Although it was a fifty-minute adventure, only fourteen minutes had passed, and the torchlight no longer allowed him to waste time. Therefore, Shard quickly followed the fireball through the black mist to the base of the tower, only to find a shadow blocking both him and the fireball’s way at the entrance.

The shadow extended its right hand towards Shard, while two fingers were held up on the left.

"Two coins to enter?"

The shadow nodded.

Shard took a deep breath:

"Really, the coins I earned at Black Mist Camp have to be spent here, and they won’t let me take even one out, right?"

Despite saying this, he still handed over his last two remaining coins. The shadow made way for the entrance and even took the initiative to open the door for Shard. The fireball flew in first, with Shard following behind.

The interior of the tower was likewise filled with black mist. The inside of this dilapidated high tower wasn’t large; it wasn’t the kind of tower like Mr. Edmund from Coldwater Port lived in, where people could reside. Technically speaking, it should be the largest first floor of the high tower, but the staircase alone took up a quarter of the ground space.

The staircase was also made of stone, yet stepping on it still felt quite perilous. The spiral staircase led to higher levels of the tower, and just as Shard stepped onto the first stair, the torch in his hand finally extinguished.

An instant chill even made Shard come to a complete stop, as the black mist originally repelled by the light instantly engulfed him, then retreated slightly due to the silvery glow on his body surface.

"Oh, it’s really cold~"

Shard reached out to steady himself against the wall to avoid falling, the numbness of his soul making his body even stiffer. The breath he exhaled congealed into ice crystals in mid-air, and the negative emotions and thoughts that arose from the two games earlier became even more pronounced at this moment.

"The power of method negative emotions?"

He panted heavily, adjusting his state, then continued upwards with difficulty, supporting himself against the wall:

"If it’s just this kind of trouble, it’ll at most slow my progress a little, it’s fine, it’s fine."

His staggering footsteps made heavy sounds with each step on the ground. Although the glimmer of Silvermoon on the surface of his body was stable, gradually Shard also felt his vision becoming blurry.

There were indeed decorations on the sides of the staircase, and although there were no windows, there would be empty frames on the walls at regular intervals. As the swaying Shard half-relied on the curved wall to climb arduously upwards, portraits appeared in those empty frames.

"For you, at the other end of space-time, what do we really mean?"

A familiar voice came, and the dizzy Shard saw a familiar figure appear in the frame on the wall beside him.

Chloe, with her long silver hair, standing in front of the snowy mountains, asked Shard below the frame. Her unrestrained silver hair swayed with the wind, her exquisite face, with eyes that seemed to pierce directly into Shard’s soul:

"It was just the initial meeting at the Silver Mountains, and my encounter with you is a lifetime misstep. Do you know that you await me perhaps for weeks or months, but in seeking you, in waiting for you, I exhausted my entire life?"

A few short words made Shard, whose heart was already a bit agitated, truly feel a heartache. Even though, after obtaining the Heart of Stone, his heart should have no more problems. Yet, hearing Chloe’s inquiry, hearing her statement of fact without much reproach, he still felt the heartache that pierced his soul.

In a daze, on the night of the Randall Valley battle, in the Osenfort Estate, the visage of Haila with the black mask waiting for him appeared once more before him. Perhaps, at that time, the woman who truly possessed a "Heart of Stone," beneath her calm expression, hid the same feeling.

"I... will definitely see you, find you, even if it takes a hundred or a thousand years."

The fireball led the way ahead, but the darkness remained profound. The staggering Shard continued climbing, clutching his chest, his breathing completely erratic, which signified a loss of control over his body.

And in the next painting waiting for him was someone he could never forget.

In a greenhouse filled with various flowers, witches sat on either side of the table. The witch on the left had light yellow hair tied up, wore a long green dress, and long pointed ears adorned with yellow and silver crescent pendants. The witch on the right had golden hair tied up, cascading over her left shoulder, donned a luxurious purple long dress, brilliantly radiant like a violet.

Miss Orland and Miss Feliana together watched from the oil painting as the staggering Shard leaned against the wall, unable even to straighten his back:

"What, ultimately, are we to you?"

