The Genius Mage Was Reincarnated Into A Swordsman Family-Chapter 352: The Weight of Stars

The wind carried the scent of snow and distant mountains as Klaus placed a foot in Dudu's stirrup. The Night Dragon spread his massive wings, ready to carry his master away from the battlefield. But Klaus paused, his hand resting on Dudu's obsidian scales. The dragon turned his massive head, golden eyes questioning.

"Not yet," Klaus murmured, withdrawing his foot and stepping back. The shock of the Celestials' appearance, their casual power, their indifference to his existence — it all crashed over him in waves. His legs felt unsteady, and without thinking, he sank down onto the snow, driving Greed's point into the ground beside him for support.

Dudu lowered his head, a low rumble vibrating in his chest. Through their bond, Klaus felt the dragon's concern, but it was a grounding presence in the storm of his thoughts.

"Aren't they a bit too carefree?" Klaus asked, more to himself than to Greed. The words slipped out before he could stop them, his voice barely audible over the wind.

{You really are someone truly lucky,} Greed's mental voice cut through the silence, sharp and uncharacteristically serious. {They could have disposed of you. If they knew you were really an Apostle, more so if they suspected you to be Arkadius's vessel...}

Klaus's fingers tightened around Greed's hilt. "Are you sure they don't already know?" He stared at the spot where the two Celestials had stood moments before. "They're just like the Messenger we faced. They know everything about me, but they simply choose not to care. For some reason." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

{Hmmm.} Greed's mental voice held a rare note of contemplation. {Celestials are very weird beings. They are known to never break rules. Maybe they have a rule to never interfere with the fateless.}

Klaus considered this. The logic made sense, but it didn't explain everything. "If that was true, why did she heal me? Why give me this?" He pulled the dimensional storage bag from his pocket, turning it over in his hands. Even his mage-trained mind couldn't fathom its construction. This wasn't just a storage artifact — it was something beyond the technological or magical understanding of his world.

He opened the bag again, peering inside. What had seemed like a modest pouch from the outside revealed an interior space that defied comprehension. He could see stars within it, distant nebulae swirling in the depths. The space wasn't just large — it was potentially infinite. Even the most expensive storage rings in the Runiya continent could barely contain a small room's worth of items. This... this could fit an entire city. Perhaps an entire world.

"Is this really just the lowest grade?" Klaus whispered, marveling at the craftsmanship that bordered on the divine.

He closed the bag and focused his will on the thousands of blue mana stones scattered across the battlefield. With a thought, they lifted from the snow, hovering briefly in the air like sapphires caught in sunlight before streaming into the dimensional bag. The entire valley cleared in seconds, leaving only pristine white snow behind.

Klaus closed the bag with a soft click, tucking it securely inside his coat. He then placed his hand on Greed's hilt. "Change back."

The black sword shimmered, collapsing inward until only the obsidian ring remained on his finger. The transition was smooth, silent — Greed had learned not to waste energy on unnecessary theatrics when Klaus's mind was elsewhere.

"Now," Klaus said, placing his foot back in the stirrup. "We fly north."

Dudu needed no further encouragement. With a powerful thrust of his wings, the Night Dragon lifted from the ground, carrying Klaus swiftly into the sky. The wind whipped through Klaus's white hair as they climbed, leaving the battlefield of blue mana stones far behind.

For hours, they flew in silence. Klaus watched the landscape change below them — endless pine forests giving way to jagged mountain peaks, which then surrendered to vast frozen lakes and tundra. The temperature dropped steadily, but Klaus's enhanced constitution and Dudu's natural heat kept the cold at bay.

As they traveled, Klaus's mind circled back to the Celestials. Their casual power had been terrifying, yes, but it was their indifference that unsettled him most. They knew who he was — who he might become — and yet they had treated him like a curious child who had stumbled upon something beyond his understanding.

{Stop thinking about them,} Greed finally said, breaking the long silence. {They are cosmic entities playing games on a scale you cannot comprehend. What matters is what you do with the time they've given you.}

Klaus nodded, though Greed couldn't see the gesture. "I know. But I can't help wondering — why help me at all if I'm just a pawn in their game?"

{Perhaps you're not a pawn,} Greed replied, the arrogance returning to his mental voice. {Perhaps you're the board itself.}

Klaus almost laughed at that. Only Greed would make such a dramatic statement. But the underlying truth resonated somewhere deep within him. He was different. Fateless. Unpredictable. Even to beings who could reshape reality with a thought.

Another day passed in this manner — Klaus lost in thought while Dudu carried him steadily northward. The landscape grew increasingly hostile, the air thinner and colder. Ice covered everything, forming strange, beautiful sculptures that caught the weak sunlight.

On the second evening of their flight, as the sun dipped below the horizon and painted the sky in shades of violet and crimson, Klaus saw it.

In the distance, beyond a vast frozen lake that glittered like shattered glass under the twilight, stood a structure. At first, it appeared as a single spire piercing the sky, but as Dudu flew closer, more details emerged. Towers and battlements, bridges of ice connecting floating platforms, entire sections suspended in midair as if gravity held no power there. It was a citadel carved entirely from ice and snow, yet it burned with an inner light that defied the darkness gathering around it.

The Ice Palace.

Dudu sensed Klaus's focus and adjusted his flight path, angling toward the distant structure. The wind grew colder still, carrying the scent of frost and something else — something ancient.

Klaus tightened his grip on Dudu's scales, his mind shifting from cosmic mysteries to immediate concerns. The mission given to him by Emperor Roman Lionhart was clear: forge an alliance with the Ice Palace. But standing before this impossible palace of ice and light, Klaus couldn't shake the feeling that his mission was about to become far more complicated.

The Harbinger Star still burned in the darkening sky above them, a reminder that the game had changed. The rules had shifted. And whatever awaited him in that frozen citadel, Klaus knew one thing for certain — he wouldn't be leaving the same person who had arrived.

Dudu let out a low growl, his golden eyes fixed on the distant palace. Through their bond, Klaus felt the dragon's anticipation, his readiness for whatever came next.

Soon, Klaus thought, watching the Ice Palace grow larger on the horizon. Soon, we'll know what secrets lie frozen in the heart of the north.