Winter Lord: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 474 The Forest Ranger

Louis followed the Sorcerer Supreme Aurelion into the Mage Forest.

The outermost area already exudes an aura completely different from the outside world.

The towering yet simple mage towers are scattered among the trees, their bodies covered with traces of the erosion of time.

There is no prosperity here, nor can it be described as wealthy.

Louis could see the mages in their robes busy at work; some were carrying materials, some were recording runes, and others were standing on the open-air platform repeatedly calibrating the magic array.

The conversation stopped immediately when they saw Aurelion appear.

Whether they were senior high-ranking mages or magic apprentices who had just entered the field of alchemy, they all stopped what they were doing, made way for the middle of the road, put their hands on their chests and bowed their heads, their heartfelt respect was undisguised.

Aurelion merely nodded in response, without slowing his pace.

Louis followed closely behind, and as soon as he stepped into the Mage Forest, he clearly felt the change in magic power.

The air was filled with highly pure energy flows, more concentrated than anywhere else he had ever been.

This is a truly magical sanctuary.

But soon, he noticed another anomaly: the air felt unusually thick, with an indescribable sense of stagnation.

Even when sunlight filters through the canopy and falls down, it seems to be slowed down by something, and the light and shadow linger on the ground for a moment longer than usual.

Louis subconsciously slowed his breathing.

Time here doesn't seem to follow the rules of the outside world entirely.

Aurelion offered no explanation.

He simply led Louis forward, through one mage building after another.

The outer workshops and towers were gradually left behind, replaced by the core facilities, which had a simpler structure but exuded a sense of danger.

The further you go in, the more obvious the feeling of time stagnation becomes.

Footsteps became indistinct, the sound of the wind seemed to be pushed into the distance, and even the rhythm of my heartbeat began to feel unreliable.

They eventually stopped in front of a portal.

It was a circular doorway standing in a clearing in the woods, without any extra decorations.

The runes floated quietly inside the door, rotating slowly, as if waiting to be awakened.

Aurelion stopped here.

He stepped aside to make way for Louis.

“This is all I can do.” The Sorcerer Supreme looked at Louis. “Duke Calvin, please go in by yourself.”

Louis walked through the corridor behind the portal.

As his foot landed, he instinctively thought he would step into the forest again.

However, what came into view was an ancient city completely enveloped by a giant mushroom cap.

The greyish-white stone towers and arched bridges are frozen in translucent amber, and the streets, squares, and mage towers all retain their outlines from a thousand years ago.

Those once flowing magical patterns now stand still in the air, like time specimens sealed away.

This place was once the most prosperous city of mages, but now only frozen remains remain.

Deep in the city, a giant tree rises from the ground.

The massive tree trunk pierces through the ground and the dome, its branches growing along the collapsed tower, firmly locking the entire city within its root system.

Louis stopped in front of the tree, where an old man grew.

Half of his body had become completely woody, his skin fused with the bark, and the rhythm of his chest rising and falling was almost identical to the pulse of the tree trunk.

Only one side of the face retains the outline of a human.

As Louis approached, the old man slowly opened his eyes.

Those were eyes so calm they seemed almost barren.

His wooden lips twitched with difficulty, revealing an incomplete smile: "Hello, Duke Calvin. You can call me the Forest Keeper. I've been waiting for you here for an era."

Louis nodded, unsure of what to say in response.

“You may not be the teacher, but you have brought his heart with you.” The forest ranger’s gaze fell on him, as if piercing through flesh and blood. “It seems you are the chosen one.”

The branches and leaves of the giant tree swayed slightly overhead.

"Before the teacher left a thousand years ago, he left a prophecy." The forest ranger looked into the distance. "When the roar of the ancient dragon echoes from the depths of the earth, the one foretold will come across the wind and snow."

Louis paused for a moment, then shook his head: "I don't believe in destiny. I came here to gain leverage against the Dragon Emperor."

Louis looked up and met the forest ranger's gaze: "Since you've mentioned prophecy... what prophecy is it?"

The forest ranger stared at him for a long time before his gaze returned to the depths of the city.

"That old emperor was not a real dragon, much less a dragon emperor; he was merely a half-dragon in the developmental stage."

The forest ranger's tone remained calm.

"Once he has absorbed enough knightly blood essence, he will break free of his shackles, complete his transformation, and become a true dragon."

Louis remained silent.

"The ancient dragons were once the true masters of this land," the forest ranger continued. "Humans were nothing more than food they raised."

The so-called "Battle Knight" and "Breathing Technique" are essentially breeding programs for dragons that have been ingrained in human genes.

His tone was neither sarcastic nor pitying.

"They make humans stronger, more durable, and more... delicious."

Louis finally spoke: "Are you saying that all the knights now are nourishment for the resurrection of the dragons?"

“That’s right.” The forest ranger nodded.

“The higher the knight’s rank, the deeper the dragon blood corrodes within him.” His lips twitched again, “and the more delicious he becomes.”

He looked at Louis, a hint of complexity in his eyes that was almost imperceptible.

“For example, in the eyes of a dragon, you are an excellent main course.” Louis did not look away.

The forest ranger continued, "When our teacher descended upon this land, he saw a ruin distorted by the violence of the dragons, where everything was food for them."

