Time had passed. Silver, now nine years old, was sitting facing the eastern sea with Lingxu beside him, reading a book that Silver had written. It was a book filled with cooking recipes Silver had thought of, and Lingxu, being the foodie he was, grew deeply interested in it.
As Silver watched the horizon, he glanced at Lingxu. A question popped into his head."Say, Slanted Eyes, I never knew this, but you're a prince. So what are your dreams?" he asked, his eyes still focused on the distant horizon.
Lingxu heard Silver's question, closed his book, and began to think of an answer. He then glanced at his sword."Maybe… to become a name that will be remembered," he said, not even sure about his own answer. He had never thought about it before. He was a straightforward person, one who did things when they needed to be done. He then glanced at Silver's back and smiled, thinking he knew what Silver would say."What about you?" he asked.
"It's about time the warring era stopped, don't you think? Someone needs to put a stop to this farce anyway," said Silver, unusually serious beneath his usual carefree attitude. He had seen a lot over the past two years. He had seen Bruda, his mentor, lose an arm after fighting the Khala'ad tribe. He had seen the warriors of neighboring tribes who became mercenaries to earn food for their people return only with the fallen bodies of their comrades. He had heard that the same things were happening all across the continent. The once carefree boy now used his warm, kind smile to hide the truths he had learned about the world.
"So my dream? Well, yeah, I'll be the one to put the continent under one banner. I don't know how, but I know I will. Help me with that," said Silver, grinning as he turned to face Lingxu, who shook his head, smiling.
"Sure, I'll help you. But when the time comes that you'll need to erase Baiyue from history, fight me with your full power," said Lingxu, hinting that he wouldn't back down even if Silver pointed his sword at his empire.
"Nah, I wouldn't. If I need to destroy Baiyue, then I'll make it kneel. But I can't point my sword with the intent to kill if I were to face you, so please surrender, ahahaha," said Silver, laughing it off. He knew—Silver knew—that such a scenario might happen, and he also knew that if it did, he wouldn't be able to make a choice. So, as always, he laughed it off.
Lingxu also knew why Silver laughed it off. "Have you heard of the Snow White Princess of the North? It's rumored she has the same power as the Saint of the Old Age," said Lingxu, diverting the conversation.
"Hmm? I heard about her from a traveling merchant of the Northern Empire, but who is the Saint of the Old Age you're talking about?" asked Silver, unaware of the six legendary figures known across the continent.
"It's about six legends—their power appears only once in a millennium. Your power is the same as one of them, you know. Wait, I thought you already knew that," said Lingxu, surprised.
"Huh? No, I never heard of them. Ah, so that's why, when I told my father, he seemed happy but not overly surprised. Do you know the name of the person who had the same power as me?" Silver asked again, wanting to know more about the origin of his power.
"No, no one knew his name, as he always wore a mask. But those who saw or fought him said he was called Moonlight Echo. He appeared as long as the moon was high in the sky, and the way he appeared was like the echo of thunder in the dark of the moon—something like that. The element and everything were the same. I don't know if your power is exactly the same, but the way it works, it's almost identical to what's described in the legend," said Lingxu, explaining the story to Silver.
Silver fell deep into thought. 'Echo, huh? Not booming thunder? But echo?' he asked himself. Then, as he took a slow step forward, it happened. That one small step blinked him forward along the path he was walking. There were no marks, no sound, no sign of movement. He simply passed through space and appeared on another spot. The usual crackling noise was gone. The step was silent—like he hadn't devoured the space that separated the two points, but merely cut it for a brief moment and stitched it back together.
"Y-you… did you just?!" Lingxu, who saw what happened, was stunned. "What did you do?" he asked, not even wanting to try to understand what he had just witnessed.
"It's—well—it's walking. I just decided to walk, but I didn't take the step I needed. I just devoured the step itself, skipping it to reach the same distance. But I can only use it as a burst step, like when you jump. I can't do it continuously, and it has higher Aura consumption than the usual marking move. Well, I think I can do three burst steps in succession, though," said Silver.
Lingxu, understanding how the move worked, thought about its power and drawbacks. It was within limits—it was still possible to counter, but it would be difficult for anyone unaware of Silver's abilities. Essentially, Silver excelled in combat where his enemy didn't know the full scope of his power, or when his opponent couldn't react fast enough to sense his presence."You know, I think you're more suited to being an assassin than anyone in this world," said Lingxu after analyzing Silver's arsenal of abilities.
"Nah, that's boring. I need to give my enemies some kind of hope to fight me. If not, the readers would say I have some OP abilities and that I'm cheating. That would make the fight boring," said Silver, laughing.
"Readers? Do you plan to write your tale or something?" Lingxu asked, confused by what Silver was referring to.
As the two boys joked around, one of the tribe's warriors rode toward them."Warrior Blusna greets the Young Moon and the Prince of the East," Blusna said as he got down from his steed to greet the two of them.
"May the Moon be with you, Blusna. What happened? Why are you in such a rush?" asked Silver, curious about the warrior's flustered expression.
"The Khala'ad Tribe envoy has come to visit. He's now speaking with the Chief. The Chief wishes for you to attend the meeting, Young Moon. He also said that you can go ahead, and I'll escort the Prince back safely," said Blusna, his hand still on his chest.
Silver, having heard the news, nodded at Lingxu, signaling that he needed to go. As Lingxu nodded back, a loud crackling sound echoed as Silver disappeared—reappearing at the mark he had placed on his tent. He quickly got dressed and began walking toward the meeting tent, where his father was speaking with the Khala'ad tribe envoy.