Heir of Synthesis: The World Mage

Priam left the cave at a quick pace, running through the air in the exact direction the shield indicated.

As he advanced, his mind connected the dots. Remembering the direction Dandara had left in and cross-referencing it with the shield’s indications, Priam was almost certain: she had gone straight to where the last Heroic Relic was located.

That was bizarre. How could Dandara sense the presence and direction of those treasures with such precision?

’An innate ability of mine...’ Priam reflected on what she had said back then.

When surrounded by nature, her perception sharpened to an absurd degree, allowing her to sense both the deadliest dangers and the greatest opportunities.

Priam frowned. He remembered perfectly when he had been born and lived in that world without his memories. Back then, he had just been an ordinary, below-average young man, with absolutely nothing special about him.

Dandara, on the other hand, had clearly been an extraordinary figure in her past life. Even with her attributes completely sealed in a condition similar to Priam’s at the beginning, she still possessed incredible natural abilities.

At the same time...

She had a completely unstable mind. It was as if she were possessed by several different entities, constantly fighting inside her and switching control of her body over and over.

Her image came to his mind, and Priam clenched his fists.

’There has to be a way to alter or break Dandara’s attribute seal... If she can free even a portion of her strength, as I did... she’ll be... she’ll be a monstrous ally.’

As he rationalized that thought, Priam hesitated for a fraction of a second at the end.

An uncomfortable thought whispered in the back of his mind: did he really want her around only as a "monstrous ally"?

Shaking his head, he immediately pushed the doubt away. This wasn’t the time for sentimental nonsense.

’I have to find the people from my faction as soon as possible. This mission has become thousands of times more dangerous than it already was.’

He wasn’t naive. Those Sorcerers he had killed were nothing more than mediocre pawns of the invading force. They had gotten lucky by capturing some Beasts carrying confidential information about the Heavenly Vessel, allowing them to set up an ambush on their own with the few trusted allies they had.

Because of that, right now, the elite Sorcerers were probably moving their pieces in the shadows, hunting and creating Corrupted Beasts on a massive scale. Any Mage who crossed their path would be silenced and executed before they could raise the alarm.

His companions were in mortal danger without even knowing it. And even if they survived until the end, the inevitable conflict in the Central Region a few months from now would be a true meat grinder.

’I have to prepare myself, or even if I win, the losses to the sect will be enormous.’

Priam had confidence in his current strength. But he was only one person, and there was no way he could protect and save everyone by himself.

He quickened his pace, becoming a blur among the vegetation.

Fortunately, that inner realm was far too vast. The chances of randomly encountering someone were minimal—having fallen relatively close to Dandara at the beginning had been a statistical miracle.

...

Twenty days passed in an uninterrupted journey.

At the end of the twentieth day, the massive outline of a mountain range appeared on the horizon. It was the same mountain range he had spotted when he met Dandara.

Without wasting any time, Priam climbed the nearest peak, leaping from rock to rock until he reached the top.

From up there, his gaze swept across the distant horizon. Far ahead, he could see a huge black patch on the ground. It was as if a small world of its own existed there.

Priam narrowed his eyes.

Miasma.

It was different from corruption, which was an artificially created energy produced by the Sorcerers. Miasma was a toxin to living beings, but it was still a natural phenomenon that emerged under very specific conditions.

Following the natural path between the mountains toward that dark patch, a peculiar forest stretched ahead. All the trees were almost identical, with twisted trunks and pale, almost ghostly leaves.

"Hm?"

Priam’s gaze caught an anomaly in the forest’s milky canopy.

There was a grotesque break in the pattern of the trees: a massive hole, a crater carved into the land as if a colossal impact had devastated the area.

Since that was exactly the path he needed to take, Priam decided to investigate.

Without hesitation, he launched himself off the cliff.

He still couldn’t fly freely for long periods—the Ether consumption required to keep his body in the air with the wind was way too high—but he could jump from high places and glide with the wind for a very long distance at almost no cost.

Taking advantage of the rising air currents, Priam cut through the sky, heading straight toward the mysterious crater in the white forest.

Flying or gliding out in the open had one major disadvantage: in the air, he became an easy target for anyone on the ground. He knew that and usually avoided exposing himself at all costs; that was why he always traveled on the ground.

However, with the suffocating uneasiness tightening his chest and his concern for Dandara speaking louder than his caution, he simply ignored prudence.

A few minutes later, he curved his trajectory and landed lightly near the edge of the crater.

He immediately crouched down, expanding his senses.

There wasn’t the slightest trace of Death Yin in the soil. That meant one of two things: either the impact had happened a long time ago, or no one had died there.

Sharpening his vision, Priam began circling the crater, observing every detail of the devastated terrain. As he approached the trunk of an albino tree whose upper section had been partially torn away, he noticed something strange among the exposed roots.

Kneeling in the fresh soil, he quickly began digging toward the center of the impact until he exposed the tree’s main root.

"..."

Priam remained silent, deep in thought.

The thick root had been brutally severed in the direction of the crater, but what really caught his attention was the tip of the cut: a trace of corrupt energy was still bubbling there, almost imperceptibly.

For that energy to still be reacting with the organic matter, there was only one explanation: this crater had been created recently.

He took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a second to calm his pulse. When he opened them, his perception was razor-sharp.

He moved around, checking every inch.

Scanning the ground leaf by leaf, his gaze finally locked onto something: an almost invisible footprint, half-sunken into the soft soil beside a rock.

He began following the faint trail through the forest.

As he advanced, the signs of battle became increasingly obvious. Trees that had been partially cut down in ways that couldn’t be seen from above. Rocks shattered by impacts, and violent scrape marks across the ground.

Then... in a dark corner beneath the roots of a tree, a dull metallic glint caught his attention.

Priam rushed over and picked up the fragment.

The moment he felt the weight and texture of the metal in his hands, his eyes widened.

’This is... Dandara’s dagger!’

There was no doubt about it. Dandara’s daggers were unique pieces, custom-made for her unorthodox fighting style.

When she prepared for the sect’s test, she commissioned three different blades, each attuned to an element: Water, Wind, and Earth.

Even she couldn’t explain why, but she felt incredibly comfortable using daggers with those elements. The biggest obstacle was the lack of resources. Since she couldn’t afford pure high-level weapons, she paid a blacksmith to create an unusual alloy: 60% cheapened common metals mixed with 40% rare ores with high conductivity.

No respectable blacksmith liked doing this, as it was considered a waste of precious materials. But Dandara couldn’t afford perfection; she only needed a slight advantage that would increase her combat power.

Feeling the faint pulse of the Earth element still lingering within the broken metal, the certainty hit Priam like a hammer to the chest.

"Damn... She was found by the Sorcerers..." Priam muttered, feeling an indescribable, visceral panic squeezing his heart.

It was raw fear, a cold anguish he could barely control. But, gritting his teeth, he forced his mind to reason.

"No... She may be weak in combat, but when things get serious, Dandara is quick to run, not to mention clever and extremely reliable. She’s not some helpless damsel. There’s a reason she survived alone and without support all this time."

Priam muttered to himself, using his own voice to anchor his resolve.

He spun on his heels, analyzing the terrain in a full 360-degree sweep.

There was no obvious trail of escape.

Dandara wouldn’t be stupid enough to run toward the area covered in Miasma while injured or being pursued. That meant she’d used the terrain to her advantage to throw off her pursuers, hiding her footprints and slipping through the shadows.

Priam clenched his fist tightly around the broken blade. A cold, razor-sharp killing intent emanated from his body, making the albino leaves around him tremble.

"I’ll find you..."

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