The monkey made of stars began to move and said with a smile.
"If you want to pass, you must first answer three of my questions."
Kael’s eyes flashed slightly before crossing his arms.
"Ask." His voice was calm as always, as if they weren’t racing against ti.
The monkey made of stars sat down in the middle of the road and asked his first question:
"I’ve noticed that so stars seem to change color. Why is that?"
The questions hadn’t changed. Kael thought for a mont, and a small smile appeared on his lips before he answered.
"According to astronors of the past, they say that color reveals the age of a star. Young stars burn with a fierce blue, mature stars shine golden, and dying stars turn red."
The monkey seed satisfied with the answer, as his eyes lit up briefly, and he continued with the second question.
"If stars are distant suns, how can their light reach us without fading along the way?
Je~ Kael didn’t expect this world to be so behind in space; the questions were too easy, even for him, who wasn’t very knowledgeable about astronomy.
"Because darkness doesn’t turn off the light, it just holds it. Light travels at high speed until it reaches our eyes. What we see isn’t the present, but the past." His answer was a bit crude, but he couldn’t use more advanced terms because they wouldn’t understand.
Clap, clap, clap.
The monkey clapped excitedly, looking like a child as his body glowed slightly. "Good, good, what a good answer. Now for the last question. What happens when a star dies?"
"So simply fade away and beco dark. Others, however, explode at the end of their lives, with a light so intense that it pierces space."
"Excellent answer, you couldn’t have given a better one." The monkey moved excitedly as his body turned into particles of stars, leaving the hallway clear.
Kael wasted no ti and entered the first chamber of the inheritance. Michel, carrying Elizabeth, followed closely behind, with several questions in his mind that he kept to himself.
There were no items of great value in this first chamber, as it mainly contained items from the first circle, things that Kael did not consider valuable, so he took nothing from here.
A blood-red fla appeared in his hand. He casually waved it, and the fire spread throughout the room, consuming everything in its path.
He wasn’t going to leave his enemies anything they could use to strengthen themselves and then hunt him down. He wasn’t that careless, and he didn’t want to repeat the mistakes of the past. Because of his past decisions, he had lost the only people who truly loved him, and now those people were represented by the swords.
Although he did not regret his decisions, he would not forget his mistakes.
They continued down the star-studded hallway toward the next chamber, which was being consud by flas.
...
High in the sky, the moon, which had been shining brightly, was gradually covered by a huge cloud that moved slowly forward. In an instant, the silvery light vanished, and the entire forest was plunged into a deeper, denser, suffocating darkness.
The waterfall, hidden among the thick foliage, roared with a dull thunder. The air was heavy with moisture, and the murmur of the water mingled with disturbing sounds: crackling, distant screeches, light footsteps echoing among the roots.
Anyone who dared to approach would feel a chill run down their spine.
Every creature that inhabited the forest was lethal. It didn’t matter if they were large beasts or tiny insects: they all posed a real danger. Even the most insignificant being possessed an extre poison, capable of ending soone’s life in a matter of seconds.
In the cave, Aiden and the others still hadn’t found the entrance to the inheritance; this only increased their concern and anger.
Because the longer they took, the more ti they had to explore the inheritance, and the greater the danger for Elizabeth, who was now a hostage of Kael and Michel.
"Damn it! Why can’t you find the damn entrance? My daughter is in danger!" Aiden roared furiously, his voice echoing off the cave walls.
It was a roar filled with rage and helplessness. It had been too many years since he had felt this way, and he hated that feeling coming back to him. The pride of a man like him could not bear weakness.
Inside, anger boiled. He couldn’t stop thinking about Kael.
He could only imagine his hands tearing his body limb by limb, ripping off every piece of flesh with cruel satisfaction, then throwing it to the purple pigs.
Let them devour him, digest him, turn him into excrent, and finally use that filthy remains as fertilizer in his own garden. That macabre idea brought him perverse relief.
