"It was not that bad."

After whispering, Ben fell asleep.

Immediately after, Ginn's technique began taking effect.

A block of glass surrounded Ben's body, immobilizing and sealing him.

"What was that?" Eden asked, confused.

The few peculiar runes that quickly sprouted and evaporated left them astounded.

"I actually couldn't read them. It seemed like some nature's law. I'm as surprised."

"Was Ben hiding something?"

"Sure, he always had. But I don't think this was something like that. He wouldn't have shown it."

"Weird. Is Ben's body okay?"

"I arrived soon enough."

"And how was that? Did Dinna need to go?"

"If she didn't, it would've taken a while to return without losing anyone."

"Were the Bolts involved?"

"Ben's hunch was correct, again. That Clan had been saving up Spirit Silver Essence for a long time. We couldn't avoid destroying the whole Keatha Fort. We'll have to deal with the Kingdom after."

"That makes 3 out of 8. Isn't that too much?"

"Fortunately, it wasn't the entire country. Only a few selected individuals."

Having finished the seal, Ginn began extracting the Core inside Ben's chest.

He was meticulous, so it took a couple of minutes.

The entire time, Eden stayed silent.

"Why would that be a gift you would want?" Eden asked once Ginn finished the process.

"I don't know, either. But I'm not turning down a gift from our spooky friend. However, I can guess. The way he dealt with the Core, by isolating it, might've given Ben some insight. And those marks are the true gift."

"But to go as far as crippling him."

"You weren't directly involved with it, but I guarantee that the Dual Core was more of a hindrance than anything else. Ben went far and beyond to isolate it. If he could, he would've already extracted it. He only waited because he didn't want to deal with the consequences."

"If you didn't remove it now, I'm sure that would be the first thing he did when he woke up," Eloise added as she appeared on the lookout.

"Mom! Are you alright?"

Eloise had her arm completely black and immobilized.

"I'm not, but I'll be okay. Ginn, we've scared the ones outside. Those heads were quite effective."

"Told ya."

"I've also confirmed the situation with the other who stayed behind. Everything is alright in the city since no one got in. But Grim mentioned something else. Ben left something else behind inside the room he was using. A book for you."

"Oh? Was there more information than what we talked about?"

"A bit surprising. I wonder what needed to be left only in writing. Anyway, what is your first impression of the Core? Ben hated that thing."

"It seems alive."

---

In a room deep underground, Dinna retook control of the Arrays as soon as she arrived.

Yet, despite being tired, she worked on allowing Ginn to take care of Ben.

She regretted having the system in this incomplete form. But a defensive formation of such caliber couldn't be finished in only a couple of hundred years.

'When I see him again, he'll be asleep. How unfair.'

Her heart weighed on her as sadness drowned it.

Once she became comfortable with the pressure again, she removed a small stone from her pocket.

Dinna had been carrying this weird amber since Ben gave her a second one a week ago.

'He must have laughed when I thought I was stronger than he. Strength truly isn't everything.'

Staring at the object that sent her into a spiral that eventually led her to reach the apex, Dinna wasn't satisfied.

This time, her eyes filled with decades of experience could easily see through Ben's tricks. However, that only made her more confused.

All her insight concluded this amber shouldn't become stable. Yet, it did.

'It's useless and shouldn't work. Yet, it does remain stable. There is nothing inside, but the insight is in the how. And is this the only thing remaining from my ancestors?'

Before, she merely thought she lacked experience and couldn't see through. She wrongly concluded the stabilization device.

'My first instinct back then was right. How laughable. I overthought so much until I got it wrong.'

Her first impression of the amber was of a fragile gift. Dinna spend weeks meticulously observing the stone, afraid it might crack. However, after the Array inside the small object showed an impressive sturdiness, she concluded her assumptions were naive.

Tired but still overfocused, Dinna recalled Ben's meeting with her family.

'Did you not like my family,' she asked.

'There is nothing to like or hate. I already told you, my friends are long gone.'

'I'm sorry.'

'Why? Because your family doesn't seem to value me as much as they do you?'

