Something that could make Carillian Academy obey orders clearly didn’t exist anymore.

But it had existed before.

That was the human unified empire that once ruled the entire Tyrelis Continent—an empire that made the demon race tremble in fear and think twice before daring anything.

The Tyrelis Ancient Empire, ruled by the House of Carillian.

Leaving everything else aside—why was Carillian Academy called Carillian Academy in the first place??

Naturally, because the academy’s predecessor had been an imperial university founded and run directly by the royal house of the Tyrelis Ancient Empire. The fact that it carried the royal surname was proof enough of how much the ancient imperial House of Carillian had valued it.

Add in what the old man said—that he’d been trapped here for at least a few hundred years—and it didn’t seem hard to judge what that implied.

“Are you... really a student of Carillian Academy?” Vinny asked, uncertain and uneasy.

The old man stared up at the sky without answering. Only after a long time did he speak.

“So you found your way here... to seek the truth? Or do you have other motives?”

“Other motives?” Vinny frowned. “What do you mean?”

“No matter your reason, I’ll say it again—don’t go forward.” The old man’s voice was weathered and hoarse. “Let the settled dust bury this place forever.”

“You mean there’s a secret hidden inside Gaflei Fort?” Vinny asked.

If Vinny remembered correctly, the task packet said Gaflei Fort had been built by the ancient empire. There were also rumors that, before that, it had once been a sacrificial site for followers of a Demon Pillar—though the reliability was doubtful.

Was the “secret” connected to a Demon Pillar?

“Stop digging.” The old man still refused to answer Vinny head-on. “Let it stay sealed forever. That’s the best choice. Anyone with ill intent who reaches this place... never ends well.”

Whenever the name “Gaflei Fort” came up, it was like he deliberately avoided something. He dodged everything about it.

“Sir, do you know what happened at Gaflei Fort?” Vinny asked. “You said you were once a student of Carillian Academy, and after you went to Gaflei Fort, you ended up like this. What did you run into? Do you need my help?”

“No need. No one can help me.” The old man shook his head. “Who could’ve guessed... I would run into something humanity was never meant to touch?”

“We... were all cursed.”

“Cursed? Who?” Vinny grew more confused the more he listened. “Did a Demon Pillar curse you??”

The old man only shook his head.

“Young man—what do you think fate is?”

“Fate?” Vinny gave his view. “I think fate is something unavoidable, something that can’t be changed—something already set.”

Based on his own experiences, that really did feel like the best answer. In his eyes, too many things were simply destined.

“No.” The old man denied him, then spoke at length. “That’s only fate as humans see it. I used to think the same as you. But in truth, the very concept of fate is empty and abstract. It’s the inevitable outcome formed by every chaotic coincidence.”

“Civilization is like this. The more information you gain about the world’s true face, the more advanced your technology becomes... the easier it is to spiral into endless conflict and self-destruction.”

“Do you know why, ever since the Tyrelis Empire was destroyed, Tyrelis Continent has never stopped suffering disasters and calamities?” The old man sighed. “Humanity... has already overstepped.”

“Young man, you seem like a decent person. For the sake of our shared lineage as fellow students, I can help you once. But will you keep moving forward... or will you leave this place?”

“Sir, I don’t understand what happened to you,” Vinny said with a frown, “but I’m definitely not leaving this easily.”

“So be it. I can’t persuade you.” The old man turned his back to him. “Fine. Go or don’t go—it’s all the same.”

“After all, the countdown to Tyrelis Continent’s calamity began hundreds of years ago. The hourglass that symbolizes destruction... has already been flipped.”

“Calamity? Countdown?” Vinny asked, startled. “You mean the end of the world??”

“Ever since ‘that thing’ was extracted and shattered, Tyrelis Continent has been doomed.” The old man continued in a low, ghostly tone.

“In the end, no one will escape. Humans, elves, demi-humans, even the demon race—Tyrelis Continent will become a sea of suffering.”

