“The Sun Ember.”

  Storm Rider’s announcement hung in the air momentarily before welcoming a deep silence. Luna, on the other hand, was stuck in both disbelief and awe. She had no words for this.

  What did she just say? A forged weapon? Wasn’t she incapable of wielding one of those?

  She tried studying the newly formed runes on her arm, but nothing came to her mind. They didn’t trigger any memory in blood. This…this level of sorcery existed long before her family began.

  “A forged weapon? Ha…How?” Luna's voice trembled as switched between Storm Rider and the intricate runes. “I thought only ascenders could use them.”

  Storm Rider ughed a little at her words. Then began to expin what had just happened. "I thought I told you zenshi is a copy of qi. You have learned how to manipute the essence in your body. So if you continue gathering more essence, you will soon open the first gate. However, to wield an enchanted weapon, one only needs the ability to manipute life essence. You met that one requirement.”

  Manipution was the second and hardest part when it came to True Cultivation. If one was capable of Maniputing qi, then gathering it into the body wasn’t going to be as difficult. Luna’s manipution was currently possible within her body solely because she was a beginner in this case.

  Storm Rider had done her best to teach her the basics of this true path. And she was grateful for this because she wasn’t as ignorant as she had been before. The Fire Keeper had intentionally shared small details to start the fme inside her. Yes, this woman had succeeded in awakening something Luna had thought had long faded after so many years of disappointment…

  Hope.

  Luna had come to peace with the fact that she would never have the potential of Ghost of Winter or ever be as Great as the Sorcerers she admired so much as a child. Sure she was born with a high affinity for life essence, inhuman abilities, and the blessing of her memories. The monks casually cimed that she was loved by the world and this was proof that a weak Feng could not exist.

  But what good would she have been if she couldn’t use her strength to its full potential? When her memories aren’t consistent or always helpful? Or the fact that Life essence wasn’t something humans could tap into at the time.

  ‘If the world loved me so much, it wouldn’t have made me feel like I was nothing for so long.’

  At least now Luna felt like she had a part to py. If she became strong enough, then House Feng’s members would accept her as a leader. Astrid and the other elders would not have to look at her with pity every time.

  Maybe the fates were on her side this time around.

  'Maybe they are...'

  Following her intrusive thoughts, Luna raised her right arm and called for the sword into the physical world. The runes on her forearm moved delicately as if forming a combination of words she did not understand. There was a gentle sizzle around her right palm and then sparks that quickly shifted to beautiful golden fmes.

  The fmes twisted and churned as they coalesced, golden light spilling across her vision. When the transformation ended, Luna found herself gripping a weapon that defied expectation. The Jian appeared simple—its bde unadorned save for faintly glowing runes—but the power radiating from it was anything but ordinary. The hilt pulsed against her palm, alive with an energy that seemed to hum in time with her heartbeat. The sheer weight of its aura made her knees weak.

  ‘It looks like any jian but the power coursing through it…’ Luna found herself sweating from just holding back its power. Heck, she was finding it hard to even keep it in her hand.

  The sword was so light that she could barely feel its weight and its edges were so thin, that they could probably slice through the bck stone at the temple with ease.

  With a trembling voice, she asked Storm Rider. “How did the Fire Keepers find a god’s weapon?”

  “Well…it was lying in Sun god’s kingdom. It was my father who found it first and cimed it after killing the creature guarding it.”

  “Let me guess. Was it a dragon?” Luna hadn’t taken her eyes off the magic. She felt a connection with it as if it had chosen her. But, she was still trying to prove her worth to it.

  “Close…it was a firebird, a Cursed Emperor. It was a pretty hard fight but we won anyway since all of us were on the fifth gate at the time. I believe the sword accepted my father because he delivered the final blow to its guardian. He proved his worth.”

  Luna tried imagining a group of fifth gate ascenders, each of them carried a second Aura, and their sorcery and overall abilities must have been top-notch without forgetting the fact that each of them had a summon.

  If Storm Rider had a Storm dragon, what did the others have?

  Luna was even more curious about the Fire Keepers. No human had killed a cursed emperor, yet because of their abilities. However, the fire keepers managed to kill a cursed emperor created by the sun god. Each one of them must have been powerful, especially their leader after he recovered the sword.

  'This Sword is a Forged weapon to a certain point but its master was a divine being and its maker was also a divine being. In the right hands, this sword could turn the tables back in the real world.' Luna's hand trembled even more as she tried to study the runes engraved on its surface. A weapon like this...it could change everything.

