Chapter 130 Unexpected Gains!
Chapter 130 Unexpected Gains!
In their third year at the academy, Alicia, in a team with several students, entered the South Island because of an inspection task regarding some irregularities assigned to them. But they had no idea that the monsters on this island were acting violently because of the interference of a certain villain, causing them to gain strength several ranks above their own.
The enemies hacked into the barrier system, trapping them, restricting entry and jamming all communication, which is why the academy wasn't alerted until very later. Amidst their mission, they found themselves in a precarious situation, surrounded by a horde of berserk monsters.
With little hope of support, Alicia, as the strongest among them and the temporary leader, faced those powerful monsters. While also giving accurate commands that might have led them to find a breakthrough to escape with their united operation if precisely executed.
Although she was cold and had extreme trust issues, she didn't give up on those students and wanted to save their lives instead of escaping alone.
Though her idea was noble. Regrettably, Alicia's teammates weren't particularly strong and were also too cowardly to face those berserk monsters. They didn't follow her command and escaped.
Alicia was disappointed in them, but still gritted her teeth and fought hard, trying to give them enough time to escape. Many of them escaped while some still died. Alicia fought the horde alone, with multiple wounds on her body, and ended up falling into the ravine.
Enduring the pain from the fall, she froze her injuries and the seeping blood. The chill made her pain numb, then her eyes fell on the burrow near her. Alicia needed rest and when she sensed the monsters approaching her. She didn't think of anything and crawled inside that burrow, all the way to the tunnel. Completely disregarding the possibility of it being home to another powerful monster.
---
'Even if she was lucky enough to obtain a powerful sword art. The process was not something just anyone could go through.'
Just thinking about it. Luis looked at Alicia in admiration.
'As expected of my wife!'
Alicia didn't notice the changes in Luis' expression as her eyes were attracted by the spring in front of her, which was surrounded by Luminous Moss, giving this scene an ethereal feeling.
"So beautiful!"
If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, Alicia wouldn't have believed that there was such a place inside that narrow hole.
Hearing Alicia's murmur, Luis smiled faintly and patted her shoulder, "Go on."
In Alicia's turquoise eyes, Luis' smiling face was reflected as she nodded seriously.
Taking light steps, she approached the spring in front of her and crouched down. Alicia thought that Luis brought her here to drink the water from that spring. Given its ethereal beauty, she assumed it was some kind of special spring that gives benefits by drinking its water.
Just as she was about to scoop some water to drink. Alicia noticed the reflection on the spring and her eyes widened in surprise. She instantly hoisted her head to look at the ceiling of the tunnel.
On the ceiling, several scattered scriptures were written along with the drawings of motion figures holding a stick. It was visible enough because of the illuminance of the Luminous Moss.
Even if those scriptures seemed ancient, Alicia was able to understand it.
"T-This is Sword Art!" she exclaimed with a shutter.
Luis, on the side, nodded while smiling, "Yes, although I can't decipher it. Observing those drawings, anyone can tell that it's an Ancient Sword Art."
Then he added. "Moreover, it seems that only someone with S-grade talent in Swordsmanship can comprehend it. Just like how I was able to read the Ancient Magic book because of my S-grade Sorcerer Talent."
When he said that, he also sighed inwardly, 'If only I had an S-grade Talent in Swordsmanship. Then I would have learned it together with Alicia.'
Just as he thought of it, Luis shook his head immediately. 'What am I thinking? Excessive greed is not a good thing. I already have a lot of talents. I should focus on improving them.'
Alicia, who heard his answer, broke her attention from the drawings and while pointing at the Spring she asked, "What about this spring?"
"Huh...?" Luis let out a confused sound but answered her, regardless. "It's just a spring connected to the ocean."
"So there's nothing special about it?" Alicia asked, as her lips twitched. She felt her cheeks were hot because of embarrassment. Fortunately, Luis didn't seem to have noticed it.
Luis didn't understand why Alicia was so concerned about the spring. Shouldn't she focus on learning the sword art?
