Chapter 51: Is there any magic to travel through time? Mission, set off!...

By the time magic practice ended, Shu Li had completely exhausted the magical power inside him and was utterly drained. The other Fairy cubs had all rushed off to the dining hall, but he remained seated on the ground, unable to move.

Siet flew over and asked with concern, "Would you like me to take you to the dining hall?"

"N-no, thanks." Shu Li slowly waved a hand. "I'm just... a little tired. I'll be fine after resting for a while."

He had not expected using the magical power stored inside his body to be even more exhausting than summoning natural elements. The combined drain on his stamina and magical power had left him too tired even to flap his wings.

But a Little Fairy had his pride. How could he let his teacher carry him there?

Shu Li pretended nothing was wrong and tried his best to put on a relaxed smile.

Siet saw through the little fellow's embarrassment but did not expose him. Instead, he sat beside Shu Li and kept him company while he recovered.

"Would you like a fruit?" He took a small red fruit from his storage pouch and offered it to Shu Li.

Shu Li licked his lips. Unable to resist the temptation of food, he accepted it. "Thank you."

As soon as he had the little red fruit in his hands, he eagerly took a bite.

Mm, delicious and thirst-quenching. This is bliss!

The little red fruit was not very large, and he finished it in two bites. Although it was not enough to fill his stomach, Shu Li was perfectly satisfied. He could feel a little of his stamina and energy returning.

He looked gratefully at Siet. "Um..."

"What is it?" Seeing the little fellow hesitate, Siet smiled. "Ask me anything you like. As long as I know the answer, I'll tell you."

Shu Li scratched the back of his head. "Well... during music class this morning, I played a song and entered another illusion."

He gave Siet a complete account of what he had seen there.

There had been a broad river, reeds like waves of gold, and a brown-haired young man in white robes. The man had apparently seen him and called out, "A Little Fairy?"

Thanks to his recent lessons in the Continental Common Language, Shu Li had understood him.

He had been so astonished that he forgot to continue playing, and the brief illusion disappeared.

This was the second time someone inside an illusion had noticed his presence.

The first time had been during the Midsummer Festival five years ago, in the Crystal City of the Elven Kingdom. While listening to the Elven King play the harp, his consciousness had entered a mysterious illusion in which he saw the Light God, the Elven King, and the Dark God.

After leaving the illusion, he told the Elven King everything he had seen and heard. The Elven King said it had been a Midsummer Festival more than ten thousand years ago and that he had not noticed any point of light or tiny insect at the time.

Even so, Shu Li was certain that he was not merely an observer within those illusions, but a participant.

Otherwise, how could he have revealed himself and been noticed by someone inside the illusion on two separate occasions?

After listening to Shu Li's story, Siet frowned slightly and fell into thought.

Sperien's experiences inside the illusions were certainly unusual. Neither Siet nor any other Fairy or Elf had ever encountered anything similar.

An illusion was still an illusion. Even if it showed events that had once occurred, what he saw was not real. The present and the past were separated by the vast river of time. There was no possibility of the two intersecting.

What had happened to the little cub was truly baffling.

Of course, Siet did not think the little fellow was lying.

There was no reason for him to do so.

Neither Fairies nor Elves were skilled at lying, and they disliked deceiving others.

Shu Li watched Siet uneasily as he sank into thought.

Was what happened to me inside the illusion... that difficult to explain?

He had no idea what era the white-robed young man he saw today belonged to. The man had carried a magic staff while also wearing a longsword. What a strange combination.

Based on Shu Li's description, Siet could roughly determine where the illusion had taken place.

"The story of the Elven maiden and the human swordsman began at the Bakat River. Only the section flowing through the Central Court is covered in reeds. The human you saw was probably a spellblade who practiced both magic and swordsmanship."

As for which era the man belonged to, that was difficult to determine.

"Oh!" Resting his chin in his hands, Shu Li ventured a guess. "Was he the human swordsman from the story?"

Siet shook his head. "Sade was purely a Grand Swordmaster."

Sade was the name of the legendary human swordsman.

Since the person Shu Li saw was a spellblade, he could not have been Sade himself.

"You said there was an emblem on his white robe?" Siet stroked his chin. "Do you remember the design?"

"I do!" Shu Li immediately took his notebook and quill from his storage ring. He opened to a fresh page, closed his eyes slightly, and used the meditation technique he had just learned to recall every detail of the emblem.

A moment later, he began to draw.

Before long, a totem containing a magic array appeared on the page.

"This is... the crest of Saint Velia Academy." Siet was astonished.

