The Moon Thief

Heinald was stunned to hear the details about Fredor's daughter's mission. The purpose of this mission is to go to another realm and find Aenarath's Sunstone there. Every five hundred years, as the planets align, a natural dimensional gateway opened in a area within the boundaries of the Ruthas Academy.

What surprised Heinald the most was that natural dimensional gateway!

He had learned from many of the sources he had previously read that there were dimensional gateways from the Ancient Ainsar period. However, these dimensional gateways were constructed by some Ancient Ainsars who had gained understanding in the Concept of Space.

The dimensional gateway within the Ruthas Academy was not an Ainsar creation.

Every five hundred years, when the gateway was opened, Ruthas Academy promised invaluable rewards to anyone who could go there and bring the Aenarath's Sunstone. However, no one had been able to do this. Moreover, the fact that most of the people who went did not return or could not return, caused a decrease in the number of Ainsars who wanted to go there.

Fredor was not forcing Heinald to go on this mission with his daughter. However, he knew that a potion genius, whom even his own brother was impressed by and accepted as his apprentice, would be of great help to his daughter.

That's why he wanted to talk to him face to face.

Heinald knew nothing about Aenarath's Sunstone and the realm where the dimensional gateway opened. He admitted that seeing another realm would be very interesting, but he didn't want to accept the offer immediately, not knowing the dangers there.

Ever since Fredor had given him the details of the mission, he had just remained silent and thought.

"I cannot accept your request until I have sufficient knowledge of Aenarath's Sunstone and this new 'realm' you speak of." Heinald finally revealed his thoughts.

"Aenarath's Sunstone was the most precious treasure Ruthas Academy had. Rumor has it that this stone contained the Primordial Flame..." Fredor stroked his beard.

"Primordial Flame?" Heinald had never heard of it before.

Fredor nodded and continued, "The Primordial Flame is a fragment of the first source of fire that appeared in the creation of the universe. It is said that anyone who observes it enough can grasp many principles of the Law of Fire. Unfortunately it was stolen by a traitor and smuggled into the realm we are talking about."

Heinald nodded absently and asked, "Does this realm have a name?"

"It is called Starlight Realm." Fredor answered.

"So, how was it smuggled?" Heinald asked.

Fredor sighed and began to speak, "As far as I know, that traitor who smuggled Aenarath's Sunstone learned the secrets of the dimensional gateway before anyone else and devised a plan, the day the planets aligned nearly 2000 years ago, when the dimensional gateway opened , he escaped by using it.

"And what do you know about the Starlight Realm?" Heinald asked.

"Actually, it's not much different from our world, the people living there are also divided into those who have Magic Energy and those who do not, but they don't call themselves 'Ainsar'. There are also many types of Magical Beasts out there, and as you can imagine, there are many dangers, just like in our world. However, It's smaller than our world and most of the resources are still there. There are many resources as well as danger."

Fredor began to tell what he knew. No doubt there were many dangers there, but there were also many sources. Finding resources for spirit cultivation meant taking the ultimate step to breakthrough to a higher level.

After thinking for a while, Heinald decided to accept the offer. According to his calculations in his head, going to this Starlight Realm would bring him some benefits, besides, the danger there was no more than that of the Ainsar World.

The biggest factor in him making this decision was that he would experience a dimensional travel. If he was lucky, he might gain some understanding of dimensional principles when he made that travel. Even the resources in that realm were secondary to this.

While Heinald was talking with Fredor, he also got some information about how long the dimensional gateway will be active. This dimensional gateway remained active on this world for 15 days. On the other hand, in Starlight Realm, it will be active for exactly 360 days. This was because the timekeeping between dimensions was different. An hour in the Ainsar World was equal to 1 day in the Starlight Realm.

Fredor's daughter Tisha would arrive at this castle a week later, according to his estimations. So a room was prepared for Heinald in the castle.

Fredor was quite pleased when Heinald accepted the offer. That's why he said that he would give him some education about his specialty, Rune Defining. Although he was curious about Fredor's level, he didn't ask because it would be rude. This man was concealing his energy waves, so it was not possible for him to perceive his level, but he guessed that he was at least a Level 2 Ainsar.

After all, he was Grandmaster Albin Redsand's brother, so it's likely that he had many opportunities.

Since Heinald had just arrived from the travel, he was allowed to rest on the first day. Fredor would start teaching him the next day.

When he went to the room prepared for him, he enjoyed a hot bath and then lay down on the large and comfortable bed in the room. He fell asleep as he considered the various thoughts running through his mind about the Starlight Realm.

The next day he got a call from Fredor and went to his room.

As Heinald entered the room, Fredor gave him a glance and asked, "What do you know about runes?"

He was a little taken aback when he was asked a question as soon as he entered the room.

"Well... Runes are energy patterns with a specific effect. According to the Ancient Ainsars, everything is rune-derived, including magic..." Heinald began to say what he knew.

Fredor stopped him, raising a finger, and said, "Not according to, it is! Everything is energy, and in runes, as you said, are energy patterns."

Runes were actually quite important to an Ainsar. Because even the simplest magic model used various runes and symbols. These runes and symbols determined the quality of magic. For example, strong fire runes were required for a strong fire-based spell. The rank among the spells was determined by the power level and function of these runes.

"And do you know how runes were discovered?" Fredor asked.

"I do not know." Heinald shook his head. He only knew that the Ancient Ainsars had somehow discovered many runes, but he did not know how.

Fredor grinned and asked, "Have you ever wondered why the Arkana Stones are valuable?"

Heinald frowned. He never expected such a question.

Seeing his reaction, Fredor smiled and said, "There is an important connection between the Arkana Stones and the Runes."

"Really? How?" Heinald was shocked.

"I won't ask if you know anything about Rune Tablets because I know you haven't. It's a concept even I've just learned." Fredor waved his hand and a red crystal tablet appeared in his hand.

Heinald could feel waves of pure energy emanating from this tablet.

Fredor pointed at the palm-sized tablet in his hand and said, "This is a Rune Tablet. If you combine enough Arkana Stones and manage to fuse them with a high pressure force, you can obtain a Rune Tablet."

"This…" Heinald didn't know what to say.

"I found this tablet I hold in my hand in an ancient relic. As soon as you send your Magic Energy to this tablet, some runes will appear that only you can see. The downside is that you will only be able to see these runes once, and as you know, if you forget or mess up even the smallest part of a rune, its effect will never occur. You can't get it."

Heinald's eyes lit up as Fredor spoke of all this.

A single glance was all it took for Heinald to remember anything perfectly. It certainly wouldn't be a problem for him.

"These information i gave you are very important and rare. Don't tell anyone about it, a knowledge that everyone knows is less and less valuable. Don't forget that!" Fredor had a very serious expression on his face.

Heinald noi solemnly and said, "These information are so important. Thank you, sir. Don't worry, I won't spread these information.

Fredor handed him the tablet in his hand and said, "As you will help my daughter, I will be generous to you. Here, send your magic energy to this tablet and try to memorize runes which will appear as much as possible. Remember, you will only be able to see it once."

Heinald took the tablet and sent the magic energy to it.

At that moment, a faint red light emitted from the tablet, and hundreds of tiny runes appeared around the stone and disappeared within a second. This process was repeated continuously for about half a minute. After that, no more runes appeared.

Heinald had managed to see every rune that appeared, and he remembered them all very clearly.

However, he deliberately put on an angry expression and said, "They disappeared so fast, I only caught a few."

Fredor laughed lightly and said, "That's the worst part! I've only been able to catch a few either."