Chương 184

Though his intentions had been quite aggressive up until that very moment, Orion felt a flicker of real concern as he looked into Selene's eyes and saw they were vacant and unfocused, like mirrors. Selene Openskies — Lost Seer Class: [Weaver of the Serendipitous Thread] [B-rank] Level: 50 Mind: 181 Attunement: 207 Body: 19 Traits: Mana Manipulation [B-rank]; Butterfly Step [B-rank]; Beyonder [B-rank] Upon being inspected, she blinked, and life returned to her face.

She also seemed to realize the lesson was over and was made to stand up and leave, but he stepped in front of her.

"What's going on?" He asked, now more confused than annoyed. The story about her going missing multiple times and then coming back stronger than ever was interesting, but it didn't explain why she suddenly decided to ignore him. While he would have been happy to go about his day if it had been anyone else, he knew Selene too well to let this slide. For the first time that day, she looked directly into his eyes.

But there was none of the warmth he expected, only something that resembled dread too closely for his comfort.

"I have things I need to do. Let me go," she said, seemingly ignoring his question. Orion didn't move, almost begging her to explain. There was a moment of conflict within her, an internal battle that raged in her mind, before one side prevailed, and she shook her head.

"You shouldn't be wasting your time either, Orion. You know what is coming. We aren't ready for them." He was so stunned that he let her pass, and by the time he regained control, she was already gone.

"I'm guessing that didn't go well?" Dorian asked awkwardly. Orion shook his head, but his mind was still stuck on Selene's words. She knows something; that much is clear. I wonder how she can see so much when even the High Priestess seems to be struggling to read the enemy, but those weren't the eyes of someone who was joking around.

"At least she didn't get mad?" Luna tried to cheer him up, gently patting his shoulder, and he responded with a short grunt.

"I'll have to talk to her again, but I think I need to get more context first," he eventually said, as his mind began to crunch the new mystery. In his absence, Selene probably wouldn't trust someone else, especially if neither Dorian nor Luna knew her motivations. However, there was one person who might have known more simply because of how close they were.

Just a few minutes later, he was rushing down the hallways, narrowly avoiding witches and even vaulting over an entire flight when it was too crowded with students for his liking, all thanks to the recent increase in his Body stats. He was vaguely aware that Dorian and Luna were somewhere behind him, caught in the foot traffic, but he couldn't wait for them to get through. They chose to maintain their decorum, knowing they would have to pay the price.

He was well aware that Dorian could go even faster than he could if he wanted to, given his Body stat. A mystery had been placed before him, one that touched a sensitive part of himself deeply, and he would not be able to rest until he solved it, especially since his mind would endlessly speculate about the various possibilities if he didn't. The fourth floor, unlike the fifth, where Orion lived with his mother, was much more crowded since most of the families in the Sanctum resided there.

Unless someone knew exactly where to go, getting lost in the maze of corridors, inner gardens, and communal kitchens was a real possibility. Orion, however, was not one to forget anything, even if he had only visited a few times, and eventually reached a familiar oak door. The wood had warped slightly at the bottom from the alchemical fumes once again, which was a constant grievance of the woman who lived behind it, but the place looked the same as the last time.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. He took just a moment to make sure he was presentable, more to avoid commentary about his disheveled state than because he cared, and then knocked.

"If you're selling those half-assed charms, I'm not buying!" a voice shrieked from inside, followed by the sound of glass shattering.

"And if you're the maintenance crew, you're three days late, and I've already fixed the draft with a stasis charm, you incompetent louts!" Realizing that the stream of complaints wasn't going to stop anytime soon, he pushed against the door and opened it himself. Immediately, he was met with thick fumes of incense, the kind favored by alchemists to prevent their ingredients from reacting with each other.

"It's me, Celia," Orion coughed, waving a hand to disperse the smoke.

"Orion." Celia, Selene's mother, stepped out of the haze like a vengeful spirit. She was a short, round woman with straw-colored hair that was standing on end, probably from whatever alchemical reaction had just blown up in her face. She wore an apron stained with liquids that likely violated several safety protocols, and her expression was notably irritated, which was saying something, considering that she was always annoyed.

"Orion?" She blinked, wiping soot from her forehead with the back of her hand.

"Asteria's boy? You're back? I heard the bells ringing yesterday, disturbingly loud things, which gave me a migraine before my tea. I assumed it was another ceremony I forgot about."

"We are all back," he said, then clarified when he saw that it hadn't helped much.

"Mom, Elder Candra, and all the other witches who came on the military campaign through the Belt." Celia hummed, then shrugged.

"Yes, I might remember something about that, but it didn't seem very important at the time." If he hadn't already become accustomed to the woman through years of friendship with Selene, he might have taken offense, but by now, he knew this was just how she was. Frankly, Selene was much too well-adjusted, given what her only family was like. She squinted at him, her eyes narrowing.

