"Is it really floating?" "It… it really is."
Just as described.
The altar was actually floating above the ground.
A flying altar. It wasn’t an exaggeration at all.
"It looks more like a coffin than an altar, though."
I was frozen for a mont by the absurd sight. After that brief pause, I approached the altar and scanned the area with magic vision. I thought there might be so kind of magical effect, but nothing seed to be actively enchanted.
"Could it be a chanism similar to the floating islands?" "Is it one of the Abyss's unique laws?"
The undiscovered ruins had a similar principle. They were built on land that absorbed mana and amplified it through so magical law. The floating islands, too, were said to be created by a similar phenonon, manifested through the mana flow of the Abyss—at least, that’s what they taught us in the training center.
"For sothing like that, why is it the only thing floating?"
Ray questioned as she scrutinized the bottom of the altar.
She seed to be wondering if there was an invisible support beneath it.
After finding nothing, Ray repeated her checks above the altar.
"It’s really floating."
But Ray didn’t give up. Like a cat instead of a lion beastfolk, she raised her guard and swiftly tapped the "coffin" with her hands, making quick, light knocking sounds.
It was the very definition of a "cat punch."
"R-Ray, that’s enough…"
Leif gripped her staff tightly, anxious that Ray might accidentally trigger so chanism. Of course, she had already summoned Undine in case sothing unexpected happened, ready for action.
"Leif, don’t worry. If sothing was going to happen, it would’ve—"
Wooooong!
As if waiting for my words, the altar began to emit a low hum.
"Roman…!"
Well, I guess words can co true sotis.
I quickly deployed Aksis and wrapped my arm around Leif’s shoulder, pulling her close. Ray also braced herself, covering her body with silver mana to prepare for any potential impact.
Tension filled the air. We remained vigilant, constantly scanning our surroundings.
"…Nothing’s happening?" "Yeah, weird."
We relaxed and approached the coffin again.
There was a faint glow, indicating sothing had activated, but it didn’t progress beyond that.
"Do we… need to offer a sacrifice or sothing?"
Bongshik once ntioned that so altars were devices ant to accept sacrifices in exchange for power. I muttered that aloud, and Ray seed to agree.
"Well, we don’t exactly have anything to offer right now." "We do, actually."
Ourselves.
I drew the dagger that was hanging from my belt.
As I lightly pricked the tip of my finger to let the blood flow, Ray grabbed my wrist to stop .
"I’ll do it. Beastfolk have fast healing, you know."
Before I could even react, Ray took the dagger from my hand. This must be that golden strength I’ve heard about. It really hit just how much stronger this small girl is than I am.
"No need to make a big wound." "But it’s better if I do it properly, right?"
Ray gripped the blade with her hand.
The blade cut into her palm, and blood began to flow.
Ray let the drops of blood fall onto the altar.
Leif, holding a potion she had seemingly pulled out of nowhere, anxiously shuffled her feet, her face showing just how much she wanted to rush over and start healing Ray imdiately.
How much blood had she shed? Like a sponge absorbing every drop, the altar eagerly drank Ray’s blood until, at last, it began to change.
"Ray, step back."
Mana spread outward.
I pulled Ray back as Leif rushed in to apply the potion to Ray’s palm and wrapped it with bandages.
"You know, this would heal quickly on its own." "…But you might get a scar."
Touched by Leif’s sincere concern, Ray scratched her cheek sheepishly, letting Leif bandage her hand without protest.
While the two of them were busy, I raised a protective barrier and prepared to use Dinsional Shift at any mont, just in case.
The mana from the altar filled the entire chamber. As if the preparations had been completed, a hazy figure began to appear above the altar. It was humanoid.
Then, a voice echoed.
[To the next pilgrims.]
"Huh?" "What?" "Hmm?"
The three of us let out a unified, confused noise.
We understood. Even though the voice was speaking in an entirely different language, the aning was clearly embedded in our minds. Just like how we couldn’t read the characters on the door earlier, we should’ve been unable to understand the voice’s aning. Yet, we did.
It was as though the voice was speaking directly to us, bypassing language itself.
[Do not be alard. Though our language differs, communication of the heart does not rely solely on words.]
