Inon began circling the room, breathing heavily. His lemon-colored eyes gleamed like a wild beast hunting prey, scanning every inch of the laboratory. His gaze was similar to before—yet completely different. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

“I’ve been searching this place using only Luma’s methods. It’s so familiar to me that I never even considered anything else. Luma never put much effort into hiding things... and I just assumed she would’ve only used her own magic...! But if she actually anticipated that... If she expected me to get to this point...”

He came to a sudden stop. His gaze finally settled on the palm of his hand.

“...Back in the West, when we found his secret lab, didn’t they say they used a descendant’s blood to open the door?”

Yuder recalled Fruelle and Kishiar placing their bloodied palms onto the family crest engraved into the wall to access the First Duke of Ta-in’s hidden research chamber.

He had a good idea what Inon was thinking now.

Inon wasn’t human. He wasn’t a descendant of Luma.

But he did possess the heart and hand of the Grand Mage herself.

A one-of-a-kind being in the world. A Guardian who had lived nearly a thousand years without aging, carrying parts of the Grand Mage’s actual body. What could be a more secure, incorruptible, and irreplaceable key than that?

Inon clenched and opened his fist, then spoke.

“You’ve got that dagger you always carry, right? Hand it over.”

There was a bit of resistance, but Yuder ultimately handed over the dagger. Inon, without assistance or hesitation, sliced his palm himself.

His blood was red—no different from anyone else’s.

“Let’s see. Let’s find out if this really is the key.”

He collected the blood pooling in his palm and stepped forward. The place he approached was the same spot he’d been sitting in earlier, staring into—the tree.

He spent more time inspecting that than anything else.

Clearly, Inon believed that if Luma had hidden something, it would most likely be there.

Without hesitation, he thrust his bloodied hand into the hollow of the tree. It sank into the darkness—and then, a few seconds later:

—flutterrr...

In the dead silence, a single gnarled branch—one that had looked completely lifeless—began to tremble faintly.

Then, all the branches began to shake together. As if some unseen wind blew through that area alone, or invisible waves were crashing within.

—fwoosh...!

The lamps that had been illuminating the inside all flickered out at once, plunging the room into darkness. Even Yuder, whose night vision had sharpened over time, couldn’t see a thing.

“Inon?”

“Stay where you are!”

Inon shouted sharply. The moment Yuder widened his eyes to fix on his location, the light snapped back on, as if nothing had happened. The area brightened, and Inon came back into view.

He was still standing in front of the tree—but everything around him had changed.

The once-empty hollow of the tree was now crammed with wooden fragments. A bookshelf had appeared against the wall, stuffed haphazardly with old papers and worn books. Even the desk, which had looked simply old and dusty before, now held several unfamiliar objects.

Yuder felt it resembled the scene that had revealed itself when they solved the cipher in the First Duke of Ta-in’s secret lab. Something about it was definitely different from the kind of magic Luma had usually used.

“So Inon’s guess was right.”

Inon, like Yuder, stood there staring at everything in a daze, then exhaled deeply, his expression hard to read.

“So this is where she dumped and hid everything, huh. What do you think? Was I right?”

“Yeah, but treat your hand first.”

“You care more about my hand than this earth-shattering discovery?”

“We’ve discovered that already—it’s not going anywhere. But your hand could get worse.”

Inon let out a short laugh, clearly a little incredulous.

“Fine, fine. You think your big brother didn’t account for that before cutting his hand?”

He opened and closed his fist again, and the wound vanished in the blink of an eye. Apparently, small injuries like that didn’t even require full regeneration—he could just repair them immediately.

“Let’s see here...”

He picked up a few of the wooden fragments that had spilled out from the tree’s hollow. His eyes lowered in concentration, and soon a satisfied smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

“These are real records of the research process. Stuff about the difference between soul and body... looks like there’s also something about time.”

The papers and books on the shelf appeared to be materials collected during research. They were written in an old language Yuder couldn’t read, but Inon skimmed and paraphrased what he could.

“The books are mostly collections of old stories. And these pages... they look like lists of names? I don’t recognize most of them... Oh—this one I know. Ghilandre.”

“Ghilandre is the name of this place. And...”

“Yeah. It was also said to be the name of a spirit. I’m not sure if all the names here are spirits, but... maybe when Luma was researching body and soul, she met more spirits than we thought. She might have been gathering them in preparation to make a ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) Guardian.”

“What kind of old stories are we talking about? Legends or something?”

“Some seem like that... but there are a lot of names and places I don’t recognize, so I’d bet they were recorded before the Great Cataclysm. It’s incredible she collected and preserved all this...”

Yuder recalled something Kishiar had said before.

“The Commander once said it was possible that, in the history before the Cataclysm, there were others—like me—who turned back time or were given a second chance. If Luma was looking for someone like that, like the First Emperor... maybe this material is related to that. Same with the scriptures.”

“Yeah. In that case, we should prioritize going through those first.”

After counting and reviewing the materials on the shelves, they finally turned to Luma’s desk. There, sitting atop it, was a single small, old book—so fragile it looked like it might fall apart with a breath. Inon picked it up carefully and opened it. His eyebrows knit together, face twisting in emotion that was both fond and angry.

“...This looks like it was left specifically for me.”

“A journal?”

“Something like it. I thought she took this with the scriptures when she left. Guess not. I can’t believe it was here all along.”

He closed the journal and held it for a moment, then handed it to Yuder.

“Can you read it?”

“Me?”

“It’s written in Luma’s style. I figure you might be able to read it with your insight.”

Yuder hesitated for a moment, then took the book and opened to a random page. The writing looked like nothing but smudges—but as his hand touched the surface, just like with Luma’s letter before, incomprehensible symbols rushed into his mind and transformed into readable sentences.

It’s absurd that I can’t do now what I succeeded in doing in a forgotten past. That fact pisses me off every single day. Living just to go back to the past, preparing for the future—every part of it is laughable contradiction. Even that knowledge brings me pain...

Startled, Yuder pulled his hand away. Inon watched him without even blinking.

“You can read it, right?”

“...Looks like it.”

“Good. Then you read that first. I’ll go over the research documents.”

Normally, Yuder would’ve asked why—but he didn’t. He remembered how unsettled Inon had been after reading Luma’s letter.

Sometimes, there are things you want to put off reading for as long as possible. If this journal was that for Inon, Yuder didn’t mind being the one to read it first.

“Alright. I’ll read it and let you know if there’s anything important.”

A personal journal written by Grand Mage Luma. There was a high chance it contained information related to the First Emperor’s final will. He couldn’t risk overlooking anything.

“Alright. Looks like we’ve got a clear goal now. I guess I’ll be staying here for the next month or so.”

“You’re not going back to the Cavalry first?”

“Not like I’ve got anything urgent to do there. I’m not needed to greet the new recruits coming from the other regions, am I?”

“Well, no...”

“I’ll write a letter to that kid Lusan. Just take it back and give it to him.”

Inon now acted like everything was completely settled. Yuder looked at his back as he turned to the research materials, then dropped his gaze to the journal. When he tilted it toward the first page, he noticed it contained fewer words than the others.

It seemed like it had been inserted later—less faded than the surrounding pages.

“Usually when something’s written like this and added to the front... it’s a message for whoever finds the journal.”

Yuder ran his fingers across it. The glow of insight shimmered, and the letters began to pierce into his mind.

To the Guardian,

If you came here not to find a way to protect the land—

But because of the reason I believe—

Then perhaps this too may be of help.

I hope, when you find this, you are happy.