The Moon Thief

Heinald immediately began to examine the surroundings after hearing the sound, nothing in sight. He was under some sort of invisible pressure and had mixed feelings.

"Who are you?" asked Heinald.

"I am a Palace Spirit. I am the guardian of the palace of Lord Aanton Rues."

"Who is Lord Aanton Rues?" Heinald asked.

"Lord Aanton was City Lord and Protector of the Rainbow Region. This palace was his palace."

Heinald had never heard of any of these names.In the present situation he should be very careful and not disrespectful, this was a place from the ancient Ainsar period. Lord Aanton must have been a mighty Ancient Ainsar, this spirit he left behind was certainly very important.

"How should I call you?" asked Heinald.

"Lord Aanton named me Ahnosh."

"Master Ahnosh, isn't this a place from the Ancient Ainsar period?" Heinald asked. He knew the answer but still wanted to confirm it.

"Ancient Ainsar?" Ahnosh let out a faint laugh.

Heinald continued to wait in silence. He was wondering what the Palace Spirit would say, could this place not belong to the Ancient Ainsar period?

"Time is a very complex concept ... Ancient Ainsar myth existed in the time of my lord, it still seems to exist."

"How many years ago did Lord Aanton live?" Heinald's eyebrows were slightly frowned.

"It is not known whether Lord Anton died or not, but this palace was built 5,300 years ago."

"Why is Lord Aanton's fate unknown?" Heinald asked, but received no answer from the Palace Spirit.

"Master, do you have full control of this palace?" Unable to get an answer to his previous question, Heinald asked another question.

"Yes."

"Has anyone else entered here lately?

"No."

Heinald's brows frowned slightly, the others must have been buried in the sand with him. Where had they gone?

"But many people came here in thousands of years." Ahnosh's voice was heard again after a little silence.

"This is a place under the sand, I fell here by accident." Heinald said.

"Oh? So you didn't come here in search of treasure?"

"I and my friends were hoping to find ruins from the Ancient Ainsar time around, but as I said, coming to this palace was the result of an accident." Heinald answered in a calm voice.

"And do you have any wish to seize the ruins of this palace?"

"Yes." Heinald said without hesitation because the remains would have been left for the benefit of future generations.

"Don't you want to know what happened to those who came here before?"

"Hm? What happened?" Heinald hesitated.

"They died." This clear answer by the Palace Spirit disturbed Heinald. There were traps in the ruins so that various ordinary people could not reach the ruins, but in the ruins like the palace where he is now, there were often tests, and these tests would be much more challenging than overcoming the traps.

"If I'm not mistaken, there will be a test, right?" Heinald asked slowly.

"True! But this will not be a test of your skills or spirit. The test you have to go through to reach the ruins in the palace is a very special test ..."

"How so?" Heinald's brows frowned slightly.

"I'll give you two options right here. The first option is to join the test, but I will not give you any information about the test. The second is to leave right away. Which one do you choose?"

"Leaving here." Heinald replied without a second thought. He was not a fool, and if he died, remains would be of no significance. However, it was bizarre that no one who had been here before had left.

Could this Palace Spirit be some kind of liar?

"Oh? I thought you wanted the remains." Palace Spirit voice seemed surprised.

"If I die, those remains are of no use to me. Besides, haven't any of those who have been here ever chosen to leave?" Heinald squinted slightly. Anything left from Ancient Ainsar would catch his attention. But he was not a greedy fool, he knew his life was more important than anything else. It was quite unreasonable to risk his life for a few remnants of which he did not know.

"None of them chose because the charm of the remains attracted them. Alright, now that you've made your choice, you can get out of here. But remember, you won't be able to enter here again."

At that time a large sphere formed behind Heinald, he felt a kind of energy he had never felt before from this sphere.

"This portal will get you out." the Palace Spirit Ahnosh said.

"Young man, stop!" Heinald heard a deep and deep voice as he walked towards the portal. It wasn't Asnosh's voice, it was another voice.

"Master Zelas?" Asnosh's astonished voice echoed around, and Heinald stood there, not realizing what was happening.

Was there another Palace Spirit?

"I sensed an ancient energy from you." The voice was heard again, the owner of this voice was another Palace Spirit named Zelas, but it was Ahnosh's senior.

"Did he notice the Moon Thief's eyes?" Heinald's heart began to beat rapidly at this thought.

