The Seven Radiant Blades had not actually become legendary figures before entering Morva Forest. Their names existed back then, but most people only knew them as powerful Aura Farmers assigned to one of humanity’s most dangerous rescue missions. The true legends were born after the raid itself. After Morva fell, after six of them disappeared, and after only one person returned alive, the entire event slowly transformed into one of humanity’s greatest historical tragedies.

Which was exactly why the current situation felt unbelievable.

Leo quietly stared at the silver-haired man resting near the cave entrance while his thoughts became more complicated. If this reconstruction truly followed the original timeline properly, then the man sitting a few meters away from them was technically someone who had not yet become a legend. At this point in history, he was still just another living Aura Farmer preparing to enter a battle that would eventually destroy his entire team.

That realization made the atmosphere feel strangely uncomfortable because the students knew how the story ended.

....But the people inside the reconstruction did not.

Lucien seemed to realize the same thing because his expression slowly became more thoughtful while watching the exhausted man quietly resting against the cave wall.

The reconstruction itself also made everything far more confusing than it should have been. Time inside Morva did not feel stable anymore. Certain memories aligned properly with historical records while others felt distorted or incomplete. Some events unfolded exactly how history described them while others already showed slight differences caused by the students themselves.

It was like the reconstruction was trying to follow the original timeline while simultaneously adapting around foreign interference.

That alone made Leo increasingly suspicious of the entire place.

If memories were truly overlapping with reality, then maybe the reconstruction was not simply recreating the past anymore. Maybe it was rebuilding it piece by piece using both recorded history and active human interaction.

’Well that’s a fourth possibility.’

Currently, Leo, Lucien, and Nightwalker sat deeper inside the cave while the other students stood guard near the entrance protecting the ones still asleep.

A healer-type student was also attending to Nightwalker while the three discussed quietly. Their difference in strength was massive, so healing the silver-haired man consumed far more Aura than expected. Sweat occasionally dripped down the healer’s forehead while faint green Aura slowly closed the wounds around Nightwalker’s shoulder and arms.

Nightwalker himself looked increasingly disturbed the longer the conversation continued.

At first, he had treated the students like frightened children speaking nonsense after surviving too much stress inside Morva Forest. But the more details Lucien explained calmly, the harder it became for the silver-haired man to maintain that belief.

Even certain events that had not happened yet somehow matched information only members of the rescue mission should know.

After a while, the healer finally stepped away looking exhausted while Nightwalker leaned silently against the cave wall with a pale expression.

Lucien rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "See why we said it sounds insane?"

Nightwalker slowly looked toward him.

"You children are telling me that six members of the Seven Radiant Blades disappear inside Morva..." He paused briefly. "...and only Krystal survives?"

Neither Leo nor Lucien replied immediately.

Nightwalker stared blankly at the ground for several seconds afterward before laughing quietly under his breath. The laughter sounded hollow.

"...Cedric is going to hate hearing this."

Lucien frowned slightly. "You believe us?"

"No," Nightwalker replied honestly. "But I also can’t explain how a group of awakened children know classified information from a mission that technically hasn’t happened yet and how they even got here in the first place."

Leo finally spoke again after remaining quiet for most of the discussion.

"The important part isn’t whether you fully believe us." He looked directly at the silver-haired man. "It’s whether history inside this place can actually change."

Nightwalker’s expression slowly became serious again.

"That..." He muttered quietly. "...is a very dangerous question." He leaned back against the cave wall before rubbing his forehead slowly. "Now let me get this straight. We were sent into Morva to rescue a general but got ambushed instead and only Krystal survives. And now, Krystal is your teacher and sent you here as a test despite not even knowing the exact purpose behind it?"

Lucien gave a helpless smile. "That’s basically the situation."

Nightwalker stared at him for a few seconds before exhaling deeply.

"...That woman really lost her mind after Morva."

Neither Leo nor Lucien replied to that.

