Jasper had wandered through lands unbroken by civilization.

  The Sunspire Savanna stretched endlessly, golden grass dancing under an unforgiving sun. The Verdant Wilds pulsed with untamed life, vines coiling like veins through the dense jungle.

  Above, the Shardspire Mountains carved jagged paths into the sky, their razor peaks home to only the fiercest of beasts.

  Beneath the waves, the Coral Depths shimmered with unseen wonders, where bioluminescent creatures whispered in the dark.

  The Whispering Glade murmured secrets to the wind, while the Plains of Eidolon stood timeless, untouched.

  And in the Wildlands, only the ruthless endured.

  Yet, after all he had seen, nothing had prepared him for what awaited next.

  A dark presence slithered through the creatures, twisting them in ways that defied nature. Some bore grotesque mutations—limbs elongated, eyes hollowed, their very forms warped into nightmares. Others remained whole, yet… wrong. Their instincts were off. The hunters hesitated. The prey did not run. Even the fiercest beasts seemed to sense something greater watching from the unseen.

  Etched into their flesh were symbols—jagged, unnatural. Not wounds, not scars. Markings. A curse? A brand? Jasper didn’t know.

  Then, a pulse. A ripple through his interface. The words twisted into existence, carved into his log like an unseen hand had written them in ink made of shadow.

  Quest Updated: The Hollow Veil – The First Marking

  A cursed land where the first creature fell to corruption. The air is thick with a suffocating stillness, and the trees are twisted with veins of pulsing black light. Every beast that enters this place either vanishes… or emerges with markings.

  Level Requirement: 50

  Jasper’s jaw tightened. This is it. The next step.

  He turned to Lazryn, relaying the quest details.

  Lazryn simply nodded. “Let’s head to the teleportation circle.”

  Jasper frowned. “You can use the player’s teleportation system?”

  Lazryn laughed, a glint of amusement in his golden eyes. “Of course. I am a player now, too.”

  Jasper blinked. “…Huh?”

  With a smirk, Lazryn flicked his hand, summoning a swirling glyph of Veil energy before casually strolling toward the portal hub.

  Moments later, they were teleported.

  They landed in a new city, towering and grand—its structures woven from wind-carved stone and pale silverwood, suspended over an abyssal chasm where the winds howled like a living thing.

  Wind Hollow.

  Another level-100 city, just like Luminara—a place no player had yet reached.

  Jasper adjusted his cloak. “Why are we here?”

  Lazryn’s smirk deepened. “Because I’m going to open a secret realm for you.”

  Jasper’s eyes narrowed before he gave a small smirk of his own. “Alright.”

  They left the city, venturing into uncharted fields, vast and untouched. No players had been here before.

  The land was silent. Pristine. Waiting.

  Jasper frowned. “Which secret realm is it?”

  Lazryn didn’t answer.

  Jasper sighed, rolling his shoulders before summoning his shadow wolf, Shadowfang. With a fluid motion, he vaulted onto the beast’s back, choosing speed over patience.

  Then, with a flick of his wrist, he called forth his gryphon, Shea.

  Lazryn, still on foot, simply watched with amusement. “Impatient?”

  Jasper snorted. “Efficient.”

  With that, they took off—Shadowfang bounding across the landscape while Shea soared through the skies, Lazryn following below.

  It took an hour before they arrived.

  The Gateway to Beast Haven

  The forest was different.

  Not cursed, not corrupted—just… alive.

  The trees were massive, their trunks twisting skyward like spiraling spires. Silver-leafed vines cascaded down like waterfalls of light. The air pulsed with an ancient energy, something untouched by civilization.

  And at its center—a vast lake, still and mirror-like, reflecting the world perfectly.

  Lazryn stepped forward, raising a hand.

  Dark, chaotic energy gathered in his palm, crackling with primal force before he released it into the lake’s center.

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  The water rippled, then split open, revealing a swirling portal of shifting colors.

  Lazryn glanced at Jasper. “We’ll need Shea to fly us through.”

  Jasper didn’t hesitate. He dismissed Shadowfang, then climbed onto Shea’s back, Lazryn following behind.

  With a single beat of its wings, the gryphon carried them into the portal—

  And the world vanished.

  They burst into the sky, the world swallowing them whole.

  Jasper’s breath hitched—below, an untamed land sprawled endlessly.

  Rivers shimmered like molten silver, their currents twisting through the vast terrain. The forests shifted, not with the wind, but as though they were breathing.

  And the creatures…

  His heart pounded.

  Towering beasts of crystal roamed freely, their forms catching the light like fractured gems. Dire wolves moved like whispers on the wind, their presence felt before they were seen.

  A paradise of the wild—alive, sentient, waiting.

  Predators did not hunt prey. The balance was unnatural, yet perfect.

  Jasper turned to Lazryn, his mind racing.

  Lazryn laughed. “Read the information, Beastmaster.”

  Jasper opened his interface—

  And his breath caught.

  Secret Realm: Beast Haven

  A realm untouched by civilization, hidden within the folds of the Rift, where ancient creatures roam freely, unchained by mortal influence. The skies stretch endlessly, rivers shimmer with ethereal light, and the land breathes with an ancient pulse—a world shaped by the will of the beasts themselves.

  But Beast Haven is not merely a sanctuary. It is a living, sentient domain, seeking its next guardian.

  Primary Objective: The Keeper’s Challenge

  "Tame what you can. Feed what you tame. Protect what is yours."

  Hidden Objective: The Haven’s True Trial

  "This land does not belong to men. But it may choose one."

  Jasper’s grip tightened around Shea’s reins.

  The trial wasn’t just about taming beasts.

  It was about earning the right to stay.

  He turned to Lazryn, his expression unreadable.

