Chapter 98

"This is the third one." Miltia Lead more towards another store. She was getting….not annoyed, but not really 'happy' I suppose? But she was happily swinging another new bag in her hand. Some kind of 'oil' for keeping her 'claws' nice and clean.

She utilizes a type of claws in combat, interesting in of itself.

The shop looked a bit older than the others, not unkept, but definitely had seen a lot of years.

We walked in, greeted by the sound of a bell atop the door to alert the owner to customers.

The man behind the counter was an older gentleman, but he gave a genuine smile when we walked in. "What can I do for you youngsters."

"He needs a sheath for his imaginary sword." Miltia chimed in, still not believing me.

"Half of what she said is true." I added. "Do you make customized orders?"

He sat up from his stool behind the counter, stretching his back a little. "It's been awhile since I've had someone wanting me to make a design from scratch." He chuckled. "Kids these days with their 'mechashift' weapons don't seem to appreciate the basics."

"I can see the utility, but I'm satisfied with just a sword." I nodded. I wasn't too sold on the mechashift weapons these people usually used, but I could understand where the idea came from and why it was so popularized. It simply wasn't my cup of tea.

As a curiosity, I wouldn't mind having one created, but I couldn't see utilizing it any a true fight.

"Well, I have some old works I did, see if anything catches your eye." He slowly bent down, pulling a few items from under the counter.

Everything he set on the table weren't all scabbards. There were combat boots, bags, and other items that one may take into combat in the wilds. But, it was a good idea to see his particular skills and style he predominantly used.

"Oh!" I exclaimed. "This color is perfect, matches the hilt." I held out a scabbard he set on the table, made for a sword much wider than my own. "What about engravings?"

"I may be old, but my hands are till steady enough to decorate it how you want." He smiled.

"What do you think?" I held It up for Miltia to see.

"Hard to judge without a sword." She rolled her eyes.

"Fine, fine." I might as well show her. "Just keep it a secret for now."

"What are –"

I flipped my hand over, allowing Mirage to appear in my hand.

Miltia, just stared at me for a moment, blinking in confusion.

"What a beautiful weapon." The old man stated.

"Think you can do something with this?"

"I would be overjoyed." He nodded enthusiastically.

"You already discovered your semblance?!" Miltia practically shout out.

I pursed my lips. "Toot toot, no faith in me." Not really, but I didn't want to reveal all my secrets just yet.

"Well, maybe you won't get your ass handed to you so badly now." She crossed her arms with a huff.

I ignored her turning to the shop keep. "Think you can have this done in a few days? I need it to be ready for the Mistral Tournament."

"You're going to compete?" He raised an eyebrow.

"You're looking at the next Champion" I waived my arms for emphasis.

"That one lass is fairly good, what was her name again....?" The old man lightly replied as I set my sword down to allow him to get measurements.

"The 'invincible girl'?" Miltia added air quotes with a smalls scowl.

"That's the one, she's won almost all her matches in the past with relative ease."

"Should be fun." I smiled.

"Whatever, not me who's going to be humiliated infront of all of Remnant." Miltia said.

"Truly, your support gives me the confidence to win." I drawled.

"Regardless, I'll need to take a few more measurements." The old man chimed in. "I can have this made in a couple days if all goes well."

"Cutting it close." Miltia crossed her arms. "The Tournament is only a few days away, and we have to get you there early to register and all that."

"To see one of my creations on a stage like that, these old hands will get the job done in time."

I can't wait. I hadn't particularly needed a sheath previously, but I didn't want to be taking my sword out of my ring every time I needed it. And carrying a weapon open like that would just be rude, not to mention it would make me look so tasteless.

Getting everything set up, me and Miltia finally left the quaint little shop. "How are things on your end, need to get anything ready?" It wouldn't be odd for me to assume they needed a lot of supplies for their end as well.

"Mel should be handling – " She paused. "Why would I trust her to deal with that?" She scowled, talking to herself.

"Gotta run some errands?"

She huffed in annoyance. "Melanie always waits to the last minute to do anything. I should probably check to make sure we got everything ready. Besides, Junior's footing the bill.

"Alright, it was fun, we should do this again sometime."

She turned to me briefly. "I didn't hate it." She stated. But from what I knew of her so far, that seemed like praise from her.

As she left, I turned and walked in the other direction, finding a secluded area to pull out my scroll. I brought up a map of Remnant.

[Whatcha doin?] Ddraig asked.

