Stygian Mage

”So, how long will it take for the Vestige to open?” Soren asked as the introductions were over.

“We don’t know the exact time but most probably, it will be sometime day after tomorrow,” Wood replied.

“From the information we have, it seems to be an Inheritance left by a Rank 2 Swordsman. These kinds of Vestiges are generally quite safe, mainly to ensure the safety of anyone who might be chosen for the Inheritance. After all, it could even be a weak Non-Initiator who is worthy of it.”

Smiley explained further, “Just that, the Rank 1 Beast seems to be a miscalculation on that Rank 2 Initiator’s part. With that Beast around, normal Initiator could not even get close to the area, let alone receive the inheritance.”

Tera nodded as she took over and said, “The other Families are currently looking for the Beast but it seems to have hidden after seeing so many strong people coming after it.”

“So, how do you guys plan to enter the Vestige? I presume you wouldn’t want to fight against all the Families.” Soren asked the question that was currently on his mind.

“No, we have a different way. The entrance that others have found is just something that the Beast was using to go in and out; it’s not the real one. We actually had the information about this Vestige long before this news spread around and we know where the real entrance is. We were just missing the exact coordinates of the Vestige which Smiley got for us.” This time it was Hound who answered with a hoarse voice.

“Even if you enter it from a different way, wouldn’t you just end up meeting the others inside?” Soren asked as he looked at Smiley and remembered the man who had given them the info about the Vestige.

“That’s a little tricky as both the gates open at a different time. The Beast was not using the official entrance, so according to our information, it should open at a different time. Most probably, it will open after the main entrance opens; we have to take a risk on this probability.” Smiley explained as he cleaned a rock with his hands and sat down after blowing the remaining dust away.

“Here, use this. This contains all the information we have on the Vestige.” Tera took out a Memory Sphere and handed it to Soren.

The information contained in the sphere was not huge like the ‘Enfari’ language, so it didn’t take long for Soren to collect all the data. Isaac then sorted everything and presented a systematic report to Soren that contained all the details about the Vestige.

………..

Soren chose an elevated flat rock on the ground, cleaned it and then sat on it. The cave-hall was not that big so there was not much distance between him and the others. The other members also were already gone back to where they were before Soren came.

Wood sat cross-legged on the flat ground with her sword on her knees, seemingly in meditation. Hound just lay down on the ground with his hands under his head acting as a pillow and his right leg crossed over his left.

Tera also sat down on the ground with the wall supporting her back. As far as Soren could tell, she didn’t have any weapon on her. Smiley was also sitting on an elevated flat rock and was completely motionless. One could say he was meditating but if someone stood near him, one could hear the faint snoring noise coming from his throat.

Soren looked towards the members one by one and then thought about some things. He had some questions he wanted to ask them and also some other stuff he wanted to discuss. Just that….he didn’t know how things worked with them usually.

He didn’t know if he had to pay for any information or if it was possible to trade with them. But he knew that just mulling on it wouldn’t get any result so, he finally decided to ask.

“I….wanted to ask something,” He hesitated at first but finally finished his sentence.

His young voice echoed in the hall as the other members opened their eyes one by one, except for Smiley; he was still sleeping.

“How do things work in our group? I mean, how do Information exchange and trades work?” Soren asked.

A small smile formed on Smiley’s face who was supposed to be sleeping. He was not smiling at Soren’s question but something he noticed in his words. He was smiling because he was happy that Soren chose to use the word ‘our’ instead of ‘your’. This meant that Soren had at least started to accept the group and saw himself as a part of it. He knew it would take some time before Soren could completely accept it, so it made him a little happy to see him say that.

Smiley usually remained indifferent towards any new member, but this time, it was different. Even he couldn’t tell why it was so; maybe it was because of Soren’s situation, maybe it was because Smiley knew who Soren was….

