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A man in his mid-twenties stood quietly on the hill, his shining brown hair fluttering in the cool wind. The gentle breeze drifted across the open ground, carrying with it the calm of the surrounding mountains that rose on every side. Above, the radiant sun cast long shadows of the peaks across the hill, wrapping the place in a quiet, peaceful stillness. Around him, rows of sakura trees bloomed softly, their petals trembling in the wind while colorful birds rested among their branches.
"Aha, I have decided; this will be my picnic spot."
The young man felt overjoyed as he gazed upon the serene land and its mesmerizing beauty. The hill was not flat; its surface was rough, with small rises and dips scattered across it. Tall mountains surrounded the hill from all four sides, leaving only a narrow passage through which he had climbed. From that very opening, he could see the entire village stretching peacefully below.
The man came to that hill every day, even if only for a brief moment, just to savor the quiet beauty of the place that had slowly become dear to him. The gentle wind, the distant view of the village, and the calm silence of the mountains always brought him a strange sense of peace.
One day, however, he did not come alone. Walking beside him was a small child, no more than six or seven years old. The boy had a bright and innocent face, with eyes full of curiosity as he looked around at the vast scenery. Anyone who saw the two together would instantly notice the resemblance; the boy looked almost exactly like the man, as if he were a smaller reflection of him.
As the boy wandered around the hill, his small feet stepping carefully over the uneven ground, he suddenly stopped. His eyes fixed on something near one of the old sakura trees.
"Father… what is that?" the child asked softly, pointing toward the ground.
The man walked closer, curious about what had caught the boy's attention. Beneath the tree, half-buried in the soil, was a small stone, yet it did not look ordinary. Faint patterns were carved into its surface, glowing ever so slightly as the sunlight touched it.
The wind around the hill suddenly grew calmer, as if the entire place had fallen silent. The man knelt down slowly and brushed away the soil covering the stone.
The moment his hand touched it, the faint glow grew brighter.
Both father and son stared in silence, realizing that this peaceful hill might be hiding something far more special than they had ever imagined.
After digging a little deeper, they stumbled upon a small box. It shone brilliantly, a dazzling yellowish-red light emanating from it. On its surface, both of them noticed an imprint of a star.
The father slowly opened the box. Their eyes gleamed with curiosity as they stared inside, yet what they saw left them confused rather than shocked.
The father frowned, unable to recognize any of the strange objects lying within the box.
The child, however, was not looking at the objects at all; he was staring at his father's face, surprised by the confusion he had never seen before.
"Is something wrong, Father?" the child asked with an innocent tone.
"Uh… how should I say this?" the man replied with a puzzled smile. "It seems your father isn't very knowledgeable about these items."
The man's gaze suddenly fell upon a folded piece of paper lying inside the box. He carefully opened it and began to read its contents, while the child peeked curiously over his shoulder, trying to see what was written on the note.
To the one who has opened this box,
If these words have reached your eyes, then it means fate has guided you here. Long ago, I was known as Ororon Celes, the sovereign of the mighty Celestial Empire, an empire whose banners once shone like the stars across the world. At the height of my reign, my name echoed through every land, and none could rival the might of my empire.
Yet standing at the very peak of the world is very lonely. Power, glory, and endless victories soon became nothing more than empty titles to me. The throne that others longed for had become a cage I no longer wished to remain in.
So I chose to leave it all behind.
Before departing from the world of crowns and wars, I gathered a few treasures, items of immense value and knowledge, and sealed them within boxes. I hid them far from the eyes of kings and conquerors, hoping that one day they would be found not by the powerful but by someone whose heart carried kindness and courage.
If you now read these words, then destiny itself may have led you here. These relics were never meant to grant dominion over the world but to guide the one who will one day shape its fate, long after my name has turned to dust.
And remember this: the day the sun's mark awakens once more, the world will stand at the edge of a new era. Whether it falls into darkness or rises into a brighter dawn… may depend on the one who now holds this box.
Introductions aside, you might be curious to know about these mysterious items.
The gleaming pearl in the box is the RADIANT SUN PEARL.
"Wait… this is the Sun Origin Pearl? The one that was supposed to be lost? The one from those old records… the one that can turn a Spirit Core into a Sun Origin Core?" The man commented with an astonishing look on his face.
