Dual Realm Exchange System

Entering Moonveil Forest for the second time felt completely different from the first.

The trees were still enormous, their trunks rising like pillars beneath a canopy thick enough to turn midday into permanent twilight. Pale violet mist drifted between exposed roots while strange flowers glowed beneath bushes, and every now and then Damian caught sight of something moving somewhere it shouldn’t.

A branch bending without wind, a shadow moving opposite the light, and a cluster of mushrooms turning slightly as they passed.

Yep.

Still creepy!

But unlike Damian’s first visit, where every patch of darkness might have hidden something capable of putting an arrow through Clara’s face, he felt extremely comfortable now.

The reason was simple.

!

Damian had possessed and during his first expedition, which had already made him unusually difficult for Moonveil Forest to deceive.

pierced through many illusions and magical visual tricks while gave him an almost instinctive familiarity with the strange magical logic surrounding Fey creatures and their domains.

Now, filled in practically everything else!

Damian’s perception spread outward through the forest in every direction, ignoring trees, bushes, darkness and most ordinary physical obstructions.

Living creatures appeared within that awareness alongside terrain changes, hidden movement and the shifting structures of Mana throughout the surrounding environment.

The combination was disgusting!

He did not merely see a strange distortion between two trees anymore.

told him that the space was magically altered, gave him an intuitive sense that it was Fey in origin and probably harmless unless disturbed, while revealed exactly what physically existed behind and around the damn thing.

Damian smiled. ”Ho ho.”

No wonder cultivators loved spiritual perception so much!

Tsk, tsk, scouting suddenly felt like something only poor people did!

”You seem awfully relaxed.” Julia remarked from nearby.

Damian glanced toward her. ”So should you. Nothing dangerous is within immediate range.”

Julia frowned. ”How do you know?”

”Magic.”

She stared at him.

Damian smiled pleasantly.

Julia’s eyes narrowed. ”I hate when you do that.”

”Do what?”

”Answer questions without answering them.”

Janet, walking ahead of them, immediately turned around while continuing to move backward.

”He’s been doing that since we met him!”

”Skill issue.” Damian replied.

”What does that even mean?!”

Paulina barked out a laugh while Eunice sighed.

The mood remained surprisingly light as they continued deeper into Moonveil Forest.

There was tension, naturally.

They were still part of the vanguard entering an active monster-clearing operation, and everyone knew that somewhere in these woods existed creatures strong enough to massacre weaker parties.

But the five of them had already spent hours talking inside the guild, and the reunion had restored a familiarity that none of them realized they had missed until it returned.

Janet periodically disappeared ahead to scout.

At least...

That was what Janet believed she was doing.

The first time, she vanished into the undergrowth for almost ten minutes before returning from a completely different direction with an expression of professional importance.

”Alright! I found—”

”Three Lesser Fey Hares approximately eighty meters northeast, a Goblin trail that hasn’t been used in several days and some kind of burrowing Beast sleeping under the western ridge.” Damian recounted casually.

Janet stopped.

Her mouth remained open. ”...Yes.”

”Anything else?”

The halfling stared at him.

”No.”

”Excellent scouting.”

Janet’s eyes narrowed.

The next time she disappeared, she went much farther.

Nearly fifteen minutes later, she emerged silently from a patch of brush behind them.

”Aha! This time—”

”Seven Forest Imps two hundred meters south, but they’re moving away from us. There’s also an abandoned campsite near the creek and something invisible watching the trail from a hollow tree.”

Janet slowly lowered the finger she had dramatically raised.

”...I hate you.”

Damian grinned. ”I appreciate your contribution.”

”Stop stealing my reports!”

”I’m not stealing them. I’m simply pre-reading.”

”That’s worse!”

Eunice laughed softly while Julia visibly struggled not to.

Paulina made absolutely no attempt to suppress her laughter.

”Maybe you should scout faster, little rabbit!” She teased with a smile.

Janet turned on her, furious. ”Traitor!”

Their journey continued like that until the terrain gradually changed and the green marking upon their operational map gave way to yellow.

The Dark Clearing.

The name was almost comically accurate.