'It was my mistake. I thought my family would know better.'

'To be fair, I prefer that over fakeness. I think highly of your family now. Your Clan isn't blinded by a past long gone. Instead, they look at the future with hope. And you're their hope.'

'But I'll be gone before you.'

'Sure, but I'm always falling apart. And you'll leave behind an unshakable foundation that will only fail against time.'

'Yet, below, your sturdiness would surprise anyone. I'm beginning to hate your vagueness.'

'Took you long enough. But I ought to make this clear. When related to your ancestor, the vagueness is his. He didn't teach me. I looked at him with awe, but he only returned it with vagueness.'

'It feels like I'm paying for his sins.'

'Probably not his, though.'

Back then, Dinna didn't understand whose sins it would be.

'Did our lineage start with someone like Ginn? Maybe I should start from the beginning again. And this time, I won't break it. If Ginn's guesses about the upper world are correct, I should have enough time.'

---

"So, is this that kid's doing?" King Latwel VI asked.

"Yes. The came by quickly, destroyed the whole fort, and even tried to uproot our foundation but failed." One of his advisors answered.

They were in front of a destroyed manor.

Headless bodies lined up where was the front door.

"I see that this branch became quite daring."

"Ah?"

"I can see through it. That kid is quite annoying if he left it so in the open. Taunting me."

"I don't get it. Are we declaring war?"

"You do."

The advisor's head rolls on the floor, not having time to reply.

"You did. Stick the body to the line."

"What are we going to do? Hide underground?" Another cultivator appeared from within the King's shadow and asked.

"Are you also underestimating that kid?"

"I wouldn't dare. But I don't know if going into defense is safe, either."

"It isn't. But we can only hope the kid gets bored and leaves us alone since we didn't partake in it directly."

"Overly hopeful."

"But what else can we do? Are you going to say with a straight face that we didn't know? That won't work."

"If only they could've put a better fight. And I heard that Norluch is worse than this."

"Srok will likely be gone in the next few years, divided away. And we can only hope that the root below our feet is sturdy enough to bore the kid away. We've failed."

"Indeed, it was the wrong bet to make."

---

"I did everything I could. So, you won't dissolve before this world."

In his left hand, Ginn held Ben's Dual Core. In the other, the book his friend left behind.

"It took me so long, but I get it. This annoying hunch of yours."

The last insight Ben had left behind had nothing to do with knowledge. Instead, it was an undescriptive instinct, the revelation of one's existence.

"Going insane inside our consciousness, we crave. I also hit the wall as expected. My head hurts."

Most in Spirit would be astounded if they heard this since Ginn is the strongest here by so much.

"I've finished everything in less than two thousand years. But your carefulness was contagious. So, despite so easily folding space-time, I'll wait for as long as I can."

Ginn kept playing with the Core while talking with his friend. However, he wasn't talking alone because he and Dinna had set it so people could record themselves for Ben. And all those traces of memories made part of the fortification of this seal.

They created this part of the plan after spending a few more hundreds of years preparing for Ben's breakthrough.

"Memories. I'll make sure that you have enough memories for a while."

---

"No! Don't!" The kid yelled and ran toward Eden.

"Why? Didn't you say you wanted to be with Ben?"

"Don't leave me alone, Grandpa!"

"You're so like your father," Eden laughed.

---

"It has been five thousand years, and I finally got a glimpse of it. Thank you. For the first time, I believe I'll eventually understand why my ancestors chose what they did. I likely won't be able to talk with you at the time, so I thank you in advance for holding into it. For you to master such a useless part of your friend's knowledge, just in the chance of giving it back to their descendant. I know it wasn't easy, so I'm sure he would be proud."

The white-haired Dinna talked with the sealed Ben.

The old age caught up to her because she overly focused on rebuilding her Clan's lost knowledge.

"But I ought to congratulate you. Your instincts were again on point. I understand more why you were so resistant to change. Hopefully, that bit of essence is enough for me to track the root down. If I can get to that, I'll be able to follow Ginn and Matt wherever they go. So, thank you again. I'll see you later."