“Forget it, brother, let’s not argue anymore. This is our fate.” Lake Harper patted Ethan Brooks on the shoulder.

“My son is seven this year. I originally wanted to bring him to the Ice Fortress after some time to let him train well, but now this task falls to you. Please take good care of him for me. If I don’t come back…”

“That happened eleven months ago.” Ethan Brooks’s eyes were already moist.

“Is my dad dead?” Seven-year-old Amy asked anxiously, stumbling over his words.

10

“I don’t know. A month ago, soldiers returning from the Wishing Tower said that when the Archmage entered the Wishing Tower, a barrier storm occurred. Not only was the Archmage swept into the barrier, but of the ten accompanying mages near the barrier, three were also drawn into the Wishing Tower. For everyone’s safety, your father rushed to the entrance of the Wishing Tower and tried hard to close the door, not letting the barrier storm escape. When he used his own two-handed sword as a bolt to lock the door, he himself was sucked inside.” Ethan Brooks seemed to have regained his composure.

“Can he come back?? What is a barrier storm?” Little Amy asked worriedly.

“He probably can, but no one knows how many years it will take. You’re still young. When you grow older, you’ll naturally understand.” The man who would later be called uncle by Amy answered simply.

In the 192nd year of the Red Moon Calendar, a stranger named Ethan Brooks joined Haike Village as a distant uncle of Amy. From the day he arrived in Haike Village, the snow wolves never came to collect taxes again.

Volume One: Friendship of Ice and Snow

Chapter Three: Fire and Snow Tempering

In the eyes of later generations, the legendary mercenary king Amy seemed to have too many great opportunities, which is why such a legend exists.

Very few people know that when Amy was young, he hated this saying so much.

——From the research notes of Neil Harper, twelfth-generation descendant of the continental historian Amy

※

“Son, wake up.” The pleasant male voice sounded again.

“Mm, uncle, let me sleep a little longer, just a little, I’m so tired.” Just-turned-eight-year-old Amy pleaded bitterly.

“Ah, it’s freezing—” A miserable cry rang out in the pitch-black night. But the neighbors near the Harper family’s thatched cottage were already used to this special alarm clock.

Little Amy jumped out of the snow-filled bed in a flash, while the prankster, after putting the big wooden basin full of snow on the ground, leisurely said a famous line: “To gain a hundredfold, you must pay a thousandfold. I must train you to become an even better warrior than your father.”

The eastern sky was just turning pale as the big and small figures set out from Haike Village, running along the Warmwater River toward Snow Moon Lake.

11

Anyone who met Ethan Brooks for the first time would think he was a noble. In the Amy Empire, all noble families had certain traits: elegant demeanor and politeness. Ethan Brooks gave exactly this first impression, but after spending more time with him, people discovered another side: mischievous and fond of playing tricks. After living in Haike Village for two months, everyone familiar with Ethan Brooks had been pranked by this outsider. So, they believed his own description—a soldier with only the lowest noble title: knight, a title that could not be inherited or come with land.

The one who suffered the most was poor little Amy.

This unruly uncle liked to call little Amy “son”; ever since this unruly uncle arrived, little Amy had never slept in once; this guy gave little Amy no free time at all; although he never hit or scolded Amy, some of his methods were even scarier than punishment, like putting snow in the bed in the morning.

Who knows how Lake Harper, in the Ice Wishing Tower, would feel if he knew he had entrusted his son to someone like this?

At first, old man Harper was not used to this young man treating his grandson this way, nor to him calling little Amy “son.” But after spending some time together, he accepted this family member. What truly moved the old man were some of Ethan Brooks’s actions after little Amy fell asleep—like getting up at night to tuck him in, preparing the next day’s lessons by the oil lamp, or getting up early to dig snow outside…

Little Amy’s daily routine was roughly as follows:

Physical training: get up before dawn to run, following the Warmwater River all the way to Snow Moon Lake, about 20 kilometers. Although the river water was warm, both banks were still covered in snow and ice. To make running easier, Ethan Brooks required light gear—only a thin leather coat.

Willpower training: after reaching Snow Moon Lake, strip down and jump in for a swim. Although “snow” is in the name, the water erupting from underground was extremely hot. Even though the swimming was only near the shore and not in the center, the water was hot enough to cook snow eggs.