Chapter 6252

Balin, the newly appointed master of Frozen Mirren Palace, immediately began a full-scale reorganization of the palace’s interior.

First, he ordered the demolition of a nearly one-hundred-square-meter polar laboratory, clearing it out entirely and converting the space into his personal quarters. Though labeled a bedroom, it functioned primarily as a place for meditation and cultivation. At his level, sleep was no longer a necessity—only an indulgence.

Next, he reorganized the living quarters of the Japanese scientific expedition team. What had once been single-occupancy rooms for certain leaders were converted into four-person dormitories. The rooms closest to his own were emptied altogether, creating an added buffer of physical isolation.

Despite these changes, Balin was not intoxicated by the illusion of authority or the false reverence of dozens of followers.

After settling the internal arrangements, he instructed Kikuchi Kohei to bring him the most detailed and comprehensive map of Antarctica available. He intended to chart a future exploration route in search of the legendary Gate of Ascension.

Balin ordered Kikuchi to mark a fifty-kilometer radius around every Antarctic research station, based on known human activity, and then add a one-hundred-kilometer radius around the South Pole.

Studying the overlapping circles scattered across the map, Balin focused on the regions farthest from any markings—or those untouched altogether.