"I was thinking about paying a visit to Mistral, since I won't really have time while the tournament is going one, just wanted to walk around for a bit."

[Is that a good idea?]

I just shrugged. "It shouldn't be a big deal, so what if people see me then recognize me later at the tournament? Besides, I doubt anyone would care I'm there before the tournament starts and I start grabbing attention." Besides, I would be back in a few hours, no harm, no foul.

I already have the calculations stored for this world, it's just a matter of eyeing where I want to end up with a long-range portal like this. Despite what one may think I don't just will it to open where I 'want' to go, there are a lot of variables to consider if I hadn't already established the place as a 'go to' by being there before.

That's not to say I can't just pop in places I've never been before, but it takes a bit more precision to accurately appear.

"Well, here we go." I slashed open a portal and walked through.

***

"Wow." I couldn't help but blurt out, standing on the side of a cliff as I overlooked the aforementioned Mistral.

It was gorgeous.

A large city built into the side of a mountain. The architecture was reminiscent of eastern designs, but I could also see some Greek and roman added in.

"This alone made the trip worth it." I took out my scroll and started snapping pictures. "Can't wait to show these off when I go back home."

Descending the little cliff I was on, it wasn't particularly difficult to make my way in the city, and boy was it bustling with activity.

The place was clearly in celebration mode. Posters everywhere, decorations up and about, I also saw promotions for certain competitors.

Guess this would be considered one of those home field advantages.

"Wow, even the food is similar." I muttered, walking past a Ramen stand.

[It's surprising how much some of the stuff here mirrors a world entirely different from theirs.]

"An infinite universe, applied to the greater multiverse." I shrugged. There was the theory that the collective unconscious of humanity permeated beyond just the cluster of Earth's that Alaya was personified in. Sort of like an unconscious psychic connection that humanity had with its counterparts across dimensions. Whether it was true or not was anyone's guess, but something seemed to connect humanity as a greater whole.

[Anything that can be imagined is happening somewhere at some time?]

"Pretty much." I nodded. "Creation is full of wonderful and unimaginable things, this is mundane by comparison." Not that it wasn't interesting.

Ooh.

I paused, looking at someone handing out fliers. "Can I have one?" I walked up to the kid who looked to be around 17 to 18.

"We're doing tours from 12:00 to 3:00." He handed me the paper.

Reading it over, I couldn't help but have my lips curl up in a smile.

The academy here – Haven Academy, was doing tours. Perhaps in an attempt to bring in talent from other kingdoms?

I was actually quite interested in one of these supposed 'Huntsman Academies'. I pulled out my scroll and checked the time.

"Should have a couple more hours, but I guess I'll head there now and maybe grab a bite to eat afterwards." I spoke quietly to myself, looking up to the peak of the city where I saw the Academy towering over everything.

The flier said to just head up and I would be welcomed.

It was a nice little walk through the city, the hike up top did briefly give me some flashbacks to the land of shadows and that despicable mountain I climbed, but otherwise, it was still a very beautiful scene.

And I wasn't the only person making the little trek. Of course, I could see there were other avenues to approach, a road that winded down the little peak that vehicles were driving down. I even saw a Bullhead fly up and land on a platform especially for aircraft.

But I chose just to take the stairs.

And boy were there a lot of them.

Thankfully, I was more than accustomed to something of this level. Frankly, it didn't even match my morning routine.

And it was amusing to see all the other guests going up and down, it was quite lively.

"Right this way, the next tour will begin shorts, if you could all gather in the Grand Hall." A women shouted at the entrance of the gate, perhaps a teacher judging by her age.

She ushered everyone forwards towards a large building.

Great Hall was probably an apt name, it was very grandiose. The whole school was very well designed, the just little peaks I took around the area made for a very flattering picture for the academy as a whole.

I followed a few more heads inside, children and adults looking around with wonder. I couldn't help but feel something similar. While I wasn't as in 'awe' due to the nature of the academy, I was more so appreciating the whole thing as an outsider to this world.

I walked around a bit, admiring everything until my eyes fell on a large statute that decorated the center of the hall.

Something pulled on my attention.

I walked over, placing my hand on it and I felt the faintest feeling of magical energy. Which wasn't too strange considering the nature of the Dust here, but this thing didn't look like it had any contact with dust….

"Alright, everyone we're about to begin the next tour!" A peppy voice boomed over the building, drawing everyone's attention.

