The dawn poured over the horizon, literally, but there was no golden light painting the world like a heavenly treasure. This world was pale; the best it offered was an azure radiance that showered the mountains like rain of luminance.

Crossing the arching bridge that led away from the quarters assigned to Cade and his companions was a lady with white hair like silk and flawless porcelain skin. Her initially pale face was nowhere to be seen and instead, there was an undertone of warmth. Her skin looked smooth and rich, making her resemble the guardian spirit of the sea’s depths herself.

She walked across the bridge with slow steps, her overflowing emerald-green robe with a bamboo pattern trailing behind her.

On her face was frozen an expression of inexplicable shock.

’I feel very different... all my vitality has been restored... and more importantly, I’m overflowing with spirit essence. Why am I overflowing with essence?’

White Feather knew the obvious reason.

She had lived for two hundred years perpetually consuming cores. The higher the rank of the spirit beast, the more she was replenished and the longer she could hold on. A Level 9 primal core, for example, could sustain her for an entire day. But Level 9 primal beasts were not something one encountered every day. If it were so easy to come across one, their population would have greatly dwindled.

Only a handful of summoners could deal with them.

Over the centuries, there were uncountable times when the secret organization she established to create a spirit beast core network for her had perished.

She managed to sustain her supply chain through the market, but it was slowly declining. The recent blow to her goods had driven things even further downhill.

This was, in fact, the reason she had been so desperate.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t deal with her disappointed customers, but the real problem was that she was dying, and the cores were no longer enough. She had even begun considering hunting Level 5 Apex beasts, which was no different from hanging one’s soul like a candle’s sweet flame before a joyless clown.

She had lost too many people to even prioritize hunting. The best thing she could do was figure out this problem before her essence ran dry and she slowly died.

She paused as she reached the crimson tree that spread its branches wide. Glancing up at it, she muttered,

"One night... All it took him to bring me a solution was one night..."

This person, Sir Cade, had promised he meant no harm, and he had even told her to focus on surviving.

’He knew all of this... and carefully planned for me?’

If that were the case, then Sir Cade had known she would contact him and had merely been waiting and pretending.

When she thought about his absurd request at the beginning, everything now connected. First, he asked for her, and then he requested her clan.

It was clear that this Sovereign had already seen it coming.

’I thought I was a step ahead of him, but he was already ten steps ahead of me while pretending to be behind.’

She continued staring at the tree.

’The sovereigns... they aren’t an exaggeration. No one can know what they’re thinking.’

She had been wrong to think she could toy with a sovereign and use him for her own selfish intentions just because he was young and newly ascended. But he had seen her coming and even outsmarted her.

White Feather looked at her hands with a conflicted expression, uncertain whether she felt glad or angry.

But for one thing... she felt cheated.

She had once been a summoner, and now... she was someone else’s summon.

While she was grateful she would never have to worry about essence again, she felt as though she had sold her freedom, something she had fought so fiercely for centuries to protect. Now she had lost it and couldn’t tell whether it would ultimately be worth it.

’Did I really gain something... or lose it? I can’t tell.’

White Feather walked away.

Opposite the quarters, separated by the tree, stood a pagoda tower growing alongside another scarlet tree that spiraled around it. The architecture was fascinating. The tree looked as though it wanted to suffocate the pagoda, yet there were no cracks in its walls, and the tree was not straining against the structure.

As White Feather entered the first floor, her attendant who had been pacing and commanding all the clan maidens to search everywhere for the Matriarch suddenly froze. Her eyes widened, and she ran toward the Matriarch, shouting,

"Matriarch! Matriarch!! Where have you been?!"

She sounded only a tone away from outright nagging the Matriarch.

White Feather merely smiled with grace.

The attendant froze as she noticed immediately. Her eyes trembled, and she stepped back.

"Matriarch... your eyes aren’t pale... Did you obtain a large amount of cores?"

Her face darkened with anger.

"Matriarch, did you go out hunting by yourself?"

White Feather giggled, seeing the worry on her attendant’s face masked as anger.

"Shuǐyáo, look at me. Do I look like someone who has just fought a beast?"

Shuǐyáo frowned deeply at the Matriarch.

"You and I both know that you can deal with a primal beast without even trying."

White Feather smiled.

"But it would exhaust me, wouldn’t it? And the core I would get might not even replenish what I lost fighting the beast. I wouldn’t look this healthy."

Shuǐyáo’s eyes shimmered as she finally seemed to recognize that the Matriarch was right.

"B-But... how?"

Shuǐyáo stuttered, lost for words, looking like someone who had seen a ghost and refusing to believe what her eyes were seeing.

White Feather smiled and walked past her.

"A very kind sovereign entered our lives."

Shuǐyáo stood there, her eyes shifting left and right in confusion for a moment. Then they widened, and she belatedly ran after the Matriarch.

"Wait! Matriarch! Don’t tell me it’s that slothful-looking kid!"