"Hah... hah..."

The moment Ashe broke free from the Golden Zone, he collapsed to his knees on the grass and gasped for air.

He watched as his withered arm slowly regained its healthy color. His ragged, bellows-like breathing steadied, and the fog in his mind lifted, as if rust had been scraped clean from a long-neglected machine. Relief poured through him, the kind that only came after narrowly escaping death.

Only now did he realize that the simple ability to focus, to sustain a single coherent thought, was itself a form of happiness. When the soul aged, thinking became a luxury. The mind turned sluggish, like a computer caught in perpetual lag. Forget running tasks, just trying to summon a mental task manager to sort through his own thoughts would freeze it entirely. After experiencing it once, even Ashe couldn't help feeling a flicker of fear. Aging was truly a terror beyond words.

Footsteps approached from behind. Ashe was about to turn when a hoarse, aged voice barked, "Don't look back!"

He obeyed, keeping his gaze fixed on the grass. After a tense few seconds, the Swordswoman's voice followed, "Alright."

He turned, and there they were, the Swordswoman and the Witch, still young and beautiful.

Ashe shrugged. "Honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing what you look like when you age. I'm curious."

"But! I! do!" Sonya snapped, teeth clenched. "I'm never going back there. Those books are all lies! Who said you could get rich scavenging on the Continent of Time? Anyone who wants that money can go fetch it themselves!"

Moments ago, the three of them had entered the most infamous encounter zone on the Continent of Time, the River of Flowing Gold. The area teemed with wild Time Class spirits, including rare breeds like Reverse Year, Fixed Month, and Heard Day.

Reverse Year was a priceless treasure few could ever claim. It could restore a person's body to the state it had been a year ago, effectively extending lifespan without any side effects.

Fixed Month preserved a person's physical state for an entire month. Injuries could still occur, but skin, hair, and overall appearance remained unaffected by any external conditions, including wind, sunlight, or activities like bathing and even diving. When paired with beauty Miracles such as Bareface Makeup, Radiant Glow, or Glassy Hair, it let a person maintain a flawless appearance for the full month. It was regarded as the pinnacle of cosmetic tools.

Heard Day spirits were even more extraordinary, but details about them could wait.

In short, the River of Flowing Gold was a land of fortune, a special zone where rewards seemed almost handed out. The Time Class spirits there never fled. They showed no trace of fear in the presence of the foreign invaders, the sorcerers, and instead approached with curiosity. Their vigilance was lower than that of newborn kittens.

In such a place, logic dictated that no sorcerer would leave without turning every stone and scraping the skies bare. Yet Ashe and the others had dashed out in less than ten seconds. Even fearless Sonya now glanced back at the golden mist near the River with an unmistakable hint of fear.

Had they lingered even slightly longer, they might have collapsed by the river, aging to death on the spot.

The River of Flowing Gold nurtured so many Time Class spirits thanks to the accelerated time field surrounding it. For them, it was a paradise, a never-ending buffet, and a luxurious Thai Spa. The accelerated time offered indulgence and pleasure, and over time, the spirits could even evolve into Two-Winged beings. It was, in every sense, a resort built for the delight and growth of Time Class spirits. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

For sorcerers, however, the River of Flowing Gold was nothing less than a hellish temptation carved into the Continent of Time.

The areas outside the range of the River were known as Static Zones, where stagnant time could freeze a sorcerer into a motionless painting. In contrast, the lands surrounding the River were Active Zones. Any sorcerer daring to step into them would wither and decay under time accelerated ten thousand to a hundred million times. The violent surge of temporal energy could tear them apart, reducing both body and soul to dust.

And unlike the silent, almost elegant deaths in the Static Zones, death here was vivid, brutal, and inescapable.

If normal time flow were like a routine urine test, then the acceleration near the River of Flowing Gold was a dam breaking, unleashing a flood. That raging torrent battered a sorcerer's soul, pushing it to the brink of collapse. The decaying flesh, labored breathing, and sluggish thoughts were the outward signs of this assault, like iron corroding into rust when exposed to air.

That was why Ashe and the others were so fearful of it. This time, they had truly caught a taste of standing at the very edge of death.

They had witnessed death in many forms before, like being torn apart by Knowledge Creatures, slain by a sorcerer's projection, drowning in the sea, and even freezing in a Static Zone. But all of those were abnormal deaths that would never occur in reality, and sorcerers believed they could always avoid them.

Aging was different. Everything in existence eventually decayed. Even stars burned out. This was the law of all things. Long-lived beings, like the Blood Saint or Moonshadow, might possess physical immortality, but even they had a limit to how long their souls could last.

Ashe looked at his smooth, strong arm, yet his mind lingered on the memory of those withered, fragile hands from moments ago. He knew that if he lived long enough, fortune permitting, he would one day see them again.

Aging was an inescapable death. They were like ants beneath a rolling wheel, powerless to resist as the massive wheel of time crushed forward. That helplessness, that inability to fight back, was the true source of fear.

Just then, both Ashe and Sonya felt the sensation of soft hands touching them. "Feeling better?"

They turned to see Dia smiling gently. The warmth in her touch drove away the lingering terror.

Their fear had been nothing more than the illusion of aging, like primary school students dreaming they had failed to finish summer homework and imagining the teacher's scolding. Dia's gentleness was like a friend calling early in the morning to invite them out to play, a reminder that many good days still lay ahead. With that, they stepped out of the mire of fear. Even if they might be scolded later, it was not something they needed to worry about now. For the moment, they could simply enjoy their youth.

Ashe asked, "Have you been to the River of Flowing Gold before, Witch?"

Dia replied, "This is already my third time here. The first time I escaped from there, I fared far worse than you. Aging is terrifying, and time demands reverence. But there's no reason to feel inferior, and we must never admit defeat. We are sorcerers. We are born to conquer everything. And it's not as if no one has ever succeeded in conquering time."

A term surfaced in both Ashe's and Sonya's minds simultaneously. Divine Lord!

Supreme beings who ruled the fate of countless lives, bending their will into the will of heaven, creating and governing nations. They must possess lifespans longer than the nations they rule. Perhaps they had already lived thousands, even tens of thousands of years. If anyone had conquered time, Divine Lords would certainly be among them.

A desire, almost delusional in its ambition, quietly took root in their hearts. Sonya, the ambitious village girl who had always dreamed of fame and fortune, felt it stir. And even Ashe, a worn-out office worker softened by life's hardships, felt it awaken within him. For a moment, it was as if he had returned to the days just after graduation, holding onto that unrealistic dream of carving a place for himself in a big city and buying a home through his own efforts.