Hearing the worry in his voice made Willow smile, though she didn't quite understand why.

  “Don’t worry, I may be new to being Awakened, but I’m not new at surviving. I am the Queen of this mountain.”

  Seeing that he still wasn’t reassured, Willow added, “Besides, fewer people are coming near this mountain since those people started gathering into those… what was the name again… Ah, those forts.”

  Sokram raised his eyebrows in surprise, “You mean the humans with red and blue hair and the cat-looking ones?”

  Willow nodded, and Sokram, thinking of something, asked again, “Do you know which fort has fewer of them?”

  “Yes, the one on the other end of the narrow passage between the neighboring mountains. But they don’t seem to know that there are three other paths by the mountains that some people use to watch them,” Willow answered, confused by the strange behavior those people showed.

  “Don't warn them. The watchers are my friends. The ones in the fort are my enemies, waiting for a chance to burn my city to the ground.” As Sokram spoke, Willow frowned.

  “Can I eat them? Would that help you? I can ask the monkeys for help, they also have an… an Awakened among them.” Willow offered, eager to help her new friend.

  “Maybe in the future. If you go there and eat those soldiers now, they will send someone stronger in their place, and that wouldn’t be good for me either. Just stay safe, alright? I’ll do my best to come back to see you as often as I can.” Sokram instinctively patted Willow’s head.

  “This feels nice, hehe. Alright, I’ll stay safe,” Willow nodded, enjoying her head pats.

  “Good, I’ll go now. See you soon.” Sokram was about to jump from the cliff when Willow pulled him back.

  “I’ll take you. Not to the city, but I can at least drop you near it. Just let me take these off.” Willow rushed back into the cave.

  Sokram tried to resist but peeked at her.

  When he saw her carefully placing the dress in a corner, storing it as if it were something precious, he felt a pang of guilt for lusting after such a pure soul.

  She folded the silk with extreme care, smoothing out invisible wrinkles as if handling something fragile and valuable.

  To her, the dress wasn't just cloth; it was a precious gift from the first friend she made among Nhiria's children.

  The ground fell away in a rush of wind. Sokram used Force to stabilize himself on her broad back, the powerful muscles between her wings shifting beneath him as she banked hard. The cold mountain wind battered his face, filling his lungs.

  Willow flew, circling the mountain, explaining to Sokram the path he should take to avoid the Snow Apes and Ice Spiders' territories.

  She also showed which path to take when entering the mountain range from the gelid forest that surrounded the mountain.

  Thirty minutes of soaring through the clouds later, the city of Eversnow emerged in the far distance.

  Eversnow looked like a jewel set in white velvet. The high walls formed a stark grey ring against the snow, as the sunlight shone brighter, painting the buildings and streets with its golden light.

  Seeing Eversnow from above brought a few pleasant memories to Sokram, which also made him want to master Biomancy soon so he could awaken his dragon form and freely fly through the skies.

  After Willow landed, they bid farewell, and Sokram reassured her he would visit her as often as possible.

  The quiet sadness in her eyes as she flew back to her mountain made him wish she could stay.

  When Sokram crossed the northern gates, two guards from the Androny family appeared before him, worry etched in their faces.

  “Patriarch, are you fine? Not harmed at all? The Matriarch is very worried. In fact, your whole family is. You should hurry back home.” The two guards examined every part of his body, running a few diagnostic spells, ignoring the attention the light flaring from their spells was drawing.

  “Yes, uncles, I’m fine. I’ll go talk with them, don’t worry,” Sokram quickly dodged them and rushed to his home.

  But the two guards remained tailing him until he reached the front door of his estate.

  Before he could touch the handle, the door burst open. Hilda and Miralyn, tears streaking down their faces, lunged at him in a frantic embrace.

  Sokram let them cry in his arms until they calmed themselves, standing at the entrance of their home for a few minutes.

  Hilda then cupped his face, examining it.

  Miralyn also examined his body, running the same diagnostic spells that the guards had used before.

  Only then did Sokram see Hannah, Brunhild, and Margiory standing in the entry hall, smiling at him, a hint of pride and relief in their expressions.

  Letting go of him, Hilda wrinkled her nose. "You reek of dried blood, wet fur, and damp stone."

  “Come, you need a bath.” Hilda pulled him inside by his left hand.

  Then she stopped and looked at his left hand, surprised to see a second Void Glove identical to the other. “You found the other pair?”

