Bear School Astartes

”So, you are just fine now.” Master William nestled in the rocking chair, speaking slowly. ”One might even say... just right! Just right!”

Lann’s [Spiritual Vision] was just right.

His vision was high enough to see the ’true form’ of Master William, yet he did not absorb too much of the truths from the deep world of Yan’an as ’nourishment’.

It had little to do with the land of Yan’an, or those Ancient Gods and superiors.

And after a brief exchange, Lann, who had placed his hand on the back of the rocking chair, also nodded silently, as if he understood something.

”It seems you do indeed see far with these eyes, Master.”

The Demon Hunter said calmly.

”Not much, not much.” Amidst the gentle rocking, the old man quivered as he laughed, ”I only see some fragments, but they are just fragments.”

”I even had to have you come to me, so I could finally ascertain that your vision is far enough.”

Lann immediately asked, ”Then you must also be aware of my goal and current predicament.”

”Yes, yes, I know all of it.” Master William still responded unhurriedly.

But Lann lowered his head, looking at the old man nestled in the rocking chair.

”I do not doubt your foresight and planning. After all, your vision is higher than mine now.”

The Demon Hunter first spoke sincerely and humbly to Master William, but then his words took a turn.

”But you have not ascended to the realm of the Ancient Gods, have you? So why can’t the Ancient Gods see what you can?”

The new stimuli and nourishment needed to elevate Lann’s [Spiritual Vision] could still be accumulated from many journeys in the world.

But Master William must have conducted research and discoveries in Yan’an to reach this level.

If his vision could already rival that of the Ancient Gods, then according to his [Spiritual Vision] theory, having a vision equal to that of the Ancient Gods would be equivalent to being equal in life form to the Ancient Gods,

He would become a new Ancient God.

But now... to say a cold joke: He obviously does not have the madness of wanting to have a child of his own.

”Caution.” Master William commented in the face of Lann’s doubts, ”Caution is a virtue.”

”If Lawrence and Miklás were not so hasty, as careful and steady as you, Yan’an might be a lot better now.”

”Child, have you considered coming to Byron Vis for further studies?”

Lann tilted his head slightly, looked at the giant round moon on the lake beyond the terrace, and sighed: ”This is not the time for jokes, Master William.”

”Hehehe.”

The old man’s turbid voice laughed.

”But just like you took my words as a joke, don’t the Ancient Gods... regard us as a kind of ’joke’?”

Lann nodded calmly and rationally, his expression as if the remark likening him to a ’joke’ was nothing more than a gentle breeze to his face.

”You mean to say, the Ancient Gods belittle us, so they don’t pay attention to us... but that’s still not enough.”

The enemy’s disdain is not worth getting angry over; on the contrary, it is a card that can be used.

Lann does not reject the enemy’s disdain; after all, in the end, it’s a matter of life and death, what does the enemy’s attitude matter to him?

If the enemy dies, why would he care about a dead man’s concerns?

If he dies, then there’s even less to care about.

So now, Lann feels no displeasure or resentment; he is merely pondering over Master William’s words.

Not fearing the enemy’s disdain for oneself, but fearing that this ’disdain’ is itself false.

”Of course, that’s not enough.” Master William did not shy away from the issue; instead, he agreed with Lann before continuing. ”But that’s not the whole reason either.”

”You ended that deepest and most terrifying nightmare in Yan’an; tell me, what did you see?”

”...the destruction of Old Yan’an.” Lann calmly recounted what he saw and heard in that nightmare.

”Because of the grave sin of murdering the divine child, the premature divine child and the Great God Cos descended the curse of blood. This curse extends endlessly; the descendants all must pay the price.”

Saying this, Lann lowered his head, looking at the metallic eyepatch on the old man’s face.

”According to the timeline, you should be fully aware.”

”Yes, I am fully aware.” Master William admitted directly. ”I even know that my students, to verify the then unproven [Spiritual Vision] theory, rummaged through the heads of the fishermen while massacring the small fishing village.”

”They thought those fishermen who had turned into half-fishmen were already considered followers of the Great God Cos, so they believed there should be [Inner Eye] in their brains... I never expected they would literally search for [Spiritual Vision].”

[Inner Eye] is Master William’s [Spiritual Vision] theory, another description of this transcendent sense.

But clearly, those who, led by Lawrence, had embarked on the path of ’enhancing and evolving their own blood’ could not grasp the essence of this theory.

They only literally sought [Inner Eye].

”But it was these Hunters who successfully murdered the premature divine child, wasn’t it?”

Master William’s mouth uttered cold words, yet his smile was peaceful.

The sense of conflict in this was particularly intense.

”You might say that the orphan was premature and thus lacked complete power, or say that the Ancient Gods are generally vulnerable in their youth, and so on. But....”

Without waiting for the old man to continue, Lann had already slightly squinted his eyes, catching the thread of conversation.

