Mira and Ina walked toward the town. On their way, they happened to meet a group of women coming from the town.

One woman had sharp eyes and spotted Mira and Ina from afar. She let out a sharp scream, excitedly pointing at the two shadows and shouting, "Ina? Is that you, Ina?"

Ina heard the sound and looked in the direction it came from. Her eyes instantly lit up, and she waved her hands toward them.

"Yes, it's me!"

The women sighed in relief and hurriedly ran toward them. Ina, holding her father's longsword, ran to meet them.

Lady Ellin was among the women. When she heard the familiar name, she immediately relaxed, and all the tension she had been holding onto for the past few days seemed to vanish. Her body, however, lost all its strength, and she collapsed onto the ground.

"Ina! You little brat, where have you been?!"

Ina greeted the women cheerfully, smiling, "I went on an adventure." She felt a little proud of this special trip, "I went to Geshouling. Aunties, that town is really strange."

"Stop talking about it. Your mother’s back there." One of the women interrupted Ina, gesturing to the direction where Lady Ellin was. She turned around just in time to see a woman stumbling and falling.

"Hey, hey, hey. Ina, your mother fell!" The women quickly ran toward Lady Ellin.

Ina, however, stayed where she was, looking hesitant.

She glanced at Mira, her expression oddly conflicted.

Mira thought she hadn’t fully processed the sudden change. She gently nudged Ina, “Ina? What’s wrong? Why aren’t you going?”

"My mom is going to beat me," Ina said, her face turning into one of almost crying. "Really, Mira, do you know? She uses a board that thick to hit me!" She gestured with her hand, showing that the board was at least as wide as half her palm.

Mira furrowed her brows.

“She won’t do that. You’ve finally come home.” Mira said.

It would normally take two days and one night to travel from Geshouling back to the town at the foot of the mountain. Mira had used a high-speed spell to help Ina walk the entire morning and they were only halfway through their journey.

Thankfully, they met the women searching for Ina halfway. If they hadn’t, Mira would’ve had to take Ina back to the town first, then go back to Geshouling.

Ina pulled her head in. "It’s because I ran off that I’m going to get beaten. My brother and I, we’ve been getting beaten since we were little."

Mira was stunned for a moment.

She didn’t understand. Shouldn’t Lady Ellin be happy that Ina came back home safely?

Why would she hit Ina?

Mira had no parents. Since she could remember, she had always lived in the Magic Core Hub. There were mentors, apprentices, grand mages, sages, and various elders, but there were no parents.

Mira didn’t know how to interact with parents. Her understanding of them was limited to what she read in books.

She smiled a little awkwardly, then fell silent.

"Ina!" After a moment, Lady Ellin’s voice finally broke through, calmer than before.

Ever since Ina had gone missing, Lady Ellin had been in a constant state of tension. When she had just calmed down, she nearly fainted from the relief.

As her energy slowly returned and she saw her daughter unharmed, still full of life, Lady Ellin suddenly felt anger rising within her.

Everyone living in the Hero Town beneath the Tower had lost close loved ones. Lady Ellin had lost her dear ones twice.

She had three children in total: two sons and one daughter, but none of her children had been easy. Her eldest son cut off ties with her and ran away to become a hero. In the end, his body was sent back to the town in a box, leaving behind only a finely crafted longbow and a few feathered arrows.

Her second son wasn’t great with a sword, but had an unknown courage. He took his father and elder brother as his role models. His greatest dream was either to kill a dragon or to be reduced to ashes under the dragon’s flame.

Finally, she had a daughter, but this daughter’s character was even wilder than her sons. Her talent in swordsmanship surpassed her brothers, and she had her own unique understanding of the sword. She was also very daring, having hunted birds on the mountain with her brothers since she was little.

That mountain's peak was where the magic dragon’s tower stood. The road leading to the top was full of bizarre magic, and if she wasn’t careful, she might lose her third loved one.

But no matter how much she said, or even if she hit them, her children never listened. Every time, they tried to escape home, their heads full of unrealistic fantasies.

And this town was full of stories about heroes.

When Lady Ellin’s voice appeared, Mira felt Ina trembling next to her.

Children were actually afraid of their own mothers?

Mira’s gaze moved between them. She didn’t have a mother. No, if she didn’t have a mother, she wouldn’t even exist. She did have a mother, but she had never met her.

