Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 432 Toros Mill

Upon hearing the other person's words, Thales immediately stiffened.

"get ready."

The stranger approached Thales and slowly extended his right hand.

Thales instinctively took a step back, but eventually stopped and stood firm through gritted teeth.

I cannot be afraid.

I must……

must……

The dense fog in the critical area gradually thinned, sweeping away the previous darkness.

A stranger's hand touched Thales' face, sending a chill through him.

"Be careful."

Even if you think you have it under control...

Thales stared at him blankly, experiencing weightlessness first.

It's like the ground suddenly disappearing.

Then he felt himself falling again.

coming.

Thales suppressed his tension, controlled his slightly trembling limbs, and said silently.

Even if you think you're doing the right thing...

"Even if you believe that the power of a mage in your hands will be a sword of justice..."

The stranger remained mysteriously still in front of him, stroking his face without moving.

It seems to have no physical form.

The surrounding light began to flow, and the scene transformed from a vague, blurry image into a rapidly changing, out-of-focus landscape.

"We still cannot let our guard down."

"Sometimes, the means you use for noble purposes can unknowingly turn into the main ones."

The stranger's words seemed to hold endless meaning, and his mysterious eyes, shining with a faint light, were like a lone lamp on a dark road, the only thing Thales could see in this world:
"For example, debate is meant to clarify the truth, but too many people are immersed in the vanity of winning and losing; violence is meant to maintain survival, but too many people also lose themselves in pure violent impulses."

The feeling of falling intensified, and the surrounding scenery became increasingly blurry, as if colors and shapes had lost their meaning.

The stranger paused slightly in his speech:
"For example, magic, magic is for..."

He seemed to run out of things to say at this point.

Looking at him like this, Thales felt a strange sense of melancholy.

"I know," the prince replied reassuringly.

The stranger gave a soft snort and shook his head indifferently.

"you know?"

He withdrew his hand, raised his finger, and gently tapped Thales' forehead.

The stranger said calmly:
"You 'think' you know."

A silvery sheen shimmered from the prince's forehead, seemingly echoing the stranger's fingers.

Thales just stared at him blankly.

The stranger uttered the next words softly, each one seemingly imbued with deep feeling, prompting Thales to ponder endlessly.

"Just as the hero believed, he never, ever compromised with evil."

"Just as a wise ruler believes that having wisdom and power can correct mistakes."

"Just like the strong believe that they are the masters of power and the wielders of weapons."

"Just like a famous general who believed that as long as he kept winning, he could bring peace."

"Just as the monks believed that as long as knowledge increases and skills improve, all the problems in the world can be solved."

"Just as the reformers believed, as long as one has lofty ideals, great goals, and selfless actions, one can and will eventually make the world a better place."

Thales was stunned.

Heroes... enlightened rulers... strongmen... famous generals... mages... reformers...

Thales strained to see something in the stranger’s blurry face, but to no avail.

They were falling faster and faster.

The stranger stopped talking, and the mysterious glimmer in his eyes gradually dimmed.

“Remember this, child,” he said, his voice tinged with an unusual emotion:

"Be true to yourself."

"Don't let them easily taint you, invade you, or capture you," he said slowly, like a wise man who had witnessed countless vicissitudes and the impermanence of life.
"No matter how logical or eloquent they may sound."

The two of them flashed with iridescent light, then lost all their radiance.

It was as if they had entered a tunnel deep inside the mountain, dark and gloomy.

Finally, unable to contain his thoughts any longer, Thales impulsively blurted out:

"who are you?"

This "person" suddenly appeared at the critical point.

This... is a magic user.

He is the guide of Ashida, and he calls the two queens "girls" in a way that keeps them in the dark.

He was powerful enough to move freely at the 'critical point', he knew the Silver Shadow Man beneath Dragon Sky City, and he seemed to belong to no faction...

The stranger was silent for a moment.

Then, as he plummeted even faster, he sighed and spoke:
“I am Taurus Mill.”

Thales was stunned.

He had heard that name somewhere before.

That is……

The mysterious man named Toros continued, "The glory and shame of the Magic Tower, the savior and disaster of the empire, the truth and end of the world..."

"I am both fortunate and sinful."

His words contained a sorrow from which there was no escape.

Thales also felt that indescribable heaviness.

Glory and shame, savior and disaster, truth and end, fortune and sin...

All that was heard was Toros speaking softly:

"I am your earliest senior."

"The worst example."

He pressed his index finger on Thales' forehead with a little force and pushed it forward.

"And...the worst of the future."

The next instant, amidst the renewed light and rising heat, Thales' vision dimmed and his breath caught in his throat.

He knew he had crossed the threshold.

It then sank into the deep, boundless sea.