I glanced back at the statue and hesitantly wove an illusion over myself, watching everyone file out of the building.

[You think something is here?]

"Call it instinct." I replied, undoing my little illusion as everyone left. "Maybe it's nothing, but a mystery is fun to explore."

I put my hand back on the statue, pulsing magical energy into it. No immediate reaction but I was mildly surprised to find out that the thing was an elevator.

Taking another look around, and seeing the place empty, swiped Mirage again, appearing out under the thing in the elevator's shaft as I started to fall a long distance down.

My wings unfurled to catch myself, landing quietly at the base near a large lake. The platform I landed on was basically connected to a large rock with big tree growing out of it, I looked up the elevator shaft to see the whole thing surrounded by a large cavern.

I must have been way under the city at this point.

"Fascinating." I mumbled, taking in my surroundings. " The magical energy here is much more concentrated."

[This place gives a strange feeling.]

"Yeah, something is here." I took a step forward on the platform I found myself on. At the other end, there was a strange orange door. The platform underneath me began to light up, illuminating the whole area. I approached the door, and was surprised to see it not connected to anything, merely sitting perfectly on that location.

I poked it, prodded it, and nothing happened.

"Interesting." I tapped my chin.

[what did you discover?]

"I think this leads to another realm, or another sub dimension. The feeling is similar to that Dimension Lost Sacred Gear." I hummed.

[Can't you break into it then?]

"Of course, I just wanted to examine it first." I replied. "It's not every day I can inspect sub spaces created through magical means." The amount of magical energy rolling off this thing, it was clear where its origin lay.

I took out Zelretch's trusty notebook and began to take a few notes, snapping a picture for future reference. "The old man would probably find this interesting too. He didn't see any magical sources from his own peeks here."

"Welp, here we go." I placed my hand on the 'gateway'. It didn't seem to want to budge. "Arrogant little thing." I muttered. There appeared to be a sort of magical 'locking' mechanism placed, trying to stop me from forcibly activating it.

I pulled on the Kaleidoscope, overlaying the coordinates for the dimension ontop of the door, basically bypassing any seals or locks the creator put on it. Essentially, I used the door as a reference to open a window.

Could I have just blown through the locks? Sure, but I didn't know what was on the other side and didn't want to be responsible for any kind of catastrophe.

The door began to swirl with the familiar iridescent colors I was used to at this point. I smugly walked through the portal, getting hit by the dry air of a desert, sand basically floating in the air.

[This is amazing.] Ddraig looked awed by what we saw. [An entire desert inside this place?]

I shared similar thoughts. "This would not have been easy to create by the average mage." I couldn't help but admire how thoroughly this sub dimension was anchored to the real world. It was not at all breaking apart, nor was it unsteady in the slightest. "I am genuinely impressed, the person who made this must have been a genius. This place would easily be able to last for another thousand years without any interference." Probably more than that, but it was my conservative guess. Hell, it would probably survive until the end of this planet for good.

[So, you going to check that thing out?]

I stopped my admiring, turning towards the 'thing' he was referring to.

There was a stone pedestal off to the side, and a very particular object ontop of it. Adorned with gold and a glowing blue glass center.

Walking over to it, there seemed to be no traps of anything. I suppose the creator of this place assumed no one could get inside without his 'permission'?

"Looks like….a lantern—a lamp of some sort?" I touched it gently, only to blink in confusion. "This is not a normal magical item." Yeah, no way was this just a mystic code or something similar. "What do you think, Ddraig?"

[Divine.] He said simply.

"You think this thing is divine in origin?" I gently placed my hand on it again. "Honestly, it doesn't give me that overbearing feeling a divine construct would, but then again, Dawnbreaker is also divine in origin, even it was meant for mortal hands." Perhaps this was similar then?

I pulsed my magical energy inside of it and was hit with immediate resistance, actually, it felt like something looked back at me.

I reeled back in surprise as the object began to glow bright. A visible magical phenomenon occurred where magical energy exploded out.

A woman appeared, floating above the lamp. Gold chains rattled on her limbs, blue skin drew my attention, but most importantly.

"Why are you naked?" I couldn't help but ask the floating woman.

Seemingly ignoring my question, she looked down at me with the most confused face I've ever seen. "Who are you? How have I never seen you before?"

***

Tournament starts in a few chapters, though MC finally touches on his Power of Destruction next chapter.

Anyways, if you want to read 5 chapters ahead, visit my pat.reon.com/astoryforone.