Chapter 193. The Beginning of a Plan (2)

*Swoosh*

The sound of a sword piercing through the air left a piercing howl lingering in the area. Powerful aura imbued into the blade increased the sharpness of each attack many-fold.

Pram repeatedly thrust his sword every few seconds, squeezing every bit of his muscle into each strike. His blade couldn’t be any deadlier.

From a stranger’s point of view, it might have looked like a normal training session, but a keen eye, well versed in the blade, would be able to see a stark difference.

*Fwoosh*

The moment the blade reached the end of its strike, the aura hiding within it suddenly burst and coiled around the sword!

The azure glow emanating a sharp, intense aura glittered in the air.

And by the time the sword was sheathed again, the glow had already vanished without a trace. A thrust that had minimized aura consumption and maximized its strength meant that Pram’s ability to control aura had matured completely.

While learning swordsmanship from Hersaint-Blanc, he learned theories, skills, and greatly improved his ability in adapting to unfamiliar situations. He had reached the apex of Rook Class; ready to ascend to the next level.

However, after teaching Pram for half a year or so, Hersaint-Blanc told him that he had nothing left to teach him

But this didn’t mean he was perfect as a swordsman.

Pram clearly remembered the talk he had with Hersaint-Blanc.

* * *

“This is all I can teach you.”

“B-But, I’ve yet to reach Bishop Class!”

“Bishop Class is not something that can be taught. It’s a path you need to figure out on your own.”

* * *

Bishop Class.

The threshold that differentiated those with talent from those who didn’t. A wall that couldn’t be overcome through hard work alone.

A state beyond just imbuing one’s weapon with aura, but being able to release it too.

Those who reached such a level could cut steel with a leaf and slash an enemy from meters away.

Such phenomenal power was not something one could reach by simply having excellent physique and skills, and being able to manipulate aura with ease.

“For now, this is all I can do.”

Though tired from repeated movement, Pram did not stop.

Simply thrusting his rapier forward was a technique so simple that Pram’s execution of it could already be considered as almost perfect. It didn’t seem like it could improve any further. But Pram diligently practiced the most simple and impactful skill over and over again.

“I can’t just stop practicing just because I don’t have a path laid out for me to reach the next level!”

Pram stopped thrusting and looked at the grip of his sword. ‘May my little bird not lose his way.’

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He had no idea what he needed to do to reach Bishop Class.

But he didn’t give up. He didn’t stop.

“I’ll do whatever I can do now.”

* * *

Desir had always been busy, but ever since reaching Fourth-Circle, his daily life became even busier.

Despite his packed schedule, he still made time to participate in every party training session, which were now rapidly increasing in intensity.

“Kelt and Radoria are definitely motivated.”

They tried their best to challenge Desir, and Desir gave his all to defeat them every time.

Even for Desir, fighting against both at the same time was not an easy job. Giving constructive criticisms on their weaknesses and teaching them the application of different spells was also a rather tiresome job.

But Desir always set aside time to duel them, since Desir could also get some much-needed practice with Fourth-Circle spells.

“Why is it so difficult to adapt to Fourth-Circle spells?”

Having two lifetimes of experience, Desir had an easy time picking up most things.

But directly using the Fourth-Circle was a completely unknown realm, even for him. Despite his outstanding computing ability, his mana compatibility was an impossible wall that he couldn’t overcome until now. Learning more advanced spells had never been an option before.

It wasn’t simply the spells becoming more powerful; the biggest difference lay in the sheer number of spells he could now use.

Duels with Kelt and Radoria were extraordinarily beneficial towards helping him learn. It only took Desir about two weeks to start to get used to having a Fourth-Circle.

“Now that I’m getting the hang of it, it’s time to change up the techniques.” Desir still had his unique ultimate skill.

His hybrid spellcasting system, derived from the ancient Draconic Tongue, the computational pattern of the Tesseract, and finding the optimal pattern based on the harmony of spells like that fortune teller’s song. His spell system allowed him to vastly increase the power of existing spells.

Now that he had Fourth-Circle spells under his belt, why wouldn’t he do the same with them? Desir suspected that his empowered Fourth-Circle spells would easily top the Sixth-Circle, and begin to reach into the Seventh-Circle.

Since Desir could already match Sixth-Circle’s power with Third-Circle spells, it wasn’t impossible.

“It’s not nearly as simple as the Third-Circle… ”

Building his spell technique to modify Third-Circle spells wasn’t even remotely simple. While assisting Zod at the Magic Tower, Desir had poured a large amount of his limited time and an insane amount of resources into perfecting just one Third-Circle spell. But the effort he put in then seemed miniscule compared to modifying Fourth-Circle spells.

Modifying Fourth-Circle spells was several times more difficult than with Third-Circle ones. Not only were the spells far more complex, but the spell arrays themselves were also incredibly large in the first place.

It seemed like perfectly modifying Fourth-Circle spells would need a tremendous amount of time.

But Desir believed the effort invested would be well worth it. “I could reach Zod’s level.”

Seventh-Circle. A rank only one person in the entire world had been able to reach. Desir couldn’t hide his excitement whenever the possibility of him reaching it crossed his mind. Regardless, Desir couldn’t solely focus on his magic. He was still keeping a pulse on the Outsiders. To be accurate, it was on those who lead the shadow organization.

