NOVEL NEXT Chapter 63
Beep beep—
The first thing I recognized was a strange ringing in my head that echoed. As if waking from a deep slumber, my consciousness started to rise, and my faint senses began to awaken.
“Ugh…”
I blinked my blurry eyes and pushed myself up from the ground. My sense of balance was off, so I wobbled continuously, but somehow I managed to get to my feet.
As my hazy vision cleared, my surroundings became distinct.
Rubbing my forehead, I looked at the scattered items on the floor. Some puffy jerky, swollen from moisture, was mixed with black scales, and a torn bundle of paper was buried in the mud, oozing black ink.
My bag…
Yes, the things scattered around me were the belongings I had packed in my bag. When I reached behind me, I felt emptiness.
Even the sword I had strapped to my back was nowhere to be found. While searching for my possessions, I discovered a Nightmare slumped on the ground.
“Nightmare!”
Its sleek body was covered in mud, but it didn’t seem to have any injuries. I slapped its face to help it regain consciousness.
“Are you okay? You’re alive, right?”
The warm air constantly flowing from beneath its nose suggested it was surely alive, but out of anxiety, I kept slapping its face.
How long had it been? Suddenly, the Nightmare’s face scrunched up, and as if regaining its senses, it sprang up.
Phew-hee!
The creature looked around in panic, but after a moment, it seemed to have figured out the situation and started wagging its tail vigorously as it approached me. It looked like it was perfectly fine.
I patted the Nightmare’s head while surveying the area.
A dim darkness was spread out before me, illuminated by a pale light. Looking up at the sky, I saw that the darkened expanse was devoid of stars and the moon.
It wasn’t just the sky that was strange. A long stretch of desert lay in front of me, revealing a dense forest beyond, and even further away, towering snow-capped mountains could be seen. Turning my gaze the other way, I spotted a river flowing with a sunset hue.
A place where day and night, desert and forest, and snowy mountains were all mixed together—such a location wasn’t mentioned in the guidebook, and Celyon had never said that a place like this existed.
“For now…”
As I looked around, I reached one conclusion: I needed to find my belongings first. In this situation where I had lost my sword, encountering a monster would definitely lead to trouble.
I moved alongside the Nightmare, searching the area. As a result, I found a few gold coins stuck in the mud, a torn leather bag, and a magic book chained up, along with a leather pouch filled with seeds. It seemed that my sword and the Stormbringer attached to the Nightmare had fallen much farther away.
Because the bag was torn, I couldn’t gather the scattered items. In fact, there wasn’t much left worth collecting.
Reluctantly, I stretched the chains long and attached the magic book to my belt.
“I think I need to go further.”
Swoosh—
I crawled out of the muddy pit with the Nightmare and headed toward the sandy desert area. The pale light shining down from the darkened sky made the sand glimmer like platinum.
While riding the Nightmare, I noticed something sparkling strangely among the sand dunes. The Nightmare seemed to recognize the light and dashed toward it.
With each step the Nightmare took, fine sand dust puffed up around us.
At the spot where we arrived, a long stick protruded from the ground, and its shape felt very familiar.
“This is…”
I jumped off the Nightmare with a frown and pulled the stick with all my might. Then, a massive sword blade emerged that had been buried in the sand. It was the Stormbringer, the sword I received as a token of honor from the great warrior.
Could it be because it had been soaked in a mana storm? A faint flickering lightning glow danced along the blade of the Stormbringer.
It was a pity that it wasn’t the sword I originally used, but I had to consider it significant that I had obtained a weapon to defend myself from monsters.
I experimentally tried to lift the huge sword, larger than my body.
“Ugh…!”
The mana circle in my heart spun rapidly, and a emblem of the warrior emerged on my palm. Having gone through two bodily enhancements, the weight of the giant sword was still beyond what I could handle.
Whoosh—
As I swung the Stormbringer, I realized that, as I was now, I couldn’t execute my usual swordsmanship with this giant sword.
But still, it seemed better than having no weapon at all. I drew up more mana and sent it toward the Stormbringer.
Zzzzzt—
Without needing to put in extra effort, as mana struck the Stormbringer, blue lightning flared up.
This was already quite something. In case of emergency, I thought I could just hide behind the massive sword and keep pouring mana into it.
Instead of using the sword like a sword, I would turn it into a chain lightning launcher.
Whish—
Seeing me approach with the Stormbringer, the Nightmare stepped back in a frightened manner. It looked like wielding the weight of this sword was quite uncomfortable for it.
But what could I do? I couldn’t just haul this sword around by myself. I hung the Stormbringer on the Nightmare’s side.
After wandering the sandy region for a while, I still couldn’t see any sign of the original sword. Coming to a halt, I sighed and stroked the Nightmare’s mane.
“Which way do you think we should go?”
The Nightmare answered my question by wagging its tail. It looked like it had no idea where to go to return to the Pioneer Base.
