Chapter 113 - Epiphany

"Welcome~!"

"You're here?"

Our lodging place.

It wasn't a hotel in Grove City or Conquerors' base, but Frontier's base.

Going to a hotel seemed unnecessary when we had major guild bases available, and honestly, we didn't know anyone at Conquerors.

We were going to go there considering Svetlana, Conquerors' dispatch worker, but she actually opposed it, stating Bobel would probably come up if we went there.

I could somewhat guess her feelings.

For her, as the Guild Master's disciple and Vice Guild Master's daughter, guild members' worry and curiosity might feel like relatives' attention during holidays.

Thus, at our decided lodging, we were greeted by none other than the Ruslan and Lyudmila pair.

"Long time no see, you two. Heard you went down, so you were here?"

"Ahaha. That's how it turned out."

"A kind of demotion, disciplinary personnel measure."

"What?"

"Honestly, your team helped us a lot on the Second Floor, right? It was originally our job. Meaning we should reflect. Our Guild Master is the type to throw you off cliffs. More like pushing to extremes than rest? Rei knows well, right?"

"...It was brutal."

Rei shook her head with a frown.

I knew it was Spartan-style, but didn't expect they'd be thrown straight into the Third Floor.

"Don't worry too much. You can still rest plenty here. We're just sent here to not forget about reflecting."

"Think of it as somewhat rough rehabilitation."

"More importantly, those two are new faces. Care to introduce them?"

Lyudmila pointed at Mea and Svetlana.

I briefly introduced them.

While they just said "Pleased to meet you" to Mea, their reaction changed notably at Svetlana's introduction.

"The Red Spear, is it? Indeed, your bearing is excellent."

"Nice to meet you. Um, it's our first time having someone from Conquerors stay with us, but don't feel too conscious about it."

"I'll be in your care briefly."

Svetlana gave a polite bow.

Mea followed, nodding her head too.

"I'll be in your care as well."

Since they already knew Rei and Leaf, that concluded the introductions.

Lyudmila brought up the next topic.

"Then three rooms should do? One for Roman, and two for the women, two per room. That okay?"

"I'm fine sharing a room with Roman."

"What?"

"Huh?"

"We did before, right?" Mea spoke matter-of-factly as if just stating facts.

Rei and Leaf let out high-pitched sounds perfectly expressing "I'm shocked by Mea's statement!"

Before they could say more, I quickly moved to smooth things over.

"That's not happening so everyone stop with the strange talk. You too, Mea."

We shared a building, not a room.

While correcting Mea's exaggerated statement, I quickly assigned room arrangements.

Though I'd like to pair Mea-Leaf and Svetlana-Rei, there would probably be some resistance?

It would be good to group similar roles together to share know-how and teamwork.

Better to let them get used to it naturally than force it right away.

Rei was the most reluctant about Svetlana joining.

Yet when Svetlana faced Blobel, Rei was the first to step forward.

Rather than me forcibly instilling team consciousness, it might be better to let things flow naturally.

Mea and Svetlana, perhaps due to their straightforward personalities, accepted becoming roommates despite their awkward relationship.

"Then let's all unpack, rest a bit, and meet in 30 minutes."

§

We were now outside.

And in our hands were not our usual weapons like staves or spears, but something else.

"Oh, this is delicious."

Snacks.

"This somehow tastes like meat?"

Despite looking obviously like fruit at first glance, Rei took a big bite of the fruit in her hand, saying it tasted like meat.

Instead of fruit juice that should have burst out with a pop, slightly blood-like crimson meat juice dripped out.

"Ugh... Rei, eat carefully. You're getting it all over your hands."

Perhaps uncomfortable with that violent visual, Leaf made an "uu—" sound while handing her handkerchief to Rei.

Leaf's femininity was incomparable to Rei's.

We walked around Grove City like this.

The city, formed around a massive central tree as its axis, was a complete wooden city without a single stone building.

Though the city was too large to explore completely in one day, despite having fewer people than the First Floor's Main Base, its density didn't feel lacking at all.

Of course, this was the Third Floor where skilled Explorers made their bases.

I heard it took an average of 5 years to reach the forest beyond the garden and labyrinth.

Exception cases like our team and classmates, who already built some foundation as a kind of experienced newcomers, could make it much shorter at about 2 years, but that was still a long time.

Cases like ours reaching the Third Floor in just half a year were extremely rare.

We were what others could call Master-level talent.

The realistic top tier of Explorers numbering less than a hundred.

It meant talent worthy of challenging that level.

Just think of how much experience must be built up to reach the Third Floor.

Even we who came here in half a year experienced various incidents, so those taking 2-5 years must have experienced at least as much if not more.

"The atmosphere is completely different."

It seemed I wasn't the only one who felt that way.

I nodded at Leaf's muttered words and said, "Yeah. The way they look at us is completely different too."

Pure exploration.

On the First Floor, there were many hyena-like people.

With just a bit of careful observation, one could see their intention to prey on others if possible.

But here was different.

Explorers who learned that even clumsiness could be a trap showed neither carelessness nor dismissal.

While there were occasional Novice or Regular Explorers who seemed to be disciples or juniors, they were few.

Even then, those accompanying them were Experts, not Seniors.

Strong ones who could easily cover their companions' shortcomings and more.

"The Third Floor is different. Lots of worthwhile ones too."

