Half an hour later:
With a soft thud, the doors closed behind the men, leaving the young girl sitting alone in the posh chair in her luxurious suite. At last, Tia could breathe without the stifling presence of others, the euphoria of her victorious strategy and potent intimidation still radiating in her like an electric charge.
'I have won.'
With her grace lost to sheer bliss, she threw her legs over the armrest of her chair with youthful abandon. Arms folded on her chest, she leaned into the plush embrace of the cushions, a grin threatening to break free as her mind buzzed with triumphant thoughts.
'They fell for it.' She didn't care that she was watched, knowing there was nothing important to see. With her great gamble success and the datacard with the first set of outdated technologies in their hands, she finally had the time to amend her long neglect of defensive magic.
With a solitary thought, an old leather-bound book materialized, floating serenely above her. It seemed to come alive, the pages fervently turning, a whirlwind of ancient knowledge cycling before her.
Tia's lilac eyes darted quickly, her sharp gaze absorbing the intricate details of various runes, and the room filled with the subtle sound of fluttering pages.
Finally, the frantic dance of the pages ceased, revealing a single, potent rune adorning the aging yellow parchment: 'This is the one! Deflect. Novice-level defensive rune.'
She was still on borrowed time in Riveria, yet she vowed to squeeze every precious second from her stay, cultivating strength from the knowledge now spread before her.
'Should I learn it by myself or use my system?' For a moment, she hesitated, hating the idea of relying on some unknown, whimsical power. She wanted to be free, not just from humans but also from the unknown forces toying with her life.
A resolve solidified within her, 'I should at least try it. Even the witch system always rewarded me for not relying on it. Yes, the points spent on speeding up the learning of something so basic as this rune can be used better. Especially when I am not in time constraint like before.'
She lifted her arm and placed her small palm on the image of the rune, closing her eyes as she sensed the energy emitting from it.
She opened her second palm, slowly channeling energy into it, her mind replicating the patterns of the rune from the book, line by line and drop by drop, her fingertips tingling with warmth.
Eyes fluttered open, revealing the rune now levitating and glowing with a gentle luminescence, woven from the image in mind into the physical realm using mystical energy.
'Now, I will just need to repeat it until I can do it without holding the book.'
In a display of transcendent beauty, the rune disintegrated, transforming into motes of light that descended like a gentle snow of luminescence.
She has once again channeled the energy, with the warmth tingling on her fingertips.
She could feel the familiarity in the pulses of her magic power and the rune in the book, slowly bringing back the old memories of them. They were hazy and broken, yet still able to aid her in relearning what she once knew.
'With my link and mana potions, I should have one or two days to practice. That should be enough to learn to Deflect and Harden.'
In the meantime:
POV Profesor Valk:
A storm of emotions broiled in the dimly lit room as the president faced Valk, his face a deep shade of crimson, veins pulsating visibly along his aged, wrinkly forehead. The old man in the expensive suit kept pacing around the dark concrete room while Valk sat in the simple steel chair, facing the raging politician.
"Do you even know what you've done?!" His voice reverberated, cracking like thunder as it echoed through the interrogation room, filled with palpable fury and disbelief.
"Helped?" Valk retorted, the word slipping out laced with a mocking undertone, a derisive snicker punctuating his stance. Leaning back casually in the metal chair, he let the cold, hard steel press against his back, the chilly sensation sending uncontrollable shivers down his spine.
The president continued, almost losing control as his words came out in frantic, seething bursts, "You went behind my back and negotiated in the name of our nation? That is a capital offense! You should have rot in the cell for the rest of your life!"
Unperturbed, Valk met the president's heated gaze with an eerie calm, his voice steady as he replied, "It chose me as its spokesman. You can't get rid of me now."
Internally, Valk was smirking, his mind swirling with notions of a world unbounded by the trivialities of politics. 'At least the aliens are smart enough to not care about politics.'
He sighed inwardly, his heart a paradox of anger and euphoria. 'How fast would science advance if we abandoned useless politics, financial constrictions, and moralities? We could have already colonized other planets,' he mused, his face morphing into a grin that carried an edge of madness, a visible manifestation of his exhilarating yet dangerous visions.
'How is sentencing some prisoners to death going to make up for their crimes? They should be gutted and experimented on! That would repay their debt!'
The external grin was reeled in and replaced with a tempered, restrained expression. He could not afford to voice these thoughts and lay bare the full scope of his radical vision. The stakes were too high, and the risk was too great.
"When do you think it will return? Do you think it will be enough to inspect the body used by it?" With anger still visible in his gaze, the president stopped pacing, staring at the professor as if admitting his defeat.
"No idea, but with the knowledge it gave us, we can start advancing miles."