On the first day after the New Year, the Fergus family was bustling.

The nobles of the feudal clan and some familiar nobles in the vicinity came to visit one after another, and on the square of the main entrance of the Fergus family, one luxury carriage after another competed with each other.

Earl Fergus and Bernal have been busy since the morning, and even Gray, who usually does not participate in such things, has been pulled into the "strong man".

There were too many people for Earl Fergus and Bernal to be busy, and the visit of some heavyweight families would not be respectful unless the head of the family or the heir of the family greeted them personally.

And Gray is different, as the count of the kingdom, and his status in the Purple Moon Kingdom is not even worse than that of the head of the duke's family, it is naturally not rude to be greeted by him, and it can be seen from the flattered look on the faces of the families who are greeted one by one.

It wasn't until the afternoon that the hustle and bustle slowed down a little.

Gray, who has a strong body support and is not tired physically, but his heart is tired, is ready to find a place to rest, but he meets Bernal.

He was followed by a beautiful woman in a red winter dress with black pantyhose underneath, revealing her long, slender legs.

Seeing Gray, Bernal introduced.

"Miss Elle, this is my third brother Gray, Gray, this is Miss Elle from the Dawn Chamber of Commerce."

"Hello."

Both sides gave a salute.

For the Dawn Chamber of Commerce, Gray had heard of it, and when the Fergus family was in trouble because of the suppression of the Clover Chamber of Commerce, the first Chamber of Commerce to trade with the Fergus family was this Chamber of Commerce.

Although there are some opportunistic elements, the time was chosen after he deterred the Neam family, but because the other party's price is reasonable, the Fergus family is still engaged in the medicinal material business with this chamber of commerce, and is the largest partner of the Fergus family.

Looking at the other party's face, Gray had a faint look of familiarity, and couldn't help asking.

"Miss Elle, have we met before?"

"It's true that I've met once, although Lord Gray doesn't remember me very much anymore, but I still remember Lord Gray's domineering attitude of blocking the Clover Chamber of Commerce headquarters alone at that time."

Elle. Leander smiled gracefully.

"Hope it didn't scare you!"

Gray smiled, but he didn't feel embarrassed, after all, he was targeting the Clover Chamber of Commerce at the time, and he didn't bother to pay attention to anything else.

In the evening, after dinner.

Swish!

Using spatial teleportation, Gray took Barnett. Neam appeared in the Akaba Forest, flying towards the place where the palace had been.

After flying for more than 10 minutes, we came to a wasteland covered with snow, and the wasteland was surrounded by huge boulders standing one after another, ranging from a few tons to tens or hundreds of tons.

In the center of the wasteland is a large open space, without any boulders, and that is where the mysterious palace once appeared, but it is not seen now.

Snow was falling outside, and it was quite cold. Neam pitched a tent on top of a boulder several meters high and waited for the palace to appear.

With their constitution, they naturally don't fear the cold, but the sky outside is drifting with snow, and Gray doesn't want to be a snowman.

Time passed slowly, and change occurred at a time when Gray almost thought that the palace had been mistaken and that the time when the palace appeared was not measured in years.

In the open space in the center of the palace, a white light first lit up, and then slowly, a palace-like building slowly rose, and finally, a whole palace emitting a hazy white light appeared.

This is a rough and quaint building, the buildings inside are extremely tall, seemingly rough, but there is a sense of grandeur, compared to the exquisite sense of architecture during the imperial period, this building pays more attention to the overall three-dimensional sense.

It was for this reason that Gray judged that the building was not from the Imperial period, but from another power.

Boom, boom, boom!

A white light appeared, and ghosts were invisibly guided to rush in, gather together, and turn into one torrent after another, towards the white-light shrouded building, one after another.

Around the palace as the center, there was a vast white expanse, and hundreds of thousands of ghosts gathered, even if they had seen it once, they still couldn't help but make Gray feel shocked.

