Chapter 374: Bloom
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 374: Bloom
The moment her palm made contact with the Golden Gate, Liya felt a sharp sting pierce her mind.
A torrent of complex, chaotic, and gargantuan information, laced with traps and crises she couldn't quite see in their entirety, flooded into her brain.
This caused Liya’s heart to sink once more.
The creator of this gate seemingly hadn't bothered to hide its internal structure at all. It was like an indestructible security door that generously displayed the entire mechanism of its lock for all to see.
It was confidence—or perhaps, hubris.
Anyone could observe it, and anyone could attempt to crack it, but the gate’s creator seemed to be casting a mocking gaze from across time.
You aren't good enough.
This blunt transparency made the task feel even more daunting.
As her perception gradually spread, meeting no resistance, the entire structure of the gate became clear in her mind’s eye. It looked like she could begin cracking it immediately, but the intricate arrays and structures were like a ball of yarn a cat had just finished playing with—she couldn't find the thread's end anywhere.
If she didn't even know where to start, how could she proceed?
At that moment, she finally understood where the gate creator’s confidence came from.
The gate was massive.
Truly, gargantuan.
Stretching across this vast space, a single individual stood before the Golden Gate as small as an insect.
Because of its sheer scale, the creator could arbitrarily and recklessly cram in all sorts of useful or useless formations and architectures.
These arrays and structures were interwoven and mutually restrictive, constructing a combined entity of ultimate complexity.
One had no way of knowing which part of the architecture was redundant and meaningless, or which slight adjustment to a formation would trigger irreversible consequences.
"So, in a situation like this, what should I do?"
Liya shifted her stance and rubbed her hands together, dispelling the chill in her palms.
She shot a quick look back, accurately finding a specific figure in the crowd. Her heart immediately settled, and all her panic vanished like a fleeing rabbit.
Then, she continued.
This time, under her deliberate control, the image constructed in her mind was vastly different.
An incredibly vast and complex diagram slowly unfurled before Liya’s eyes.
Countless lines of flowing mana, the foundational architecture, and precise, intricate alchemical machinery were arranged in neat rows within her vision.
Though it was still chaotic, a mix of truth and falsehood, and difficult to grasp, at least now these things looked... like a book.
And as long as it was a book, it could be read, understood, and mastered.
Just as the young girl had done for the past ten-plus years of her life.
*
"I didn't expect you to not be over there helping with the cracking?"
Muen, who was keeping most of his attention on Liya while wandering about, had unknowingly drifted to the edge of the area. He looked like a seasoned veteran at the art of slacking off during work hours.
Not far from him, another "veteran" was being even more egregious. She had actually fallen asleep, slumbering so soundly that a bit of drool was escaping the corner of her mouth.
"Hmm? Ah?"
The intellectual beauty known as Fei'er blankly wiped the drool from her lip. It took her a good while to snap out of her sweet dream and focus her beautiful eyes on Muen.
"Why should I go?"
Fei'er let out a yawn and stretched, her excellent figure—only slightly less impressive than Liya's—accentuated beneath her robes.
"I may be skilled in magic, but I'm not good at breaking those kinds of things. Not everyone has a knack for that. Otherwise, with so many people here, we wouldn't have ended up with such a pitifully small group of crackers."
"Fair point."
"Actually, I'm a bit surprised that you aren't going, Mr. Muen."
"Eh? Me?" Muen was taken aback.
"Exactly. You're that person's disciple. Something like this surely wouldn't trouble you!"
Fei'er looked at Muen, her bright eyes shimmering with the same strange light they had when they first met.
I feel like... I'm really being misunderstood here.
Muen’s mouth twitched as he silently looked away.
"Speaking of which, Miss Margarita aside, I didn't expect the short-tempered Annie to take the initiative to do something like this," Muen said, changing the subject.
Currently, five people were involved in the cracking: Liya, Narishigi, Margarita, Freya’s knight Brian, and Annie.
The most surprising one was actually Freya’s God-Attendant Knight, Brian. Many hadn't expected him to be a highly accomplished mage as well. When the man in black first stepped out of Freya’s shadow, it had certainly caused many jaws to drop.
But Muen didn't feel much about that. In his view, the fact that a bratty loli like Annie would take the initiative to do such a thankless task was even more unbelievable.
"Don't underestimate Miss Annie. As the most outstanding alchemist here, if she didn't step in, the cracking work would likely run into immense difficulties," Fei'er said with a smile. "After all, the complexity of that gate isn't limited to just magic."
"Oh, I see."
Muen put on a composed "I knew that all along" expression and stroked his chin. "So that means... the cracking is going smoothly, right?"
Hmm?
Fei'er’s willow-like brows furrowed slightly. Her suspicious gaze swept over Muen’s side profile, which he was trying hard to keep expressionless.
He clearly understands these things, yet he's asking me on purpose? What does he mean by this?
Though puzzled, Fei'er answered instinctively, "For the time being, yes."
"For the time being?"
"It is, after all, something meticulously crafted. Until the very last moment... hm?"
In an instant, the laziness and leisure on Fei'er’s face vanished. A grave expression, like a dark cloud, suddenly shrouded her features.
