SS Awakening: My Monster Merging System!

Zich remained inside the graveyard for several more minutes, staring quietly at the enormous dragon standing before him while countless thoughts moved through his head.

Eventually, he forced himself to calm down.

Excitement was useful, but getting carried away inside the Ascension Mountain usually shortened lifespans very quickly. The mountain rewarded greed generously right before crushing people who became careless.

"Return for now," he muttered while looking toward Tiamant.

The massive bone dragon lowered its head once more before its body slowly dissolved into drifting black particles alongside the twelve chained skeletal dragons attached behind it.

Silence returned to the graveyard afterward, and only the sound of cold rain remained.

Zich exhaled lightly before leaving the graveyard himself.

His eyes opened back inside the shelter room, and the first place his gaze went to was the ground.

The damaged floorboards, cracked walls, and lingering frost marks greeted him again, and after looking around quietly for several seconds, he finally came to a simple conclusion.

"I need to leave this place."

This building already knew where he stayed. Too many people had gathered outside earlier, and after tonight’s incident, remaining here would only attract more attention. Players would gossip, investigate, and eventually start poking around his business out of curiosity alone.

Without wasting time, Zich began packing.

He moved through the room calmly while organizing everything with careful precision.

Several minutes later, Zich finally stepped outside carrying his luggage, which was just the spatial bag. Thanks to its spatial ability, and because he didn’t have many properties to begin with, everything fitted neatly.

The moment he stepped outside, the hallway immediately became quieter.

Players standing around the corridor turned toward him almost at once, and although most pretended not to stare openly, whispers still spread shortly after he started walking.

"That’s him."

"The guy from earlier?"

"I heard a dragon appeared inside his room."

"Someone said the Shelter Lord personally came looking for him."

One player lowered his voice further.

"Do you think he’s hiding something dangerous?"

Zich kept a straight face while walking past them. His posture remained calm, and aside from occasionally adjusting the position of his backpack slightly whenever it shifted unevenly, he looked completely unaffected by the attention gathering around him.

Even though he was blatantly ignoring them, more whispers followed anyway.

"He doesn’t even look nervous."

"Wait a moment, isn’t he also the one who won the right before it was called off?"

"Now that I look at him, it’s truly him."

A younger player stepped aside quickly after making eye contact with him briefly, and several others did the same afterward. Earlier tonight they might have only viewed him as an unusual participant from the eastern event.

Now people looked at him differently.

Suspicion mixed with fear spread quickly inside places like this.

Zich ignored all of it. The less he reacted, the less useful information people gained from observing him. Allowing others to speculate freely was often safer than correcting them directly.

He eventually reached the lower floor.

The reception area remained active despite the late hour, though several workers there looked exhausted after dealing with the shelter disturbance earlier. One receptionist straightened after noticing Zich approach the desk.

"Can I help you?" she asked politely.

Zich placed one hand lightly against the counter.

"I want to move out," he said simply. "I’m looking for a place inside the privileged area."

The receptionist blinked once.

Several nearby players turned toward him after hearing that.

The privileged district was expensive — very expensive. Most ordinary players inside Layer One could barely afford regular shelter rooms consistently, let alone private housing inside protected territory reserved for wealthier individuals and important guests.

Still, after glancing briefly at the expensive backpack and equipment Zich carried, the receptionist quickly regained her composure.

"Of course," she replied while pulling out a glowing panel from beneath the desk. "We currently have several properties available."

The floating screen expanded outward before him.

Different listings immediately appeared one after another.

[Small Apartment — 12 Soul Stones monthly]

[Private Apartment — 20 Soul Stones monthly]

[Upper District Residence — 35 Soul Stones monthly]

Zich scanned through them calmly at first.

However, his eyes paused afterward, as farther down the list there were larger options — far larger.

[Mansion Estate — 50 Soul Stones monthly]

[Mansion Estate — 95 Soul Stones monthly]

[Mansion Estate — 110 Soul Stones monthly]

His eyebrows lifted slightly. The receptionist noticed immediately.

"The mansions are more expensive," she explained carefully, "but they provide private training grounds, reinforced barriers, isolated courtyards, and significantly higher security compared to ordinary residences."

Zich remained silent as he carefully read through the details. The words Private and Isolated caught his interest.

If there was anything Zich needed right now, it was privacy from fellow players.

Apartments were cheaper, but even privileged apartments still shared walls and nearby neighbors. If Tiamant appeared accidentally again inside something like that, another situation similar to tonight would happen immediately.

A mansion solved that problem. Not only would it provide privacy, but his summons could actually move around freely without remaining trapped inside the graveyard constantly. Even training became easier if he possessed open space away from curious eyes.

The more he thought about it, the more appealing it became.

Naturally, the price was absurd.

A few days ago, he would not even have considered touching something this expensive.

But now he could actually afford this.

That realization still felt strange.

Several nearby players who were also at the reception looked toward the floating property listings with expressions somewhere between envy and disbelief.

Zich’s gaze slowly moved across the available options again before eventually stopping on one specific listing located farther away from the central district. There was less traffic, larger grounds and more privacy.

’Perfect.’

Without hesitating longer, Zich lifted one finger and tapped the mansion listing directly as he said calmly, "I want this one."

...

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