  “Heh, I found a lot more than just the other pair. But let me bathe first, and I’ll tell you guys everything,” Sokram greeted his grandmothers and went to his triplex to take off his armor, bathe, and dress in a new set of clothes.

  Sometime later, Sokram was sitting in one of the reception rooms with his family, his master, and his three girls.

  He told them all that transpired at the peak of Mount Wintry Horn and why he gained another Galactic Title.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  A heavy silence descended on the room.

  Margiory and Hannah’s teacups stopped halfway to their mouths, trembling slightly. Hilda and Miralyn’s eyes widened until the whites showed all around their irises.

  The others were just as stunned; not even Leona found words to make her usual jokes or prideful remarks.

  “Nhiria herself? In person?!” Hannah shot up to her feet, utterly shaken by that information.

  His other grandmothers looked at him, struggling to conceive the mental image of the guardian of their galaxy presenting herself before him.

  But even reeling from what he just told them, his two mothers shared another concern.

  “When that girl, Amira, woke up yesterday after simply appearing in her room, she came rushing to apologize, accompanied by Sienna and Sahvus. I think they now know you’re the Pioneer of Chaos and the new Agent of Chaos,” Miralyn explained, her voice firm with concealed anger. But it also betrayed the worry in her tone.

  Sokram, however, wasn’t worried at all. “No need to worry, they won’t betray me.”

  Sokram’s tone carried a confidence that made it clear there was a lot more to it.

  “Besides, even if they know it matters little,” Sokram shrugged.

  Then he added, “I don’t intend on keeping Chaos Energy a secret forever. I merely need to be strong enough so that revealing it to the world doesn’t become a threat to our family.”

  "These... these are the real danger. Nhiria’s gift for besting Mentyr." Sokram's grin grew wider, and he summoned two heavy tomes over the coffee table.

  Hannah looked at it immediately after hearing Nhiria’s name.

  But reading their names, she slumped back into her chair, her breath hitched, and the color drained from her face as if she’d seen a ghost.

  Her hands gripped the armrests so hard her knuckles turned white, as she muttered to herself, "The Oghmah and the Allseer’s Codex..."

  She was grateful they were all seated.

  Miralyn and Margiory had the same exaggerated reaction, and seeing their reactions, the others became very wary of the books.

  “I managed to find the key to the Codex, but didn’t have the time to decipher the key to the Oghmah yet.” Sokram's proud grin remained, but his tone was calm, almost nonchalant.

  But the others sat frozen in shock.

  “Nhiria gifted those to you?” Hannah looked at him wide-eyed, trying to come to terms with it. “You know these two books are the foundation of every empire still standing today. Wars were fought because of it, and she gave them to a fifteen-year-old?”

  “Yep, she even made a joke after she dropped the books on the floor. I guess she’s been keeping an eye on me,” Sokram joked, amused by Hannah’s reaction.

  Yet he knew Nhiria was watching his every move, now, even more, as he was Nhiria’s First Champion.

  “But that’s not all that happened…” Sokram turned to Brunhild.

  “I’ll need you and Mom to take me to our burial grounds. Because…” and then he went on telling how he found the Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Drokmin, going as far as using the Allseer’s Codex in front of them to prove it.

  He also took Draggonia out of the glove to show them, as well as the ring containing Drokmin’s chromatic bones and the throne, “…But I still didn’t go through everything that I gained from his inheritance, because I want to give him a proper burial before doing it. Can we go today?”

  The only answer he got was stunned silence.

  It was far too much to process in such a short time.

  Not even Lucy, Amber, and Savannah could come to terms with all he told them.

  “I see you’re all struggling with everything, but I need to give a final resting place to our ancestor. Can you take me there, Nana?” The urgency in Sokram’s tone broke them out of a daze.

  “Y-Yes… I’ll go pick the key and… And we can leave.” Brunhild rushed upstairs to her triplex.

  Hannah turned to Sokram, “We’ll have to check everything you…” But even before she finished, Sokram raised a hand for her to stop.

  “Not this time, in fact, I’ll need the books you took from me back. I believe I have already proven myself capable and mature enough for that level of knowledge.” Sokram held her gaze firmly as he spoke with the authority of a true Patriarch.

  “I’m not a child anymore. I understand very well what I can and cannot do. If you can’t trust me already, that’s not my fault.” Sokram's tone was resolute, and it was clear there was no room for argument.

