Primordial Sage: Plight of Immortality

In the following months Illyan spent on the road back, he went through a very monotonous routine.

Waking up at dawn, eating the food and medicine that were given to him, being checked up on by Aurelia and other physician apprentices, and resting the entire day.

Of course, that was how others imagined how his days were.

"Ugh…" Illyan groaned as he looked at the ugly scar on the side of his chest while lying down.

The day before they set off, he went through an operation.

It was a very strange experience for him since there was never a time that a surgery was needed.

Out of curiosity, Illyan even refused to use any anesthesia and wanted to see and feel Aurelia's work. The feeling of his flesh being cut and the sensation of her arms touching his broken ribs was surreal, but the pain was real.

He could easily endure it, though, and instead focused on the academic part of what was happening.

The perspective of the patient lying on the table made him realize many things, and he felt that he could understand more of the procedure Aurelia was doing.

However, because of this procedure, Illyan was limited in what he could do. Aurelia even protested against setting off so soon since he had just gone through a 'life-endangering' procedure but went quiet after Vanda gave her one vial of the healing potion they got from the acolytes.

After ingesting it, his wound closed up, his bones mended together, and his frostbite injuries faded. The injuries didn't disappear, but he was ready to be carefully put into the carriage that was owned by a late noble.

During the first few days, when Aurelia finally allowed visitors, he was visited the same day by Terren and others, who were visibly happy that he was still alive.

They told him how horrified they were when they learned of his unfortunate passing and shared the unfortunate events that happened during his absence, warning him not to stand out too much.

Obviously, another visit was made by Vanda, who sneaked around like a thief.

At first, she was talking to him closely while looking happy that he survived.

But it didn't last long. As if she were in a hurry, she whispered poisonous words to him.

She was trying to deceive him by telling him half-truths about what happened and who he shouldn't trust.

She also told him that they needed to revise the contract he made with Korin since he worked far beyond what was asked of him and went through unnecessary dangers.

'Proper rewards are guaranteed.' Illyan sneered in his heart at these words.

He realized that she wanted to drag him deeper into their shitty schemes since he showed himself to be quite useful.

Would he refuse? No!

He would suck them dry!

As such, he showed her he was intrigued by alchemy, which made her even more enthusiastic.

A little too enthusiastic for Illyan's taste, as he was getting mentally tired just from talking to her for ten or so minutes.

Fortunately, Aurelia pointed it out to her and made her leave.

Aurelia also relieved him by telling him that Vanda would not come often because of her deceased status and would hide with the others in some hidden wagon.

This made him sigh in relief.

Thanks to that, he could focus on other things.

Considering he couldn't move or have any proper materials and ingredients on him, he decided to regain all of his Mind Power through training during the morning, sharpen his sensitivity to his [Nature Breath Method] during the afternoon, and train the second layer [Thirteen Layers of Blood Energy] during the night.

It was rather boring to do it every day since the progress was slow, but Illyan gritted his teeth and endured the dullness.

As time passed, he realized that steady progress was the best path for him. Although minuscule, he felt the changes in him over time.

His Mind Power rose a little bit by imagining the mind-strengthening runes, which made his mind livelier, making it easier to fall into deeper meditation.

The second layer of Aurelia's scripture was easy to do. He just needed to circulate his energy around his body.

Usually, people would build completely new pathways for mana and use the blood vessels as pathways for the blood energy.

The quick circulation of blood to every part of the body allowed the blood energy to seep everywhere.

Illyan's blood energy was still loose so it was more difficult for him though.

There were times when some places couldn't be passed through with the blood energy.

However, with each circulation, the flow became smoother and smoother.

Aurelia even created a certain method to control the blood energy during the circulation to better pass through such parts and seep deep inside every inch of his body.

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That caused the body's affinity for the blood energy to rise as if the fragile flesh had finally gotten the nutrients it needed to grow properly.

'The best part about this scripture isn't its level but the fact that you can return later on to the individual layers and reinforce them. Of course, it would probably be more difficult if one reached the magister rank, but it should still be feasible.'

Illyan remembered the beaming Aurelia as she explained the secrets of her scripture with pride in her eyes.

'For now, I don't need to train in the first layer to gain more blood energy. I will quickly recover my blood energy. Instead, I need to smoothen the flow as much as possible. Only with the finest control could one bring out the most from the least,' Illyan thought.

If he could control his blood energy perfectly and circulate it fast enough, he could probably use [Blood Ignition] in fights in the future.

Then, he finally wouldn't always need to think about spilling blood. It was honestly the most annoying thing to consider during battle.

As such, despite his motivation being sapped away after a few weeks, he didn't stop even for a single day.

His efforts weren't restricted only to blood energy and mind power either. Every time he finished the circulation of blood energy, he felt a small shift deep inside his body.

Once it happened, he stopped the circulation and focused on that feeling.

The movement inside of him was stirred up by the passing blood energy, allowing him to use his newly condensed mind power to observe it closely.

It was his aura that he had problems using. But through this, he believed he could sharpen his sensitivity to it and subsequently be able to move it around.

Illyan was truly glad that aura, blood energy, and mind power couldn't be felt by others unless he manifested them outside of his body. If that weren't the case, he would truly be unable to do anything.

