Found

The Ancient Thunder Eagle hovered high in the sky, its wings and body casting huge shadows downwards.

The Pendulum of Fate Wizards, dressed in Moon White Robe, landed in an orderly fashion under A Ni's guidance. Ronan slowly rose and stepped down from Thunderhawk's back.

The Gobi Desert was covered with tumbleweeds, and not far away was a nearly dried-up lake. Further on was a patch of yellowish-green grassland, followed by a small, rather sparse coniferous forest.

Ronan gazed silently down at the land before him, his deep blue eyes, devoid of joy or sorrow, hidden behind the mask of the flowing morning light.

Is this the place?

A Ni nodded respectfully without speaking, but silently raised her hand to point Ronan in a direction.

Some silk-like white light flowed from Ronan's eyes, weaving an eye-shaped pattern on his forehead.

Under the Eye of Truth, he saw traces of a hidden Rune Array in the void, with dense array patterns faintly outlining the shape of a portal.

Ronan walked slowly toward the portal when several gray figures suddenly sprang out from below. Behind them, the wizard of the Pendulum of Fate intervened, and a flash of white light quickly froze the gray figures.

Ronan grabbed one at random and saw that it was a strange creature with the head of a handsome fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy, but with the body of a pig and the wings of a bat.

It gave off a strong sense of being patched and pieced together. It was only the size of a palm, and Ronan held it gently in his hand with a terrified expression, constantly emitting a shrill scream.

"Let it go!"

Just as Ronan was examining the monster in his hand, a sharp rebuke suddenly came from afar.

He squinted and looked up, and saw a figure rapidly approaching from the sparse pine forest in the distance.

A group of Pendulum of Fate wizards, led by A Ni, silently approached. Ronan raised his hand, and they stopped.

The person who arrived was a petite young female wizard.

Her emerald green hair was styled into several short braids, and she wore a pinkish-blue tight-fitting robe. Her face and lips were glistening, as if they had been dusted with some special powder.

"You."

The girl, only Third Level Wizard, swallowed her words of rebuke as she approached Ronan and his group. Each of them exuded a terrifying aura that was enough to make her feel suffocated and look up to them. Instead, she asked nervously, "Who are you?"

No one answered her. The wizards of the Pendulum of Fate looked at the girl indifferently, as if she were a stone on the roadside. The girl felt an unprecedented sense of oppression, and the tension on her face grew stronger. She couldn't help but quietly move her body backward.

Until Ronan called out to her.

"We are Fomingge's friends."

Ronan looked at the girl in front of him and said softly, "Do you know Fomingge?"

"You're the teacher's friends?!"

The girl blinked, then breathed a sigh of relief, but her expression immediately turned wary again. "How can you prove it?"

Behind the Dawn Mask, Ronan's eyes curved slightly downwards, as if he were smiling.

He casually took out a ring, and after seeing the special gemstone set in the ring that resembled some kind of purple eye, the girl finally let her guard down completely.

"It's the teacher's ring."

This is the teacher's personal Space Ring, which he always keeps close at hand. It's unbelievable that he would give it to you.

The girl looked at Ronan with amazement. After figuring out where Ronan and the others came from, she suddenly started talking non-stop, chattering like a sparrow.

"Where are you wizards from? I don't think I've ever seen you before."

"Oh, by the way, what should I call you? My name is Daisy."

"Is this big bird your Magic Pet? My goodness, it looks so big and scary!"

"So, Daisy."

Ronan interrupted the girl at the right moment and said softly, "Can you take me inside?"

Ronan pointed to the entrance portal to the Secret Realm Space hidden in the void not far away and said, "Fomingge is very anxious and wants me to help him get something from here."

Why doesn't he come over himself?

He only comes once every six months or even once a year.

The girl muttered a few words under her breath.

Ronan's eyes flickered slightly. From the girl's tone, he sensed that the relationship between the girl and Fomingge was not simply that of an ordinary master and disciple.

Despite her complaints, the girl quickly nodded and turned to lead the way.

Ronan gave A Ni a subtle look, signaling them to wait outside, and then followed the girl toward the door.