Saint Velia Academy had been personally founded by the Saint Mage after he became the dominant authority in the Central Court. It had existed for roughly two thousand years and had trained many outstanding mages. A handful of exceptionally powerful mages had even left an indelible mark on history, but Siet had never heard of any particularly distinguished spellblade.

Shu Li put down his quill and studied the beautiful academy crest on the page. "So the spellblade in the illusion was a student at Saint Veli... Saint Velia Academy?"

Siet nodded. "Only currently enrolled students are permitted to wear magic robes bearing the academy crest."

After thinking for a moment, Shu Li picked up his quill and began drawing again. This time, he drew a magic robe.

Although he was not very good at sketching, his cartoon style was enough to depict the robe's design clearly.

Once he had finished, he looked expectantly at Siet.

Clothing changed with the times, and humans were particularly fond of fashion. Every era had its own distinctive styles.

School uniforms were no exception.

From the magic robe's cut and patterns, they should be able to determine which era it belonged to and how long ago that era had been.

Siet studied the drawing for a moment, then shook his head. "I don't know enough about the evolution of human clothing. At the very least, when I traveled across the continent, Saint Velia Academy's magic robes did not look like this."

"Oh..." Shu Li's ears drooped as he slowly closed his notebook.

Unable to bear seeing the little fellow disappointed, Siet said, "Give me the drawing. I'll ask Julia about it."

Julia was the Fairy Clan's master weaver and knew the history of every race's clothing inside and out. Perhaps she would know which era this particular magic robe belonged to.

"All right!" Shu Li's pointed ears instantly sprang upright. He neatly tore out the page containing the robe and crest and handed it to Siet.

Siet carefully put the paper away, the corners of his mouth curving upward. "Do you have any other questions?"

Shu Li hesitated before asking, "Can magic... travel through space and time?"

He had wanted to ask this question for a long time, but he had never known how to express "travel through space and time" in Elven. Now that he had almost mastered the language, he had finally found the right words.

After the illusion that morning, he wanted even more urgently to determine whether his own experience had involved traveling through space and time.

If it had, perhaps he could eventually return to his original world.

This question was extremely important to him.

"Hm? Travel through space and time?" Siet appeared to misunderstand him. "Are you asking about moving across space? Like this—"

He recited a simple incantation and abruptly vanished from in front of Shu Li.

"Huh?" Shu Li's eyes widened. He looked all around, searching for Siet.

"Up here."

Siet's voice came from above. Shu Li immediately raised his head and saw him hovering in midair with his wings spread.

In the blink of an eye, Siet had moved more than ten meters.

Was that teleportation?

Amazing!

Shu Li rubbed his hands together, his eyes sparkling as he stared at him. "Then... then what about time? For example, could the you of today return to the past or travel to the future? And... and if there were two worlds, could someone travel from this world to the other one?"

He gesticulated wildly, growing more excited the longer he spoke, while Siet became increasingly bewildered.

"Stop, stop, stop—" Siet descended to the ground and raised both hands, signaling for the cub to settle down.

Shu Li could only close his mouth, puff out his cheeks, and gaze at him with an innocent pair of pale green eyes.

Resisting the urge to pinch his cheeks, Siet pondered for a moment. "Traveling through time would probably be difficult. I have never encountered any magic related to time. As for traveling between two worlds... which two worlds do you mean? The Celestial Realm and the Human Realm?"

After a pause, he sighed. "Only gods can cross between those two realms. We cannot. Even the Elven King... without a passage connecting the two realms, he cannot freely travel between them."

Shu Li listened carefully, analyzed Siet's words, and reached a conclusion.

Magic allowed instantaneous movement through space within the same time and world, but it could neither cross time nor carry someone into another world.

If he wanted to return to his original world, he would have to meet a god someday and ask whether they could help him.

Then how was he supposed to meet a god?

Become stronger!

Only by becoming stronger could he control his own destiny.

After giving himself a mental pep talk, Shu Li set a modest little goal for himself—first, he would become a Mage Sovereign.

Now that he was well rested and his energy had recovered, he spread the gauzy wings on his back and prepared to fly to the academy dining hall.

He had spent so long talking to Siet that the sun had already set.

"Sperien—"

Suddenly, Budno's booming, lionlike roar reached him, making his ears twitch in alarm.

He looked up and saw three Little Fairies in the distance, flapping their tiny wings as they charged toward the magic practice grounds.

"Sperien really is still here!" Angel cheered and flew even faster.

But no matter how fast he was, Disio was faster. With one beat of his cicada-thin wings, he surged ahead.

Hovering beside Shu Li, Siet smiled. "Your little friends came to find you."

Shu Li was a little puzzled. He could not understand why they had rushed over to look for him.

