Landlord World - Start with SSS talent

Caleb, Austin, and Alex stood at the mouths of three different tunnels, each surprised to see the others and speaking up at the exact same moment.

Initially, Caleb and Austin had discovered a cave, but upon entering, they found it branched into two separate paths.

Though a bit hesitant, both of them possessed incredibly powerful monsters, so they decided to split up and explore independently.

Caleb brought along his Skeleton Swordsman and Skeleton Hunter, while Austin had Urlgan with him.

After nearly a full day of navigating the cave, they met again, only to discover another person already present: Alex.

Naturally, they recognized Alex right away. After all, there had been friction between them before the 'Zombie Wave' event, and neither side had forgotten him.

Alex was equally stunned; he hadn't expected to encounter anyone else here.

This place seemed like a destined opportunity to him—everything within it was supposed to belong to him.

Now, with the appearance of two others, an unpleasant feeling crept into his heart.

Even so, Alex wasn't foolish.

Behind Caleb stood two Skeletons radiating strength, and behind Austin, a dark-skinned monster exuding killing intent even more terrifying than the two undead warriors.

Alex knew that despite how much stronger he had become if he truly clashed with those two Skeletons and that monstrous creature, he would definitely lose.

Austin, who had long held a grudge against Alex for interfering with their previous plans, couldn't hide his disdain now that Alex was alive and standing here in the depths of this cave.

"Ah! So a rat is hiding in this place," Austin sneered. "You were so arrogant before, weren't you? So what now? Crawling into a hole like this because you're scared of those zombies outside?"

"Don't worry, Caleb and I already cleaned up all the zombies. You're free to go out now."

"No… maybe you shouldn't go out at all. Staying here might suit you better."

Alex narrowed his eyes, his gaze filled with killing intent as he looked at Austin. How could he not understand the meaning behind those words?

"You want to kill me? You think you have what it takes?" Alex growled through gritted teeth.

Though Alex knew he couldn't go head-to-head with the monstrous creatures Austin and Caleb had brought along, he also couldn't allow himself to show any sign of weakness.

"Ah! So brave. Let's see just how brave you truly are," Austin said with a smirk, then waved his hand, signalling Urlgan to take action.

Watching the scene unfold, Caleb neither interfered nor stepped in to stop it.

He sensed something strange about Alex—though he couldn't quite place what it was.

So, he decided to remain still and observe.

Alex glanced at Caleb and, seeing no intent to attack, sighed in relief.

He wasn't too worried if it was just that massive monster.

Alex was confident that he could take it down.

Urlgan glanced at Alex, readying to strike—but suddenly, a voice echoed in his mind.

Immediately afterwards, Urlgan's eyes changed, now brimming with killing intent and madness.

"Heh?!"

Alex flinched, startled by the ferocity in Urlgan's eyes.

Whoosh!

Before he could even react, Urlgan had already swung his spiked mace toward him.

"What the hell?!"

Alex instinctively leapt backward, but Urlgan was unbelievably fast—the mace appeared right in front of Alex's face, barely ten centimetres away.

Alex's body surged with energy in that instant, and everything around him slowed unnaturally.

Then—

Whoosh!

The air howled as Urlgan's mace passed through empty space.

Alex had already retreated over five meters away.

"Damn it! Don't underestimate me!" Alex roared, slamming his fist forward with immense power toward Urlgan.

BAM!

"Heh?!"

His punch landed squarely against Urlgan's chest—but the sound it made was like striking a giant block of solid metal.

And along with that, Alex clearly felt pain shoot through his fist, as if his knuckle bones had fractured.

"What the hell? Is this monster made of metal or something?" Alex growled through gritted teeth, muttering under his breath.

He couldn't believe it. Just yesterday, he'd crushed the skull of a rank-D zombie with these very fists.

He had shattered that zombie's head like it was nothing. But now, his punch hadn't even left a scratch on this creature before him.

Could it really be made of metal?

Run!

