Chapter 1 Ascending the Peak in Heavy Armor

Climbing up the mountain clad in heavy armor—at first, Hao Ren thought the knights before him were ordinary humans, but after seeing these people scaling the mountain with dozens of kilograms of full-body armor and various weapons, including longswords, throwing axes, and hand crossbows, as easily as if they were walking on flat ground and barely breathing hard, he realized that these guys were probably superhuman in another sense.

The ancient gates of the temple had collapsed, and the open doorways and the gaping hole above the main hall made it completely impossible to shelter from the wind and rain. Centuries of abandonment had left many parts of the sanctuary covered in dust and rubble. The empty hall could not provide any comfortable resting environment, yet even in this terrible situation, it was already precious to the exhausted knights.

Just as Hao Ren had said, there was no chaotic mist on the holy mountain. Perhaps the abandoned temple was still providing a faint protective force, preventing chaos from invading. The moment she stepped into the temple, Veronica felt a reassuring aura flow into her heart. She looked at Hao Ren gratefully, then exhaled and sat on the ground without any regard for appearances. The other knights were no better off than she was.

"Your Highness..." The old knight Morian couldn't help but speak, but Veronica waved her hand. "Sir, don't worry about such things. It's important to recover our strength. I can feel the power of order here. Although it's weak, it's enough to dispel the chaos. It's safe here."

Morian blinked. There was no doubting the "detect chaos" talent passed down in the Taros royal bloodline, so he also exhaled, removed his cumbersome gauntlets and waist armor, and placed his longsword within reach, but he still stood upright next to his princess.

"Incredible..." The old knight surveyed the abandoned temple, his gaze sweeping over the ancient and exquisite murals and reliefs, lingering on the statues of ancient heroes for a long time. Finally, he saw the large hole above the temple, and the things floating weightlessly in the hole, "...This is a legacy of the previous era. I never thought that such a holy land would actually remain in this desolate wilderness... I've truly broadened my horizons in this lifetime."

"I told you, there must be good things in those ancient books," Veronica smiled weakly. Although she was a leader among the younger generation of the kingdom, she was still too young. The accumulated fatigue of the past few days was now being released all at once. She felt as if she could barely stand. She looked at her disheveled appearance and shook her head self-deprecatingly. "Those old geezers in the aristocratic court will definitely criticize me again for my lack of decorum—they haven't found an excuse to attack me for a long time since last year's pilgrimage festival."

"Decorum, decorum," Morian shook his head, his tone full of disdain. "Those guys, even if you throw them into the border of chaos, they would only talk about decorum and etiquette to the servants of chaos."

Veronica smiled, then turned to look at Hao Ren. "Powerful hermit, thank you for your help. Please forgive my rude behavior at this moment—my knights and I are simply too tired. I am Veronica Saint Taros, the eldest princess of the Taros Kingdom."

The knight princess spoke meticulously, but she still leaned lazily against the stone wall behind her, appearing out of place, but she was a person of character. Hao Ren was slightly surprised after hearing her introduction:

He didn't expect that this girl, covered in blood, disheveled, and sitting in an unladylike manner, was actually a princess. Has triggering plot missions become so easy these days? How is it that the family background of someone I save is always royalty...

But after a slight surprise, he felt more indifferent, because princesses were not rare to him. He even had a demon princess at home, who spent her days holding a wrench, taking things apart and being scolded by the adults until she cried.

This indifference was interpreted in another way by Veronica.

Hao Ren didn't know what the princess was thinking. He quickly recalled his all-purpose self-introduction: "Oh, Your Highness, hello, hello, I'm a traveler passing by..."

He choked back the words before he could finish, because he suddenly remembered the damned natural environment nearby: a barren stone mountain, a desolate and lifeless wilderness, and the monster legion emerging from the mist—although he didn't know what those monsters and mist were all about, it was obvious that any place haunted by these things was definitely not suitable for a road trip. Seeing the miserable state of these royal regulars in the wilderness, Hao Ren figured that even the most suicidal travelers in this world probably wouldn't come to this hellhole for inspiration.