  Hilda nodded, “I agree, Sokram has been showing a lot of maturity and responsibility, his fate is already out of our hands, and we had already agreed to support him better.”

  Her words made it crystal clear that her choice was to continue to trust Sokram as he seeks Evolution.

  But Sokram raised an eyebrow, noticing the slight contradiction in her words and her worries about him joining the Extermination Hall.

  Hannah sighed, knowing that without Hilda’s support, she wouldn’t be able to maintain her hold over Sokram’s progress.

  Her heart tightened at the memory of her son, Garuth.

  As if Sokram could read her mind, he reassured her, “Nana, you don’t have to worry. I’m not my father. I won’t make the same mistakes.”

  “I… I know, darling. You’re much less reckless than he was, but… can you keep me in the loop? To give me some peace of mind?” Hannah was almost pleading with him.

  “Sure, besides, I’ll need your help a lot from now on.”

  He looked around the room and told them, “No, just hers… I’ll need you all to help me. Many new things are coming, and with this…”

  Sokram raised his hands, showing them the two gloves, meaning the inheritance, “Our Evolution will be pushed even further.”

  His words eased their worries considerably but also made them wishful for that future.

  They still needed time to digest everything he had revealed, but seeing that, no matter how high the sky he reached, he was still the same dragon they all loved and cherished, that was enough for now.

  Brunhild returned with the key, and together with Hilda and Margiory, they led Sokram to the city’s burial ground.

  This time, Sokram didn’t need guidance. As they descended, the memory of their first visit rose to meet him, vivid and unmistakable.

  Warm, damp underground air brushed against their skin, heavy with the stale scent of moldy stone and settled dust. Absolute darkness closed in around them, thick and oppressive, while the steady drip of moisture echoed through the corridors.

  Even their footsteps sounded the same, hollow and distant, as if the place itself remembered them.

  Reaching the catacombs, with his Matter Manipulation Spell, Sokram built the gravestone using Drokmin's throne on the last underground floor of the burial grounds.

  As the head of the household, this was also his responsibility.

  They held a brief but meaningful ceremony to send Drokmin to Aetherium in peace.

  Sokram even shed a few tears.

  Seeing him emotional like that, which slightly confused his mother and grandmothers.

  But the tears that blurred Sokram's vision were tears of gratitude. Gratitude not only for the treasure he received in this timeline, but also for everything he gained from Drokmin in the previous one.

  With this, he had fulfilled his ancestor’s last wish, and his heart felt free to dig through the inheritance.

  On the way back to their home, they met Amira, who was with Cecille, Sahvus, and Sienna.

  When Amira saw Sokram, she lowered her head.

  Amira shrank into herself, shoulders hunched as if trying to make herself smaller.

  She wouldn't meet anyone's gaze, her eyes darting nervously around the busy, noisy street, scared of the stares she was receiving from Brunhild, Margiory, and Hilda.

  Sokram approached her calmly, and just as Amira was about to start begging for forgiveness, Sokram pulled her into a hug.

  “I’m glad to see you’re fine. I was so worried. Your Lady can be very rough with her followers…” Amira, at first, froze, shocked by how kind he was being, but then accepted the hug and hugged him back, resting her head on his shoulders.

  “She’s hard to bargain with, though, haha.” Sokram’s tone was unexpectedly kind, “Yet, we came to a consensus of some sort. I guess we can say our mission was accomplished, but you forgot this.”

  Sokram partially broke the hug and summoned the contract he was going to offer her, “Take your time to read through it. It’s aligned with the same terms I offered the other girls, but make sure it doesn’t interfere with the Oaths you have with your family and temple. If you need me to change something about it, come to me, hm?”

  “You… still… Really?” Amira was lost for words, first his shift in behavior, now this.

  She broke the hug and stepped back, and stared at him, frowning. “You’re not trying to take revenge, are you?”

  Sokram chuckled at her reaction, but he could see that the Sahvus, Sienna, and even Cecille were also amused by it.

  So he explained, “I’m now a Seeker, or something like that, at least. The reason I’m offering you this contract is that I’m grateful for your facilitating our meeting. I’m sure Mentyr will confirm it.”

  “Thankful? Seeker?! You…” Cecille, who was just a Seeker candidate, hadn’t received Mentyr’s message through the Records.

  And now Cecille’s mouth hung slightly open, her usual composure shattered.

  She looked at Sokram's broad back, blinking repetitively, trying to reprocess the shift in reality before her.

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