"Is it really floating?" "It… it really is."

Just as described.

The altar was actually floating above the ground.

A flying altar. It wasn’t an exaggeration at all.

"It looks more like a coffin than an altar, though."

I was frozen for a moment by the absurd sight. After that brief pause, I approached the altar and scanned the area with magic vision. I thought there might be some kind of magical effect, but nothing seemed to be actively enchanted.

"Could it be a mechanism similar to the floating islands?" "Is it one of the Abyss's unique laws?"

The undiscovered ruins had a similar principle. They were built on land that absorbed mana and amplified it through some magical law. The floating islands, too, were said to be created by a similar phenomenon, manifested through the mana flow of the Abyss—at least, that’s what they taught us in the training center.

"For something like that, why is it the only thing floating?"

Ray questioned as she scrutinized the bottom of the altar.

She seemed to be wondering if there was an invisible support beneath it.

After finding nothing, Ray repeated her checks above the altar.

"It’s really floating."

But Ray didn’t give up. Like a cat instead of a lion beastfolk, she raised her guard and swiftly tapped the "coffin" with her hands, making quick, light knocking sounds.

It was the very definition of a "cat punch."

"R-Ray, that’s enough…"

Leif gripped her staff tightly, anxious that Ray might accidentally trigger some mechanism. Of course, she had already summoned Undine in case something unexpected happened, ready for action.

"Leif, don’t worry. If something was going to happen, it would’ve—"

Wooooong!

As if waiting for my words, the altar began to emit a low hum.

"Roman…!"

Well, I guess words can come true sometimes.

I quickly deployed Aksis and wrapped my arm around Leif’s shoulder, pulling her close. Ray also braced herself, covering her body with silver mana to prepare for any potential impact.

Tension filled the air. We remained vigilant, constantly scanning our surroundings.

"…Nothing’s happening?" "Yeah, weird."

We relaxed and approached the coffin again.

There was a faint glow, indicating something had activated, but it didn’t progress beyond that.

"Do we… need to offer a sacrifice or something?"

Bongshik once mentioned that some altars were devices meant to accept sacrifices in exchange for power. I muttered that aloud, and Ray seemed to agree.

"Well, we don’t exactly have anything to offer right now." "We do, actually."

Ourselves.

I drew the dagger that was hanging from my belt.

As I lightly pricked the tip of my finger to let the blood flow, Ray grabbed my wrist to stop me.

"I’ll do it. Beastfolk have fast healing, you know."

Before I could even react, Ray took the dagger from my hand. This must be that golden strength I’ve heard about. It really hit me just how much stronger this small girl is than I am.

"No need to make a big wound." "But it’s better if I do it properly, right?"

Ray gripped the blade with her hand.

The blade cut into her palm, and blood began to flow.

Ray let the drops of blood fall onto the altar.

Leif, holding a potion she had seemingly pulled out of nowhere, anxiously shuffled her feet, her face showing just how much she wanted to rush over and start healing Ray immediately.

How much blood had she shed? Like a sponge absorbing every drop, the altar eagerly drank Ray’s blood until, at last, it began to change.

"Ray, step back."

Mana spread outward.

I pulled Ray back as Leif rushed in to apply the potion to Ray’s palm and wrapped it with bandages.

"You know, this would heal quickly on its own." "…But you might get a scar."

Touched by Leif’s sincere concern, Ray scratched her cheek sheepishly, letting Leif bandage her hand without protest.

While the two of them were busy, I raised a protective barrier and prepared to use Dimensional Shift at any moment, just in case.

The mana from the altar filled the entire chamber. As if the preparations had been completed, a hazy figure began to appear above the altar. It was humanoid.

Then, a voice echoed.

[To the next pilgrims.]

"Huh?" "What?" "Hmm?"

The three of us let out a unified, confused noise.

We understood. Even though the voice was speaking in an entirely different language, the meaning was clearly embedded in our minds. Just like how we couldn’t read the characters on the door earlier, we should’ve been unable to understand the voice’s meaning. Yet, we did.

It was as though the voice was speaking directly to us, bypassing language itself.

[Do not be alarmed. Though our language differs, communication of the heart does not rely solely on words.]

