Chương 13

Vora's nervousness pressured my own emotions. Entering the underworld broke just about every rule of safety engrained in him, and with that, he shared stress and warnings to stay cautious. What an uncomfortable feeling, I thought. Sharing emotions with this boy. Luckily, my own mental state far overpowered Vora's. His emotions were more like a reminder of how Vora would have acted if I wanted to mimic his demeanor.

I had no need for that, and curiosity was instead the leading emotion as I followed Tonir into the cavern. Behind us, the man with messy hair restored the hidden entrance with some sort of illusion magic. He had blue mana—the color of warding and control. The two stayed there, watching the entrance.

"Don't expect anything beautiful." Tonir lowered his head to fit in the descending tunnel.

"We don't really keep permanent residences here. It's best to keep belongings to a minimum." The cavern opened up, and we could finally stand straight. Tonir presented his little hideout with a grin.

"Everyone, let's welcome a new member. Well, new-old member." My eyebrows rose at the sight. And you say this is not beautiful? I had expected to see a lot of plain grey with rough stone walls, with musty cavern air. None of that was true. The uneven walls formed a cavern the size of a typical living room, and while every surface was formed of stone, blue had a much more dominant presence than grey. That came from moss and plants growing in the corner, the leaves dimly glowing.

The blue color seemed to come from mana, which the plants were full of. Only two more people waited inside. One of them was a blonde girl with pale Gondorran skin, lying down on a hammock. She glanced at me, but quickly turned away with an expression of boredom and plain dissatisfaction. Vora remembered her as a girl Tonir had hung out with in school. She now had a level one mana core. The second person was a happier-looking Asterran man in his mid-twenties.

He grew just enough hair for a receded hairline to show—a very uncommon gene for Asterrans, though he looked great with a beard. His table was cluttered by papers filled with patterns and spell formations, and a brown book that Vora vaguely recognized. He also had a level one core.

"That's Erden, the smartest man I know, and she's Relly, my girlfriend," Tonir said. He then turned to me.

"And this is Vora. My little brother."

"We eavesdropped," Erden said, vaguely smiling.

"I'm not sure if I believe that getting dream stuck is real, but that sure would explain how you survived."

"If reincarnation is real, I don't see how getting dream stuck wouldn't be," Relly said. I blinked. Is reincarnation real? Well, I knew at least transmigration was real. I was living proof of that. More importantly, Relly just implied that reincarnation was a real concept in this world. If so, I'd need to study it. Vora didn't seem to have any strong opinions.

"I wouldn't believe in reincarnation either, Relly," Erden said, sighing.

"A lot is possible with magic, I suppose. Good to see you, Vora. I heard a lot about you. Looks like you have a mana core as well. I'm sorry about that."

"No need to be sorry," I said.

"I've decided I actually kind of like magic. When I'm the one using it, that is." He let out an awkward laugh.

"Sure, that much I think we all agree with." He turned to Tonir.

"Is he officially joining us now?"

"I would assume so," Tonir said.

"He has a mana core, and turns out he's surprisingly competent." So Vora was never a part of the gang, I noted. He was just unofficially involved in one job.

"I'm still a beginner," I said.

"But I'm looking to learn as much as I can. If magic academies existed, I'd enroll for sure."

"A magic school would be nice," Relly said at the ceiling, still lying down. Tonir's eyes formed a solemn look of agreement.

"I think it's possible. It's not like the people hate magic. They just want safety. All we need is to prove that Ellaris abuses that law for their own benefit. We haven't harmed a soul. Mages will have their rights back in our lifetime." Didn't you just almost kill Vaela Ellaris? I thought, but pointing out the hypocrisy was definitely not wise right now.

"Personally, magic school would make me insane," Erden said.

"This fucking stuff is so complex, it's ridiculous." The last part was said like a curse at the stack of papers ahead of him. My eyes turned to the plain brown book in front of him. I felt a tingle in Vora's memories, and a new detail came to light. This was the book Vora had snatched from Ellaris' vault. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. The answers were finally here.

"I'm ready to join the gang," I said.

"My life in Asterra is pretty much over anyway." I took a step forward.

"Did I steal the right book?" Tonir's smile fell at that.

"You grabbed something very valuable, Vora. Monetarily, that's far more valuable than the list of records we were going for." A stern response came from Vora's memories. I went with it.

"We didn't rob them for money." Tonir was fully serious by now. He stared at the book, then turned to me.

"That book right there is their heirloom. You managed to grab House Ellaris' private spellbook." I raised my eyebrows.

"You mean, their secret spells?"

"Yep," Tonir said.

"All of the century-old spells invented by Hank Finler, which passed down the Ellaris lineage ever since. There's some heinous stuff in there, like their infamous Fear Aura that Fellia and Crone use." Those were all familiar names. Hank was a notorious mage from generations ago. Fellia and Crone were Vaela's siblings, both carrying far more dangerous reputations. The types of people that would probably result in my death if I met.

"Wow," I said.