I began to roam aimlessly alongside the Nightmare. Occasionally, I could find traces of monsters, but signs of humans were hard to come by.
In this region, where the distinction between day and night was blurred, the concept of time felt vague.
I lost track of how many hours had passed since I started walking mindlessly. The elongated shadow still pointed ahead. The fact that the shadow’s position hadn’t changed meant that time had passed, yet nothing moved.
“Hah…”
I felt mentally exhausted. I frowned as I looked up at the sky. If there were at least the moon or stars, it wouldn’t feel this suffocating.
At that moment, a twinkling starlight came to my mind.
What was I being so overwhelmed by? I smiled bitterly at myself and wiped my forehead. The Nightmare looked up at me, as if finding my behavior strange.
With my eyes closed, I began to move my mana.
A sphere of starlight formed over my heart, spinning while creating a thin ring around it.
Until now, I had implemented the magic from another world in a way that suited my tastes. While there might be differences in the power of the magic, it meant I had successfully brought to life what I had envisioned.
Then, could it not work the other way around?
I recalled the moment I conjured starlight in the desert. I remembered crossing the platinum-sparkling desert while bumping two small stones together.
What I needed was just a tiny bit of mana. A weak starlight, spinning quickly, prepared to manifest in this world.
The mana imbued with the user’s wishes leads to mystery, and when that mystery manifests in reality, it is finally deemed magic.
Tap-tap—
The moment my two little fingers clapped, a cheerful sound echoed, and a small Guiding Star appeared.
“Wow…”
I gazed at the starlight floating atop my hand. This star would move when I thought of where I wanted to go.
It was magic created in that way.
I made a wish as I looked at the shining star. Like wishing upon a shooting star in the sky, I hoped to escape from this place and return to the Pioneer Base where Celyon would be waiting.
Then the starlight began to move. As it advanced forward, leaving a long tail behind, the starlight served as my guiding star. Watching its movement, I had no doubts. The moment a magician doubts the mystery they’ve created, that magic ceases to be magic.
I pulled on the Nightmare’s bridle and dashed after the starlight.
*
“That’s wrong. It doesn’t seem to be here.”
“Hmmm…”
“Master?”
Rain looked up at her master. His aged, wrinkled face was serious, and his eyes shone sharply.
“Is that sword really that amazing?”
“It is not of human craftsmanship.”
The old wizard mumbled as he moved the dagger in his hand. The blade sparkled, reflecting the sunlight pouring down from the sky, and from certain angles, faint starlight flickered along the sword.
But Rain showed no particular interest in the small dagger her master held.
“When did you even get that?”
“I heard there was a blacksmith who can forge stars, so I went to check it out.”
“It’s not the time to worry about such rumors. Aren’t you going to search for Seris?”
“Haha…”
The old wizard burst out laughing at his disciple’s complaints. He, too, had only stumbled upon the rumor of the girl named Seris while searching for information about her.
The blacksmith shared his adventure stories with the old wizard seeking Seris, specifically the tale of crossing the desert, following a little star.
The old wizard tried to dismiss the story as nonsense intended for selling items, but the moment he saw the dagger the blacksmith had supposedly crafted himself, he had no choice but to believe everything he said.
“Master! Let’s hurry!”
Ignoring his disciple’s words, the old wizard continued to shine the dagger in the sunlight, wearing a faint smile.
His gaze was tinged with old memories.
*
“Hah…”
Foldrin wiped the sweat from his forehead, adjusting the cotton cloth. Having swung his sword non-stop, the skin on his palm tore, and blood seeped out.
“Um, Mr. Foldrin…”
“Oh, welcome.”
Foldrin glanced at the cautiously approaching Female Priestess. The woman, enchanted as she stared at his gentle smile, shook her head and opened her mouth.
“I found out the whereabouts of the girl you asked about, Seris.”
“Really…?”
“Yes. After the monster subjugation team set out, she seems to have left this city immediately. From the direction she was heading, it looks like to Greenfall…”
“Greenfall…?”
“Yes, the land of the Orcs.”
“Hah…”
Foldrin let out a deep sigh. Unlike before, as an official Paladin, he could go anywhere in Oblain, but to venture abroad, he needed formal permission from the country.
Foldrin knew it. There was no way they would send a Paladin abroad just to chase after a single girl. Observing the despair spreading across Foldrin’s expression, the Female Priestess cautiously continued speaking.
“Um, is that person really that important to you?”
“Yes… She is the one who gave me a second life…”
“You want to go to Greenfall, right?”
“If only I could…”
“You might be able to… I heard recently that traces of Dark Mages have been discovered in Greenfall.”
“Traces of Dark Mages…?”
“Yes, they say they will be sending an investigation team to look into the details…”
Before the Female Priestess could even finish her words, Foldrin hurriedly left the training grounds.
A smile had returned to his face.