Chapter 38: The Veteran Who Walked Through Endless Wars
The Veteran Who Walked Through Endless Wars
Golden light gathered before Victor, weaving itself into countless ancient runes.
The entire cultivation room fell silent.
Even the surrounding Spiritual Energy seemed to freeze, as though the world itself was waiting for the Eternal Legacy System to unveil the identity of this extraordinary follower.
Then, one line after another slowly appeared before Victor’s eyes.
[Imperial Pawn: Elder Black (Epic Grade)]
Victor’s gaze immediately focused on the description beneath the name.
[He fought throughout the Chaotic Ancient Era.]
[He witnessed the arrival of the Dark Calamities.]
[He followed Eternal Emperors into battle against the Unknown.]
[He was one of the Eight Hundred Veterans.]
[He was a pawn.]
[A nameless pawn.]
[A pawn that crossed the river with no path home.]
[And also a pawn that once trampled forbidden lands beneath its feet.]
Victor remained silent.
Every sentence was incredibly brief.
Yet every sentence carried a weight that seemed capable of crushing mountains.
There were no glorious titles.
No grand achievements listed.
No endless list of victories.
Only a few simple words...
But those words painted a far more terrifying picture than any extravagant description ever could.
A man who had survived the Chaotic Ancient Era...
A warrior who had personally witnessed the Dark Calamities...
Someone who had marched beside Eternal Emperors into battles against beings simply called the Unknown...
Victor could not even begin to imagine what kind of wars those had been.
Wars where ordinary Grand Saints would likely perish in an instant.
Wars where even Eternal Immortals might have been nothing more than expendable soldiers.
Yet...
This man had survived them all.
The phrase Eight Hundred Veterans stirred something deep within Victor’s heart.
Eight hundred.
Such a precise number could only mean one thing.
There had once been many more.
Perhaps thousands.
Perhaps millions.
In the end...
Only eight hundred remained alive.
And Elder Black had been one of them.
Victor’s golden eyes slowly narrowed.
Then his attention stopped on one particular sentence.
A pawn.
The description repeated it three separate times.
Not a general.
Not a commander.
Not a king.
Merely...
A pawn.
Victor quietly smiled.
"If even a pawn from that era possesses such a history..."
"...then just how terrifying were those who stood at the very front?"
For the first time in a long while, genuine curiosity appeared within his calm expression.
His imagination could not help but wander.
Who were the Eternal Emperors?
What kind of enemies had forced beings of that level into desperate war?
And what exactly was...
The Unknown?
Those questions lingered in his mind, yet no answers came.
The Eternal Legacy System remained completely silent.
It merely displayed the final line.
[Would you like to summon your Imperial Pawn?]
Victor did not answer immediately.
Instead, he carefully reread every word.
The more he looked...
The more he felt respect for this unseen veteran.
A nameless pawn.
Such an ordinary title.
Yet history often remembered only kings and emperors.
It forgot the countless soldiers who stood beneath their banners.
The ones who bled first.
The ones who marched into impossible battlefields knowing they might never return.
The ones who crossed rivers from which there was no road home.
Perhaps...
That was why the description repeated the word pawn again and again.
Not to belittle him.
But to remind future generations that even the smallest piece on the battlefield could become a legend.
Victor slowly nodded.
"No wonder you’re an Epic-grade Guardian."
A faint ripple spread across the system panel.
Then, the final section of Elder Black’s profile slowly revealed itself.
[Name: Elder Black]
[Title: Imperial Pawn]
[Grade: Epic]
[Loyalty: Absolute]
[Current Status: Awaiting Summoning]
There wasn’t much information on the screen.
Only a handful of simple entries.
Yet Victor felt his heartbeat quicken ever so slightly.
The value of this Guardian wasn’t reflected in numbers alone.
Unlike ordinary experts, Elder Black possessed something far rarer—something that couldn’t be measured by rank or cultivation.
Experience.
Not the experience of a few decades.
Not even a handful of centuries.
But experience forged in ancient wars that had reshaped entire eras and rewritten the fate of civilizations.
That kind of wisdom couldn’t be cultivated overnight.
It was tempered through endless bloodshed, impossible choices, and surviving battles that had long since faded into myth.
Victor quietly dismissed the system interface.
The golden glow vanished before his eyes, leaving only a thoughtful silence.
His golden irises shimmered with quiet contemplation.
The Salvatore Family hadn’t simply gained another powerful Guardian.
It had gained a living relic of history.
A man who had personally witnessed the rise of forgotten empires...
The fall of countless dynasties...
And battlefields where legends were born, only to disappear beneath the sands of time.
Perhaps the relentless passage of countless ages had eroded much of the overwhelming strength he once possessed.
Perhaps Elder Black no longer stood at the absolute peak of the cultivation world.
Perhaps the relentless passage of countless ages had eroded much of the overwhelming strength he once possessed.
But Victor wasn’t concerned about that.
Because there was one truth he believed without the slightest doubt.
A man who had survived those unimaginable wars would possess instincts sharper than any blade, judgment refined by countless life-and-death struggles, and wisdom that no modern cultivator could hope to replicate.
Raw power could be gained through talent.
Cultivation could be increased through resources.
But experience...
Experience was written in blood.
It was earned by surviving when everyone else had fallen.
Sometimes, the greatest weapon wasn’t overwhelming strength.
It was the calm mind of someone who had already faced death a thousand times and lived to tell the tale.
A faint smile slowly appeared on Victor’s face.
His eyes remained fixed on the empty space where the system window had disappeared.
"This..."
"...is truly an unexpected surprise."
Without another moment of hesitation, his gaze settled upon the glowing confirmation before him.
He silently prepared to summon the legendary Imperial Pawn whose footsteps had once echoed across the battlefields of forgotten ages.
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