A full banquet was brought in soon after—dish after dish, stacked until the table was almost out of real estate.

To make sure the alliance talks had the best possible start, Miles had personally ordered the kitchen to use the finest ingredients Fallen Star City could spare.

The spread was lavish enough to make the Azure Nereid women’s eyes brighten.

Ethan smiled. "Go ahead. Eat first. We can talk after."

"Alright, then—we won’t be polite about it," Nerissa said with a grin.

And the women immediately proved her right.

"Wow—this is so good!"

"Oh my god. I’ve never eaten anything like this."

"No wonder our Clan Chief always said human food is basically heaven. I used to think she was exaggerating... I believe her now."

The girls dug in without the slightest concern for appearances.

Nerissa kept herself composed for the first few bites, trying to act refined—but it didn’t last. A few mouthfuls in, she was conquered too, eating with real enthusiasm. The Fallen Star Squad watched, genuinely thrown.

"They’re... not worried it’s poisoned?" Skinny Pete murmured.

"They’re built different," Ethan said under his breath. "Poison doesn’t really work on them."

Skinny Pete’s eyes widened. "Damn. Must be nice. No wonder they’re so fearless."

"We should eat too," someone else muttered. "At this rate they’re gonna wipe the whole table."

"Yeah," Big Mike said, half-amused. "For women who look that graceful, they sure can put it away."

The squad finally started eating as well, but none of them went hard. They could get meals like this whenever they wanted. Since the Azure Nereids clearly loved it, it made more sense to let them have more.

Besides, people were always easier to negotiate with after a good meal.

Before long, nearly an entire table’s worth of food had disappeared into a handful of women.

Ethan and the others couldn’t help staring—more out of disbelief than anything—trying to see if their stomachs had even bulged.

The Azure Nereids immediately noticed. A few of them went red in the face.

Nerissa cleared her throat, cheeks pink. "Sorry... your food is just too good."

"It’s fine." Ethan chuckled. "If you like it, stay awhile. I’ll have people cook for you every day."

"Really?" Several of them looked up at him, eyes shining.

"Of course."

"That’s great." Nerissa looked genuinely delighted. "Then we’ll be imposing on you for a while."

"..."

Ethan paused, then blinked. "Uh... you’re not going back?"

"Back to what?" the younger woman beside Nerissa said like it was obvious. "This place is way more fun. We finally got out—of course we’re staying to play for a bit."

Her name was Naia. She looked young, but her strength wasn’t—peak Tier 29, and it felt like she’d been stuck at that ceiling for a long time. She was probably only one step away from breaking into Stage S.

Ethan set his chopsticks down. "Earlier, you said the Azure Nereids have a connection to humans. What kind of connection?"

Ethan already knew humans had existed on Eldoria—Stoneborn had mentioned it before. But from what he’d heard, humanity on Eldoria had been wiped out.

He needed to know what "connection" meant here, exactly, before he decided how to handle them.

Nerissa’s expression softened, the playful edge fading a little.

"A very long time ago, an Azure Nereid Clan Chief fell in love with a human powerhouse. They became husband and wife," she said. "And with that human’s help, our Azure Nereids became what we are today."

She continued, voice steady.

"Back then, we believed water attribute was gentle—something meant to soothe, not fight. Because of that, the Azure Nereids were always a bottom-tier race on Eldoria."

"It was that human genius who rewrote our Energy Absorption Technique. He guided us into comprehending different water-type abilities. Step by step, our strength rose... until we became a race that mattered on Eldoria."

Nerissa’s gaze dipped for a moment.

"But when humanity faced its great calamity, we hadn’t risen yet. That kind of war... we weren’t qualified to take part in. In the end, we could only watch as humans were destroyed."

She looked up again, and there was something like relief behind her eyes.

"We thought there were no humans left in the world. I never expected to find so many humans alive in this world."

As Nerissa spoke, Ethan gave Skinny Pete a subtle look.

Skinny Pete had been watching Nerissa’s eyes the entire time, focused and quiet. With Nerissa’s level, he couldn’t read her thoughts—but he could still get a vague sense of whether she was lying.

Skinny Pete met Ethan’s gaze.

Then he nodded once.

Ethan let out a quiet breath. If she was telling the truth, then this wasn’t some shallow "we’ve heard of humans" connection. This was real history—real debt.

"So basically... humans did your race a huge favor," Ethan said.

"Yes." Nerissa nodded, expression serious. "A great one."

Ethan didn’t bother easing into it. "Then if someone tries to wipe out humanity, what do you do?"

"Then we do everything we can to protect humans," Nerissa said without hesitation.

"However..." She hesitated, and her brows drew together. "A lot of races from Eldoria have already entered this world. News that humans exist here will spread to Eldoria sooner or later. When it does, there’s a good chance experts from major races will descend directly."

Her voice turned heavy.

"They won’t allow humans to rise again."

Ethan frowned. "Why?"

"Because human talent is too terrifying," Nerissa said bluntly. "Humans can comprehend every type of ability—everything, even space and time. Other races fear that."

She continued, eyes steady on Ethan.

"The humans on Eldoria also came from another world. When they first arrived, the other races didn’t take them seriously. They were weak."

"But in just a little over a hundred years, they grew strong enough to threaten top races. They broke Eldoria’s balance."

"So the major races couldn’t sit still anymore. They joined forces... and exterminated humans on Eldoria."

At the word exterminated, the room felt colder.

"That war swept almost the entire continent. Humans had no deep foundation, no ancient inheritance—and they still crippled several top races by sheer force."

Nerissa’s expression hardened.

"That’s why Eldoria’s races fear humans. If they discover humans again, they won’t let it go."

"Holy shit." Ethan’s eyes widened, and a chill crawled up the back of his neck. "So humanity’s basically on every major race’s kill list?"

Nerissa didn’t deny it.

Ethan stared at her for a beat, then forced himself to get practical.

"Alright. Where do the Azure Nereids stand on Eldoria? How strong are you, really?"

"We’re... alright." Pride flickered across Nerissa’s face. "We can’t compare to the very top races, but we’re stronger than most."

"So you’re not a top race," Ethan said.

"Of course not."

Ethan leaned back slightly, the question coming out flat.

"Then if multiple races descend here and decide to hunt humans to extinction... can you actually protect us?"

"..."

Nerissa went silent.

The silence was loud enough to hurt.

Ethan exhaled through his nose, a little humorless. "Yeah. Okay. So humans are basically doomed, and even you can’t save us."

Nerissa’s lips pressed together. Then she shook her head.

"Don’t be that pessimistic. Things haven’t reached that point."

She counted it off, calm but firm.

"After that war, many top races stopped appearing altogether. Other races fell into long-term internal conflict."

"Right now, hatred between the races on Eldoria runs deep. Getting them to unite again is... almost impossible."

"And besides," she added, almost apologetically, "the humans in this world... aren’t strong enough to pressure them into uniting the way Eldoria’s humans once did."

Ethan rubbed his nose. It stung—being looked down on—but he couldn’t exactly argue.

Nerissa went on. "This dimensional rift opened in Eldoria’s Southern Region. The news hasn’t spread to the other regions."

"The Southern Region is relatively weaker. The strongest there are Stage S. If you truly can deal with Stage S... you might have a chance to survive."

Ethan’s expression turned complicated.

"Uh... you might not know this," he said, sounding a little tired. "But our world didn’t just open one rift."

He looked Nerissa in the eye.

"This time, we opened hundreds of dimensional rifts—at the same time. Meaning we’re connected to hundreds of different worlds."

"..."

Nerissa froze.

Ethan let his head tilt a fraction. "Never mind..."