Chapter 183: The mother

"Wha…?" Taken aback, I took a few steps behind before the momentum of the sheer shock stalled my steps.

It was the first time for the system to announce that a mission could have arcs! And what was with this added "extreme difficulty"? Did that mean that the mission in this world was on an easy mode so far? What would that mean for the possible rewards I would receive from it?

"What happened?!" Noticing how startled I was, Teria instantly stepped forward a few paces, before a strange barrier halted her steps. Only capable of guessing that this barrier had something to do with my system, I decided not to pay much of my attention to it, dedicating my brain"s processing power to tackle the issue at hand instead.

Should I take the easy way out? Not to speak about the rewards, just the ability to shift was quite interesting and a great haul in terms of benefits from my journey to this world. But on the other hand, I still had a majority of a time freeze, meaning that I could still afford to make some mistakes.

"What is going on?! TELL US NOW!" Screaming from the side, Arsha was already conjuring some kind of spell in her hands, producing the very same light that I had a chance to see twice already.

"I"m not sure myself…" Speaking out with all the honesty I could muster, I attempted to take yet another step back when I hit the very same wall that was stopping Teria from approaching me.

"Stop it right now." Arsha"s voice turned cold and composed as the light between her hands intensified.

"Do you think I have any idea how?!" Responding off the top of my head, I looked at my options once again. But as scary as "extreme difficulty" sounded like, it didn"t change an important fact.

No matter what, I still could use the emergency exit at any given time! Meaning, if I were to face a quest beyond my ability to solve, I could always salvage myself just by escaping!

"I accept the extension of the mission." Speaking out in a low voice, I saw a strange flash before the reality suddenly washed away.

In a single wave of mana, everything in front of me disappeared, replaced by a heavenly blue. Filling my vision as if I was in a ma.s.sive container filled with illuminated water, it blocked the entirety of my view. Then, just as quickly and suddenly as it appeared, the soothing blueness disappeared, replaced by a strange sight.

A simple chamber consisted of a huge, royal bed surrounded with baldachins, a small cabinet with a cozy chair, and a huge window in one of the walls. The one surprising thing about the place was a complete lack of any kind of doors to speak off. Upon closer inspection, I realized that even the windows only gave a hint of freedom, as the bars firmly lodged in their frames blocked the only way out of the chamber.

"I will not have that att.i.tude!" Out of nowhere, three people appeared in the middle of the room. Two females, one young and the other old, and a man in his best years. And to put it bluntly, just the intensity behind the man"s voice was enough to make the steel bars in the window shake.

"Nor will I!" The younger girl screamed in response, lurking from behind the older woman"s back.

"The decision is already made. Your fate no longer rests in your own hands." Squirming his eyes in a clearly furious expression, the man suddenly calmed down, before throwing a few words more with a cold voice. "I didn"t expect you to grow up so selfish. Think about your clan and your family for once, would you?!"

Shaking his head with disappointment, the man turned around and approached the solid wall. Yet, once his hand reached towards the cold stones of the room"s barrier, he somehow managed to grab something before pulling back and revealing a door… that shouldn"t be there.

After the momentary confusion, I understood. While I seemed to observe how the room looked in the reality, the vision stacked on top of it was free of the restraints of how the room looked right now. In other words, the illusion of the room wasn"t the same vision responsible for the characters.

"Ulena, now is your last chance to leave." Stopping at the doors, the man announced with a grim voice. Yet, rather than responding to the authoritative male, the old woman only shook her head before closing her hug around the younger girl"s shoulder.

"Fine! So be it!" Clearly not expecting this kind of development, the man moved outside of the chamber, effectively disappearing from my field of view. Yet, from how the walls itself appeared to tremble, I could tell that the force at which he slammed the door closed was pretty formidable.

"Mother… What should I do?" Instantly tearing up as soon as the man left the place, the young girl fell onto the chest of the older female.

"MEN!" Before any answer could be heard, the voice of the man appeared once again although it was m.u.f.fled due to the physical obstacles his voice had to pa.s.s through. "Seal the room, don"t let anyone get even near it afterward. Until the day of the wedding, approaching this place will be taken as a capital crime!"

For a moment, both the old and the young female turned mute. Soon, the silence that ensued was broken by the sound of hammering. The walls started to shake a little as the faces of the females turned white.

