Chapter 67
67. The Language Born First
The dark elf's secret arts, born in the shadow of the World Tree, are said to grow stronger at times closer to night.
For that reason, the time to perform the art was naturally set at night.
I did my usual solo physical training until the sun went down, and Eleanor came to see me again when the moon was bright in the sky.
“As it happens, tonight is the night of the full moon. Come, let us go.”
The dark elf's secret arts grow stronger at times closer to night, though that doesn't necessarily mean it has to be dark.
On the contrary, the brightness of the moon makes the very idea of night feel stronger, so the full moon would actually amplify the art's effect.
Supposedly, things like secret arts and witchcraft are just like old forms of magic, so these abstract conditions matter or whatever.
But where are we going, exactly.
I hadn't heard anything about geographical requirements for casting secret arts.
“We’re going to a place beloved by fairies. It’s a place where mana always wells up plentifully, so it should help you sense it.”
Saying it was better to do it under even slightly better conditions, Eleanor led me along.
The place we arrived at was a spacious lakeside of some sort. It was a location a little outside the dark elf village.
[Lake Where Starlight Grows]
When we reached the lakeshore, a system message told me the place name.
It wasn't a dungeon, but it seemed to be treated as a somewhat special place. Come to think of it, I remember seeing a related community post.
It wasn't a strategy guide, but a story post about a challenger on some server who'd fallen head over heels for someone and ended up confessing.
Writing that in a community where real names were openly shown naturally meant he had succeeded.
I heard that the place where the confession succeeded was right here. Sure enough, looking at it now, it was a place with a lovely atmosphere.
-Chirrrrr……
The sound of crickets you'd only hear in the countryside rang out little by little, and whenever the wind blew, the moonlit lake rippled.
But I wasn't sure whether this was really a place worth coming all the way down from another floor for.
That couple were challengers said to be tackling around Floor 20, so it must have been quite a hassle to come all the way down to around Floor 7.
As I was thinking that, Eleanor smiled and put a hand on my shoulder.
“To tell the truth, it wasn't only because the mana is abundant that I came. I wanted to show you this place because it's beautiful.”
Even with Eleanor saying that, I still couldn't really relate. It didn't look that amazing to me.
“It's a bit early for you to fully appreciate it, but still. Now then, shall we begin?”
-tap, tap.
Eleanor tapped the ground with something like a staff she had brought from the village, then scattered a few small pebbles across the floor.
“To be precise, this secret art should be thought of as linking a passage leading into each other's minds.”
“The passage doesn't directly let thoughts flow through. By opening each other's doors, we can peer beyond them.”
“I'll open the door to my thoughts for you, so all you have to do is follow it inside. It shouldn't be difficult.”
After the brief explanation, Eleanor, having finished her preparations, grasped my face.
“Close your eyes, and find the door.”
The moment I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead against hers, a new world unfolded.
**
Even with my eyes closed, I could see a dark passage, and far ahead of it, a golden door.
The tightly shut door opened on its own without even being touched. I moved toward the light beyond it.
The closer I got, the more I felt something like a weak resistance. It was like walking while submerged underwater.
But it wasn't very strong, so I ignored it and moved forward. And slowly, the light began to change shape.
-Halt!
I flinched and turned at the sudden voice. Something like a small cluster of light was running out while speaking.
It was a voice that felt strangely familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.
The cluster of light that had spoken gradually took shape, and soon became a small child.
I recognized the child's identity at once.
It was Eleanor as a little girl. She was energetically chasing after a beast that looked like a white rabbit.
It didn't seem like hunting, and judging by the way she was smiling and running, it looked like she was playing. The scenery around us slowly changed.
What appeared was a place from my memory. The rest area where I'd recently spoken with Rizmel.
It was that very place that had looked like an elf-style version of an apartment complex playground, but there didn't seem to be any children actually using it.
Now I understood what it meant. This place had been created when Eleanor was still young.
