Chapter 205 - South

Well, I won’t get much from studying these fragments. Adion thought as he held a small part of the now destroyed teleportation formation in his hand. 

No matter. I think I have it all in my head somewhere. 

Adion had done his best to study the formation before they destroyed it, but he still hoped to gain some insights after destroying it. 

Unfortunately, it was harder to destroy than he and Shindo had thought. Adion couldn’t do it himself. He didn’t dare use his volatile space, as that would make the runes inside it completely unrecognizable. 

When Shindo tried using his thunder to carefully cut it apart, he too noticed how strong the formation was. He had to increase his power more and more until his control slipped, and his thunder completely shattered the formation. 

Adion couldn’t blame him, though. He knew he wouldn’t have had a better result if he tried it himself.

Looking down at the shambles left behind, Adion couldn’t help but feel it was a shame. This was a teleportation formation left behind from the Age of Wonder. It had made it through countless years and somehow still functioned, but now it was gone forever. 

I’ll make sure this knowledge isn’t lost forever. I’ll recreate something even better in the future.

Adion had carefully spread his space mana through every single pathway of these runes. Even if it was too much information for him to keep in his head, he still remembered some of it. And he had discovered that he actually could go back in his memories to clear up all the details. It took a lot of Will, though, so he hadn’t done so after confirming he could. He would rather fill his head with memories of his loved ones than runes. 

But it made him rest assured that he carried the information with him, and he could access it whenever he needed it at a later date. 

Adion packed down all his drawings in his backpack and looked around the empty room, feeling a little lost. He had decided to leave, but he hadn’t decided on a particular day. 

I feel like I won’t get anything from staying here any longer. It must have been almost a month by now, right? 

I hope I can make it back to Cyalis before winter arrives. 

Adion realized it was time to leave and decided to go say goodbye to Shindo. 

Then again… Adion thought as he looked down at the ring on his finger. He would have to leave it behind. 

I’ll use it one last time to see if I can gain anything. 

Adion was used to the procedure now, and he quickly managed to activate the storage ring. 

He looked into the familiar storage in front of him and paused.

It’s so strange. I can’t believe that this storage is actually in Quemer. If I only teleport over, I can be on another continent in just a second. 

Adion poured some of his space mana into the storage before stopping his activation of the ring.

Yep. It’s still there, but suddenly very far away.

Adion still hadn’t figured out a way to make use of Shindo’s storage ring. He had memorized all the runes in the ring, but he knew there had to be something more impressive on the other side, in the storage in Quemer, that made the whole process possible.

He had thought about teleporting over and having a look before asking Shindo to activate the ring and let him back. But he had decided against it in the end. If something were to happen, he wouldn’t see his family for many years. 

And he didn’t really think he would gain anything from it. He could guess that there was some unfamiliar runic device on the other side that he would have to study for a long time to make sense of. 

He didn’t think he would be able to make something like this for himself any time soon. It would probably be quicker to just take inspiration from the storage ring and figure out a way to replicate it that made use of his own special abilities.

I still can’t understand how to set a point in space that I can always feel, though. I probably need something similar to this ring. Some runic device that I can carry around that somehow activates my Authority in a separate location. That way I would be able to grab hold of that space and teleport over. 

Out of everything I have discovered in this place, I’d say this ring is the most important part. Or at least the thing that I should spend most of my time on going forward.

But I don’t think I can get much further by myself. I’ll discuss it with the Headmaster when I get back and see if he can think of something. He’s a Sage after all, and well-versed in runes. 

I just need to focus on increasing my strength, sharpening my Will, and master my Authority to a greater degree. Everything else will naturally follow.

Adion let go of his Authority in another corner of the world and got up on his feet. 

Shindo should be by the light.

Adion headed down the hallway to the grand hall. Shindo had spent almost all his time there ever since they found that pedestal with the beast core. 

I’m not sure if he’s understanding something I’m missing…I’ve never seen him experiment like I do.

Adion had tried conjuring space, fire, shadow, and even water, to see how the light from the beast core interacted with it. And he managed to discover something somewhat interesting from his experiments.

He was now fairly certain that light mages wouldn’t pose a problem for him. The light from the core of a beast that had been a god was special, he couldn’t assume every light mage had light like that. 

He reached this conclusion by conjuring some shadow. He noticed that his space worked really well at freezing the shadow, it was stuck in space just like a stream of water. But the shadows made from daylight didn’t react like that, nor did the shadows made from the glow from the beast core. 

This seemed obvious, but it told Adion something he had never considered. It seemed like his shadow, and the light of light mages, was missing something crucial that those elements had in nature. 

