The wooden floor was very dirty and very hard, but fortunately, this was the second floor, and right below was the inn’s lobby. The fire in the lobby was roasting the ceiling, and incidentally, it also slightly warmed the floorboards.

It was still very cold, but just barely tolerable.

Pulling the animal skin coat tighter around himself, Lawson closed his eyes, focused, summoned the desktop, opened “Lawson’s Adventure Log,” and began replaying the reading session from the first half of the night.

In the video, Lawson listened to the audio while comparing the foreign world’s script in the book, starting to learn the written language of this world.

An illiterate person could never become a mage.

He was deeply engrossed in his studies when suddenly a tremendous rush of air sounded outside the room, and the window rattled loudly under the force. Immediately after, the dogs in the small town began to bark madly.

Lawson was startled. He opened his eyes and looked toward the window. Through the poor-quality green glass, he saw a grayish-white light shining in, as if it were already dawn.

But he remembered clearly that earlier, Silas had checked the time on his pocket watch—it was only a quarter past one in the morning.

Silas was also awakened. He scrambled up from the bed, bent over to the window, exposing only his eyes above the sill, and cautiously peered outside.

‘Zha~~~~’

Another piercing sound crashed in, shattering the glass instantly and making the ears of both people in the room ring so loudly they nearly went deaf.

The entire inn, and even the whole town, was awakened. Exclamations from outside kept drifting in.

It was a long while before Lawson felt he could hear again. Horrified, he asked, “Mentor, what on earth just happened?”

Silas didn’t respond. The pale light from outside illuminated his thin face, fully exposing the look of terror on his features.

Clearly, this event was far beyond his abilities.

At that moment, Lawson saw, in the sky outside the window, a massive, inky-black shadow faintly appear within the low, dense, gray-white clouds.

The shadow streaked through the clouds at an unbelievable speed. One moment, it was above White Horse Town; the next, it was already hurtling northwest.

It was like a supersonic fighter jet flying low overhead!

The scene resembled a giant ink painting with the sky as its canvas, full of black-and-white abstraction.

As the shadow sped away, the grayish-white light in the clouds quickly faded, until night returned once more.

The cold winter night fell silent again, and the strange phenomenon that had just occurred seemed like a nightmare.

But the shattered glass on the windowsill and the voices still coming from outside kept proving that the nightmare had been real.

A long, long time passed before Lawson came back to his senses and cautiously asked, “Mentor, what was that?”

Silas had regained his composure, but the look of terror still lingered on his thin cheeks.

“The Ashen Bird, King of Nightmares, a fallen descendant of the Undying Phoenix. Fortunately, it was only passing by. Otherwise, its fallen fire could have reduced White Horse Town to ashes in an instant, and any living being burned by that fire would be reborn as an insomniac undead.”

Lawson was even more horrified. “If it really wanted to kill, could anyone stop it?”

Silas snorted. “No one can stop it—only the gods could. But there’s no need to worry too much. A thousand years ago, the Golden God and the extraordinary beings made a pact of non-interference, known as the Third Golden Law.”

“The pact stipulates that the Land of Gold will never be disturbed by extraordinary beings, and violators will be punished by the gods. So unless that Ashen Bird has gone mad, it won’t attack White Horse Town.”

“Oh~”

This answer gave Lawson great comfort, after all, no one likes living in a chaotic, turbulent place where disaster could strike at any moment.

Silas pointed at the broken window. “Cover the window with bear skin, clean up the broken glass, and then go back to sleep.”

“Yes, Mentor.”

After a flurry of activity, Lawson lay down once more on the cold, hard floor, but his mind couldn’t settle, thoughts churning one after another.

‘Are humans just pets raised by the gods?’

‘Without the protection of the gods, how could mortals face the real world?’

‘What kind of being is the Golden God who established the Golden Law?’

There were no answers. Silas probably wouldn’t, or wouldn’t dare, answer such irreverent questions about the gods, so the answers would have to be sought on his own.

Lawson forced himself to focus and began studying the foreign world’s script once again.

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Chapter 7: The Instinct of Deep Bloodlines

Oil painting is a type of painting that uses fast-drying plant oils to mix pigments and is created on a canvas. It is also the most mainstream form of painting in this world.

The pigments used in oil painting are quite hard, and once the painting dries, it can retain its luster for a long time. Thanks to the pigments’ covering power and transparency, the colors depicted are rich and the sense of three-dimensionality is strong.

In the Land of Gold, only oil paintings are worthy of being exhibited in prestigious halls, and naturally, only oil paintings can fetch high prices.

This is the main reason why Silas wants Lawson to learn oil painting.

The next morning.

Silas yanked the still-drowsy Lawson up from the floor.

“Get up—hurry up! Remember, I hate lazy apprentices the most!”

Lawson snapped awake and immediately stood up straight. “Mentor, I understand!”