The enormous trees surrounding the region leaned inward strangely, creating a broad natural depression where the canopy became so thick that almost no sunlight reached the forest floor. Black moss covered fallen trunks while pale plants clustered around shallow pools of stagnant water.

Lower-level monsters were common there.

Unfortunately for those monsters...

The Four Valkyries were apparently feeling energetic today.

A horned feline Beast emerged from the brush less than halfway through the zone.

THRUM!

Julia’s arrow punched straight through its forehead before Damian finished turning toward it.

Several kilometers later, three oversized insectoid monsters descended from the trees.

THRUM! THRUM! THRUM!

One arrow each, and dead.

Then came a large reptilian creature with armored scales.

Julia drew her bow, wind spiraling around the arrowhead before she released.

BOOM!

The projectile drilled directly through one eye and exited from the back of its skull.

Damian stared at the corpse, then at Julia.

”...You know you don’t have anything to prove to me, right?”

Julia slowly turned with a confused look.

Damian smiled warmly. ”I love you just the way you are.”

Silence.

Julia’s entire face froze.

Then—

”Ah!! Who cares about your love?!”

Her voice echoed through the Dark Clearing hard enough to scare several birds out of distant trees.

”I always fight like this! Do you think I’m showing off for you?! Don’t flatter yourself!” Julia roared with all her might.

Damian stared at her.

Julia’s ears were beet red.

Paulina immediately burst out laughing. ”Hahahahaha! Julia, your ears!”

”SHUT UP!”

Eunice placed one hand against her forehead.

”Damian, please stop teasing Julia.”

Damian raised both hands peacefully.

”Alright, alright.”

Julia marched ahead with her nose raised and continued muttering something involving arrogant Otherworlders and excessive self-confidence.

Damian wisely did not point out that she subsequently killed every monster they encountered even faster.

Eventually, the yellow markings disappeared from their map, and red replaced them.

This was their assigned territory, the Moon Pools.

Damian understood the name immediately upon seeing the region.

Dozens of broad circular depressions covered the forest floor, some nearly large enough to qualify as ponds. Smooth pale stone ringed their edges while silver-white mineral deposits traced patterns along the bottoms.

Once, they probably contained the glowing Fey water Damian remembered reading about.

Now?

They were completely dry.

Most of the surrounding plants had withered, the pale stone was cracked, and several pools contained nothing except dead leaves and old bones.

The Elite Fey who once maintained this region had disappeared long ago, and without their presence, the Moon Pools had gradually lost the magical conditions sustaining them.

Something else had moved in instead.

Damian sensed them before seeing them.

Lots of them.

”...Company.”

The others immediately became alert as ugly laughter echoed through the trees.

Then the creatures emerged.

They were short, stocky and humanoid.

Their skin ranged from dirty grey to dark reddish-brown while heavy iron boots covered their feet. Most carried sickles, axes or brutal hooked weapons, and every single creature wore a dark crimson cap that looked disturbingly wet.

Damian’s Guild Card responded when he requested the Bestiary entry.

[Name: Redcap.

Creature Type: Fey.

Typical Size: 90–120 centimeters.

Typical Weight: 30–55 kilograms.

Challenge Rating: 6 — High Threat.

Known Traits: Supernatural Strength, Fey Resilience, Blood Frenzy, Iron Boots, Extreme Aggression, Enhanced Mobility.

Threat Notes: Redcaps are violent Fey commonly associated with locations saturated by bloodshed and death. Their distinctive caps must be repeatedly soaked in fresh blood to maintain their supernatural vitality. Despite their small stature, mature Redcaps possess exceptional physical strength, speed and durability, and frequently attack targets larger than themselves without hesitation. Groups should be considered significantly more dangerous than their individual Challenge Rating suggests.]

Damian’s eyebrows rose.

CR 6.

And there were... a dozen?

Hoh? More movement existed beyond them as well.

Reinforcements!

”Well then—”

The nearest Redcap screamed and charged, prompting the Four Valkyries into action!

Janet chuckled evilly.

”Hehehehehe...”

Then she disappeared!

Damian’s head turned slightly as followed the halfling slipping through shadow after shadow.

”Hm?”

She wasn’t attacking?

