The Master of Uradan

Inside the tents of the clan chief, which was the same as every member of this clan, four people were currently sitting in what could be said to be the main hall.

Of course, Rohan was among them. His horse had been taken away by one of the nomads who had led it toward a place, not that Rohan cared about that. He didn't think they would dare to have ill intentions toward his poor horse. 'What was his name again? Ha yes! Barakas.'

In front of the young warrior, the clan leader was sitting cross legs while two persons were on each of his sides. A man and a woman, probably his children.

The man, or more exactly the young boy, who should be the same age as Rohan, had a thin smile on his face. He was thin and felt as if he was weaker than anyone that Rohan had ever seen, but he also seemed to be a jovial man.

Contrary to her brother, the young woman, who should be slightly older than him, looked at Rohan with obvious displeasure engraved on her face. She was a tall woman and seemed to be a tough one, ready to take up weapons at any time.

The only common points between these three people were their black hair that was tied in the back and their tanned skin. But what differentiated them was their postures.

The father was looking with a neutral glance. He was still paying attention to this young warrior, but he also felt he shouldn't be afraid of anything coming from this person.

The daughter glared at Rohan with a fierce expression, and for an unknown reason, Rohan felt as if a dangerous beast was scheming to kill him in the night.

The son was gently eyeing the young warrior as if he already had all his trust even though they didn't know each other.

What a particular family.

"So tell me, young warrior, why do you want to go to the sacred mountain in the middle of a desertic region?" It was Darias who broke the silence by asking the question the three people had in their minds.

"There isn't really a reason. I just want to take a look at this mountain spoken in the history books I read while being a child." He couldn't say to these people that he wanted to enter inside their sacred mountain to plunder it of anything that was inside after all.

But what Rohan didn't expect was that his words triggered a reaction from these people. They looked at each other for a short time. What was it?

Anyway, before the trio could ask him more questions, Rohan took the opportunity to demand them more information about this restriction to go to this mountain. To this question, it was the daughter who decided to answer.

"Tsk. It's always the same with those coming from the other side. You don't even know anything about this place and you come as if it was your place since the beginning. Let me tell you, warrior," she glared at Rohan as if he was disgusting, "the great mountain is a sacred one."

Rohan restrained himself to roll his eyes. For him, it was simply a mountain, just a pile of rocks going toward the sky. Nothing more. But obviously, seeing the father and her brother nodding their heads, they were all fanatics.

"Haha, what Daina is saying may surprise you but it is the truth. Still, there are indeed ways to approach it. The first one is of course power." The Chief Clan continued the explanation of his daughter.

His face sunken at his own words and even the calm young man on the side showed a troubled expression for a second. But the worst one was the daughter and if she could spit on Rohan, she would already have done it.

"A lot of powerful Supreme mana users had already appeared a long time ago, for ridiculous reasons such as there is something inside the mountain or whatnot. Sadly it is still the case sometimes and three years ago, it was an Intermediate warrior who had come as if he was the king of this place."

The story was taking a strange turn, and for an unknown reason, Rohan could only think that something bad had happened to this Intermediate Warrior.

"Of course, we are living in the exterior ring of the Barren Lands, and even though we are one of the three most powerful clans of this whole area, we are nothing for an Intermediate user of mana. That is also the case for the clans in the internal rings as only the stronger one has an Intermediate Warrior."

Cold sweet appeared on the back of the young warrior as he listened to the middle-aged man in front of him. This small trip be an easy one? He would just have to enter and leave, without caring about the clans? Bullshit!

"But for the four clans living at the center, at the foot of the Kolmos mountain…" A smile appeared on his face as he was rejoicing about the fate of this person who dared to ask them inconceivable demands. "An Intermediate Warrior who thinks of himself as the most powerful there is without a doubt a foul."

Rohan refrained a gasp from leaving his mouth. It was indeed the best idea he had to accept the hospitality of this man. If he wanted to go alone toward the mountain, the same destiny as this warrior would maybe await him.

Of course, Darias was exaggerating a bit, as the warrior was only killed because of the deeds he had done to the inhabitants of the Barren Lands.

"But as I said, there is another way to go toward the sacred mountain. And that is during the annual reunion of the clans, as each year at the same time we gathered at the foot of this sacred mountain to share the magical water."

Rohan opened his eyes wide when he heard that. Magical water? On this land said to be void of any mana? What did it even mean? Was there only one piece of information true in all the lies Rohan had been fed? Or were these fanatics just dancing around normal water?

More and more questions appeared in his mind.

"Magical water?" He was truly starting to feel a headache appearing. "What do you mean about that?"

"Hmm? Who does not know about it? It is the water coming from the mountain, and it has some property to help normal people to become a warrior. Of course, for a person coming from the other side as you, it is negligible at best, but for us, it is a real help!"

A thunder hit Rohan inside his mind, numbing his whole body. He didn't care about the magical water or whatever it was. No. It was the aspect of the mountain that was making all he had imagined disappeared.

"Are…are you telling me that on the mountain…there is snow?"

"Eh? But of course, what do you think a mountain is? Hahaha."

All the vision Rohan had about these desertic lands disappeared in a second, making his mind blank.

Never again would he believe in any books and even less in his master.