Watching Desmond strike his right chest like a man swearing on honor would, Adam massaged his brow. "Trust you?" he murmured, the weight of the word pressing against the lid of the vault in his heart.
The question flashed for a heartbeat. To unlock the vault, or not?
Then, he nodded, letting one slip out.
"Do you rember the coat your father struggled to win at the auction?"
"It’s in my room." A frown creased Desmond’s brow. "Will we need it against the golem?"
Adam simply shook his head, a playful smile tugging at his lips. "From sewing to enchanting, I crafted it, just as I did the nineteen others and twenty wands auctioned that day."
The answer was instantaneous. Desmond’s eyes widened, his face leaned forward, and his jaw dropped wide enough for a fist to fit in it. His voice ca out a pitch higher than usual a second later. "You are the mysterious enchanter?"
As if hearing his own question awakened him from the ridiculous declaration, he said, incredulity returning, "You’re saying, watching straight in the eyes, that you, a sixteen-year-old apprentice, have crafted forty magus ranked artifacts?" He shook his head. "Sure. It sounds more ridiculous than my grandfather’s stories about elves capable of harnessing solar flas and a rmaid kingdom tucked between hidden reefs, visited by a colossal octopus in love with its princess."
"Huh?!" It was Adam’s turn to gasp, eyes wide, mind shaken like a bastion assaulted by an earthquake. The air parted in front of his hands, sliced by the swift movent as he gripped Desmond by the collar.
"Who’s your grandfather? How does he know about the Kraken and Selene?" He barked, fiery mana burning in his eyes.
Even after accounting for the ti distortion in the cultivation realm, the mages had fled the magical world ten thousand years ago. Traces of the Kraken were possible, but rembering him after so long felt impossible—especially for the newly risen House Drevrant. But what made his knuckles whiten on Desmond’s uniform was the ntion of Selene Sunfire. The bastard had been born seven thousand years ago in a world they had no access to. It just made no sense—unless...
No.
No matter how he thought about it, it simply made no sense for a mage born in the magical world to find a thod to travel to the cultivation realm under the Magus’ scrutiny. And yet, Desmond grand father knew things he shouldn’t.
Desmond yanked Adam’s trembling hands away with a roar. "Why are you talking about this old fool? We’ve co for sothing else."
Pushed back, they glared at each other for a second, then Desmond sighed. "I’ve never t him. They were just bedti stories my mother used to nurse to sleep." He paused, clicking his tongue. "He and his wild imagination died far away from the archipelago. Good riddance to a man who spent a life dreaming as he paved roads for the nobles."
Gaze fixed on Desmond, breath slightly ragged, Adam’s voice echoed with solemnity. "Did he ever tell your mother where he learned about these stories?"
"Do you think I asked before sleeping? Hey Mom, did your father invent these stories or were they passed down? Absolutely the kind of questions I had at five." He passed Adam by, reaching for the door. "I followed you here, thinking you had a solution. Instead, you give nonsense."
Adam didn’t flinch as the door handle creaked with the shrill cry of rust. When the torches blazed on the ancient walls and the four columns surrounding the red carpet appeared, he remained still behind Desmond.
It was only when the outlines of the sphere at the back reflected in his sky-blue eyes that he spat. "You want trust, Desmond—a friend? Don’t count on your father, the college, the enforcers, or even Haldris to protect you. You’re dead if a single word of what happens in this room leaves the room."
He passed Desmond, grabbed him by the shoulder, and lifted him off his feet. Mana erupted from his palms, condensing into diamond-shaped barriers that protected and immobilised the stunned teenager against the wall.
"Want to cover ? You have a long way to go. Watch in silence."
Ignoring Desmond’s strangled calls, he closed the door, then stepped between the four stone pillars, hand resting on his stomach. Since Haldris couldn’t feel what happened in this room, he could fight at full power. But Desmond... he wasn’t ready to accept his peculiarities. How could he when he had masterfully failed to believe him earlier?
Didn’t matter. Even though he began to appreciate the teenager’s company, only death awaited those who threatened his security.
His fingers tightened on his stomach, each pulsing with a different elent. Wood, fire, earth, tal, and water blazed to life as he turned clockwise. Once he completed a rotation, the clink of chains coming undone reverberated through his mind.
And his unsealed Dan Tian roared to life.
Qi instantly flooded his conductive tendons to gorge his muscles with pure life force. Space warped around him, his presence magnified into sothing impossible to ignore; sothing Desmond had heard about but never felt—a cultivator one realm higher than him.
With a flick of his hand, a somber crystalline blade decorated with blazing coronas of stars materialised in his hand—another magus artifact. No... It felt imbued with Qi as well. Desmond wasn’t sure, but his protest clumped in his throat as Adam’s muffled steps sounded louder than they should when he walked toward the sphere.
Adam’s eyes narrowed into slits when the silver blade planted on the globe entered his vision.
chanical hands surged from the sides to grip it, and the archaic map of the archipelago shifted on the torso of the rising golem. Its helted head erged, a cold, red light flickering through the visor with clear calculations.
Yet, as the monstrosity of steel and magic towered before him, his lips curled into a smirk. "Ti for round two, you piece of forgotten junk."
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