"Sperien, we thought you were lost." Disio reached him first, tears glimmering in his ruby-red eyes.

They had spent the entire afternoon practicing magic and were both tired and hungry. After finally reaching the academy dining hall, they had been shocked to discover that Sperien was nowhere to be seen. They asked everyone, but no one knew where he was.

Some Fairy cubs said he must still be on his way to the dining hall, while others guessed that he had returned to the dormitory first. They waited and waited. Even after the food was served, Sperien still did not appear. Disio could wait no longer and decided to leave the dining hall to search for their leader.

The other Fairy cubs all clamored to join him, but he refused and said he could go alone. Everyone was hungry, after all. They needed to fill their stomachs before they would have the strength to do anything.

Angel and Budno volunteered and insisted on accompanying him, so Disio had no choice but to agree.

The three Fairy cubs each took two fruits to tide themselves over, then retraced their route.

They searched and called Sperien's name the entire way. The more they thought about it, the more frightened they became, terrified that another stupid bird might have carried him away.

At last, as they neared the magic practice grounds, they found Sperien.

The three little friends surrounded Shu Li and anxiously talked over one another, telling him how worried they had been. Shu Li was deeply moved.

"I'm sorry... I made you worry..." He wrapped his arms around them and rubbed his face against theirs with all his strength.

Before Disio and Angel had gotten enough cuddles, Budno twisted his plump body from side to side and shoved them both away.

Disio: ╰_╯

Angel: ...

How could they let the little chubby one monopolize their leader?

Naturally, they squeezed their way back in.

The three friends were soon pushing and shoving one another, nearly rubbing Shu Li raw in the process. He decisively retreated and left the "battlefield" to them.

"Pfft—" Siet burst out laughing, thoroughly amused by the adorable little fellows.

Shu Li spread his hands helplessly, but a trace of uncertainty stirred in his heart.

Although he had always regarded himself as nothing more than a visitor to this other world... once he had forged such deep bonds with the friends here, would he truly be able to leave without any reluctance?

The days passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, the weekend arrived.

Shu Li was as excited as an elementary school student going on his first field trip. He was too thrilled to sleep that night.

After finishing his diary entry, he tossed and turned in bed. One moment, he wondered how far away the amethyst tree was; the next, he wondered what interesting magical beasts they might encounter along the way. Would they look ferocious but be gentle at heart and friendly toward Fairies, just like Mr. Serpent?

His thoughts ran wild for half the night. When he finally managed to fall asleep, he had nightmares until morning.

Since they had agreed to gather outside the Mission Hall before sunrise, Shu Li had specifically asked Sif, their living alarm clock, to wake him and his three little friends.

When Sif pecked at the window of Shu Li's house, he was busy fighting a monster in his dreams.

The tapping on the window roused him. Still half asleep, he climbed out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom with his hair sticking out like a bird's nest. Unsurprisingly, the mirror showed him a pair of dark circles under his eyes.

After tidying himself up and making sure he had packed everything, Shu Li left home while gnawing on a large fruit for breakfast. Outside, he encountered Disio and Angel, who had matching dark circles beneath their eyes.

"G-good morning..." Angel gave a tremendous yawn.

"Good morning." Disio finished his fruit and burped. To save time, he had prepared one large fruit—the particularly filling kind.

"Good morning." Shu Li looked around. "Where's Budno?"

The little chubby one couldn't still be asleep, could he?

Disio and Angel shook their heads, indicating that they had only just left their houses too.

The three Little Fairies flew toward Budno's house and, sure enough, found Sif relentlessly pecking at his window.

When she saw them, Sif chirped, making it clear that there was nothing more she could do.

Shu Li put a hand to his forehead.

Last night, worried that the little chubby one might sleep in, he had repeatedly reminded Budno to go to bed early, get up early, and absolutely not be late.

Yet Budno had still overslept.

Taking a deep breath, Shu Li raised his hand and pounded hard on the door of Budno's house.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Budno—wake up—"

He shouted as he pounded.

Budno was having a wonderful dream in which he was surrounded by delicious food. Just as he was about to taste some sweet red jam, he suddenly heard Sperien's voice and jolted awake.

"Budno, if you don't get up right now, we're leaving without you!" Disio bellowed at the top of his lungs.

Budno shuddered in fright and fell out of bed.

Splat!

He landed on the floor like a thick pancake.

Fortunately, the floor was covered with a rug, so the fall did not hurt. He scrambled to his feet, remembered that today was the day they were going into the forest for their mission, and panicked.

"I-I'm awake! I'm awake!"

Waaah!

He had clearly gone to bed early last night. Why had he still overslept?

