Kaelen stood motionless in the center of the underground chamber.
Blue flames flickered silently along the walls while mountains of treasure reflected dim magical light across the room.
Gold.
Jewels.
Ancient weapons.
And books.
Thousands upon thousands of books.
The air itself felt ancient.
Untouched.
Preserved beyond logic.
Kaelen slowly approached one of the weapon racks.
The swords resting there were magnificent.
Some were silver.
Others black as obsidian.
A few even carried faint glowing runes along their blades.
And yet— despite supposedly being ancient— not even dust covered them.
The metal looked newly forged.
Sharp.
Perfect.
Kaelen carefully touched one sword.
Cold energy traveled through his fingers instantly.
“…Impossible.”
He looked around the chamber again.
Nothing here should still exist.
Not after thousands of years.
No— not even after hundreds.
Yet everything remained perfectly preserved.
Finally, Kaelen looked toward the system screen floating before him.
“System…”
“How old is this civilization?”
The answer came instantly.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Ancient Civilization Age:
Approximately 100,000 years old.
This chamber was preserved using high-level magical seals from that era.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Kaelen froze completely.
“…What?”
His brain almost refused to process the number.
“One hundred… thousand years?”
His voice echoed through the chamber.
That was impossible.
Absolutely impossible.
Even in the history of Game of Thrones, the oldest records only stretched back around twelve thousand years.
The Age of Heroes.
The First Men.
Ancient Westeros.
House Stark itself was considered unbelievably old— yet even they only traced back around eight thousand years.
The Targaryens were far younger than that.
But this civilization?
One hundred thousand years old?
Kaelen felt chills run down his spine.
That meant this civilization existed long before recorded human history itself.
Long before Valyria.
Long before Westeros.
Long before almost everything known to the modern world.
His gaze slowly moved toward the glowing walls.
“What kind of civilization was this…?”
The deeper he thought about it— the more terrifying it became.
And yet…
magic explained everything.
Only magic could preserve books, treasure, and weapons for one hundred thousand years.
Only magic could keep this underground chamber untouched by time itself.
Kaelen slowly exhaled.
“This world is way deeper than I thought…”
Excitement burned in his chest.
Carefully, he approached the bookshelves.
Then he pulled out the first ancient tome he could find.
The cover was black with silver symbols.
The moment he opened it— his eyes widened.
Magic.
The book described magical theory in incredible detail.
Mana flow.
Spell formation.
Rune construction.
Energy circulation.
Kaelen quickly grabbed another book.
Then another.
Blood magic.
Ancient rituals.
Fire magic.
Ice magic.
Beast taming.
Elemental control.
The sheer amount of knowledge here was overwhelming.
“This place is insane…”
Some books even described ancient magical bloodlines.
One section immediately caught his attention.
Dragon Bonding.
Kaelen’s eyes sharpened.
The text explained how certain individuals formed magical connections with beasts.
Especially dragons.
It reminded him instantly of the Targaryens.
Another book mentioned wolf-bonding rituals resembling the abilities of House Stark.
But these texts were far older.
Far more advanced.
Which meant— the abilities of modern houses might only be fragments of ancient magic.
That realization shocked him deeply.
Kaelen continued reading rapidly.
The books spoke of monstrous creatures long extinct from the modern world.
Sea beasts.
Sky predators.
Ancient dragons.
Creatures capable of destroying armies.
Some passages even described magical wars that nearly shattered continents.
The ancient civilization clearly possessed terrifying power.
Then Kaelen found something else.
Records.
Detailed records about dragons.
Different species.
Habitats.
Evolution.
Magical properties.
One sketch showed a dragon larger than castles themselves.
Another depicted creatures made entirely of ice.
Kaelen’s eyes widened slightly.
“Ice dragons actually existed…”
As he explored deeper into the chamber, something suddenly caught his attention.
At the far corner of the room stood three stone pedestals.
And resting upon them— three eggs.
Kaelen immediately rushed forward.
His heart pounded violently.
The eggs were massive.
