Travel Diary II

POV Julián Kingscrown

How strange, because I find myself on a bed looking at a pearlescent white ceiling that is very familiar to me.

As I was trying to remember how I got here, I felt small stings in my core that took me out of my thoughts.

Immediately, I searched for the cause of this painful and uncomfortable sensation, trying to feel my core.

What I saw left me with cold sweat on my forehead; the core was not damaged, but there were small, thin cracks like fractured glass.

It was still completely joined, so it worked, but I didn't trust anything and nervously began to repair it. While doing that, I heard a voice of reprimand in my mind.

(Julián, I think I told you during the fight with the Wyvern, not to overdo it by extracting mana from the environment to create a spell, you almost broke your core) I heard Dryas's voice, furious like never before.

After hearing those words, I remembered what had happened. I wanted to test how powerful a spell made with atmospheric mana and the abilities of the legacy could be in my initial silver stage core state, but it was not a good idea to do it in the middle of a fight.

Although the spell was comparable to Cynthia's higher silver high ranks, it requires a lot of concentration not to exceed the limit of what the core can withstand. Unfortunately, the Wyvern did not give me that opportunity, and although I defeated it, I ended up very close to breaking my core.

I guess it was Dryas or maybe Silvie who brought me back. (I'm sorry Dryas, I didn't expect this to happen when I was testing the limits of my abilities, how long have I been unconscious?)

(Julián, I can repair your physical wounds, but the core is a different matter, please be more careful about where you choose to test the limit of your abilities, I ask you, because I was really worried when I saw your cracked core) Dryas did not answer my question, but I could feel the concern in her voice when she told me those words.

(I promise, I will not use my abilities so riskily in the future) I replied while trying to calm Dryas's trembling feelings.

After a few more minutes waiting for Dryas to overcome the concern she had and seeing that my core was intact again, she spoke (you have been unconscious for about six hours, fortunately, you had no physical injuries, only damage to your core, when you used that spell in the form of a lightning dragon that you called Kirin you just fainted, after that with Silvie's help we brought you to Eden).

(Did we find anything in the Wyvern's room?) I asked, trying to get information about what I had gone to look for in the first place.

(If you mean the Wyvern eggs, we got them, currently Barbatos is taking care of them with Silvie, but we assume you plan to make them evolve, as for the core, Silvie ate it) Dryas said with the last part in a low tone.

When I heard that, I immediately got up from the bed and went in search of Silvie. When I saw her looking at the Wyvern eggs with curiosity, I said (Silvie, give me back the core you ate).

When Silvie saw me and heard that, she started to run quickly. I followed her while speaking through our mental bond (you know how much that core cost, all the effort I put into killing it alone and how much I could have purified my core).

(I saved your life by taking you out of that dungeon, you owe me brother) Silvie said in a nervous tone as she ran away from me.

(you should have waited for me to wake up, we could have discussed it first, I could have given you a larger number of class A cores) I replied while trying to catch her.

We lasted a few minutes like that, but my tired body couldn't catch Silvie in good condition, and I gave up.

(I'm sorry brother, but that core looked appetizing and Dryas couldn't get it out, so I was overcome by the urge when I saw it) said Silvie as crocodile tears streamed from her eyes.

I decided not to pay attention to her and to charge for this fault in the future. I focused on the Wyvern eggs in front of me; there were three.

"Barbatos, what do you think will happen if I use the Wieder Crescendo on these Wyvern breeding eggs?" So far, I had tested that Ether art on already born beasts, but it never occurred to me to do it on the eggs of mana beasts.

"I don't know, your ability is very strange and the use of your mana in the process makes it even more unpredictable, so the result cannot be foreseen," replied the Djinn remnant.

When I was giving mana to Silvie in the past, I noticed something very particular that Cecilia mentioned in the novel, and it was the fact of how the Asuras evolved over time.

Although I did not absorb Silvie's mana, I could see how it interacted with her body. From that, I concluded that the mana is so integrated into her body that it underwent mutations; it was a deviated species and at the same time not, it was the strange evolution it gained over time.

Probably, the closest thing to that would be the integration stage, and if so, I can understand why Kezess superficially broke the walls of the cores of the spears.

Since with that, he would not run the risk of someone finding out how lower-level Asuras could be created, I wonder if Agrona did something similar with his own.

Following that line of thought, if I use the Wieder Crescendo while molding the mana according to the shape of Silvie's body, wouldn't it be possible to evolve them into dragons or at least a species closer to Silvie's?

After resting for an entire day in Eden, I decided to go through with the process. It was a more arduous task than the normal evolutions we had been performing.

Although Dryas acted as support for the Ether art, the process was very slow, requiring a great deal of concentration, mana, and Ether.

When we managed to finish, I asked Dryas to go in and check the bodies inside the eggs, and she told me there was nothing wrong.

Apparently, the process was a success; we just had to wait for them to hatch. There was only one small problem, and that was that we didn't know when it would happen.

As I continued hunting in the clearings, discovering new dungeons, I kept increasing the number of beasts that followed me, helping them grow and seeing species that were never mentioned in the novel. The only thing I couldn't confirm was the existence of lesser species of Hamadryads, Sylphas, or Leviathans.

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A year and a half has passed since I started these journeys. The plans were developing without problems; Gideon almost had the rings I had requested finished.

