Chapter 250: Noble Soul (4)

Chapter 250: Noble Soul (4)

Aether’s Far East, Eastern Terrace.

There was a beautiful tourist spot called ‘Heavenly Dragon Cliff.’

It was so named because the shadow cast by the cliff when the sun shone upon it resembled a dragon ascending into the heavens.

Although it seemed like the place had reached the end of its life as a tourist destination due to corruption by dark magic over the past 100 years, it remained a popular spot for adventurers.

The breath of life still lingered in this place... But today, it appeared that breath had finally ceased.

Clouds began to rise from the ground.

Not metaphorical clouds, but the very clouds that hovered in the sky.

However, due to the distortion of space, those clouds had lost their sense of direction and temporarily descended to the ground. They appeared like a blanket of mist.

As the clouds were swept away by the wind, the landscape revealed was no longer a cliff, but more akin to a basin.

The once majestic and imposing cliff had completely collapsed, turning into flat land.

The mountain range that formed the backbone of the East had been uprooted and forcibly relocated.

Adventurers visiting this place might need to redraw their maps.

"... Ah. This is troublesome."

Rudrik Hallow, the Lord of the Manwol Tower.

He tried to wipe the blood trickling from his mouth with his sleeve. However, in the next second, he realized that his right arm had long been crushed and disappeared beyond the rift in the dimension.

"Haha. It seems the Twelve New Moons are still a bit too much for me..."

The duel with New Moon Space had been a valuable experience for him.

The magical duels of spatial mages were unlike any ordinary magical duel.

For them, the phrase ‘seeing a step ahead’ lost all meaning as they fight while disregarding spatial constraints.

Step!

New Moon Space emerged through the clouds, his expression cold as he gazed down at the fallen Rudrik.

"You’re wasting your time. Is there any reason for this, mage."

"Who knows."

Even though he knew he would lose, it wasn’t entirely meaningless.

He could alter a very trivial event that was set to happen in the future.

If Rudrik’s predictions were correct, New Moon Space would now sense the deranged fate from the New Moon Silver.

Of course, any class 9 mage could sense the current distortion of fate, so there was no way New Moon Space would have missed it.

However, he likely wouldn’t have discovered the most critical cause of this change in fate.

The moment the Twelve New Moons recklessly intervened in the world, all events and stories would be altered.

New Moon Space would not move in ignorance. He would certainly seek out the one cause through the New Moon Silver that was distorting fate and attempt to eliminate it.

That couldn’t be allowed.

New Moon Space could observe the entire world, but... He couldn’t see the very small and trivial things.

This fatal flaw must be exploited as much as possible.

Someday... Until the boy could stand against New Moon Space.

"There are less than 10 years left until the end of the world. Such meaningless struggle, mage."

New Moon Space said as he gazed into the void, searching for traces of the vanished New Moon Silver.

However, true to his reputation, the old man had fled quickly, leaving no trace behind.

"... Next time, I won't let it slide like this."

New Moon Space said this before disappearing through the grayish space.

Sigh...

Rudrick Hallow exhaled a hot breath as he slowly stood up and brushed his left hand over the spot where his right arm had vanished.

As he did, a golden light shimmered, and in an instant, his severed arm regrew.

The process of restoring the missing limb had consumed an enormous amount of mana, but it was better than being crippled.

"By the way, you’re quite impressive."

Rudrick spoke as if talking to himself into the empty space.

Surprisingly, a silver line appeared in the air, and the space cracked open, revealing the figure of New Moon Silver, who had disappeared long ago.

"To think you’re skilled enough in spatial manipulation to deceive even one of the Twelve New Moons..."

"Time and space are inseparable. After living on the run for hundreds of years, you have to get good at it."

New Moon Silver murmured bitterly.

"Have I been living too irresponsibly and letting everything go too easily?"

"... That’s not true."

Rudrick denied his words, but he couldn’t help feeling sorrowful.

Perhaps... New Moon Silver had seen some terrible vision. Something even more horrific and brutal than the end of the world, which was predicted to occur in ten years.

That was why he gave up on his foresight.