Janet raced along the edge of the battlefield, slipped behind a cracked Moon Pool, crawled beneath an exposed root and reached the primary trail being used by the approaching reinforcements.

Then she pulled something from her pouch.

Damian stared.

Was that...

”...Is that a fucking bomb?”

Janet began planting it while laughing maniacally to herself.

Damian slowly looked away.

Right.

He would worry about that later.

Paulina hadn’t even unsheathed the huge greatsword across her back.

The Wolf Beastwoman simply stepped forward and spread her legs slightly as her entire posture changed.

Her ears snapped upright and her amber eyes narrowed into predatory slits.

Her canines visibly lengthened as a feral grin crossed her beautiful face.

Then Paulina howled.

”AWOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

The first Redcap barely reached her.

Paulina vanished, moving so damn fast that Damian’s ordinary vision lost her for a fraction of a second.

SHLICK!

Paulina appeared beside the Redcap with one clawed hand extended and blood sprayed violently to the left as the creature’s throat opened from one side to the other.

Before the body even hit the ground, Paulina gave another crazed howl and blurred toward the next opponent.

Her claws plunged straight into its chest.

The Redcap screamed once as Paulina ripped out its heart.

She looked at the bloody organ for half a second before tossing it casually aside.

”AWOOOO!”

”...Goddamn.” Damian muttered.

Julia was already moving.

Unlike Paulina, she immediately retreated, kicked off a root and landed lightly upon a thick tree branch several meters above the battlefield.

Her bow rose up and the forest became a shooting range.

THRUM!

A wind-wrapped arrow punched through one Redcap’s throat.

THRUM!

Lightning erupted around the second shot before it penetrated another’s forehead.

THRUM! THRUM! THRUM!

Julia barely seemed to aim!

Her hands moved with such practiced precision that Damian suddenly understood why she had looked personally offended when he implied she might be showing off earlier.

Nine Redcaps dropped in approximately three seconds.

One developed a circular hole through its throat, another arrow entered through an eye, two were struck through the chest, and one unfortunate bastard had apparently moved at exactly the wrong moment and received an arrow directly through the groin.

Damian winced. ”Yikes.”

Beside him, Eunice hadn’t moved.

The Priestess stood calmly with both arms raised, one finger extended from each hand.

Golden light gathered along the right.

Another divine blessing formed along the left.

.

.

Paulina received both first, then Julia.

Then Janet, who was still crouching beside her suspicious explosive.

Finally, Eunice blessed herself.

She had done all of this while tracking the battle calmly enough that Damian almost forgot she was standing inside a CR 6 monster swarm.

And merely seven seconds after the first Redcap charged...

BOOOOOOM!

The reinforcement pathway erupted.

Earth, roots and several extremely unfortunate Redcaps launched into the air as a dirty orange explosion tore through the narrow approach.

Damian’s hair shifted from the distant pressure wave, then silence followed.

Every Redcap was dead, all of them!

Damian remained standing where the battle started, his right hand raised dramatically in front of himself.

His fingers were already positioned for spellcasting.

He had even mentally chosen the line!

Then he slowly lowered his hand.

”...Well then.”

From somewhere above, hysterical laughter erupted.

Damian looked up.

Janet was hanging upside down from a tree branch by her legs like an especially malicious monkey, both hands clutching her stomach.

”HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Paulina stood among several corpses with blood dripping from her claws while Julia remained on her branch with her bow lowered.

Eunice calmly smoothed the sleeve of her robe.

Damian stared at the four women.

He had been preparing to flex!

There was supposed to be a Grandmaster Cantrip!

Maybe a cool pose!

A mysterious little line!

Then BOOM, enemy deleted, followed by four beautiful women staring at him with shock and admiration!

Instead...

They had deleted the encounter before he finished raising his hand.

Tsk!

What Damian didn’t know was that the Four Valkyries were currently experiencing almost exactly the same problem.

Paulina casually wiped the blood from her claws, then glanced toward Julia.

Julia lowered her bow and pretended she hadn’t noticed.

Eunice suddenly became extremely interested in checking whether the blessing on her fingers had completely faded.

Janet stopped laughing just long enough to look between all three of them.

