After that monster wave. 11 soldiers while 3 students of the academy died in the attack. A normal number while defending the fourth wall. It can be even said as a success for killing a thousand monsters. A sacrifice that was needed but no one wanted. It has been a week after the monster wave and luckily there wasn’t any after that. It has been a mundane week with Lawrence’s training in the halt as he accumulated the internal aura that he got from the fighting. It wasn’t enough to break through as he concluded that he needs to fight more monsters.

Walking through the hallway to relax. Lawrence saw the soldiers’ bodies in a casket getting sent back to their families. He doubted that they were sent back intact. The fellow soldiers stand there wistfully with clear sorrow in their eyes for their fallen comrade. Lawrence only hoped for the families to get the rightful compensation but he knew deep down that no gold can amount to anyone’s lives. His determination grew stronger to protect his family.

‘I have a lot of time but my light sky step and moonlight beam aren’t improving anymore since both of them are in the perfected stage. Since i can’t reach the mastered stage with my talent, training them now is fruitless. My spear art is also improving at an extremely slow rate. Should i get my hands on the enlightenment potion? I’m still lacking some internal aura to break through but luckily my mana heart has reach the low third star mage. The enlightenment potion helps anyone reach a mastered stage on any spells and arts after consuming. This is created by Solomon the Alchemists King but his tomb isn’t found out yet. It’s nearby but i would need Catalinna’s help since i can’t fight the guardians of the tomb alone. There is also the poison of the colored dragon inside the tomb.’

While contemplating, he didn’t see Catalinna walking towards him as he gazed mindlessly at the snow.

“Hey” Lawrence turned his head to find Catalinna beside him, looking for what he has been staring at mindlessly.

“What is it?

“Do you want to help me? i promise i won’t kill you” she pleaded with a helpless smile as Lawrence thanked the lucky stars inwardly. Still, he can’t trust her. Her second phrase is suspicious but he’s confident enough to beat her. Killing her isn’t beneficial as she is the author and one of the strongest paragons in the future.

“I want to hear it first” he replied as Catalinna nodded and passed him a piece of paper. [I want to head to the dungeon of the frost witch. Most monsters are only 2-star at best while the boss is the third star. It’s where the Ice Witch of Malevolent got the cape of the icy snow. I want that cape]

“Hmm” Lawrence stared at the piece of paper for a minute. He has heard about the Ice witch of the Malevolent, a five-star mage hiding somewhere in the northern valleys. Anyone who trespasses the land was killed by ice monsters. The Ice Monarch tried to hunt her but it proved fruitless as the witch has already escaped. She is gonna join the demon king in the future and reach the pinnacle of ice magic. A dangerous ticking bomb waiting to explode. Killing the witch isn’t possible as he has to wait to reach the four-star paragon to even have a chance.

[Why? do you want to combine it with your cape of the fiery sun? Is that even possible?] Catalinna solemnly nodded. She didn’t think Lawrence would remember such a small detail in the novel. It was only a passing myth spoken by an old man in the novel. That combining both capes would create a relic of the past that contains immense power.

[No, it isn’t possible.] Lawrence gazed at her to see if she’s lying. Seeing that Catalinna seems a little fidgety and has a half-smile. Suspicion arise in his heart but he decided to hear her first. It’s none of his business and although he doesn’t trust her, he knew that she would use it for the good of mankind.

[What can i get from it? there isn’t any other treasure mentioned in the novel]

[It’s the ice dragon’s lair. After the dragon died, most stronger monsters were also killed from the battle. The only ones left are the monsters that the northern knights deemed to be a waste of stamina to fight such as 2-star and 3-star monsters. Mother wasn’t able to find the icy moon cape but with the carcass of the dragon secured, she gave up searching for it. The ice witch was able to find it through her dark magic and voodoo magic but my mother specializes in combat. It’s normal the witch was able to find it]

“I know all of this. I ask what can i get. I don’t do anything for free " Lawrence muttered and stopped reading the piece of paper. His face scrunched in impatience.

“Just continue reading it. Don’t be so impatient” she harrumphed with her arms crossed.

[Anything we found there will be yours]

“I can’t help you on such shaky terms. What would happen if we found nothing?” he said coldly

“Fine! Tell me any item you want to find.”

‘Any item..my main problem is my talent. For my average talent, i can’t master anything. I already know where to find the enlightened potion but there are only three in the tomb. It only alleviates the problem.’

[Where is the mask of damnation?]

[That’s a cursed artifact and you know that right?] Lawrence gazed at the paper contemplating if he wants the artifact or not. Her tone suggests that she knows where it is. The mask of damnation is an ancient relic used by the six-winged seraphim to kill demons. There are two things it can do, imprison the soul of the slain foes and absorb the imprisoned souls to improve every aspect of a being. From their talent, body, mana, and soul. Every aspect imaginable at a cost of risking their humanity. Every time someone improves their very being, they would get an intense feeling of exhilaration and fulfillment to the point of being addicting. This would slowly turn them into chaotic beings with only madness in their mind. This was the artifact that created the chaos one. A normal man turned into a near-invisible being by the mask.

I can’t risk it, not for now. Fuck! I’m just making an excuse. I’m terrified, i don’t want to turn into that thing. A thing only driven in madness, being tormented until its death. I wanna live…and die normally.

Lawrence shakes his head before he started writing on the piece of paper. After giving it back to Catalinna. She raises her eyebrows before giving a slight smile.