So, the voice wasn’t really the thod of communication—it was the intent that was being conveyed.
"Is this so sort of Bardic Magic?"
Bards are a type of wizard who specialize in magic through sound and music. It’s said that skilled bards can transcend language and communicate the aning behind the words themselves.
Maybe it was sothing similar.
As we tried to figure out the identity of the being, its voice continued.
[Our world could not find an answer. At the last mont, all we could do was leave behind traces like this, in hopes that the next to co might succeed where we failed. So please, may you achieve what we could not.]
It was a cryptic statent, leaving to wonder if the ssage was being conveyed correctly.
Both Ray and I exchanged puzzled glances, not quite understanding.
‘Of course, Leif must be—’
No, she’s different.
Leif’s expression wasn’t the sa as ours.
Her face showed empathy—an understanding of the aning behind the words, sothing that neither Ray nor I had grasped. I started observing Leif instead of the altar.
What exactly is Leif? How did she know this wasn’t just an ordinary ruin, but a tomb? And how did she understand its structure?
My train of thought was interrupted by the voice once again.
[May the answers be at the end of your pilgrimage. We now leave our legacy.]
"Oh, finally!"
Ray, who had been getting bored with all the cryptic ssages, perked up excitedly, her shoulders bouncing. Like a child eager to open their present, she rubbed her palms together in anticipation.
‘Since Ray gave her blood, this legacy must be for her.’
Well, it didn’t really matter. We could always swap users depending on the artifact’s abilities.
Ray wasn’t the type to insist on keeping it out of stubbornness, anyway.
[From now on, the air shall support you.]
A whirlwind of mana erupted.
Centered on Ray, the mana realigned itself, forming sothing.
It was a magic circle.
The magic circle, ford around Ray, imdiately activated.
"H-Huh?"
While Ray stood there in surprise, neither Leif nor I could find an opening to intervene, as the mana was absorbed into Ray’s body.
The mana, seeping in through her feet, left a blue pattern on her pale legs.
"What is this?!"
Ray shouted in reflex. She must’ve felt it too.
It’s a familiar sensation—the flow of foreign mana coursing through your body, just like when I open a contract and draw on external mana. I rember that strange, unsettling feeling when it first happened, making the hair on my skin stand up.
For , I accepted it readily, as I was finally gaining the power I needed to survive in this world. But for soone like Ray, who had already built up her own magic as a mage, the sensation must have been deeply uncomfortable.
Just as I suspected. Ray’s body instinctively reacted to the foreign mana, trying to push it out.
"Stop! Ray! Just accept it!"
Anything but Argentus! If Ray used her wind magic now, she might break the magic circle altogether.
That would make the entire reward disappear!
At my shout, Ray clenched her eyes shut and suppressed her mana.
With the flow no longer disrupted, the mana quickly surged up to her thigh. The glowing blue pattern climbed up her leg and then stopped.
The pattern resembled wind currents or waves, covering Ray’s leg. As the magical light filling the chamber began to fade, the pattern also beca fainter.
When the blinding glow finally died down, Ray’s leg returned to its usual pale color.
"Ha… it’s over, right?"
Ray let out a deep breath, clearly having held it in out of tension, then moved her leg. Everything seed fine.
"Are… are you alright?" "Yeah, actually… I feel even lighter?"
Ray stretched her leg, then kicked out and even bounced on the ground.
"Huh?"
She was floating.
Ray was standing in mid-air. Using the air as her foothold.
‘Isn’t this… like levitation? Or cloud-stepping?’
"Can you walk on it?" "Yeah, looks like it."
As Ray took steps in the air, the blue pattern on her legs glowed faintly.
It seed that the legacy she received was a unique form of magic, most likely an ancient technique passed down through bloodlines. Normally, bloodline ascension is inherited through family, but there are rare cases where it can be passed through a teacher-student relationship.
Just like how Hecate passed down her demonic magic through her bloodline, Ray must’ve received this ancient magic through the altar.
"That’s pretty cool. It seems really useful." "But it uses a lot of mana."
Ray said as she landed back on the ground.
"And it’s just a weaker version of your Dinsional Shift, Roman."
She pouted as she said that.
…Should I hit her?
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