‘Where am I?’

Rukna looked around. The place, which seemed to be made of a giant seashell, was someone’s laboratory.

Shelves displayed various elixirs, and dust-free experimental tools were neatly arranged along the walls.

“Cough, this is my research lab.”

Grand Sage Kuran answered, coughing up blood.

He showed Rukna a torn scroll in his hand, explaining it was ‘a teleportation scroll being developed by elves’ and how they moved here.

Then he coughed and spat blood again.

“Are you alright, Sir Kuran?”

“It seems there was poison in the herbal tea I drank earlier.”

“Herbal tea… You mean the one Bolton gave to you, Grand Sage?”

Bolton poisoning someone? Rukna’s eyes darted around wildly.

At least the Bolton she knew wasn’t someone who would harm others.

“Bolton wouldn’t do such a thing.”

“You’re right. That blockhead isn’t capable of that. Someone else must have framed him. He was just foolishly tricked.”

Kuran laughed painfully while calling Bolton a blockhead.

“What about an antidote? Is there one among those elixirs?”

“This must be a deadly poison mixed with black magic. It won’t be easy to neutralize without the Golden Elixir.”

“Then tell me where the Golden Elixir is. I’ll go get it right away!”

Ah, so that’s what it was.

Rukna belatedly realized the Red Eagle’s plan and warily looked out the window.

The reason the Red Eagle had poisoned the Grand Sage must be to find out the location of the Golden Elixir.

The moment she brought the Golden Elixir, the Red Eagle might appear from somewhere.

Seeing her expression, the sage laughed heartily.

“No need to be so tense. I used up my Golden Elixir long ago. The terrorists earlier knew that, so they took the Philosopher’s Stone instead.”

The Philosopher’s Stone and Golden Elixir could only be created by alchemists who had reached enlightenment.

While the Philosopher’s Stone took years to create, it could be steadily produced like an oyster forming a pearl, but the Golden Elixir could only be created once in a lifetime.

And the one who succeeded in creating this Golden Elixir could inherit the position of Grand Sage.

“It’s already too late for me. So don’t bother, and just tell me your real name.”

“My real name? I’m Rukna Golden.”

“That can’t be. I couldn’t say earlier because there were too many eyes, but you look too similar to someone I knew. Both your appearance and your aura.”

“Who is that person?”

“Lady Closet.”

At those words, Rukna’s eyes widened.

Closet? That was the family name of the Saint, one of the three heroes who had achieved great deeds in the past demon war.

‘I did have a dream about the Closet family before… but surely not.’

Rukna waved her hand, emphasizing once more that she was Rukna Golden.

“You said you lost your memories. Do you see that yellow elixir over there? Bring it here.”

Kuran pointed to an elixir on the shelf with his trembling arm.

When Rukna brought the palm-sized glass bottle containing the elixir, Kuran told her to put it in her eyes like eye drops.

“In my eyes?”

“Memories remain not only in our heads but also in our eyes. If you put in the elixir, you’ll see the memories you need right now, even if only for a moment.”

But Rukna couldn’t bring herself to put the suspicious liquid in her eyes and just stared at it.

Kuran sighed deeply and suddenly apologized first.

“I’m sorry. This old man doesn’t have much time left, so please excuse my rudeness.”

“Pardon?”

“I mean no harm, so please understand.”

And with those final words, a voice thundered in her head.

‘Put the elixir in your eyes.’

Kuran’s voice, like the mermaid’s song she had heard before arriving at the Island of Wisdom, had an irresistible power.

Rukna’s hand moved on its own and put a drop or two of the elixir in her eyes.

At the same time, her head spun and her vision turned pure white.

Her father’s voice, once heard in a dream.

Through the white vision, she saw her father’s broad back, and beyond it stretched the desolate landscape of a village swept by death.

The acrid smell of burning corpses stung her nostrils.

‘Is this a dream? Or an illusion?’

After putting the elixir in her eyes, she was seeing things as if in a dream. She tried to pinch her cheek, but her body wouldn’t move as she wished.

At her father’s feet lay a corpse with blackened skin.

Her father, purifying the corpse with holy power, pointed to a red flower blooming nearby.

He added that the Red Eagle was a nomadic tribe that worshipped Karzan, the primordial dark mage, like a god.

Saying this, her father carefully plucked the poisonous herb with its splendid red petals and placed it on his palm.

Soon, a pure white light blossomed over his palm and burned away the poisonous herb.

Dark magic, which stakes one’s physical life, was vulnerable to the power of the heart containing the soul.

Her father emphasized that young Rukna was a descendant of Closet.

‘Was this body, which I thought was just a minor character, really a descendant of Saint Closet?’

Why had such an important being been living so miserably?

As these complex thoughts weighed on her mind, a woman’s voice was heard from behind.

Rukna, or rather this body, recognized her identity just from her voice.

‘…Mother?’

It’s Mother. All the blood in her body rushed to her heart, making it pound loudly throughout her body.

An undefinable longing welled up hotly.

Even in her previous life as an orphan, she had lived without knowing the existence of a mother, but she couldn’t understand why at this moment, the existence of a mother was so achingly missed.

‘I want to see Mother.’

But her head wouldn’t turn.

Please move. I’ll just look once. She’s not my real mother, but… just let me see her once.

Despite her desperate efforts, her body frustratingly remained motionless.

I want to see you, Mother. Please show yourself to me just once. Finally, Rukna’s head slowly turned.

Ugh, it’s so bright! Because of the sunlight shining brightly behind her mother’s back, her face wasn’t clearly visible.

Instead, only the sensation of her mother’s hand stroking Rukna’s head was vivid.

And Rukna woke from the short dream.

Tears she didn’t know she had shed were dampening both her cheeks.

A sob escaped through her slightly parted lips, and Rukna bit her lip hard to cut off the sound.

“Did you see something?”

“Yes. Thanks to you.”

Sniff, Rukna roughly wiped her face with her sleeve before continuing with difficulty.

“Grand Sage. Did you ever save my parents, I mean, the Closet couple?”

“…”

“The Golden Elixir you said you’ve already used, did you use it to save my parents?”

“Of all things, that had to appear in your past dream.”

So it was true. No further answer was needed. Rukna clenched her fists.

“I’ll help you somehow, Grand Sage.”

“Don’t bother with a person who’s dying when it’s their time. Instead, I have a request.”

Kuran rummaged in his pocket and handed Rukna a box containing a glass marble about the size of a ping-pong ball.

“Please give this to Bolton. I meant to give it to him long ago, but that brat threw a tantrum about entering the military academy, so I was upset and didn’t give it to him.”

When his research results didn’t show compared to the mermaid-born alchemist, Bolton, feeling discouraged, had entered the military academy, saying he would become the best cadet.

“We alchemists have a hard time maintaining good eyesight due to our profession. Bolton was particularly unlucky. During an experiment, elixir splashed into his left eye, causing an accident where his eyeball melted. That overly cheerful guy became so dejected after that day…”

Sage Kuran choked up for a moment before smiling kindly again.

“That blockhead, he needs to have at least proper eyes to be of any help to the descendant of Closet, doesn’t he?”

“Bolton would be happy if you gave it to him yourself, Grand Sage.”

“I don’t like that idea. It’s obvious that big lug will cry rivers over one eye. I don’t want to see him melt his remaining eye with tears before I die.”

Kuran laughed heartily before coughing up blood again.