Furthermore, why was he sure that this only applied to light and shadow? Couldn’t it be the case for all elements? 

Was his space also lacking something essential? Was his fire? He had never noticed anything before, but that didn’t make it impossible. 

Light and shadow mages seemed to ingrain various powerful concepts into their elements, making them stronger and more versatile than those in nature, but they were always lacking something mysterious that the elements of the world had. Or maybe they had this quality from the beginning, and they simply got lost as other concepts took over. 

It’s possible that light and shadows have this kind of quality only when they are weak and harmless.

No. If that were the case, the beast core wouldn’t be able to do the same. Which means there is something I’m not seeing. 

There are concepts that I’m not aware of that seem useless, but that’s because I can’t understand them. I can barely even notice them when they’re right in front of me.

It’s really strange. Light can pass through my frozen space, but will be completely blocked by a piece of wood. That seems so specific that it feels useless. But it’s probably just that I’m stuck in a certain way of thinking. 

Well, I’m comparing myself to a god, after all. It’s not strange that this doesn’t make sense to me.

I’ll have to talk to the Headmaster about this too when I get back. If this is something only gods realize, it’s possible that the Headmaster has never thought about it either. I only noticed it because of my ability to freeze space, after all. 

Adion reached the deep end of the grand hall and stepped onto the altar. Shindo noticed him walking over and stopped feeding the pedestal with his mana.

“Are you leaving?” Shindo asked.

“How did you know?” Adion asked.

“You seemed a little…off, earlier. I guessed you were thinking about leaving,” Shindo said, getting up on his feet. 

“Well, yeah,” Adion said with a nod, feeling a little awkward. He didn’t know how to say goodbye. His relationship with Shindo had always been a little strange. He would call him a friend, but he wouldn’t trust him as much as some of his casual acquantances back at the Academy. Some parts of their friendship made them seem like a couple of friends who had been through thick and thin, and some parts made it seem like they were strangers. 

“I’ll see you off,” Shindo said with a small smile.

“Okay,” Adion said, “I have everything. Here’s your ring back. Thanks for letting me have it. Sorry I couldn’t figure anything out.”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something eventually,” Shindo said, taking back his ring from Adion’s outstretched hand, “Remember to tell me about it when you do.”

“I will,” Adion agreed. He had given his promise when Shindo lent his ring, and Adion wouldn’t go back on his word.

Adion and Shindo started walking back, and Adion started feeling a little sad about his departure. Even if this place was far from paradise, it had been his home for almost a month. And while it mostly rocks, and constantly dark everywhere, he had plenty of exciting memories from this place. 

“How long do you think it will take before you come back?” Shindo asked.

“I have no idea, it depends on how far away this place is from Cyalis,” Adion said, “I’m guessing the Academy would want to send some people out right away when they hear about it, but I’ll probably want to stay at home for a while. But all in all…A year or two. Not any longer than that. Will you be here that long?”

Shindo looked down at his feet, thinking. “I think so. If I’m staying, I should make the most of it and not be afraid to waste some time here. Returning back to civilization will probably be quicker if I wait for you to return and show the way, so there’s also that.”

“Good,” Adion said with a small smile, “Then I’ll see you soon enough.”

Stepping out of the hole that had formed from a collapsed wall in the hallway, Adion took a deep breath and couldn’t help but smile. 

Looking out over the vast expanse of trees in front of him, he didn’t feel so melancholic anymore. He was excited to start a new journey, one that would finally take him home.

“Look at you, so excited,” Shindo said with a chuckle, stepping up beside him, “Are you so tired of my company?”

“I really am,” Adion said, looking at Shindo with a serious expression.

“Haha,” Shindo laughed, and Adion smiled. 

“I’m just missing home,” Adion said.

“I get that,” Shindo said with a slow nod.

“You too?” Adion asked.

“I miss my mom,” Shindo said with a slightly sad smile, “But I left home to accomplish something. I want to go home with my head held high.” 

Adion raised his eyebrow questioningly. This didn’t quite match what he knew about Shindo.

“Anyway,” Shindo said with a cough, “Do you even know which way to go? What if you in head in the opposite direction?”

“You can’t go wrong heading south on Shiora,” Adion answered, “I’ll eventually meet people that way.”

Shindo looked up at the sun, turning his head left and right. “You’re heading into the mountains?”

“Well,” Adion said, smiling awkwardly, “I’ll probably stick to the forest at first, heading west. As soon as the mountains let up, I’ll head down south.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Shindo said, “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” Adion said, taking his first step down the mountain. He waved to Shindo without turning back. “Take care!”