After a fitful night haunted by super-realistic dreams of a dying Lily in his arms, Claud woke up to a glowing, grey sky. In Rimestar, the only difference between day and night was the all-important question of whether the sky was glowing or not — the power of the Frozen Emperor had blotted out everything else.

The other members of Risti’s family avoided looking at him as Claud joined the rest of the Cadenza family at the dining table, and Claud wasn’t one to impose himself on random people either.

“B-breakfast’s here, sir,” said the young woman who had guided him yesterday.

Claud eyed the rich bowl of soup and raised an eyebrow. “Soup? I have the feeling something as savoury as this is better for dinner…”

“S-Soup’s the staple dish for meals now,” Aurelia replied. “It’s hot, filling and fends off the cold more effectively than anything else.”

She paused. “What meals are eaten outside Rimestar?”

That question drew everyone’s attention, and Claud rubbed his nose. Clearly, none of these fellows had been out of Rimestar…but wasn’t the setting for this trial a bit too well-done? The food, the populace, the backstory — why would a trial be this detailed?

“Well, mostly meat dishes.”

“We also have meat,” said Aurelia. “But it’s once a week. We don’t get it much nowadays. Most of our diet is soup with soybeans and other, uh, healthy and good for us things.”

“Soybeans?” Claud had no idea what soybeans were, but they sounded like a vegetable. “Where did soybeans come from? Last I checked, vegetables need sunlight to grow, and this place apparently hasn’t seen sunlight for a long time.”

“There’s an underground farm that’s warm, and the light’s provided for by some artefact called an Illuminator or something,” Aurelia replied. “Riveting stuff. It’s where most of our fast-growing crops grow, allowing us to feed the city.”

“What about the people outside the city?”

“Most of them hunt outside the Frozen Coffin’s domain. A few of them even have farms beyond this place of ice and snow, but these places are protected by very powerful folders,” Aurelia replied. “We get our weekly supply of meat from these farms and hunters by trading them with other things, like lifestones and skillstrips.”

Claud nodded. “I see.”

He sniffed the soup. It was rich, and Claud could tell that he would probably have a comfortable little feeling of warmth in his stomach for the next few hours after drinking it. Like a little ball of fire, it would drive away the chill if he chose to walk around the city.

“Don’t let me keep you from your daily dose of warmth.” Claud picked up his spoon and took a few sips, before smiling. The rich, savoury broth chased away his hunger in a way he never knew possible, and he was on the verge of licking his empty bowl by the time he was done.

“What is this?” Claud asked.

“It’s soybeans fermented with salt and koji, plus some barley,” Aurelia replied. “Snowflakes, you don’t know what they’re made of?”

Claud had no idea what she was talking about, but it sounded like some really cool stuff. Nodding, he licked his lips and said, “This is really great…”

He leaned back for a moment and closed his eyes, indulging himself in the savoury warmth that was emanating out from his stomach. Time transformed into a blur in that moment, and when he next came to, most of Risti’s family members had dispersed.

Claud, who was hoping to talk with them more, felt a bit disappointed, but before he could say anything to Aurelia, who was reading a book, she had already gotten up.

“My grandaunt awaits. Follow me!”

Stifling a comfortable yawn, Claud followed Aurelia as she led the way to Risti’s room, and after knocking politely for a few seconds, she stood to the side and lowered her head.

The bedroom door opened a few seconds later.

“I hope your stay here has been comfortable so far,” said Risti. “Aurelia, today’s soup was particularly good. Give the chef my compliments.”

“Yes, grandaunt.”

Risti patted her head. “Follow me. We’re going to the conference room. The other members of the Seekers of Life are waiting for me.”

“Wait,” said Claud, “didn’t you say the Seekers of Life were…”

“New members,” Risti replied. “Can’t call myself an organisation if there’s no one else around, right? Most of them are the remaining tri and tetra-folders from two hundred years ago, before…well, you get the point. My own aunt is part of the Seekers of Life too, which is why she doesn’t come to this house.”

