The dark room was submerged in an eerie silence, broken only by the faint crackling of the torch. I cautiously approached the old woman. 'Who is she?' I thought with a mix of fear and curiosity.

Her appearance was kind of striking, with long silver hair cascading down her back and a weathered face that spoke of countless years. Her robes were tattered; their colors had faded a long time ago.

The room itself seemed to hum with energy as if the very air were infused with ancient power. I hesitated for a moment, unsure what to do. 'Should I wake her? Or should I run away and leave this weird place behind?' I pondered while my mind raced, overwhelmed by countless questions.

"Who...?" I nervously tried to ask the main thing on my mind right now, but before I had a chance to finish my sentence, her eyes snapped open. She then looked in my direction with her murky white eyes. 'She is blind.' I widened my eyes in sudden realization.

"It's you... You're the one who broke the balance..." The woman spoke with a creaking voice while her lifeless eyes bore deep into my very soul. I shuddered with discomfort. "W...Who are you?" I tried asking her again, but she didn't answer.

Instead, she furrowed her brows a little. "I can't perceive your fate... You're an anomaly..." I just continued to stand there with a puzzled face, as I had no idea what she was talking about.

"You do not belong here..." She continued after a short pause. "What do you mean?" I asked confusedly, but again she did not answer. It was almost like her mind was in some distant place.

'Wait, does she somehow know I came from another world...?' I looked at her incredulously for a while, but she didn't say anything else. Feeling creeped out by this whole situation, I wanted to quickly leave this place. 'She must be crazy...' I thought as I slowly started stepping backward toward the door.

But right then she looked intently at me, and her creepy eyes started glowing. At the same time, some strange pressure enveloped my body, stopping me in my tracks.

"Heed my warning... By breaking the balance, thou allowed the void to seep into this realm once more... Don't let the Tainted ones find thee... Don't let them take possession of thy soul... or all will be lost..." She said in a strange, deep voice.

"Huh?" I replied, feeling utterly confused. She then straightened her back and blinked a few times. "Now go and leave me... I need rest..." The woman said back in her rough, creaking voice.

As soon as she said that, the same strange pressure pushed me out of the room, and the doors slammed shut before me.

I just stood there for a bit before shaking my head, 'What was all this about?' I thought before turning around and making my way all the way back to the ground floor of the tower.

My head was once again full of questions with no answers to be had... I sat there on the ground floor for a long time wondering about this strange encounter before tiredness overtook me and I fell into a deep slumber, the tiredness of the last few days finally catching up with me.

My head was filled with fragments of strange dreams, but I didn't remember anything when I woke up the next day. But I felt well-rested and ready to continue my journey. The morning was crisp, and the winds seemed to quieten down somewhat. When I emerged out of the tower, the blizzard was gone and the heavy clouds had dissipated.

I could see the whole mountain range opening before me in all its majestic glory. And I couldn't help but smile as I saw that the narrow path I had been following all this time would begin to turn south after a few kilometers away from the ancient tower.

Thus I happily trudged on, leaving the tower behind me, and gradually the winding path started slowly sloping down, leading me out of the mountains back to civilization.

I walked quickly, eager to leave the frigid cold of the mountains. It was already dark before I left the rocky slopes and entered a forest somewhere in the foothills. I smiled victoriously as I settled into the crown of a tall tree for the night. This journey took way longer than I wanted it to, but in the end, I managed to complete my quest.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

I even managed to gather three Frost Blossoms in total. I will give one of them to Theo in exchange for his letter to the Court wizard. But he would have to pay me a hefty price if he wanted to get his hands on the other two...

***

It took me another three days to get back to the city. One to get to the main highway through many small farming villages, and two more to arrive back to the city as I traveled much further west than when I first entered the mountains.

'I hope nothing bad happened while I was away,' I thought as I was passing through the mighty gates after being quickly inspected by the guards. When I got back to the warmth and comfort of my apartment, I released a heavy sigh. I was so glad that this ordeal was finally behind me.

