The ruins of the Ancient Dragon Temple were the last place Shan had ever thought of venturing.

Though he often dreamt of becoming the Protector of the Realm and waged war against the abyssal force, he never even hoped to become a high-ranking adventurer. Partly because he was an outsider, while also, he was content with his life.

He expected to spend the rest of his life sequestered in some pleasant place, marrying someone he likes.

However, expectations were like drugs. It gives intoxicating security in the short term, but the harder you hold on to it, the easier it is to destroy you. Like drowning in the quicksand, the harder you try, the more you get yourself drowned in it.

Yesterday, he was a respected adventurer; today he was a labourer, just better than a slave. However, he was sure they would find a way around to make him that as well.

Shan let out a self-conscious sigh and rested the heavy load on the ground before leaning against the wall. The ruin was vast, and it went further down the underground. The word ancient was not just a joke.

What irritated him was that the ancient scripts engraved in the region were still working, rendering most usage of his spiritual energy useless. Even his strength was suppressed. Or why else would he need to rest just carrying some loads?

He never imagined venturing here as a labourer, where most of the adventurers already took everything they could find. They already dealt with most of the traps and formations and took most of the treasure. However, the fact remained: this place was still extremely fatal for him. Moreover, it was likely a plot for them to get rid of him.

It only took a single dangerous move from his end to be cast out by the association, though it was not his fault entirely.

He pulled out a flask of water from the baggage and drank when he noticed a few others coming his way, similarly bearing loads on their back, though theirs were not that heavy. They were lower-class adventurers, working as labourer, also came from the same fraction as him, the Astral Mountain.

"What happened, Shan?" one of them said, not trying to hide the mockery in the tone. "Are you feeling tired? Don't forget, you have to venture deeper or else. You haven't even completed half of this week's quota."

Shan looked at him coldly, which made the fellow flinch. He decided against wasting a breath on these fellas. It was a couple of weeks ago this bunch had come to bootlick him, but now their attitude was entirely different. It would be wasting his energy if he started conversing with this type of person.

The one that spoke regained his bearing, finding Shan ignoring him. That seemed to dissatisfy him even more, and finding how he got frightened from the gaze made his mood sour.

"Do you think you still have the arrogance of giving me that look?" he barked. "You might have been an elite adventurer in the past whom others look up to, but you are not that person anymore. There is no difference between us now."

"He should be grateful that Killian let him go with such easy punishment," another one shouted from the side. "If it was someone else, they might have ruined him and left him even incapable of begging."

"Once a homeless stray, always a homeless stray."

Shan actually has a lot of patience, benefiting from his master's teaching, but these low-level adventurers were badmouthing him was just irritating for him.

"Shut up," Shan said coldly, and the lots did shut up. Well, after all, these lots amounted to only this. He calmed the swirling rage inside him and picked up the load again. "Fools," muttering, he went further into the ruins.

In truth, he had never held a single grudge against anyone in the alliance, even after all the unfairness he experienced. His master had taught him better. The further his memory went, he lived under the grace of his master throughout his childhood, but a single mistake from his master destroyed everything.

These good-for-nothing adventurers were nothing to him, nor was Killian. Killian was never the reason for the current situation. It was barely a fine excuse to put him where he would die naturally.

But before all that, he had to survive this ruin and escape. The longer he stays at the mercy of the alliance, the uglier his situation would get.

Shan walked in the strangling dark debris below. After reaching further, he found the familiar broken staircase. His eyes glowed in a golden light as he walked silently down the stairs, keeping an eye open for any bobby traps or formations in the way.

In the vast cosmic sea, a very few are born with an innate talent that lists them far above their peers, and Shan was one of them. His Golden eyes were one of the top tier innate abilities that helped him see through illusions, hidden traps, and protect against mental corrosion and spiritual pressure.

Sadly, even such ability has its limit. He was overusing this ability for the last few days, raising his mental exhaustion to another level.

At first, he thought about fleeing from this place, but all his plans went astray, finding there were several high-level gold rankers guarding this place. In the end, he could only comply with the orders and venture deeper into the dangerous ruins to fulfil his quota.

He already covered most of the halls here. There was not much possibility of finding anything valuable. He moved further, leaving his heavy load behind, as it would only slow him down.

Even though it was dark in the underground ruins, his golden eyes let him see quite clearly to distinguish the stuff, but coupled with his physical and mental exhaustion, his sights flickered like a candle flame against the wind.

Snap!

Abruptly, he felt something shifting. Before Shan could even inspect anything, the ground below his foot shattered with an earth-shaking tremor, splintering and shattering everything. The sound of stones falling came into his ears while his instinct sharpened at once.

"Shit!" cursed Shan. He didn't even have the time to choose a direction when he saw the ceiling above his head crack, as shards of stone were about to fall onto his poor self.

Lightning rushed into his head, and he rushed without thinking. If he was a second later, the stones might have fallen on him. Though it was not enough to kill him, but who could tell anything would not fall above it again.

'Just my shitty luck!' he cursed inwardly and moved at full speed. He reinforced his body with the spiritual force, which was still being suppressed, and his legs accelerated further. Some of the broken stone splinters fell on him, but he was successful in avoiding most of the heavier ones.

Then another dark thought came to his head. What if someone intentionally caused this tremor to kill him? After all, he was an eyesore to most of the people in the alliance. Even though they made him a labourer after his master's banishment, he was still a threat, left unchecked. A little hand in such a dangerous place would certainly solve the problem fine.

He did not have time to linger on those thoughts as the tremor rose further with a bellowing roar enough to crush his eardrums. And it did not just crush his eardrums. An invisible force strangled him abruptly, succumbing him on his knees. A huge shard of stone fell on him and crushed him to the ground the very next moment.

Life was fleeting away from him, but he struggled to pull his arm below it, mustering every bit of his strength. The stone moved above a little, and he was about to pull himself out of it when the ceiling broke entirely with all the broken parts falling on him.

His hope for salvation died with that. He might have been hallucinating to see a light blinding his vision. Perhaps that was what it felt like while dying. Maybe it was life fleeting away from his body.

'What a poor life I lived,' he reminiscenced for the last. Perhaps if he had given his all, and proved himself to be a great asset to the alliance, none of that would have happened. Perhaps if he had the ambition to pursue his dreams. Shan wondered if it was normal to ponder over the regrets while dying.

Well, what does it matter? He's dying. His consciousness was fleeting away. It's the end.

Abruptly, a blinding light strangled him all over, protecting his consciousness. He wondered what would happen after death, but then some transparent text appeared in his consciousness, which confused him a lot.

[Scanning. . .]

[The system has discovered Mystic Ability, Golden Eyes.]

[You have filled the requirement to inherit the inheritance of Ancestral Dragon Temple.]

[Are you willing to inherit the will?]

[YES | NO]

'Yes?'

[Congratulations! You have gained the inheritance of the Ancestral Dragon Temple. The synchronisation will begin now.]

Shan did not understand what was happening and thought it was the end.

[Host is not in a state to get the privilege of the system. Initiating emergency protocol.]

[Initiating the best possible outcome for the host. . .]

The broken stones flew away from his body as a halo of thick light enveloped him entirely. His body rose from the ground and hovered in midair as he felt a surge of warm energy.

[Reverse implementing available legacy. . . .]

[Origin: Project Ouroborus.]

That was the last text that appeared in his consciousness before his consciousness weakened and fell into a deep sleep, or died.

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