The Sky's Gravesite
"Isn't this it?"
"Y-yeah."
Exactly as I thought.
The altar truly rose and floated upward from the ground.
A floating altar in the sky.
An accurate depiction.
"More like a coffin than an altar."
Even in the stunned moment, I got close to the altar and scanned the surroundings with my magical sight.
It looked like some kind of magical effect, but nothing striking stood out.
"Isn't it similar to the mechanism of Levitation?"
"Some Abyss-specific law?"
Similar to unexplored ruins.
It was installed on ground with a special law that absorbs mana and amplified it through magic.
Levitation was also taught in the training ground as an implementation of the Abyss's mana flow.
"But only this one is floating?"
Ray, using casual speech, swept under the altar with a shick-shick sound.
She seemed to think there might be some transparent support.
Since nothing was caught, she did the same check on the top of the altar.
"It's really floating."
But Ray didn't give up.
Even if she were a cat beastman instead of a lion, she raised her guard to the max and tapped the coffin with her arms making whooshing sounds, like a cat punch.
"R-R-R-R-Ray, stop that already...!"
Leaf clenched her staff tightly with a nervous look, thinking it might activate some device.
It was natural that I had already summoned Undine to respond immediately if something jumped out.
"Leaf, don't worry. If it was something like that, it would have been done long ago..."
Whoosh—whoosh!
Just as I expected, a vibration started from the altar.
"Mr. Roman...!"
Ray said.
I instantly spread my Axis while hugging Leaf's shoulder.
Ray also wrapped herself in silver mana and braced for the shock.
Amid the taut tension, we constantly kept our surroundings in check.
"...Nothing?"
"Yeah."
We relaxed our guards and approached the coffin.
I understood that some kind of activation had started because of the faint light coming in, but there was nothing after that.
"Should I offer a sacrifice... or something?"
Rong-seok had said the altar was a device that received offerings and gave power.
When I muttered that, Ray accepted my thought with a suitable reply.
"There's nothing to offer right now?"
"There is."
Among us.
I pulled out the dagger from my belt.
And lightly sliced my fingertip to let blood flow, Ray grabbed my wrist.
"I'll do it. Beastmen have good recovery."
With that said, Ray snatched the dagger from my hand before I could even notice.
So this is the thing called the Golden Dagger?
It's a fresh reminder that this little girl is much stronger than me.
"Don't make the wound too big."
"Still, it's better to let it come out properly."
Ray wrapped her palm around the dagger blade.
Blood flowed as the blade cut her palm.
Ray dropped the falling blood droplets onto the altar.
With a pained expression as if she was in more pain, Leaf rolled her feet while holding a potion she must have taken out somewhere.
Ray was waiting for me to pull my arm back, her face clearly wanting to treat me right away.
How much blood had she lost?
Like a sponge, the altar sucked up every drop of Ray's blood that fell onto it, and finally showed a change.
"Ray, step back."
Mana spread out.
When I pulled Ray back, Leaf quickly applied a potion to Ray's palm and bandaged it.
"You didn't have to do that. It'll heal fast."
"...But there might be scars."
Ray scratched her cheek in a ticklish way with Leaf's genuine worry, and handed me her hand obediently.
While the two were doing that, I unfolded a barrier in preparation and prepared to use Blink at any moment.
Mana from the altar covered the room.
As if the preparation was complete, a hazy illusion rose above the altar.
It was a human shape.
Immediately after, a voice echoed.
[Pilgrims of the next round.]
"Huh?"
"Eh?"
"Hmm?"
All three of us let out a collective exclamation.
It made sense.
The echo must have followed a completely different language system that we had no way of understanding, yet the intention within it was clearly imprinted in our brains.
Just like how we couldn't read the letters on the door, we shouldn't have understood the meaning of the voice, yet.
The voice continued as if it was addressing us directly.
[Do not be surprised. Although our languages are different, communication of the heart does not rely solely on sound.]
Soon, the voice would be nothing but a means, and it was actually delivering the will itself.
"W-Was that a Musicalist?"
One of the mage classes that implements mystery through sound and rhythm.
A skilled Musicalist was said to understand the very meaning within the voice, transcending the limits of language.
Similar to that.
Even as I guessed at the identity of that human figure, his voice continued.
[Our world could not find the answer. In the last moment, all we could do was engrave our traces so that they could be passed on to the next. Therefore, we pray that the next time, we can achieve what we could not do.]
It was a puzzling answer that seemed to convey the will properly.
Of course, Ray was also puzzled, furrowing her brows as if she didn't understand.
'Of course Leaf did too...'
No, it was different.
Leaf's expression was different from mine and Ray's.
It was an empathetic expression only possible if she understood some of the meaning in those words.
I observed Leaf instead of the altar.
Who exactly was Leaf?
Why had she realized this place was not just an unexplored ruin but a graveyard, and how had she known its structure?
A chain of questions pushed away even the voice from the altar.
The direction of the ritual turned back toward the altar when his words ended.
[In your pilgrimage path, may there be an answer, and here we pass on our legacy.]
"Ooh, finally coming out?"
Ray, who had been openly bored with the unknown answer, bounced her shoulders happily.
Just like a child waiting for a gift to run over and open the package right away, Ray rubbed her palms.
'Since Ray offered blood, this legacy will go to her.'
Whatever.
It was up to us to decide which user would claim the artifact's ability.
Ray wasn't the type to argue over it.
[From now on, the air will support you.]
Mana surged.
Reorganizing around Ray, it took shape.
It was a magic circle.
The magic circle formed around Ray activated immediately.
"Huh...?"
While Ray was babbling.
I and Leaf couldn't find any gap to intervene, and the mana was sucked into Ray's body.
The mana absorbed through Ray's feet created blue patterns on her white legs.
"What is this?!"
Ray shouted reflexively.
Ray must have felt it too.
The strange sensation of external mana flowing into her body when I opened a contract and drew out the mana.
I've experienced it, and at first it feels quite foreign, giving goosebumps.
Unlike me, who had finally received mana and was happily accepting it to survive in this world, an existing mage would feel significant resistance.
That's how it was.
Ray released mana in an instinctive counter to the strange sensation.
"Stop! Ray! Just accept it!"
Anything but Arjentus.
Her own mana.
That could even destroy the magic circle itself.
Just a reward vanishing!
With my shout, Ray closed her eyes and extinguished the mana.
Immediately, the paused mana flow resumed and shot up to Ray's thighs in an instant.
The pattern of the mana stopped there.
It seemed to form wind or waves.
The pattern filled Ray's legs.
For a while, the mana that had filled the room began to fade, and the patterns also gradually disappeared.
When the glowing did not end, Ray's legs returned to their usual white light.
"Puh... It's over."
Ray exhaled the breath she had been holding, feeling quite tense.
She moved her legs.
Completely fine.
"A-Are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah. It feels like my body's even lighter."
Ray stretched her legs right there.
Moving around, she jumped on the spot.
"Eh?"
It rose.
It was floating.
Ray was standing in midair.
Using air as a foothold.
'Is this... Floating in the air? Walking on air?'
"Can you walk?"
"Yeah, I think so."
Every time Ray walked in the air, blue patterns lit up on her legs.
The legacy must be a unique mana vein enhancement.
Normally, mana vein enhancement is inherited through bloodline, but there are also cases passed through priest relations.
Just like Hecate inheriting demon magic through veins, Ray had also received magic transmission from that altar through some means.
"Amazing. It has high utility too."
"It consumes mana more than I thought."
Ray said, landing on the floor.
"And compared to Roman's spatial teleport, it's completely inferior."
With that, Ray pouted her lips.
...Should I hit her?