“!”


  Nora jolted at the reminder. She straightened up her body and quickly scanned the surroundings. There were indeed quite a few heretics and inquisitors who were sneaking peeks in their direction.

  Realizing what she had just done before so many eyes, her face started burning up.

  “Cough! We’ll postpone the discussion about the Elric House for now. Let’s focus on the earlier battle first.”


  “…”


  What a quick change of tone.

  While feeling impressed as to how Nora was able to switch into her work mode in just a split moment, Roel also found himself wondering if she was considered daring or shy. In any case, he decided to play along with her and focus on work.

  It was just that he fell a little hesitant when asked to elaborate more about his battle with Bryan.

  That was probably the closest fight he ever had, but the one who posed the greatest threat to him wasn’t Bryan himself but the mysterious robed figure. He would have never imagined that there would be a person in the world who could interfere with his bloodline and Origin Attribute.

  Other than that, he was also quite concerned about the dark space with the candle flame which the System had called ‘Inner Sanctum’. It didn’t look like a place where anyone could freely enter, but the robed figure was able to stretch his hand into it. Putting that together with what Bryan said in his dying breath…


  “Roel? You mentioned that Bryan had a formidable helper. What happened afterward?”


  “… My guess is that the medium can only be used once. The helper no longer appeared afterward.”


  “I see.”


  Roel concisely explained his encounter with Bryan and the robed figure, choosing not to elaborate on the details. He wasn’t sure who the enemy was, so he was hesitant to talk too much about it lest Nora got worried about it. Other than that, he didn’t want Nora to feel guilt-ridden upon learning about the danger he had been through either.

  “Was that helper strong? We caught quite a few evil cultists, didn’t we? Are we able to get them to confess to the helper’s identity out of them?”


  “I’m not too sure since it was only a brief encounter, but his means are unlike anything I have ever seen before. According to the captured evil cultist, that helper is the leader of the Connoisseur Guild, but strangely enough, he wasn’t actively involved in its management. Most work was left in the hands of the vice-chief, Bryan. He’s known to the members as the Collector, but his name and appearance remain shrouded in mystery.”


  “… The Collector? I see.”


  A murderous glint flashed across Nora’s name as she murmured the alias of the hooded figure. She had already placed the name of the miscreant who dared threaten the life of her lover onto her hit list.

  On the other hand, Roel fell into deep thoughts.

  Meanwhile, the person that was looming in their minds was sitting in the midst of his dark room, reviewing everything that had happened thus far.

  …


  ‘Roel Ascart’ should have been a name of little significance to the Collector.

  In a dark room, a man, whose face was shrouded in darkness, stared at his shattered arm contemplatively.

  He had been watching the Ascarts for a very, very long period of time, and Roel Ascart hadn’t been significant enough to pique his attention. He could tell that Roel Ascart was of mediocre talent, hardly worth a mention compared to his highly talented ancestors.

  The Collector first came to notice that child due to an old prophecy. It foretold that Roel Ascart would bring destruction upon the Ascarts’ ancient lineage, thus putting an end to their arduous journey.

  The Collector held a skeptical attitude toward this prophecy. After all, he had witnessed the rise of far too many absurdly prodigious transcendents from their clan who changed their fate with sheer tenacity, forcefully creating a new path for themselves. However, the more he observed Roel Ascart, the more convinced he became of the prophecy.

  Even at a young age, Roel Ascart displayed cruel tendencies that only exacerbated with time. It was almost certain that he would grow to become a menace, but everything suddenly changed at some point in time.

  Roel suddenly revealed a huge reservoir of untapped potential despite his lacking talent. Shortly after, the Ascart Fiefdom embarked on a swift upward growth trend, something that hardly happened in its long history. Even the meticulously planned ambush ended in failure, and Bryan lost his life.

  The old prophecy had unraveled.

  The Collector understood that the awakeners of that clan had a tendency to experience huge power spikes abruptly due to the nature of the Kingmaker Bloodline and the Witness State, but he had never seen anyone who grew as quickly as Roel did without any foretelling signs.

  He found it hard to believe that a young man who was growing so quickly would be able to conceal himself to such an extreme degree, neither flaunting his strength nor picking fights. Most organizations ended up underestimating Roel Ascart, including the Knight Kingdom.

  It was only in the final battle of the Challenger Cup, in the fight between Roel and William, that the world finally got their first glimpse of Roel Ascart’s true strength. It was a huge shock to many, and it finally dawned on them that the situation was spiraling out of control.

  Even the Collector, who was already accustomed to the ludicrous strength displayed by the awakeners of that clan, was shocked by Roel Ascart’s ability to shatter fate time and time again. He had to admit that things were getting tricky to deal with.

  An advancement to Origin Level 3 would spell a huge power spike for the awakeners of that clan. Knowing that, the Collector staged this ambush to kill Roel Ascart before he could overcome the hurdle, but once again, his expectations were betrayed.

  It was a foolproof plan—he had even personally intervened to ensure its success—but the plan still ended in failure. Not only so, it even hastened Roel Ascart’s growth.

  The Collector quietly stared at the now darkened medium as his shattered arm began to slowly recover.

  He knew that Roel Ascart had gained the power to manually control his Origin Attribute after his recent breakthrough, such that it was no longer possible for him to freely control the latter’s Inner Sanctum. It wouldn’t be that easy to get rid of the other party now.

  To make things worse, Roel Ascart seemed to have obtained a troublesome ability during his breakthrough.

  “I never thought that another troublesome fellow would pop up now. It almost feels like a replay of four hundred years ago.”


  As he thought about the previous man who left him so troubled, the Collector suddenly burst into laughter. Those who had lived for a long time tended to have their own unique take on the world. For the Collector, life was nothing more than an endless repetition of history.

  All of these was nothing but the start of a new cycle.

  There was just one anomaly.

  Unlike his ancestors, Roel Ascart had extremely close ties to the surface world. The Collector personally found it baffling, and it did complicate things. However, that was balanced out by the premature occurrence of the other changes.

  “What an exciting era we’re living in. But before we immerse ourselves in it, we ought to get rid of the unknown variables first. What do the rest of you think?”


  The Collector started off staring at his eyes before slowly raising his gaze to look around. The darkness shrouding the room slowly receded, and in the depths of the room where Bryan had never seen before, silhouettes began appearing one after another.

  Looking at the silhouettes, the Collector rose to his feet with a chuckle, and the space behind him began collapsing silently.

  An era was swiftly passing them by, drawing the curtains on a new generation.