Chapter 92
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: Arrangement
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The flurry of snow battering my entire body came to a halt.
The wind died down as well.
In the heart of the snow-swept mountains where the blizzard raged, I felt an untimely silence.
Right, it wasn't that they had truly stopped. I was just so deeply focused that I couldn't sense them anymore.
The name "Silver Clarity" was vague, but its essence was meditation.
A breath that aligned mind, body, and mana as one.
I had no idea how many slow inhalations and exhalations had passed.
My entire body's senses had awakened to hypersensitivity long ago, yet I felt nothing from the outside world. My consciousness must have sunk even deeper.
In that silence, I suddenly heard a sound.
A clear tone from far away, impossible to describe.
It was like the sound of a single raindrop falling onto flawless crystal.
According to what Anonymous (2) had told me, that was the Echo of Silver.
I realized I had properly immersed myself in the breathing technique.
'Didn't they say it takes quite a long time to hear the Echo of Silver?'
I quickly pushed away stray thoughts and focused even more on that faint sound. To draw just a little closer to it.
But the echo didn't come nearer.
It teased at the edge of approach.
The Echo of Silver swelled briefly before receding again, repeating the cycle.
No, even the sense that it had grown louder might have been my illusion.
The Echo of Silver had no intention of drawing near to me.
The moment a flicker of impatience arose, my focus shattered.
Snowflakes began pelting my face again, and the biting wind clawed through the gaps in my clothes.
"Ah... so cold."
I opened my eyes.
My breath scattered in white puffs before me.
The point where the Echo of Silver drew close enough to synchronize with my breathing.
If I could find that point, integration would happen...
Of course, I hadn't expected to succeed on the first try.
Though it felt a bit different from the sequence Anonymous (2) had described.
I calmly refocused my mind from the beginning once more.
Several such attempts followed.
And then I realized. The idea that the sound had grown even slightly louder was definitely my delusion.
I'd thought it was toying with me, but after a few tries, I understood that wasn't the case.
The Echo of Silver had never intended to approach me from the start.
No matter how hard I tried to reach it, it stayed motionless at an untouchable distance.
Offering me only that faint whisper of sound again and again.
'Why?'
I was fully prepared. Familiarity with the attribute. Adaptation to my body.
Anonymous (2) had said that hearing the Echo of Silver itself was the hard part.
Once all preparations were complete and the echo was heard, integration could happen at any moment.
So why couldn't I reach that sound, even after hearing it?
Why wouldn't the distance shrink?
'No way...'
Was mere familiarity with the cold insufficient?
Did I need to handle not just cold, but all attributes with that level of familiarity?
Only then might the Echo of Silver finally draw near.
The thought brought a sense of daunting blockage.
This was the wall...
I'd heard the term "wall of enlightenment" countless times, but rarely felt it myself.
Somehow, I'd broken through without getting stuck, but now I faced true impasse.
Right. Before I could claim mastery over all attributes as my own, I had to pay the price.
There couldn't be only upsides.
Great power always demands a fitting cost.
'No wonder it felt odd that I was attempting something meant for Dragon Rank at first awakening.'
I pulled my snow-buried body upright.
After such prolonged exposure, it shivered uncontrollably on its own.
This sensation was long forgotten. Ever since learning magic, I'd rarely suffered the cold.
Especially after I could craft artifacts.
Even a simple one infused with warmth chased away the chill quickly, like the one I'd shown at the Academy.
'Is this how warriors training under waterfalls feel?'
Still, I'd definitely grasped the knack.
The elves said training to handle surrounding natural mana's attributes was the path to magical integration, and it seemed that built familiarity.
No matter how well I could forge all attributes, I hadn't reached instinctive familiarity.
True familiarity was handling them as naturally as one's own limbs. I hadn't gotten there yet.
Now it was time to truly leave the snowy mountains.
Time to check the arrangement for the hero.
But first.
Since I was already in the north, I headed toward the northern border.
I deliberately avoided the areas the elves had seized. Being able to fly made detours easy.
Elf society as a whole was practically a collective of Transcendents. For other races, Transcendents were exceedingly rare. No need to detour so much just to avoid them—most inhabitants wouldn't be Transcendents anyway.
But elves were different. Sealed away for so long, Transcendents had gathered over those ages.
'Now I see why Joat and Merin found the elves such a headache.'
The reason I was heading to the northern border was that an item I'd hidden there in the past, disguised as Philip Deran's clone, was waiting.
The "new magic system" that Ad had given Philip Deran.
I suspected it was the unique system of "That One," accessible only by claiming the essence of evil.
With the essence of evil fallen, Evanveil had become an elf outpost, impossible to enter casually. But the border was different.
It was untouched land. Or rather, no reason to claim it. Endless swamps and mires, a barren plain shrouded in dank fog.
'Around here.'
A book with a black cover.
I'd buried it nearby...
'Found it.'
I pocketed the book and headed straight for the hero's arrangement.
The hero's arrangement wouldn't be left out in the open like the oracle's stele.
The oracle I'd seen recorded its location and timing in precise detail.
- When the sun tilts westward and the earth's shadow stretches longest. Where the third star of the north aligns straight with the seventh of the south...
That was what it said, recalled in my mind.
After the long flight from the mountains, I hurried onward without a moment to catch my breath.
Because now was exactly the time described in the oracle.
I gazed up at the sky, reciting the oracle's verses in my head.
Sunset had already dyed the land red.
As the sun dipped behind the mountains, long shadows tilted and slowly extended.
'Where the stars align in a straight line...'
I couldn't check the stars' positions right now, but the coordinates were precisely marked, so no issue.
I quickly moved toward the direction the coordinates indicated.
Soon, three ancient dead trees came into view.
Nothing particularly noteworthy otherwise.
'Wait.'
As the oracle said, until the earth's shadow reached its longest.
Time passed, just before the red twilight fully faded.
The fabric of space subtly rippled.
Hidden between the massive dead trees. Approaching, the flow of mana warped, sending ripples as a thin barrier tore open.
That was the entrance.
I stepped toward the revealed entrance, then suddenly halted.
'Trap...'
My Transcendent senses had caught it.
The cave ahead was riddled with indiscriminate traps.
Any Probe Rank Transcendent would sense them.
'Not an arrangement prepared for the hero as a Transcendent?'
Then, it must be one meant to be claimed before becoming a Transcendent.
Right now.
When Roselin was still lingering at sword master.
Roselin was just one step from Transcendent.
From the intel I'd gathered in the chat room, progressing from the 7th hierarchy to Transcendent was excruciatingly slow. They'd even called me strange for it.
Since I'd skipped that stage outright, piecing it together from others' talk was quickest.
Still, I'd need to lead Roselin here soon.
Well, since it was the arrangement for the hero... I couldn't just smash everything.
Better to send a clone ahead to scout the traps first. Without hesitation, I drew out primordial mana.
The moment mana transformed into a lesser primordial mana...
Rumble.
A vibration echoed. More precisely, from deep inside.
Faint at first, but soon massive quakes even I could feel at the entrance repeated several times.
When the final vibration faded, the trap presences snagged in my senses vanished cleanly.
...What?
I cautiously stepped into the entrance.
A sensation like piercing a thin membrane brushed my toes. The moment I parted the transparent barrier, my vision shifted instantly.
Inside was a vast cave.
But something was off.
The walls on both sides had clearly hidden the traps originally.
Now, they were all laid bare for my eyes to see. Every mechanism frozen in place.
As if the space itself were revealing all its secrets to me.
The path ahead was now wide open.