She didn’t know where her parents lived or why they had separated from her.

Mira forced a nonchalant smile, then said to Ina, "Nothing’s going to happen."

"I hope so." Ina muttered. Though she was a little afraid of being hit with the board, she clearly understood that with her brother away, she was the only one who could protect her mother.

Her mother didn’t have the talent to become a hero. She was just an ordinary mom.

Ina, holding her sword, walked toward her mother.

She turned back several times, looking at Mira standing alone in the background. Mira stood in the road, waving at her and gesturing for her to hurry to her mother. Ina felt uneasy.

It was as if Mira existed in this world, but she was a drifting reed, just existing without any connection to anyone.

If that blue-haired mage was here with her, Ina thought, when they stood together, Mira’s loneliness wasn’t as strong.

If they were apart, it would feel very lonely. But when they stood together, it felt much better.

It would be best if they could always stand together. Ina paused, turning around to look at Mira.

She smiled, looking happy, but still felt sad.

As the inheritor of the hero’s soul, Ina, like many heroes, was more skilled in action than in words.

She stopped in her tracks. She could wait a little while before going to her mother. Now, she had to do something else.

Ina made a decision and immediately took action.

She put her sword on the ground and ran back toward Mira. In her surprised gaze, the girl hugged Mira’s waist.

"Thank you, Mira." Ina said, a little embarrassed to say this, but now, with her arms around Mira, she couldn’t see her expression.

Without the pressure of expectations, words came more easily. She repeated, this time more firmly, "Thank you, Mira. Thank you for protecting me."

She knew what Mira had done. Even though Mira had covered her eyes, Ina knew that she had killed those two bad people.

She wasn’t much older than Ina. She must have been scared too.

But she still protected her, using magic.

Just like Mira said, everyone has something they are good at. She would practice swordsmanship and become a powerful hero. She didn’t know magic, but she would use the sword in her hand to protect the people she wanted to protect.

Her brother, and her mother. If one day Mira needed her, she would protect Mira too.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Mira was stunned. This hug made her feel awkward, and she gently patted Ina’s back, saying nothing.

A lot of words don’t need to be spoken to be felt.

Mira walked alone on the way back. She cast two acceleration spells and several speed-enhancing spells on herself to greatly increase her pace. She needed to get back to Geshouling before nightfall and then head to the mine with Lance.

He had gone ahead to investigate, and Mira wasn’t sure if he had gathered any useful information.

Mira wasn’t worried about Lance’s safety. He was the strongest mage she had ever met. If it were before, she might have wondered if his leg injury would cause any trouble, but since she knew his wound was almost healed, her concern faded.

She could sense that Lance’s healing speed was incredibly fast. Books did mention that a perfectly cast healing spell could have such an effect.

Once Lance’s magic power recovered, he had likely healed himself with magic as well.

She hoped he had some useful news. It would be certain, Lance was a powerful mage.

The journey was dull. Mira had grown familiar with the road to Geshouling, her thoughts drifting. She remembered Ina’s relationship with her mother.

Actually, they still loved each other, Mira thought. It was just a bit different from what she had read in books.

Emotions were complicated things. She couldn’t fully trust the way they were portrayed in books. Those were just examples.

She rarely thought about matters related to her own background. Most children who ended up in the Magic Core Hub at a young age were orphans, without fathers or mothers.

Mira had always thought she was the same as them. This belief hadn’t changed until now, when she met Ina’s mother. She couldn’t help but wonder: What was her own mother like? Why were they separated?

But thinking about these things didn’t really help. Mira knew very well that even if she weren’t an orphan, she’d never been with her parents and had no idea what they looked like. Even if they crossed paths someday, she probably wouldn’t recognize her own parents.

Mira let out a long sigh. She only needed to believe in her own orphanhood. Her father and mother hadn’t abandoned her; they had to leave for some reason.

That way, she wouldn’t feel so sad. She could genuinely hope that they were living happily somewhere far away, even though she didn’t know where.

Without parents to protect her, she needed to protect herself better.

Mira tightened her grip on the medium in her hand. She had to protect herself well.

The dragon soared through the sky, its massive wings cutting through the thick clouds, which served as its natural camouflage.

