God's Apostle: Rebirth of a Lazy Genius

Chapter 41 Journey To Pinnacle

?Ethan's seventh birthday was now mere fifteen days away, but the grand celebration would be held a few more days after that. Invitation letters were sent far and wide with the utmost haste so that as many people as possible could attend.

The Royal Family, The Houses of Dukes and Nobles, prominent figures in the entire Kingdom, and so forth. The news was everywhere that 'Dune of Destiny Reading' shall be conducted on the one born with the greatest potential in history.

Carriages and convoys left for the journey to Adenberd immediately when everyone received the invitation letters. If it wasn't known yet that Ethan White was Awakened; then it was now surely known throughout the Kingdom.

All day people would talk about what the results of the Dune of Destiny would turn out to be. Will it predict Ethan to be a warrior... Or perhaps, A Ruler?

Would the emergence of such Destiny increase distrust between the Royal Family and the House of White? Or would it only strengthen further? Questions were many, but only time would tell.

Ethan's relationship with Anicia got better after their little talk in the backyard. Not many days had passed since then and everything was going well. She did not feel awkward around him anymore and conversed more freely.

As for Alier, his condition improved a bit but not by a large margin. Ethan felt increasingly more eerie around him as the days progressed giving glimpses of an impending foreboding for which Ethan had a plan.

It was the time of midnight, and Ethan was sleeping in his bedroom peacefully. The white transparent curtains fluttered in the wind and the silver moonlight fell on Ethan's face mildly.

However, Ethan was in a dreamlike place filled with ice, snow, and eternal frigid icy flame all over. The floor was made of hard ice, snow was falling harshly from the white sky as the frigid bluish-white icy fire blazed eternally.

As far as the eye could see, there was only a blanket of white ice and snow and nothing else.

Indeed, it was the same place Alier had seen a glimpse of when he tried to kill Ethan while he was in the cocoon but received a huge backlash instead.

"These people need to freaking stop throwing me in the middle of nowhere all of a sudden!" Ethan muttered as he suddenly found himself in the middle of somewhere that looked like mystified Antarctica.

Ethan narrowed his eyes and blocked the piercing flashes of light reflecting from all the snow with his hands.

The visibility was quite low as the freezing temperatures of ice and snow created a haze in the atmosphere.

"Is this what I think it is?" Ethan muttered under his breath as he looked around.

The snow and ice all around him, the inner feeling that he had, and the things he had read and learned gave him a few guesses as to what he was experiencing. And knowing that excited him.

The visibility was low but Ethan could still see a towering, tall mountain far into the distance amidst all the vapor and haze.

He decided to walk toward it as nothing else was in sight. A bizarre thing was that Ethan did not feel any cold even though he was walking in freezing temperatures and ice and snow were all around him.

Another thing was that he could see a frigid white fire blazing all over the place but even when he passed through it, nothing happened to him.

Ethan had been walking for a while now and he once again noticed two things.

Although the haze was still there in the air his eyes were starting to adapt to it as somehow he could see everything clearly up to some distance despite the snowy mist covering the entire surroundings.

And the other thing he noticed was not good for him. As he was walking toward the tallest snowy mountain, he felt more and more exhausted with his every step forward. As if a mountain was crushing his soul slowly with every step he took.

'There seems to be some kind of resistance of an invisible force field constantly holding me back. Ah! What a pain.' Ethan thought gruntingly but did not stop.

Time passed and who knew how much Ethan had walked, his legs were shaking with exhaustion, and he was gasping for breath as well as coughing mildly in intervals of a few seconds.

This was probably the most physical effort he had ever put in anything but he was determined. Because this was not earth and even to be worthy of slacking off he needed strength in such a world.

As he walked, his eyes completely adapted to the haze and now Ethan could see everything. The landscape was basically like a snowy desert—full of hills, mountains, high and low ground, soft and harsh bumps, shallow and hard snowy ground, and large or small potholes.

It was quite evident that without proper visibility Ethan would have been stuck, 'As I thought, the more affinity you have with the blessing the easier it is to adapt and keep going.' Ethan thought to keep his mind off the suffering and force himself forward.

'if I had less affinity, then I would have been stuck way earlier in the landscape itself.' He thought further diverting his mind.

Gradually after some more walking, his condition had worsened, his legs were shaking like a drill machine, his coughing was constant and painful and he felt as if his soul was about to be crushed.

And yet the mountain was still far off. Ethan knew that he wouldn't be able to reach his goal so easily anyways. Ethan was now sure that this was the exact place where he would get a comprehension of his Ancestral Blessing. The closer to the mountain—the more powerful he would be.

Ethan's legs had been numbed way earlier. His legs finally gave out and he collapsed to the ground heavily gasping for breath and coughing up blood.

"Damn... Fuck! Not as easy... As I thought... I need to become... Powerful. So that... I... Can... Crush anyone... Getting in my... Way and... Finish the mystery... Of the... Damn fucking... prophecy." Ethan mumbled in a hoarse voice as drops of blood gushed out from his mouth.

But Ethan did not give up, he stretched his hands toward the mountain attempting to crawl his way to it.

This was Ethan Riddles, someone who had no ambition, someone whose principle was to speedrun things so that he would have his leisure when all is done.

This was Ethan Riddles, someone who liked to be ahead of time rather than dwell in incompetence and regret later.

This was the true Ethan Riddles, someone who was relentless in the task he undertook, someone who was ruthless to even himself if needed.

"Ahhhhhh!" Ethan screamed as he propped himself up with the support of his arms amidst the roaring blizzard. Even though his soul was on the verge of breaking from the immense pressure, he knew that it would not break— because his soul housed something far greater afterall.

His whole body was numb from overexertion, but he stood up and began walking limply again with bloodshot eyes and gritting his teeth. Ethan's eyes blazed with determination for he knew that no amount of intellect would help him reach that goal.

Ethan finally accepted the fact that in the world he was in, mere intelligence would not be enough to survive.

They say that—to pass a trial, one must know what the trial is made to judge in the first place.

It was a trial of Ethan's determination and will, It was a trial that would last with him until he reaches the pinnacle of his Ancestral Blessing. The journey was of comprehension, and the mountain was the pinnacle.