Gone forever.

----

Again.

In the rapidly flashing images, he joyfully stretched out his hands—no, the tentacles of his mind—to touch everything.

A frail body is no longer sufficient here.

He felt the return of omniscience, a sense of accomplishment, and satisfaction.

The vast emptiness of the sky, the desolate grandeur of the snow-capped peaks, the boundless expanse of the grasslands, the numb stillness of the desolate desert, the hidden currents of the deep sea, the epic magnificence of ancient cities, and...

He slowly raised his gaze, sensing the shimmering light in the distance.

That is the mysterious allure of the endless stars in the vast sky.

He took a deep breath and sensed everything.

The whole world.

They are all right in front of me.

Show it to me.

Hmm, the world?

When you think about this world, what's the first thing that comes to mind?

A pleasant yet annoying male voice seemed to ring out in a daze.

Again.

He shook his head, dismissing the pointless words, and continued to savor the magical state of the moment.

Of course, this is far from enough...

He needs more, he needs to reach that supreme place he once dreamed of…

So he began to rise—just like always.

And this time.

Nothing can stop him...

We've reached that final step.

With a thought, he gently raised his head.

what.

He let out a satisfied sigh.

Yes, it's still that dark and silent void.

It appeared before him again.

He could see it clearly; what appeared to him in the void was still that mysterious gray mist, flowing far away and surging towards him in the endless white light.

As if the gray fog were sentient, it opened its arms to him.

Like the most formal invitation.

call.

He continued to ascend, experiencing the increasingly wonderful omnipotence and omniscience, while watching the gray fog that continued to spread towards him, and he understood.

That was a call.

Something in that gray fog... was calling to him, longing for his arrival.

"Come……"

In a daze, he even felt a faint call coming from the mist.

"Together……"

Yes.

A familiar longing and impulse spread through me.

He sensed it: in that gray fog, there was something he wanted most, something he felt closest to, something intimately connected to.

come.

He rose faster and faster, getting closer and closer to that eerie dark void, and also closer and closer to the ever-flowing gray mist tinged with white light.

come!

He almost roared.

Hurry, hurry and let me into that void...

Encountering that gray fog...

Only in this way.

Only in this way……

Only then can I become more perfect.

Only then can we truly possess this world.

world?

His upward momentum suddenly came to an abrupt halt.

【The world? It was probably full of people, Aishida, in your time, when the empire and the magic tower still existed... What was the world like?】 The echoes of the past came like whispers.

Ahhhhh!

It's that damn hoarse voice again!

Do not!
Get out of here...

Get out!

If you ask me, the difference isn't that big, right? After all, for us, the world is just a small part of our perception... roughly where we are, everyone we know, and the world they describe, see, and live in... We think we see the world, but actually, we're just seeing our own retinas.

He stopped rising.

No, no!
He roared in agony, his head beginning to throb.

This again!

That hoarse voice!
It's that again! It's preventing him from continuing...

He vowed that when he reached the pinnacle, when he achieved perfection, when he became omniscient and omnipotent...

He must tear that hoarse-voiced owner to shreds! Crush him! Explode him!
Smash him into the smallest, most insignificant specks of dust...

We must eliminate this insignificant entity that hinders our great progress...

To endure the most terrible, most painful, and most unimaginable ultimate punishment in the world!
Even if it means the destruction of the world, even if it means his own demise, even if the end of all things is imminent, he will make that damned, hoarse voice pay the heaviest and most unbearable price!
Ahhhhh!
[Are you gone, Ashida? get out of class is over? Ashida? Sir? Ashida, little...cough cough, little, little puppy? Silly little one?]

[Phew, looks like he's really gone. It's the same old story... Why don't you just change your name to Bruce Wayne...]

[Hmph, what is the world? You may not know... but in those unfamiliar memories, what I wanted to do was to examine this world from another perspective... to discover problems we've never noticed before, to question those accepted principles, and to break the external shackles that we're unaware of within...]

This is no easy task. As Plato said, once you step out of the cave and see the sun... phew, hmph...

We used to laugh at the childish anime characters... but sometimes, when you observe and examine the world from angles that others can't perceive, you realize...

Maybe, just maybe, I wasn't wrong...

Rather, it is this world.

"Right... Hmph, Old Ma, what do you say?" His head was getting more and more painful.

Ahhhh!

Damn it, no, you fucking get in my way!
I need it...

I need that void, that gray fog...

I need to rise!
I need to have it!
I need this world!
The next instant, Thales woke up painfully, like someone recovering from drowning!
"boom!"

A strange and loud clap of thunder.

Ahhhhh!
how……

Thales gasped for breath, looking around...

