Chapter 216 216 - Past

Chapter 216 216 - Past

After days in the village of Sunset, Ryan finally returned to the Neodrazzil academy. His activities in the laboratory were now more demanding than ever, especially given his increasing number of absences.

In his first year, Ryan found it extremely difficult to grasp the content of the lessons. His inability to train spells or understand how the magical world worked meant that he had to study for dozens of hours every day. But now that he possessed an ability that amounted to a kind of hack, studying and understanding the content of the subjects was even simpler.

Now that Ryan was connected to the guild and dealing with the Silvermoons' problems, it was a little more difficult to attend all the classes, although Alice and Sara continued to pass on the content to him. Olivia was also a good source of answers, as she was very passionate about her studies.

"I think I'll go to Ellen and Lyza's class this week," Ryan said to himself, waiting for an answer from Nyx and Lux.

*Sigh*

Walking down the corridor of the research center, Ryan entered the iron door that led to the magic circle research lab. Now he had an interesting idea: to use the lab to research a way of moving the islands in sync.

Behind Ryan, a slow blow came. Slapping the boy on the head, Margareth said, "You've been missing, did you forget to check your letterbox?"

Turning around in confusion, he asked, "You mean my email? I don't really use it"

The old lady's eyes widened, and then she started laughing. "I'm sorry, I should have warned you that we'd be using email more. Anyway, I need a good battery of mana now," she said as she passed Ryan.

With a gesture, she invited the boy to follow her to the back of the laboratory. Passing through an iron door, the two were inside a climate-controlled room, the temperature so low that Ryan was reminded of a freezing portal. A few meters ahead was a strange machine that was constantly casting a low-level magic circle.

"I think you can recognize that design, can't you?" said Mrs. Wright.

Nodding his head, Ryan replied, "That's a support spell, friction reduction. It's a low-level spell. The boy's face had changed, that teacher undoubtedly had some new use for that basic spell.

"I've programmed a new spell, but the machine isn't managing to stabilize the incantation. As a proof of concept, I'd like you to do this spell for me," she said.

He nodded and received a sheet of paper with a drawing of the magic circle. The structure of the spell hadn't changed much, however, perhaps the amount of magic the machine was using to understand that circle was greater than necessary.

Channeling his mana, Ryan drew the magic circle with the tips of his hands. Gesture by gesture, he first created the friction reduction spell, then made the increment that the teacher had put in. Seconds later, his body was already feeling the effect of that magic.

"BUAHAHAHAHA THAT WORKS!" shouted the old lady, who started laughing as she looked at Ryan's confused face.

Turning his head, he asked her, "What happened?" while frowning. Holding out her hands, the lady gave Ryan a single jab, and he began to spin in the air as if he were a balloon. Moving his feet, he tried to touch the ground but could no longer do so. His body continued to float until he hit the wall of the room, and with the help of wind magic, he landed again.

"What?! What's that?! Hahahaha!" He replied, and then started laughing at the situation.

Holding out her hand, Margareth created an effect annulment. Then she sat down on one of the chairs in the laboratory "I'm studying how objects levitate. Have you ever heard of the sea of islands in the second world? If it were possible to understand how they happen, it might be possible to expand the territory of the three cities upwards."

"The sea of islands in the second world has a greater flow of mana. They use pure wind crystals with such a high level of energy concentration that monster cores are created on earth. But it might be possible to think of an alternative to that," Ryan replied.

Margareth's eyes widened in surprise at that statement, and in a slightly shaky voice she asked, "How do you know that?".

Ryan lowered his head a little.

'She must have been a little hurt by that answer,' he thought.

"Actually, I had the opportunity to close one of these portals. With a mana analysis I could tell that it was just a gigantic concentration of mana crystals, but that kind of formation could be natural," he said.

To Ryan's surprise, Margareth's reaction was not one of disappointment. As a scientist, she had a constant desire for novelty, like a child looking for new information every day. Even at such a distant age, she remained surprisingly inquisitive, and this challenge only made her even more interested in studying this possibility.

"You know, kid, maybe these natural geomorphic formations are just a coincidence of mana accumulation. But when you're studying and researching, nothing you learn is in vain." She said, as she got up from her chair and walked over to the machine that had been casting the spells until a short while ago.

"I know you're a busy boy, you wouldn't be this strong if you didn't earn it" she continued, and turning around she handed Ryan a book, "I can see a gigantic energy inside you. Maybe this book can help you, it was made by my late husband.

The book had a gray cover and yellowed pages. There were no markings on the front or back, but when Ryan opened it he came across the title "Explorer's Guide - A Diary of Adventures. By Eliot Wright"

Ryan's mind clicked as he connected the two names. "Eliot Wright, the one who created the classification of portals?!" he said in surprise.

Mrs. Margareth nodded, "That dreamy old man did a lot in life, maybe this notebook will help you. I'm too old to read archaic Elvish, so if you can decipher it, tell me a bit about what's written in it."n)(o.(v(.e..l--B-(1--n

As Ryan flipped through the pages, it became clear that it wasn't archaic Elvish. In fact, the language used was much more like the common demon language of the second world. In parts, the two were relatively similar, but it made sense that not even the author's wife could understand what was written.

"I... I can read," he said, causing Margareth to take a step back. When Ryan raised his head, he saw that lady crying. Tears streamed down both sides of her face, as she covered her face with both hands, "I never thought this day would come," she said.

"Thank you so much for this gift... I promise I'll pass on Eliot's messages and ideas to you," Ryan said.

The lady then opened her arms and threw herself on Ryan's chest, "I don't know how to explain it, but this duality of energies, Eliot was exactly like you," she said.

Ryan was surprised, 'Someone like me?

"My son, please take care of this book and study everything you can. If you can, please tell me what he was writing before he died," she said before leaving the room alone.

In front of Ryan was a question and an answer. Eliot Wright was one of the great names in the study of magic, having created the classification of blue, red and green portals, as well as being an important part of the Last Impact fight. He was one of the guild's great heroes, and had stories that gave even the guild's most skilled Rank SSS+ travelers goosebumps.

"If you are reading this book, firstly you are an inhabitant of the first world, secondly you are an inhabitant of the first world who has understood the demonic essence. I could write this book in the language of light, but it's not as widespread as the standard demonic language that can easily be found hidden between books. Besides, it's a bit amusing to imagine dozens of people racking their brains thinking I'm writing in some special archaic language, in some weird dialect from an isolated forest of pointy-eared people.

It took me about four years to be able to read this dialect, so I won't stress you enough with words that I don't even know the true meaning of. This is my diary, here are notes about my explorations, I ask you to be careful with the information." This was the opening of the first page.

The message that was written on the next page was something that Ryan had already imagined had happened, but which still left him more frightened than he should have been.

His body froze as his eyes glazed over at what was written at the top of the page, a text that could finally answer the doubts he had been having for so long.

"Chapter 01 - How to create a portal to the second world"