Christopher laughed with Lux, their voices rising a little before gradually fading, leaving behind a soft echo in the stone walls of the cave.
A light silence settled between the two of them, not an awkward silence, but more of a sense of calm after a fit of laughter. The sound of pages turning was the only thing that broke the quiet, as Milena remained absorbed in her reading.
Then, in a soft voice different from his usual tone, Lux said:
"Well, Christopher..."
This was the first time he called him by his name, without titles or mockery.
"What do you aspire to?"
Christopher looked at him, and for a moment, he felt time slow down, then he answered calmly:
"My ambition?"
He took a light breath and smiled a small smile.
"To stay alive."
Lux raised an eyebrow, but Christopher continued, looking towards the flame:
"But I don't just want to hide. I want to learn, to understand this world. To discover its secrets, and enjoy what it has to offer... even if it's fraught with danger."
Then he looked at the flickering fire, his red eyes glowing under the faint light.
"If I must live here, let it be on my own terms."
---
After several hours of eating and drinking with Lux, Christopher sat cross-legged on the ground, leaning his back against the rocky wall. He slowly closed his eyes and began to meditate.
Calm the mind.
Regulate the breath.
His heartbeat slowed, his breathing became deeper and more rhythmic. Everything around him grew quiet.
Christopher began to sense the mana around him. It was faint, barely visible but not absent. Tiny, invisible particles drifted slowly toward him, and he felt pain each time the tainted mana entered his body.
Seconds passed… then minutes.
The mana in the air fluctuated, starting to gather around him, flowing through his body, passing slowly through the "filter" of the Great Sky Refinement technique. The process felt like forcing a drop of water through a narrow needle slow, painful at times, but pure.
Minutes crawled by as Christopher was immersed in stillness, surrounded by a faint, barely visible aura that flickered around his thin frame like a pale shimmer.
His breathing was steady, calm, and his eyes remained closed as he felt the mana slowly enter him. There were no floods of power, no explosions, no visions… just a warm stream, steadily making its way in.
The Great Sky Refinement technique acted as a gentle filter, refining each drop that reached the seed, purifying it and quietly reshaping it. His seed, nestled in the center of his chest, quivered slightly, as if awakening from a long slumber.
Christopher slowly opened his eyes after hours, a fleeting glimmer shining within his red pupils. He felt his legs tingle slightly from sitting too long.
Christopher sighed, "At this rate, I'll reach the mid-level of the first rank in about two years if I keep practicing like this…"
He continued whispering to himself, his voice barely audible:
"Tsk... damn this weak talent..."
Christopher stood up, tightened his black cloak around his body, tied his sword at his waist, and exited the cave with quiet steps. The night air outside was relatively cold, as if the world had returned to silence, and the sun had completely vanished, leaving the sky caught between darkness and faint moonlight.
He stood at the cave's entrance for a moment, gazing into the distant horizon, where the silent trees and towering mountains lay. These quiet moments always gave him space to think.
"I think it's time to give Raven Hart Cole the mission…" Christopher whispered to himself.
Suddenly, a girl's voice interrupted:
"Give a mission to whom?"
Immediately, Christopher gripped the hilt of his sword and turned around in surprise.
Standing before him was a beautiful girl, a calm smile on her face. Her eyes were covered by a white ribbon. She wore a long black coat that draped down her back. Her white blouse contrasted with the bronze belt wrapped around her slim waist. It was… Melina.
Christopher smiled faintly upon seeing her face, his tension slowly easing as he let go of his sword hilt. She stood firmly.
"I thought you were asleep," he said in a low voice, returning his hand to his side.
Melina replied with a light but calm tone:
"I couldn't sleep. So I followed you and heard you… whispering like you're planning an assassination."
Christopher chuckled softly, then looked back at the horizon.
"Sometimes, you have to move the chess pieces… even if the timing isn't perfect."
Melina walked slowly until she stood right beside him, placing her hands behind her back, enjoying the silence of the moment, then whispered:
"So, who are you assigning a mission to?"