The thought flashed through Alex's mind. Without hesitation, he leapt back and bolted away.

"Son of a—! After him—"

"Wait!" Caleb suddenly interrupted, cutting off Austin's furious shout.

Austin turned to Caleb, confused. "What do you mean? We're not going to kill him?"

"No need," Caleb shook his head. "We don't know what's in that cave. If we chase after that bastard, we might fall into danger."

"Besides, that guy is not normal. His strength is strange… comparable to a rank-D zombie."

Austin stiffened at that. Thinking it over, Caleb made a good point. Alex was… strange.

His strength, speed, and reflexes were all unnaturally sharp.

It was important to note that Urlgan could easily annihilate a rank D+ zombie in seconds.

Yet he had missed—completely. And Alex was still just a human. That made no sense.

"You're saying… Alex must be hiding some kind of secret. That's why his power is so freakishly strong, right?"

"Seems like you're not completely stupid after all," Caleb nodded.

"You…"

"Enough. We don't need to chase him," Caleb said as he pointed at the door. "He's already left behind the thing we needed."

Austin followed his gaze and broke into a pleased grin.

There it was—one of the three gemstones had already been slotted into the door.

Both Austin and Caleb took out their gemstones and inserted them into the remaining holes.

Immediately, all three gems glowed with different hues—each a brilliant light.

But then, the light dimmed… and finally, all three transformed into nothing more than ordinary stones.

"What?! What the hell is this?!" Austin shouted in frustration. "I thought the door would open! Now the gemstones are just useless rocks—are you kidding me?!"

Caleb frowned, examining the stone door for a long moment. After confirming that there was nothing out of the ordinary, he finally said, "Perhaps we should report this to the Master."

"What?!" Austin was startled. Then he frowned and said, "But we haven't even opened the door yet. Reporting this now is pointless."

"Caleb is right."

A voice suddenly echoed behind them, sending chills down their spines.

They turned around—and there stood Malrik, cloaked in an ominous, icy aura so dark and cold it made them shudder with fear.

Caleb trembled, his lips parting as if to say something, but he was so terrified that not a single word came out.

Austin was even worse—his legs gave out and he collapsed to the ground, shaking uncontrollably, sweat pouring from his body like a waterfall.

"Ah! Don't be afraid, my foolish and fragile little lambs," Malrik said with a chilling smile. "You've done something quite excellent. I'll report this to the Master and have him reward you."

"Let's hope you continue to be useful like this in the future."

"For now, you may leave."

He waved his hand, and though both Caleb and Austin wanted nothing more than to get away, they couldn't move from sheer terror.

Caleb's Skeletons and Austin's Urlgan had to hoist the two up on their shoulders and carry them out.

Malrik stroked his chin, his eyes fixed on the stone door, then chuckled coldly. "Kekeke… Of course, you couldn't open it. Only one person in this world can."

…

Sometime later, Malrik returned with Noan to stand before the stone door.

Noan was visibly surprised. He hadn't expected Alex and Caleb's group to cross paths here.

Could this be… fate?

He wasn't sure. But hearing the full story from Malrik, he couldn't help but find it a little amusing.

Alex had been so frightened by Urlgan that he ran away.

A Fate Holder—since when had they become so cowardly?

That wasn't necessarily a good thing. Because if Alex was truly a Fate Holder, and he had discovered this place, then this opportunity likely belonged to him.

If Alex had fled, even if Noan searched every inch of this place, there was no guarantee he'd find anything of value.

The massive tomb from before was proof of that.

He and Vylyss had combed through it thoroughly and found nothing.

But with Alex… it was different.

Opportunities in that place had seemed to wait for him—appearing the moment he arrived, as if destined.

Noan stared at the stone door, his gaze settling on the three gems, which, according to Malrik, had turned into mere stones.

Suddenly, a notification appeared, startling him.

[Ding! Do you wish to use the innate talent 'Almighty Fusion' to fuse the three moonstones together?]