Sip* Taking a sip of coffee, Ann looked outside the balcony as she observed the crowd of people going on about their busy day.
Sip*
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Taking a sip of her own coffee, Chlory asked as she looked towards Ann.
"I recently found a new dungeon," Ann said as Chory nodded her head.
Finding a new dungeon used to be like hitting a jackpot one year ago, but since exactly one year ago, there have been frequent occurrences of dungeons.
And to top it all, the dungeons have been weird. The monster, visionary, and story—all of these things were inside.
There were monsters that didn't have any traces of mana and were even flying without using mana. Stories about things people had no idea of and also entirely different visionaries.
The dungeons that were occurring were weird. And what was even more weird was that the randomest of the random adventurers were clearing them without breaking sweat while high rankers were struggling.
"So, are you going to try and clear it?" Chlory asked as she took a sip of coffee. What Ann just said was interesting to hear.
"We are. In about one or two weeks, we are dispatching a small team to clear the dungeon." Ann said as she also took a sip of coffee.
"And the reason I was in the city lord's office was because I wanted funding for this mission." Ann said as Chlory frowned.
"Funding? Why do you need that?" She asked, as she knew how Ann had money from all her research.
"Well, I spent all my own money on Lyn's daughter." Ann said as Chlory's eyes lit up.
"Oh, oh, right, Lilly. How is she? I should congratulate her." Chlory said as Ann smiled.
"She is doing great. Just preparing for her academic days to start." Ann said as Chlory nodded her head.
"You know. Even with that, you have enough money to fund this mission of yours. So, what is the exact reason for you to ask for funding?"
Chlory and Ann were close friends.
Although Chlory didn't spend much time with others because she mostly preferred being by herself or with her family, Ann was still her close friend.
So, Chlory saw right through Ann's plan as she asked the real reason.
"…It's difficult to hide things from you." Ann said as she awkwardly took a sip of coffee.
"And?" Chlory cornered her to tell the truth.
"This mission of mine isn't exactly to clear the dungeon but to retrieve something that's inside there." Ann said as she closed her eyes in shame and took a sip of coffee.
"Retrieve something? What is it?" Chlory asked as Ann opened her eyes and looked at her.
"It's one of the sacred fires." Ann said as Chlory's face churned.
"WHAT!?"
Chlory said with a loud voice, making all the customers in the cafe look towards her in surprise while the owner looked at them in displeasure.
"Shhhh. Are you trying to inform the whole city?"
Ann said as she calmed down Chlory.
"It can't be. How come a sacred fire suddenly appears in a dungeon?" Chlory said as she frowned.
"Well. It did. I have a small sample of it. Do you remember a case where the black rain was occurring?" Ann said as Chlory nodded her head.
"Yes. Didn't you say it was due to mana dysfunction in the clouds?" Chlory said this as she was still trying to process the occurrence of a sacred fire.
"It was, but the sacred flame also had some part in it." Ann said.
Things that are named 'Sacred' were one of the wonders of the world, beside the skills and [Personal sigil].
They were an incredible power said to be associated with the gods in the past.
The most famous example was the nine sacred flames of the goddess of the sun.
The goddess, who was proud and brimming with life, had nine favorite flames that she wore on her crown.
The already elegant crown was further enchanted by the nine flames, making other gods unable to directly look at her.
But her brilliance and light overcame the night, making the night lose its presence.
As night lost its presence, an imbalance between day and night occurred.
Despite being proud and brimming with life, the goddess was thoughtful.
Giving away the nine flames to the mortals, the goddess decided to restore the balance to day and night as she prayed for the goodness of her flames.
…
Gasp
Jolting his eyes open, Aiden woke up as he looked around.
It was a dark room.
'You woke up quite abruptly.'
A voice from beside him spoke as he looked towards Eden.
'W-what happened?' Aiden panicked as his memories returned bits by bits.
'Don't worry. We passed,' Eden said.
'…Why are you looking at me like that?' Felling strange by the way Eden was looking at him, Aiden asked as he frowned.
'No nothing. It's just. Your eyes are glowing.' Eden said as he pointed at Aiden's eyes.
They were glowing brightly as his black pupil had turned gray.
'Huh? What is this?' Aiden asked as he closed his eyes.
'Window, what is this?' He asked his only source of answer.
Ding
[Don't worry, host. Your body is being healed from the outside.]
'Huh?' Aiden looked towards Eden, trying to understand what she meant.
'Just check outside. It's about time you wake up.' Eden said as he walked towards Aiden.
'Huh? Wait, at least say something.'
'Don't worry.' Eden said as he placed his palm on Aiden's head.
Whoosh
Aiden's body turned to dust as he disappeared from the consciousness room.
'Sigh. Thank God he woke up.' Eden muttered, as he was quite worried about Aiden still not waking up.
…
Drip drip
'Huh? Water?'
Feeling drips of water on his face, Aiden opened his eyes as he looked at the swirl of water in front of him.
"Huh? Agh."
Questioning what position he was in, Aiden tried to wake up, but the pain from the exam was still there, making him regret his life.
"Huh? You finally woke up, kid." Beyond the swirl of water, he saw a blue-haired lady looking at him while she controlled the water.
Srrr
As he felt the water moving through his body, he felt a shiver throughout his body as his black pupil turned gray and started shining bright.
"W-what is this?" With a strange voice, he looked at the lady and asked who just awkwardly smiled towards him.
"Don't talk. This will just take some time." Chlory smiled as she slowly controlled the water that slowly started lighting up, just like before.
[Water magic: Restorative water]
A blue book floating beside Chlory shone together with the water before finally stopping and disappearing.
"W-what is that?" Again, with a strange voice, Aiden muttered as Chlory smiled towards him.
Ding
[That was water magic: Restorative water. A water magic spell that manipulates energy through water for healing and restorative purposes.]
"Are you feeling fine?" Chlory said as she stood up.
"Surprisingly, it took you three days to finally become conscious. Your tutor was getting anxious day by day." Chlory said as Aiden wide opened his eyes.
"Three days!!" He shouted but again heard a strange voice instead of his own.
"W-what is up with my voice?" Aiden asked as he looked at Chlory.
His body was numb as he couldn't move them.
"Oh. Here, this should answer your question." Chlory said as she put a mirror in Aiden's vision.
"Huh? HUH!?"
Upon seeing the mirror, Aiden's heart started to beat faster in panic.
His whole face was swollen, like it was stung by a herd of bees. Not only his face, but his whole body was swollen, answering his numb body.
"Don't worry. It will return to normal after a few hours." Chlory said as she calmed Aiden down.
Bang
"Young master."
The door to the room opened up as the usual voice of panicking Louis resounded in Aiden's ear.
"Young master. Have you woken up? Are you feeling any difficulty?" Louis asked as he examined Aiden's body.
Chlory raised her brows at how Louis acted, as she couldn't believe it was the same person.
The magic spell she used had a three-day cooldown.
After the first day of using it on Aiden, Louis had been nagging about how she wasn't using it anymore.
The person who was currently in front of her wasn't that same nagging person.
"He should be fully healed by tomorrow morning. Ok, I will be going." Chlory said as she side eyed Louis before leaving the room.
"Young master, can you talk? Do you feel any discomfort?" Louis asked, as Aiden just wished he would shut up.
'Give him a break. He had been looking after you all this time.' Eden said as he giggled.
'Oh right. To answer your curiosity, you have been unconscious for three days.' Eden said, as he could tell what Aiden was thinking about.
"…W-what happened with the exam?"
Aiden asked as he looked at Louis with worry.
The last thing he could remember was getting hit by the black lightning and losing all his consciousness.
"You passed, young master."