“It depends on the members. They can ask their price for information they have but generally, none of the members do so. Most of the time, you can get any information for free from any members, except when the information itself is very valuable. As for trading, that also depends on the members. Our group is made for stuff like this so don’t hesitate to ask.” Smiley explained all this to Soren in one go.

Soren nodded and thanked Smiley for the explanation.

“I wanted to ask about how you guys figure out the cultivation level of the other person.”

“Hmm, you are talking about the Scan Skill? It’s just a skill we use to gather information about the other person based on the Mana they release.” Smiley answered.

So, it works on the same basis as Isaac’s…..

This was something that was constantly on Soren’s mind. He wanted to know the difference between the Scan Skill and the Scan that Isaac used. Getting the confirmation from Smiley finally put his mind at ease. He also made a mental note to buy it in the future just to check it for himself.

“You might not find it around this area, I am afraid,” Smiley said as he had just read Soren’s mind.

“This area might have those one time use Scan Spell Vessel but for a permanent skill, you would have to go to a bigger city.” Tera also joined in the conversation as she completed Smiley’s sentence.

So, it’s possible that the Liston Family also doesn’t have this skill or at least, only a few of them does….I truly can’t wait anymore. It’s too risky to base it just on that probability….

………

“Another question: It might sound weird but….can you tell me about ‘Travelers’?” Soren thought a lot before finally asking this question.

He wanted more information about his status and he also had some doubts about what he had been told by the Captain when he first came here. He didn’t want to risk exposing his identity but he had no choice here. He knew that the area he was in right now was not that developed, so the information one could get here was also limited. As such, he had to bet on getting it from the members of his group.

“Well….it will take quite long if I start to explain everything about them, so I’ll try to keep it short. The so-called ‘Travelers’ are the people who pass through the space cracks and come to a different world. People generally misunderstand them as someone blessed with heavenly luck or something, but….they don’t get one basic thing. ‘Traveler’ is just a title given to someone who has traversed the space crack and gone to another world.” Tera started her explanation about the ‘Travelers’ while Wood and Hound also started paying attention to her words. After all, this was a topic even they didn’t know much about.

Tera continued, “They have a very high aptitude in Mana and most of them also have high-grade Bloodlines. People generally think that they are special because they traveled to another world, but it’s just the opposite. ‘Travelers’ are already special before going to another world; it’s just that going through the space crack helps them in the awakening of their Bloodline. Many ‘Travelers’ come from a Barren World and they don’t know anything about Mana and its uses, so this also makes people think that they became special just because they traveled to another world.”

She took a breath and then continued again, “You can also find some people having the same talent as the ‘Travelers’ in this world. They are called extremely talented ones here and not ‘Travelers’, but if any of them goes through a space crack and travels to another world, they would then be called ‘Travelers’ there. And if they pass the space crack when their Bloodline is still un-awakened, the radiation could help them awaken it; that is if they could survive first.”

Tera finished her explanation and then looked at Soren, checking if her answer satisfied him.

Soren stayed silent for a while as he took in all the information she just gave. He already had some conjectures about it so he wasn’t too surprised by any of it, but it still broadened his views. He still had more questions about it but he was trying to decide if he should ask all of them. He knew for a fact that asking those questions would pretty much expose his identity, but….he wanted to know about something very important.

Finally, he decided to ask the questions as he didn’t know if he would get another chance like this in the future.

So, he continued to ask, “Is there any way to tell if someone’s a ‘Traveler’ for sure?”

“Hmm….I don’t know if this fact is true or not but there is some information out there that a newly arrived ‘Traveler’ will have slightly glowing skin because of the radiation. It stays with them for a few hours or so and slowly fades away as time passes by. Going by that, I guess you can tell if someone is a ‘Traveler’ if you meet them when they just came out of the space crack.” Tera answered.

This cleared up Soren’s doubt about why that red-haired man, whom he met on his first day in this world, could recognize him as a ‘Traveler’. But he was also not sure if this fact was true or not, as he didn’t remember his skin glowing at that time. Maybe he just didn’t pay attention to this at that time but he was sure that even if it was true, the intensity of the glow would not have been that much.

