Chapter 255
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 255
Chapter Title: Part 2 Chapter 22: Sparring (1)
Morning sunlight filtered into the dim room, chasing away the darkness.
Isis, who had woken up early, slipped into a white shirt in her bare state.
She then walked over to the window and gazed outside.
The residents of Avalon were already bustling about their work from the early morning.
The Frontier turned because of them.
They were truly grateful people.
Then she looked at her right arm.
The pitch-black, dead arm felt almost no sensation.
It was a wound from Kaironseira, the ancient dragon of the Blue tribe.
"It's hopeless to fully recover, huh?"
Even armed with the Thunder Dragon Sword Gram, an ancient dragon was still an ancient dragon.
And one of the strongest among the dragon race at that, so getting off with just her right arm was a bargain.
The other comrades in the Frontier didn't seem to think that way, but if the result was good, wasn't that what mattered?
"Your arm?"
A voice came from the direction of the door.
It was a man with gray curly hair reaching his jaw, a diamond-shaped gray gem embedded in his forehead.
"Clark, you've come."
He was of the same Lan race as Isis, the silent vice-captain of the Frontier who always guarded her side.
And also the guard knight assigned by the king of Lan to monitor and protect Isis.
Isis painfully lifted her right arm and said,
"As you can see, it's still like this."
"Let's go back. The secret arts of our homeland can heal it."
"What's with the long-winded talk?"
"I'm not joking, Princess."
At Clark's serious words, Isis couldn't joke anymore.
"Even my arm is in this state—what more could I want? His Majesty is worried. If you have no intention of cutting ties with him, let's go back now. Someone else will carry on the great cause."
"Hey, Clark."
Isis's beautiful eyes sharpened fiercely.
A terrifying killing intent poured out, tightening around Clark.
Clark also raised his energy to counter her killing intent.
The power unleashed by the two Lan entangled as if it would collapse the small house at any moment.
"I told you never to mention going back in front of me again."
"I have no reason to obey that. The only one who can command me is His Majesty."
"You stubborn fool. How long do you plan to live like a slave? Aren't you sick of it?"
"The very idea of killing the 12 Gods is wrong. Lan are strong. But why don't you realize it's impossible to kill gods? Did you perhaps find hope seeing Jamie Welton?"
Isis flinched slightly.
Clark said with sunken eyes,
"In the end, he's human. I have no intention of looking down on humans like Hawks does, but no matter how strong they get, don't they have clear limits they can reach?"
"You don't know him well."
"But I can tell by looking at you, Princess. Why are you so proactive about another race's affairs? World Reset? We Lan can endure it. That's how we were made."
"Right. We can endure. We might even be appointed rulers of the next world. But Clark. I don't want to be a slave."
Slave.
At that word, Clark had nothing more to say.
The path Isis was trying to take wasn't just a thorny one.
It was no different from crossing a hell of fire with sulfur smoke rising everywhere.
"We must liberate the world. It's not that I'll become something to make it happen. Someone has to do it. This land is the 12 Gods' playground, and to them, all living beings are less than ants. They say the old gods, once rulers of the world, existed for the world's abundance. I want to make it that way. I want to show hell to those who don't know it and reach out a hand to help them escape it."
"Princess."
"If you don't want to help, don't. But don't tell me to go back. If you do it again, I might kill you."
Knowing her last words were sincere, Clark could only sigh.
"I'll tell His Majesty you're still fine."
"Clark."
Clark's figure vanished.
Isis stared at the spot where he had been, then let out a low sigh.
"That was close."
Sitting on the edge of the bed, she brushed her sky-blue hair back.
Clark was one of the top powerhouses in the Lan world.
With her right arm in this state, if he decided to drag her away, she couldn't stop him.
Fortunately, he showed consideration in the end.
Isis lay back down on the bed.
Having her energy drained from the morning made her a bit hungry.
Then, far away, she saw a flash of light.
"Who's that this early in the morning?"
For some reason, she thought it might be Jamie Welton.
Forgetting her hunger, she dressed properly and headed toward the flashing light.
"This is the Layer Technique."
Jamie drew a magic circle in midair using the Layer Technique and showed it to Nel-Sharan.
Her eyes sparkled as she watched intently.
"You don't have to complete a magic circle all at once. Trying to do it in one go actually makes it hard to place the necessary symbols precisely."
Just like at Phoenix Academy, Jamie was explaining the basics of magic circles to Nel-Sharan.
The humans of this era hadn't developed techniques like Layer or立体 synthesis.
The elves were the same, so Nel-Sharan listened eagerly, her long ears perked up.
"This way, you can infuse more at once. How about it? Understand?"
Jamie closed the magic circle and asked Nel-Sharan.
She pondered for a moment with a troubled face, then stood up and deployed the Layer Technique herself.
'As expected, she can do it in one go.'
Nel-Sharan seemed to have the talent of a scholar like Ann as well.
Of course, her autism prevented her from fully realizing scholarly talent, but her comprehension was overwhelmingly superior.
