Somewhere in the alleyway.
"This is the place, but where is the Outsider? The compass didn't react to my question regarding it... Either it is dead, or none came through the spatial crack."
The girl muttered to herself while looking at the compass in her hands. The compass ability is to show the place when one asks for something in mind. It didn't project the actual location in mind but instead shown where it is located somewhere on this planet. No matter what one asks for be it gold, a treasure from ruins, anything at all. As long as the thing you ask exists somewhere in the world, it will guide you to the place.
The Compass of Guidance.
It was one of the precious treasures of her family. Apparently, her family's ancestor met someone with great power back in the past and ended up helping that person which in return, that person gifted her ancestors a lot of stuff which was now stored in the family treasury. It was also that time that her ancestors found out about the existence of Outsider and spatial crack happening all around the world. To fight against them, that person gifted her ancestors a weapon suited for the mission.
The staff of Mana.
It was a staff that could fire out something called Mana from the surrounding atmosphere. By holding the staff and chant the keyword, it would suck off the Mana from the air before firing a shot. It's a powerful artefact, even more powerful than the gun in the future. It was the time when her family went down the road of being the protector of the world behind the shadow.
Eventually, it was passed down to the family when her ancestor left peacefully from this world. But the family finds it troublesome since they only got one weapon to fight and one compass to guide. They tried looking for that person but failed to see a glimpse of him/her. They decided to research the staff and the compass instead so that they could produce it themselves later on. But who are they kidding? They merely have little knowledge regarding mana and everything mystical. But it didn't stop or hinder them from the plan.
The world passed in the blink of an eye, and the future generation of researchers finally accomplish something worth to celebrate in the year 2000. It was a modified handgun that would fire out a mana bullet from the fuel of mana of the surrounding. But the shot was not as strong as the staff; it is barely enough to defeat some Outsiders. As for the compass of guidance, it was a failure and couldn't get anywhere. As the saying goes, with success comes failure.
The family decided to train the younger generations of the family when they were still small. It was said that the handgun could only be used and handled correctly by the age of the teen. It was because the older one became, the harder for the mana to flows through their body and went into the handgun. While the younger they are, the more powerful the shot become. But that doesn't mean they could just simply hold the gun and fire; that would only injure themselves.
And before long, an elite group of young trainers was born. The staff was kept hidden inside the treasury of the family, forever to be with the dust. It will only appear when the Outsider is way stronger for the young one to handle. And only the chief of the family could control it with ease. Due to that, a family fight broke out. Eventually, the family were split into three factions. Conflicts between the young become the norm when the girl grows up.
No matter how much conflict the family have, they were still staying true to the goal, slaying all Outsiders from ruining their world. Just their very existence could potentially bring chaos. Imagine the human of that side coming here with the knowledge of magic and then teach the resident of this world; it could bring the world into a new era, an era of chaos and magic for sure. But the faction of the family where she came from doesn't want such a thing.
They prefer the residents of the world, finding out about mana and learning to conjure fireball by their effort is the right thing to do. They don't want the world advancement to involve Outsiders. The same goes for the human of this world going to the other side and exposing the existence of science; both are bad in their own way.
When a spatial cracked, there was some human who was s.u.c.k.e.d and send to the other side. Have you ever heard of spirit away? Only certain people with some experience could survive in a world where dog eats dog. And to those that survived, you could see the remnant of them if you went to the other side such as the introduction of science and gun, or the improvement and the recipe coming from the modern world. That is if you could go and come back from there, which is highly impossible.
Even the genius mage from the other side made a mistake and was s.u.c.k.e.d into the void, leaving none of his name or anything behind and become forgotten in time. But one among them exist. That person survived from the s.u.c.k.i.n.g force of the void and arrived at this world thousands of years ago.
It was all written in a book hidden in the family's most secret hideout in the library. Only people that would become a protector of the world could read and know the whole truth. She has read it and knew about the cause of the spatial crack and who was 'that person'. She didn't know the actual name of that person but only that the gender is a she. If it wasn't written in the book, that means even her ancestor doesn't know that person name or never ask. Apparently, the cause of the spatial cracked is because of a failed experiment in teleporting to another world.