"What do you mean?" Heinald pretended not to understand.

"Do you have an ancient treasure?"

"Why did you think that?" Heinald was very nervous.

"As a spirit that was justified from ancient times, I immediately notice the energy of something from ancient times. Anyway, of course I will not force you to reveal your secret, but I want to take you to my master's test. "

"Test?" Heinald narrowed his eyes.

I'm going to show you five mind runes. If you manage to construct these runes in your mind in one minute, you will pass the test. However, do not think that this test will be easy. The runes I'm going to show you are runes that will test your willpower and mind power as determined by our lord himself.

Heinald slightly nodded and said, "Ready!"

His mind was already so powerful since he got the Moon Thief's eyes, and he fully trusted his willpower since he trained for many years for it by his grandfather. Over the years, not having any childhood and just getting an education had strengthened his willpower considerably. He had had a hard time as a kid and was very bored, but he was starting to pay off.

Five runes appeared in front of Heinald, suspended in the air. These runes were as if forged from the fire itself. They appeared for a few seconds, then disappeared completely. Thanks to his impeccable memory, Heinald naturally had no trouble remembering them. 

However, he felt with certainty that his mental strength and willpower were starting to get more and more difficult when he tried to construct one of them in his mind. A feeling that was difficult to describe began to rise within him. He was starting to feel like a person who wanted to drop everything and go and never want to do anything again for the rest of his life.

He was beginning to feel his mental energy leaving him!

"Damn it's not worth it! I won't lose much if I just quit this ridiculous test and leave this place."

This thought popped up in his mind. He knew it was a trick his mind was playing on him because it was struggling. At the same time, it was also an indication that his willpower was rapidly diminishing. Even though he knew he shouldn't give up in this situation, he couldn't ease his discomfort.

After he had constructed the two mind runes in his mind, he clenched his teeth and fist with all his might and had to restrain himself not to give up.

"I have three more runes to construct in my mind... Damn, how am I going to hold on?"

Even though Heinald felt like his mind was going to explode and he thought about giving up a hundred times in a very short time, he managed to contain himself and finished constructing the remaining three runes in his mind before the time that given him had finished.

After the construction of each rune, an aura that he had never seen or felt before appeared around his body. It was as if invisible multicolored flames were emerging from his body and illuminating heaven and hell.

At the end of this process, his head ached a lot and his eyes were red. His ears were ringing from exerting himself too much, and his whole body was shaking uncontrollably. His whole body was covered with sweat.

"Young man, I have to admit that I was quite surprised…" The Palace Spirit's bewildered voice was heard, "How could you remember these runes properly even though you had such a hard time constructing them in your mind?"

Unfortunately, he didn't get an answer from her because Heinald had dropped to the ground and was holding his head, trying not to do or think about anything.

The Palace Spirit naturally agreed with him. This young man in front of him had passed a very, very difficult test, and he could only imagine the state of his mind.

After an unknown amount of time, Heinald recovered a little.

The Palace Spirit was not trying to test him any further to give him his reward. With just one thought of him, a phenomenon Heinald had never seen before began to materialize.

"This?" The environment had changed completely, and he saw a blue sphere hanging in the air before him. This sphere was like a living organism, emitting a kind of energy that Heinald had not felt before. This energy seemed completely unfamiliar to him, it was an experience that felt quite strange. He was accustomed to him as he was present in every human being with his Elemental Energy, he understood from the cold feeling he felt when he first experienced Dark Energy that it was Dark Energy. Another type of energy, Mystical Energy, came to his mind.

"Don't tell me..." Heinald's eyes widened.

A spiral of energy flew from the orb in front of Heinald towards him. When the energy vines reached him, he felt as if his whole soul and body were being examined. He felt his whole body numb, but this was not the numbness when you were paralyzed, more like the numbness you feel when your muscles relax when you lie down on a soft mattress.

After a while, the vines of energy disappeared and the blue sphere began to emit a dazzling glow, and a small white ball emerged from inside the sphere, which resembled a white pearl, flew directly into the center of his forehead.

When the white ball touched Heinald's forehead, he felt intense pain in the head, as if someone were sticking hundreds of needles into his brain. Fortunately, this was a process that only took a few seconds. That little ball was about Lord Aanton's some experiences of Mystical Energy. He was not able to perceive the information that had entered his mind at first, but later managed to take control.