With no clear leads on what their goal was, all he could do was be vigilant while exploring various hypotheses with little to show for his effort.

Desir, ever wary of them, had enacted a plan. His goal? To obtain even the slightest clue to their plans.

* * *

Desir had picked out a secluded cafe, nestled deep within the suburbs of Dresden.

Desir was sitting in the corner of that cafe, waiting for someone. When he finally couldn’t endure the boredom and let out a yawn, a man who was wearing his hat low slid into the seat across from Desir.

“You seem really tired.”

It was Aylus News’ Vang Zar.

After scoring the exclusive interview with Desir, Vang received constant praise within the office and was rumored to be the next editor-in-chief.

Desir adjusted his posture and nonchalantly responded. “It’s been busy recently.”

Ever since the medal ceremony, Desir had made it a priority to form a deep relationship with Aylus News.

“Since you’re busy, shall we get right to the point then?”

Vang heaved a large clump of documents from his bag and dropped them on the table with an audible thud. Desir quickly began examining it, skimming for anything of use.

“Our editor-in-chief was amused when you were willing to trade information for more exclusive articles.”

Desir had offered to provide information about himself exclusively to Aylus News in exchange for them providing any information he wanted.

Aylus News had no idea what Desir wanted the information for, but was grateful for any information they could publish about the Shy Hero.

“Considering that Aylus News currently has the entire market captivated thanks to Mr. Arman, it would have been fair to request something more… valuable?”

“Depending on the perspective, seemingly worthless information could be more valuable than treasure.”

“That’s true but… ”

The documents that Desir was scouring over contained the latest articles and rejected pieces for each country’s paper. The information was gathered exclusively by Aylus News and had yet to be published. There were also various photos included too.

“As expected from the best press in the Empire.”

Ayers Communication was Hebrion Empire’s most famous media house, and every one of its journalists was top class. Their information gathering ability wouldn’t be behind any other organization or individual.

Until now, Desir had been restricted to publicly available information, as well as whatever he could learn through being friends with leading authorities like Zod and Priscilla.

But the variety and quantity of information he had access to was still limited.

Nevertheless, the information Desir gained through Aylus News was excellent in terms of both quantity and quality.

As he skimmed over some of the less important articles, a dark thought that Desir had been suppressing weaseled its way into the forefront of his mind.

‘Too much has changed.’

There had been a world war between the Outsiders and the Allied Forces.

History had completely diverged. Everything that Desir had known about the coming months was becoming less and less relevant..

More and more of his memories failed to come to fruition, and the news began to document events that Desir had never lived.

Of course, a majority of those changes were positive outcomes, as a result of the Outsiders’ disappearance.

Desir calmly read over the articles once more. He thoroughly confirmed every work, taking every detail in and committing it to memory, whatever could give him a grasp of this unfamiliar world.

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Again and again he checked for any information related to the Outsiders.

But no matter how many times Vang brought him unadulterated access to Aylus News’ best reporters, there was never anything that seemed related. There was still crime taking place, but it was clearly different from the Outsiders that Desir knew.

“Not much today either… ”

Just as Desir was about to give up hope, Vang mentioned something that piqued Desir’s interest.

“There’s been some interesting happenings in the Divide Kingdom recently.”

“Divide?”

Desir flipped through the documents. The information about Divide Kingdom was on the very last page.

“Allegedly, hostility against Hebrion Empire is growing by the day.”

The document contained an organized list of all the rumors currently spreading within Divide about the Hebrion Empire

“Realistically, the Kingdom of Divide is the current leader of the Western Kingdom Union. If this tension continues… ”

“It could be a serious roadblock to making peace.” Desir felt a throbbing in his head.

“They were already the biggest issue… ”

Throughout their long history, it was the Divide Kingdom who had waged the most wars against the Hebrion Empire, and the relationship between the two was as twisted as could be. Just when Desir thought Hebrion Empire and Western Kingdoms had become somewhat closer, rising tension between the two troubled him.

“Though concerning, it shouldn’t be a big problem right this moment.” It was definitive that the public was still supportive of a peace talk.

“Aylus News is tracking this as well, I’ll continue to monitor the situation as per our agreement.”

“Yeah, thanks in advance.”

Vang left after a light nod as farewell.

Desir put down the documents and immersed himself in thought as he stayed alone in the cafe.

He tried to think of a solution for some time but nothing immediately came to mind. His head started aching.

“Let’s put this off for now.”

Just as Desir left his seat, something written in the corner of the documents about Divide caught his eye.

Desir narrowed his eye and closely read the segment. “Aaron was evicted from the capitol?”

Desir was well aware of Aaron’s existence.

Rather, it would be impossible for him to not know Aaron. Though not a part of the final six, he was a great hero who had played a key role within the core of the Shadow Labyrinth expedition.

His power would match that of Raphaello. “Why would he be evicted?”

Even though history was changing dramatically, this was something that was out of the realm of plausibility.

Aaron had sworn absolute loyalty to the royal family. Someone as loyal and capable as him to be evicted?

“… … Something is wrong.”

Desir felt perturbed by the growing list of unresolved mysteries.