The qilin connects the dots. He has long sensed the oddity in Lawrence, but due to the peculiar dimension of the Forbidden Area, travel between planes is impossible. He hasn't been able to gather the necessary evidence to confirm it, at least, until now.

  Unexpectedly, the qilin remains silent.

  As his beastly body begins to turn to dust, he comes back to his senses and looks directly into Lawrence's eyes.

  "You will regret making me your enemy."

  In just seconds, his body disappears in a very familiar way, everyone looks at each other realizing they are all thinking the same thing.

  The qilin was the one controlling the spirits, who brought them to life and was after their lives.

  "He is not someone we can face. Not today, not tomorrow."

  Serene Will rises from the ground and carefully observes the surroundings, ensuring the qilin has completely departed.

  "It doesn't matter, he is the guardian beast of that tree. His nature is to remain by his side for eternity, he will die the same day the tree dies... If its fruits are limited, I won't hesitate to do what's necessary."

  Remembering the level of the qilin that protects the tree, Lawrence gives up on using frontal methods to attack it. If the tree is its weakness, let him die with it!

  "Impossible."

  Serene Will dismisses his words. "You will know when I'm able to assess the tree."

  Her innate ability gave her an absurd description for the apparent apple, she doesn't want to delve into the topic until she can assess the tree herself.

  "By the way, you've been squatting since you healed my injuries. Is it a side effect of using magic that you're not yet qualified to use?"

  "If you know it, don't just stand there, help me."

  It's hard enough for Lawrence to maintain consciousness, if not for his hatred towards the qilin, he would have lost it long ago.

  Serene Will carries Lawrence on her back and, guided by Sky Petal, they head towards the location of the tree and where the real body of the qilin resides.

  As they fly, fragile words reach his ears.

  "I thought you had abandoned me."

  When he left, she regretted having fallen in love with such a man. She wished that all the karma accumulated in this life would serve for something and that in the next she could live in peace, be happy.

  "I did."

  She didn't believe they could bring her back.

  "That's our relationship."

  That man ruthlessly brought her back.

  "But I found a way to save you, and I did."

  The rest of the journey is silent.

  +++

  From a distance, they were able to see the large body of the qilin still resting far from the tree. It's strange that he hasn't opened his eyes, that he hasn't sought ways to mock them.

  "It will only open his eyes when a new life enters the Forbidden Area."

  Sky Petal hears the words of the tree, which speaks very fondly of him, showing its appreciation.

  They manage to relax after knowing that their enemy will not awaken, that he cannot make a move against them until a new challenger defies the Forbidden Area. Yet they do not take their eyes off him.

  They then remain silent, allowing Serene Will to assess the tree.

  "Forbidden Areas are a mysterious place."

  She reaches out and strokes the bark of the tree.

  After sighing, she says: “Boundless Fruit allows the development of the potential of the innate ability of whoever consumes it. It can yield up to five fruits at a time, but it requires an equally limitless amount of life to produce one."

  Lawrence and Sky Petal are surprised to learn its true nature because, looking closely under the underbrush, it's possible to see human remains!

  Now they understand everything, the remains that seemed to have disappeared from the corpses, were actually brought by someone to this place! And that someone is none other than their guardian beast!

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Serene Will is the least surprised, as the description of the Boundless Fruit yielded a similar description.

  "I've been testing it along the way. The range of my third-person vision increased, the conditions for mind reading decreased, and the descriptions cover more profound details... Truly a miraculous fruit."

  If her ability was extraordinary before, this time it has gone a step further.

  "Go ahead, there are no side effects or prerequisites."

  Despite Serene Will's words, Lawrence uses sacred magic on himself and Sky Petal to heal their internal injuries. Only then do they each consume a fruit.

  Piece by piece, Lawrence's face changes.

  Serene Will smiles. "Don't worry, I didn't feel anything when I ate it either. Its development extends to a place far beyond the physical body, the soul."

  Within seconds both consume the Boundless Fruit, and it's Sky Petal who immediately notices the radical change in her ability.

  "Poison..."

  That flower which could only absorb mana at incredible speeds is now capable of replicating that characteristic poison indefinitely. Joyfully, it gives birth to another flower, capable of generating the illusion of her original body. This was none other than the Illusory Aura Flower, so feared by the soldiers of the Gray Army.

  Her limitation disappeared, now she can assimilate the external capabilities of plants.

  As she approaches the tree to talk with it, Lawrence narrows his eyes and evaluates the changes in his ability. Unlike Sky Petal, he doesn't need to activate his ability to do so.

  "The level requirement disappeared, I can transport any hunter regardless of whether their level surpasses mine or if it's the first time I meet them... God..."

