[A/N: Thank you for all the GT and support you’ve been showing for this book. I’m posting extra tonight.]

Adrian stretched his arms upwards and let out a loud yawn.

"Let’s go have some breakfast." Adrian said.

They both cast quick Cleanse spells on themselves to freshen up, completely skipping the need to wash their faces in the water. They pulled bedroom doors open and walked out into the hall.

To reach the main dining hall, they had to walk directly through the living room.

As they passed through, Adrian spotted Draven. The Marquis was sitting on a thick fur rug, casually playing with a few of his younger kids.

Draven looked up and spotted Adrian.

"Adrian!" Draven called out loudly, raising his hand. "Come here! I have something for you."

Adrian walked over curiously.

Draven reached over to a nearby table and pushed a small, heavy wooden box toward him.

Adrian did not ask any questions as he looked at it. He just took the box and popped the metal latch open.

Resting on a velvet cushion inside was a single, dull silverish ingot.

Adrian stared at the metal and then he looked back up at Draven. "What is this?"

"Well," Draven grinned. "This is an alloy of mithril and iron."

Adrian blinked twice from the surprise and then he looked down at the ingot. "Oh... Mithril and iron."

"Getting your hands on raw mithril is incredibly hard." Draven explained casually. "So I figured that since you are helping me out so much with the monster waves, I would give you something valuable in return. If you want more, just tell me."

"No, that is fine." Adrian said quickly. "I don’t need any more."

But right as those words left his mouth, a system screen flashed directly in front of his eyes.

But it was not the usual soft, translucent blue color. This screen had a harsh, neon red color.

Adrian completely froze and stared at the system screen. The last time he got something like this, it was an urgent quest.

[Important Quest Activated!]

[Quest Type: Chain Quest]

Adrian’s eyes flicked down to the next set of lines.

[Completion Requirements:]

[Find the masterminds behind the abnormal monster invasion.]

[Rewards:]

[100 grams of Orichalcum.]

Adrian just stared at the red screen in total silence.

’Okay.’ Adrian thought. ’Fine.’

But before he could even dismiss the screen, a second red screen violently flashed right below it.

[Additional Quest:]

[Fight off the incoming monster horde.]

[0 / 300,000]

Adrian stared as he stopped breathing. Three hundred thousand monsters.

He looked down at the final line of text.

[Rewards: Will be calculated upon completion.]

Adrian slowly raised his head and looked directly at Draven.

And at that exact same second, a heavily armored soldier sprinted into the living room. He did not even bother saluting properly.

Draven instantly stood up and looked at the guy.

"My lord!" the soldier screamed, his face completely pale. "The monsters are coming!"

Draven did not hesitate. He shot a serious look right at Adrian.

"Get ready." Draven ordered coldly.

His entire vibe had changed in an instant.

Chaos instantly erupted in the mansion.

All of Draven’s wives, his older children, and his military officers rushed out of the surrounding rooms and sprinted directly out of the front doors.

Adrian quickly turned to look at Aria.

He opened his mouth, fully intending to tell her to stay inside the stone walled mansion where it was much safer.

But Aria cut him off immediately.

"I am coming with you." Aria stated.

Adrian stared at her determined eyes and sighed as he knew he could not stop her.

"Okay, fine." Adrian relented. "Just make sure that you keep yourself safe."

He turned and bolted out the doors, sprinting right behind Draven’s family. Aria ran fast right on his heels.

They reached the massive snowy courtyard.

All of Adrian’s close circle were already there. Claire, Serena, Celeste, and Caelum had already reached the place and Adrian’s two thousand soldiers were already fully integrated into the Marquis’s defensive formations, though they maintained their own distinct unit blocks.

Draven quickly ran to the barracks and every single soldier in his army rushed into the nearby barracks, following him. Soon, they poured back out fully equipped for war.

The commanders started screaming orders, directing the massive army toward the towering stone walls.

Adrian’s army did not wait for separate orders. They immediately split up and perfectly followed the other soldiers who were more experienced with such situations.

Adrian watched them move and nodded. ’Looks like these guys actually got some solid instructions last night.’

Draven walked past Adrian holding his broadsword.

"Put on your armor or whatever you usually wear." Draven ordered him. "Just get ready. Because this is going to get really, really hectic."

"Got it." Adrian nodded.

He quickly crouched down and looked at Aria.

"You need to promise me right now." Adrian said seriously. "You are going to keep your mana shield active at all times. Do not drop it for a single second."

Aria gave a firm nod.

So Adrian just reached right into his spatial ring. He took out a handful of mana crystals and gave them to her.

"Put these inside your ring." Adrian instructed as he pulled out two more handfuls and gave them to her.

"Use these whenever you feel your internal mana going down." Adrian said. "Stay safe, no matter what happens."

Aria nodded again and quickly shoved the crystals into her silver ring.

Adrian stood up. He focused his mind, linked to his dungeon, and completely bypassed the slow process of manually equipping armor.

He just visualized the heavy steel plates stored in his dungeon. The system instantly teleported the armor directly onto his body, perfectly equipping every single piece in a fraction of a second.

He looked into his spatial ring and pulled out his brand new weapon.

The heavy steel staff materialized in his hand.

Adrian looked down at the bland, boring metal rod.

’Steel staff.’ Adrian thought with a slight frown. ’I really do not like the sound of that. And I don’t want to use something that looks this incredibly bland.’