Ronan "returned" the several bat-like monsters with Human-faced Pig-bodied to the girl. The girl carefully tucked them into her bosom one by one, and her gaze towards Ronan became even more affectionate. She walked to the portal, took out a strange key the size of a palm, and gently swiped it in the air. As the runes rippled outwards, the hidden spatial portal was opened.

The girl waved to Ronan, then went inside first.

Following the girl into this hidden Secret Realm Space, Ronan discovered that it was surprisingly large.

The space contains grasslands, forests, lakes, and most of all, flowers everywhere you look.

Various flowers, some familiar to Ronan and some not, were densely packed together, numbering in the thousands. Under the operation of a specific Rune Array, they were all in full bloom, a scene as beautiful as a fairy tale.

If Arrietty were here, she'd probably be ecstatic.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Daisy, the girl, proudly led Ronan on a tour of the space, pointing to a large flower field in front of them, and said, "My teacher planted all of these for me. Every time he comes back, he brings several different varieties, and slowly, it has developed into what it is now."

"It is very beautiful."

Ronan gave a soft sigh of admiration, looked at the girl, and asked, "It seems that Fomingge is really good to you."

"Certainly."

Without hesitation, the girl replied, "My teacher dotes on me like a father. He almost always fulfills my every request."

Only one point."

The girl sighed and said with dissatisfaction, "He won't let me leave here, not even a little bit..."

"Father?"

Ronan caught a word in the girl's words, and his eyes flickered as if he had thought of something.

"So you've just stayed here all this time. Alone?"

Ronan looked around at the Secret Realm Space before him.

In a corner of the space, he discovered what appeared to be Fomingge's experimental field.

He flew in that direction and saw several magic arrays in operation. In one of them, several hollowed-out golden spheres were floating, constantly emitting a buzzing sound.

One was filled with rolling lava, and the other had a small, grayish-white pool in the middle, with some decaying white foam floating on the surface.

Another one is made of obsidian and is in the shape of nested rings. Each ring is engraved with a large number of mysterious runes of unknown meaning. The center is deeply recessed, like a deep well, from which a strong energy aura emanates. There are also some cracks at the wellhead.

"The Inheritance Magic Array of Fomingge"

Ronan sensed the aura emanating from several magic arrays, his eyes flickered, but he remained silent.

Daisy, however, walked up to him and answered to herself, "I spend most of my time reading books and the toys my teacher brings me home."

"Toy?"

Ronan spread his mental energy, examining every corner of the area inch by inch, but he didn't find what he was looking for, so he turned to look at the girl.

"Yes, toys."

At this moment, a cruel smile appeared on the girl's face, completely at odds with her natural innocence. As if confiding a secret to Ronan, she leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Actually, they were just some wizards who didn't get along with the teacher. After squeezing them dry, he dumped them all on me as toys."

Do you see them?

The girl pulled out several small monsters with human heads and pig bodies from her bosom. Several handsome young boys stuck out their tongues Greed licked the girl's fingers, making her giggle.

"It took me a lot of breaking to finally create them. They're so much cuter now than when they were human."

If you like, I can give you one.

The girl said to Ronan very generously, "You are the first person besides my teacher to talk to me so much."

We can be friends, but only if you promise to visit me often.

"Friend."

Ronan looked into the girl's innocent and sincere eyes and smiled silently.

He turned his head and said in a low voice, "Let's find what I'm looking for first."

"What exactly does the teacher want you to come back and get for him?"

The girl looked puzzled and asked, glancing around, "Apart from these few magic arrays, almost everything here belongs to me."

"One person, one woman."

Ronan hesitated for a moment, then whispered a brief description of Kosti's appearance.

After saying that, Ronan looked at the girl.

There was no emotional fluctuation in his eyes behind the mask, and his tone was unusually calm.

"I really like that she hasn't been completely ruined by you yet."

The girl tilted her head, lost in memories and thought.

Her eyes lit up quickly. "I remember which one you're talking about."

She quickly took something out of her personal Space Ring and placed it in front of Ronan.

Is this woman right?

Is she still of any use?

The girl pouted and muttered, "I think she's really ordinary, except for being a little pretty."

"As I dismembered her body, she didn't even utter a sound that I found amusing—a plea for mercy or a scream."

Ronan could no longer hear what the girl was saying; his gaze was completely drawn to what was in front of him.

