“Your mentor?”
Daniel glanced at the young man, his voice calm yet probing.
If this mentor knew Daniel would eventually come here, then…
They were likely connected to the bear in some way.
“I am Ryze Winterrealm, the Ninth Prince of the Winterrealm royal family,” the young man introduced himself. “As for my mentor, his name cannot be spoken here. But if you’re willing to meet him, please follow me.”
Daniel noticed that ever since Ryze had appeared, the previously terrified and flustered Grand Duke of Winterrealm seemed to have regained his composure, glancing repeatedly at the young prince as if seeking reassurance.
However, Ryze paid no attention to the Grand Duke.
“Is your mentor the ancestor of this bear?”
Daniel asked, voicing his suspicion.
It seemed logical—everything pointed back to Bear Prime.
Upon seeing Ryze, the small bear immediately cried out,
“Ryze, save me!”
Ryze, visibly surprised to see the bear, shifted his gaze to Daniel.
“You misunderstand,” Ryze replied. “My mentor is not related to the ancient bear clan. He is, like us, human. However, due to certain circumstances, my mentor is confined to the secret realm and cannot enter the main world.”
“Take me to him,” Daniel said decisively.
The leaf had been used to lead him here, and now the mentor’s disciple was here to welcome him at Winterkeep Citadel.
Whether this was a trap or something else, Daniel intended to uncover the truth.
At that moment, the snow eagle landed with the rest of the group, who quickly fell in behind Daniel.
…
Behind the royal palace of Winterrealm lay a vast mountain range, its peaks piercing the heavens.
From the midpoint upward, the mountains were cloaked in perpetual snow and ice.
Ryze led the way to the foot of the mountains and turned to Daniel.
“This is the entrance to the secret realm,” he explained before stepping through.
Daniel adjusted his Ring of Origin slightly before entering.
His power was immense—without moderating it, his mere presence could devastate the secret realm.
Once inside, they found themselves on a vast plain.
In the center of the plain stood a single, towering tree, unmistakably eye-catching.
Daniel immediately recognized the leaves on this tree—they were identical to the one he held.
In fact, it was clear that his leaf had come from this very tree.
Under the tree, a few bears were playfully wrestling.
However, upon noticing Ryze and the group behind him, they scampered off.
Daniel observed that the bears hadn’t gone far; they lingered nearby, keeping a cautious eye on the newcomers.
One more thing caught Daniel’s attention:
In the lake near the tree, he spotted a mana forge.
This forge was all too familiar to Daniel, a device used to produce various specialized magical liquids.
“Your Excellency, the bear didn’t truly offend you, did it? Now that you’ve arrived here, could you consider letting it go?” Ryze cautiously asked.
Without a word, Daniel released the small bear, allowing it to scurry away.
The bear didn’t hesitate, shouting as it ran off,
“Ryze, you’re too good to me! I’ll treat you to my favorite honey next time!”
Its speed made it clear that the encounter had left it deeply traumatized. It would likely take a long time for the bear to recover from the experience.
…
Daniel followed Ryze to the base of the tree.
Now closer, Daniel saw something he hadn’t noticed before: beneath the tree sat an elderly man.
The man was emaciated, his skin clinging tightly to his bones.
He appeared to be on the verge of death, leaning against the tree trunk as if the slightest breeze could topple him forever.
“You’ve come…”
The old man’s weak voice broke the silence as he heard their approach.
Daniel noticed that the man’s eyes seemed impaired—they didn’t open.
“Is this yours?”
Daniel tossed the leaf toward the old man.
It floated gently into the man’s lap. He reached out with trembling hands, his fingers brushing against the leaf.
“Yes… it’s back. It’s finally back,” the man murmured. “Which means I’ve finally found you. After all these years… I’ve finally waited long enough!”
The man’s lips curled into a faint smile, but his frailty quickly overtook him, and he began coughing.
“So it was you,” Daniel said coldly, his voice dropping into an icy tone. “You killed my father and laid the trap in the Sacred Time River, intending to kill me there, didn’t you?”
“What? Such a thing happened?”
The old man seemed genuinely puzzled, his reaction one of genuine confusion.
Daniel scrutinized him closely, searching for any sign of deceit. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
His mind power scanned the surroundings, ready to strike at the first hint of duplicity.
But the old man’s expression remained sincere—he truly seemed unaware of what Daniel was accusing him of.
“You didn’t do it?”
If the man wasn’t responsible for his father’s death, then why had he been waiting here? And what was the significance of the leaf?
“I am an oracle,” the old man began weakly.
Oracles—lunatics obsessed with glimpsing the future.
They weren’t individuals but a collective.
Now, it seemed, this old man was the last of them.
When he had inherited the mission of his predecessors, he had uncovered a grave secret.
The world was doomed.
It was a truth the oracles had foreseen ages ago, driving their relentless search for a way to avert this fate.
To others, they seemed mad.
But they knew they weren’t insane—or perhaps they were, in a deeper way than anyone realized.
The old man had spent countless years on his mission, and finally, he had noticed a faint glimmer of hope.
It was something his predecessors had never seen.
A star—capable of reversing everything.
From that moment, his vision was taken. He had gone blind, not just physically but conceptually.
His sight had been stripped away in its entirety, a cruel price for peering into the future.
No new eyes could restore his vision.
But to the old man, the sacrifice had been worth it. He had glimpsed the world’s salvation.
He had cast the leaf into the Sacred Time River and waited.
There was nothing more he could do but hope that fate would lead the right person to him.
Now, he had found Daniel.
But Daniel seemed to have come with entirely different intentions.
“I’ve been blind for a very long time,” the old man said weakly. “How could I have killed your father? It took everything I had just to cast that leaf into the river. There’s no way I could have set any traps there.”
His frailty made it clear that he was at the end of his strength.
Had Daniel not arrived, the old man would have passed his mission on to Ryze, his chosen successor, to await the one who might save the world.
Daniel realized now that the old man was not connected to the attack in the Sacred Time River.
But then the old man spoke again, his words reigniting Daniel’s focus:
“If someone in this world could have done what you described… it could only be them.”
“Them? Who are they?” Daniel asked sharply.
“They are… beings who have transcended the limits of this world. If it were them, they could easily enter the Sacred Time River and do as you’ve said,” the old man replied, his tone heavy with the weight of the revelation.