”But, according to your theory of [Spiritual Vision], what truly matters about the Ancient Gods isn’t their so-called bodies or the powers of those bodies; that’s not their essence.”

”It is [Personhood] and [Horizon] that are the true differences in the essence of life.”

”Yes,” Master William praised with satisfaction, ”Look, child. Even though you haven’t systematically undergone advanced studies in Byron Vis, you have already begun to understand.”

”If one obsesses purely over physical evolution and corporeal power, then Lawrence’s path of evolving one’s own blood would seem the obvious correct choice, wouldn’t it? But what was the result?”

Like a patient and encouraging teacher, Master William spoke in a mentoring tone.

And Lann was, without question, the kind of excellent student every teacher dreams of.

”Ruthless evolution is the downfall of Human,” the Demon Hunter slowly and heavily quoted one of Master William’s own maxims.

”So, what do you think, how did the Cos Orphan really die?”

The old man held his staff, wobbling along with his rocking chair.

He recited once again the words he had spoken to Lann when he first sent the young man away from Byron Vis.

At that time, he had revealed to the young man the truth of Yan’an.

”Every Ancient God longs for a child, yet they are also jealous and wary of other Ancient Gods obtaining a child.”

”From the moment Cos possessed a divine child, Prhe was as good as dead, do you understand?”

It wasn’t the Hunters who truly killed Kos.

Lann’s lips twitched, but in the end, he only nodded.

The greatest difference between Ancient Gods and Humans lies in [Personhood] and [Vision], and although the Cos Orphan was premature, and although it was in its infancy, and although it had lost its mother’s protection.

Prhe nonetheless remained a high-level life form equal to the Ancient Gods.

Because the two most critical points, Prhe was born with them.

Rather than saying it was the Hunters who murdered Prhe on that filthy beach, it’s more accurate to say that from the moment the Healing Church discovered Prhe’s existence, it was always another Ancient God, on the same plane of existence, who truly wanted to kill this divine child.

And with the murder and the untimely death came a curse...

Master William’s confirmation gave Lann some speculation.

At the end of his and Maria and Adeline’s departure from the nightmare, Gremman had said, ’In this nightmare, he had repeatedly left the final blow to kill the divine child to Ludwig,’ and indeed, the curse had been partially borne by Ludwig.

By analogy, it is hard to say whether the Old Hunters, trapped in that nightmare and subjected to endless torment, were also held accountable and shared in the curse’s power by an Ancient God who took action at that time.

”I understand.”

Lann’s hand gently left the armrest of the lounge chair as he spoke in a deep voice.

”What you mean is... the infighting among the Ancient Gods is becoming increasingly intense.”

”But precisely because of its intensity,” Master William smiled, adding, ”we, whose vision is so limited, have an opportunity, don’t we?”

”Seems like you’ve determined the situation,” Lann squatted beside the rocking chair, his large frame causing his armor to creak with his movement.

”Tell me, which target have you chosen? Who should I confront?”

Like a knowledge-hungry student, the young Demon Hunter sincerely asked Master William.

”...”

Without verbal response, the old man on the rocker simply turned his head silently towards the huge full moon over the lake.

”Is that so?” Lann also lifted his head to gaze at the enormous moon, ”Never heard of it, I thought it would be someone like Oton, those with a well-known reputation.”

”Precisely because of their well-known, long-standing reputation, their methods of longing for a child are not the most aggressive. You could even say that, due to the luxury brought by power, their methods are the most stable.”

Master William shook his head as he spoke.

”Ancient Gods, multiple Ancient Gods... Surely you don’t naively think you can clean them all out at once, do you?”

”We can only prioritize dealing with the most crucial, the most dangerous one. It may not be the strongest one, but certainly the one that makes the situation the worst.”

”At least, let’s end the Dream Realm first.”

”I completely agree,” standing up with a hand against his knee, signifying the end of Lann and Master William’s negotiation.

They had established basic mutual trust and confirmed the feasibility of action and specific targets.

”Where should I go to find Prhe?”

”You know that place.” Like a mutter from a dream, Master William softly spoke, his body gently swaying with the rocking chair, ”You obtained a delicate doll there, remember, child?”

The Demon Hunter nodded calmly, then turned without looking back to walk towards the interior of Byron Vis’s building.

”One last question, Master William.”

”Ah, please go ahead.”

The old man on the rocker spoke lethargically.

”What do you plan to do after the Dream Realm ends?” Lann stood at the boundary between the terrace and the building, his tone somber, ”We are going to kill one... can you bear it?”

”No, I’m not worried about that, child.” The old man still spoke unhurriedly, as if even his reaction time had aged.

Yet the aged smile on his face never changed.

”My Horizon in Yan’an has grown so deep-rooted, so deeply involved. And besides, this is the very doctrine I pioneered...”

”It deserves a witness... a martyr.”