Regnum Aetern: Dual Rebirth

Chapter 131: Too much of a coincidence

At Adrian’s question, Ralz shook his head.

"Sadly, it’s not that simple. Even if you have an affinity for an element, your control over it is completely one-dimensional. You can increase the temperature, but you can’t decrease it. Much like how you materialize an object by consuming your mana but can’t just turn an object into mana."

Thinking for a bit, Adrian nodded at that explanation.

"I see."

After that, they both fell silent. Adrian remained lost in thought, trying to digest all the information he had just obtained.

But in the end, there was something in his mind that he couldn’t help but voice out.

"I just can’t believe it. How could the humans have not realized such a fact until now? It just doesn’t make sense."

Ralz smiled awkwardly and shook his head.

"That’s not it. It isn’t the humans who haven’t realized this truth about the elements; it is you who were unaware of it. After all, there is no way they would’ve progressed to the point that they have if they were unaware."

But then, the vampire suddenly stood up and stretched.

"Well, I should go and get more food just in case. I also need to collect some firewood for the night."

Saying that, Ralz waved at Adrian and turned around, walking out of the cave. Adrian’s gaze remained fixed on his back until the moment he disappeared into the distance.

After waiting some more, he whispered.

"Alisardarc."

Mana began condensing in front of his face and soon materialized into a black bird. Hovering in the air for a bit, Alisardarc landed on the ground beside him.

[Feeble One, you seem to be in a rather pitiful state. Well, considering the things you went through, it is already a surprise that you are still alive.]

Adrian stared at the bird quietly for a bit, then spoke in a somewhat serious tone.

"Alisardarc, I want you to watch this cave while hiding or pretending to be a normal bird. You should be especially focused when the vampire is inside, and I am either sleeping or unconscious."

Alisardarc tilted its head unnaturally.

[Are you, perhaps, suspicious of the vampire? I do not see any reason to be suspicious of him, though. If anything, he seemed to be more trustworthy than most individuals you would randomly encounter.]

Adrian shook his head.

"It doesn’t matter what he seems like. I wouldn’t trust any other being besides you, Alisardarc."

The black bird tilted its head even more.

[I am happy to be the only being you can trust, Feeble One, but I’m afraid I can’t think of a reason that earned me this trust.]

"You have not earned my trust. I trust you only because you simply don’t have the ability to betray me."

Adrian sighed.

"But more than that, I feel that this all seems too much of a coincidence. That vampire just so happened to watch us while we were fighting, just so happened to possess one of the few Origin abilities that could save me from that explosion, and just happened to possess the time element, which is one of the only ways that could’ve saved me even with the ruined state of my body."

With all this stacked together, it felt hard to believe.

[I don’t know if this will help, but there were a lot of beings watching that battle. Some of them were even stronger than the one who attacked you.]

Adrian furrowed his brow.

[It was the natural outcome. That was simply how much of a commotion you caused by tapping into that dimension. Imagine a presence the size of a mountain rising towards the sky. People would think that the end of the world was here.]

"..."

[On that note, it looks like it all reverted to normal.]

Adrian tilted his head.

"What exactly reverted to normal?"

[You might not know it, but your body had begun changing the moment you opened the gate to that dimension. Your hair had started turning ash-colored, and your grey eyes had turned glowing blue. You even had vertically slit pupils near the end. But your appearance has completely reverted to normal now.]

Adrian paused.

’Now that’s another new detail.’

Was this somehow linked to how his mana had been releasing outside back then, or did it have something to do with him becoming temporarily capable of using elemental infusion and multiple elements?

Adrian looked at the black bird.

"Do you have any clue what could’ve caused that physical transformation back then?"

Alisardarc didn’t reply instantly. It flew up and came to sit on Adrian’s head.

[I am not really sure. I am aware that one’s physical traits, especially the eyes, usually change like that when gaining an umbra factor. But that change is permanent and doesn’t revert like what happened in your case.]

’Hmmm... umbra factor...’

It seemed like a good clue, but he pushed it to the corner of his mind for now.

Adrian would need to test things and experiment if he wanted to understand anything meaningful. But he couldn’t do that with the current state of his body. He couldn’t even move right now. So it was pointless to speculate.

He spoke to Alisardarc once again.

"The current state of my body is too poor, and even using a bit of mana can worsen things, so don’t create any other avatars. Now go."

At his command, Alisardarc flew out of the cave.

Now, Adrian was alone, sitting motionlessly with his back against the cave’s wall.

He let out a sigh.

’Looks like I will have to spend a month here.’

He didn’t know how things were back in the Ravenshade mansion, but he was sure that the situation was anything but good.

If Evangeline had returned to the empire and wasn’t instantly captured, then House Ravenshade would most likely be able to find her. And from what they hear from that girl, they would most likely assume that he was dead.

’There is a chance that Mother will send a search party that will find me within this month, but I can’t really count on it.’

He had learned a lot of things from conversing with that vampire. He had gained a lot of useful information. He had also uncovered the mystery of how House Ravenshade was able to heal him so perfectly after the test of infinite dimension failed, and he had ended up in a near-death state just like he was in now.

Back then, he had seen a small glass vial with a grey liquid remaining at its bottom. That grey liquid had been extremely similar in color to the grey energy the vampire had used to heal him.

’It probably had something to do with the time element. It was probably some kind of magitool.’

Letting out another sigh, Adrian slowly closed his eyes and entered the immutable world.

The surroundings were dark, illuminated by only the street lamps placed at intervals along the road. Adrian was lying on the road too, right in the same location where he had been falling when his body woke up.

He checked himself for any wounds, but there was not even a scratch.

’Were my injuries automatically healed, or did I not receive any even after falling from that height?’

Adrian shook away those thoughts. And turned to look in a certain direction.

There was something he had to do, but he had been putting it off for a while now. But now that he had nothing but time, it was time for him to do it.