Chapter 190. Unlikely Friendship

Third-Person POV

Roughly twenty years ago, in a small, isolated village far from the bustle of any great city, the future High Seer was just a nine-year-old boy already destined to devote his life in service to the Sun Goddess. Orphaned from birth, he endured a difficult childhood in the village’s modest orphanage.

The corridors smelled faintly of damp straw and the quiet murmur of prayers to forgotten deities. Yet by the time he turned six, his fledgling magical talents had blossomed sufficiently to secure him a coveted position as a junior priest in the grand city of Aurion. Even so, he was not the only hopeful.

From the depths of the Underground City came Daniel Stark, a man whose wealth and influence were whispered about in the taverns and markets above. He was light-skinned, dressed in an immaculate blue suit, his hair as dark as obsidian, and his head shaped squarely enough that some likened it to a perfectly carved box. At his side was his ten-year-o