Starlight shone from the top of the cave, covering Torge like a solidified galaxy waterfall.

Torge's old but steady gaze fell into the depths of Mark's eyes.

It was confirmed that the fire in Mark's eyes was not a flame of greed, but rather a persistence in exploring the unknown like a smelting furnace fire.

His calloused fingers tapped lightly on the cold stone table, making a dull sound of rocks rubbing against each other.

"My mission is not yet complete. I cannot leave..." The old patriarch repeated Mark's words in a low voice, his rough voice carrying a barely perceptible sigh. "Sure enough, there is a reason why the Church of Holy Light was able to successfully gain a foothold in the Central Continent during that turbulent era. Those Holy Knights are all people like you, right?"

Mark's mouth twitched.

He clearly said that he wanted to find a way home for Enzo, but how did this old dwarf hear it as if he was trying to find out the truth for the Church of Holy Light?

The reason why he vaguely mentioned that the things that fell in the Falling Star Lake might include things belonging to the God of Darkness was just to point out the old dwarf.

Tell him not to look at himself as young and try to fool himself.

Now that I'm here, I can't go back and tell Enzo that I only found his nearly extinct branch of the tribe...

At least bring back some last words...

Inside the ice cave, there was only the faint glow of starlight and the subtle crackling sound of the campfire burning the ice crystals.

The firelight outlined the drooping figures of the ice dwarves, and the star-blue skin exposed between the gaps in the hides flickered with their breathing, like fragments of stars frozen in eternal pain.

Mark did not avoid the gaze that could penetrate the veins.

"I came here at the behest of my companions." His voice was clear and steady, breaking the silence with an undeniable certainty. "His name is Enzo Greybeard. He is a dwarf who has slept at the bottom of Starfall Lake for over two hundred years. I am not here on behalf of the Church of the Holy Light!"

"Enzo...over two hundred years ago?"

The nodes of time are like heavy stones thrown into an ancient pond, instantly causing silent ripples in the solidified air.

Phew!

The bonfire suddenly exploded into a small ball of blue flame.

Several ice dwarves, tightly wrapped in thick animal skins that almost blended into the shadows, suddenly tensed up as if their bodies were pierced by invisible pickaxes!

The elbow joint covered with cracked star-blue ice shell, exposed outside the thick animal hide cuff, made a very slight "click" sound, as if the frozen rock inside was groaning under the stress.

They suddenly raised their heads. The movement was not big, but it gave people the illusion of being earth-shattered.

The shadows beneath the animal-skin hoods swayed, revealing faces eroded by stardust.

Beneath the ice-blue cracked skin, deep within the turbid pupils, something that had been frozen and forgotten for hundreds of years surged with a deep, almost boiling blood color!

It was painful, mixed with memories of disbelief and regret!

The wrinkles on Torge's face suddenly deepened like a canyon, his gray-blue pupils suddenly dilated, and his thick gray beard like a steel brush trembled almost imperceptibly.

He subconsciously tightened his rough hands on the stone bench, his knuckles making harsh "cracking" sounds, and his fingertips even pressed the stone surface so hard that it dented.

The dark blue starlight flowing down from the dome of the ice cave was like a frozen galaxy waterfall, suddenly losing all its gentle flow, and solidified into the suddenly tense space, enveloping Torge's stiff body.

Deep in the cave, as if responding to the sudden stagnant soul tremor, the starlight surging inside the blue ice barrier suddenly increased in brightness, with a dazzling blue color.

"Hmm... Enzo?" The old patriarch's voice was as dry and hoarse as sandpaper scraping against rusty iron. The syllables were squeezed out with difficulty between his teeth, and his hot breath condensed into a white mist in the cold air that quickly dissipated. "...Is there anyone still alive there?!"

This wasn't a question, but more like a prelude to a suffocating roar that had been suppressed for over two hundred years exploding in his chest.

Mark looked directly into the eyes that seemed to burn through him, nodded slowly, and the words were as clear as if they were carved on the ice wall:

"Over two hundred years ago, the meteorite that brought together starlight and darkness didn't completely consume him. He slept deep within the stone shell mine cave formed at the bottom of the meteorite lake. Only recently did he awaken from his long dream and finally arrive in Osborne.

"He longs to return to his clan and find the roots of his soul. But what I saw with my own eyes..."

Mark's eyes swept across the human-shaped mineral vein in front of him, which was slowly being eroded by the starlight: "The situation in the deep furnace, like the extinct ore deep in the earth's core, is not a suitable place for him to return to."

Mark paused, his voice heavy, "Besides, the erosion blade of the star remains isn't the only thing hanging over your heads right now."

He met Torge's almost frozen gaze and said, "Above the Frostwhisper chasm, the 'Black Anvil' branch, who are said to be fellow citizens of your Graybeard clan, are meticulously plotting with the Star-Moon Church and colluding with the followers of the Dark Church!

"At the edge of the rift, under the pretext of watching, they have built several 'anchor fortresses.' Meanwhile, the followers of the Dark Church have already infiltrated the deepest darkness of the valley, casting positioning rituals like a poisonous spider laying out its threads...

"Their net is enveloping this place with unerring precision, waiting only for the final closure! Their target is the Heart of the Star Remains, and your lives as well! You have been nailed to the center of the storm!"

After hearing this, the shock in Torg's eyes quickly faded.

His chest, which had been heaving violently after hearing about "Enzo," slowly calmed down. The excitement that was enough to shake the rocks seemed to be instantly frozen by the icy starlight around him.

All the lines on the bronze face that were briefly tensed by astonishment relaxed instantly, like an ancient relief that had been weathered for thousands of years, carved with deep marks that could not be erased by time.

He slowly lowered his head with great heaviness.

The old gray hair fell down, covering the eyes that suddenly lost all their fierce light.

At this moment, there was only an inextricable despair and a hint of resignation in his eyes.

"Heh...that's to be expected."

A bitter sigh escaped from his lips, which were hidden by his thick beard.

Torge slowly raised his hand, and the palm that had not changed but was covered with cracks and calluses trembled slightly as it pointed to the deepest part of the ice cave.

The core barrier in that vast expanse of starlight is the most intense, slowly flowing like a living nebula.

"Over two hundred years ago, the soul-forging god Mornlock's voice, as majestic as the earth's pulse, resonated within the hearts of the clan elders, warning that a strange phenomenon in the sky would shake the very foundations of the earth...

"Before that meteorite, a mixture of the stars' blessings and dark magic, fell with a trail of flames that burned the sky..."

Torge's voice seemed to reach through the cracks of time and space, carrying the heavy texture of ancient rock rubbing against each other. "We, Graybeard... are already standing at the point He predicted would fall."

The corners of his eyes, covered with knife-like wrinkles, twitched, as if witnessing the blaze of the past: "The Falling Star Lake you speak of is not the deep pit created by heavenly punishment, human!"