Chapter 375: The Rift (7)

"You—!"

It was the man in the white robe. He had once possessed three heads, but now only one remained. Even so, the eight arms and his clothing left no doubt that it was him.

The books had vanished instantly, before I could even react. For a brief moment, I wondered if I could take them back.

Swiff!

The man returned Ashton’s books and slipped his arms back underneath his robe. "Take them. I only wanted to prove that I could."

I opened my inventory and put the books inside again, keeping a close guard.

Can he steal everything whenever he wants to?

I dismissed the inventory completely. Even if I might die at any moment in this arena, it was far better than having my entire foundation stolen.

"Heh... The only thing I steal is paths. Don't worry."

I stared at him, unsure what he meant.

Paths?

No, there was something far more important I needed to ask.

"You... back then, what did you know about Gith-Za-Rai?"

I recalled what the white-robed man had said. "Never return.The path is blocked, and you will have no refuge."

They matched perfectly with the circumstances of Gith-Za-Rai’s murder.

He blinked slowly before answering. "Well... I know nothing particular about that necromancer. I merely noticed a vicious trap while walking a path. I offered a bit of advice as thanks for letting me read those books."

Desperate, I explained the curse Bassago had placed on Gith-Za-Rai and finally asked, "So... there’s no way to break it?"

Troubled, the man shrugged. "Reversing a contractual engraving into a curse... It can manifest in many forms. Unless I see it in person, I can't tell. Someone from the Demon Realm would know better."

"Someone from the Demon Realm?" I repeated.

"The lord who sent you here. Ask that one."

The creature who had created Erast and toyed with me came to mind again.

It said it would tell me once I escaped...

Whether I could trust that promise was another matter entirely. Thinking of the prison’s master, I looked back at the man.

"What card do you have?"

The man shook his head. "I have no card."

"What? Then in this arena—"

"Just scouting. I’ve never visited, so I came to look. Clearing the world’s fog is part of my daily routine."

He had slipped into this bizarre prison and arena as though it meant nothing. I had sensed his strangeness when he effortlessly dealt with the lying ferryman, but now it was clear that he was no ordinary being.

"Ah, take these as well."

He removed two swords, a matching pair, from within his robe and handed them to me. They were familiar swords.

"Wait... even though I dismissed the inventory—!"

"So you call it an inventory. Even I cannot access it once it’s closed. I took them beforehand. Seriously though, shouldn’t you pay more attention to the things inside your own domain? Heh..."

Caught off guard, I accepted the twin blades and returned them to their storage. He was right. Whenever I looked inside, I only ever bothered counting Ashton’s books. I had never truly organized my weapons or treasures.

I closed my inventory and asked, "Then how did you... break into it?"

The white-robed man answered without hesitation, "If you want to know, become my disciple."

The proposal was sudden.

A disciple? Me?

"Well..."

"I will teach you everything about how to wield your domain. You need my guidance. That thought kept surfacing even after we parted. Isn’t it fate that we met again?"

This is getting a bit uncomfortable. Does he have some obsession with raising disciples?

Becoming his disciple wasn’t exactly a burdensome demand. Receiving teachings alone could make me a disciple in name.

"Well, fine. I’ll become your disci—"

However, the white-robed man’s next words were shockingly absurd. "Then offer me the possessions kept in your domain."

"What are you asking for?"

"All of them. Willingly."

"What?"

His tone didn’t waver in the slightest as he continued, "It’s the law of equivalent exchange. Teaching at this level demands a tremendous tribute. Everything inside your domain should suffice."

"Wouldn’t lending you Ashton’s books like last time be enough?" I countered.

"Give me all you have. Paying the proper price for good things is the wisest long-term habit..."

"No. Forget it."

"Yes, forget... Wait... what?"

I refused flatly. "I said no."

Of course, there were Ashton’s books, but I also had other treasures. Even if I wasn’t using them right this moment, they were precious gifts Isaac and Naneow had chosen for me. No matter how much I learned about the inventory, I wasn’t about to hand everything over like this.

Why should I trust him?

The white-robed man’s aura wavered. "Think again. Where else will you find a master like me? You’ll end up tricked by something like that prison lord at best."

Even as I walked away, he followed right at my heels.

"I said no. Why are you still following me?"

"Of course, I’m persistent. You desperately need me." His confidence was overflowing. "To have a personal domain despite being so weak... A fresh, undefined domain like yours... I simply must be the one to teach you."

As if trying to instill trust, he continued, "The basic nature is storage, but you have no rigidity. Someone must have shattered your identity once. You’ve become extremely flexible."

"You can tell something like that?"

He nodded. "I’ve traveled across countless worlds. By comparing each region’s unique traits, I can grasp anything in an instant, even if it’s a space owned by an individual."

"What?" I hesitated, but my answer still remained the same. "No."

Gith-Za-Rai's dagger was inside the inventory as well. No matter how impressive his teachings might be, I couldn’t hand everything over.

Still... the fact that he broke into the inventory...

Even if he returned everything, it was deeply unsettling.

I’ll have to use it only when absolutely necessary.

Without opening the inventory, I resumed walking toward the site of the magical clash.

Suddenly, he firmly shouted, "Don’t go that way!"

The firm shout made me flinch.

The white-robed man surrendered, as though offering a generous favor. "Fine then... accept a substitute offering instead."

"A... substitute?"

What’s he talking about now?

"Speaking frankly, by my standards, you’re irregular. Even I cannot tell what you’ll become or how far you will rise in this world. Which means... I want to secure the goodwill of such an unpredictable being." He sighed deeply. "Haah. I can’t believe I’m bending over backward like this."

His goodwill, huh... I suppose I could at least give that much.

