Chapter 337 - SS Chapter 20 Part 2: The Sentient Sword (2)
"..." Is that Arnold's ability?
She never expected a human to have such a powerful healing factor.
Meanwhile, Luxtivin was still pondering to himself. He will only be human for a day and was acting out the orders given to him by his master so trying to find answers—of what it means to be human—will turn out to be useless anyway.
He might even forget he was ever given sentience.
But he can at least get a taste of what "humanity" is like.
"I am capable of thought but I cannot feel anger..." he traced his fingers over his chest—the same place that Arthur struck him, killing him in cold blood.
Each time Arnold recalled that moment, his anger would boil and force its way into his very soul. He could suppress that rage and urge to kill but it would be a different story if Arthur was right in front of him—
No one will be able to stop him if he plans to enact his revenge.
What Luxtivin felt earlier, when he could not control the voices in his head, were his own thoughts. However, after becoming somewhat used to his human body, he was able to suppress the desires and thoughts that were not his own. He was, after all, merely granted sentience and this body and memories were not his own either.
The difference between Arnold and him is that he has access to Arnold's future memories that his future self intentionally locked him out of.
He has seen what Arnold becomes. But that path was one filled with danger which would lead to his eventual end. Since such a future has yet to come to pass, things can still change for the current Arnold so Luxtivin did not dwell on those memories.
'There is one more thing to test.' he faced Lian.
"W-What...?" she retreated a few steps.
Without answering, he walked towards her until she was against the wall and could feel his breath on her face.
Lian gulped.
But the moment his lips were inches away from hers, she pushed him back and averted her gaze. "I-I only have sex with someone if there is a benefit to to me, not to satisfy someone's curiosity!"
"You say that but your signature is showing that you are in heat."
"Wha!?" her whole face flushed red.
Through Luxtivin's eyes, he could see two glowing red areas mixed in with the normal yellow aura that made up Lian's signature. One was coming from her chest and the other was right between her legs. It needn't be mentioned which red area was bigger through his eyes.
"I-It doesn't matter what your warrior sense tells you! No means no!"
This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.
"I understand." He backed off immediately.
"Eh, wha..." this unexpected turn left her feeling slightly disappointed.
But she quickly snapped out of it and remembered why she came here in the first place.
"Ahem," after clearing her throat and fixing her kimono, Lian spoke, "You left the dinner table before the emperor even arrived. This is normally very rude and the inner martials who were present at the dining room were livid with your brutish behavior. The guests thought they were the reason you left so soon and were worried they were rude to you somehow. They requested me to ask if something is wrong."
"Something... drew me to this room." He looked around the room, desperately searching for that strand of energy but it was nowhere to be found.
"Really...? Did that something distract you so much that you didn't even notice me enter? Hm?" she noticed him looking at the painting on the wall again.
"This painting... Why is such an important piece of art in a guest room... A statue of Melis would not be in some nun's room either but rather a place of worship like a church or shrine."
"This is—no, was—Prince Rasuke's room. They've refurbished and moved a lot of things but that painting stayed on the same spot for many years, no one daring to touch it. Even to move it to the Emperor's chambers."
"Why?"
"Why don't they touch it? Well, unless it's about to fall, only a Divine Dao is allowed to touch this painting."
"...So that is the reason why it is still here even though part of the wall has cracks in it."
Lian nodded. "The emperor said that if it bends even slightly, he will have it moved to the master bedroom so it won't be at risk of falling. The last person to touch that painting was Rasuke's great-grandfather—the last Divine Dao of this empire. He lived for 400 years, longer than his own son, but was too old to train Rasuke personally. That duty fell to Rasuke's grandfather instead."
She glanced at the painting again. "Suesei has so many stories about his childhood—how his grandfather shaped him far more than his own father ever did. It makes sense. The late Emperor wasn't a fighter—just a normal human, like Kohana. As a child, Rasuke used to say that the only reason he sought immense strength was to make himself worthy of touching that painting. He didn't have much of a relationship with his sister back then, so she wasn't his motivation—unlike now. But even now, I think that painting remains his most important goal."
"Does the motivation matter when he will be able to do both things with such strength?"
The strength of a Divine Dao, a martial who can split oceans with the flick of his wrist, tame dragons with his voice alone, and break the sky with one punch.
"No, I suppose not."
"Who will move the painting once Ko is killed?"
'So even the sword knows Arnold is telling the truth—that he knows someone that can kill Ko...'
Or maybe Arnold can kill him.
"It's not like it's heavy or anything. People here only respect the traditional values of having paintings of revered gods so anyone can do it, even I, a non-martial artist."
"...I wonder who the painter was to have created something that's treated like a divine artifact..."
"I've heard stories—" Lian was interrupted before she could even finish.
"Tell me what you've heard." He turned his head at lightning-fast speed to look back at her.
"O-Okay... Well, it's said that during Emperor Gato's rule 500 years ago, a magician came to the palace offering a tribute in exchange for ancient grimoires that this empire had kept hidden for centuries after the mass purge of magicians. These grimoires were considered objects of evil so the populace thought the magician had evil intentions. But the emperor ignored this once they set their gazes on the tribute the magician brought—the painting. The magician said he came from another timeline where Ragnarok had already happened and the realms were slowly being consumed by the Dark Forces. The last sanctuary was a garden in the Divine Realm, where the Destiny Goddess sat with a painting brush in hand. He claimed she was the only god left and was painting her beloved one last time before she forgets his face completely in death."