The image of the strange old woman in the tower still lingered in my head, but I decided to put it aside for the time being as I had many things that needed my immediate attention.

I wrote a quick note to Isadora, informing her I was back in the city if she needed me. Then I went on to deliver a fresh supply of potions to one of the dead drops, along with a note that the regular delivery schedule would resume from now on.

'I gave them triple the amount of potions than I normally do before I left the city, so I hope my absence didn't pose much of a problem...' I thought as I was on my way back. However, the most important thing I needed to do was inform Theo that I had returned. I wrote only three words: "I got it!" on the short note I sent him. I smirked as I imagined Theo's expression when he read this...

***

Theo was very thrilled by the sight of the Frost Blossoms, to say the least. "Consider it done!" He exclaimed when I asked him about the letter as he carefully examined the delicate flowers with stars in his eyes. I, of course, gave him only one flower and sold him the other two for a considerable amount of silver.

The next few weeks passed quite uneventfully. Contrary to my earlier worries, the umbrifila shortage was, in the end, blamed on the beast hunters for not gathering enough of the herb in the months prior to the winter season. I also didn't hear any rumors about the Magistrate ever since I returned to the city, so his investigation must have ended in vain...

Before long, my request to be measured was accepted without a hitch. The public measuring was supposed to be held about a week before the spring equinox. Theo promised he would tell me all I needed to know well in advance, so for now, I continued my routine of working in the shop and making potions.

Spring eventually came to Ereneth, and with it came back several of the caravans I invested in the previous year. I was lucky as none of the caravans were attacked on their way, so my returns were higher than what was common, making me quite a profit.

'Has my luck finally improved?' I thought amusingly as I stood by the counter in the Merchant's Guild, reinvesting my coins. I needed to make it seem like I invested heavily so that any extra coins I deposited into my account from time to time wouldn't raise any suspicions.

I was quite a regular customer by now, so the lady clerk at the Guild who processed my instantly growing investment portfolio was very well acquainted with me. "Good day to you, Master Darian!" She greeted me with a big smile every time I came to the Guild.

'I guess I must already be one of her biggest clients,' I thought with amusement as I replied to her courteously. With all this extra profit, I decided to invest in a few of the businesses that were left vacant by the sudden demise of Chubby's father, which were then taken over by the city and whose shares were now available for purchase.

'This will come in handy later on...' I nodded with a subtle smile forming on my lips. The next item on my agenda was to obtain enough herbs for my potion-making business. This time, I didn't bother gathering them myself and just bought them all on the market. Even if my profit suffered, all the extra time this saved me was more than worth it.

After the events of the previous year, every merchant dealing with herbs wanted to restore their depleted stocks, placing many orders for umbrifila. Thus, many of the caravans bound for Ereneth promptly responded to the increased demand, bringing with them thousands upon thousands of herbs from the surrounding regions of the Kingdom.

So I was able to acquire as many herbs as I needed without hindering other businesses too much. Meanwhile, Elena finished her final year as an apprentice at Isadora's shop and successfully passed the herbalist trial, making her an official herbalist.

She would still need to spend at least another five years gathering experience before she could attempt her master's trial and become a Master herbalist, allowing her to open and operate her own herbalist shop.

For now, Elena continued working as an official employee, and given her great looks plus her training in etiquette, she was in charge of working behind the counter, dealing with customers together with Isadora.

I was elated by this news. Not only did I not have to deal with that annoying girl every morning, but as the sole apprentice remaining in the workshop, I had the whole place to myself most of the time.

It brought me great joy as I could now complete many of the annoying tasks that took me many hours before as I was forced to do them manually by hand to simply do them with magic, decreasing my workload even further.

Time flew by quickly, and before I realized it, the day I was so anxiously awaiting finally came. The day when my aptitude for magic will be measured—the day when I officially become a mage...