Far larger than normal bird eggs.
And each carried different colors.
One was deep crimson red.
One glowed faint icy blue.
And the final egg— black.
Completely black.
Its surface looked almost like polished obsidian.
Kaelen stared at them with excitement.
“Dragon eggs…”
For a moment, he almost laughed out loud.
Real dragon eggs.
Then he paused.
Wait.
The books mentioned many magical beasts.
Not only dragons.
Quickly, Kaelen searched nearby shelves for information.
Eventually, he found another ancient tome discussing magical beast eggs.
He rapidly flipped through the pages.
Then stopped.
His eyes widened.
The red egg:
Dragon Egg.
The blue egg:
Ice Dragon Egg.
And the black egg…
Kaelen read the text twice to ensure he wasn’t imagining it.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Black Tide Kraken
Ancient Deep-Sea Beast.
Ruler of the Black Waters.
Capable of destroying fleets and swallowing sea fortresses whole.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Kaelen slowly looked toward the black egg again.
“…A Kraken?”
Not the myths from sailors.
A real one.
And according to the text— far more dangerous than ordinary dragons.
The room suddenly felt even more unbelievable.
Kaelen carefully touched the black egg.
Cold energy pulsed beneath the shell.
Something alive rested inside.
Something ancient.
Something terrifying.
He slowly grinned.
“This continent is absurd…”
Then his attention shifted toward another shelf nearby.
Ancient maps.
Kaelen immediately opened one across a large stone table.
His eyes widened once more.
The map of Kaelrith was incredibly detailed.
Mountain ranges.
Ruins.
Ancient cities.
Danger zones.
Beast territories.
And resources.
Gold.
Iron.
Silver.
Coal.
Precious minerals.
Everything was marked.
But what truly shocked him— were the dragon symbols scattered across various mountain regions.
Dragon nests.
Ancient habitats.
Kaelen’s grin widened further.
“So there are more…”
More dragon eggs.
More beasts.
More secrets.
For a moment, Kaelen imagined himself years later— riding dragons above the skies of Kaelrith while ruling an empire.
The thought alone felt intoxicating.
But he quickly calmed himself.
“Future problem,” he muttered.
Right now, he was still alone.
Still building foundations.
Still surviving.
He carefully rolled up the map and stored it inside the system inventory.
Then he approached the weapon racks once more.
Among all the swords— one caught his attention immediately.
A black blade with a small crimson gemstone embedded in the handle.
The moment Kaelen touched it— warm energy spread through his arm.
The sword felt alive.
Perfectly balanced.
Almost as though it had chosen him.
Kaelen smiled faintly.
“I’ll take this one.”
He attached the sword to his waist.
Then carefully stored the three eggs inside the system inventory.
Thankfully, the inventory seemed capable of preserving living objects safely.
Afterward, Kaelen selected dozens of important books:
• magic theory
• combat techniques
• beast taming
• runes
• magical biology
All disappeared into blue light as they entered his inventory.
This underground vault was too important to expose carelessly.
Not yet.
Finally, Kaelen stood before the black stone door once more.
He looked back toward the glowing chamber silently.
One hundred thousand years of forgotten history rested behind this door.
Secrets powerful enough to reshape the world itself.
Then slowly— he closed the entrance.
The black stone sealed shut with a deep rumble.
Only magical energy could open it.
Meaning only Kaelen currently possessed access.
His personal hidden treasure.
His hidden library.
His secret.
Kaelen exhaled deeply.
Then began his journey home.
Through forests.
Across rivers.
Over mountains.
He moved rapidly through the wilderness of Kaelrith.
Faster than ever before.
Because now— everything had changed.
Before, Kaelen only wanted survival.
Now?
He possessed knowledge from an ancient magical civilization.
Dragon eggs.
Ancient maps.
Magical theories.
And the realization that Kaelrith contained secrets older than recorded history itself.
The young ruler’s eyes burned with ambition as cold wind swept across the ancient continent.
One day—
Kaelen would uncover every secret hidden within Kaelrith.
Author’s note: