Illyan felt the pressure as he observed the tall building towering over everything. This citadel felt unbreakable, withstanding all environmental changes as an ancient aura emanated from it.

  It was the only building that seemed to have some decorations on it, yet most of these were already too faded or destroyed.

  “In historical records, it is mentioned that these domes were entirely covered in gold. However, as generations passed after the Eternal Gondoris' fall, people completely ransacked the entire city, citadel included.”

  Korin gave a forlorn sigh as he passed the statues, gently patting them.

  When Illyan got closer to the first statue, he looked up at it.

  It was a man in a robe.

  It gave Illyan a simir feeling to the acolytes.

  But this man’s robe was much more intricate.

  His face had a dignified expression as he stared into the heavens, with his hand pointing a saber in the same direction.

  In his other hand, he held close to his body a cauldron with intricate decorations.

  When Illyan saw this, he was stunned.

  This statue was meant to be awe-inspiring, showing the man on the battlefield, but who would take a cauldron to war?

  ‘Was he a physician or something?’ Illyan didn’t know the reason but didn’t think that this was just a random item.

  He also passed other statues, but these were much less interesting and in much more dipidated states. It was obvious that the first statue was made from much better material than these other statues.

  Illyan went up the stairs step by step as he came closer to the citadel.

  From up close, Illyan could finally see the minuscule fws on its walls—small cracks and worn-down bricks.

  However, no pnts were covering it, unlike other buildings.

  “Despite many people wanting to enter the citadel over the years, not many managed to do so. There are some records that some entered at st, but the doors, once opened, were closed the moment these people left.”

  Korin said with a slight cough as he put a handkerchief in front of his mouth to wipe it.

  When Illyan brought his attention to these doors, he felt they were strange.

  Instead of being made of some sturdy material, built with the least amount of parts, it was made with many small parts and cogs, barred on the outside yer without any protection.

  Illyan felt that there were certain rules behind it, but it was too difficult to guess from just one gnce. A lot of time and effort would be needed to crack this puzzle.

  “Is this the puzzle you want me to take care of?” Illyan was already sure in his heart, but he still wanted to make sure.

  “Yes. I believe that in two weeks or so, you will be finished. It took me around that time when I was here for the first time.” Korin nodded with a smile.

  “Why don’t we just break the walls? Is it too difficult?”

  Illyan asked curiously. While the material was definitely of high quality to survive such a long time without colpsing, Illyan didn’t think it could just depend on that. Otherwise, people would have found a way to destroy it.

  “Hehe… You guessed it right. Other buildings, while sturdy, can be destroyed by force. But not this citadel. People have tried so many times over the years, yet not even scratches remain.”

  Korin told Illyan about how many heroes of the past passed here and wanted to open this mysterious vault to find treasures of ancient civilization.

  But nobody managed to successfully destroy it.

  Korin started caressing the doors as if they were his old lover as he sighed.

  “Only a few had the chance to open the door, but nobody managed to retrieve anything of good value. Because of that, people have given up on it ter on. But I know that there are definitely things of immeasurable value.

  With that, we could achieve something impossible. Have you ever had a dream, Kaoran? Not a dream that regur people have. No. I mean a dream full of ambition. Because I have one, Kaoran. And I pn to achieve it no matter what.”

  Saying that, Korin’s expression turned solemn as he started to move some of the parts making up the diagram on the doors.

  Illyan, who had been listening the entire time, was pondering Korin’s words. He could understand Korin’s sentiment. He himself hadn’t had any dreams for a long time. Peasants didn’t have the time to dream. But once he grew up and realized there was so much to see in the world, he wanted to see more and learn more. It probably wasn’t such a grand dream, but it was a genuine one with Illyan’s sentiments.

  “Kaoran, listen well. I will need to leave for a while while we are here, so I will depend on you with this puzzle. I will expin how it works and give you some tips that could shorten your time cracking it.”

  Korin suddenly said, waking Illyan from his reverie.

  Illyan came closer and started working on the doors as everyone else in the square worked on their own responsibilities...

  ……..

  Half a day ter, Korin left without a trace as Illyan focused on the doors.

  Of course, he didn’t pn to finish his task too quickly. That would be counterproductive as he wasn’t on the same side as Korin.

  He just tested the waters for now to understand the system behind the doors.

  Most of the time, he just moved some of the cogwheels and observed what would happen. Sometimes, there would be light fshing when moving some of the parts, making him think deeply.

  ‘It looks like it needs to be aligned in some way to achieve the result.’ Once Illyan came to this conclusion, he began to wonder what alignment it could be.

  ‘It should be one that changes with time.’ Since the diagram changed every time Korin came, there had to be some outside factor that caused that.

  He just needed to find out what it was to speed up the process of cracking this puzzle.

  Once he felt he could understand the diagram a bit, he chose to leave.

  There was no hurry.

  He took a deep breath and decided to explore the city a bit.

  There should be nothing dangerous as the scouts cleared the city, so he had no qualms about looking around.

  When he went past some soldiers, they respectfully nodded to him.

  That made him realize that he hadn’t helped the injured men from before.

  Thinking about them, he chose to visit them and help the apprentices treat them.

