The Road Ahead Draws Near

"Nun, I'm back!"

After bidding farewell to Ju, who had sent the message, Linsey returned to the church.

Red Moon was still seated before the chapel, carrying out her daily prayers as she did day after day.

Hearing Linsey greet her,

the elderly nun merely nodded slightly and said nothing more.

Compared to when she had saved Linsey three years ago, Red Moon had hardly changed at all.

Silent and serene.

After giving it some thought, Linsey stepped forward and said:

"Nun, Teacher Finn asked me to pass along a message."

"Finn?" Only then did Red Moon turn to look at him. "Has he already sensed that the end of his road is near?"

Red Moon's words were blunt. The end of one's road drawing near meant death.

In truth, as Finn's body had weakened over the past two years, this had become an unspoken fact everyone understood.

Linsey could understand Red Moon's seemingly coldhearted question.

Awakened possessed their own Source Material, making them less likely than ordinary people to turn into the living dead. However, once such a rare occurrence did arise, it often brought even more dangerous consequences.

Given her duties within the School of Death, Red Moon certainly had to ask.

Linsey hurriedly shook his head in denial.

"Teacher Finn could still teach me normally today."

"He only asked me to bring you a message. He said he needed to discuss Merchant's Source Material with you."

By this point, Red Moon had already guessed Finn's intentions.

She lowered her head slightly and let out a sigh.

"Ah..."

Linsey heard the trace of sorrow in her voice and hurriedly pressed on:

"Nun, what's wrong?"

"Is there something wrong with Merchant's Source Material?"

Red Moon explained in a drawn-out tone:

"The technique Merchant's Source Material uses to cultivate Source Material is to combine one's own Source Material with an external object, thereby creating a magical item that can be cultivated, replacing the Source Material System centered on oneself."

"After this technique spread, some Awakened nearing the end of their lives would abolish their own skills before death and try to leave behind something more useful than a corpse."

"..."

Teacher Finn is really going to die! It was as though a bolt of lightning had flashed through Linsey's mind. He stood frozen in place.

Red Moon, meanwhile, walked to the church's rear courtyard and took out a thin paper scroll.

"This is the cultivation method for Merchant's Source Material?"

Only then did Linsey react upon seeing it. "I... Nun, sorry. I'll deliver it."

Red Moon handed the paper scroll to Linsey. "Have a good talk with Finn."

"Nun, I'll be back late tonight."

Taking the paper scroll, Linsey rushed out of the church without another word. In the blink of an eye, he vanished from before the church.

Red Moon watched her godson leave.

Turning around, she gazed at the statue of the School of Death. In the end, she merely shook her head slightly and said nothing more.

Meanwhile, Linsey sprinted through the town.

After three years of training, along with the enhancement of Life Source Material, his three physical attributes—constitution, strength, and agility—had reached 14, 11, and 12 respectively.

By Linsey's estimate,

an ordinary adult human's physical attributes should be around 6.

These exaggerated attributes, nearly double the norm, granted him abilities beyond those of top athletes.

With 14 constitution, the rate at which he exhausted stamina during long-distance running like a marathon was even slower than his recovery rate. As long as he had enough food and Clear Water, Linsey could run day and night without stopping;

with 11 strength, lifting objects weighing over a hundred kilograms was effortless; with 12 agility, when sprinting at full speed, his hundred-meter time could even approach nine seconds.

Supported by these attributes, Linsey quickly returned to Finn's wooden cabin.

But this time, his heart was in turmoil.

He even forgot to knock and simply pushed the door open.

"Linsey, why are you here?"

Finn was boiling water by the fireplace. Seeing Linsey's flustered appearance, he immediately asked with concern, "You're in such a hurry. Did something happen to Red Moon?"

"No, I... you..." Linsey stammered, unable to get the words out.

He couldn't exactly ask Finn to his face, "Are you nearing the end of your life?"

Yet that very reaction answered Finn's question from another angle.

The botanist understood and smiled gently. "Child, it's all right."

"I have walked this world for more than a hundred years. That is already a ripe old age."

Linsey still found it hard to accept.

"But it shouldn't be like this. Your legs may not be very convenient now, but your mind is still sharp. How could it be so soon..."

Linsey wanted to say more, but Finn took the paper scroll from his hand and shook his head, cutting off Linsey's reluctance.

"Child, this is a judgment I made through my skill."

"Within the Life School, the first ability our branch elevates is called Life Instinct. It grants me powerful intuitive premonitions. This year will be my final days."

"..."

Silence filled the cramped wooden cabin.

Finn's tone was gentle as he explained, but his meaning was resolute and beyond dispute.

Linsey knew it was the truth as well, so he could not say anything.

After three years of close companionship,

he had long regarded the elder before him as his most respected teacher. Now that his teacher was about to pass away, Linsey truly did not know what to do.

Whooo—

After some time, the kettle on the fireplace began to whistle.

Finn lifted the kettle and poured Linsey a cup of hot water. "Child, have some water."

Linsey took the cup almost instinctively.

But he did not drink. Instead, he stared at Finn before him and asked in a trembling voice,

"You... how much time do you have left..."

Finn first shook his head, then nodded. "Linsey, I know you are a gentle child, and this will make you sad. But from now on, you must learn how to part with people."

As he spoke, Finn seemed to settle into the role of a teacher.

He continued in an earnest tone, "You, who possess Life Source Material, will enjoy a far longer lifespan than ordinary people. These farewells will run through your entire life. You need to prepare yourself well, so that this feeling will not knock you down in the future."

Finn's original intention was to help Linsey accept the cycle of birth, aging, illness, and death.

This was also the final lesson he could give Linsey.

But Linsey thought of Life Source Material's ability to extend one's lifespan and hurriedly asked, "Then could my Life Source Material possibly help you?"

Finn smiled and shook his head.

"If it could do something like that, the world would have fallen into chaos long ago."

Then the elder rose from the table and slowly walked to the study, looking at the bookshelf.

Linsey had organized the bookshelf very well after reading the books.

But as the owner of this place, how could Finn fail to notice which books Linsey had looked through?

Finn's gaze lingered on the bookshelf for a long time before he finally said:

"Child, I know your ambition does not lie upon the path of life. In the future, you will surely attempt to break through Black Mountain's blockade."

"And I believe you can do it."

"So if one day you can reach Volcano City, or encounter scholars from another branch of the Life School, please entrust my knowledge to them. Do not let these abilities be lost."

Linsey straightened up and made a promise in an incomparably solemn tone:

"Teacher, I promise you!"

Without even turning his head, Finn waved him off. "Child, go home now. Red Moon Lady will worry about you."

To add some clarification: the average physical attribute for ordinary people is 6. Those who are strong and healthy can reach 9, top athletes can barely touch 12, and reaching or exceeding 13 belongs to the realm of the extraordinary.