It was a transparent crystal ball.

It contains some small and exquisite decorations such as silver sand and algae, and even has a beautiful base at the bottom.

Kosti, only the size of a thumb, sat quietly inside, like a delicate doll.

Ronan reached out, his fingertips trembling slightly as he touched the crystal ball.

"You should be more careful."

The girl placed the crystal ball in his hand and scolded him in a reproachful tone, "If this thing is really important to you and your teacher..."

It's more fragile than you think.

Ronan gave the girl a pale smile and softly said, "Thank you."

He picked up the crystal ball and carefully examined Kosti's soul, which was sealed within it by magic.

A moment later, he easily released his grip.

"Smack—"

With a startled cry from the girl, the crystal ball shattered, and a thick cloud of ghostly Ash Smoke slowly rose from the shards.

Kosti appeared before Ronan completely unharmed.

She was wearing the same robe Ronan remembered her wearing when she left, and her beautiful face was just as stunning as before, only excessively pale.

But.

From the knees down, all that remained was a void where the smoke had thinned.

Released from the magic crystal, Kosti seemed to gradually awaken from a long, lonely dream. She slowly raised her head, and in her empty eyes, she saw Ronan's figure.

Shelby

Kosti looked at Ronan blankly, and whispered as if she were crying, "Is it you?"

Ronan stared at her intently.

He had heard the name Shelby from the talkative parrot Porby before; he was Kosti's brother, who had left long ago and never returned.

"It's me."

Ronan took a step forward, stretched out his hands, and gently embraced Kosti, who was in spirit form.

"It's me, Kosti, I'm back."

"You... you..."

Daisy was stunned by what she saw. Suddenly realizing what was happening, she jumped back, pointed at Ronan, and stammered, "You're not the teacher's friend? Right!"

Who exactly are you?

Ronan held Kosti tightly in his arms, as if carefully cradling a wisp of smoke that might be blown away by the wind at any moment.

He didn't turn around, and said softly.

"Anyway, thank you, dear Daisy."

"To express my gratitude."

"I'll take you to see Fomingge right now. I promise, from now on, he'll always be by your side."

"Just like a truly competent father."

Black Night.

Ronan sat upright in a high-backed chair, his entire figure hidden in the dense darkness.

Before him, a mirror formed by magic floated.

The scene inside the Minotaur's Maze is reflected on the mirror-like surface where gray mist flows.

——

Inside the endless, misty tunnel, Daisy, a girl with a terrified expression, ran while crying.

The wizard Monsters, formed under the torment of a long time, crawled out from the gaps on both sides of the passage. Fomingge, enduring the excruciating pain from the four Nail of the Soul, was like a rampaging beast, frantically stopping every thug who was filled with lust for the girl's tender and delicious body.

This process will continue until Fomingge is no longer able to protect the girl.

Then, Ronan would lock the father and daughter in a separate space.

"When hunger accumulates to a certain degree, the instinct to eat overcomes reason."

"Alazan, who do you think will become the other's food?"

Ronan muttered to himself, "Wouldn't it be interesting no matter which outcome I get?"

Some black smoke emanated from beneath Ronan's robes, deepening the surrounding darkness.

As the shadows spread, gradually swallowing up the moonlight streaming through the window, Alazan's voice rang in Ronan's ears.

Damien!

The magical silver mirror shattered silently, and the spreading shadows ceased to grow.

Ronan closed his eyes and heard Alazan's warning voice, as clear as a morning bell and evening drum.

"Don't let hatred consume your heart; that will only make things worse."

Beneath the Dawn Mask, Ronan's low murmured words echoed.

"Alazan, do you know what I've always heard you say in stories about other people? I never imagined that one day I would have the chance to be reprimanded with similar words."

"Hehe."

Ronan opened his eyes, his azure pupils clear and bright, all the darkness and malice emanating from him receding into his body.

He regained his composure completely.

It was as if nothing had happened.

You should hurry up.

Alazan let out a soft, long sigh, "Those impurities that have settled in your soul are subtly influencing you in ways you never imagined."

Ronan took a deep breath. "I know."

He focused his attention back on the "Mirror of Emptiness" within his body, but this time, he was considering a different issue.