He was confused for a few seconds, and then, as if he had forgotten something again—

Suddenly I felt myself falling!
Then it suddenly braked hard and stopped without warning!

It almost made him dizzy.

But this isn't the end...

He was as if grabbed by a gust of wind, thrown upwards, and then rose again!

how……

"Bang! Boom!"

At the moment he reached his peak, Thales struggled to open his eyes and then his whole body shuddered!
He discovered that what appeared before him was a storm that was visible to the naked eye.

storm!

"Wow..."

The next instant, he was blown sideways and fell by a strange gust of wind!

The feeling I just experienced was exactly what it was like for him to be uncontrollably tossed about in this fantastical and terrifying endless storm!
What the hell—

"Boom!"

The wind here has color.

They swept through the air, leaving behind a deep, dark, flowing blade of ink. Thousands of ink blades, sometimes scattered and splashing, sometimes gathered into giant waves, sweeping across like tornadoes, pulling the panicked Thales back and forth!

Like... flying a kite.

Dark flashes of lightning occasionally streaked across the sky, accompanied by deafening thunder that nearly shattered eardrums.

"boom!"

Each clap of thunder made the inky black storm even more ferocious!

Thales, suspended in mid-air, feeling the excruciating pain of the wind blades scraping his bones, and experiencing the panic and fear of weightlessness...

Oh no, oh no...

Thales trembled as he tried to grasp a piece of darkness, only to discover in horror that he had no body!
Where exactly is this place...?

"Boom!"

He waved his imaginary hands, but couldn't find a foothold at all.

His gaze followed the rise and fall of the storm, turning wildly, his whole being—if he could still be considered a human being—was being tossed back and forth in the air by the storm, without any rest!

All I could see was ominous, pitch-black darkness.

All that could be heard were terrifying, eerie thunder and flashes of light.

The dangers are far greater than those faced by a lone boat on the vast ocean.

"Crash—Boom!"

Damn!

He was blown upside down by another gust of wind.

Thales felt like he was about to suffocate.

But he could not see the ground or the sky; he could only feel that above and below, left and right, front and back, were all boundless, merciless, and cold black storms!

"Rumble--"

He tried to shout, but there was no response; he couldn't even hear his own echo.

This was a scene he had never encountered since the first time he lost control, or even the first time he knocked on the door!

Is this... the truth behind the runaway magical energy?

A magical...sea?
He thought, trembling.

【When you wander in the ocean of magical energy, constantly feeling the rise and fall of the threshold, the impact extends far beyond your physical body…】Torros’s words echoed in my ears.

"boom!"

Madness, terror, intensity, unrestrained, endless, uncontrollable storms relentlessly tormented Thales' senses.

Compared to the initial wonderful feeling... he really didn't want to stay here any longer.

As this thought arose, Thales felt a hazy mist before his eyes.

He seemed to instantly enter a state of intoxication, and at the same time, he felt that magical state of being all-knowing and all-powerful...

what……

How amazing...

I saw the world again...

But I want more...

As Thales thought this, a smile unconsciously crept onto his face.

Do not!
But the next moment, Thales shook his head desperately, trying his best to wake himself up!
"Boom!"

A stray thunderbolt struck!
The illusion before him dimmed, and in his brief moment of clarity, he was once again plunged into the terrifying, dark storm.

Drifting with the tide.

Damn it!

The torment of his senses and perception drove him to desperately muster his remaining willpower.

He knew that Ashida's classroom training had temporarily freed him from the psychedelic state and prevented him from continuing to ascend, but clearly, his current state was still far from the "thing" stage that Toros had described!
No!

As the mysterious Taurus said, he could not get lost there, lost in desire and impulse!
He has to get over it!

Ugh! Damn!

Thales roared inwardly, concentrating his efforts to try not to think about the hallucination he had just witnessed.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

The inky storm roared again, pulling him back into the terrifying air.

Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it!
Thales struggled to shake off those comfortable and beautiful illusions, that feeling of power to experience everything...

However, the more he tried to get rid of it, the more he couldn't help but think about that feeling.

The more you try not to think about it, the more you can't help but think about it.

I remember the pleasure of reaching that threshold, the excitement of the impending knock...

I recall that primal urge to enter the dark void, to touch that hazy, misty expanse…

That omniscience, that omnipotence, that magnificent feeling that he is the whole world, everything, all things, the very essence of truth! At that moment, he can reach—damn it—unbound, unrestricted, and without discord!
Amidst the turmoil, Thales desperately shook his head, cursing and struggling to escape this tempting idea.

No, no, no, no!
Don't even think about it!

Stay rational... Stay... true to yourself...

At that moment, it felt as if his brain had been ripped in two.