“I wouldn’t tell you where it is in the first place anyway.” she grinned

“If you’re worried about your talent. You should get those potions. You know, Solomon’s potions”

“We’ll do both the lair and the tomb and whatever we find. We split it. It’s a good plan right?” she suggested with a bright smile as Lawrence nodded. The colored poison might be good but not as useful compared to the cape of the icy moon. Besides, every monster in the ice dragon’s lair is an ice monster. So he can grab a lot of bones for his weapon upgrade. The only problem is where he would put it and how would he take the bones off properly. He isn’t a monster hunter that specializes in killing monsters and skinning them for different uses and he doesn’t have a space ring or space bag as both are extremely expensive.

‘Wait, my father didn’t give me any allowances?! Shouldn’t every noble student receive allowances from their parents? How about me? Am i the first broke noble? and a duke’s son at that.’

He gazed at Catalinna happily walking through the snow with excitement in her eyes.

‘Huh? Where is she going?’

“Where do you plan on going?”

“To the tomb, shouldn’t we go there when it’s early in the morning? I want to return before its night so hurry up” she looked at him confused as an overwhelming urge to facepalm tickled his hand.

“We will set out tomorrow and do you think they will let the Ice Monarch’s daughter and the Duke’s son leave the premises unsupervised?” Lawrence sighed

“Don’t worry, Katarina already allowed me to leave after seeing my amazing performance on the battlefield. Even Legor can’t do anything.” she looked smug that Lawrence can’t believe what he’s hearing.

“First, I need my weapon and second we need supplies”

“Oh yeah, i forgot. You can’t do anything without a weapon” she snickered

“And besides, i was given a space ring by the princess as a gift. I can’t really understand friendless people like you. I guess i’m just more influential” she grinned before shrugging with a smile

'Damn. The princess already has eyes on Catalinna. She wants to slowly egg her on to support her once she fights for the throne. She probably has eyes on me too. Both of us are paragons and come from influential families. In the future, she would win with the help of Cain, the saintess, and by the Ignis Family which is Catalinna’s family. Fighting for the crown should happen next year after the queen retires.'

“Sure. She probably wants your family’s support and not yours” Lawrence replied as Catalinna just faked her smile to appear less affected by his statement before she grew silent.

“I’ll..just wait for you here. Yeah” she said solemnly and without energy like usual. Lawrence felt bad but didn’t retract his sentence. He told her the truth and it’s not his fault. He walked towards his room without turning back.

Meanwhile, her eyes glistened with tears, and she hiccups. “I know..they were just using me but i’m sure they’ll change their mind..yeah. Don’t be affected. I’m sure they’ll be my friends, my true comrade in hardship and in glory.” she wipes her eyes before smiling enthusiastically as if nothing happened.

After grabbing the spear under his bed, he changed his clothes for the enchanted suit and pants for protection. He inserted the dagger in the secret pocket of his suit and he walked outside. Waiting outside of his room, he saw Princess Katarina smiling amicably. He greeted her with a smile.

“What are doing near my door, is perhaps the princess need some assistance?” he flashed a charming smile as Katarina chuckled. She waved her hand dismissively

“I have no need of assistance but thank you nonetheless” she smiled gently

“It’s just i’m worried about Catalinna. I know both of you are strong but she can be overly confident in herself. You’re his fiance, right? Bring her back alright? You can even knock her out if she gets too reckless. If you can do that, i’ll allow you to enter the royal library for a day”

“Of course, she’s important to me” he said with a calm look but deep inside. He’s already celebrating. The royal library contains some art and spells that are not even in the novel. He might get his hands on some valuable information. He needed to suppress his grin as he nodded

“Thank you. I tried offering her my help but she refused. Well, I should go. Let us meet again” she waved goodbye before walking away. It seems that the princess really sees Catalinna as a precious friend. She is just good at hiding how she feels behind her amicable smile that no one knows if someone is important to her or not. In the novel, both of their friendship wasn’t that deep since after becoming the queen, Cain, Katherine, and, Catalinna followed by the saintess went on adventures through the continent to get stronger. Luckily for them, they missed the descent of the heavenly generals of the demon king that destroyed the five walls of the north. By the time they went back, it was too late. The Ice Monarch died and half of the 6-star combatants of the kingdom perished.

Lawrence gazed at the sky, he remembered that the sky was blood red when the heavenly generals descended in the first wall. Out of nowhere, his senses trembled and he found himself staring at the dark sky with the moon much closer than before. A red-haired man is floating in the sky with a black jagged spear. Incoherent screams rang in his head as he falls to his knees, he gazed upwards to see the man smiling at him. A chill runs through the back of his head before he finds himself surrounded by corpses of dead warriors. Their mangled limbs and seared body full of holes is evident in each one.

A jagged spear penetrated his heart and his back as blood started spurting out of his mouth. The man is in front of him with a friendly smile. Seemingly unbothered by everything

“Not now” the man muttered before Lawrence was back outside of his room. Sweat traveled through his forehead and his hand shakes uncontrollably. A terrifying smile is plastered on his face as he chuckled coldly.

“Don’t tell me that’s me in the future” he said trying to pass it off as a joke but the longer he thinks about it, the longer it’s convincing.

‘Shit, what happened? The pain…it was real…is it an illusion. Then who would do that? and why did the man look like me? What happened?! I’m so confused right now. But why did I see sorrow behind his smile? Maybe the world or the one who put my consciousness here is reminding me what would happen in the future. Is someone gonna die? Fuck, it seems that I need to hasten my plans.'