After a great deal of clattering and banging, Budno finally managed to make himself presentable and emerged from his house. His little ponytail had been tied crookedly, with a thick lock of hair still hanging loose against the back of his head.

"I'm... I'm sorry..." he said, looking shamefully at his three friends.

Unable to bear the sight of such a mess, Shu Li reached out and retied his ponytail for him.

"You packed everything, right?" he asked.

"Everything, everything!" Budno raised one plump little finger to show them his storage ring.

Ever since accepting the mission, he had gone through his supplies every day and packed everything he could bring, especially food.

Although Kumandi had told them to bring a reasonable amount of food, Budno was worried he would not have enough to eat, so he had packed a little extra anyway.

It was always better to be prepared!

"Then let's hurry!" Shu Li looked up at the faintly brightening sky and urged his companions onward.

The dormitory district was quite far from the commercial district. With their wings, the journey would take at least twenty minutes.

If Budno had woken up on time, they would have had more than enough time.

Unfortunately, he had overslept.

There was nothing they could do now except fly faster and try to reach the Mission Hall before sunrise.

"Chirp, chirp, chirp!"

Suddenly, Shu Li heard a familiar birdcall. It was not Sif, but the plump bird.

His eyes lit up. How had he forgotten that the plump birds' nests were near the dormitory district?

Many teams preparing to depart on missions had gathered in the small plaza outside the Mission Hall. Most of them consisted of adult Fairies, with only a handful of underage Fairies. Even those underage Fairies were over twenty and under a hundred years old.

A young Fairy like Kumandi, who had begun accepting missions at the age of twelve, was exceedingly rare.

At present, he was the only fifteen-year-old underage Fairy in the plaza.

Three adult Fairies had accepted the same mission as Kumandi to gather astral herbs. They were between one hundred fifty and one hundred eighty years old, making all of them very young by Fairy standards.

Besides completing the gathering mission, they also intended to ask the amethyst tree for branches.

Branches taken from different parts of the amethyst tree varied in quality. A Fairy was not guaranteed to receive the finest branch every time they made a request.

Any Fairy who wanted to craft a high-grade magic staff had to return periodically to make another request of the amethyst tree.

With enough luck, they might receive a branch of exceptional quality.

Every Fairy had a heart that yearned for the very best.

The sun was about to rise, yet the other four younger members of their team were still nowhere to be seen. One of the adult Fairies could not help questioning Kumandi.

"Kumandi, are you certain they can wake up this early?" The speaker wore a silver-white circlet and a blue robe, and had a pair of pale golden eyes.

Kumandi replied calmly, "Trust Sperien."

The other three Little Fairies might sleep in, but Sperien never would.

Ever since they first met, he had always been a highly disciplined little cub.

"Be patient, Sil." A short-haired blond adult Fairy smiled and slipped an arm around his companion's shoulders. "It doesn't matter if the little ones sleep in. This mission isn't urgent."

Sil frowned and pushed away the overly familiar arm with faint distaste. "I understand."

"Sil, Ivy, when the little ones arrive, try to be nice to them," said the white-robed adult female Fairy beside Kumandi. She stood with her arms folded, speaking lazily.

Sil never smiled, while Ivy was excessively enthusiastic. They were complete opposites.

With exaggerated outrage, Ivy asked, "I smile at everyone. How is that not nice? You, on the other hand, Anna, had better not use this opportunity to pinch the little chubby cub's cheeks."

Anna adored teasing young cubs. More than a few little fellows had already "fallen victim" to her hands!

Even Kumandi had not escaped her "tender mercies" during his childhood.

Anna bared her teeth in an amiable smile.

Kumandi pressed his lips together and shifted one step aside, maintaining a safe distance from her.

Anna sighed softly.

The little fellow became less adorable the older he grew.

They waited a while longer. The number of teams in the plaza dwindled, and the sun was already beginning to show itself, yet the little ones from their team still had not arrived.

"Hmm..." Ivy had just opened his mouth to offer an opinion when a chorus of chirping suddenly came from the sky.

"Huh? What plump birds!" Anna blinked. Birds that round would surely feel wonderful to squeeze.

Kumandi looked up at the four plump birds, a trace of amusement flashing through his blue eyes.

"They're here."

"What? Who—" Ivy stared in bewilderment as the four plump birds descended into the small plaza, startling the surrounding Fairies into scattering.

"Coo, coo, coo!"

The plump birds informed the Little Fairies on their backs that they had reached their destination.

Shu Li rubbed his face against the soft feathers and thanked the bird before jumping down from her back. He searched for Kumandi and, upon spotting the black-haired young Fairy standing outside the Mission Hall, shouted, "Kumandi! We're here!"