Honestly, granting that much goodwill was nothing at all, but it still gave me pause.

No. Treating it so lightly would be wrong.

It would disrespect the people I had built actual ties with so far.

Even Isaac had once tried to force a debt of gratitude onto me.

A difficult situation, isn’t it? Who knows what kind of revenge you might seek in the ‘next’ life? For the sake of restoring trust, you should do anything. No, you must. I needed to make sure you’d return to me someday. Something like that isn’t a sacrifice.

"No."

"What? Don’t tell me you’re refusing this too?"

"Goodwill doesn’t get traded like that. It’s something that happens in a moment, not something you bargain for."

The white-robed man let out a sheepish laugh. "Haha... ha... yes. Yes, you’re right. I was too impatient. So, stop. Don’t go any further. That clash you saw was created by a single person."

A hint of embarrassment lingered in his voice as he explained, "Elemental magic that only looks flashy. It’s a trap meant to lure in anyone who assumes one side grew tired."

"What? A trap?"

"That one entered the arena purely to enjoy it. Best to avoid her. If you wait, you’ll see that I was right."

He extended his robe outward, wrapping it enough to cover both of us.

At least it doesn’t seem like he intends to attack me...

I waited in silence for about thirty minutes.

Crackle! Pop! Boom!

Blasts of black light rained down from the sky, striking in multiple places at once. Corrupt power crushed wilderness and forest alike, all centered exactly where I had been heading. Each impact caused the earth to quake.

Good thing I stayed far away...

Those shockwaves would pulverize more than flesh. A direct hit would turn anybody into pulp, forcing them down into the soil. Not a single scream was audible.

Incredible...

After the frenzy subsided, the white-robed man whispered, "She is the strongest in this arena. Now, do you see that I was right?"

"Thank you..."

If I’d walked straight toward that place, everything I had accomplished would’ve ended instantly.

"Let’s get up. Were you going to hunt the exhausted one, too?"

"No, that wasn’t it..."

I’d avoided one crisis.

That much is worth gratitude, at least.

When I explained that I had planned to absorb the corpse, he nodded in admiration. "A remarkable ability. Good. This will make things much easier... As I thought, you’re an intriguing one. Excellent. Let’s pick up where you left off."

I instinctively shook his extended hand, and he led me forward.

"You’re my disciple now!"

He sounded genuinely delighted. His footsteps were confident, as though he had already traversed the arena once before.

"Here," he said.

A small corpse, about fifty centimeters long, lay ahead. Green light swirled faintly around it. The monster corpse resembled a blend of a butterfly and a bee.

"A fairy..."

In my previous life, I had only ever seen such a species after the Demon Kings’ Descent, yet here lay one slain in a Demon Realm arena. It exuded elemental power, and its tiny wings made it infamously difficult to capture.

As if reading my thoughts, the white-robed man explained, "Yes. Fairies can wield the power of lightning. It was sniped. Absorb it. Between what we saw earlier and the corpse-collection teams roaming around, intact corpses like this are rare."

Wooong!

The air around the glowing light vibrated. As always, the green energy poured into me, filling me with that familiar surging heaviness.

Quite a lot...

Clatter! Clatter!

The volume was significant enough that my bones twitched involuntarily.

[Recovering Lightning Wave Lv. 1 (New!)]

[Recovering Lightning Wave Lv. 2 (New!)]

[Recovering Lightning Wave Lv. 5 (New!)]

[— Restoring the skill’s Paralysis / Spread / Chain / Mana-Destruction traits.]

The intense green light dispersed slowly throughout all my bones. It was the first spell I had recovered since losing everything.

Level 5. Impressive.

I had learned this skill before, but...

Absorption really is overwhelmingly efficient.

I had already proven that recapturing a once-held skill was far more effective than acquiring a new one. However, to fully inherit the power I absorbed from Eland, the Thunder Tower Lord...

The white-robed man said, "Here is your first lesson. Now release the absorbed power continuously."

BZZZT!

I followed his instructions and activated the skill. Yellow lightning cracked across my extended fingers. The force was deeply satisfying. Bolts sprang outward in all directions, unrestrained.

They surged and surged without diminishing. Through countless regressions, the power clinging to me, flowing through my bones like liquid, supported it effortlessly. With an excited expression, the white-robed man nodded.

"The capacity... Yes, just as I thought. Now, activate your domain."

"Understood."

Woooong!

I pushed air away in a three-meter radius. Inside the domain, lightning and external bolts tangled and scattered chaotically.

Swish!

The white-robed man loosened one of the multicolored knots attached inside his robe.

What is that?

It fluttered like a living butterfly, floating freely in the air. Then it slipped between my lightning and domain with no difficulty at all, weaving the two together.

"Continue."

BZZZT!

The strengthening lightning wrapped around the knot.

When the multicolored knot dissolved quietly into the air, he ordered, "Now expand it."

It stretched from five to seven meters.

CRACKLE!

The shockwave from the lightning hemisphere obliterated the surroundings in an instant.

Boom!

Every strike carved the stone floor into jagged pits. Ash-gray dirt clouds burst upward.

"Wider."

Then it grew from ten to fifteen meters. Even at that size, the lightning did not weaken. The air within the hemisphere did not resist; insulation never formed because the domain itself prevented it.

Crackle! Pop!

Conduction. The air rippled, burst, and convulsed.

Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen... eighteen... nineteen...

"You’re drawing too much attention. Decrease it."

Only after my domain exploded past a twenty-meter radius did I realize how intoxicated I had become by the power.

"Did you feel it? You just created a lightning domain."

"A lightning... domain? How is that even possible?"

The white-robed man looked extremely proud. "Far better than expected. I connected the form of lightning with your domain using my knot."