  “How many enchantments?”

  Storm Rider shrugged and answered in a banced tone. “I don’t know. The bde is mysterious when it comes to powers. All I know is that it grows with the wielder and it's stronger with more essence. We never managed to transte the runes on it so its powers remained unknown."

  ‘I see. So it's that powerful.’

  Luna smiled faintly and put the sword against her chest. She then lowered her head in a respectful bow to show her sincere gratitude to the Fire Keeper.

  “Thank you so much, Storm Rider. Words alone aren’t enough to show my gratitude.”

  Storm Rider looked down at Luna with a proud look. The spark had been started. She could feel the change this girl was going to bring to all the realms. She knew everything about Lunaris, of course.

  ‘But Lunaris has to figure things out on her own. She must know the truth on her own.’

  “Defeating the pantheon and surviving is enough for me, Lunaris. You are the only one who knows about the Fire Keepers, so as of today, whether you like it or not, you are a Fire Keeper such as myself.”

  The st sentence sounded bittersweet coming out of the Fire Keeper’s mouth. But it was understandable, Luna probably reminded Storm a lot about her former group or maybe her younger self when she was curious and full of energy.

  ‘I am not the full of-energy type, though.’ Her thoughts retorted.

  Luna looked up to her “mentor” and said. “Forcing on me the term Fire Keeper is crazy work but if it makes you happy, then I will gdly do so…”

  "Memories are something beautiful Lunaris, we live on through memories. You learning about the Fire Keepers and our adventures means that the ones before you will continue to live on. True Death is when you're forgotten. You are now a Fire Keeper because you will remember us."

  Luna nodded. To be forgotten was a cruel fate, but as humans, they believed that being forgotten was true death. A death where no one in the world knows you anymore, as if you never existed in the first pce. The Hex made its victims experience True Death by erasing their names from the world.

  'Is there really a way I can change everything? or am I being delusional?' Luna felt like gritting her teeth. Knowing too little about all of this was starting to get on her nerves. Storm Rider had confirmed that her answers would be found on the Next Floor...

  Of course, there was a price to pay to learn all of this. A price she will learn of when she makes it to the next floor. For now, Luna was going to focus on growing her manipution and begin her long-awaited awakening.

  After Luna learned how to dismiss the sword, the two shared a bittersweet moment for a while before proceeding to the exit of the building which was technically a balcony since the rest of the building was submerged in water.

  Whether it was tall enough to reach the bottom of the dark waters or some magic was keeping it afloat…Luna could barely give a damn. What she wanted now was to leave this territory. She was experiencing some mild trauma after her battle with the Kraken.

  She had trained for weeks only to deal close to zero damage and succeed in annoying it. Her revenge wasn't as satisfactory as she would've thought.

  ‘At least I have stories to tell when I return to my css. I swear if I don’t get advanced to a high tier…’

  Unexpectedly the outside was still dead and dark, the sound of rushing wind being the only reminder of what happened to the once great nd of the sea god. Luna was currently standing on the frozen surface, staring at the darkness ahead with a calm expression. The cloak Storm had gifted her was doing its job and not even a cold wisp of wind got past its shield of warmth.

  “You will follow me without question. Do not stare into the blizzard too long, creatures of all sorts are brave enough to hide in it and some of them can steal souls and stuff. If you hear any voices don’t reply, and if anything attacks us…do not engage, I will handle it. Do you understand?”

  Luna nodded, her face half-hidden under the hood. She had decided to have faith in the Veteran. The teleportation circle was apparently at the heart of the blizzard. So, starting from now, the pair wasn’t going to stop walking until they found the heart of the storm which was easy thanks to the orange light acting as a beacon.

  Taking a deep breath, Storm Rider summoned an orb of fmes and took the first step toward the blizzard. She usually flew over the frozen sea but today she was going to walk over it to protect her only hope. She made another step and the ice underneath crunched from her weight.

  When she looked back, Luna hadn’t moved yet. She was staring at the ice as if expecting something to explode from it and try to kill her.

  “We’re safe here. This sea’s more powerful creatures are long dead, the Kraken was the st of his kind.”

  Luna shook her head. “I can’t trust someone who can’t swim.”

  Storm Rider scoffed and continued walking towards the blizzard without a care. “Have fun surviving without 600ish-year-old all-powerful sage.”

  Luna gasped. “This…hey I was kidding. I’m coming! I’m coming!” she moved quickly across the icy surface, thinking it would break any minute now.