River of Ancestral Origin

The fractured sky lit up with multicolored light when the gentle rays of sun passed through the broken canvas, giving birth to numerous eerie phenomena.

The early morning shift in the mines had just ended, and commoners dressed in rags with dust-covered faces entered the city through the main gate in large droves, chattering among themselves.

The scent of sweat and iron clung to the air, mingling with the acrid dust that coated their throats, making every breath feel like swallowing iron.

A slightly elderly miner with a hunched back muttered in worry.

"The ceiling collapsed again today, and several miners' brothers were brutally crushed to death."

A young man who was walking just beside the elderly miner immediately turned furious and ruthlessly cursed.

"Damn these noble families! All they care about is profit. Do they not care about the lives of our poor miners? If all of us were to die, how..."

Mining collapse was a natural phenomenon, and deaths were also a part of miners' lives, but recently the situation had worsened.

The Frost Iron mines of Mesarith city were already a century old, and the last time maintenance work was done was decades ago.

As a result, the old mines were unable to bear the brunt of the mining activities and regularly collapsed, resulting in the loss of lives.

Moreover, the noble families seemed to have turned a blind eye, or the situation was not dire enough for them to care about it at all.

As if the lives of the miners were worthless.

However, before he could continue, the young man felt someone's hand on his mouth.

The young man struggled, but the old and fragile hand seemed to be filled with the strength of an elephant and didn't even budge slightly.

"Newborn calves are truly not afraid of the tiger. Young man, you can think whatever you want but not speak such things out loud.

"If someone from the noble family were to hear your words, do you know what they would do? Can you bear the consequences of your actions?"

The hunched-back old man coldly snorted, not caring about the young man who struggled to breathe.

"Old Man, let him go. There is no need to go this far."

The people who were familiar with the two of them quickly approached and tried to appease the situation and calm the old man.

At their persuasion, the old man finally let go of the young man.

The young man's face had already turned red as a tomato; he immediately took a deep breath in a hurry, with his chest heaving up and down.

However, once the young man saw the faces of onlookers, his face immediately darkened. Looking at the blame in their eyes, he gritted his teeth and ran ahead without looking back.

"Damn you bunch of cowards!"

The onlookers looked at the speeding figure and discussed amongst themselves while shaking their heads.

Even as the young miner stormed off, an uneasy silence settled over the group. A few glanced around, as if expecting watchful eyes lurking in the shadows. No one dared speak further. The mines were dangerous, but the wrath of nobles? That was something far worse.

However, some of the restless ones couldn't stop themselves from discussing in hushed voices.

"Old man Ron, don't care about him. He is still young and doesn't know how the world works."

"Tch! What does this young man think? My blood also boils when I see these arrogant noble family bastards, but what can we do?"

"I will fight the injustice and die, but then who will feed my family? Will this young man come forward to help them?"

At these words, the crowd fell silent, seemingly agreeing in silence.

...

Atop a tower in the distance, Theodore Skylar calmly watched this scene, and no one seemed to notice his figure.

It had been a month since he had a small meeting with his son.

Theodore, stable as a mountain, stood still with a small smile on his face, his cold hawk-like eyes focused on the distance, a sharp glint flashing between them.

Watching the young man head towards the forest, he silently muttered, "The situation is developing as planned; a couple more collapses and the public would be fully charged."

"Once the time for biannual tribute to the empire comes, it will be the time for my family to take action."

Suddenly his eyes flashed with mysteriousness. "Isn't this the direction where my son is currently training?"

Thinking about his son, a proud smile appeared on his face. Indeed, his son didn't let him down; he was able to have a basic understanding of the meditation technique in just a month.

Theodore's eyes narrowed to peer into the distance, and immediately he saw a scene of a young man who seemed to be no older than 4-5 years old, calmly moving with a woman beside him.

In his gloved hand was the sword gifted by his mother.

The young man's chubby face seemed to be filled with a slightly stunned look as he gazed at empty air.

Noticing his reaction, Theodore seemed to think of something and looked slightly above the young man's head.

A bright white silvery river seemed to be diving down from heaven and landing on Dawn's head like a waterfall.

As the river twisted and curved in mid-air, numerous scenes of warriors fighting titanic beasts would appear from time to time, like a heavenly phenomenon, but other than Theodore, no one seemed to be able to see them.

"The River of Ancestral Origin," Theodore muttered with a slightly shaken look in his eyes. There were very few things that could shake the head of the Skylar family; even if the sky collapsed, Theodore might not bat an eye, but the talent displayed by his son left him shaken to the core.

"My son finally achieved the first level." The appearance of the river meant Dawn had finally grasped the technique.

The people who didn't know about the 'Defying the Changes of Seven Rivers' would never understand just how shocked Theodore was.

He was praised as a supreme genius by the elders of the Skylar family when he was able to grasp the technique and achieve level 1 in 5 years.

If he was a supreme genius, then what was his son?

Theodore sighed; even though he knew his son was smart, he still seemed to underestimate him.

Theodore remained frozen, his mind struggling to process what he had just witnessed. He had known his son was gifted, but this… this was beyond even his wildest expectations. And then, the weight of it all shattered, replaced by something deeper. A booming laugh tore from his throat, raw and unrestrained.

In the next moment, he stopped laughing and wiped the corner of his eyes that had gotten slightly moist.

For the first time in years, Theodore felt an ache—not of battle, not of strategy, but of something long buried. He exhaled slowly, gazing at the sky as if searching for something unseen.

"Oh! How good it would have been if you were also present here. Look how talented your grandson is."