*Sigh*
'No matter how much I know about her. I can never understand a girl's mind.'
He rubbed his chin and said thoughtfully, "Well, it can work as an exit for people who came here crawling that hole."
Hiding her blush, Alicia gave Luis a blank look and said, "You just said it leads to the depth of the Ocean! Who would be suicidal enough to use it as an exit?! Can't they just try crawling back?"
'That's what I want to ask you too,' Luis thought, but pursed his lips and didn't speak further.
After their chatter was over, Alicia sat down in a meditative posture and focused on comprehending the sword art.
Luis sat on the side so as not to disturb her, while Lily scanned and recorded all the scriptures and drawings following his command.
The tunnel was quiet, and only the sounds of Luis and Alicia's breathing could be heard.
Time passed by slowly as Alicia's forehead was covered in sweat. But she didn't seem to have noticed it because her entire concentration was on learning sword art.
While waiting for her patiently, Luis also glanced at the scriptures and thought, 'I don't understand why someone needs to have the appropriate talent to read and comprehend these ancient scriptures.'
'Shouldn't it work if a person knows the ancient language?'
'Just what kind of mechanism is it?' n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
This theory is also a topic of major discussion for the scholars of magic laws in this world. Unfortunately, there is no answer for it.
While Luis was thinking about it. His eyes looking at the ceiling suddenly paused in a certain blank area. He narrowed his eyes because he could feel something was off about it.
Luis used his perception to inspect that blank area of the ceiling carefully, and a minute later, a surprised expression appeared on his face.
'Damn, an illusion!'
This was something unexpected for him. He could tell that there were traces of illusion present in that blank area hiding something beneath.
'If I hadn't focused on it more. I would have missed it for sure. Is it some kind of perception-blocking illusion?'
Thinking so, Luis immediately got to work and focused on decrypting the illusion.
Finally, an hour later, he succeeded in breaking the Illusion.
'Phew~ That was one hell of an illusion. Even the Illusion Test of the Ghost King's legacy was just a child's play compared to this illusion.'
Luis exhaled a breath and thought with an expectant smile, 'Now let's what is hidden behind such a powerful illusion.'
'Decode!'
As soon as Luis snapped his fingers, the Illusion was finally broken and what appeared in his sight were golden scriptures that he was able to read, unlike the grey scriptures that Alicia was comprehending.
Alicia glanced at the golden scriptures but failed to read them, so she brought her focus back to comprehending Sword Art.
Luis looked at the golden scriptures with shining eyes, because he could tell that there was a spell of Illusion magic written there. Moreover, it was a very powerful one too.
'Hehe, what an unexpected gain!'
He immediately started learning it and also let Lily record it.
Just when Luis was happy about learning a powerful illusion spell. He read the last line of that golden scripture and a frown appeared on his face.
The line says. [The God of Mirage shall exist in infinity!]
'Who is this God of Mirage? And what is this infinity?' Luis showed a confused expression. He didn't think it was weird for a God to exist in the fantasy-like world. But this sentence left him with many unanswered questions.
***
A few hours later.
Alicia, whose entire body was covered in sweat, stood up with an excited smile on her face.
"So, how is it, Alicia?" Luis asked with a faint smile.
Instead of answering, Alicia rushed towards him and hugged him tightly.
"Thank you, Luis! I can't express how happy I am! This Sword Art is amazing!"
Alicia didn't ask him how he knew about this kind of place. Judging from her observation, she could tell that no person had come here in centuries.
She knew that Luis had many secrets, and it was inconvenient for him to explain the source of his knowledge to her every time.
It's not that she wasn't curious. But she doesn't want to annoy him and make him uncomfortable around her. That's why she only asked for simple things and didn't get too deep into it. Though she still hoped that one day Luis would tell her everything.
Luis smiled faintly, as he enjoyed the sensation of the embrace and called out gently.
"Alicia~"
"What is it, Luis?"
"You are too sweaty! Let's go back so that you can take a shower first." He said with slight disgust in his tone.
"..."