"What's wrong?"
"There's a problem."
"Wha—"
Muen looked slightly nervous, but then he coughed and feigned calm. "It can't be Liya who's having a problem, right?"
"Of course it's not Liya."
Fei'er gave Muen a strange look, then turned her gaze toward the center of the room, speaking meaningfully, "The one with the problem is another person—the one who seemed the least likely."
*
"What's the situation?"
Before the gate, Annie, who was focusing on reverse-engineering the operational laws of the alchemical mechanisms, suddenly snapped her eyes open. Her gaze locked onto the tall, thin figure not far from her. A fierce, murderous intent instantly surfaced on her baby-faced features.
"Narishigi, what the hell are you doing?"
Although the five of them were decoding simultaneously and from different directions, their goal was the same, so they were bound to influence one another.
Annie was being affected now—a negative influence coming from Narishigi.
"I... no, nothing. It's just a small accident, a small accident! I'll recover soon, very soon!"
Narishigi was drenched in sweat, the arrogance from before long gone from his face. He stared fixedly at the gate, his hands—which were outputting mana for the cracking—trembling slightly.
No.
This is very wrong.
It shouldn't be like this.
He was the leader of the Revelation School, a genius in this field. No one here surpassed his attainments in this area, so he had naturally taken on the responsibility of the most important core decoding.
By all rights, everyone here should have been his foil, the green leaves to his flower. He was supposed to open the gate, earning everyone's praise and admiration. Anyone who wanted to go further would have to owe him this favor.
He would also gain the favor of Miss Freya, the future Saintess. Just like before, he would get... get her...
But...
Why?
Why was it like this?
It was just a small oversight... no, it couldn't even be called an oversight. For the Revelation School, precision and caution were etched into their very bones.
But just then, facing a negligible, minor magical architecture, he had habitually used the substitution method—temporarily replacing a magical structure he didn't fully understand with another spell that had the same effect to ensure continued operation.
But that one tiny substitution had turned that seemingly insignificant minor architecture into the first falling domino. The resulting chain reaction spread rapidly, and more magical architectures began to gradually collapse.
If this continued, it would soon reach the core, leading to irreversible consequences.
Not just him—everyone here would be dragged down by him!
When that happened, forget about favors; even after leaving this place, he would be torn to shreds by those furious people!
"It's not over yet... it's not over yet!"
Veins pulsed on Narishigi’s forehead, and his eyes were bloodshot. Yet, he continued to desperately try and plug the expanding holes. No matter what, this breach could not come from him, not from him...
"Narishigi!"
Annie’s roar snapped him out of it. In a daze, he realized that everyone was looking at him.
There were no blind people here, so almost everyone had noticed something was wrong.
"Hey... no way... is it going to fail?"
Before taking this grand gamble, everyone had been told the consequences of failure.
Some people’s faces turned deathly pale, and they turned to run.
More people watched Narishigi with even more fervent gazes, hoping this much-anticipated genius would step up and turn the tide.
But soon, those fervent gazes turned to despair.
Because... even Narishigi himself... had given up.
"I'm... I'm sorry. I can't do it."
He slumped his hands in defeat, letting the collapse spread rapidly. A low hum emanated from the gate; a terrifying killing intent was brewing.
It was over. It was all over.
No one could save him, and no one could save the people here.
The collapse was unstoppable. Soon, every single magic array within this entire gate would explode simultaneously. Under that immense power, no one would be spared.
This game was alrea—
"It's not over yet!"
Narishigi looked up in shock to see the girl he had "reminded" earlier suddenly leave her original position and stand before him.
Without hesitation, she placed both hands on the gate, which was becoming scalding hot as the magic began to collapse.
She was going to...
"Ha."
Narishigi froze, then gave a self-deprecating laugh. "It's already over."
If even he couldn't do it, how could she?
Even if she was a Saintess Candidate, in his impression, this candidate had nothing particularly outstanding about her besides her looks and figure—which was why he had said those things back then.
Looks and figure were useless now. Unless someone could construct over a hundred magic arrays to fill the gaps within a single minute, ten more Saintess Candidates wouldn't be able to stop the tragedy.
"Miss, leave quickly. If you go now, you might still make it before the explosion..."
"I said, it's not over yet!"
The girl’s suddenly raised voice cut off Narishigi’s warning.
It also caused all the clamor in the room, the restless crowd, and Annie—who was just about to scream an insult—to fall silent at once.
Everyone stared in shock at this girl who, from behind, looked so delicate and frail.
"A while ago, I learned an important lesson from someone important to me."
The girl looked back, glancing at Narishigi.
Then, specks of starlight began to brighten around her, one by one.
"That lesson is..."
The brilliant starlight connected into profound threads, beginning to construct magic arrays at a staggering speed.
"When no one else believes in you..."
The girl slammed her hands back onto the scorching gate. At that moment, an even louder roar resounded.
"At the very least, you must believe in yourself!"
A brilliant light erupted along with the hum, illuminating the girl with her long hair flying.
Holy and proud.
Like a true Saintess.