  “…Thank you.”

  Lazryn smirked, stretching his arms lazily. “I’ll be here while you do your thing.”

  Then, casually, he added, “Enjoy. You only have 24 hours.”

  Jasper exhaled sharply, eyes narrowing as he took in the vast world beneath him.

  No time to waste.

  With a command, Shea dove.

  The trial had begun.

  ---

  Luna sat at the worn wooden table in Lukar’s laboratory, still feeling the lingering chill from the Venom Trial. Her veins had burned, her body had nearly collapsed, but she had survived.

  And Lukar had smiled.

  That had been the most unsettling part—his amusement, his satisfaction as she fought against the poison ravaging her from the inside.

  Now, he stood across from her, absently twirling a dagger between his fingers. “You’ve proven you can survive.” His voice was smooth, deliberate. “But survival is just the beginning. If you wish to master poison, you must first understand its source.”

  He set the dagger down with a sharp clink. “Your next task is simple.”

  A new quest prompt flickered before her eyes.

  Quest Update: The Poison Master's Trial

  Challenge 2: Harvest a Forbidden Ingredient

  The Necrotic Nightshade is no ordinary plant—it thrives only in lands where death lingers, where the boundary between life and decay has thinned. Its petals drink in the last whispers of the dying, its roots coil around bones long forgotten.

  Objective: Locate and extract the Necrotic Nightshade.

  Warning: The plant is protected. And what lurks near it will not be pleased.

  Luna frowned, scanning the details. "Protected" was never a good sign.

  She looked up. “Where is it?”

  Lukar’s smirk deepened. “A place called The Sable Hollow.”

  Luna had heard the name before. A graveyard—but not just any graveyard. It was abandoned, cursed, a place where even spirits feared to linger. No alchemist or scholar had dared collect samples from there because nothing that went in ever came out.

  She sighed. Of course, that’s where it would be.

  Lukar tilted his head. “Second thoughts?”

  Luna scoffed, standing and adjusting her satchel. “Not a chance.”

  Lukar’s laughter followed her as she walked toward the door. “Try not to die, little alchemist.”

  The Sable Hollow was worse than she imagined.

  The land was wrong.

  The sky above was a sickly gray, clouds rolling unnaturally fast, as if time was distorted here. The air stagnant, heavy, carrying the faint scent of decay and burnt earth.

  Rows of crumbling headstones jutted from the soil at odd angles, some half-sunken, others shattered completely. Blackened, twisted trees loomed overhead, their branches stretching like skeletal arms toward the sky.

  But the worst part was the silence.

  No wind. No birds. No insects.

  Just… nothing.

  Luna’s boots crunched softly against the brittle ground as she moved cautiously through the graveyard.

  Her interface pulsed—the Nightshade was close.

  She reached for a vial at her belt, uncorking it just enough to let the scent of Nightbane Extract seep into the air. Nothing moved. Nothing stirred. But something was here. Watching. Waiting.

  The silence was no longer just absence—it was expectation.

  A few steps further, and she saw it.

  The Necrotic Nightshade bloomed in a small, sunken patch of earth, its petals a deep, inky black, its veins pulsing with faint violet light.

  Luna reached for a silver-plated dagger, her breath steady as she crouched before the Necrotic Nightshade. The plant pulsed faintly, its black petals almost seeming to breathe.

  One precise cut. That’s all she needed.

  She extended the blade—

  The ground shifted.

  The ground convulsed. A low, ancient groan rumbled through the air—hungry.

  Then, a whisper slithered through the silence, curling around her like smoke.

  "…You should not be here."

  The soil split open, and from it, skeletal hands clawed their way out.

  Three Gravebound Alchemists.

  They wore tattered ceremonial robes, ancient symbols carved into their bones. Their empty eye sockets burned with violet energy, and their voices echoed from beyond death.

  Luna cursed under her breath.

  Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.

  One of them lunged.

  She reacted instantly, hurling a vial to the ground—Elemental Bloom.

  The glass shattered, and a toxic cloud erupted, thick with elemental energy that crackled blue and green. The mist wrapped around the undead figures, the energy seeking out weaknesses in their cursed bones, eating away at their unnatural forms.

  One let out a shrieking wail, its bones beginning to fracture.

  The second wasn’t slowed.

  It lifted a bony hand, runes glowing, as it began to chant—a necrotic spell.

  Luna’s mind raced. She needed to disrupt it—fast.

  Her fingers flew to her belt. If she combined her Dispel Draught with Phantom’s Bane Elixir…

  She uncorked both and threw them together.

  Catalytic Reaction.

  The two potions collided midair, triggering a violent chain reaction. A flash of blue alchemical fire erupted, the magic sputtering and dying as the spellcaster reeled back, its runes flickering violently before shattering.

  Luna smirked. Gotcha.

  The third was faster.

  It lunged for her, claws reaching—

  She barely had time to react.

  Luna threw her hands up, instinctively activating Verdant Shield.

  Vines erupted from the ground, thick and enchanted, wrapping around the skeleton’s arms and legs, holding it in place.

  It screeched, struggling—just enough for her to throw her Vile Concoction.

  The black poison splattered across its skull.

  A sickening hiss.

  Then—the bones cracked, crumbling into dust.

  Luna stood still, chest heaving.

  Then—

  Quest Objective Complete: Harvest a Forbidden Ingredient.

  She exhaled sharply, carefully plucking the Nightshade, ensuring the highest quality thanks to Floral Resonance.

  The plant’s energy hummed in her hands.

  Luna glanced back at the scattered bones.

  The air still felt wrong.

  This place was not done with her.

  She needed to move—fast.

  Something was still watching.

  This mirrors how Beast Haven watches Jasper. It reinforces that both characters are being tested by unseen forces.