Lance’s gaze remained fixed on the ground. He was currently at an altitude of over a thousand feet from the landmark below, yet even from such a height, the blue dragon’s vision was completely unaffected.

He circled around the edge of Geshouling Town, flying around the town and the two nearby mines twice, scanning them thoroughly.

The mountain range was concealed by a powerful illusion spell, but even that couldn’t hide the fact that it was rapidly degenerating into a land devoid of magic.

What surprised Lance was how fast the degeneration was occurring. A typical example of such degeneration could be seen in a barren desert slowly replacing a once-fertile plateau. Even then, such a process would usually take decades, if not centuries.

Even if a massive earthquake wiped out an entire town, the land would not degrade this quickly. Humans were only a small part of nature.

Geshouling was a town nestled between mountains. In addition to being a human settlement, it was home to countless animals. But strangely, when Lance looked down from the sky, he couldn’t find any signs of animal life at all.

There weren’t even any rats...

This was absurd.

Aside from the miners in the quarry, the only signs of life Lance could feel were the plants on the mountain and the mushrooms growing after the rain.

He was curious. What kind of ore was being mined in Geshouling that could cause the mountain to be so heavily damaged? But after circling the mountain twice, he hadn’t discovered a single clue related to the minerals.

They were buried underground.

This made things even more mysterious.

Lance flew toward the mine deep in the mountains once more, looking for traces of any spellcasters among the crowd, and then swooped down to land.

The massive body landed without a sound, and a blue silhouette slowly began to materialize.

In the deep mountain quarry, the sound of clanging echoed across the air.

Two carts full of materials were being hauled out of the mine. The overseer gave a cursory glance at the contents, then waved his hand dismissively, signaling for the workers to take the carts to their designated locations.

The miners shakily pushed the carts toward a particular direction.

None of the big, burly men noticed the strange creature with blue scales following them closely behind.

It was a magical projection of Lance's will, a miniature blue dragon.

Influenced by the former Blue Dragon Queen, most of Lance's magic took the form of cute little creatures. He had gotten used to it and no longer bothered to change it, especially since the smaller version of his magical consciousness, in the form of the blue dragon, wasn’t actually him but his long-deceased mother.

Lance had kept this ability as a tribute to his mother, who had sacrificed herself to protect the magic of nature.

The small blue dragon followed the miners as they walked through the brush-covered path, heading toward a recently abandoned quarry.

The two carts were filled with what could barely be called food. In the abandoned mine, large groups of descendants of heroes were being held prisoner. These people had been brought from the town at the foot of the mountain, and the miners were instructed to ensure their safety until their fate was decided.

Lance counted the prisoners. There were fourteen young people in total. According to information from the women in the town, a total of thirty-two men had been taken, fifteen of them under the age of eighteen, and the remaining seventeen were middle-aged men, some of whom were retired heroes, while others were the descendants of past heroes.

Food was placed in front of the cages. The two miners took turns distributing dry bread from one cart and mushy stew from the other to the surrounding youths.

None of them spoke. Despite the insults and curses from the young people, the miners remained silent and, after distributing all the food, pushed the carts back the way they had come.

The blue dragon followed closely behind, its amber eyes flashing with magical gleam. One of the miners, who was trailing behind, staggered as though about to collapse. Lance's form flashed by and dragged the miner into the nearby brush. He then used a shape-shifting spell to assume the appearance of a miner and began pushing the cart, following the other miner.

Fortunately, they were all very quiet. As long as Lance remained silent, it was easy for him to blend in.

Bent over, Lance moved cautiously through the quarry, constantly observing his surroundings.

The ore being mined seemed to be just ordinary stone?

He saw them using pickaxes to dig into the mountain rock, loading the material onto the track carts to be taken into the mine.

Fortunately, the destination of the carts was also the mine, which spared Lance from needing to change his identity again.

After the carts were placed in a temporary mess hall-like area, the lead miner instructed Lance, "Go chop the wood."

Lance looked around and spotted a neatly stacked pile of logs in the corner of the mine.

The few trees left on the mountain were likely all gathered here.

He walked over to the corner with a stoic expression, and as several magic spells took effect at once, the small blue dragon flew deeper into the mine, while Lance’s form stayed behind, mechanically repeating the action of chopping wood.

Lance encountered a team of workers descending into the mine. They were all expressionless, like puppets with no will of their own. The blue dragon version of Lance followed behind them, riding the lift down to the lower mine levels.

