Spatial Leap (1)
We emerged from the forest and rejoined Varos, who had been waiting. Even as the carriage rolled onward, I practiced with Blood Arts—floating droplets of blood in my palm, shaping them into one form after another, splitting them apart. I still wasn't used to the control, so I figured I should keep building proficiency like this whenever I could. Time was the one thing I had in abundance on the road, and there was nothing else to do. If nothing else, it was a way to stay sharp.
I had no intention of hiding Blood Arts from Ashel or anyone else. They'd find out eventually. Sooner or later I'd have to use it out in the open, so there was no point concealing it.
This was the first time Ashel had seen me use it, and I could feel her stealing glances from across the carriage. Sitting here casually manipulating blood out of nowhere—yes, she'd be wondering what on earth I was doing.
"Something on your mind?"
When I spoke up, she hesitated, reading my expression before asking carefully.
"Lord Ron... were you a vampire?"
I let out a dry laugh.
"Do I look like a vampire to you?"
"...No. You look human."
"That's because I am."
Then how are you controlling blood?
I could feel Ashel looking at me with that question in her eyes, but I had no intention of satisfying her curiosity. There was no need to tell her I'd absorbed Blood Arts from the Blood Well.
After practicing for quite a while, I finally drew the blood back in.
Next destination...
The original plan had been to put Elrod Forest on the back burner and head straight for the next Mystery. Finding the vampires along the way had changed that. In the end, I'd successfully obtained Blood Arts, so everything had worked out.
The next destination was, as originally planned, the First Lord's Territory. The Mystery I needed to find there was, if I had to classify it, something close to a defensive ability.
Spatial Leap.
True to its name, it was a Mystery that granted teleportation. Abilities related to space were extremely rare in this world. In most games, every mage and their dog could teleport—but that wasn't the case in the RASA universe. Spatial magic was something only a handful of mages could even use, and it came with severe restrictions.
This one's going to be especially hard to find...
I could already feel a heavy tightness settling in my chest. Finding Mysteries had never been easy, but this one was on another level entirely.
Lake Gaitan, located in the First Lord's Territory. The Mystery of Spatial Leap was hidden somewhere in that vast great lake. In other words, I'd have to conduct an underwater search, which meant there was a great deal of preparation to do.
Once I get that one, there's only one Mystery left.
After Spatial Leap, the last Mystery I intended to find wasn't one I wanted for my own use. But in a way, it was the one I absolutely had to locate more than any other. I couldn't let him find it—not if there was any way to prevent it.
The problem was that its hiding place was one of the Demonic Realms on this continent, so I had no choice but to find the other Mysteries first and power up.
It might already be too late.
I didn't know exactly when he'd discovered that Mystery. It was possible I was already too late. No—the odds were high. Putting the pieces together, he might have found it years ago and could already be well into his preparations.
Still, I won't know unless I look.
For now, though, I needed to focus on finding Spatial Leap.
The present was five years before the game's playable timeline. Time had passed, and there were now less than five years until the main story truly began. I'd been wandering Calderic for... what, close to half a year now?
Thinking that the end of this journey was finally coming into view, I turned my gaze to the window.
Ashel glanced at the Seventh Lord, who was staring out the window.
At first, she'd thought she simply needed to focus on her duty as his escort, without concerning herself with anything else. But it had been nearly half a year since they'd started wandering Calderic, and the countless unexpected sides he'd shown in that time had made it impossible not to be curious about the man known as the Seventh Lord.
At times he seemed so ordinary that the word "Lord" felt like a mismatch. At times he seemed a decent man who couldn't abide injustice. Then there were moments he looked like a cold-blooded killer without a drop of mercy in him, and others when he seemed a transcendent being with no interest in the world's affairs.
It wasn't just his temperament. His abilities were the same. The power to kill with words alone, like some kind of Word of Power. An invisible barrier. And the blood-manipulation he'd just demonstrated—something she had never seen before in her life. Thinking back on the conversation with the vampires, it seemed he'd had a deep connection with their ancestors centuries ago. Whether that was related, she had no way of knowing.
A man I can't figure out at all.
But one thing she could be certain of: he was not a villain. He hadn't looked away from people dying in front of him. He'd rescued those taken as slaves. He'd even resolved a crisis on which an entire tribe's peace had hung. Whatever intentions might have lain beneath those actions, she wanted to believe that.
"Are you focusing on your escort duties?"
"Pardon?"
"You keep looking at my face."
"...My apologies."
Ashel silently chided herself for letting her mind wander, then refocused on her duty.
A great deal of time passed as we traveled through various cities from the Third Lord's Territory.