“Our gods can no longer respond to us. They don’t even know we exist. They can’t receive our prayers. But the followers of evil gods can truly receive answers from their deities—this is why so many people have converted to evil gods.”

Vinny fell silent. The old man’s words only made him more lost.

No cause, only conclusions—clouds and fog, leaving you with no idea what you were even listening to.

“I can’t stop your arrival, and I can’t stop you.” The old man leaned on his cane again and walked into the fog. “Be careful in all things, underclassman. If you find something wrong, withdraw in time. Don’t end up like me—unable to live, unable to die.”

“After I leave, keep walking forward. That will do.”

With those words, the old man’s figure vanished into the fog.

Vinny stared at the white mist that still hadn’t dispersed, silent. With no sense of direction, he could only do as the old man said.

Walking through the white fog with visibility under five meters, Vinny kept feeling like time was racing forward whenever he wasn’t looking. He couldn’t tell how long he’d been inside it—like the flow of time here was completely scrambled.

He didn’t know how much time passed, but the thick fog around him finally seemed to thin. He quickened his pace. The heavy mist gradually dispersed, until it vanished completely and Vinny could finally see the road ahead.

He’d walked out of the fog.

But the sky was fully black now.

A mountain range stood before him. Under the bleak moonlight, he looked up and saw a massive black silhouette perched on the mountain.

That... was Gaflei Fort??

This fortress had been built on a mountain?

Vinny looked around. He couldn’t be sure he hadn’t taken a wrong turn, but his intuition told him that huge dark outline on the mountain was the Gaflei Fort Ruins.

And the old man—

He was truly gone.

No matter how Vinny searched, he couldn’t find him.

After leaving the fog, Vinny started thinking again about who that old man really was. How much of what he said was true. He couldn’t even rule out the possibility that the old man had been a hallucination.

But one thing was certain.

The old man hadn’t meant him harm.

“A student of Carillian Academy from hundreds of years ago... chaotic coincidences... Tyrelis Continent’s calamity... shattered...” Vinny muttered under his breath.

The old man claimed he’d been a Carillian Academy student just like Vinny—and that he’d lived hundreds of years ago. But if it was hundreds of years, the Tyrelis Ancient Empire should still have existed then.

Back then, Carillian Academy should’ve been fully under the Tyrelis Emperor’s command.

Vinny recalled what the academy-provided materials said about Gaflei Fort: that it had once been a suspected sacrificial site for followers of a Demon Pillar; that later the Tyrelis Empire built Gaflei Fort here; and that after the empire fell and the demon race invaded, Gaflei Fort was burned to the ground and became ruins.

As for this slice of history, Vinny had learned part of the truth from Isatia—that the collapse of the Tyrelis Ancient Empire was suspected to have been caused by something they themselves had created. Something that blew up, obliterating a full third of the ancient empire. And that third wasn’t some empty fringe—it was the most vital region, covering all major city-states and economic centers, including the imperial capital.

And that thing...

Very likely was [Divine Authority].

Vinny had seen just how destructive unstable [Divine Authority] could be. He remembered the enormous abyssal vortex that had appeared beneath the palace in the Secret Realm (Marsmo)—as if someone had taken a spoon and scooped that entire area right off the map.

So was Gaflei Fort really destroyed by demon-race warfare? Was that record even true?

Vinny studied the silhouette on the mountain. No matter how he looked at it, it didn’t resemble what he’d seen in the Secret Realm (Marsmo). If the ruin of Gaflei Fort had anything to do with [Divine Authority]—if it had taken a direct [Divine Authority] blast—then it wouldn’t be this intact. It would’ve gouged out the entire mountain range and the soil beneath it. How could there still be ruins left behind??

So... the records weren’t wrong?

Maybe it really had been the demon race invading this place, seeing that the Tyrelis Empire had fallen and the imperial garrison at Gaflei Fort had almost completely withdrawn—and then they’d easily taken it and burned the fortress down in one sweep.

And that old man—who was he, exactly?