The silver-haired man stayed quiet for a while afterward while processing everything he had just heard. His fingers tapped lightly against the handle of the massive sword resting beside him while his expression slowly changed between disbelief and thoughtfulness.

"What exactly happens during the raid?" he suddenly asked. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Lucien and Leo immediately looked hesitant.

The problem was simple. They knew the outcome of the raid, but not the exact details behind it. Historical records about Morva were incomplete because almost everyone involved had died. Most of humanity only knew the basic facts afterward.

Nightwalker seemed to understand their silence quickly.

"You don’t know." He muttered.

"Not fully," Leo admitted calmly. "Most records from Morva became fragmented after the incident."

Nightwalker laughed quietly again, though this time the sound carried more bitterness than amusement.

"So even in the future nobody truly understands what happened here."

Leo narrowed his eyes slightly after hearing that sentence because Nightwalker himself sounded uncertain too. That alone felt strange. If one of the Seven Radiant Blades already sounded unsure before the mission had even progressed fully, then maybe the situation inside Morva had been unstable from the very beginning.

Lucien suddenly leaned forward slightly. "Can I ask something?"

Nightwalker glanced at him. "Depends on the question."

"What exactly is Krystal’s ability?" Lucien asked calmly. "Outsiders are only allowed to develop abilities connected to a special affinity tied to either the body or soul. So what kind of affinity does she have that could eventually allow something like this?" He gestured lightly around the cave. "Maybe she only gained that ability after Morva, I don’t know, but you should at least know the foundation behind it."

Nightwalker’s expression changed slightly after hearing that question.

For the first time since entering the cave, genuine caution surfaced in his eyes. The silver-haired man stayed silent for a few seconds before speaking carefully.

"Krystal’s affinity was always strange."

Lucien frowned slightly. "Strange how?"

Nightwalker rested his sword against the wall beside him before continuing. "Most affinities are straightforward. Strengthening the body. Enhancing senses. Controlling elements. Reinforcing weapons." He looked toward the cave entrance quietly. "Krystal’s affinity was connected to perception."

Leo narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Perception?" he repeated.

Nightwalker nodded once. "She could influence how people interpreted reality around them." He frowned while trying to explain it properly. "Not ordinary illusions. More like... altering awareness itself."

Lucien slowly leaned back. "That sounds terrifying already."

"It was," Nightwalker admitted calmly. "At lower ranks it mostly allowed her to confuse senses slightly or distort awareness during combat."

Leo’s expression slowly became more thoughtful because that sounded far too compatible with everything happening inside Morva right now.

Nightwalker continued quietly. "But Krystal’s abilities always evolved strangely after every Rite. They were more like conceptual abnormalities."

"Isn’t that extremely dangerous?" Leo frowned slightly.

"It was useful," Nightwalker corrected. "Especially against Eldrath creatures." He paused briefly afterward. "The problem was that even Krystal herself didn’t fully understand the limits of her affinity."

"What do you mean?" Leo asked.

Nightwalker frowned slightly. "There were moments during previous missions where multiple people experienced the exact same distortion simultaneously." He tapped lightly against the sword handle beside him. "Not hallucinations but shared perception."

Lucien’s expression slowly stiffened.

"You mean groups of people saw the same false reality at once?"

Nightwalker nodded slowly. "And the stronger Krystal became, the harder it became to tell where the distortion actually ended."

Leo and Lucien threw each other worried glances because if Nightwalker was telling the truth, then the reconstruction inside Morva might not have started from nowhere.

It might simply be the final evolution of an affinity that had already been crossing dangerous boundaries long before the raid itself ever happened.

Leo quietly looked toward the dark forest outside again.

Miss Krystal herself was dangerous, and knowing her Tree now made her even more fearsome. What made her even more terrifying was that the more Leo tried to guess exactly why she started this illusion, the more he realized he was probably wrong.

"It’s really going to be three long weeks here."