………

There was one last thing he wanted to ask on this topic and this was also the most important question for him.

And since he had already decided to risk it all and get the answers, he continued without any hesitation.

“I wanted to know if it’s possible for a ‘Traveler’ to go back to his own world.” Soren braced himself for the answer as he asked with a wavering heart.

He had already been told that there wasn’t any way back home by the Captain. At that time, he had vowed that he would find a way himself, but he also knew that it wouldn’t be so easy. Most importantly, though, before going on the quest to find that way back home, he wanted to be sure about it.

Tera looked at Soren with confusion in her eyes. She wasn’t sure why Soren was asking so many questions about ‘Travelers’. The reason she couldn’t connect the questions to Soren being a ‘Traveler’ was that she didn’t know the rumors about a ‘Traveler’ appearing in town, and neither did she buy any information from the Captain. She was in this area only for the Vestige so she didn’t even go to the town after arriving here.

Wood and Hound were also the same. They looked at Soren in confusion as they had no idea why he would suddenly ask so many questions about ‘Travelers’.

Most of all, after the Liston Family made Soren sign the Blood Contract; they had done everything in their power to stop the rumors about him from spreading. Of course, it was nigh impossible to stop that kind of information from spreading, but the members of the ‘Wandering Wolves’ were in the town only for the Vestige. They had no interest in the rumors about a ‘Traveler’ that was spreading in pubs by some drunk people, as these kinds of information were already very difficult to verify and also—it didn’t concern them.

……….

The whole cave fell into a deep silence as Tera, Wood, and Hound looked at him in confusion. Soren didn’t seem to notice their confusion and was just anxiously waiting for a response.

“Yes, it’s possible.” The silence was broken by Smiley who opened his mouth first and answered Soren.

Soren’s heart skipped a beat when he heard a positive answer. He had already hardened his mind to hear the same negative answer as before, but what he heard instead destroyed that strong mind. It was the answer he hoped to hear but after actually hearing it, he didn’t know how to react. Even though his heart was ready to burst out of his chest due to excitement, he still tried to maintain his calm mind. If he was to believe Smiley then it was the best news he could ever get. Of course, his questions couldn’t end there as he still had one main thing he wanted to ask about.

In a very short amount of time, he thought of many ways to structure his next question but he couldn’t find one that would not make him suspicious. This was something he definitely needed to know so regardless of the risk, he opened his mouth.

“Can you—“

“Zero, I needed to ask you some things. Can we talk in private?” As soon as Soren opened his mouth to ask the question, he was interrupted by Smiley who had now stood up and was patting the dust off his clothes; even though he had cleaned the rock before sitting.

Soren was taken aback by the sudden change. He hadn’t even finished his question yet and was suddenly interrupted. Due to the interruption, he suddenly noticed the confusion in other member’s eyes and realized that he was being too eager in his questions. He had almost revealed his identity due to a moment of carelessness.

But then he looked at Smiley. He was stopped by him the moment he was going to ask his question and that could only imply one thing. He knew Soren’s identity and had stopped him before he ended up revealing it due to his carelessness. This made Soren a little anxious and confused. Anxious because Smiley knew who he was, and confused because he had no idea why Smiley had helped him.

He looked at Smiley’s back as he went out of the cave and decided to follow him for now. Going out to meet him alone was also better for him if he needed to run. Running from one Rank 1 Initiator was much better than running from two Rank 1 Initiators and two Rank 0 Layer-9 Initiators after all.

Sore squinted his eyes when he felt the light coming from outside as he made his way out of the cave and followed Smiley deep into the jungle. Smiley also didn’t stop or looked back at him; he just kept walking in front of him.

They both walked for a while and after making sure they were far enough from the cave, Smiley stopped and turned around. He looked at Soren who had also stopped and was now looking at him with his black eyes filled with questions.