Game World: I Can Share Talents

Chapter 114: Yonglan Riding God

Just imagining that grand, glorious future was enough to give Westheid a rush of pure ecstasy.

The journey from the Imperial Capital to the Qinghui Territory stretched across nearly half the Imperial domain. For safety, Star Gates could not be used to make excessively long jumps, especially for an entire fleet, which had to travel from one node to the next. Moreover, Star Gates were scarce in the Imperial borderlands, and the provinces near the Qinghui Territory had none at all.

Thus, the trip would take three days and two nights aboard the ship.

There was no scenery to admire while traversing the Spirit Realm, so Westheid went straight to his room. He took out Shadow-Born to carefully play with it... no, that is, to carefully study it.

Sitting cross-legged on his bed, Westheid slowly stroked Shadow-Born’s silver scabbard. He took a deep breath and slowly unsheathed it.

SHIING—

As the deep red blade came into view, Westheid once again felt that strange, stinging pain.

It wasn’t particularly unpleasant. In fact, it carried a strange, almost nostalgic sensation. But more burdensome than the physical discomfort was the wave of sorrow that washed over him from the depths of his soul.

For no reason at all, simply by drawing the blade fully, he was overcome with an irrepressible melancholy and loneliness. The deep red blade seemed to have been steeped in blood for millennia, and there was no escaping its thick aura of ruin.

And yet, he didn’t hate the feeling.

Westheid gently stroked the crimson blade, his eyelids half-closed. But just then, his spirit felt as if it were being tugged by a powerful gravitational force, and a faint sigh seemed to echo in his ears.

"Come a little closer and hold my hand."

[You have felt Its call. Do you wish to enter the Secret Realm?]

Huh?

’There’s... there’s an Artifact Spirit!’

SHINK—

Westheid’s pupils dilated. He shoved Shadow-Born’s blade back into its sheath, thoroughly shaken.

’What’s going on? This sword is actually the entrance to a Secret Realm?’

Westheid was all too familiar with the panel that had just appeared. It was the same kind of prompt that always showed up before entering a dungeon.

’But shouldn’t the only ones capable of creating a Secret Realm be Celestial Gods and Dem— Oh, right. The Master of Extinction *is* a Demon. Never mind, then.’

Westheid gazed at Shadow-Born with a complicated expression. He hadn’t expected to uncover its secret so easily. All he had to do was enter the Secret Realm, and he would find out what was truly going on.

’So, the inscription on Shadow-Born was an invitation from the Master of Extinction. And here I was, wondering how to make contact with them. I never thought they’d be this direct.’

’So... should I accept the invitation?’

Westheid placed the Tachi by his pillow, slowly lay down, and closed his eyes.

As expected, he tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep.

In the end, Westheid grabbed Shadow-Born and fastened it to his waist.

’I’m definitely going into that Secret Realm, but not now. I’ll wait until I advance to the Hero Tier. That would be the prudent thing to do.’

Regardless of how dangerous the Secret Realm might be, Westheid’s decision was firm. If a Secret Realm existed, he was bound to explore it. Caution was one thing, but if he wasn’t willing to take any risks at all, then he might as well forget about Ascension.

Having steeled his resolve, Westheid pushed open his door, intending to check on his neighbors.

Yolanda had been the one to arrange the rooms on the ship, and she had placed both Shamuel and Mivana right next to Westheid. As for what her intentions were, Duke Qinghui couldn’t say.

The rooms weren’t very soundproof, and from outside Shamuel’s room, he could hear her muttering to herself.

"O, restless flame within my eyes, do you too cry out, thirsting for the blood of our wicked foes? Ah, ah... I feel it too, I know... but for now, let this restless soul cool. This is not the time for us to burn..."

Westheid listened at her door for a moment. Shamuel sounded quite busy. Duke Qinghui, who had intended to go in and say hello, decided against it and stopped in his tracks.

’Forget it,’ he thought. ’I’ll go see Mivana instead.’

The Ranger Knight’s room was just on the other side. Mivana hadn’t closed her door, so as soon as he reached the entrance, he could see the Wolf-eared Maiden performing her morning prayer.

Inside the room, a simple shrine to the Riding God was placed on the only table.