"Listen, dear." Finally coming to her senses, the older woman grasped her younger companion"s face between her hands, forcing the bride-to-be to look her in the eyes. "I"m not going to tell you what to do or what to not do. But as I"m at the doorstep of my time, this will be my last gift to you."

Touching her chest, the older female smiled. On the other hand, as if understanding what was about to happen, the expression of the younger girl turned dire.

As soon as those words rang in my ears, the entire vision disappeared. Feeling weak in my knees, I almost fell down on my face before throwing my hands forward in a desperate attempt to shield my face from the impact.

Pop.

At the same time, the barrier that surrounded me and the altar suddenly disappeared, allowing both Teria and Longinus to rush to me.

"What happened? What was that?" Looking to the side, I could see Arsha moaning on the floor in pain while holding the back of her head with both of her hands.

"Like I said, I"m not sure…." Before I could finish my words, something strange entered my ears.

Szzzzzzzzz….

Looking up, I thought I managed to locate the source of the sound, only to see the side of the stone altar, completely unperturbed by the situation. Standing up to my knees, I finally managed to find out what was going on.

Because the sacred core I placed on the altar before, was now seemingly melting the solid stone it was made off, sinking lower and lower into this otherwise solid block of stone!

"Just what the h.e.l.l…" Once again, before I could finish my words, the strange situation concluded. The sacred core stopped sinking into the stone, resting in the skeletal hands of a body that appeared to be hidden inside. And once it finally fell into the bony grasp of the skeleton, its gentle, warm light exploded.

For a moment, I was unable to see anything. Just like if it was a flash grenade, my eyes momentarily ceased to work. Thankfully, it appeared as if my raised cultivation was useful even in this kind of situation, overcoming the eye exhaustion and restoring my sight before anyone else in the chamber could do the same on their own.

"Just what the h.e.l.l…" For the third time, my words were cut. This time, a series of notifications appeared in my view as soon as I reached forward to grab the sacred core.

//Initial mission fulfilled. Opening the bank of memories

//To obtain new memories, fulfill the side quests

//Current mission: Bring the activated sacred core back to where it belongs

//Side missions: "About the princess" caretaker", "Reuniting the family", "Bridal night", "One ring to rule them all"

Amongst all the missions that appeared in my vision, only one was flashing with a light green hue. It was the very first side mission, having something to do with the older female I saw back in my vision. Or, at least, that was my guess.

Yet, what this flashing light mean? How long would it take me to solve all the side missions to fulfill the main one? And most importantly, what was so dangerous about this mission in the first place?

As pressing as those questions were, they had to wait. Because from the looks of things, both Teria and even Longinus, not to speak about Arsha, were reaching the limits of their patience.

"Do you know who was buried on the altar?" Rather than answering their doubts, I pointed my hand at the skeletal hands visible in the hole created by the sacred core. For a moment, the name of the "About the princess" caretaker" mission flashed in a slightly more intense green.

"Buried? What do you…" Surprised by my words, Longinus stood up before taking a look at the upper side of the altar. "Oh…" The shock that shook his body couldn"t be faked. It reached the innate parts of his soul, even making his otherwise unreadable aura open up for me to exploit for a moment. And to be frank, a quick read of the man"s emotions pretty much a.s.sured me that my guess was right.

"It can"t be…" Arsha"s eyes widened. She slowly paced forward, as if the simple stone of the altar turned from what it was, a simple stone, to an object of religious reverence. "If I"m right…" Arsha"s lips trembled before she suddenly slammed her mouth closed, unwilling to speak up what was on her mind.

"Can anyone tell me what the f.u.c.k is going on?" Looking to the side, I could see a pretty dissatisfied look on Teria"s face. Yet, rather than getting annoyed by her interference or worried that she would press me to fulfill my promise right away, I actually enjoyed the fact that I wasn"t the only one clueless about the meaning of this skeleton in the stone.

"If I"m not wrong…" Longinus started only to receive a devastating nudge to his side. It seemed that Arsha didn"t enjoy the idea of sharing that news with us. Yet, contrary to the obvious hints of his female companion, Longinus didn"t stop. "Those are the bones of the very last queen of all men, the mother of all the nations and patron of the wingless tribe."

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Longinus kneeled before the altar as he finished his explanation.

"The saint of the G.o.ds and men, Lady Ulena!"