A Will Sovereign Chapter 21: Chapter 21— Arrival at the Eight peak Academy.

Read chapter 21 of A Will Sovereign by Sloche on NovelPedia.

--- The fire had long since died. Only grey ash remained. Soldret slowly opened his eyes. The cold mountain wind brushed against his face as the first rays of dawn appeared beyond the horizon. For a moment — he simply sat there. The conversation from the previous night continuously replayed inside his mind. The Martial Ancestor. The Eight Peaks. Depth. Foundation. Intent. Everything felt far larger than he had initially imagined. Then — he noticed something. The opposite side of the campfire was empty. Soldret blinked. San Zheng was gone. Only an empty liquor gourd rested beside a half-burned log. There wasn't even a farewell. Soldret stared at the empty spot before shaking his head helplessly. "...Of course." Though he hadn't known San Zheng for long, departing without a word seemed exactly like something he would do. He stood up. His body felt completely recovered. Not even the slightest trace of soreness remained. The more he thought about it — the more ridiculous San Zheng seemed. A martial practitioner capable of casually beating him unconscious. Healing injuries that should have required days to recover from. And possessing knowledge and insight far beyond anyone Soldret had ever properly conversed with — though he doubted most would carry such depth of thought regardless. Yet somehow — he still acted like a wandering drunk. Soldret couldn't help but smile slightly. Then — his gaze shifted toward the distant horizon. The mountains. Even from here — their outlines could already be seen. Massive. Ancient. Stretching endlessly across the landscape. The Great Ten Thousand Mountains. His destination. Soldret mounted the Astra-bike once more. The engine awakened with a low mechanical hum. Silver essence lines illuminated across the frame. The anti-gravity rings rotated slowly. Then — the bike surged forward. Leaving the extinguished campfire behind. --- Three days passed. The closer Soldret traveled toward the eastern interior — the more dramatic the landscape became. Towering mountain ranges pierced the clouds. Ancient stone roads wound through cliffs older than recorded history. Soldret rode through most of it in silence. He thought about Zephyr. About the fragments that surfaced at strange hours — not quite memories, not quite dreams — impressions of a man whose hands had known the same path Soldret was only beginning to find. He thought about Caelon and Seraphina, and finally Lyanna. About the look on her face the morning he left. He thought about House Del Ray and what was waiting on the other side of all of this. Occasionally — he would see martial practitioners leaping between mountain faces hundreds of meters above the ground. Others crossed the skies atop flying artifacts. Some even traveled atop enormous spirit beasts. Everything felt increasingly distant from the world he originally knew. --- Eventually — on the fourth day — Soldret finally saw it. And for the first time since entering the Eastern Continent — he brought his Astra-bike to a complete stop. Silence. Because standing before him — was the Great Ten Thousand Mountains. The name suddenly felt inadequate. Mountain after mountain stretched beyond sight. Thousands. Perhaps tens of thousands. Each one towering toward the clouds. Ancient forests covered their lower slopes. Countless waterfalls descended from impossible heights.The entire region felt less like a mountain range — and more like a separate world entirely. Yet — among all those mountains — eight stood above the rest. Eight colossal peaks. Eight impossible mountains. Each one towering beyond the clouds. They dominated everything around them. Like kings overlooking their domain. Soldret felt his breathing slow slightly. Because even from this distance — their presence was overwhelming. One radiated a sharp aura that felt capable of splitting the sky itself. Another seemed as steady and immovable as eternity. One burned like an unextinguished furnace. One resembled a spear thrust upward toward the star