Poyzelt, one of the major northern cities of the First Lord's Territory. Upon arriving in that city near the great Lake Gaitan, the first thing I did was look for a person—specifically, the talent I absolutely needed for exploring the lake.
We found lodging, and as always, I went to the Adventurer's Guild first. One of the guild staff's primary jobs was connecting clients with suitable adventurers; that was their whole reason for existing. So if you needed someone who met specific conditions, going to the guild was usually the fastest way, even if those conditions were a bit particular.
"So... let me make sure I have this right."
The guild employee repeated my request back to me, as if confirming she'd heard correctly.
"You're looking for an adventurer who can use both Enchant Magic and Breathless Magic?"
I nodded.
"And some knowledge of Lake Gaitan would be a plus."
The employee gave an awkward smile—the kind that carried a hint of difficulty. I understood her reaction. Even as I listed the conditions, I'd been wondering if anyone actually fit the bill.
Enchant Magic. True to its name, it was magic that bestowed magical effects onto a target other than the caster.
In this world, items inscribed with magic were merely auxiliary tools that mages used to make spellcasting easier. The more complex the Spell Formula inscribed for deploying the magic, the faster it faded from the mana stone—or something along those lines. I'd read about it in a book at the Lord's Castle, but I couldn't remember the details. So mages would inscribe only the critical parts of the formula and fill in the gaps themselves. People who didn't know magic couldn't do that, which meant they couldn't use such items.
In ancient times, there had been methods to store Spell Formulas long-term, but those were now all but impossible due to resource shortages and lost techniques. That was why even in the game, items with active abilities for anyone other than the mage class were quite rare. The other stats were balanced accordingly, of course.
All of which meant Enchant Magic held considerable prestige in this world. The fact that few mages could even use it only added to that. This world also had innate mana affinities you had to be born with. Certain rare magics simply couldn't be used if your affinity didn't match, no matter how high your magical attainment. Spatial magic and Enchant Magic were among them.
And a mage who also learned Breathless Magic? Those are practically nonexistent.
What would a mage even use Breathless Magic for? Sure, it wouldn't hurt to learn it, but you'd typically spend that time mastering far more useful and powerful spells. In short, an adventurer-mage who knew both Enchant Magic and Breathless Magic was bound to be extremely rare.
Even so, I had to find one to explore the lake, which meant I had no choice but to be that difficult customer.
"Is there really no one who fits?"
I hadn't expected much, so if the answer was no, I was prepared to give up and find another way. If I leveraged my authority a bit more, I could probably find someone—go see the city's mayor, for instance.
But the employee gave me an unexpected answer.
"Well... there is one S-rank adventurer who comes to mind, actually. But I don't believe they're in the city right now."
"Where are they, then?"
"I'm sorry, I don't know that much... They do visit the city fairly often, though. If they stay here for a while, shall I pass along word?"
I nodded and handed her a silver coin.
"Send word to room 305 at the Teria Inn. You can even tell them a client is looking for them and bring them along."
"Ah, yes! Understood!"
Her animal ears perked up as she quickly took the money. For now, I'd stay in the city a bit longer and wait for that adventurer to show up.
About a week passed, give or take. Then the news I'd been waiting for arrived at the inn.
"They're in the city now?"
The employee who'd come all the way to my door nodded, looking a little apologetic.
"Yes, sir. I tried to bring them with me after delivering the message, but they said the person looking for them should come in person..."
I chuckled and left the inn room. Fair enough. The one with business should be the one to go. I followed her immediately, Ashel in tow, to the tavern where the adventurer was waiting.
"That's him."
She pointed to a heavily bearded man sitting alone at a corner table. I approached. He'd been drinking beer by himself. He looked at me, then at the employee behind me, and asked with an easygoing grin.
"Are you the gentleman who was looking for me?"
Given that he'd demanded I come in person, I'd pictured someone with a nasty temper. He didn't seem that way at all. Level 38—quite high for an adventurer, befitting an S-rank. I looked him over once and spoke.
"You're the adventurer who can use Enchant Magic and Breathless Magic?"
He scratched the bridge of his nose, gave a small snort, and said,
"Yes, well, that's right. More importantly, might I ask what you intend to hire me for?"
"We're going to explore Lake Gaitan."
"Ah, Lake Gaitan... Given that you mentioned Breathless Magic, I take it this 'exploration' means going underwater?"
"That's right."
The man grinned.
"Did you get your hands on some kind of treasure map? Planning to explore a lake that size—you've got some real initiative."
I sat down across from him.
"Enough chatter. First, I want to ask you some detailed questions about Enchant Magic and Breathless Magic."