If he was truly someone from hundreds of years ago and had suffered calamity, he should’ve died long ago. So why did he still exist?

What did he mean by saying he couldn’t live and couldn’t die? Was he trapped here? Trapped by what??

And back then, when he was sent here from Carillian Academy—why?

And what troubled Vinny most of all was this: the old man said Tyrelis Continent’s calamity was approaching, and that all life would be drowned in suffering.

Why?

How did he know?

And the place where Vinny met him—Vinny had clearly felt the flow of space and time go wrong. The sensation had been unmistakably strange.

Vinny rubbed his head. The information load was too huge, too complex. He couldn’t piece it all together into anything coherent.

But one thing was already obvious.

He’d stumbled into another mess that was going to be a nightmare to deal with.

Vinny had thought this practical assessment would be an easy steamroll—like rolling right over a speed bump.

Who would’ve thought that the moment he arrived and killed a few bandits, he’d start seeing the outlines of something deeper?

Like always, this incident wasn’t simple. Vinny could already smell how much trouble it was going to be.

Oh, come on.

Why is it always like this??

Vinny almost wanted to curse out loud.

He never got the “main character treatment,” but he never missed a single “main character disaster” either.

What was this supposed to be? Once wasn’t enough, so the world decided his life was too durable and needed a few more tries until it finally killed him?

Why was he unlucky everywhere he went? Was there any need to mess with someone like this??

Right now, Vinny felt like he’d been fishing in a shallow pond—

And hauled up a great white shark.

He let out a heavy breath, put Frostfang away, and hung it back on his earlobe as he continued up the mountain.

But if there really was something hidden in this incident, then what were those bandits even doing here?

Vinny had tested them. They were only strong enough to bully ordinary people. He hadn’t even used magic, and he’d wiped them all out.

A bunch of dirt-thugs who only knew how to swagger and bully—Vinny didn’t believe for a second that they had some grand conspiracy for camping out on the Gaflei Fort Ruins.

But that still didn’t explain how they managed to vanish every time the imperial troops came to suppress them.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized everything about this was strange. But the nearby imperial lord probably didn’t see it that way. He’d clearly defined these bandits as nothing more than simple murderers and roaming raiders—and since it wasn’t even within his jurisdiction, he’d only sent troops out of concern for local merchant safety.

And every time, they came back empty-handed.

In any case, these bandits definitely hadn’t earned that imperial lord’s serious attention.

Now, even with a belly full of questions, Vinny had no choice but to go up the mountain and find the truth.

He could feel it—this practical assessment had already gone beyond “eliminate a few bandits.”

If Aesphyra were here... what would she do?

With her intelligence and experience, would she already have a rough answer??

When he hit a dead end with the truth, Vinny thought of a certain white-haired nutball—and only then did he realize just how terrifyingly capable that girl really was.

If she were here, he wouldn’t need to think so much.

Ah—seriously. Was this path dependence? Why was he always thinking about Aesphyra??

Vinny reined in his thoughts and kept climbing, staying alert to every movement around him.

As a transcendent who had reached the Magus realm, Vinny’s five senses were far sharper than an ordinary person’s. In the night, he could feel many tiny movements around him.

It looked like those bandits hadn’t even sent out patrols.

That made it even stranger.

With vigilance this low, what exactly had let them dodge imperial suppression again and again??

Under the cover of night, Vinny’s moon-blue eyes gleamed as he silently reached the mountaintop.

Only after he stepped onto the summit did he finally glimpse Gaflei Fort’s full shape.

So it wasn’t a single fortress.

It was a whole fortress complex—large and small fortifications laid out throughout, most of them heavily ruined. Many walls had been torn open in wide gaps, and the strongholds inside looked battered and broken.

A ruin like this—easy to defend, easy to attack—was the perfect place for all kinds of mountain bandits and thieves to play king of the hill.

Vinny faintly saw firelight burning within the fortresses. It seemed the bandits occupying the ruins were patrolling inside.

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