They claimed to have come here seeking answers, but in truth, Luluwe didn’t really have anything in particular she desperately wanted to know.

She turned and looked behind her once more.

In this place, simply looking or sensing accomplished nothing...

The location where you stood one second ago and the place you would arrive the next second could be separated by billions upon billions of kilometers.

Even if you saw someone only a dozen meters away, reaching them might still require an unimaginably long journey.

If she had to describe it—

This place was like a completely transparent labyrinth.

Invisible walls surrounded everything.

The moment you touched one, you would be teleported somewhere else.

The only difference was that these teleportations followed certain patterns.

Which was why guides were necessary.

After pausing briefly, Luluwe continued following Yuna onward.

"But Yuna... what does it feel like to become a Sage?"

Yuna carried the lantern while answering softly,

"To be honest... it doesn’t feel particularly special."

"And if I’m being honest, the journey itself wasn’t smooth either."

"Back when I left Misyllus and headed toward the Tower of Sages by sea, we encountered a Black Storm."

"Our ship drifted into the territory of the Dark Underworld."

"It was a sea of death."

"Floating corpses covered the ocean."

"We saw ships of the undead sailing across those waters..."

"Although they never attacked us, our fleet became trapped within the fog."

"And the aura of death constantly drained our life force."

"It made people hungry more easily, more vulnerable to illness, and even healing spells became drastically less effective."

"If you didn’t eat... you would truly die."

Luluwe winced.

"That sounds absolutely horrible..."

"Didn’t anyone help you escape?"

Yuna shook her head lightly while holding the lantern.

"No."

"There were high-level class holders aboard the ship who tried to leave the dark death fog."

"They formed exploration teams and departed from the fleet to investigate."

"We never heard from them again afterward."

Luluwe frowned.

"Then how did you finally get out?"

"It seemed to be because the season changed."

"Once we reached August—the Month of Peace—we suddenly emerged from the fog."

"And when we came out, we were already very close to the Tower of Sages."

"But during those months at sea..."

"Some people vanished."

"Some died from sickness..."

"I suppose I was relatively lucky to survive that incident."

"Afterward, I entered the Tower of Sages to study..."

"And I followed the old Sage to many different places."

"Even though Scholars aren’t supposed to be combat specialists, we constantly entered dangerous regions."

"Then, in March two years ago, Yog initiated a Trial of Knowledge."

"I successfully passed the trial and became one of Yog’s outer disciples."

"But even more fortunately..."

"I received personal guidance from Yog."

"A year ago, I visited the World Center Tree."

"And there, I successfully found the answer that a Tier 8 Scholar was meant to obtain."

"A year ago?"

Luluwe sighed regretfully.

"What a shame. We happened to be away from the World Center Tree at the time."

Yuna nodded.

"Mhm. I actually wanted to look for you back then too."

"But I heard you had already left, so I could only give up."

Luluwe’s expression gradually softened as old memories surfaced.

"After Kanzaki Rei disappeared, we searched for him for a very long time."

"I think we kept searching for around three months."

"Then suddenly, Abyssfall corruption erupted within the Hollow Valley."

"There was no way for us to re-enter those ruins under those conditions."

"So in the end, we had no choice but to head toward the Land of Moonwatch first."

"Not long after we left, we heard the Abyssfall corruption had been contained within the sea region surrounding Hollow Valley."

"It hadn’t spread any farther."

"At the time, we thought the Abyssfall incident had already ended..." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"But who would’ve thought..."

"That was only the beginning."

"Later, when we arrived at the Land of Moonwatch, they were holding Awakening Ceremonies for Early Awakeners."

"Shizuka Leng decided to stay there temporarily."

"She wanted to level up first before going back to search for Kanzaki Rei."

"So she told me to head to the World Center Tree first."

"If either of us found any news..."

"...we’d contact each other again."

Yuna blinked lightly.

"Now that you mention it... I really haven’t heard anything about her."

Luluwe let out a quiet sigh.

"Maybe I should’ve forced her to leave with me back then."

