My Skills Can Evolve Infinitely in a Game-Like World

Chapter 32: Mia’s Disappearance

The next morning, Aurelius woke up in a hurry.

After putting on some casual clothes, he left the Sol mansion and headed toward his destination.

Before long, he entered the city’s largest market.

Weaving expertly through its streets, he walked into a deep alleyway, soon arriving before a familiar shop.

"Marrow’s Alchemy Shop," a sign soon entered his sight.

Its condition had already been poor when he visited a few days ago. But now, it seemed even more worn down, as though several years had unknowingly passed.

Aurelius paid little attention to this, though. His eyes soon landed on the closed door as he approached it.

Almost instinctively, he reached out and tried to push it open.

Unfortunately, the door didn’t even budge. It was only after several tries, all of which resulted in a failure, that he noticed a piece of paper right next to his shoes.

It must have originally been placed on the shop’s door. But perhaps because of the wind, or perhaps because of the dry paint, it had drifted apart and ended up on the floor.

Aurelius leaned down to pick it up. As he turned it over, lines of text entered his vision.

"Marrow’s Alchemy Shop is going to be closed for the next few days."

"Esteemed customers, please don’t worry."

"We will reopen next month."

The handwriting was neat and elegant.

Aurelius had exchanged letters with her before and recognized it belonged to Mia.

Its contents, however, made his expression visibly darken.

He had not come here for no reason.

Mia’s father, Homer, was the strongest person he currently knew and could contact.

According to the Player Panel’s assessment, he was someone whose information Aurelius was not even worthy of learning.

Faced with the threat of the Sunless Sect, he had originally planned to take a risk and ask for his assistance.

Unfortunately, the result left him speechless. The other party had long left.

The implications of such a move were enough to make Aurelius apprehensive.

’Homer must be an extremely powerful Awakener. Has he noticed that something is about to happen and thus chose to escape before the chaos arrived?’

Calling it an escape was somewhat inaccurate.

Aurelius believed that this Alchemist was strong enough to deal with any threat the Sunless Sect could pose.

Rather than say he had fled, it would be more accurate to say he was afraid of trouble and had thus left ahead of time.

Regardless, the result was the same.

Aurelius shook his head. After placing the note back on the door, he didn’t return to the Sol mansion, but instead passed through several city blocks only to stop in front of a long complex of buildings.

Ernst Academy.

Aurelius had not given up just yet.

Since Homer could not be found in his shop, he wanted to see whether he could meet Mia in the Academy and contact him through her.

Unfortunately...

"Mia left yesterday. She seemed to be in a hurry. However, you don’t have to worry about her."

"She was pretty excited. She told me she was planning to go on a vacation with her father. Perhaps, she mentioned, she will even visit the capital."

A girl with a ponytail spoke to Aurelius, shining stars flickering within her eyes.

She seemed to envy Mia for her good fortune, wishing that she could be in her place instead.

These words were more than enough to say everything.

Just as Aurelius confirmed that his journey would yield no results and was about to say goodbye and leave, the girl seemed to have suddenly remembered something.

She patted her forehead.

"You must be Aurelius. Mia told me that if you were to ask for her, I should give you something."

As she spoke, the girl searched through her backpack. After several seconds, her face brightened.

She produced a small wooden box.

It looked plain and ordinary, with only a tiny keyhole on one of its faces. Besides that, there was nothing else noteworthy about it.

"I tried to open it, but no matter how much I attempted, I couldn’t find a way to unlock it."

"It seems that without the accompanying key, taking a look at the items inside is impossible," the girl said, as faint embarrassment flashed across her face.

Trying to snoop through the items a friend had entrusted her with was already embarrassing enough.

Having to admit to doing it was even worse.

However, the girl was curious. She didn’t mention it without a reason.

"It seems that this item is destined for you," she said, handing it to Aurelius.

"If you happen to uncover the secrets it holds, please let me know. In return, I can help you contact Mia more frequently." She giggled.

Aurelius nodded subconsciously.

However, his focus had long since moved on from the girl’s words. All his attention was on the wooden box resting within his hands.

Before he touched it, he had already sensed something amiss about it. Once he really came into contact with it, that feeling only became even more obvious.

He felt something within him awaken.

It was a Talent. Alchemist’s Touch.

Without Aurelius taking the initiative, it seemed to have activated on its own.

’Is this box an alchemist creation? If that’s the case, it’s unlikely that Mia was the one who left it behind.’

’Most likely, it comes from Homer...’

A trace of anticipation surfaced within Aurelius.

No longer having any time to waste, he said goodbye to the pony-tailed girl and, under her puzzled gaze, hurriedly left the Ernst Academy.

--

The sun soon disappeared beyond the horizon.

Silence shrouded Blood Sun City once again, as the writhing shadows plunged it into complete darkness.

Under the threat of the monsters and the natural disasters raging outside the human settlements, few people dared to stay awake, much less venture outside at such a time.

For Blood Sun City, night was a forbidden time of the day.

Yet strangely, tonight, the strange atmosphere had grown heavier than ever.

In the city, two masked figures could be seen weaving through the streets.

Before long, they arrived outside a large estate surrounded by tall stone walls and stopped in their tracks.

They didn’t rush to do anything. The two masked figures exchanged a glance before one of them suddenly spoke up.

The person did their best to conceal their voice. However, their tone and silhouette made it clear that the voice belonged to a young woman.

"Are you sure you want to do this? There is no reason to take a risk."

"We can simply wait for the Blood Temple’s reinforcements to arrive. Acting at this time serves no purpose other than putting us in danger."