Leo was truly surprised to see the Castle of Light as his Seed Domain.

At first, he genuinely thought he was mistaken. Seed Domains were meant to reflect the Branch, nature, and Aura identity of an Aura Farmer, not manifest themselves into something this absurdly large and conceptual. Even the Domains he had heard stories about were still understandable to a certain degree: oceans, battlefields, divine forests, broken stars, endless weapons, and things similar to that.

But this?

This looked less like a Domain and more like an entire world forced into the shape of a castle.

The structure towered endlessly before him, while layers of light moved across its walls like flowing rivers. Some parts of the castle looked ancient and damaged, while others appeared untouched, almost holy in appearance. Countless pillars stretched upward into regions he could no longer properly see, while enormous stairways folded strangely into the structure itself as though space inside it did not fully obey normal laws.

Leo slowly frowned while staring at the Castle of Light.

For some reason, he felt strangely familiar with it.

Not familiarity from memory or experience, but the type that felt deeply rooted somewhere inside him. The moment he looked at the castle, his Core reacted faintly, and the colorless Aura within it became slightly unstable for a brief second before calming down again.

"...What exactly are you?" he muttered quietly.

Naturally, the castle did not reply.

The longer Leo stared at it, the more he realized the structure itself was not fully complete. Certain parts flickered occasionally like unfinished fragments trying to maintain shape. Some towers looked transparent, while entire sections of the lower structure seemed drowned in light too bright for him to properly observe.

Then his eyes narrowed slightly.

At the very top of the castle, hidden behind countless layers of light, he saw something move.

The movement was extremely small, almost impossible to notice, but Leo was certain he had seen it.

His body immediately tensed.

Before he could properly focus on it again, the entire Seed Domain suddenly trembled lightly around him. The floating memories became unstable once more, while the thin threads of light connecting the Domain started vibrating rapidly as if reacting to something outside.

Leo immediately understood what was happening.

Something in the real world had approached his body.

Without hesitation, he activated [Waking Dusk] completely and forced his consciousness upward. The Castle of Light slowly faded from his vision, while the trembling Domain collapsed back into scattered light and drifting memories.

A second later, Leo opened his eyes inside the forest again.

It took him a few seconds to regain himself completely. He looked in front of him and immediately placed the [Yielding Spine] in a defensive stance.

He then looked around carefully but saw no one. He heard a creak behind him, and when he turned, he almost lost his balance out of fear. Not fear—he was just startled.

Standing in front of him was a robust and chubby boy with an almost yellowish skin and a puckered face. Although his puckered face was not visible because the student was currently wearing a golden armor that looked more like over-garmented than fitting.

Yet, Yin Li was still recognizable. You do not see overfed Aura Farmers every day.

"Ah, it’s just you."

Yin Li jolted backward in fear and immediately held up his large odachi in fear, which probably took all his strength to carry.

"Wh-who said that?! I’m not afraid! Show yourself, you vile Eldrath." He stammered in fear.

’Eldrath?’ Leo frowned.

Due to the [Grinning Mist] covering Leo, he was almost invisible to Yin Li, although not fully, as the chubby boy still heard the dreadful voice of the [Shell of Dread].

If it worked on Yin Li, it meant his Volume was a low rank, either Echo or Chorus, considering the Vestige was just Aquarius rank. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Instead of dismissing the Vestige, he summoned the smoke to envelope Yin Li as well. Yin Li shook slightly, noticing something covering his surroundings.

From the boy’s eyes, he saw a creature of his height. Its body was made of white metal—or rather, it wore the metal. Yin Li could not tell. There were spikes in its joints, and on this dreadful armor clothing was a small crown made of metal spikes. The creature’s eyes were deep crimson, radiating not a very large amount of aura, so it was definitely not a high-rank creature, but it still sent shivers down Yin Li’s spine.

The creature then waved its hand and smiled at him, revealing countless metallic triangular teeth.

Yin Li’s soul almost left his body. The poor boy’s heart was fragile.

Yin Li’s hands trembled around the large odachi while he slowly stepped backward, his breathing uneven beneath the golden armor covering his body. The red eyes of the armored figure in front of him remained fixed on him silently without moving an inch, making the atmosphere even worse.

Leo almost laughed. The combination of the [Shell of Dread] and [Grinning Mist] truly made him look less human than he expected, especially with the faint smoke covering his body while the dreadful armor wrapped itself around his frame like living metal.

Still, he did not immediately reveal himself. Partly because he found Yin Li’s reaction funny and partly because he wanted to properly test the limits of [Grinning Mist].

"You vile Eldrath..." Yin Li muttered again while trying to sound brave despite the obvious fear in his voice. "I-I warn you. I know sword arts."

Leo stared at the shaking odachi in silence. "...You look like the sword is using you instead."

Yin Li froze. That voice was dreadful, but there was a bit of familiarity to it.

His eyes widened immediately afterward.

"Le-Leo?!"

Leo dismissed the helmet, which went away like liquid, revealing his appearance beneath the armor. Yin Li stared blankly for several seconds before nearly collapsing from relief.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Yin Li shouted while pointing at him with the odachi. "Why would you sneak around looking like some forgotten disaster creature?!"

Leo shrugged calmly. "I thought it looked cool."

"...Cool?" Yin Li’s face twitched.

Leo ignored him and glanced around the forest carefully again. Now that another student was here, the situation felt slightly better. Even if Yin Li looked unreliable at first glance, having another pair of eyes nearby was still useful in a place like this. Yin Li was also academically sound.

More importantly, Yin Li had mentioned Eldrath.

Leo turned toward him again. "What did you mean earlier when you said Eldrath?"

The moment the word was mentioned, Yin Li’s expression changed slightly. The fear and embarrassment faded a little and were replaced by uncertainty.

"That’s because this place is a region in the Eldrath Realm. It’s the Blood Forest of Morva," Yin Li answered quietly while gripping the odachi tighter. "At least... I think it is."

Leo frowned immediately after hearing that.

"You think?"

Yin Li nodded nervously. "I’ve only read about it before. Primoria has records related to different realms and dangerous regions which can be found in the school library. The sky, the trees, even the atmosphere... they all match the descriptions of Morva Forest," he paused briefly before continuing. "It was one of the outer territories conquered during the early Eldrath expeditions."