Christopher slowly turned his head toward her, then looked up at the sky and sighed. He spoke in a sorrowful tone:
"I suppose I have no choice but to tell you the truth… I'm actually the master of a secret organization that operates in the shadows and earns its money through missions. And I'm planning to save the world from an ancient evil, so…"
He paused for a moment, sighed again, then continued with a deeply saddened voice:
"I… am searching for power."
"Poof!"
Melina's laugh rang through the air loud and sudden followed by her sarcastic words:
"Hahaha! What a liar! Who would follow a thirteen-year-old kid?"
Christopher smiled faintly and said: "As long as there are benefits, the world is willing to follow even a limping dog let alone a thirteen-year-old boy."
Melina laughed again, though this time her laugh was shorter, as if it stopped suddenly to reflect on his words. Then she tilted her head slightly toward him, her smile beginning to fade:
"You know… sometimes I think you're not really a child."
Christopher turned his face toward her, his smile faint but steady.
"I'm not."
A light silence fell. Night had deepened, and the stars began to appear in the sky fractured by moonlight, as if watching them from afar. The wind picked up slightly, brushing strands of Melina's hair that escaped from under her white eye ribbon. She stood beside him for a few more moments, then turned quietly, saying without looking at him:
"Don't stay out too long. It's getting cold."
She walked lightly back into the cave, her black coat swaying behind her with every step, as if the shadows themselves were retreating with her.
Christopher remained standing in place, unmoving. He watched her back disappear gradually into the darkness, then whispered to himself:
"I didn't feel her approaching…"
He narrowed his red eyes slightly, a barely visible smile forming at the corner of his mouth.
"…Seems what she showed in that battle was just the tip of the iceberg."
He lifted his head back toward the sky, the cold wind brushing past him. He remained standing there, deep in thought.
---
Christopher returned to the cave with quiet steps, passed the dimming fire that was nearly out, and walked by Lux's sleeping body coiled with chains as if they were part of him before sitting cross-legged on the ground near the far wall, where the darkness was thickest.
He breathed slowly, closed his eyes, and began to meditate.
This time, it took only a minute… maybe two, before he felt that familiar sensation, like his consciousness was gently being pulled from his body. He didn't resist. He let himself sink.
And when he opened his eyes again, he found himself once more in that endless dark space. No walls, no ground, no sky. Just him… and the disc.
The disc floated before him, slowly and heavily, like an ancient planet spinning on its axis.
Christopher approached it with quiet steps and raised his hand without hesitation. The moment he touched the surface of the disc, he felt his consciousness being pulled again. When he opened his eyes once more, he found himself in another dark space, standing before a blue star and the red star known as the Eye of the Sky.
Christopher stood with his hands behind his back before the two stars, thinking.
"When Raven completes his mission successfully and brings the potion ingredients, I'll give him a technique that enhances his power and makes him feel a step closer to revenge…"
The corner of his mouth lifted in a light smile, his red eyes reflecting the glow of the blue star.
"Then, his loyalty to the Council of the Seven Crowns will deepen."
His gaze shifted to the red star brilliant and blazing in the stillness, as if watching everything.
"The stronger he becomes, the higher his rank in the temple… and with that authority, I can gather information: which areas the temple focuses on, what their next moves are. I'll be able to avoid them easily, and in doing so… secure myself a little temporary peace."
He paused, as if weighing the possibilities in his mind, then muttered with sarcasm:
"Until I find a way to reach one of the great sects… excluding, of course, the Sect of Celestial Purity since that one is for women only."
Christopher reached out to the blue star, and its light grew brighter for a moment before his hand touched its surface. He murmured in a magnetic, low voice:
"I want to see the most suitable technique for the sword companion… Raven Hart Cole, the Black Crown of the Council of the Seven Crowns."
The moment Christopher touched the blue star, he felt his consciousness pulled to another place.
Then suddenly, he was no longer in the dark space.