Chapter 41: Violating the System’s Rules!!!
"Hmm? It seems I need to be inside the territory's borders to receive system notifications and my territory talent's notifications…"
Kaiden considered this without dwelling on it too deeply, and simply made a mental note to pay attention to this discovery later.
In the meantime, he drew the voucher from his inventory. It resembled the taming voucher in shape, but this one was engraved with multiple illustrations of mythical monsters in an imposing artistic style — dragons soaring on outstretched wings, phoenixes with four wings, and other creatures he had never seen before. The engravings made it look considerably more magnificent than its predecessor.
Kaiden looked at the usage instructions. He needed a drop of blood to activate it.
His heart filled with curiosity about what kind of rare-tier companion monster he would receive. Since arriving in this world, he had never encountered a monster of that rank at all. Even in the Territory Chat and World Chat, he had never heard anyone say they had come across a monster higher than the "Common" tier. So his curiosity was at its absolute peak.
Kaiden rubbed his hands together and wished himself luck.
But before activating the voucher, he remembered something and turned to his soldiers standing nearby: "A new monster is about to appear. It is not an enemy — do not attack it. It is my summoned companion and it is tame, understood?"
After seeing nods of understanding from his soldiers, he felt reassured and returned to what he was doing.
The wound on his finger was still fresh. He gripped the finger and pressed on it with his other hand until blood emerged again under the pressure, then marked the voucher with it.
Immediately, the voucher dissolved into shining points of light, then faded into the air — and a notification appeared before his eyes:
[System Alert: Congratulations! You have acquired a "Subterranean Dragon Worm" of the Rare tier as a companion. You may view the creature's status and information in the "Lord's Status Board."]
A large white flash accompanied the notification. When it disappeared, it was replaced by a strange, terrifying creature.
Its mouth was a horrifying circle filled with razor-sharp saw-like teeth in multiple layers. It had no nose and no eyes — only that enormous, frightening mouth resembling a gigantic bloodsucking tube. Its body was cylindrical like a barrel, but far wider and longer, exceeding ten meters in length.
Kaiden found himself wondering whether this monster was made of flesh and blood at all. Its body was entirely covered in rough, rocky scales that gave it the appearance of a living statue.
Kaiden was taken aback by the monster's appearance, which looked as though it had crawled out of a dark science fiction film. Yet strangely — he felt no terror.
He sensed another thread of mental connection, different from his bond with the lizard before. The lizard's connection had been simple — it possessed a straightforward mind resembling a child of three or four, capable of receiving only limited commands. This time, however, the bond was stronger, the telepathic thoughts and emotions more complex than the first.
Kaiden heard a clear feminine voice through the spiritual link:
"Hello, master~"
Kaiden froze upon hearing the voice. The new monster's appearance was enough to frighten the bravest of men — yet its voice was soft and gentle, feminine like that of a friendly young girl. It was so absurd that Kaiden was left completely dumbfounded.
Before he could recover from his first shock, something even stranger happened.
Suddenly, barely visible threads of crimson light descended from the sky and touched his newly summoned companion. The monster froze completely and transformed into something resembling a stone statue — motionless. His mental link with it abruptly cut off — not disappeared, but visibly restrained, as glowing red bonds appeared shackling it like chains.
Red notifications appeared before Kaiden's eyes.
[System Alert! Anomaly detected! A monster exceeding the Common tier is at large, in violation of Beginner Protection rules. Sealing in progress! Sealed!]
But it wasn't over.
Within a second, a powerful, semi-ethereal force appeared once more — this time in threads of pure white. It freed the monster immediately. His mental link returned and the bonds lifted as though they had been nothing but a mirage.
[System Alert! Detected that the monster originates from the host Lord's territory talent and does not violate Beginner Protection rules… Unsealing in progress… Unsealing complete!]
"What the hell just happened?!"
Kaiden cursed aloud, his voice thick with absolute astonishment. Everything had unfolded at a terrifying speed, giving him no time whatsoever to process it.
He reread the notifications from the beginning, with concentration.
"So that's the reason!"
Kaiden was not slow to understand. After passing his eyes over the words, he grasped the truth quickly. Just moments ago he had been wondering why neither he nor anyone else had ever encountered a Rare-tier or higher monster — and now his question had been answered. The reason was Beginner Protection settings that prevented their appearance.
Kaiden felt enlightened — gaining additional understanding of this world, its laws and its rules.
So this world is like a predatory beast that hasn't yet revealed its fangs?
The deeper he thought, the greater his sense of awe grew toward this world. In recent times he had come to possess a large number of elite soldiers and had stopped feeling any genuine concern about monster attacks on his forces. But he now understood that this sense of security was nothing but a false illusion — one that would vanish in a day and a half, leaving the world as savage and dangerous as it had always truly been.
Kaiden felt as though he had returned to square one — as if he had just arrived at this place on his very first day.
But what filled him with even greater dread was his awe of the system itself — or rather, of the entity that controlled it. An entity capable of abducting millions of beings from different races and scattering them across a strange world, capable of sealing and restraining monsters in an instant. An unimaginable power. A power that could not be resisted.
While Kaiden was submerged in his spiral of dark thoughts, a confused and frightened feminine voice that only he could hear interrupted him.
"Oooh~ Master, what just happened all of a sudden? I was so scared!"
Upon hearing the voice of his newly acquired companion, Kaiden snapped out of his deep reverie — and discovered that his back had become completely drenched in cold sweat without him noticing.
He drew a deep breath. He looked at the enormous worm slowly writhing before him, patiently awaiting its master's response. Its soft voice and the image of its terrifying mouth still formed a jarring contradiction in his mind.
"It's all right… it's all right. It was just a misunderstanding," Kaiden said, trying to soothe the creature and himself simultaneously.
But deep down, he knew that what he had just witnessed was no simple misunderstanding — it had been a fleeting glimpse of the true power that governed this world.
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— End of Chapter Forty-One —
Author’s note: Thank you for the new ratings, everyone. You can’t imagine how grateful I am. Please bear in mind that ratings (and reviews in particular) boost the novel’s ranking, which means it appears to more people; in other words, they breathe life into the novel more than anything else. Thank you once again.