When Zenith stepped foot into the Silent Mountain, there was an immediate transformation in his surroundings. Everything under heaven seemed to lose its radiance as all of the sounds and colors in the world disappeared. What was left in his surroundings was a monochromatic world filled with absolute silence.

It was a very surreal experience on his part, making him feel like he was in a different world.

"In fact, that might just be the case," he thought after considering his recent experiences.

Both the forest and the mountain didn't follow the laws of nature observed in the outside world. The forest itself defied the concept of death while the mountain made everything soundless and colorless. It wouldn't be much of an exaggeration to consider them as different worlds. That was just how mystical these two places were.

As Zenith took a few steps into the mountain, his brows furrowed when he discovered something wrong with his body. His Nu seemed to have been greatly restricted while his System Seed became unresponsive. He could still sense his spirit seed within him but it was as though it had fallen into a deep slumber after coming into this place.

This was a very concerning development. One of the biggest reasons why he entered this mountain despite its danger was because of his Nu. Without it, he was severely handicapped.

"Should I turn back or not?" he thought offhandedly before continuing on ahead.

It was only a passing thought. As soon as it appeared, he immediately dismissed it in his mind. Retreating from this place might be a reasonable action to take, but unfortunately, he couldn't afford that luxury. He didn't have much time left so this was his one and only chance. Any later and this opportunity would be lost to him, and his dream would forever remain a pipe dream.

He would rather die than have that happen.

Besides, he had a suspicion about this mountain. If he was right, then...

Zenith stopped in his tracks when he came across a stony stairway leading to the peak of the mountain itself. The stairway looked new and unused. It seemed like it was constructed recently. All of the information he had about this mountain didn't mention this staircase at all. This was most likely constructed only after people started disappearing in this place.

He looked at the staircase carefully before beginning his ascent.

There wasn't much to see during his climb on this monochrome mountain. Everything seemed dead and listless. Even after he reached the point in the mountain where the clouds were already beneath them, he couldn't appreciate its beauty at all. He felt like he was in a world that was in a state of decay.

As he got closer to the peak, he came across a wooden shack just a few hundred meters away from the staircase with a bonfire just outside of it.

"Hmm? That is..."

His attention was caught right away by a dark figure sitting in front of a bonfire. He hoisted his backpack on one shoulder and approached the figure cautiously. He did this so he could easily throw it and run as fast as possible in case the figure turned out to be hostile.

His preliminary test wasn't about climbing the peak of the mountain itself. It was to find the Sword Saint in this mountain and accomplish one of his tasks. Since this was the first time he encountered something resembling a man on this mountain, he might know something.

A few seconds later, he stopped. He made sure to maintain a respectable distance between them.

"Sword Saint?"

No sound came out of Zenith's mouth. His voice was drowned out by the silence of this world. Even so, the dark figure turned around as though he heard his voice. Zenith looked at the figure's face but he couldn't discern his true appearance at all due to the enhanced darkness in this monochrome world.

[https://i.imgur.com/kiyeCsH.png]

At this moment, the two began sizing each other up. Zenith stood in a guarded position with a calculating gaze while the figure sat with a relaxed posture, looking at the former unfathomably. The two didn't exchange any words but there was rising tension between them.

Suddenly, the figure pointed a finger at him.

A flash of sword light could be seen as Zenith instinctively tilted his head to the side. In an instant, a thin ray of sword light went past his cheek before piercing through a huge rock at the distance, blowing it up into smithereens.

A thin cut appeared on his cheek before blood trickled down from it.

"Impressive reaction," complimented the figure as he snapped his fingers. As soon as he did that, sound and color finally returned, but only in a small area around them.

Zenith felt the restriction on his Nu and System Seed disappear as well, however, he wasn't relieved at all. If the figure was able to give back his access to his Nu like this, it stands to reason that he could just as easily take it away.

"You're the one who made this monochrome world?"

"What do you think?"

Zenith gave the figure a deep look without betraying any emotion on his face.