The child was mesmerized by its beauty, watching the glowing pearl with intense focus.
The man, however, did not touch the strange object immediately. He was not someone who acted hastily. Instead, he continued reading the contents carefully.
"Do not try to resonate with the pearl directly, for it may burn through your skin if you are incompatible with it. Before anything, you must—"
The man's reading was suddenly interrupted.
"Father," the child said softly, his blue eyes glowing faintly with curiosity. "I can feel the same energy as the pearl… inside you."
The man froze.
"Could it be," the boy continued innocently, "that it shares its compatibility with you?"
The father stared at his son in astonishment. For a moment, he said nothing, but then a sudden realization struck him.
Joy filled his heart as he understood what had just happened.
His son had awakened a rare and extraordinary gift, the power of a seeker, one capable of sensing hidden energies and perceiving the spiritual harmony between people and ancient relics.
He knew instantly that fate had chosen him to come here and fulfill the old man's final wish. Without hesitation, he reached out and touched the shining pearl.
In the very next moment, the glowing sphere vanished in the blink of an eye as it entered his body. A burst of radiant light spread from within him.
The child watched in amazement. A gentle warmth radiated from the man's body, like the comforting glow of the sun.
The man was floating in the air about an inch above the ground, sitting in a cross-legged meditative state. An eye-flashing light continuously flickered from his body, and his clothes became wet with sweat released due to his intense concentration, carried with slight pain.
The entire scene looked almost magical. The sudden burst of radiant energy caught the attention of every bird in the valley, their eyes turning toward the corner of the hill as if they too had sensed the birth of something extraordinary.
After some pleasing time, the man slowly descended to the ground; his hair had turned from brown to a stunning golden color. His presence made the environment more gentle and warm.
The man could clearly feel the changes within himself. His spirit energy surged dramatically, leaping from the initial phase of the manifestation to the peak stage of the same realm. This sudden breakthrough occurred because his Spirit Core had resonated perfectly with the Radiant Sun Pearl, an ancient Origin Relic.
The relic had achieved perfect synchronization (Relic Harmony) with him. This synchronization not only accelerated the pearl's absorption but also left behind a glowing sun-shaped symbol on the back of his right palm.
The process might have left the man with significant mental exhaustion, but due to relic resonance, his exhaustion had perfectly healed. His mental clarity was miles greater than before. He could feel the channels connecting his brain, heart, and limbs had cleared, leaving no impurities behind; his core's quality improved from refined core to origin core.
The man felt ecstatic and gave a pat on his son's head, but his son's mouth was wide open due to the turn of events that had happened.
"Father… was all this just because of a single pearl?" the child asked, astonished.
His father replied in a deep yet gentle voice, "No, of course not. It wasn't just any pearl; it was a top-grade one, far beyond the rest."
"Then, Father, we should look more into the note. There are still many things in the box we don't know about." The child spoke in excitement.
"Alright."
They both looked at the note; it read, "Do not be surprised by just an origin pearl; the box contains three seedlings, each one being a Tier 5 item."
The man was stunned and read the sentence again to make sure he had read it correctly and was not mistaken. But he was neither mistaken nor had his vision blurred.
"These seeds vary in abilities, each one being different from the others. The blue seed has the power to construct an entire city from scratch, with each house being made from tough rocks and stones. The brown seed can make any messy land into a plain grass field without requiring any maintenance. The red seed, however, possesses the power to demolish the entire city and must not be used to destroy lively homes."
"Father, doesn't this mean we can rebuild the village with strong stone houses? And use the brown seed to flatten all the land—even your picnic spot—into a place that's always blooming?" The child spoke.
Well, it seems like this old man wasn't lying when he wrote about guiding future generations.
These things alone are enough to transform a village into a kingdom.
"Now that you have obtained the seeds, the method to use them is to…" The man read the note.
Oh, so that's the reason why it was considered a Tier 5 artifact.
He continued reading, "Now, the box contains shards, items, and artifacts that will be more than enough for you and your future generations…"
He kept going, taking in every detail of what lay inside. With each line, his excitement grew until the last line stopped him cold.
"The final item is a bottle filled with a blue liquid. It contains the blood of hundreds of beasts, mixed with water from the Spring of the Floral Lake. It possesses the ability to store items within itself but requires the user's blood to maintain it and can only be opened by those of the same lineage...."
….