Their eyes met, and there was endless suspicion, embarrassment, and accusation in each!

’You went too hard.’

’Me?! Look at you!’

’Why were you watching?!’

None of them said anything, because the truth was terribly inconvenient.

The Four Valkyries were strong for sure, and they had always been strong.

This level of performance, though?

Maybe they were not quite so absurdly efficient on a daily basis.

But Damian was watching!

For whatever stupid, inexplicable reason none of them wanted to examine too closely, the presence of that damn Otherworlder had caused every woman there to unconsciously push herself harder.

Paulina wanted him to see how powerful she had become.

Julia wanted him to understand that she was a highly skilled Ranger who absolutely did not need his protection.

Eunice wanted to demonstrate that she could support everyone flawlessly even without stepping onto the frontline.

And Janet?

Janet just wanted Damian to think her bomb was awesome!

That one was admittedly much simpler.

Unfortunately, once they looked toward him and saw the expression upon his face...

That faint dumbfounded awe...

Oh ho ho, that felt good!

Paulina’s grin became wider.

Julia’s red ears somehow became redder.

Eunice felt heat rise across her cheeks.

Janet puffed out her tiny chest like she had personally conquered Moonveil Forest.

Damian finally recovered.

”...You girls have been busy.”

Paulina crossed her arms proudly. ”Of course!”

Julia jumped down from the branch. ”Hmph. Did you expect us to remain weak forever?”

”I literally never called you weak.”

”You implied it.”

”When?”

”I don’t remember, but you probably did.”

Damian stared at her.

Janet landed beside them.

”Did you see the explosion?!”

”I saw the explosion.”

”It was amazing, right?!”

”...It was pretty good.”

”PRETTY GOOD?!”

Damian laughed.

Eunice shook her head, but her smile betrayed her.

The operation continued.

............

By nightfall, Damian had developed a problem.

He could not get a fucking spell off!

They swept through the Moon Pools systematically, locating one Redcap settlement after another while checking the dry basins, old trails and surrounding woodland.

Some settlements contained twenty creatures, others fifty.

One particularly disgusting camp held well over a hundred.

It didn’t matter.

Paulina entered close combat like somebody had released a starving wolf into a butcher shop.

Julia killed anything exposed at range before it properly understood where the arrows came from.

Janet appeared behind enemies, beneath enemies and occasionally above enemies while deploying an increasingly disturbing collection of traps.

Eunice ensured none of them slowed down.

By sunset, more than five hundred Redcaps had been killed throughout the Moon Pools.

Damian’s contribution?

Merely walking and watching!

He had even repeatedly failed to finish a simple pose.

The first time, he raised one hand but Julia killed the target.

The second time, he stepped forward and started turning dramatically.

Paulina crossed twenty meters and ripped the thing’s throat open.

The third time...

Damian actually managed to raise both hands.

BOOM!

Janet exploded someone... again.

By the seventh failed attempt, Eunice noticed.

”Damian... what are you doing?”

”Nothing.”

”Why do you keep raising your hands?”

”Stretching.”

Julia stared at him suspiciously.

”Before every fight?”

”Combat stretching.”

”That’s not a thing.”

”It could be.”

The Elf narrowed her eyes.

Damian ignored her.

Yes.

He understood perfectly well that posing before casting magic was unnecessary.

He understood that wasting time upon a dramatic stance during actual combat could be genuinely foolish.

He understood that Grandmaster , or would function exactly the same whether he looked cool beforehand or not.

But this wasn’t about logic anymore.

It was principle!

After failing this many times, Damian simply refused to cast his first spell in front of the Valkyries unless he got the full package.

A proper stance, a cool line, and maybe let the robe move slightly in the wind.

Then the spell.

Afterward, awe, adoration, and most importantly... aura!

Was that too much to ask?!

Apparently, it was!

Damian glared toward another distant Redcap settlement.

”Grrrr...”

The Longtian Sword vibrated sympathetically at his waist.

Grrrrrrrr...

Damian looked down.

Then slowly smiled.

”Heh.”

At least Brother Longtian understood!

Some things were bigger than battle efficiency.

Some things were simply about farming aura!