The news, like a fire unleashed on a dry plain, devoured the entire last continent in just a few days.

Goram’s name was no longer just the name of a savage and mad warrior.

It had now become a symbol of something people still didn’t dare fully think about.

Death.

The death of a boy whose veins carried the blood of one of the top ten Eternal Warriors.

How likely was it to witness such an event in a year or even a century? Very, very low, and in fact, the number of times such an event had occurred was very few.

We are talking about the death of the son of one of the continent’s most powerful men. Few would dare to do such a thing.

Even other Eternal Warriors of the continent are not willing to accept such a risk and turn an Eternal Warrior, as powerful as Goram’s father, into their eternal enemy.

But now, a nobody has done this. A nobody who has also disobeyed the gods’ order!

In the taverns of border towns, warriors spoke in lower voices than usual. Mugs stopped on tables, and gazes grew heavier.

"They say he couldn’t even land a blow."

"No... I heard he just got close and his head exploded."

"Nonsense."

"Then why hasn’t his family shown any reaction yet?"

And this silence... was more terrifying than any scream.

In the training grounds of great families, sword masters uttered the name of a stranger cautiously for the first time.

In aristocratic halls, behind closed doors, discussions were no longer about the fall of border cities or new waves of corruption beasts.

But about one man.

A foreigner.

Someone protecting the cursed tree.

And most importantly...

Someone who had killed the son of one of the most powerful Eternal Warriors in an instant.

For many, this was still unbelievable, and they couldn’t stop their speculations. What was going to happen?

Was the world going to witness revenge by an Eternal Warrior? Was the world going to witness the wrath of an Eternal Warrior?

Legends say that the wrath of Eternal Warriors can cause cities to fall and space and time to collapse.

Even the hunters and adventurers who were moving toward the forest for the bounty now spoke of their destination with more caution.

Greed still existed, but now, fear sat beside it. They didn’t dare steal the prey of an Eternal Warrior.

What if by doing so, they incurred that man’s wrath? No matter how high the bounty for killing that monster was, it could never be worth as much as their lives.

And in a distant place, in a rocky land covered with mountains whose peaks split the clouds, a silent man sat on a throne of black stone.

His body was massive, not just in size, but in presence and the savage, authoritative aura he radiated, as if he wanted to tear the world apart and rip the skies with his hands.

Muscles covered in old scars, arms that seemed to have crushed mountains countless times, and long gray hair falling over his heavy shoulders.

Walterk Bloodfang.

Mountain Breaker, one of the continent’s top ten Eternal Warriors.

A man who, it was said, had killed a monster the size of a castle with his bare fists in his youth.

One of the servants knelt before him in fear, not daring to lift his gaze.

"Lord... the news has been confirmed."

"Lord Goram... has been killed."

But this very silence caused cold sweat to run down the necks of everyone present. The fear they felt and experienced at this moment was not something that could be easily described with words.

As if death itself was standing before them, and just one mistake was enough to take all their lives.

"They say... he couldn’t even get close." His subordinate continued hesitantly.

A few seconds passed. Then Walterk slowly raised his head.

His eyes were heavy and dark. Not from sorrow, but from something far more dangerous.

"Where is he?"

He only asked this simple question. He didn’t ask about the details, didn’t ask who the bastard who killed his son was, or how powerful he was.

But that single sentence was enough to make the hall’s atmosphere suffocating for a moment.

"The northern holy forest... next to the cursed tree." His subordinate answered quickly.

Walterk slowly rose from his seat, and the floor of the stone hall cracked under the weight of his steps.

At the same time, kilometers away, the forest still breathed under the shadow of the massive tree.

A few days had passed, but unfortunately, it wasn’t as chaotic as Daniel had expected. Rather, it was strangely calm, at least calmer than he had anticipated.

During these few days, dozens of people had tried to kill him and destroy the tree.

Warriors, assassins, mercenaries, mad adventurers, and even people who had just come to test their luck.

All of them were dead. Some before they arrived, some during the attack, and some without even understanding what had happened.

Their bodies and life energy, one after another, had been devoured by the tree’s massive roots.

And the fruit had now grown more clearly, its light had deepened, and it seemed even more alive than before.

But the number of people who had come was much less than what Daniel had predicted. He had expected at least hundreds to come here within these few days.

But the number who came was very small, and most of them were low-level crazy trash.

This had only one meaning: something had happened that made others dare not come to hunt him and destroy the tree.

He had planned to ask Elisira what had happened if he saw her.

Daniel was sitting under the same tree, his eyes closed.

But inside, he was not calm. In his inner world, energies were swirling with immense violence.

His bloodline and that unknown race, which even he himself did not fully understand yet, were all colliding with each other.

He was building something that was no longer merely a technique.

But a foundation for evolution. If successful, his body would no longer just be a powerful body.

His abilities would no longer be simple skills. Something close to creating a new identity, and perhaps even a new race, a race without his current racial limitations, the most important of which was the only way to become stronger.

And to achieve that, he had begun building a core.

A center in his inner world.

A channel that could hold those opposing powers within itself and connect them.

At first, everything went well. The core took shape.

And then Daniel began to connect his bloodline and his race through it.

For a brief moment, his inner world trembled.

And then an explosion.

A deafening sound echoed in his inner space, and the core collapsed from within.

Destructive waves spread throughout his inner world and even agitated part of the mana around his body.

Daniel slowly opened his eyes. He wasn’t nervous, nor disappointed. He just sighed quietly.

"It couldn’t withstand it." He quickly understood the reason.

The power he was trying to control was too great. An ordinary core couldn’t hold something of this level.

"So I need to use a stronger energy..."

At that moment, the massive roots around him suddenly moved.

The tree’s light intensified, and for a moment, Daniel’s mind saw something.

Broken fragments of a memory. A sky split in half, and an endless ocean of corruption.

Screams.

Cities sinking into darkness.

And then... him. A creature with a human body, but a head like a bull, with massive, branched, twisted horns like the branches of ancient trees.

His eyes were not savage, but aware, and intelligent, exactly like a human. And in that image... that creature was looking at the tree, but not with hatred, but with something Daniel immediately recognized.

Fear.

The image disappeared. Daniel quietly looked at the tree.

"Why did you show me this suddenly?" He frowned slightly and couldn’t immediately understand the tree’s intention.

Could it be that the tree wanted to say it wasn’t an enemy? Or was it showing him a fragment of the future?

"So perhaps you are not the real enemy."

If that creature was afraid of the tree... then perhaps it didn’t want this tree to be completed.

Perhaps this entire war was built on a massive lie. And this way, it exactly meant his reasoning was correct.

So maybe the tree wanted to tell him this?

And just as this thought was forming in his mind, his divine sense caught something.

Daniel slowly raised his head.

A presence entered his sensory range. A familiar presence. After examining it, Daniel’s guard lowered.

A few minutes later, among the trees, a girl in a dark cloak appeared, her breath slightly irregular.

She quickly pushed aside her shawl, and with its removal, her presence became visible, her light hair shining under the fruit’s light.

Elisira.

As soon as her gaze fell on Daniel, a tired but genuine smile settled on her face.

Then she pulled a thick, old book from under her cloak and held it up.

"Here you go..." She took a deep breath.

"Finally found what you wanted."