It seems that back in the distant past or probable future, the actual date is unknown, but there's a relic of this world at the other side. Maybe, someone in this world somehow ended up going there in some kind of way, either natural spirit away or by a supernatural being. Either way, 'that person' found the relic and some old dusty books, and in there it explained a tiny bit regarding space magic, perhaps the victim is finding a way to return to his/her home by researching space magic on his/her own. It took her a long time to finalise the plan, and when she was doing her experiment, she was caught surprised by a sudden figure barge in and attacking her.
She didn't have a choice but to stop her chanting right in the critical part in order to defend against the attacks. But because of that, the spatial become unstable and immediately s.u.c.k.e.d everything in its surrounding, and she was included. She didn't know what happened afterwards, but when she opened her eyes, she was already in our world. When she had first come to the new world, she noticed that the world is thin of the presence of mana. It was to the point that even firing a basic spell such as fireball would cost a tremendous amount of mana and a lot of effort to barely did it. If she weren't a genius mage, it wouldn't have worked out at all.
You must have known by now, but this is the record of what she tells the family ancestor of her journey on this world. It was surprising that this world that's already spreading with mana in the whole world but back in the days there was no such thing. In the word of the genius mage, the cause of mana spreading to this world is from the spatial crack. When it s.u.c.k.e.d everything, it also includes the mana of the surrounding. In a way, it was her failed experiment fault that our world is now having a crisis of Outsider coming to this world anytime when space cracked open.
That person also felt guilty and which was why until the end of her life, she travels and journey all around the world, protecting us from the Outsiders. That's also the reason why she gifts the family ancestor with such artefact. It was all to protect ourself. It seems that the book ends when it tells how the ancestor got the gift.
The girl wonders what happened to that person. Is she still alive? Or if she's dead, did she got a family before that? Maybe, there's someone out there who is the successor of her power. If so, how powerful would that person be?
The 'Outsider' last presence is here... which mean this is where it died? But who could have killed it? Or what was it? It seemed to be something with no intelligence as there was a news about a psychopath killer murdering two-three people around here. But weirdly enough, the cops didn't figure out what it was and when they decided to put manpower in the case, the Outsider went and died. Whoever that did it didn't leave any evidence on the scene; perhaps, it is someone from the family? Whatever it is, she will send a report... Later on, after she had her fun in the tourist spot!
Meanwhile, inside the Trial Tower.
"Achoo! Was someone talking behind my back?"
Sheila softly muttered while rubbing her nose and looked at the corpse on the ground before it turned into glittering light and disappeared entirely into nothingness.
『 You have killed Goblin LV. 7! 』
After killing the goblin, a bottle of mineral water materialise in front of her, and she took hold of it and opened the cap before drinking it. She had killed ten goblins now, and yet she didn't find any boss around. Is there even a boss in this Second Floor? But there is one boss on the First Floor so it should be. Did she not venture deep enough in the cave? That's possible since she hasn't found an end to her path. It's getting harder to level up now by killing the mobs since it only gives her little experience and gold.
『 Sheila LV.12 』
『 HP: 87/110 MP: 70/120
GOLD: 730
—STR: 23 —INT: 24
—AGI: 20 —VIT: 21
—LUCK: 10 AP: 6 』
『 Sheila LV.12 』
『 HP: 87/110 MP: 70/150
GOLD: 730
—STR: 23 —INT: 30
—AGI: 20 —VIT: 21
—LUCK: 10 AP: 0 』
After distributing the leftovers into INT, she could tell the mana inside of her body is flowing more smoothly and getting thicker. If she fires out the flame magic, she's sure that it would be more potent than before. Or maybe larger? Either way, it is good. After taking a good break for a full of ten minutes, she got up and went on to goblin hunting. And before long, she reached the end and was met with the boss of the Second Floor.