"A magician who can travel across time... Is it the Archmage?"
Freya York hasn't learned it just yet but she can cast a time spell in the future that can only work once every 10 years. Time travel is the most difficult category of spells to master. Even forwarding time is an impossible task for current Freya.
"I'm not sure exactly who the magician is but the various illustrations of him that exist today only show him in cloaks that cover his face but many of them show him with bony hands. At first, I suspected it was Thanrion but he would not willingly choose to come to a world like this since he despises martials. If not him then it could've been the Spirit King."
The two of them were the most powerful magic casters in Star Fantasy so this wouldn't be out of their reach if they tried.
"One thing that we do know, however, is that the magician is a World Jumper. It makes the story of him traveling across time that much more credible, don't you think?"
"Hmm..."
Is it due to "Class Ascension", perhaps? There's no evidence that the class [World Jumper] has the [Time Travel] (just a placeholder name for whatever time travel is called) evolution class.
A bird chirp came from the window, interrupting their conversation.
'The thief girl.' Lian hurriedly ran over to the window and opened it up.
After being let inside, she stiffened when she looked into "Nova's" eyes. She was already in on the plan so she knew this wasn't the real him but still, how could you have the exact same handsome face but radiate an even deadlier pressure than the original?
She kept her thoughts to herself and turned to Lian. She pulled out the palace's maps that Kohana drew and pointed to one of the lower levels, "Something troublesome is interfering with my search. The magic item is acting strange in this part of the palace. It's like something is interfering with its mechanism."
"Magic item interference? I don't have any knowledge on what it could be. But maybe you're close?" Lian frowned a little but came up with the obvious explanation.
"Unless this palace is built right on top of a relic tomb or dungeon, there must be an interference spell in place somewhere down there." Luxtivin provided an explanation Lian didn't think of.
"Eh?" both of them were bewildered by that answer.
"Since magic isn't common in this empire or anywhere else, the former is more likely even if it sounds absurd."
"Uhm, I don't think the imperial family has ever said anything about a relic tomb or dungeon being down there..."
Then again, no one can cast an interference spell of this magnitude that can stop a magic locator from working.
"There could be another possibility but what I said is the most likely answer. But I know to circumvent it." He held out his hand to her, "The crystal powering the magic item is too weak to withstand the magic interference. Give it here."
"Okay..." Thief Girl took out the magic item from her shadow and handed it to him. She watched him intently. Suddenly, he took out a red magic crystal the size of his hand.
'Wait a second, that crystal...' its pure azure radiance looked somewhat familiar to her but she wasn't sure if the crystal was the one she had in mind. Even if it was just available to select nobles in the empire, there's a chance it grows in other places as well and Nova just happened to stumble upon them.
Yeah.
As if he had handled such an item before, Nova opened the backplate of the magic item, took out the "inferior" blue crystal and placed the "superior" red crystal inside. A red haze swallowed the magic item for a second before its gears began grinding even without turning it on. That subsided after a while though and the red hue vanished.
"Hand me three blank talismans, Lian." He held out his hand.
"Okay." Not asking what for, she retrieved the paper from her purse. She always carries extra around even at formal events.
"Here's some ink as well."
The clone pasted the talismans onto the magic item prism and began drawing strange symbols on the talismans. These symbols were clearly runes but Lian couldn't exactly understand them due to their complexity.
He isn't a Shaman, is he...?
"Done. With this the talismans should act as ventilation for the magic item so that the crystal's mana doesn't break it."
"The crystal is that powerful? Uhm, say, would you happen to have more of those? They could come in handy with my work..." Lian asked.
"I don't have another one. You can use the crystal inside once we're done with it."
'This magic item needs a lot of fuel to work and yet he's saying that the crystal will still have enough energy...?'
The crystal didn't look like anything Lian has seen before. Sure, red crystals exist in this land but none of them look as bloody red as the crystal in the magic item right now.
It looked like a diamond that bathed in a pool of blood.
Alchemy requires powerful mediums and lots of fuel. Lian can only conduct experiments after gathering a thousand kilograms of crystals. If these red crystals grow in Arnold's world, then she'd be able to use them to get her personal experiments and work done quicker.
Question is, are they hard to find?
"I'm finished with what I needed to do so I'm heading back." He handed the magic item to Ruria.
"Wouldn't you rather rest? You don't look well." Lian said worriedly, stopping him in his tracks.
He was silent for a second but shook his head.
"...I'm fine. An order from my esteemed master shan't be disobeyed due to just my discomfort. I'll be going back to the dining hall."
After he left, Ruria looked at Lian with a smirk, "What were you two doing alone in this room?"
Lian turned her face to the side, "J-Just go do your job already. Let me know once you find the secret room."
With a chuckle, she jumped into a shadow and left the room as quietly as she came.
"...If I hadn't resisted..." Lian shifted her legs uncomfortably, feeling the squishy feeling below.
"Gods, I need to find myself a husband."