"So we can cast all of their spells now?" Another difficult expression out of Tonir.

"Not necessarily…"

"Not in the slightest," Erden corrected.

"We haven't been able to cast a single spell yet." Why not? I was about to ask, but I didn't really want to reveal my cluelessness. I thought about it instead, and a better question came to me.

"Is it encrypted or something?"

"Kind of," Erden said.

"More precisely, it's full of trap spells. For every actual spell, Ellaris added three suicide spells. I've deciphered some of them, but it's nearly impossible to tell which one of these is the best mind breaker spell in Asterra, or which one will shred your core to a million pieces. Not to mention, most of these require a level two or three core to cast."

"Can I see?" I asked. Erden glanced at Tonir, who said, "Vora is the reason we have it in the first place. He can see it. Just don't be dumb with it. Don't try to cast any of this." Erden hesitantly handed me the book. Opening a random page, the sheer size of the spell patterns surprised me first. Every single spell drawn was, at minimum, twice the size of the simple Barrier Breaker I'd just deciphered. The more complex spells looked more like small ritual rings.

Just memorizing all the patterns to cast these spells would take serious concentration. A real, expertly crafted spellbook. This was the type of shit I'd been dreaming about on earth. There were so many new patterns I hadn't tested. Even if most of the stuff here would kill me, I almost let a grin shine through. Interestingly, Vora didn't care about it in the slightest. Seeing that secret spell patterns were the result of his sacrifice resulted not in celebration, but despair slowly welling up.

There was something else he had wanted from Ellaris. Curious, I thought. Personally, I was quite happy with this.

"The book is the real deal," Erden said.

"That's what spells start looking like when a true expert crafts their functions." I flipped a page and kept studying the patterns. I recognized some of them. One spell looped a speed amplification pattern three times over just like how I did it, though I could only guess what was actually being amplified. Figuring these spells out would take a real genius.

"I'm making some progress by identifying a few guaranteed trap spells," Erden said, "but not enough to start real tests. We're seeing if we can sell the book off to Gondorra, maybe, but that's just as difficult. None of us have ever smuggled anything, let alone know contacts outside the country."

"What's the next mission, then?" I asked.

"We haven't decided," Tonir said.

"It's only been a few days. We almost captured Vaela Ellaris to have her test the spells on this book. And as for stealing the records…" He leaned against the wall, biting his lip.

"The same weak spot to get in won't work. That was such an obvious mistake by Ellaris; neglecting non-magical defenses. We can't just have you walk in anymore. Not to mention, you have a mana core now. I'm honestly not sure what the best approach to steal the records is, if they even keep those." What records? I pried into Vora's mind, but the memories were just as locked as always. His emotions were quite clear, however, and very strong.

A helpless cloud of depression floated over his memories, overpowered only by anger upon hearing that the mission had failed. Who hurt you, Vora? Where in the world do these emotions come from? Is this all because your girlfriend went missing? This didn't feel like regular grief or loneliness to me. Both of those emotions were mixed in as well, but more than anything, Vora was angry. He wanted revenge. But for what?

"You should warn him about the insane mage in the city," Relly said.

"Do you know about him, new guy? He's dark as the void, around your height, and his presence overpowers Tonir's, and it's not close."

"I still think you guys fell for a bluff," Erden said. Relly snorted.

"You should have sensed what I did." I glanced at Tonir, who sighed.

"There is a good chance we got tricked. That's the problem with magic. So many spells exist, you can't possibly know what's deadly and what's not." He turned to me.

"Just be careful, Vora. The moment you obtain a mana core, Asterra turns from the safest city in the world into a hunting ground."

"I know." Tonir studied my expression.

"Right. I'm sorry we couldn't save her. We'll get revenge. I promise that much." I stared back at him with determination, exactly like Vora would have. Internally, I thought, Am I working for hypocrites, or what the hell is Vora seeking revenge for? Asking about that would cause too much suspicion. The last thing I wanted was Tonir questioning the identity of his little brother. I wasn't ready to be known as a transmigrator yet.

While that could help me locate Trina, I'd be just as likely to attract more powerful beings that wanted to play with my mana core. So, I just nodded, pretending like I knew what was going on.

"Thanks for having me. I'm glad to be here." I smiled at everyone, then turned back to Tonir.

"I thought your gang was larger, though."

"It is," Tonir said.

"It's not strictly my gang either. This is just my small group. We operate separately so that if one gets caught, the whole thing isn't compromised. Really, we're all just mages trying to survive, with the mutual enemy of Ellaris."

"Right," I said.

"For now, our main goal is to see if we can capture one of their important members," Tonir said.

"We'll ask them about the spellbook. With its help… we'll go for another attempt." The image of a black-cloaked member shooting the final blow with the intention to kill Vaela remained engrained in my memory. Tonir was my own brother, a man Vora trusted. But what about Vora himself? Could I trust his anger against Ellaris to be valid? Both sides had seemingly good people in them. Both sides claimed the other was evil and should be eradicated. Just who was telling the truth in this city?