Under Starlight's astonished gaze, his master, Carlos—who had been at the end of his life force—miraculously took his hand and slowly stood up, as if the weakness he had shown before was nothing but a fleeting illusion.
“Don't waste your strength, Little Star. I know my time is short. Now, listen to me...” A strange red flush rose to Carlos's face as he shook his head at Starlight.
“No... you'll be fine! You've stood up, haven't you? Don't scare me like this, Master...” Starlight shouted emotionally. However, he watched in horror as Carlos's body gradually became transparent, as if he were about to dissolve into the air.
Carlos naturally noticed the change in his body. He merely looked at his hands with a bitter smile, appearing to have been mentally prepared for this outcome. After a brief silence, he continued speaking.
“You came to the outside of the barrier last night, didn't you? In truth, I always knew you were there, but I couldn't let you through... If you had come, everything we've done would have been meaningless...”
“I have to tell you, Little Star, you are a special existence... That is why I haven't allowed you to go outside all these years. You must have seen that figure I was fighting; that was originally part of your destiny. From the moment you turned fifteen, the gears of fate began to turn once more.”
“We are all just mortals. None of us can stand against the torrent of fate alone. But as mortals, we must still have the courage to defy the heavens. You may not be able to do it now, but that doesn't mean you won't be able to in the future. Your parents and I have always believed this...”
“The figure I fought yesterday... was the King of the Demons who reigns over the Leon Continent... the Heavenly Demon, Phoenix. It seems I overestimated myself, but you are different. You possess infinite possibilities! Remember, until you reach the Saint Rank, you must never entertain thoughts of revenge!”
Carlos spoke the long passage in a single breath, nearly exhausting himself, and began to pant heavily.
With every sentence he finished, his body became more ethereal.
Starlight lowered his head in silence, listening intently to his master's words. He wanted to say something, but he found himself unable to utter a single word.
After resting for a moment, Carlos looked at his proud disciple and reached out, wanting to wipe away the tears that were gushing from the boy's eyes like a spring.
But his hand met only air. His hand had become so thin it was almost formless, passing directly through the boy's cheek.
“Don't cry, Little Star. Death is not the end of life; it is simply embarking on another journey. Look at me now... it doesn't hurt at all. On the contrary, I feel very light,” Carlos said softly. Just as he claimed, he could hardly feel the existence of his own body anymore.
“Don't think your master has spent all these years in vain. Show some backbone, lift your head, and send me off on my new journey with a smile!”
At Carlos's sudden, sharp command, Starlight jolted as if struck by an electric shock. He slowly raised his head, opened his black eyes flooded with tears, and gave a firm nod.
Seeing this, a smile of relief finally appeared on Carlos's face. He let out a long breath and said, “Set out on the path to the peak, Little Star. One day, we shall meet again.”
“And... happy birthday...”
...
Under Starlight's gaze, Carlos's imposing figure gradually turned into points of light, finally vanishing into the scorching sunlight, leaving only a faint sorrow lingering in the boy's heart.
Starlight collapsed onto his bed, lost and despondent, staring blankly at the ceiling.
His memory of how he had returned to the house was a blur; he only felt as if a giant boulder were pressing against his chest, making it difficult to breathe.
When night quietly fell, Starlight finally sat up. He stepped lightly out of his room and looked around the valley where he had lived for fifteen years.
At that moment, he seemed to understand something. Yes, it was time for him to leave.
Perhaps Carlos had long foreseen his own fate. With his passing, the barrier that shrouded the valley had also collapsed.
Although Starlight didn't quite understand what his master meant by the things he said about destiny, he could faintly sense that this place was no longer safe. If he remained mired in grief and stopped moving forward, he would only fail his master's painstaking efforts.
With that thought, Starlight turned back and began to silently pack his belongings.
Before long, a large backpack was ready. Although life in the valley had been simple and plain over the years, there were still many things worth taking with him.
But as he stepped out of the door again, ready to embark on his new journey, his gaze involuntarily fell upon Carlos's half-collapsed room.
For years, Starlight had rarely entered Carlos's room and had never been very curious about his master's research. However, after witnessing Carlos's departure, an indescribable impulse drove him to investigate further.
The spot where Carlos's desk had been was buried under a collapsed wall, but this wasn't a major problem for Starlight. Having always possessed decent physical strength, moving the stones with the help of magic would only take a little time.
In just half an hour, the collapsed room was cleared. Carlos's bookshelf and desk had been crushed to pieces by the stones, and various materials and scattered books lay all over the floor. Looking at the mess before him, Starlight couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.
Just then, a strange thought suddenly entered his mind.
Although he rarely entered this room, he had a general understanding of its layout. Recalling it now, he realized the room didn't seem to have the facilities for complex research.
“What's going on? Could it be that Master's research wasn't conducted here?” Starlight wondered, his eyes searching the room.
Finally, his gaze landed on the wooden bed, which remained perfectly intact.
This wooden bed was the only piece of furniture in the room that was still in good condition. Starlight walked over and carefully felt along the bedboard. In an inconspicuous corner, his fingers touched a strange protrusion.
“Is this... a button?” Starlight looked down in surprise and saw a pure white circular stone embedded in the bedboard. The surface of the stone was as smooth as jade, clearly the result of being touched for many years.
He couldn't help but recall the secret mechanism plots he had read about in novels. Driven by curiosity, he placed his palm on the stone and pressed down firmly.
Just as he had expected, the white stone was pressed into the bedboard by his palm. A few seconds later, the bedboard slid silently to the side, revealing a dark, pitch-black opening.
“So a room like this has been hidden here all along? Was this built by Master himself, or was it already here?” Filled with curiosity and doubt, Starlight didn't hesitate to jump down into the opening.
The hole wasn't deep, only about the height of one floor. The sound of Starlight landing echoed through the space. At the same time, several light orbs lit up on the walls on both sides, illuminating the entire underground space as bright as day.
Starlight carefully examined the space he was in. It was much larger than the room upstairs, filled with several tables piled with various jars and bottles he had never seen before. On one particularly large table lay a thick stack of drafts and blueprints.
As he approached, he discovered that the blueprints and drafts were written in a script he didn't recognize. These unfamiliar characters were all square-shaped and looked like some kind of diagrams, which was vastly different from the Common Tongue of the continent that Starlight knew.
Starlight carefully flipped through the materials, trying to find a clue.
However, aside from being able to recognize some magic formation patterns on the blueprints that seemed to be traces of some kind of reinforcement magic, the strange text annotations were like a closed book to him, completely impossible to piece into any meaningful information.
This couldn't help but make him feel a bit disappointed, but a picture frame half-hidden by documents quietly caught his attention.
He reached out cautiously and gently pulled the frame out from behind the mountain of drafts.
The frame wasn't large, only slightly bigger than his palm, but it held a perfectly preserved portrait inside.
The picture depicted two men and one woman. Although the brushstrokes were slightly hurried, the sense of life and warmth was vivid on the paper. Especially the man in the center with black and white hair; that iconic image allowed Starlight to recognize his master, Carlos, at a single glance.
Rate on N.U.