Michel, on the other hand, was not part of his plans. He didn’t even consider him. Facing him would be like digging his own grave. With his current power, he was nothing more than an insect before the imposing Abraham family. It would be suicide to even provoke them. But Kael... Kael was different.
A young man with no backing, no lineage to fear. Kael was disposable, and that made him a perfect target for his hatred.
At that mont, Natalia stepped forward. Her voice, cold and calm, interrupted Aiden’s overflowing fury:
"Dear, send Max to get reinforcents and surround the entire area. We can’t rule out the possibility that this inheritance has a way out."
The calmness of her words was like a bucket of water on a raging fire. Aiden narrowed his eyes, holding back his anger. He knew Natalia was right.
"Max," he ordered in a deep, authoritative voice. "Stop searching. We have more than enough n here. Return to the mansion imdiately, bring all the n, and surround the area. Not a single corner should be left unchecked."
Max, who had been searching every crack in the cave, stopped his search imdiately. Without hesitating for a second, he bowed respectfully. For him, his master’s orders were the absolute truth, unquestionable.
In an instant, his figure disappeared in the direction of the mansion, moving at great speed.
anwhile, Aiden remained standing in the darkness of the cave, his fists clenched so tightly that blood began to drip from his palms. Hatred burned in his chest like a poison impossible to contain.
Aiden sighed deeply, calming his anger and hatred. Now was not the ti for his emotions to take control of him, when his daughter’s life was in the hands of strangers.
Without further delay, he continued his search. Ti was not on his side, and every second of hesitation was another step closer to disaster. He had to find the chanism that opened the entrance to the inheritance, inside which, at that very mont, Michel and Kael were trapped.
For him, saving his daughter was not a matter of love, but of duty, blood, and pride. And in this ruthless world, those were the only pillars that could keep him standing.
...
Back inside the inheritance, after burning down the entire first room, Kael and Michel continued forward until they reached a place where there were several paths.
"Which way do we go?" asked Michel.
He felt a slight movent on his shoulder: Elizabeth had just opened her eyes. Before he could react, Michel knocked her out again with a quick, precise blow. The girl lay motionless, as if nothing had happened.
"..."
Kael didn’t respond right away. His gaze scanned the paths that opened up before them, each one shrouded in mystery. Ti was ticking, and he couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. There were no second chances.
Choosing one of those paths was practically like rolling the dice in a lottery.
If he chose wrong, if he wasted this opportunity, he would be handing the advantage to Aiden Blander. That man would gain precious ti to explore this inheritance at his leisure, while he would be left without a nanny.
Kael understood the harshness of the situation: it wasn’t simply a matter of moving forward or backward.
It was about his future, his rise to power.
His mind was clear. The only thing that really mattered to him was obtaining that magic, the decisive resource that would allow him to accelerate his growth.
Only that magic. Nothing else.
Because Kael knew that Elizabeth’s death was certain, she was still alive because she still had a use: once she took that magic, he would end her life, thus completing the system’s mission.
And obtaining a 100% mana pool, without the consequence of dying bizarrely or exploding like a waterlon.
After a minute of silence, Kael finally made a decision.
His mind had been weighing every detail. In his mory, he reviewed Elizabeth’s biography with precision: there was no ntion of anything like what they were now facing.
Kael exhaled slowly, as if lifting a veil of uncertainty. His gaze beca relentless, devoid of doubt.
"Let’s take the left path," he ordered in a firm, calm voice.
It was a simple decision on the surface, but inside, it had not been taken lightly.
...
Deep inside the cave, where the silence was heavy, Natalia searched tirelessly. Each step echoed with a dull sound, as if the darkness itself were breathing around her.
Her efforts were finally rewarded.
Before her eyes appeared a strange, impossible pickaxe: it was not forged from iron or rock, but from pure starlight, and without thinking, she pulled it out.
The entire cave began to shake, the walls vibrated, and fragnts of stone fell from the ceiling.
Then, a passageway appeared: a corridor ford by stars.
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