Mivana was dressed in a form-fitting, solemn, moon-white knight’s uniform. Kneeling on one knee, she rested both hands on her sword, pressing her smooth forehead against the hilt of the Silver Sword as she recited a prayer she knew by heart.

"O, great Riding God, my god and my ancestor."

"Through the long, frozen night, against demons and specters."

"All Your foes, by Your hand, were vanquished."

"In the Land of Yonglan, You cut through bramble and snow."

"Protect our nation, and grant me blood-forged courage."

"..."

It was a perfectly normal prayer, but Westheid had to suppress a smile.

There was a certain irony in hearing Mivana, a Beastman, recite prayers about her "divine ancestor expanding our territory and expelling the foreigners."

Westheid waited quietly at the door until Mivana finished her morning prayers. Only then did the Ranger Knight stand and speak to him.

"My apologies, Duke Qinghui. I hope you do not mind me praying to the Riding God on Imperial soil."

"Piety is a virtue. As long as you aren’t disturbing others, praying to a righteous god is perfectly acceptable in any Realm of Order, is it not?"

Westheid walked into the room, gave a slight salute with a hand over his chest toward the Riding God’s shrine, and winked at the Wolf-eared Maiden.

"And, just between you and me," he whispered, "I think the Yonglan Riding God is more impressive than the Radiant Holy Tree."

Mivana’s golden eyes widened in an instant, her expression clearly saying, ’Have you lost your mind? How dare you say something like that?’

"Mr. Westheid?"

Westheid affirmed again, "I truly do."

The Yonglan Riding God... was the one being among all the Celestial Gods whom Westheid admired most.

Because He proved one thing: even those not born to greatness, even mortals, could climb the Ascension Ladder.

Unlike the Radiant Holy Tree, an Innate Holy Spirit, or Star Abyss Wings, the Ancestor of Ten Thousand Dragons, the Yonglan Riding God’s origins and life story were clear and distinct. He was an ordinary man, born to a family of farmers.

Before the Country of Yonglan was even founded, that windswept, bitterly cold frontier was filled with Monsters and Strange Beasts and plagued by Chaos Erosion. The humans of the Borderland suffered endless torment, treated as toys and livestock by all manner of monsters, madmen, lunatics, and Alien Races to be slaughtered at will.

The Yonglan Riding God’s childhood was much like that of his peers. He suffered from the moment he was born, facing the challenges of hunger, cold, and wild beasts just to survive, struggling to live one day at a time.

Then, one day, a Demon Beast stormed his village and devoured his entire family.

The only difference was that after the Demon Beast devoured his parents and sisters, the scrawny child managed to kill it in turn with a hunting knife.

The village’s sole survivor buried everyone. Then he pulled a broken sword from the ground and walked out into the desolate, snowy plains.

From that day forward, the Yonglan Riding God began his walk upon the Ascension Ladder.

Across the snow-swept borderland, tales of a Hero began to spread. It was said that he single-handedly held back a horde of beasts, slew a Chaos Demon the size of a mountain, beheaded a tyrannical warlord, and hung the skull of a necromancer who toyed with the living from a mountain peak...

Countless victories and glories forged the legend of a great Hero.

The Hero created the legacy of the Knight, established his own kingdom, and drove out all the monsters that preyed on humanity.

More and more people followed in the Hero’s footsteps, joining him on an endless crusade.

The Yonglan Riding God’s path to godhood was far from smooth. He was not invincible; in one bloody battle after another, he teetered on the brink of death countless times. But in the end, he overcame death itself. And every time he crawled back from the abyss, he grew stronger.

Whatever did not kill him only made him stronger.

In his final expedition, the Hero led his Knight Army deep into the Chaos Domain itself. After paying the grievous price of near-total annihilation, they managed to slay two Chaos Source Gods.

Through this world-shaking Great Enterprise, the Yonglan Riding God was born.

The Great Enterprise of the Yonglan Riding God was just that staggering and clear. His path to godhood was etched by one battle after another.

It was no wonder that the people steeped in the culture of the Country of Yonglan were so inspired; even Westheid could feel his blood pump with excitement just hearing the tale.

But more than admiration, he felt aspiration.

’A true man should be just like that!’

’If the Yonglan Riding God could do it, why can’t I?’