The mine's depths were like a man-made labyrinth. Due to excessive mining, the roads here were incredibly complicated.

The mine was dimly lit, and the air was difficult to breathe, filled with a strange mix of sweat and dust.

Lance was surprised to find that the mine’s lighting came from Insource Crystals.

These were magical ore. In dark places, the crystals emitted a soft light that could replace torches.

Other than that, the crystals had no other special properties. But because they were so rare, they were quite expensive, typically favored by noble humans who collected shiny objects—except for the dragons, who also liked such luxurious treasures.

But here they were, using Insource Crystals for lighting. The miners seemed completely unfazed by this.

Lance began to have a hunch.

Insource Crystals were a companion ore. Wherever these crystals were found, there would be another even rarer ore beneath the surface.

Lance’s expression grew more serious.

He followed the lift to the deepest level of the mine. The blue dragon hid in the corner, watching the miners head toward their workstations.

Lance stepped forward, switching his consciousness into the body of a tall young man who now stood in the darkened mine tunnel.

He stretched out his hand and pressed it against a nearby stone wall.

No wonder ever since he entered this town, he had felt a strange force gradually consuming his magic.

The furry scouting companion he had summoned had grown weaker and weaker, and finally, it had disappeared altogether.

For a town like Geshouling, nestled in the mountains, it had become so rich from its mines all because of this.

Lance leaned against the wall, feeling the stones around him absorb his magic.

This was a mine for Magic-Nullifying Stones.

Magic-Nullifying Stones were the key material for crafting artificial medium crystals.

Mira arrived in the town just before dark. As with yesterday, the town at dusk was surrounded by an eerie atmosphere. She kept her head down, trying to avoid the stiff, rigid figures of people as much as possible, and hurried toward the location of the inn from her memory.

The old woman from yesterday was still by the well, preparing to fetch water, her movements as stiff and unnatural as they had been when Mira first saw her. Mira stopped in her tracks and observed the woman's actions carefully. A suspicion began to form in her mind.

She decided to test her theory.

Mira approached and, as before, enthusiastically helped the old woman with the water. Throughout the entire process, the old woman simply stared at her with cold eyes, her expression exactly the same as it had been the day before—no change whatsoever.

Mira hauled the water bucket up from the deep well. With the experience from yesterday, she was fully prepared this time. She glanced at the bucket, and just like the day before, the water remained murky, looking like muddy soup.

Of course, it looked like muddy soup. This was the water source polluted by the landslide, with microorganisms still wriggling in the murky water. Mira quickly shifted her gaze away.

The old woman lifted the water bucket and nodded slightly at Mira.

"Hello." Mira recalled the question she had asked yesterday and once again asked the same question to the old woman, who, just like the day before, reacted as if she had never seen Mira before, offering the exact same response.

The old woman stretched out her withered finger and pointed toward the direction of the inn.

That’s it. Mira confirmed her suspicion.

The people of the town, those stiff and lifeless figures—they were repeatedly performing the same actions they had made just before the earthquake struck. The real Ghillian town had already become a dead town after experiencing the earthquakes and the landslides caused by them.

Mira recalled a strange book she had once seen in the Mana Nexus library.

It was the effect of the forbidden magic "Illusory Mirror."

The Illusory Realm could select a single moment in the flow of history and bring it into the present.

Mira was now certain—it was this magic. When she had first read about it, she had been confused about its purpose, but now she understood.

She needed to tell Lance about this discovery as soon as possible.

With this thought in mind, Mira quickened her pace toward the inn.

But even the unexpected was the same as yesterday. Just as Mira was about to enter the inn, a figure appeared in front of her, blocking her way.

"Well, well, if it isn’t the little lady again," the yellow-toothed man appeared, holding a poleaxe, swaying slightly as he blocked her path. "Where’s your brave hero boyfriend?"

Mira furrowed her brows and took a step back, eyeing the yellow-toothed man warily. Her gaze lingered for a moment on the poleaxe in his hands.

"What’s it to you?" Mira replied curtly, her tone sharp.

His gaze made her feel repulsed.

"He should be by your side, shouldn't he? It’s dangerous for a girl to wander around town like this," the yellow-toothed man said. "Just like that girl last night."