He chose to abandon everything, including his memories. He entrusted them to his fragment, and lived a secluded life, which led to the current situation.

‘What on earth did he see that made even New Moon Silver unable to overcome his fear and turn his back to flee?’

This was a question that had always troubled Rudrick.

"Yes. Although it's hard to carve out much time since I'm swamped with work..."

She let out a deep sigh full of worry.

It appeared the void left by the retirement of Orenha, her aide, was quite significant.

"Hmm... Even a brief moment is fine. I was thinking of going to see Celestia."

"Oh my, really?"

Baek Yu-Seol heard that Celestia was one of Florin’s very, very close friends.

Perhaps even her only friend.

Anyway, she cherished Celestia greatly, and as a High Elf, she would be extremely sensitive to any changes in the spirit's state.

Besides that, Baek Yu-Seol also wanted to arrange a time to meet with Celestia together.

"That sounds wonderful. When should we set the time?"

"Is this weekend okay?"

After speaking, a trivial thought crossed his mind.

‘Could it be that the king is just as busy on weekends as on weekdays?’

But Florin answered without hesitation.

"Yes! Then, let's meet on the weekend."

After ending the call, Baek Yu-Seol checked the time.

It was almost time to head out for dinner with Mayuseong and Eisel under the pretense of club activities.

Since it was summer, he didn’t need a coat, so he just wore a vest over his academy uniform shirt and stepped out.

In the hallway, several second-year seniors were gathering and heading somewhere in a hurry.

By their attire, Baek Yu-Seol could tell right away.

'League of Spirit'

If Soul Chess was the top intellectual sport in the magic world, then League of Spirit was definitely the top physical sport.

Of course, Stella Academy had a League of Spirit club, and its size was incomparable to Baek Yu-Seol’s food club.

It received an astronomical amount of sponsorship, almost rivaling professional sports teams. It made sense considering that every year, a massive tournament was held where youth teams from magic academies gathered.

Moreover, considering that this academy carried the prestigious name of Stella, the astronomical sponsorships appeared almost inevitable. After all, this was a matter of pride between academies.

"Hmm, this is troublesome... What should we do?"

"Let's just bring in senior Malek from the third year."

"That senior has excellent individual skills, but his teamwork is... And he doesn't follow orders well."

"And the remaining slots have be filled by first-years. If we bring a third-year student, we’ll get a penalty."

"What can we do?"

As Baek Yu-Seol tried to walk past them, it appeared like they were facing some sort of difficult issue.

He had a hunch.

'A sub-episode flag.’

In the game Aether World Online, if one played with the character ‘Edna,' this kind of event happened quite frequently.

It was a very common and cliché setup where an ordinary commoner girl, Edna, who wasn't particularly interested in clubs, ended up filling in as a substitute in the League of Spirit, where her dazzling talent was discovered.

This served as a prologue event that players go through before engaging in a League of Spirit match online, and it was an episode that over 90% of players experienced.

And now, that event was happening here.

"Hey, aren't you Baek Yu-Seol, the first-year student?"

"Yeah. I've heard you're smart."

"It doesn't seem like you've played League of Spirit before... But wouldn't you do just fine?"

Then the seniors approached Baek Yu-Seol and asked.

"Have you ever tried League of—"

"I'm not interested."

He quickly declined and made a run for it.

"Wait. Just listen to us until the end! It doesn't matter if we lose the match!"

"I'll buy you something delicious afterward!"

"No thanks."

As unfortunate as it was, Baek Yu-Seol had no interest in the League of Spirit.

To be precise, he was tired of team games.

When he lived in Korea, he played 5 vs. 5 team battle games to the point of exhaustion, and he realized one undeniable truth.

‘When five people gather, one of them is bound to be trash.’

Even among those seniors, who knew who might be the troll. There was nothing more frustrating than losing because of bad team luck when you played really well.

Baek Yu-Seol definitely preferred 1 vs. 1 individual play.

"Just once..."

He shook off the senior's hand reaching out to him from behind and quickly picked up his pace.

‘Sorry, but I'd rather they ask Edna for that kind of favor.’