Chapter 118
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 118
Chapter Title: Change of Thought (2)
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Terence's "house" was stocked with all sorts of things. Part of the space was even a workshop. Crafting a hot air balloon posed no problem at all.
"...So that's what happened. Right in front of the open gates, Sion yells 'Ga—!' and..."
Since Terence himself aspired to alchemy and metallurgy, he made a fine assistant for Elise.
"We all got sent away, and he locked himself in the hospital alone..."
The problem was his nonstop chatter.
About how Sion faced the Butcher inside the hospital, how it was a heroic entrance...
"Could you quiet down a bit? Please? It's almost done."
"Ah, yep."
Terence zipped his lips.
In any case, Elise completed the mana spell catalyst.
It was a scroll etched with a "Telekinetic Field" on beast hide, linking twenty-two top-grade gray beads instead of magic stones for mana replenishment.
Activate this inside the hot air balloon, and they'd be free from the blizzard for ten minutes. Raise the balloon as high as possible then, and ride the storm winds out of these snowy mountains—
That was the final plan.
"How's it going over there?"
Elise glanced at Sion.
"Done here too."
He curled his fingers into a circle.
The balloon's envelope—the "goopy" part—was made from tanned beast hide, the heater from the mana spell "Fire: Rising Ignition," and the gondola a lightweight yet sturdy and spacious wooden basket.
"No time to waste now."
Elise checked her smartwatch.
Gathering materials and building had left them with exactly forty-two hours.
"Yeah. Let's head out."
The blizzard's intensity had conveniently eased, so they stepped out of the "house."
Whiiiii—!
The snowstorm still raged. Within it, Elise activated "Telekinetic Field" using the scroll as catalyst first.
Whoooosh—.
A protective barrier-like field spread over a fifty-meter radius, blocking the blizzard.
Sion and Terence's party laid out the envelope on the ground. Elise lifted it with telekinesis and fitted it over the heater, then activated the "Fire: Rising Ignition" spell.
Roooaaar—!
Flames roared up, inflating the envelope like a balloon filling with air.
"Everyone on board."
Once it was ready enough, Sion said.
All six climbed into the gondola.
Vroooom—.
Soon, the entire balloon began to rise slowly.
Elise's "Telekinetic Field" moved along with the balloon's trajectory.
"Whoa, whoa! We're lifting off!"
"Nice!"
"As expected!"
Once they were on course, Terence quickly retrieved his "house."
"..."
Elise looked down from above.
The ground receding away. The sky drawing near.
Suddenly, her limbs went limp. Her breath caught a little.
"Don't worry. This balloon won't break, guaranteed."
Sion's bold claim had no basis. Elise crossed her arms, feigning calm.
"Even if it does, I can survive on my own. ...But why won't it break?"
"It's amplified right now."
"..."
She had no idea what that meant.
He said the strangest things sometimes.
She'd stopped trying to force understanding.
Just accept it as is.
Anyway, the balloon was still ascending. Probably until the "Telekinetic Field" expired.
"...Whoa, this is way too high."
Terence clung to the basket as he spoke. In just five minutes, they'd broken seven hundred meters.
Elise said,
"The 'Telekinetic Field' will drop soon. Everyone grab hold of something."
From here on, they just had to let themselves be swept away.
Like a paper airplane riding the wind.
Of course, Elise would fine-tune their path with precise telekinesis. They might get caught in currents and spin in place otherwise, crashing.
To do that, she needed focus—and something to hold onto...
Kwa—!
In an instant, the field collapsed. The blizzard rushed back in. The balloon shook like there was an earthquake. Elise instinctively grabbed Sion beside her.
Kududududu—!
Turbulent winds battered the basket every which way. The balloon hurtled forward steeply, the snowy mountains below.
Terence's party trembled in fear, and Elise's heart pounded,
But
"Ooh. What's this? O~ O~"
Sion looked thrilled. He leaned out over the basket's edge excitedly.
My heart's racing like crazy.
Elise shot him an irritated glance.
"Quiet down—"
"Isn't it fun?"
He grinned as he said it. His smiling face was suddenly right in front of her nose.
"..."
Elise's eyes wavered slightly.
Her mind went a bit blank.
Suddenly, his words from earlier that day came back to her.
—I went all out once, just to win. Because I had no parents...
He'd been without a mother since birth.
His father died when he was five, followed by brain tumors and leukemia.
She couldn't imagine his life, but probably,
He'd never had anyone to lean on.
Nothing to find joy in.
"..."
Of course, maybe he was just enjoying the moment, like a rollercoaster ride, and she was overthinking it.
But...
Was this pity? Sympathy?
Why was she feeling this answerless emotion only now?
—!
Suddenly, a snowball slammed in like a bomb. The balloon pitched wildly up and down. The basket nearly flipped. Elise's forehead smacked into Sion's chest.
"Hey, hey. Focus on the telekinesis."
Sion said. Elise blinked and checked her posture.
She was practically in his arms.
"I-I've got it, I'll handle it."
She hurriedly straightened up. Cooling her flushed cheeks in the blizzard, she wrapped a telekinetic barrier over the entire balloon.
—.
The shaking gradually subsided. The balloon cut through the air like a ship with full sails.
In the now-stable craft, a good twenty minutes passed—at least by the clock.
The faint blizzard finally cut off completely, and the mana spell lifting the balloon ran its course.
"We'll start descending soon."
Just as Elise said that,
Kwaaaah—!
The hot air balloon plunged into a landing.
* * *
At the snowy mountain's edge, on a cliff where the balloon snagged on a tree, I overlooked another stage filling the horizon.
"...A maze."
A real maze.
