After glancing at the old yellow bull that was now charging wildly, Leon turned his head back and continued to move towards the depths of the clouds and mist, still disguised as Fredri.

...

Because he always felt Fredri was not very trustworthy, several times he used the essence of origin to enhance Heart Lake's power but failed to see through her disguise. Only something more "concentrated" than the essence of origin might accomplish that, which could only be the essence of origin itself.

So if Evangelin's memory wasn't faulty, and the only person currently possessing the essence of origin amongst the ancestral remnants is Number 1, then Fredri must be one of Number 1's people.

Additionally, she managed to "snatch food from the tiger's mouth," secretly taking away two and a half portions of dream's origin from Leon and the Dream Resting Master. Hence, it's over ninety percent possible that she is Number 1's true identity.

Yet, if Fredri is indeed Number 1, it leads to numerous contradictions. For one thing, the timeline doesn't match up.

Her identity as an "Old Soil remnant" doesn't feel fake, but the Four Pillar Gods, driven by Number 1, attacked the original humans. The group she belongs to only split off voluntarily, chasing hope deep into the Old Soil to become the current Old Soil remnants, completely contradicting the sequence of events.

Moreover, there's an issue of "race." According to Evangelin, all ancestral remnants are destined to be born of different races, and the human race's "slot" has already been filled by William, so Number 1, regardless of whether they originate from the "divine" as Leon guessed, absolutely shouldn't be human.

Knowing nearly nothing about Number 1, Leon can only hope to find answers to these two questions within this dream, crafted as closely to reality as possible from Evangelin's memory as a "template."

With a desire to get to the bottom of it, Leon continued in his guise as "Fredri," descending step by step down the mist-formed stairway, finally entering into a dark gorge.

The canyon walls on both sides were high and inwardly curved, with their tops swallowed by thick white mist, leaving behind only steep cliffs appearing as if they're about to tilt inward, compressing into a cavernous gorge that extends endlessly to deeper parts.

Lower down, the canyon walls were covered in moss of a greenish hue, along with countless overlapping circular engravings in various depths. These engravings seemed to form a type of writing, but defied any set rules of writing, instead scattering about like stars in the sky, a circle here, a ring there.

Good news, there truly are records inside this sanctuary, possibly even containing secrets of Number 1.

Reaching the nearest rock face, Leon wiped away the moss, furrowing his brow slightly and revealing a somewhat helpless expression.

Bad news, I can't read what's written here... This script probably went extinct one doesn't know how many years ago.

After struggling for a long time to identify the meanings of those large and small nested ring-like characters, Leon had to temporarily give up the idea of reading these records and moved deeper into the gorge.

As Leon ventured further, the canyon walls grew increasingly steep, tightening with an oppressive aura, while the ring-shaped "texts" on the walls grew more menacing.

Those incomprehensible circular scripts gradually transformed from regularly spaced arcs into "spiked wheels" full of thorns and hooks, drawing nearer to each other like densely packed gears that interlock.

Once Leon reached deeper into the gorge, these ring inscriptions on the walls began to visibly rotate in the shrouding white mist, turning almost half a circle with each step Leon took forward, seemingly accelerating.

When Leon arrived at the gorge's end, finding a chisel embedded in the central rock wall and stood within a blood-stained circular ring, the inscriptions on the canyon walls wouldn't stop swirling, spinning madly and leaving behind blurred shadows.

As Leon reached out towards the chisel on the rock wall, gripping its white-yellow bone handle, the walls' shadows merged into one, forming clear images that emerged through the walls, like a kind of spiritual slide show directly into Leon's soul.

It seems these rings aren't expressive "texts" but rather spiritual "images," exclusive texts of human ancestors communicated through mental connections. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"Seeing" the girl in a white dress mirrored in his spirit, Leon vaguely understood the "reading" method of the wall's inscriptions, then tentatively rotated a half-circle counterclockwise inside the blood-stained ring in front of the chisel, with himself at the center.

With Leon's movement, the girl in a white dress within his soul rotated backward toward the gorge's entrance as if time were rewinding, eventually disappearing into the mist.

This thing must be read by spinning... and it seems to "rewind" as well?

Twisting his body back to its original position, restoring the white-dress girl's appearance that was quite similar to Fredri's, Leon imitated her steps, abstractly spinning his way back.

Once Leon started turning around, the circular texts on both sides of the walls immediately "flowed," piecing together into clear scenes, strangely embedding into Leon's spirit.