So, the voice wasn’t really the method of communication—it was the intent that was being conveyed.

"Is this some sort of Bardic Magic?"

Bards are a type of wizard who specialize in magic through sound and music. It’s said that skilled bards can transcend language and communicate the meaning behind the words themselves.

Maybe it was something similar.

As we tried to figure out the identity of the being, its voice continued.

[Our world could not find an answer. At the last moment, all we could do was leave behind traces like this, in hopes that the next to come might succeed where we failed. So please, may you achieve what we could not.]

It was a cryptic statement, leaving me to wonder if the message was being conveyed correctly.

Both Ray and I exchanged puzzled glances, not quite understanding.

‘Of course, Leif must be—’

No, she’s different.

Leif’s expression wasn’t the same as ours.

Her face showed empathy—an understanding of the meaning behind the words, something that neither Ray nor I had grasped. I started observing Leif instead of the altar.

What exactly is Leif? How did she know this wasn’t just an ordinary ruin, but a tomb? And how did she understand its structure?

My train of thought was interrupted by the voice once again.

[May the answers be at the end of your pilgrimage. We now leave our legacy.]

"Oh, finally!"

Ray, who had been getting bored with all the cryptic messages, perked up excitedly, her shoulders bouncing. Like a child eager to open their present, she rubbed her palms together in anticipation.

‘Since Ray gave her blood, this legacy must be for her.’

Well, it didn’t really matter. We could always swap users depending on the artifact’s abilities.

Ray wasn’t the type to insist on keeping it out of stubbornness, anyway.

[From now on, the air shall support you.]

A whirlwind of mana erupted.

Centered on Ray, the mana realigned itself, forming something.

It was a magic circle.

The magic circle, formed around Ray, immediately activated.

"H-Huh?"

While Ray stood there in surprise, neither Leif nor I could find an opening to intervene, as the mana was absorbed into Ray’s body.

The mana, seeping in through her feet, left a blue pattern on her pale legs.

"What is this?!"

Ray shouted in reflex. She must’ve felt it too.

It’s a familiar sensation—the flow of foreign mana coursing through your body, just like when I open a contract and draw on external mana. I remember that strange, unsettling feeling when it first happened, making the hair on my skin stand up.

For me, I accepted it readily, as I was finally gaining the power I needed to survive in this world. But for someone like Ray, who had already built up her own magic as a mage, the sensation must have been deeply uncomfortable.

Just as I suspected. Ray’s body instinctively reacted to the foreign mana, trying to push it out.

"Stop! Ray! Just accept it!"

Anything but Argentus! If Ray used her wind magic now, she might break the magic circle altogether.

That would make the entire reward disappear!

At my shout, Ray clenched her eyes shut and suppressed her mana.

With the flow no longer disrupted, the mana quickly surged up to her thigh. The glowing blue pattern climbed up her leg and then stopped.

The pattern resembled wind currents or waves, covering Ray’s leg. As the magical light filling the chamber began to fade, the pattern also became fainter.

When the blinding glow finally died down, Ray’s leg returned to its usual pale color.

"Ha… it’s over, right?"

Ray let out a deep breath, clearly having held it in out of tension, then moved her leg. Everything seemed fine.

"Are… are you alright?" "Yeah, actually… I feel even lighter?"

Ray stretched her leg, then kicked out and even bounced on the ground.

"Huh?"

She was floating.

Ray was standing in mid-air. Using the air as her foothold.

‘Isn’t this… like levitation? Or cloud-stepping?’

"Can you walk on it?" "Yeah, looks like it."

As Ray took steps in the air, the blue pattern on her legs glowed faintly.

It seemed that the legacy she received was a unique form of magic, most likely an ancient technique passed down through bloodlines. Normally, bloodline ascension is inherited through family, but there are rare cases where it can be passed through a teacher-student relationship.

Just like how Hecate passed down her demonic magic through her bloodline, Ray must’ve received this ancient magic through the altar.

"That’s pretty cool. It seems really useful." "But it uses a lot of mana."

Ray said as she landed back on the ground.

"And it’s just a weaker version of your Dimensional Shift, Roman."

She pouted as she said that.

…Should I hit her?