-Where do you think you're going, you little beast!
Eleanor chased the small beast darting all over the playground without end. Before long, the beast hopped over a small fence.
-Ah, no, not there.
Having been told that you shouldn't recklessly go beyond the fence, Eleanor hesitated for a moment.
Her desire to chase the rabbit and the thought that she mustn't cross the fence clashed briefly.
But soon her thoughts turned to something else: curiosity about what lay beyond the fence.
Her mind and will quickly aligned, and Eleanor sprang over the fence with a powerful leap.
The instinct of the night elves who had taken on the task of pioneering beyond the forest: the habit of stepping toward the unknown without being bound by fear.
Eleanor, born as a princess of the dark elves, had inherited that habit and those instincts more strongly than anyone.
Before I knew it, I had become one with the younger Eleanor.
Everything Eleanor was thinking, everything Eleanor was feeling, all of it was being conveyed to me.
Eleanor, having crossed the fence, didn't stop even after catching the rabbit.
Rather, as if she wanted to explore beyond the fence a little more, she kept running around busily.
And before long, she arrived at the lake where starlight grows.
-Wow, it's pretty!
Eleanor's eyes shone as she slowly stepped to the lakeshore. The ripples of the lake were felt by me as well.
Time passed. The perspective kept changing faster and faster. The tiny Eleanor quickly grew up and became an adult.
As she did, the lake's appearance changed little by little as well. What had started as a lake where only lots of flowers bloomed began to shine.
True to the name of starlight growing, something glittering like fireflies rose up and surrounded Eleanor.
Beautiful.
Stars fell like rain, fairies danced amid laughter, and in the midst of it all, Eleanor danced with them too.
Eleanor's joy reached me exactly as she felt it, and so did the breath of the fairies surrounding her.
When you breathe in, starlight enters your body and begins to flow through you.
I realized.
This starlight was the mana I had wanted to feel.
[Passive Skill: Mana Sensitivity Level 1 acquired.]
And then Eleanor, whose forehead had been pressed against mine, pulled away.
**
The moment I left Eleanor's world of thought and opened my eyes, I saw the light of mana surging around me.
“How is it? Now you can see it too, can't you?”
Fairies of all different shapes were flying about the lakeshore before I knew it.
The starlight—no, the mana light resembling fireflies—was also swirling around with the fairies and drifting on the wind.
There was a reason challengers around Floor 20 had gone so far out of their way to come here.
Now I can see it.
The beauty of this lake.
“The fairies want to dance with you. Why don't you join them?”
“What? Dance?”
“There is nothing difficult about it. Simply spinning around together is enough.”
The fairies took my hand and led me, and Eleanor pushed me from behind. Before I knew it, I was being dragged along.
“Just let yourself go with the melody. At first, listen with your ears.”
The fairies began moving wildly with me without any restraint. It was a chaotic movement with no rhyme or reason.
“You've already learned how to broaden your senses, so it should reach you as well.”
“The sound of the wind, the sound of the water, the sound of grass and insects.”
“They're all becoming one and making a song, aren't they?”
A song began to reach my ears, and the fairies' movements, which had looked chaotic, gradually turned into a dance.
But following it was extremely difficult. After all, I'd never danced before.
However, Eleanor said not to think about it too hard, and that I could do it.
“All life born of the earth, our mother, remembers it. A tone carved deep into the heart, made before any language.”
I wasn't a life born on this land. I was a human born outside the Tower and dragged in.
But strangely enough, just as Eleanor had said—I could dance.
Every time I moved, led by the fairies' hands, my body followed the melody as if recalling something I'd forgotten.
I was definitely just dancing.
No, to be exact, I was just spinning around with them—but I felt as if something was being filled inside me.
[Passive Skill: Mana Sensitivity Level 2 acquired.]
[Achievement Unlocked: One Who Dances with Fairies]
[Achievement Reward 'Spirit Affinity +50' acquired.]