His voice lowered slightly, tinged with respect: "So he borrowed the power of original sin, tamed the forces that should have devoured the world in the apocalypse, and created a new set of laws governing the world."

Louis listened, his face not showing much shock, but rather a sense of enlightenment.

Those scattered fragments of memory all prove this point.

Scenes of dragon calamities, humans reduced to slavery and food, and primordial mages leading humanity in rebellion...

“I see,” Louis said softly. “This is the essence of magic.”

“Yes.” The forest ranger nodded. “All the magic that followed evolved from this underlying system.”

Louis's heart skipped a beat. The anomaly he had noticed while learning magic—the pronunciations and symbols—had a subtle similarity to the language and writing in his memory.

The forest ranger seemed to sense his thoughts but didn't point them out.

He simply continued, "Of course, borrowing the power of original sin is not without its price. After humanity won that war, the world did not usher in true peace."

With the fall of the Dragon King, the forces that had been suppressed and guided suddenly lost their sole outlet. Dragon blood and fighting spirit lost their external enemy, and primordial magic lost its restraint; they began to flow inward.

It was no longer about confrontation or expansion, but about self-destruction; humanity began to destroy one another.

The knights' blood boiled uncontrollably, the mages' spells detached from their structures, conflicts erupted between cities, and schools of thought purged each other. Victory lasted only a brief moment, quickly escalating into even more complete chaos.

"The teacher was the first to realize the problem." The forest ranger seemed to be recalling a history he no longer wanted to touch. "Power itself has no good or evil, but when it loses its direction, it will only keep taking. Dragons die, but people begin to become new dragons, and the real dragons will also be resurrected among the knights."

So the Primordial Master made his final choice.

He sealed the vast majority of original sin within his flesh, then divided it into seven mutually restraining parts. Each part of original sin corresponds to only one extreme, and each of us seven carries one part.

The forest ranger raised his already woody arm and tapped his fingertips on the tree trunk, producing a dull echo.

"This is a sacrifice, not just for him, but also for us."

Our seven disciples were scattered across the continent, spending a long time eroding the erosion of original sin. It was not about fighting, but about enduring.

I received the portion that came at the lowest cost.

He said this in a very calm tone.

Louis stared at his half-wooden body without saying a word.

“It’s laziness that’s why time has stopped here,” Louis asked. “Is that right?”

The forest ranger nodded.

"This place was once a beacon of civilization on the continent. It was a city of mages, where the knowledge left by the original mages was studied and passed on. The light of civilization radiated outward from here. Later, I had to seal my laziness here."

The air seemed to become heavier as a result.

"Laziness does not prevent things from moving forward. It makes people stagnate and stops things from changing."

Sunlight streamed through the giant mushroom's cap, but seemed to be slowed down.

“The air has stopped flowing, and time has lost its vector,” the forest ranger whispered. “To prevent the seal from spreading throughout the world, I have no choice but to completely isolate this city.”

Louis looked past him and gazed into the distance.

The once main road is now covered by tree roots, the mage tower is twisted into the shape of dead wood, and the buildings are wrapped in mycelium, frozen in some unfinished moment.

“Mage Forest,” the forest ranger murmured the name. “It’s not rebirth, but a thousand-year-long process of slow decay. I am merely the last guardian of this remains.”

He paused for a moment, then continued.

"The same is true of other original sins... Most of my senior brothers and sisters died in agony."

Some were corrupted, some chose self-destruction, but before they fell, they did their best to consume and suppress the original sin they carried.

Without subsequent intervention, they could have remained sealed away for hundreds more years.

The forest ranger's gaze became complicated: "But in recent years, the seal has been broken."

Louis looked up, thinking of all the disasters he had experienced over the years: the Mother Nest, the barbarian invasion, the church catastrophe...

“Perhaps it’s Loken,” the forest ranger said softly. “The master’s son, our junior apprentice.”

He gave you the primordial heart, unleashing all original sin. I don't know why he did it, but it's also written in the prophecy.

The forest ranger looked at Louis: "And you, under his guidance, have begun to gather these powers."

Louis's breath hitched slightly; he suddenly understood.

It is a daily intelligence system that seeks new bearers for original sin in this way.

The forest ranger slowly stood up.

The giant tree trembled, and amber light emerged from the depths of the trunk, gathering at his fingertips.

“Louis.” His voice became serious for the first time. “Don’t run away…you’re already here.”

Your mission is to prevent the Dragon King from truly descending and to use the heart within you to reassemble all the rampaging original sins.

He paused for a moment, then continued, "As for the more distant future... that's beyond our comprehension. Good luck..."

As he said this, he raised his withered hand and pressed it against Louis's forehead.

The entire monastery responded at that moment.

The magic accumulated by the entire city over thousands of years surged into Louis's body like a tide, without gentle guidance, but an unreserved outpouring.

Louis's consciousness was stretched to its limit, the whispers of original sin intertwined within his body, and he forcibly endured it, pressing everything into his primal heart.

Finally, the original sin of "laziness" was handed over to him in its entirety.

After an unknown amount of time, the world fell silent again.

Louis opened his eyes. The giant tree had withered completely, the amber light had faded, and the forest ranger had disappeared without a trace.

Only one true ruin remains here.

Louis stood up, his breathing steady: "I know what to do."

(End of this chapter)