Although the figure attacked him, Zenith didn't retreat. It would just be a useless endeavor. The other party outclassed him in so many levels so much that if he seriously wanted him killed, he wouldn't have been able to dodge that attack.

"What can you say about this world?"

"Gloomy and lifeless. It's a very unpleasant place."

Aside from the small area, they were in, everywhere around them was silent and colorless. It was a place that no one would want to stay in at all.

The figure chuckled at that. Somehow, he wasn't surprised to hear such a blunt answer from him.

"This place isn't exactly hospitable for us cultivators. It is suffocating and restricting. Cultivators who come in here are defenseless as they cannot use their Nu nor their spirit seeds in this monochromatic world."

"Except for you," Zenith pointed out to which, the figure smiled.

Cultivator was the term used for people who manipulate, nurture, and protect spirit seeds through the use of Nu. With the special nature of this monochromatic world, this place was basically the antithesis of their kind.

"Do you know, even though this place is hideous, there's some beauty to it as well..."

"Such as?"

"Equality for instance."

At this moment, Zenith couldn't help but be reminded of a certain scene when he challenged a god 8 years ago. Back then, he asked that god a question;

"Do you believe all lives are equal?'

"No, I don't. Every life has a different value. Some are worth more than the others while some are basically worthless."

Zenith gave the figure a sharp look before asking, "What do you mean by that?"

"In here, mortals, cultivators, and even gods themselves stand on equal footing. Though they are not equal in life, they are equal in death." said the figure in melancholy. "No matter how great one's identity is while they are alive, won't they end up in Mori all the same? At the very least, that was how it was in the past."

After saying that, the figure went silent. Zenith eyed him for a few seconds before walking towards the bonfire and sitting on a stone right across from him.

"Shall I call you Sword Saint, or shall I call you..."

Zenith narrowed his eyes at him.

"...Earth Duke?"

8 years ago, Zenith once challenged a god into a game that shook the entirety of the tower. That god he challenged was none other than the supreme ruler of Mori itself, Earth Duke.

And that same god he challenged, was sitting right in front of him.

"At the moment, I am the Sword Saint," he corrected with a smile. "You've known it was me since the beginning, didn't you?"

"You weren't exactly subtle with all the clues you've left behind."

Anyone with common sense would've already put two and two together.

"Back then, you told me to come into the City of Genesis for the Tower Ascension..."

That was the reason why Zenith stayed in the City of Genesis specifically. He even came a year earlier than planned just to prepare for this eventful day. Then, during his stay in the city, he found out about Silent Mountain and the suicide forest. The anomaly in these two places started exactly 8 years ago which gave rise to many questions in his mind.

Yesterday, after he assimilated with his System Seed, he checked his quest log and conveniently got a preliminary test in this place, giving him a proper reason to finally enter here without making the Order suspicious of him.

Today, he arrived in the suicide forest and discovered its current state. It was slowly becoming a part of Mori— a place that was near-synonymous to the name Earth Duke itself.

Lastly, there was the staircase in this mountain which he used to reach this place. It was almost reminiscent of when he climbed the pyramid 8 years ago before meeting Earth Duke himself.

Zenith encountered too many coincidences for it to be one.

"Did you tell me to come here for our deal?" asked Zenith coldly.

"That is indeed the case."

To think that the young man in front of him was the same child who challenged him 8 years ago. For the Sword Saint, only a short amount of time had passed, but during this short time, the child back then had already grown up this much.

He looked at Zenith's appearance, and despite his disguise, he could see his real face clearly. Sword Saint got dazed as he became lost in the sea of memories swirling through his head.

"You're looking more and more like him," said the Sword Saint unintentionally.

Zenith cast an inquisitive gaze at him. "What do you mean?"

Shaking his head, the Sword Saint finished with a gentle tone, "It's not time yet. You will naturally know in the future."

Zenith was curious what he meant but if the Sword Saint didn't want to speak, then there was nothing he could do about it. With that said, he changed his question.