Rei, having finished her meat fruit, dusted off her hands while staring back at those observing us.

Gazes scattered at her look.

Rather than fleeing from Rei's pressure, it felt more like they'd learned what they wanted to know from her response.

Indeed, the level here was high.

We could tell just from our first encounter in Grove City with Blobel and the Naturalis alchemists.

"Roman."

"Yes?"

"Let's head back now. The ceiling will close soon."

Is it that time already?

More importantly, how did she know when there’s no way to check the time?

There doesn't seem to be anything like Res Limen's clock tower or Main Base's bell tower.

"Time in the Third Floor is measured by temperature."

"Is it different?"

"Yes. Though not by much, the temperature drops more in the evening. The difference isn't big so it's hard to notice if you're not used to the Third Floor, but combat specialists or elves with sensitive senses can easily tell."

"Ah! Now that you mention it, the wind did feel a bit different—so that's why!"

I couldn't tell.

Rei seemed similar.

Leaf could tell but I couldn’t? Her pupils shook with shock.

[Hohoho, curious, covenant-bearer? Then immerse yourself in this Bath Duke's mana. Temperature is this Bath Duke's solemn domain. Even if it's as slight as an araya's change, before the Bath Duke's authority it's like heaven and earth.]

I always felt this way, but that title "Bath Duke" was certainly something every time I heard it.

The tone was extremely grand and solemn but calling oneself Bath Duke...

Think of Seir who was also a Duke.

Duke of Origin.

Just hearing it gave an impression of, “Ah, truly a great Devil.”

I couldn’t help but compare the two.

Carefully tucking away such thoughts so they wouldn't reach Procell, I opened her pact seal.

Procell's authority centered on two axes: illusion and temperature.

Though dense in darkness and water attributes, her authority manifested in those two forms.

Maybe that was why.

As I circulated Procell's mana, I began to feel the subtle change of dropping temperature.

The difference was so small it could only be vaguely noticed with concentration.

"It really is dropping."

[How is it? This Bath Duke's authority... did you feel it on your skin?]

Well, even if you say that.

In the end, I'm just a human thermometer, right?

Since I'm not borrowing authority, I can't actually handle heat.

But… this is still enough to tease Rei.

We arrived at Frontier's base, dragging Rei who was struggling to somehow detect the temperature change she alone couldn't feel.

Following Lyudmila's guidance, we went up to the rooftop.

Svetlana, who already knew about Grove City's ceiling, followed diligently though it probably wouldn't be particularly moving for her.

"It's starting."

With perfect timing, the ceiling began closing just as we settled on the rooftop.

Like a dome stadium's roof closing, a massive curtain rose from the city's west.

Blocking light, it gradually guided Grove City into darkness' embrace.

Like a sky-running carriage bringing day and night.

The curtain covered the night as if declaring daytime's end.

And the remaining light was soft twinkling embedded in the night curtain.

Starlight.

"Those stars..."

Light points twinkling, embedded in the curtain covering Grove City.

These light particles recreating the star-studded night sky weren't randomly placed but formed proper constellations.

Not glowing jewels or any Abyss artifacts.

These were all mana lights that gained mystery through magic formations borrowing the primitive form of constellations as their mana source.

Therefore, they shone in their proper places without any special mage's mana control.

If it's like that...

Maybe I could do it too.

Long-distance mana manipulation that I had practiced countless times but still couldn't quite grasp.

The struggling point was the brain's cognitive capacity limitation.

Mana manipulation had 3 processes: movement, concentration, and projection.

For the long-distance part, I needed to specify and calculate the spatial coordinates for transfer.

Also, Axis’ activation was essential for spatial coordinate specification.

My brain couldn't keep up trying to process all this simultaneously in real-time.

While firing magic bullets had become muscle memory requiring little thought, calculating space demanded extremely complex thinking.

But if it was done that way?

Constellations wouldn't work.

That was the work of astrologers who understood each star's role and mystery and knew all the symbolism corresponding to constellation forms.

Blindly copying that would be like a sparrow trying to follow a crane.

My legs would split and then some.

Then what could I do?

If it's a figure that inherently contains mystery... seals.

Demonic seals should work similarly to constellations.

Though seals were made of lines unlike constellations made of points, that could be overcome by substituting angles or circles from the seals.

The moment I thought of Seir's seal.

Responding to my contemplation, Seir settled into my consciousness.

[It is not difficult. Like when deploying Axis, flatten the world with the pact-bearer at the center.]

Guided by Seir's young voice, I move my mana.

In my imagined world, her seal unfolded.

It was like a summoning circle.

Summoning circles had spots too.

Places where candles or mana-containing objects must be placed.

If mana flow was dragon veins, then these were like dragon lairs where power pooled.

This mechanism applied to both general summoning circles and specific summoning circles drawing seals for particular devils.

Use those as external manifestation points for magic bullets.

The seal's form was circular.

Taking myself as the center point, drawing the seal's form in the external world, and gathering mana at the spots.

Got it.

Magic bullet formation outside the body that had shown no progress despite grueling effort.

What seemed impossibly distant was suddenly bridged, completed in an instant.

A flash of inspiration and a teacher to refine it.

A miraculous growth that wouldn't have happened without either.

So this is what they call predestined opportunity.

[Congratulations, my pact-bearer. With this, you've taken another step toward Origin.]

I heard laughter.

Laughter that could have been Seir's, or my own.