"She probably went back to search for Kanzaki Rei afterward."

"Then eventually..."

"Both she and Kanzaki Rei disappeared."

"No matter how we tried contacting them, there was never any response."

"When I finally reached the World Center Tree and met Kumironi..."

"...I genuinely didn’t know how to face her."

Both Kanzaki Rei and Shizuka Leng were children Kumironi treasured deeply.

Even though their strength already surpassed most adult class holders, Luluwe still subconsciously viewed them as kids.

Privately, Kumironi had even spoken with Luluwe alone before.

She had asked Luluwe to take care of the two children.

But in the end, what Luluwe had to tell her was—

That she had lost both Kanzaki Rei and Shizuka Leng.

"Mmm... I can understand how you felt."

As Luluwe recalled the past, her tone grew noticeably heavier.

"Kumironi didn’t blame me."

"She only said..."

"That no matter what..."

"She would find Kanzaki Rei and Shizuka Leng."

"Even if only their corpses remained."

Yuna gave a helpless smile.

"This conversation suddenly became very heavy."

Luluwe brushed her long hair back over her shoulder.

"You said Kanzaki Rei should also be somewhere within this space."

"I think the answer I’m searching for..."

"...is finding him."

"If I see him, I’ll definitely tell you."

Yuna nodded softly.

"Mhm..."

But inwardly, she sighed helplessly.

The answer you’re looking for... actually isn’t Kanzaki Rei.

...

"Saint Rei, what are you here searching for?" Kanzaki Rei asked.

Saint Rei looked toward him.

"I honestly don’t know what I want myself."

"Asahi found me and said she could lead me to an answer."

"So actually, I’m more curious about what exactly it is that I want to know."

"I see."

Saint Rei then asked in return,

"What about you?"

"What are you searching for?"

After spending time together during this journey, he was no longer quite as afraid of Kanzaki Rei as before.

A trace of nervousness still lingered deep down, but ordinary conversation had become manageable now.

Saint Rei himself found this fear strange.

Could it be because he awakened my memories from a previous life...?

Is that why I’m so afraid of him?

Kanzaki Rei’s gaze settled on Saint Rei.

So this was what it felt like talking to a mature child.

Saint Rei still retained the appearance of an eight-year-old boy, while Kanzaki Rei himself had already become a sturdy young man.

"I..."

"There are too many things I want to know."

"The answer to the Origin is one of them, I guess."

The person who invited him here had claimed they could reveal Kanzaki Rei’s origins.

But honestly, there were countless other truths about the world he wanted answers to as well.

"If it’s inconvenient to say, then forget it," Saint Rei replied after noticing Kanzaki Rei didn’t seem eager to elaborate.

Kanzaki Rei nodded.

"Mhm."

Saint Rei then looked toward the two women walking beside Kanzaki Rei.

"What about these two?"

One was a red-haired female warrior with a high ponytail.

The other was a silver-haired cat beastkin.

Where exactly did Kanzaki Rei even find Tier 8 class holders like these?

Shumi pointed at herself.

"You mean me, nya?"

She spread her hands helplessly.

"I just followed him here, nya."

"He said there was a path this way, so I came along, nya."

...Right.

Apparently, not everyone who arrived here had come seeking answers.

Seeing Saint Rei’s gaze shift toward her, Elarosa crossed her arms and answered seriously,

"Mhm. Same here."

They came here without understanding anything at all?

Were Tier 8 class holders really this lacking in caution?

Saint Rei couldn’t help muttering inwardly:

Kanzaki Rei... your luck with women is seriously absurd.

Tap—

The bird-headed figure walking ahead suddenly stopped.

Not far away lay a pulsating mass of flesh that wriggled continuously.

And apparently, someone had already arrived before them.

At the opposite end, the group saw a young girl with emerald-green hair quietly listening to the "speech" of a rotting lump of flesh beside her.

The moment the group appeared—

The girl’s gaze turned toward them as well.

Hiroto Minase spoke softly.

"Looks like we’ve arrived."

...

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