The shock was even greater when I was amazed at the number of ghosts, at the sheer amount of power that had laid out this rune mechanism, especially now that I learned that this place was only one of the four places.

As the ghosts came and went, the white light above the white buildings grew brighter and brighter.

A few hours later, hundreds of thousands of ghosts converged into the building, and now, fewer and fewer ghosts have gathered, and the white light of the white building is getting more and more abundant.

Po –

Suddenly, on the surface of the white building, a large number of golden lines appeared, some like fierce beasts, some like fierce birds, floating on the surface of the building, waving a strange golden light.

The golden lines flickered rapidly, and the frequency became faster and faster, and when they reached a certain point, they suddenly stopped, completely floating on the surface of the building, and turned into a part of the architectural decoration.

By this time, the ghosts that had gathered had stopped.

"It's time to go in!"

Gray, who had already experienced it once, naturally understood that this meant that the building was completely stable and ready to enter.

He took Barnett with him. Through the huge arched passageway, Neam walked inward, heading straight for the hundred-meter-high altar in the center of the building.

"I don't know if I'll be able to fly up!"

Looking at this majestic altar, Gray's heart moved slightly, and blue-black wings grew from his back, wanting to try to fly directly to the altar without going through the steps.

But just as he flew up and approached the altar, his body suddenly fell.

No matter how it flapped its wings, it couldn't stabilize its body, and it couldn't stop falling down, as if the area around the altar was a no-fly area, and even if it had wings, it couldn't fly here.

Sail!

With a muffled thud, Gray landed unharmed.

His current physical fitness, even if he falls from a height of 100 meters, it is difficult to be injured.

"It seems that you can only climb up step by step!"

Gray with Barnett. Neham, as he climbed up the steps, the gravity he had felt once suddenly appeared, and as he climbed up, it became heavier and heavier.

100 steps.

200 steps.

300 steps.

400 steps.

With great difficulty, Gray climbed to the 400-step limit he had reached, and when he came here, he didn't even sweat except for a slightly heavy breathing.

Compared to that time, his current strength was much stronger, and if he fought with himself at that time, he estimated that just one blow should be enough to kill dozens of his former self.

500 steps.

600 steps.

Climbing to the 600th step, Gray finally felt a little pressure.

700 steps.

Climbing to the 700th step, Gray felt as if he was carrying a mountain on his back, even if he was as strong as him, he couldn't help but sweat.

800 steps.

900 steps.

As he continued to climb forward, the gravity continued to increase, and when he reached the 900th step, Gray felt that he had reached his limit, and his whole body seemed to be glued to the top of the stairs, and it was difficult to lift it anymore.

He'd already used metalization on himself, and while he was able to withstand more pressure in terms of physical strength, it wasn't strong enough to sustain him upward.

Gray looked at Barnett beside him. Neham, who also saw sweat on the other party's forehead, also felt the pressure, but obviously did not reach the limit.

"You go up and see if the sword is repaired!"

Gray to Barnett. Neam commanded.

"Yes, sir!"

Barnett. Neham replied and climbed up.

910 steps.

920 steps.

930 steps.

……

Even as a king-level powerhouse, now, Barnett. Neham's ascent was also slow, and under Gray's gaze, the other party slowly climbed up, and his clothes were completely wet with sweat.

However, although the speed of the ascent was not fast, it still slowly but surely climbed towards the very top of the altar.

999 steps.

Finally, the other party stood on the 999th step, standing only one step away from the top of the altar.

The right foot was raised, the body trembled slightly, and he landed on the top of the thousandth-step stairs, his face was flushed, and he exerted his strength, and finally the other party stood on the thousandth-step.

"Up!"

Gray breathed a sigh of relief, his original estimate was not wrong, as long as he could reach the king level, he would be able to climb to the top of this altar.

"How's it going, has it been repaired?"

He was busy asking the questions he was most concerned about, and soon got Barnett. Neam replied with a slight gasp.

"The blade of the sword...... Intact, no damage in sight! ”