The oil painting’s canvas was yellowing, even worm-eaten, yet it did not hinder the clarity of the voice entering Shard’s ears:

"In the Forest of Thousand Trees, to defeat the master of the Blood Feast, you had to seek our help, calling us your teachers. But when you beheld us at that time, what did you see us as in that dark corner of your heart?"

Shard’s vision was already blurred, with only the fireball and its faint glimmer remaining. He didn’t continue forward but leaned against the wall with difficulty, reaching out to touch the lady in the picture.

"You call yourself a teacher, but you’ve always just used our help. Standing in Saint Byrons a thousand years from now, will you still remember what you once said? Shard Hamilton, what exactly have you taken us for?"

He propped himself against the wall, trying to continue forward. His legs felt as heavy as a thousand pounds. After suddenly falling, he wanted to get up again, but his body had lost the strength to do so.

From the moment he stepped onto the first stair until now, only a few minutes had passed, but the Outlander felt he could no longer move.

He somewhat missed the girl with violet eyes, somewhat missed the writer and the princess, somewhat missed Galina, somewhat missed that cat.

Every part of his body was urging him to stop and rest, and the sharp pain in his heart gave him thoughts of turning away and leaving, to escape this torment. But he ultimately lay on the steps, reaching up, struggling to crawl forward:

"Though I feel guilt, I will never betray them. I... won’t, won’t let them down, I..."

Even his thoughts were interrupted by fatigue. Unable to stand, he crawled forward; what was once a strong body quickly became bruised and bloodied, the pain failing to keep his consciousness awake, while familiar voices continued to echo in the darkness.

He was now unable to stand and see the scene in the painting. But he knew it was the Witch of the Fifth Era, Witch Empress Violetta, and her niece, the end-of-the-era principal of Xerxes Higher Medical Academy, Miss Schultz Teresa’s voice:

"Do you truly share feelings with us?"

The voice from above was as if the two ladies stood right beside Shard, looking at him with disdain, and if he reached out, he could touch their high heels:

"You and us, it was but a momentary encounter. What makes you think the witches would fall in love with you at first sight, or what makes you believe we would forever remember you?"

The third instance of the voice vanished like the previous two, and Shard knew he was nearing his limit. Each move of his body felt like facing a formidable enemy again after an all-out battle. Lying on the steps, even drawing a breath was a challenge.

The sound by his ears disappeared, yet the voice in his heart kept surfacing.

Someone questioned how many ways Shard’s heart could be divided; someone grieved, pondering which of Shard’s words were sincere and which were deceit; someone cried, saying not a word, yet seemingly saying everything; someone was angry, unable to understand what courage and boldness gave Shard the nerve to weave through so many girls without remorse or guilt.

"When you meet those new girls and have your first exchange, do you not feel heartbreak?"

It was as if someone had thrust a sharp knife into his heart or countless hands were tearing his flesh piece by piece. Those voices contained no curses, only a series of questions that wore down Shard’s soul.

"I..."

He could no longer utter a single word, his physical condition deteriorating more severely than he had imagined. The intensified emotions within his magnified soul completely lost control of his already difficult-to-maintain body.

"Ugh~"

The black blood he vomited mixed with the dust on the stone steps, and his body, still moving upward on instinct, finally came to a complete stop.

"I..."

In his heart, it was as if he saw himself first arriving in this world, saw himself leaning against the gate of Saint Delan Square for the first time, panicking and even scared by the reality of it all.

Shard saw the past and equally understood what he had done from then until now.

He tried hard to breathe, to adjust his thoughts, to speak the words he most wanted to say at this near-death moment. He, of course, knew what he had done, and of course, understood the choices he made.

Though he felt guilt, he had no regrets, and though he knew he was wrong, he vowed not to let anyone be saddened because of him.

The intense tremor of his soul triggered a change in the Ring of Fate. The glimmer of gold, silver, bronze, and black iron gradually illuminated the dark tower’s staircase, and the Spiritual Rune symbolizing [Great Sin] shone brighter than all other Spiritual Runes.

Shard’s lips trembled as he finally uttered the words:

"I, I want it all! No matter who I provoke, I will bear all the responsibilities. I must, go to the very end!"

The power erupting from his soul miraculously allowed Shard to support his body with his arms again, then slowly stand against the wall.

He stepped forward, nearly blind in both eyes and holding his last breath, pursuing the fireball ahead, continuing to climb.