  Most of them were already treated, but there were still some injuries that weren’t that easy to heal. Illyan didn’t waste time as he concocted some medicine on the spot and made them swallow it.

  Later on, when he left, he decided to get farther from the camp.

  Some soldiers politely warned him that there could be danger as he walked past them.

  “Don’t worry, I don’t pn to go too far. I just need to stretch a bit and look around before swiftly returning.”

  With a soft smile, he thanked them as he disappeared into the shadows of the ancient city...

  This could be said to be his first adventure, and he pnned to enjoy it despite the dangers lurking around.

  He walked past the abandoned buildings, exploring these ancient ruins as he enjoyed himself.

  He read a lot of books in the library, and quite a few of them mentioned the older civilizations on the Vas Peninsu before the Vanaras Kingdom.

  The information seemed to be nothing of importance, as he read only some cultural facts and some customs people had in those ages.

  However, now that he was here, he felt as if he were really walking through those times as he imagined the life people lived here.

  It was mostly housewives and their children selling goods for the highly muscur men who sweated under the sun before diving deeply into the mining pits for several days.

  This city was meant for the poor who worked hard to keep their mouths full.

  Their pay was miserable, but each man and his family got to have three warm meals a day, which was something many desired but couldn’t afford.

  As time passed and the Gondoris were renamed to Eternal Gondoris, this pce’s people got even better living conditions.

  But, in the end, everything fell into the ash.

  Illyan sighed, thinking about this. Nothing could be eternal in this world. Illyan didn’t even have a notion in his head of what eternity was. It was too difficult for him to comprehend.

  If there was truly something eternal, it was beyond him. At least for now.

  “Why the long face?” Suddenly, a teasing voice sounded right behind him.

  Illyan slowly turned around with an expressionless face, but his heart was shaken at that moment.

  There, Vanda was smiling at him, her eyes turning into crescents.

  “I just thought about something. What are you doing here?” Illyan acted calm as his mind processed a lot of things.

  ‘How did she get behind me? And why didn’t I notice her?’

  These were the first questions to appear in his mind, as his senses were truly exceptional, so it was difficult not to notice someone sneaking up on him.

  Not even Ezekiel managed to do that.

  “Me? I just saw a handsome man walking here alone… I couldn’t help but follow him, I guess?” She put her finger on her chin, and Illyan immediately knew she was acting cute in front of him.

  If it had been before, he would have been annoyed and ignored her, but now he felt that he needed some information before deciding what to do.

  “So you stalked me?”

  “Don’t say it like that. I just noticed you and wanted to go around with you. You wouldn’t want a fine dy like myself to walk around alone, right?”

  While saying that, she got closer to him with a grin on her face.

  Normal people would see it as the silly smile of a young dy, but Illyan found it unsettling.

  “Whatever you say…”

  “Yay!”

  Illyan could only roll his eyes while Vanda started to spout some gibberish.

  When she wasn’t looking, he turned his eyes to her and observed her.

  He tried to feel something, but there was nothing. She was just a normal human.

  That’s what he felt.

  He wanted to use spiritual perception, but he wasn’t confident in hiding it from her.

  Especially since she was seemingly an expert at this.

  In the end, Illyan could only walk around without doing anything substantial as he was watched by her.

  He tried to get some information out of her, but she was either pying dumb or didn’t care enough to say anything at all.

  Because of that, Illyan got into a bad mood as he started returning to the camp.

  “Eh? Are we going back already?” Vanda asked with a pouting mouth.

  “Yes, I need to work on the citadel doors. I just had a break, but I should get back. I don’t want to disappoint Mr. Korin.”

  Vanda gave him a side-eye as she sniggered.

  “Is that so? Do you think you will be able to finish it in a week or two?”

  “I don’t know. It is quite complex. But I don’t think so. Even Mr. Korin took a lot of time despite being much better and more experienced than me.”

  “Hehe, don’t look down on yourself too much. From Korin’s words, you are a really smart fellow. You will get it soon.”

  “Are you and Korin close?” Illyan asked with curiosity in his tone. Vanda didn’t seem as respectful towards him as others. Was it simply because of her strength? Or were both of them partners in crime?

  “Well, we have known each other for a ‘very’ long time. I am the first one to make a contract with him.”

  After saying that, she didn’t reveal anything else. But Illyan felt that her words had some different meaning than it seemed at first.

  When they finally entered the camp, Illyan looked around, hoping to find someone he knew to run off. Vanda was too persistent, and only by throwing away all pretenses would he be able to get rid of her.

  But he wasn’t willing to do that.

  As he was observing, Vanda’s annoyed voice echoed behind him.

  “Are you looking for that red-haired girl?”

  Illyan’s brows raised as he turned around.

  What he didn’t expect was that she suddenly rushed at him and, with a quick movement, pressed a deep kiss into his mouth.

  Illyan didn’t expect this as he wanted to withdraw immediately, but she was quicker, leaving behind only a trail of saliva as he retreated.

  For a moment, Illyan felt that her eyes were those of someone mad before she smiled sweetly and said,

  “Don’t think of other girls when I am around, alright?”

  And with that, she disappeared into the crowd of the camp, leaving Illyan standing there, confused…