs dripping venom that burned through soil and bark.

"Well~ they're strong," Anindha noted as the elves struck in unison, blades flashing, roots sprouting at their command to deflect claws. "But… they're outnumbered. They won't make it"

Her words proved true. One elf fell back with a scream, poison tearing into her side. The circle faltered. Coordination collapsed. The beasts pressed harder, their snarls ripping through the forest.

Anindha tilted her head. Her lips quirked faintly.

"Should I help them? Hmm~ well, they're all women. That's nice." She stretched lazily, as if weighing her options. "And Aska's probably going to help Latina first anyway. So… let's move a little"

She didn't actually move. She only flicked her hand.

The earth answered.

The ground beneath the wolves split open with a low, thunderous crack. Soil churned, twisting like a great jaw, and before the beasts could leap away, the land itself crushed them. Bones snapped like twigs, venom spilled uselessly into dirt, and in the blink of an eye, the forest floor swallowed their corpses whole.

Silence.

The elves froze, their eyes wide, their weapons still raised. Not a single beast remained. Only the churned soil beneath their boots, smooth, unmarked, as though nothing had ever happened.

High above them, Anindha reclined once more, sighing softly as she stretched her arms. "…Good enough"

Anindha flicked her hands again.

The earth obeyed.

This time, not beneath the wolves, but beneath the elves themselves. The ground surged upward like a living pillar, carrying them aloft.

The elves gasped in unison, weapons raised too late. Their bodies trembled as the forest fell away beneath their feet, the height dizzying. Terror locked their legs in place. They wanted to move, to leap down, to fight, but the memory of wolves crushed to pulp in a single heartbeat froze their courage.

All they could do was close their eyes and pray.

When they dared to open them again, the truth only deepened their fear. They stood suspended high above the canopy, the earth itself molded into a platform beneath their boots.

"...Hi~"

The lilting voice came from nowhere, then suddenly everywhere. Anindha's face appeared before them, her smile easy and careless, her clear blue eyes half-lidded like a cat toying with mice.

The greeting startled them so badly that one elf stumbled backward with a cry.

"Ah-!"

Before she could fall, a giant hand of soil rose smoothly from the platform, catching her mid-air. The earth's fingers curled gently around her body, holding her with terrifying care.

"Oopss~" Anindha sang, her voice as sweet as it was mocking. She tilted her head, watching their terror with mild amusement. "Be careful, shall we?"

"W-Who are you… M-Ma'am?" one of them stammered.

Anindha didn't answer immediately. With a lazy wave of her hand, the ground shifted again, carrying the elves deeper into her haven high in the canopy. The air here was calmer, safer, though their hearts still pounded.

"Hmm~ let me see…" She crouched before the wounded elf, her movements unhurried, almost casual. Fingers brushing the wound, her lips curved. "Oh~ not too bad. Let's fix that, shall we?"

She plucked several broad leaves with a flick of her wrist. Placing them on the wound, she murmured, "First, let's draw out the poison"

At once, the leaves darkened. Their lush green turned sickly black, veins spreading like ink across paper. The injured elf shuddered, but the tightness in her breathing eased. As soon as the leaves were saturated, Anindha replaced them with fresh ones.

"Now… the wound"

The leaves covering the gash shriveled, their vitality drained. The wind stirred, scattering the brittle fragments into the air like ash. When the last petal dissolved, the wound beneath was gone, smooth, unblemished skin left in its place.

"…"

"…"

"…"

Silence.

The elves gawked, their disbelief heavy enough to crush words in their throats. One pinched herself, another slapped her companion, desperate to prove they weren't trapped in some dream.

Finally, a whisper broke free.

"…Goddess of Nature…"

It wasn't loud, but the others heard. Their gazes snapped toward Anindha. Her pale green hair caught the light filtering through the canopy, shimmering like living vines.

Her eyes, clear and luminous blue, glowed with a depth that seemed to swallow the forest whole.

For the elves, it was undeniable. She wasn't just a woman. She was earth and sky, leaf and river, nature embodied.

--------

- With Askara and Litani.

Askara and Litani sat atop a mound of beast corpses, steam rising from the still-warm bodies. The stench of iron and rot clung to the air, mixing with the faint hum of lingering mana.

"Twenty-four…" Askara muttered. His mismatched eyes glinted faintly. "How about you, Latina?"

Litani clicked her tongue, glaring at him from the corner of her eye. "Tch. You're just lucky"

"Mm~ luck is also an ability," Askara replied with a lazy shrug, lips quirking into a grin. "Don't make that an excuse"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Litani swung her blade once, sending a trail of beast blood spattering across the ground. Her voice was sharp, but her smirk betrayed the fire in her veins. "Then, where should we go next?"

Askara closed his eyes, his hand drifting to his chest. The crimson veins etched on his skin pulsed faintly as he whispered the words:

"Blood Magic: Blood Link"

The air around him rippled. A web of invisible threads stretched outward, connecting him faintly to the other Family Crests. His expression shifted, subtle but sharp.

"The closest is Kiara." He opened his eyes, their glow momentarily red as blood before dimming back to normal. "Should we go?"

Litani stood, brushing the gore from her clothes with a flick of her hand, she stored her gauntlet back in her space storage on the family Crest. "Then what are we waiting for?"

Askara hopped down from the pile of carcasses, landing lightly despite the blood-soaked earth squelching beneath his boots. His grin widened, feral.

"Let's go"

And with that, the two vanished into the forest, shadows weaving between the trees, leaving nothing behind but silence, and the corpses that bore witness to their hunt

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