"You look taller. That's an improvement. Did you wipe your boots? The hallway is filthy, and I just scrubbed these floors with alchemical cleansers."

"My boots are clean," Orion said smoothly, though he hadn't done more than the bare minimum, stepping inside and closing the door. The apartment was cluttered, with every flat surface covered in alembics, drying racks for moon-moss, and stacks of parchment. It felt suffocatingly small compared to the place he shared with his mother, but it also seemed strangely lived in.

"Where is she?" Celia huffed and turned back to a bubbling cauldron that was dangerously close to overflowing. She slapped the rim with a wooden spoon, muttering a cooling spell.

"Selene? Who knows? That girl treats this house like a tavern these days. Stops by to sleep, devours my pantry, and vanishes before I can ask her to do much of anything." Orion moved closer, pressing his point.

"She's acting strange, Celia. She's ignoring me, which isn't exactly normal behavior, and when I tried to confront her, she spaced out before running away." Celia's hand froze on the spoon. The perpetual annoyance that usually showed on her face drained away, leaving her looking tired and older than her actual age. She slumped, leaning her weight against the heavy workbench. Turning to face him, she crossed her arms over her chest.

"She screams at night, Orion. Not because of a normal nightmare, mind you. She goes rigid, stiff as a board, and screams without making a sound. Her eyes are open, glowing like lamps, and she sees things that aren't in the room. It takes me hours to get her back to herself." Seizures of some kind? Obviously, it was not a regular occurrence, or I would have already known about it. Is it because of her new class?

"How long has this been going on?" He asked.

"Since she locked herself in that lab," Celia grumbled, though her voice wobbled.

"She came out different. Harder. She used to enjoy having tea with me while I worked, you know? Like me. Now she stands on the balcony in the rain for hours, staring at the sky. Says she's 'watching the threads fray.' Nonsense, if you ask me. Just a good way to catch pneumonia."

"Did she say where she was going today?" Celia vaguely gestured toward the window, pointing at the sprawling city of Silverpeak at the mountain's base.

"Down there. She's always down there lately." She sniffed, wiping her nose on her sleeve.

"Signed up with the Guild. The Adventurer's Guild! Can you imagine? A prodigy in divination like her, scrubbing around in the mud with mercenaries and hedge-mages for coin. Wouldn't hear a thing on the contrary, too!" Orion barely remembered to nod along to keep the woman talking, but his mind was already piecing things together.

Her new class, [Weaver of the Serendipitous Thread], was clearly a more powerful seer, so it didn't surprise him that she lost track of time at moments, given that she'd already been prone to that, but joining the Adventurer Guild was only ever done for two reasons. First, the need for money. Even though Celia and Selene weren't wealthy, as shown by their residence on the fourth floor with most of the other witches, they weren't poor either. He couldn't think of anything Selene would lack here.

Not anything important, at least. Second, the need for power. Given her cryptic words to him before, that seemed the most likely explanation. If she had even the slightest clue about the enemy they were facing, then it was possible she'd develop a craving to grow stronger. Taking on quests from the Guild to hunt dangerous monsters was definitely a way for her to do that. It still didn't explain why she was avoiding him, though.

"She's a child, Orion. Tier Two or not, she's never killed anything bigger than a Wererat, and now she's taking contracts for Yetis? It's madness. I told her the damp air of the mountains would ruin her complexion, but does she listen? No." Celia muttered nervously, pacing back and forth.

"I'll find her," Orion promised, turning toward the door.

"You do that," Celia called after him, returning to her cauldron with renewed energy.

"And tell her to wear a scarf! The wind from the peaks is murder on the throat!" Dorian and Luna were waiting for him outside, and he gave them a quick summary of what he had discovered.

"The Guild? That's… I guess that's one way to explain her sudden increase in power, but even then, getting to Tier Two so quickly isn't a joke," Luna murmured.

"You can't think of her like a regular person," Orion said, shaking his head.

"Selene was already plenty capable before ranking up. She must have used her divination abilities to scout ahead and identify which missions were actually doable, taking them on in quick succession. The hunt for a monster is usually the longest part anyway, so if she could shorten that, it would explain her sudden growth." Both of his friends looked at him with equally curious expressions, and he shrugged.

"I have been hanging out with an A-rank team called the Basilisk Fang in Valderun. It's a bit of a long story, but I'll tell it to you later if you're interested." Those guys were real veterans of the profession, and if they believed that tracking and lacking reliable information were the biggest problems an adventurer could face, then he'd believe them, even if they were weird as hell at times.

"For now, though, we have something to do," he said, and immediately headed for the main staircase again. The two started but followed after him.

"Why do I have the impression he wants to go down to Silverpeak and storm the Guild?" Luna asked, and Dorian sighed.

"Because you know him well enough."