Chapter 144: Bygone Days

Chapter 144: Bygone Days

Lily stood on the third floor of Bran Manor, looking down. Although Bran had only entrusted this place to her, she quietly completed a change in identity, becoming its master. No one objected, for she now held the same status as Bran—a Great Wizard.

She stood there, her thoughts swirling. Too many things had happened during the time Bran was away.

…

She had once envied Bran, envied his abilities. As a Wizard, her abilities granted her a formidable body, but her sensitivity to mana was remarkably dull. Her mana was trapped inside her, utterly unable to interact with the outside world. According to Bran’s explanation: when a Wizard senses external mana, it is a process of their own mana communicating with the outside mana, so her perception of mana was very slow.

She didn’t know when she had become a Wizard, but it must have been very early. In her childhood, when fighting with her cousins, she should have already had her Awakening. Back then, defending her younger brother, she fought one against three each time and took quite a beating, but she never lost disgracefully. She was too young then, didn’t understand many of the peculiarities, and gradually got used to them. If Bran hadn’t also become a Wizard, she might have remained ignorant forever.

As she gradually became familiar with and mastered the mana within her body, she also slowly gained awareness of the changes in external mana, like wind brushing past her face. But Bran told her that mana whispered, telling stories of distant places.

Between siblings, there were few secrets regarding Wizardry. Bran could attempt to mimic everything about her, but she couldn’t do the same. She couldn’t even extend her mana outside her body, so how could she construct anything external?

The return of the Fairy gave her hope!

She studied all of Bran’s records. Not long after Bran left the mountain villa, she recreated Bran’s path of Evolution. She finally heard the whispers of mana and saw the stories of distant places.

But the two of them were ultimately different!

Although she now, like Bran, had formed a Magic Field around herself, the range of her Magic Field’s expansion was extremely limited. Her personality and mana attributes were fundamentally different from Bran’s. She was forever that brave and violent girl. Her abilities were also like that, direct and forceful. She couldn’t manage the sly assimilation and absorption that Bran did, nor could she surround herself with layers of Mist. Her strength was obvious; she stood there like a mountain.

With continuous Evolution and breakthroughs, her power advanced by leaps and bounds. Following this, the Facial Markings, the symbol of a Northlander’s adulthood, clearly appeared on her face.

This genuinely pleased her for a few days, but it wasn’t enough. She still had a younger brother, the one people compared her to, the one who held the title of Great Wizard.

Bran gained the title of Great Wizard not because of his strength, but because of his contributions. In front of his kin, Bran rarely displayed his martial prowess; his abilities were mostly used for construction.

And construction was clearly not her forte. But when it came to fighting and killing, she was confident Bran was far from a match for her. So, initially, she didn’t care much. But soon, new news arrived: Bran had started killing people…

This was hard for her to believe! She knew her brother; his abilities weren’t suited for killing. The last time, during the early stages of Bran’s Trial, the large-scale killings were Huahua’s doing. It was also then that people truly witnessed the abilities of that Black Cat.

Bran! He had actually hidden his strength, actually concealed it from her.

As news of Bran kept coming, she found her own influence waning. The young Wizards around her began inquiring about and imitating Bran’s clothing and actions. Her sisters would also gather around, asking about Bran’s past. But what past was there to tell? Daydreaming? Silence? Those behaviors that were once annoying, that people called Idiot, had now become symbols of mystery.

And she, gradually became a supporting character in those past events. Bran’s image loomed like a shadow around her.

She began wanting to prove herself.

…

News arrived that there was unusual activity in Flying Catkin Swamp. When Bran was on his Trial, being attacked by bugs there was no accident. Last year when the weather turned cold, these bugs retreated deep into the Swamp, so the people who went to investigate found nothing unusual. When summer came this year, they began appearing in large numbers at the edge of the Swamp.

This wasn’t a major event. On this vast land, all sorts of troubles always arise. Discover, then deal with them. That’s how the Northlanders gradually became the masters here.

But at this moment, Lily seemed to hear a call from the unseen, she knew her own Trial had begun.

Just like Bran, in the darkest hour before dawn, she left the mountain villa. Little Bear, dragged forcefully by her, walked beside her, looking back every few steps. This depressed her a little. Bran at least had Huahua for company, and Danny secretly following behind. But what about her?

Danny accepted the oath of sharing life and death, and then became family with Bran. Apart from Bran, everyone knew why Danny accepted the oath. Perhaps Bran knew too, he just didn’t care. Back then, she envied Bran and also made a fuss to get an Attendant, but it didn’t work out well. If not for Bran and Danny as comparisons, everything would have been fine. But with the comparison, everything began to feel different.

She had many companions her age, yet now she felt lonely. The companions surrounded her, laughing, playing, with endless things to talk about and do every day. These words and these matters became the continuation of the next day, seeming never-ending. Until someone grew tired, until—, she grew tired too.

She began to understand a little of how Bran must have felt. Maybe Bran back then had also grown tired. Tired of family, tired of everything around him, and then began seeking the power to break free, the chance to break free.

Finally, he left this place without hesitation.

…

When night fell, she set up a Camp. A simple campfire roasted the prey she had casually caught. She finally began facing this World alone, familiar yet strange.

Little Bear lay obediently beside her, sensing its owner’s troubled mood, and thus acting sensible and obedient. Perhaps it was this very craftiness that allowed it to survive in Bran’s hands? The first time she saw it, she liked this big furry creature. This utterly unreliable giant bear was now her only companion.

She patted Little Bear’s huge head and said, “I know you understand. You’ve always been smart, so smart you fooled Bran, and he didn’t even kill you for meat. You even managed to tag along, freeloading food and drink, all the way to the Manor.”

Little Bear growled unhappily.

“You need to know, Bran never allowed you into the Manor. You also knew the consequences of sneaking into the Manor, that’s why you always obediently clung to the top of the wall every day.

You always wished your master was him. Clearly, with a beast’s intuition, you knew he was much more dangerous than me. I was really foolish not to have seen it through your reactions.

But, he looked down on you and casually gave you to me.”

Little Bear sneezed, as if catching a cold.

“This time, I’m going to complete my Trial, just like Bran. You might follow me and come back, or you might not.”

Little Bear’s ears perked up, sensing tension and unease. It heard the firmness in the mistress’s words. No longer the casual gentleness of before.