With Nel-Sharan's aptitude, she might even surpass 9th class.
She was one of the few geniuses across Jamie's pre- and post-reincarnation lives.
At that moment, he sensed someone approaching from afar.
"What are you two doing~?"
Isis's voice carried from a distance.
Her sky-blue hair fluttering, she arrived in an instant and spread her arms wide, landing in a stylish pose.
"Ow ow!"
Her right arm strained, and she grimaced, rubbing it.
"Lady Isis?"
Braha called her name with a surprised look.
"Hi~ Braha."
Isis waved brightly at Braha, but something darted behind him with a rustle.
Then only a head peeked out, staring at Isis.
It was Nel-Sharan, her hood half-off.
Jamie tilted his head at Nel-Sharan's sudden change.
"Did you make her dislike you or something?"
"No... I guess she's just scared of me."
"Hmm."
Nel-Sharan kept her eyes half-open, never taking them off Isis.
Her lips drooped downward, as if she really disliked her.
Come to think of it, unlike her current cheerful appearance, when he first saw her at the guild hall, she stayed silent no matter what anyone said around her.
"Nel's famous for only talking to Braha and Uncle Lil, so how are you together? You've only known her a day."
On the other hand, Isis was equally surprised.
She knew well about Nel-Sharan's mental issues.
Despite that, her magical skills and genius brain had earned her a spot as a Frontier executive.
In fact, her artifacts were greatly boosting their forces.
"She suddenly wanted to interact and talked to me. She must have felt something from yesterday's fight between me and Hawks."
"Even so, she's extremely shy..."
"But what brings you here?"
"I saw flashes of light here, so I came. What were you doing?"
"Testing this."
Jamie showed her the rabbit figurine.
"Wooden rabbit? What's this?"
From what Jin had told him before, there was a saying in Ryō: A single glance is worth a thousand words.
Instead of explaining, Jamie infused mana into Nia. It transformed into a hand cannon enveloping his right hand.
"...Nel's work, huh?"
"A cannon incorporating the photon system."
"Photon system?"
"Like this."
He aimed Nia skyward and fired photon energy.
Isis let out a short gasp of admiration at the pure white beam shooting into the air.
"Oh!"
She was hopeless at magic, but she could tell the energy in that beam was extraordinary.
Jamie added an explanation.
"Not a perfect photon system yet, but once complete, it'll smash enemies with light-speed power. Speed is absolute power in this universe, so the destructive force will be beyond imagination."
"If we could mass-produce these..."
"Yeah, that's for later. Still needs work."
Jamie lightly tossed Nia to Nel-Sharan.
She, who had been watching Isis warily, hurriedly jumped to catch the flying Nia.
She fumbled it, bouncing it a few times in her hands, nearly dropping it to the ground.
The base form was wood, so it wouldn't break if dropped, but Nel-Sharan clutched it tightly to her chest and sighed in relief.
Braha went to her side and stroked her head.
Jamie watched the scene, then asked Isis,
"But why do you look so down?"
"Huh?"
"You seem a bit more depressed than usual."
Isis touched her face in slight panic.
Had what happened earlier shown on her expression?
No way.
She wasn't some novice; hiding her expressions was child's play for her.
So how did Jamie notice?
"It was real, then."
"You were probing?"
"Halfway? Depressed people have a certain aura. Especially among those forcing cheer from the morning, quite a few are more down than usual."
Probing with something so trivial.
Isis was dumbfounded, but she felt pathetic for falling for such a simple test.
That earlier incident had rattled her that much.
"It's nothing. I just have days like that once a month."
At her words, Jamie furrowed his brow.
Since she said something unnecessary, she clearly didn't want to talk about it.
Jamie didn't pry further.
They weren't that close anyway.
"More importantly, you asked Uncle Lil about a sword?"
"How'd you know? I just handed it off less than an hour ago."
"Everything happening in Avalon gets reported to me in real time. Even the small stuff."
"Big Brother?"
"What's that?"
"It's a thing."
"Boring. Anyway, I heard you have some skill with swords too..."
Isis smiled with considerable interest as she looked at Jamie.
Jamie raised one eyebrow and asked,
"What's your point?"
"How about big sis shows you the way?"
"Who's big sis? You're younger."
Adding the time trapped in primordial darkness, Jamie was a freak who'd lived over 60,000 years.
Isis had lived over a thousand years, but it was incomparable.
Isis shrugged playfully and teased,
"I'm stronger, so big sis."
"Funny logic. So, who's stronger?"
Jamie wiggled his fingers, raising his fighting spirit.
He'd wanted to check Isis's skills directly anyway.
Then, Nel-Sharan, who had been doting on Nia, spoke up.
"Isis strong. Jamie lose."
With that, she grabbed Braha's hand and vanished.
The two stared blankly at the spot where they had been. Soon, Isis smirked provocatively first and said,
"Hear that? Shall we see who's better?"
"Not showing the way."
Jamie formed a mana sword in his hand and said,
"It's a spar!"
Then he attacked preemptively.
It was truly a manly move.