These thoughts flashed through his mind quickly, and his mouth reacted just as fast: "...Ah, I can't seem to remember where I came from either."

A look of confusion appeared on Veronica's face. "You...have you lost your memory?"

"Not exactly, just a bit confused," Hao Ren scratched his head. "I found myself in this place when I woke up. I vaguely remember some things about this place, but I'm completely clueless about the outside world. What kind of person do I look like?"

"Lost memory...awakening?" Veronica frowned, quickly organizing and combining the knowledge she had gathered from the royal library and her scholar mentors. "This seems to explain everything... Could it be that you have been sleeping in this temple since the holy war many years ago?"

"Holy war?" Hao Ren was taken aback. "Oh, right, the holy war. I remember there was a war going on here before I fell asleep."

A look of realization appeared on Veronica's face, and her gaze towards Hao Ren became even more serious and respectful.

And in this brief conversation, Hao Ren had roughly guessed what the princess was thinking.

She probably regarded him as an ancient person who had been sleeping in this temple for many years—since there was a temple on this stone mountain, it meant that this place had not always been so desolate. Perhaps many years ago, this was also a prosperous religious holy land, but as time passed, it had been swallowed by the wilderness, and the fact that he, a guy who came out of the temple, naturally made people think of the legends of ancient sleeping people.

In a world where magic existed, such a thing did not seem so unimaginable.

In any case, after working as an inspector for so many years, Hao Ren had already developed the habit of facing any situation with the greatest compatibility, remaining calm and accepting whatever happened. This was the prerequisite for smoothly integrating into any observer role.

So he tried not to speak, and just listened to the princess and the old knight beside her talking, occasionally interjecting a word or two, but hardly revealing any valuable information—perfectly fitting the identity of an "ancient guardian" who had been sleeping in the temple for many years and knew nothing about the world.

"When did you wake up?" Veronica looked at Hao Ren curiously. She found the clothes on this man very novel. They were clean and tidy, and showed no signs of having been slept in for many years with their owner, which puzzled her. "Did the ancient people of the previous era wear these kinds of clothes?"

"I only woke up a few days ago," Hao Ren shook his head. "I don't know much about the things of the previous era either. By the way, what's the situation in the outside world now? Is there still a war going on?"

Only being cautious would put him in a passive position. He had to take the initiative and ask questions before the other party asked more questions that would make him difficult, which was also Hao Ren's work experience.

"Peace has never truly come to the land of Coro," the old knight beside Veronica said, "The servants of chaos attack every century, and they are more aggressive each time. This year is the seventh year of the Chaos War. They have come more fiercely than any other time in recorded history, and many lands of order have fallen."

A look of shame also appeared on Veronica's face. "We are ashamed of our ancestors who fought bravely—in the seventh year of the Chaos Invasion, we have lost more land than in any other century. The border of order has retreated to near the Twilight Wall... The Theocracy has stabilized the defenses of the Twilight Wall, but the land outside is now half-corrupted."

Hao Ren turned his face slightly: this princess was apologizing to her ancestors, but he felt that this fake "ancient guardian" could not bear it...

However, the words of the old knight and Veronica also gave him some information that made him care, which made him think:

This place seemed to be deeply troubled by a long and discontinuous war. Enemies called "Chaos" would invade the civilized world every century. The people of this world seemed to have their own set of methods to resist the invasion, but their resistance was still difficult.

He had already seen the disaster of the First Born's source blood in the Dream Plane, the evil cult of the Brain Monster, and the army of the Rebel. But what exactly was this "Chaos"?

Perhaps it had something to do with the "Mad Lord" of the Dream Plane? But he had already come into contact with the shadow monsters summoned by the cosmic fragment, and had also greeted the monsters that condensed from the mist. The two seemed to be not quite the same...