'But don't rely on this knowledge too much. There are numerous techniques and abilities, especially outside of the kingdom. There will be people who will be able to see through you even if you don't do anything.'

He remembered the warning Aurelia gave him. There was nothing more useless in the world of magic than thinking something was impossible.

With such a mindset, Illyan decided that unless he was ready or this place became too dangerous, he would not leave Vanaras Kingdom.

Several months later.

'Why can't I feel that chest with my mind power? It should be in this place.' Illyan was getting frustrated as time passed.

He was using his mind power to scan his body, looking for the chest that had melted inside of him.

He couldn't find even a single trace of it. It was as if everything that happened inside the citadel was just a dream.

But it wasn't. The tiles he stole were proof of that.

'But what are these?' Back then, he had felt an irresistible urge to grab them despite not knowing what they were for.

He left them in the bag that Aurelia retrieved on the day of his operation stealthily, but even after showing them to her, she didn't know anything.

In fact, she couldn't even feel any extraordinary presence from them that Illyan felt.

But that was apparent since they lost all their shine once he popped them out of the ground.

Still, despite Illyan trying to experiment with one of them without any results, he was sure that they were made out of something extraordinary.

'Are they even tiles?' To Illyan, they had seemed to be tiles at first because they were embedded in the floor of the citadel.

However, looking at their performance back then, they could also be considered some kind of cornerstones for the array surrounding the chest.

'But why are they in this shape? The way they were laid down hinted at the fact that they weren't made solely for this array but probably existed for much longer.

'If I compare them to something… They are about as big as the playing cards that people in inns play with while drinking… Huh?'

Illyan narrowed his eyes, which shone with a golden hue after a long time, as he mentally compared the tile and the cards from the past.

'They are identical in shape and size. Is it a coincidence?'

Looking at these tiles, Illyan sighed. There were fourteen of them, and it was far enough for that to make a deck.

'Unless…' Illyan realized that other places with keys could also have the tiles.

'If each has fourteen of them, there would be fifty-six tiles.'

Once again, Illyan was frustrated since he didn't have a clue what card deck would have fifty-six cards.

A new hint was revealed, but Illyan still couldn't do anything with it.

'I will look into it once I get into the library.'

Since he couldn't figure it out at this moment, he gave up for the moment and put them away.

'I have no way to find out, so focusing on training is the most efficient at the moment.'

As such, Illyan's routine didn't change at all during the calm journey back as he continued training until they finally returned to Winterfrost Town…

…….

Days passed by, and the journey was nearing its end.

Everyone was exhausted, both physically and mentally.

Some lost their friends or family members. Some had their plans crushed by unfeeling fate.

However, everyone was pushing themselves to drag their weakened bodies back to Winterfrost Town, which was considered home for most of them.

"I see the walls!"

"Finally! We are home!"

Sounds of celebration could be heard as Illyan was lying down meditating. This caused him to frown as he ended his session for the day and opened his eyes.

"Are we finally there?" he muttered to himself as he crawled to the window to look outside.

The snow down here had already melted, with mud covering the unmaintained roads, while the sun's warm light was warming up the forests and hills in the vicinity.

'Ah…' Not remembering the last time he could see the sun like this, he finally felt at peace.

'Now that I think about it, I am already twenty-one years old. Thirty-three respectively.'

Time passed during the expedition like water, and he was one year older once again.

The journey to Faruin took them around four months, while they stayed there for two months.

Unfortunately, due to the lack of horses and good wagons, the journey back took them over five months.

As such, this adventure took an entire year to finish.

For most, this was a once-in-a-lifetime mission that took a big portion of their life but would give them very good rewards.

Normal soldiers could feed a family of four for years with their rewards.

All in all, it wasn't a bad deal.

That was, of course, if you weren't unlucky enough to meet someone crazy enough to sacrifice an entire city with you inside.

Too many died this time.

When the soldiers on the walls and at the gate finally saw the trail of wagons, they started to cheer for their victorious return.

"The expedition party is back!"

"Hurrah to the Mayor!"

"Hey…"

"Wait, why are there so few wagons…"

Suddenly, as if realizing something was wrong, the soldiers panicked.

Messengers were sent to all corners of the town, while the guards at the gate opened it the moment the messenger arrived on horseback to prove they were truly the people of the expedition.

However, it wasn't really needed, as the guards could recognize some of the prominent figures riding the horses at the front.

One of those people was Brynjar, whose face seemed calm, but there was a certain gloominess behind his eyes that made the guards avoid meeting his gaze as they stepped aside and let the expedition's wagons pass one by one.

People in town suddenly stopped what they were doing as soldiers threw them out of the main road for the wagons to pass.

That didn't stop them from forming a crowd on the edges of the main road as they watched curiously to see what was happening before they heard the news.

Soon, the group passed through the gates as they entered the town, welcomed by the cheers and boos of the crowd.

Some people were simply glad the expedition ended, while others noticed the great losses and felt the leaders were incompetent. Others just looked desperately to see if their sons and husbands had returned in one piece—or at least alive.

"Ugh… I want to finally get to my house to lie down in a real bed."

However, all of that wasn't Illyan's concern as he groaned and pulled the curtains over the windows to hide from the curious eyes inside.