The dungeons with corrupted beasts were being cleaned. If there was an inconvenience to mention, it is that they have been looking for my information. I don't know who it is, but Cynthia told me they could be Alacryans, so I am being very careful with my movements and no longer go too often to the guild or to see Gideon.

Right now, I am heading to Hell's Jaw dungeon. It was the dungeon where Alea was murdered by Uto in the novel. My reason for going was simple; I wanted the offspring of the Hades serpent. Besides, I was going to check if they had already manipulated the beasts inside. After that, it would be the Widow's Crypt.

As I approached the location, I communicated to Dryas to go in first to check the state of things.

After some time waiting, she returned. She told me that everything seemed normal, and she also tried to look for secret paths, but in her spiritual form, it was not possible.

I decided to enter alone. I asked the other beasts that accompanied me to go to the surroundings to hunt without being too conspicuous.

The reason is simple, if Uto happens to be there, I would have a better chance of escaping alone than with the beasts by my side. Fighting is out of the question; I still couldn't, maybe I'd give him some fight, but I'm not completely sure I could beat him.

However, if it's about escaping, I have much higher chances. While thinking of strategies to use against Uto, I entered the dungeon.

I advanced through the first five floors, hiding my presence and only attacking when necessary. Fortunately, I didn't notice any sign that the Alacryans had already entered to corrupt the dungeon's beasts.

That made my tension decrease a bit as I continued down to the deeper floors. After reaching the twelfth floor, I decided to rest to recover my mana and stamina.

When I felt completely recovered, I decided to continue to the fifteenth floor.

My damn luck was very bad today; there were Alacryans using devices while trying to control the contained Hades serpent.

(Dryas, explore and tell me how many people are in the room and its surroundings.)

After about five minutes that seemed like hours, she returned. (I didn't find anyone with the characteristics or strength of a retainer, nor anyone who is above you in terms of central core stage.)

What do I do? If I show myself and kill them now, the Alacryans might feel that something is wrong, things might happen that I hadn't anticipated, but if I don't do it, I'll lose the reason I came for. Even if I wait for them to leave, there will be no gain because I won't even get the core.

Weighing the pros and cons, I decided to kill them all, but I was going to use illusion magic to look like Silvia's figure when we first met with the Alacryan armor.

I was going to try a spell that resembled the one used by Uto, Nico, and Cadell.

Black spikes coming out of the ground, but I was going to use metal magic to recreate it. This reminded me of a certain anime from my past life where there was a character who had a similar ability. If I remember correctly, his name was Kazikli Bey, so let's go with that name.

(Are you going to be okay? I know you've killed humans before, but this might be a little different, they mostly just follow orders) Dryas spoke to me.

(I know that many of them just follow orders, however, at this moment it's them or us. Besides, it's not like I hate or am going to kill all the people of Alacrya, but I also don't plan to avoid getting my hands dirty with the blood of innocent people who are just being manipulated by Agrona and Kezess.)

For most of them, whether on one side or the other, the Dicatheans are nothing more than animals. They did terrible things after winning or losing the war in the novel, from putting them in coliseums with their broken cores to die against mana beasts or even destroying entire countries.

All of them, the people behind pushing the war are the culprits. Those damn bastards are the ones who have no respect for life, and I'm going to eliminate them. At the end of the road, there will be nothing left of them.

After calming my emotions and the beating of my heart, I decided to go out. I used illusion magic to look like a Vritra while I began to manipulate the mana of the surroundings.

I let out my pressure developed after several battles, combined with the surrounding mana, giving a sense of incalculable power to those who saw it.

When the Alacryans felt me, I activated the spell without delay, and with a shrill voice that came out of me, I pronounced "Kazikli Bey."

Without waiting, several dozen metallic spikes emerged from the ground, impaling all the Alacryans in the room.

There were about fifteen people all killed, the feeling I had in my hands was horrible, but I didn't allow myself to be so hypocritical.

They didn't want my sympathy, and I didn't want their forgiveness, this is war, that's all.

After turning their bodies to ashes, I killed the restrained Hades serpent, taking with me the offspring they had captured in a cage and its core.

I quickly left to avoid any unexpected encounters and asked Dryas to watch the room for a while.

But we saw nothing after waiting several hours, then we headed to the Widow's Crypt. There was Uto, I immediately decided not to enter and to withdraw, I didn't have the spirit or the power to face him at this moment.

As I was heading to Dragonspire, I received a message from Galia, (master, I found traces of what you asked me to look for).

I thought we wouldn't get results from searching for the hideout of the Hamadryads' relatives, but I see that the effort was worth it.

(Thank you, Galia, keep the location in mind and return.)

I wasn't planning to go yet, I'm going to absorb the mana from the Hades serpent's core first, and depending on the results, I'll take a little longer to head to that place.

After making some reports to the guild, as I was leaving the building, I encountered someone unexpected.

"I think it's been almost two years since we last saw each other," said a young man with a mask and red hair a few meters from me.

"You're right, it's been quite a while since we've seen each other, Mr. Note," I said in an eloquent tone, mocking him.

"Do you grant me some of your time, oh great lone adventurer Fenrir?" he said with a sarcastic voice while making an exaggerated bow to annoy me.

I could only let out an amused laugh as I approached to greet him.