Crimson-black rectangular walls forming endless geometric patterns—a massive labyrinth.
"Hmmm..."
Elise let out a groan beside me. I glanced at her, then asked Terence's party behind us.
"You guys going too?"
"Huh? Oh, us? We'll..."
Terence scratched his hair and grinned sheepishly.
"Heh heh. Truth is, we talked it over among ourselves. We're good calling it here."
"...Yeah?"
"Yep. We couldn't have cleared the snowy mountains without you and Elise. Pushing further feels like a burden, and we've already scored way higher than expected thanks to you."
Terence and his party took off their backpacks one by one.
"Here. Packed all the leftover food and ingredients. Take two shares each, you two. Should last a couple days easy."
"Uh... yeah. Thanks."
I looked at Elise. She nodded to Terence's party.
"Good work. I'll remember the help."
As expected of nobility praising commoners. Her very gestures exuded elegance and grace.
"Ah, yep! It's an honor! Take care out there! Take care, Sion!"
"Make top ten for sure!"
"Thanks, everyone~"
"Sion who beat Gerkken, fighting!"
Terence's party waved goodbye. They exchanged glances and fiddled with their smartwatches together.
Poof-! Poof-! Poof-! Poof-!
With small bursts of light, they vanished somewhere.
They'd ended the exam, leaving only coordinates behind.
"You're still going on?"
Elise asked.
"Obviously."
I was about to scan the maze's layout from up here with the SZX-9500 when,
"Oh, right. You got a relic?"
Curiosity struck.
She might know more about relics than me, the regressor.
Elise tilted her head.
"A relic out of nowhere?"
"Just. You'll get one at college anyway."
"...Get one? I have a family relic. Haven't implanted it yet."
Wealthy heirs usually delayed relic implantation until full adulthood. Until their mana body was stable and they could freely wield One Belt Four Lines.
Relics weren't always better together.
Implant too haphazardly, and they clashed, causing qi deviation.
"So yours is A-rank, then?"
"Pretty much... You're not asking if our father's dead, are you?"
"No. Crazy."
That was why the family head position mattered.
Relics ejected naturally upon the owner's death, all inherited by the next head.
"...Anyway. Yes."
Elise wagged her finger in the air and turned to me.
"No more time to waste. So—"
"Party ends here, right?"
I said. Elise's lips stiffened.
"..."
She froze in place.
Staring blankly at me without expression, then nodding as if a thread snapped.
"...Yeah."
"Yep. See ya. I'll stick around here a bit."
I waved.
"...Okay."
With a small exhale, Elise trudged down the mountain path.
She paused once, looking back at me, then toward the maze.
Paused again, glanced back, then to the maze.
Meanwhile, I stood on the cliff and activated the SZX-9500. Surveyed the entire maze.
Planning to memorize the layout before moving, but
"Can't see well."
Even the SZX-9500 struggled a bit.
The early maze sections were clear. Rest areas midway, traps too.
But farther in, tall vegetation grew, fog blanketed the ceilings—unviewable from here.
"...Gotta go see for myself."
I jotted the rough structure into "Notebook" and descended the mountain.
Several teams already gathered at the maze entrance.
"Elites."
Even from afar, the faces were familiar.
James and Brown from the play, Mel, Curio, other top mana high students—and Elise, now teamed with my friends somehow.
They chatted at the entrance.
I snuck closer.
—Hey? It's Sion!
Suddenly Rae pointed me out. Sharp eyes.
Everyone there—instantly, even Elise who'd just parted—turned my way.
Awkward.
I bolted straight into the maze.
—Wait, Sion! Going in alone's dangerous!
Ignored them.
The maze's early walls were green. Towering maybe twenty meters, majestic, but I 3D-mapped my position.
In other words—I activated the minimap from [Dungeon System].
My minimap wasn't ordinary. Terrain and objects detailed finely—super useful.
"Just follow this..."
I walked the memorized path. No hesitation thanks to "Notebook." Smooth sailing.
As I strode on, green walls turned red, the whole scene darkening.
At some point,
Shaaaah—.
A fluid whoosh like brushing branches echoed. A strange scent wafted in—sniff sniff.
I halted abruptly.
Lowered my stance.
Slowed my pace.
Crept as slow as possible.
Not hard. Stealth, lurking, hiding—my specialties even before regression.
A bit farther, and the rest area I'd spotted appeared.
"...There."
A rest area.
Or so—not sure yet, but some building in the maze corner.
Just in case, I scanned inside with the SZX-9500.
"..."
My body tensed rigid.
Not a rest area.
Some prison-like place.
Walls sealed with double barriers of mana grids and iron bars. Inside... someone?
"What."
I muttered unwittingly. Stood and approached.
"...That's you, right?"
Up close, confirmed. A smile tugged at my lips.
"Hey."
Just—didn't suit him at all. First time seeing him trapped.
"Why're you in there?"
In the cell, a man looked at me with bruised pride.
—...
Silent, dawn-colored eyes glowing from the shadows.
Neatly imprisoned—Gerkken Kal Dun.
"Aw. Got caught wandering?"
He mouthed silently.
—Run.
"Run?"
The moment I echoed,
Shaaaah—!
A flash surged from the maze's right.
Gerkken squeezed his eyes shut.
I closed mine, then opened.
"..."
—...
Nothing happened. Gerkken tilted his head at me outside. I told him inside,
"What's this about."
Shaaaah—!
Another flash rushed in.
Gerkken shut his eyes tight.
I closed, then opened mine.
"..."
—...
Nothing again.
I was fine, but Gerkken's eyes went wide alone.
I calmly asked again.
"What is it?"