“I don’t see the problem there…”

“Well, since everyone here calls me grandaunt, they have to either call her great-grandaunt or ancestor,” Risti replied, an impish grin on her face. “And she hates that with a passion. And…wait, never mind. No point introducing you to them. None of them will dare to speak to you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Claud complained.

“You know better than me why no one else would dare to speak to you, alright?” Risti replied, rolling her eyes. “Come on, Claud, let’s go scare the living daylights out of the others.”

Claud couldn’t remember if the original Risti was this mischievous, but he had an inkling that this illusory reality had done a damn good job at making the whole thing seem like the future.

He shivered as a thought struck him. Maybe this trial was one of the many possible futures that could occur; from the way he saw it, there were too many things he didn’t know that had been spelt out. For instance, in this trial, Risti had mentioned that the Moon Lords had renamed themselves to the Seekers of Life. While he did indeed worry about the name of their organisation, he wouldn’t put it past the others to change the name, especially since the Moons were the current rulers of the Istrel Sovereignty.

In fact, the entire backstory behind this trial seemed a bit too detailed to be made up. Other than his unbelievable strength, the rest seemed more like a portent of things to come, and Claud shivered.

Maybe this trial was trying to show him something.

As he followed Risti to the conference room, his mind wandered over to his Omniscience and Omen of Entropy. Was it a coincidence that the one skill that could likely tell him what he needed to know was sealed off indefinitely by his Omen of Entropy? Given that Omen of Entropy was almost certainly the culprit behind this sealing, there might be something at stake here.

After all, everything had to have a reason.

Either that, or his Omen of Entropy would seal any skill that attempted to peer into his secrets. After all, he had managed to look at his upgraded active skills and passive skills, but…

Claud made an annoyed voice in his throat, and Risti turned to look at him. “Something wrong?”

He glanced to his side, and then noted with some surprise that Aurelia was gone. This particular turn of events suited him well, however, and Claud replied, “I’m just wondering how my skills all became level 11 and evolved to their pinnacle forms.”

“Level 11…” Risti shook. “Damn. “You must have been using them in your dreams or something, I’m not sure. Or maybe something happened to you, and you inherited all that power. As for the evolved skills…I don’t know. You’ll have to find out yourself. You’re the one who entered the Trial of Aeons after all; everyone saw you fighting with the Red God afterwards.”

“Everyone saw me?” Claud repeated.

“Yeah. Everyone.” Risti paused. “You didn’t know?”

Claud made a non-committal grunt, before changing the topic. “So, what plan have you come up with? How are we going to lay down a foundation for the people here?”

“You seriously just intend on leaving the brain work to me, right?” Risti muttered.

“I don’t know the way around here, and the only thing I can actually contribute is probably my lifespan,” Claud replied. “Best to let the professionals handle the rest. Besides, I’ve been dreaming for two centuries. A whole bunch of people will just feel displeased if I muscle in right here and try to establish power for myself.”

“At least you do recognise reality.” Risti shook her head.

“Yeah. It’s best if I just portray myself as the guy who’s giving out freebies and leaving the distribution to the people here, you know.” Claud rubbed his neck. “You guys figure it out while I try to think of what else I can do here.”

He had the feeling that giving out his lifespan wouldn’t cut it. There had to be something else, and…

“Hmm. Maybe I should go and kill a few gods or something,” Claud muttered. “Or at least annihilate their places of power. A few good strikes would work, right?”

He thought about it for a moment. It sounded like a viable plan, and since this was an illusory trial, murdering the footsoldiers of the enemy wasn’t going to give him much guilt. Besides, they were definitely enemies through and through too; even in the real world, he wasn’t going to think too hard for confirmed hostiles.

“It’s dangerous,” Risti replied.

“You’re talking to me, you know. And I repelled my fair share of gods, Moons and the Dark. I think I’ll be fine.”

Was there anything else that he needed to do? Claud racked his brains, but there wasn’t anything else he could come up with for now.

“Alright,” said Risti. “Let’s go.”