Half of them were in a perfect world that seemed like paradise, feeling the satisfaction and wonder of being filled with power, experiencing the truth and secrets of the world, and endlessly yearning for—Damn! Here we go again!

The other half of the brain, in a terrifying and violent black storm, endures a pain that seems to be torn apart, turning back and forth, drifting aimlessly!
and many more!

This is not a solution; we can't go on like this!

"Crash-"

A gust of wind, accompanied by the howling of the black storm, tossed him into the air once more!
That's it! A solution!
Just when Thales felt he was about to give up, he remembered what Toros had said.

Magical Covenant.

Be mindful of your own boundaries.

The visions and storms he had experienced filled his mind and body, leaving him no time to recall them. When he finally tried to remember, he discovered that he had lost too many memories in his out-of-control state.

self.

fast……

Thales touched the faded memories, thinking vaguely.

Anchor point!

Yes, find the anchor point...

Anchor point, pointing to oneself...

Pull me back...

Get out of this damn, terrible storm.

From this false, alluring, comfortable, pleasant, hopeful, infinitely wonderful dream of ascension... Ah, knock on the door, for it, he could give up everything just to throw himself into its embrace and become supreme—damn! Here we go again?

roll!
I can't even control my own thoughts anymore!
Thales felt like a frustrated writer who had worked a long, grueling day, returned home exhausted, and was now struggling to get up and start typing...

I force myself to stay awake, but if I'm not careful, I'll drift into a sweet dream and never wake up again...

I woke up the next day with a blank screen...

"Boom!"

Thales, who was cursing everything in his heart, was once again swept away by a sudden whirlwind and tumbled six times.

While feeling dizzy and disoriented, he was then scraped by three ink-black blades, causing him excruciating pain.

hateful!

Where's the anchor point?
Thales struggled on, desperately searching through his newly damaged memories, trying to find the answer...

It's true, you prepare everything beforehand, but when the time comes, you realize that all the preparations you made are completely useless!
It was worse than a thesis defense!
What exactly is the anchor point I set, the self I understand?
Just now.

Have you ever thought about what you really are?

His vision blurred again.

But it's different from before.

This time, what appeared before Thales was a magnificent palace.

In the north, in a room of a snow-covered palace...

An elegant young man approached a pale-faced boy, his long, slender fingers slowly rising as if pointing directly at the boy's heart.
When you are stripped of all the definitions imposed by others, and stripped of all the circumstances by which you exist, what are you left with?

The scene rippled, like waves receding into the water.

Thales was stunned.

Definitions given by others...

The context in which it exists...

Anchor point...

Anchor point!

"Boom——"

Amidst the boundless storm and thunder, he slowly recalled his conversation with Toros.

"Therefore, to anchor oneself, what is truly needed is to shed all external labels..."

“Remove what you call ‘things confused by others’.”

Thales was lost in thought.

What is “something that is confused by others”?
What is "something that is not confused by others"?
What is... the true anchor point pointing to oneself?

"Whoosh—Bang! Boom!" Thunder and lightning crackled all around him, never ceasing.

He was confused and doubtful.

It was as if they had forgotten that they were still being tossed and turned in a terrible storm, enduring torment.

The anchor point for self-identification should be more realistic.

Is it his unique... magical power?

Is it the River of Prisons' fault?
Was it the JC dagger that saved him from danger several times?

Or is it his so-called royal bloodline?
Or perhaps... his so-called wisdom?

"Boom!"

No, neither.

He felt that the direction of these anchor points was incorrect.

Something that cannot be confused by others...

Or, the anchor points should be more focused, more concentrated, and more concise?
For example, himself.

For example, Thales?
Shining Star?

Second Prince?

Magician?
Or—he paused when he thought of the name—Wu Qiren?

So... a time traveler?
"Bang! Whoosh—" The storm continued, and he was blown away again like a duckweed in the rain.

No, no, the anchor point is not these things either... something that is not confused by others... it has to be more abstract.

So, the anchor point is his will? His never-give-up spirit in this world?

Did he acquire the memories and knowledge from another life?
Is it everything I've perceived and known since birth?
It's getting close, but really?
Anchor point...

Can these things really point to the ego he and Toros talked about so much...?

Something that cannot be confused by others...

Just now.

"Crackling—Boom!"

An unprecedentedly loud thunderclap, accompanied by another strange bolt of black lightning, struck Thales directly!

He was so shaken that he tumbled through the air like a tattered sack!
excruciating pain.

Even one's consciousness trembled.

But in that instant, Thales suddenly saw it.

His answer.

Why am I updating so late today?
Because there are two updates today!
Each update contains 6,000 words!
And there's no anti-theft system! Surprising, isn't it?
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(End of this chapter)