  "The Inferior Plane would venerate you as one if you gave them the chance to ascend to the Divine Plane in the way that you do."

  Serene Will is amazed to see changes in Lawrence's innate ability, especially because it's him, someone who should have died at the age of 20. His Dimensional Rift should not have evolved, yet it did.

  After some time she notices Lawrence's strange look.

  "Is something wrong?"

  "Didn't you read my mind?"

  "I don't always do it."

  Lawrence looks at her in silence and then sighs. The next moment, he creates a Dimensional Rift in front of him. Serene Will was about to cross, but he stops her.

  "The Forbidden Area does not allow the creation of my Dimensional Rift, so why do you think this one activated successfully?"

  Only then does Serene Will realize her mistake. "Where does it lead?"

  "I don't know, I was hoping your ability could tell me where."

  She looks again at the Dimensional Rift, but is surprised to find that her innate ability does not activate after trying to gather information from it. Although it has just been enhanced thanks to the Boundless Fruit, is there still information it cannot read?

  "Hah... then the answer remains the same."

  Lawrence moves towards the Dimensional Rift and passes through it.

  "W- What is this?"

  The other side is darkness, an absolute void, chaotic dimension would be closer to the real term. If not for his innate ability, no one in this world could set foot in this place. There was no need to stop Serene Will because, from the beginning, she could not enter.

  "My clothes... Are they disintegrating?"

  In his attempts to find the purpose of this chaotic dimension, he notices the strange event with his clothing. The threads slowly begin to separate, and those that are already separated turn to dust and subsequently disappear without leaving a trace of their existence.

  His clothing can last in this place for a maximum of an hour before disintegrating, but the strangest thing is that Lawrence is immune to this phenomenon. He is not harmed at all.

  He conducts tests by throwing some objects into this chaotic dimension, and each one responds differently, but all have one thing in common, sooner or later, they are destroyed without sparing even the dust.

  He tries different methods to find the purpose of this place, none of them successful.

  Exhausted, Lawrence returns to the Forbidden Area.

  "How strange..."

  Lawrence explains what happened, and neither Serene Will nor Sky Petal are able to discover the origin, the reason for that strange dimension.

  "Is it possible to take that fruit with us?"

  On the branches of the tree, one Boundless Fruit still remains.

  "No." Serene Will shakes her head and then explains: "In this Forbidden Area, the fruit can maintain its purpose for an unlimited time, but outside it will only do so for a few hours. We must remove it only when it will be used."

  "That poses a problem..."

  They can't be entering and leaving the Forbidden Area constantly, isn't there a way to access this place much more--?

  That's when Lawrence thinks of something and says, "We must bring the--!"

  Serene Will reads his mind and interrupts him. "I see, that makes sense."

  "..."

  Sky Petal is the only one unaware of what's happening, so after hearing his explanation, she's relieved to learn that there's a way to return to this place without having to make the same journey over and over again.

  In the following hours, they travel to the same place where they entered the Forbidden Area. Without hindrance, they manage to leave it and then Lawrence goes underground with magic and brings back a frame several times his size.

  This is the portal, with it they plan to travel to the interior of the Forbidden Area.

  Who would have thought, his Dimensional Rift was taken into account when creating the Forbidden Area, but the technological advancement of the Divine Plane would be its security loophole. After setting up the portal at a safe distance from the tree, they successfully return to their mansion through it.

  "Welcome back, sir, ladies."

  "Ryan..."

  Seeing her son, all her worries disappear. Sky Petal takes him in her arms and kisses his chubby cheeks, Ryan lets himself be loved.

  "During your departure, there were no significant events."

  A little more than a day has passed since the departure of the rankers. From their words, Initial Spark didn't expect to see them for at least a week. Not only did she not expect to see them the next day, but to see them so badly injured!

  'All the magic artifacts they carried with them have disappeared or are destroyed, blood abounds on their body. Just what...?'

  Serene Will interrupts her thoughts. "Initial Spark... you will be my guinea pig."

  "What--?"

  She recoils feeling danger, but how is it possible for a level 150 to face Serene Will? A movement of her hand is enough to hold her head and perform the Memory and Emotion Rewriting magic.

  "Prin... cess..."

  Quickly, Initial Spark loses her resistance.

  Lawrence sees this and the next moment turns a blind eye. Initial Spark's life never mattered to him, he just wanted someone to take care of Ryan while he was away. If Serene Will wants to make improvements, they are welcome as long as she doesn't break her.

  He strips off his clothes and goes to swim in the lake. Floating on it, he looks at the sky with a smile.

  "It's too early to return, I'll make that dragon girl wait a bit longer."

  There are a few days left until his vacation ends, he will enjoy these days to the fullest before returning to work and continuing with his plans of capture.