"What did you do to my System Seed? I checked the spirit seed so many times but I didn't see anything wrong with it."

This was the thing that Zenith was curious about. There were hundreds of people in the seminar, yet, he hadn't encountered any of them on his way here to the Silent Mountain. This showed that he was most likely the only one who got a preliminary test on this mountain while the others got different preliminary tests.

But that in itself gives rise to another question.

How did the Sword Saint manipulate his System Seed into giving him his preliminary test? Was he in cahoots with the ones in charge of the seminar, or was it something else?

"Make no mistake. Your System Seed is the same as everyone else. There was nothing wrong with it. But the same couldn't be said for your spirit core, no?"

Zenith frowned at that.

"After our game, I implanted something into your spirit core. When your System Seed entered your core, it reacted with it and allowed me to manipulate your System Seed to a lesser extent. I can only use that method once, however, so you don't need to be concerned anymore about that."

Zenith would be a fool to believe that. He would only be at ease after making sure of that himself.

"Let's not waste any more time here. Tell me, what do you want me to do?" he asked, getting straight to the point.

Zenith and Earth Duke had an agreement. Zenith would do a favor for Earth Duke, and in exchange, Earth Duke would help him with something that he desired.

"Impatient, aren't we?"

"I have already waited 8 years. I cannot wait anymore."

The Sword Saint went silent for a few seconds before speaking in a solemn tone, "Very well. I shall tell you your task now."

Zenith waited for him to continue.

"There is a temple erected for a god on the peak of this mountain. Inside that temple, there is a seed placed at the altar," he paused as he gave Zenith a deep look. "Your task is very simple. You just have to obtain the seed in that temple."

"You make it sound too easy. There must be a catch to this."

"Indeed. All the people who disappeared in this mountain were taken prisoners by that temple. That is the secret behind this mountain. The only reason you weren't taken away was only due to my protection."

Zenith gave him a cold smile.

"And you want me to enter that kind of place?"

"I believe in your capabilities," said the Sword Saint firmly.

Zenith was silent after hearing that. It was at this moment that the preliminary test in his quest log changed.

Quest Log

Preliminary Test:

Obtain the seed in the temple at the peak of the mountain

Rewards:

System Seed (E-Rank)

Tower Ascension Qualification

Closing his quest log, Zenith stood up as he questioned him, "What is the spirit seed kept in that temple?"

"You will know once you get there."

"What is inside that temple? What happened to those who got taken there?"

"Again, you will know when you get there."

Zenith didn't like those answers. There were too many things that the Sword Saint was keeping from him.

"Before I leave, I want you to answer me one thing."

The Sword Saint raised a brow at him before asking, "Is this about your younger sister?"

"Of course, you knew," Zenith said sarcastically, but whether that was indeed sarcastic or not, the Sword Saint couldn't tell due to how dull his tone was. "Is there even anything you don't know about me?"

"A lot. You are full of mysteries," the Sword Saint responded seriously. "But to answer your question, her soul has already entered the cycle of reincarnation. She's now living a healthy life in a mortal family."

"Is that so?" muttered Zenith as he began walking ahead.

After he left the Order years ago, he somehow got himself an adopted little sister, who later on died from the pandemic caused by the god of death, plague, and pestilence— Orus.

"Will you have any problems if I killed that god?"

"He disobeyed my orders. Do as you please with him," answered the Sword Saint. "Do you care about that little girl?"

"Who knows?"

"If you have to choose between her and your dream, what will you choose?"

Zenith paused upon hearing that.

"What a foolish question."

There was nothing more important to him than his dream. If he had to sacrifice the world to achieve that, he would gladly burn it to the ground without any regret.

Compared to his aspirations, what value was there in a dead person? Even if they were alive, so what?

The most important thing to him was no one else but himself.

As Zenith started hiking his way towards the peak, he left him a few parting words;

"You better keep your end of the deal, or else..."

The Sword Saint smiled at him.

"Is that a threat?"

"No," Zenith stoically said.

"It's a promise."