Chapter 76: Crystalline Purity
Without hesitation, Luvinah led Priam around, now careful not to get too close, showing him the small sanctuary that belonged to her race.
With crimson trees serving as houses and flowers and grass functioning as seats, it was a world of inconceivable purity.
But...
Priam could only sigh when he noticed that the adults were incredibly, incredibly thin.
There were only six young people, all around Luvinah’s age.
Yet every one of them looked much younger than they actually were.
The lack of resources and nourishment was extremely severe.
Fortunately, this was a spiritual race, and their current physical bodies were not the same as those of ordinary humanoids.
They didn’t need food or water.
They needed natural energy.
Every week, several powerful members of the race gathered together to perform a technique in unison.
Through it, a small group could leave the sanctuary and gain a few hours of safety to gather as many resources as possible before returning.
Obviously, it wasn’t enough.
By sheer luck, Luvinah had managed to leave and return safely before.
But her luck hadn’t lasted forever.
Luvinah introduced him to each of the younger members and several important adults of the race one by one.
Every single one expressed deep gratitude and warmly welcomed him.
The crystalline purity in their multicolored eyes made it difficult for him to look directly at them.
Within those eyes, Priam saw something he had never dreamed of finding in this chaotic world.
The Pristine Wild-Spirits possessed the purest powers in the world...
And the purest hearts.
There wasn’t even a trace of malice within them, despite living such miserable lives.
’This race should receive nature’s highest protection. Why do they have to endure such a cruel and unfair fate...?’
Priam thought.
But he already knew the answer.
It wasn’t because of the evil or greed of Mages.
It was because they were weak.
He could only sigh and carve that lesson into his soul.
At the beginning of this new life, after hearing from Flaris about how vast the world truly was, he had believed the Sovereigns would never find him as long as he stayed quiet on this planet within the Mortal Plane.
Initially, the System had pushed him to train every day and become stronger.
At the same time, he wanted to make his mother proud and force the clan to apologize to her.
It had simply been a case of killing two birds with one stone.
But after achieving everything he had wanted, Priam no longer possessed any grand ambitions.
He knew Flaris wanted to join a sect in the Divine Plane, and since he wanted to experience everything this world had to offer, he had decided he would go as well.
After all, he had a System and abnormal talent.
If he worked hard enough, he could definitely enter such a sect.
But now...
’I have to give everything I have to become stronger. It’s truly the only way I’ll ever feel safe in this world.’
The warning from that voice echoed endlessly in his mind.
It was almost certainly the recorded voice of the Goddess.
She had spoken with extreme seriousness and repeated herself multiple times, as if she knew exactly what kind of person Priam was.
Moreover, she had mentioned the Nexus Seed.
That confirmed she knew everything.
The System had been directing him to train relentlessly.
Now the Goddess had stated it as clearly as possible.
If he wasted time...
Then perhaps his simple desire to fully live and enjoy this world would never become possible.
...
...
...
After spending two hours seeing everything, Priam was brought to a beautiful garden.
They sat beneath a massive tree, while all of the younger members gathered around him, staring with shining eyes.
"Thank you, Great Benefactor Big Brother."
They all bowed gracefully.
Their beautiful eyes continued studying Priam with curiosity.
A boy who was only a year younger than Luvinah spoke softly.
"So there really are good people among the other humanoid races."
"Of course," Luvinah said with a hint of pride.
"When Mom and Dad were still alive, they told me that all the time. I knew my Big Brother was a truly good person the moment I saw him."
"Humph! Young Matriarch, you still have the nerve to say that!?"
The boy scolded her, somewhat angrily.
"Do you realize you nearly scared us to death!? Grandma cried so many times. You... If you ever dare do something like that again, I’ll ignore you from now on!"
Luvinah’s expression immediately became pained.
This boy was her childhood friend, and Priam could see a deep bond between them—a friendship that would very likely become something more in the future.
After snorting, Luvinah replied weakly in a pitiful tone.
"I know I was wrong. I won’t dare do that again. I just... never imagined I’d be that unlucky... I really won’t do it again."
"Devikan, don’t speak to the Young Matriarch like that. She’ll certainly behave from now on," said a calm and protective female voice as an adult woman approached the group.
While speaking, she secretly glanced at Priam before hurriedly lowering her head.
"Humph. Anyway, I’ll be keeping a close eye on the Young Matriarch from now on!" said the boy called Devikan, trying to sound more mature and manly.
Luvinah snorted with an annoyed expression, but deep down she was obviously pleased.
At that moment, the others could no longer contain their curiosity and asked anxiously,
"Young Matriarch, what happened after you snuck out? And what’s the outside world like? Is it really as magical as Grandma and Uncle said? Tell us!"
"I-I..."
Luvinah stammered nervously.
She didn’t want to tell them how terrifying and horrible everything she had gone through had been.
"I was caught by someone almost immediately after sneaking out. After that, I was scared the whole time, so I didn’t really have a chance to think about anything else. Ah! Right!"
Luvinah’s eyes suddenly lit up as she turned toward Priam.
"Big Brother, how about you tell us about the outside world? Is that okay?"
Her words immediately brought everyone back to reality.
They all looked toward Priam...
The first humanoid from another race to ever enter their little world from the outside.
"Great Benefactor Big Brother, you must know a lot about the outside world. We really, really, really want to hear about it."
Their eyes shone with the same anticipation and longing.
Those pure gazes made Priam’s body tremble slightly, as if pricked by a needle.
Priam took a deep breath and then began talking a little about where he came from and about his clan.
Without mentioning specific names, he recounted everything he had seen and experienced in this life, speaking about the coming-of-age ceremony and some of what he had studied about the world.
The young people listened as though entranced.
At times, they would gasp in surprise.
They had no idea that Sorcerers existed.
They had never seen powerful ordinary beasts, nor mixed races with unique powers.
They could only listen and imagine everything in their minds.
Fundamentally, they had no way of knowing what any of it truly looked like or how spectacular it really was.
Yet even so, for people who had spent their entire lives trapped within their tiny corner of the world, it brought them an unprecedented excitement.
Seeing the enthusiasm of the younger generation—and even several adults in the distance who were secretly listening—Priam had no choice but to start exaggerating things a little, adding some extra flavor to his stories.
Soon, that flavor became increasingly intense and fantastical.
’Bruno would be proud of me right now. He always exaggerated everything a thousand times over.’
Priam thought inwardly, remembering his cousin from Earth.
Under the excitement of experiencing something entirely new, the young people’s faces became flushed.
The way they looked at Priam made it seem as though stars were shining in their eyes.
A little while ago, they had felt gratitude and curiosity toward him.
What they felt now, however, was a sudden, intense, and overwhelming admiration.
"I really... I really want to see the place that Great Benefactor Big Brother talked about," one of the youths said dreamily while staring up at the sky.
"That day will definitely come," Priam replied.
"Big Brother... can we..."
Luvinah’s eyes were sincere, but her entire face was filled with nervousness.
"Can you tell us your name?"
At that moment, Priam remembered that he still hadn’t told them his name.
His original intention had been to leave Luvinah behind and walk away without looking back.
That way, if the demons ever captured these people someday, they wouldn’t know his name or anything about him.
But now, Priam smiled and answered without hesitation.
"My name is Priam."
"Priam..."
Everyone repeated it softly.
