Without giving Kyran a chance to speak, Ste went on.


    "I want to tell you a story," she started. "It was a story about four friends...."


    Kyran did not attempt to interrupt Ste, realizing that what she was about to tell him was the story about the four people he was most interested in.


    Ste went on to tell Kyran the story between herself, Can, La, and Zane.


    As Kyran already knew thanks to True Void''s unexpected slip of the tongue, Can was ostracized by his family because he did not possess any magic. He was also treated unfairly because his father never married his mother. Nevertheless, he grew up in his father''s family because he was the first ''male'' of the first son who could carry the family name.


    It was a strange practice of the Ashtons where the first male of the first son had to marry outside of the family to spread their influence. No matter the circumstances of the first male. It was for this reason that Can was betrothed against his will to the eldest daughter of the Tower Family— who at that time had gathered enough military strength and influence.


    One would think that being betrothed to someone who did not possess any magic, the Tower Family''s eldest daughter— Ste, would be against it. However, they were somewhat surprised that she epted the news pretty well.


    The reason was definitely not because she was smitten by Can. It was more with Ste''s nature and the fact that she already knew about him by then and even considered him as a close friend.


    Being ostracized by his family did not prevent Can to find people he could call real friends.


    Can met them during a gathering. At that time, he was bullied by his cousins and was saved by Zane. After that, the two became best friends.


    Zane was already good friends with La and Ste because their families were business partners. La was also betrothed to him not because he liked her, but to strengthen the bond between the Regis and the Winfrey Families.


    The Regis Family was only an average family at that time, but they were known for their powerful physique— a feat that magesck.


    The Winfrey Family coveted their physique but also did not want to be overly tied with them, thus, they betrothed the youngest Winfrey daughter who had a weak body constitution.


    In any case, the four became friends with Zane at the lead.


    During that time, the Human ne had yet to experience any war, and most people were busy with expanding their territories or establishing connections.


    However, when Can turned thirteen, the first invasion finally happened and in a short span of time— a little over two years, the number of mages who had the ability to fend for the humans was greatly reduced. Ultimately, they started to enlist mages who had only graduated from school. There were even people who had yet to graduate but were already called to the military.


    Zane and Ste were one of these mages because they were pretty powerful even though they were still underage.


    With the two being dispatched to different ces to participate in war, Can and La, who were both considered ''weak'' because one was an ordinary human, while the other was always sick— were left to wait for them.


    Soon, the two became close. One could say they were somewhat of a kindred spirit because both had a ''weak'' constitution.


    However, Can soon began to notice something strange about La. He once told Ste and Zane about it but never really borated on why he thought so.


    Soon, the war escted and even average humans were drafted into service. Nevertheless, these people did not participate in the war itself but provided assistance by infiltrating enemy camps, assisting in intel gathering, or doing magic research.


    Can joined thetter and focused on deciphering the enemy''snguage.


    But during his research, he discovered something that he did not tell Ste or Zane. It was also connected to the strange behavior he noticed in La.


    Finally, Can managed to decipher thenguage of the invaders and discovered a way to ''stop'' the war.


    Up to this point in Ste''s story, Kyran had already guessed most of it. It coincides with what Zephyr had said, True Void''s offhanded remarks, and some information he found in the Shaiha temple.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Ste continued rying the story by saying that Can became an ambassador of some sort between the humans and the invaders.


    ? Finally, Ste confirmed Kyran''s guess about who these invaders were.


    They were White Lily''s people, the Spirits who had just lost their ne to the ongoing Sovereign War.


    As Can interacted with the Spirits, he discovered that the invaders consisted of three factions. He tried to exin this to the humans leading the war against the invaders, but no one believed him. Part of the reason no one believed him was the fact that he was known as the ''illegitimate'' heir, as well as the fact that he did not possess any magic.


    At that time, Zane alreadymanded a toon. He was considered the youngestmander then, and when he heard Can''s discovery, he believed him and did his own research by going to the ces Can had mentioned to capture a few of the invaders.


    Ste also did the same. Although she did notmand a toon, she was assigned to logistics, making it easier for her to move around different human strongholds all over the continent.


    After a few years, they finally proved Can''s discovery by presenting two different races who possessed different magicws from the Spirits.


    But by the time Zane and Ste seeded in proving Can''s discovery— unbeknownst to them— thetter was already in the middle of a ''transformation.''


    The transformation actually started the moment Can interacted with White Lily and the Spirits. Because, unlike humans, White Lily and the Spirits were far more sensitive to magic energies and they exined to Can that it was not that he did not possess any magic, but that it was too potent he was practically ''sending'' the magic energies in his surroundings into the void.


    At this point in Ste''s story, Kyran noticed something amiss. He remembered Zane received the Draconic core from the Dragon King, thus, making Zane not a naturally born mage with Draconic magic. This meant that Zane''s innate magic was different. As to what it was, he had yet to ask Ste.


    Apart from this, Ste never mentioned possessing an innate Time magic.


    Kyran had an inkling that like Zane, Ste likely inherited the Time core from someone else. Just like how it was implied that La also received the Soul core from someone else.


    Then what about Can? Who did he receive the Void core from? Because so far, from the way Ste was rying her story, it appeared that Can did not receive it from anyone but had it right from the start. He only failed to understand how to ess it because of the Void''s nature.


    As much as Kyran wanted to ask Ste about this, he had a feeling she would not be able to tell him. Can had kept far too many secrets even to the people he considered ''friends.''


    Going back to Ste''s story, she then exined how Can disappeared for a couple of years, and when he returned, he was already a different person— at least, that was how it seemed to them.


    But the truth, Ste knew Can remained the same. The only change that happened was he now possessed a strange magic that even the other invaders seemed to fear.


    In any case, when Can returned, one of the invaders, White Lily, and her people, suddenly disappeared. At that time, Ste and Zane did not know why they had disappeared, but eventually, they would know that it was because Can created a new ''world'' for them to live in. Thus, it was no longer necessary for them to stay in the Human ne.


    Or to be precise, the Spirits'' new world existed in the Human ne but was not physically in the same ''line.''


    After White Lily and her people left, Can went to ''negotiate'' with the second race trying to invade the Human ne.


    However, negotiating with the second race was somewhat hard, because they did not possess any ''body.''


    The moment Ste said this, Kyran immediately recalled the Remnant Souls hiding in the Misty Forest.


    All this time, Kyran had thought those Remnant Souls were humans who had died during the Chaos Era and then the Soul Emperor forcefully summoned their souls to use for her undying army.


    Just as Kyran was nning to interrupt Ste''s story to ask about it, he remembered the bluish-green sea serpent who became the soul of Tritus''s trident.


    Could it be that the second race was actually Remnant Souls from another ne that the Soul Emperor forcefully took to the Human ne?