“Huh?” Stepping outside of a Guide upgrading shop, Cinder Burn glanced above at the right moment to see multiple familiar faces chasing after Dam Son’s sapphire suitcase. “It’s that glasses-wearing boy from before. Where are they off to in such a hurry?” Cinder Burn sensed that something was amiss and decided to follow them secretly.
A couple of minutes later, the students arrived at the outskirts of a restricted area of Raixom Academy. They stood at the entrance of an eerie forest replete with mighty Word Beasts. You could already guess why it was called a restricted area. No student was allowed entry without sanction from a member of staff. However, since no guard was on duty at the time, the students snuck right in.
“Why are they going inside there?” From a safe distance, Cinder Burn kept a close eye on Vor Eyes and the others. She also followed them into the deadly beast forest.
“This place is so creepy.” Just a few metres inside the forest, Sugar Bun already felt a foreboding incident just waiting to occur.
As they ventured deeper, their expectation to run into a frightening Word Beast grew bigger and bigger. However, by some miracle, they got within throwing distance of where they needed to be without encountering a single Word Beast.
Vor Eyes pointed out, “Suit is slowing down. I think that Dam Son might be just up ahead. We should go with caution from here on out.”
“Since when did you become the leader of this operation?” Xuan Li didn’t like being bossed around by someone shorter than him.
“Keep your cool Xuan Li. Remember why we’re here.” Sugar Bun tried to get Xuan Li to focus on the rescue mission.
“I haven’t lost sight of our objective. I just hate taking orders from short people.”
“Well, suck it up or get used to it.”
After sneaking around for a few more minutes, the students came across a lone individual standing idle in the centre of the forest. They quickly hid behind the trees and observed the man’s movements. He kept walking back and forth a few paces as if he was waiting for someone or guarding something.
“What is that guy doing all the way out here in this deadly forest all by himself?”
“He doesn’t appear to be scared either.”
“Should we go over there and interrogate him?”
“Are you insane Xuan Li? That man is clearly not afraid of being in this forest all alone. That means he’s either a Novelist or a Composer at the very least.”
Vor Eyes strengthened Sugar Bun’s assumption. “You’re not wrong. He’s definitely the wielder of a Hardcover Guide. If we engage him irrationally, we could swiftly meat our end.”
“Then what do you propose we do wise guy?” Xuan Li asked this question with a bit of a negative attitude in his voice.
“Give me time to think.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Hurry up. We can’t stay here forever.” Xuan Li’s bad behaviour unintentionally caused him to be discovered by the suspicious man who was minding his own business.
“Who’s there?” Being alerted, the man started walking closer to the students’ locality.
“What do we do? What do we do?” Sugar Bun started sweating a thousand droplets of fear when he thought about the many ways how the menacing man was going to skin him alive upon his discovery.
Vor Eyes had to improvise something quick before their entire operation was disrupted before it even had time to flourish. He took Suit in his grasp then revealed himself to the alerted man. “No need to be alarmed, it’s just me.”
“A kid?” The man was startled by Vor Eyes’s appearance, thus he quickly summoned his Guide and got ready to engage a hostile presence. “Who the hell are you kid? What business do you have been in this forest? Don’t come any closer or I’ll terminate you.”
“I understand your suspicion, but really there is no need to be alarmed by my presence. I came here to deliver something to my brother. I’m sure you’ve heard of him.” Pushing the sapphire suitcase ahead of him, Vor Eyes summoned his Guide and showed the man a picture of his brother.
Watching from behind the bushes, Xuan Li asked Sugar Bun, “What is he up to revealing himself like that?”
“Don’t ask me. I have no clue. Since no one is getting hurt though, I think we should put our trust in him.” Sugar Bun and Xuan Li continued to watch what was going on from their hidden spot. They saw the man withdrawing his Guide, moreover, took the suitcase from Vor Eyes.
“So Tor Eyes is your older brother? I can see the resemblance. Don’t worry, I’ll deliver this suitcase to him. If it has something to do with the Abyss Script then I’m sure the boss will be pleased. You can go back now kid. I’ll let your brother know that you came by.”
“Okay, mister. I’ll be leaving now.” Vor Eyes pretended to leave so that the man wouldn’t be suspicious of him. He met up with Xuan Li and Sugar Bun then hid their presence using a Camouflage Script. They secretly followed the man to a particularly huge rock in the dense forest that had lots of moss growing over it.
“Why did he stop there?”
“Let’s just wait and see.”
The man carried the sapphire suitcase closer to the base of the rock. He looked around for a moment to see if anyone was watching him before placing his left hand onto a specific part of the moss. In the next instance, he vanished out of sight along with Dam Son’s Suit.
“Where did he go?” Coming out of his hiding place, Vor Eyes ran to where the man was previously standing with a searching grasp.
“Do you find anything?”
“Not yet. I’m sure this was where he was standing before he disappeared.” Vor Eyes continued to search the mossy rock until he discovered the object that the man had interacted with. “I found something.”
“What is it, some sort of pushing mechanism?” Sugar Bun came over to inspect the discovered object.
“No, I don’t think so.” After analysing the object briefly, Vor Eyes knew exactly what it was. “I think this might be a TSI-Interpolation Graph. With a few hacks, I should be able to get us inside.”
“Ah, question.” Xuan Li raised a hand before asking, “What is a TSI-Interpolation Graph?”
“Oh, I forgot that I was conversing with dullards here.” Vor Eyes explained, “TSI stands for Teleportation Sigil Interface that has been embedded into an Interpolation Graph to mark the location residue of recently added places. This type of magical diagram is used to keep a specific area of interest hidden from uninvited guests. For instance, if someone as ignorant as you were to try and activate this port you would be transported to a random area within this forest and get eaten by wild beasts.”
“What did you call me?” Xuan Li became irate by Vor Eyes’ condescending terminology and his know-it-all speech.
Sugar Bun had to step in and calm him down. “We came here for Dam Son, remember?”
“Fine! But he didn’t have to be so damn arrogant.” Xuan Li settled himself and waited for Vor Eyes to accomplish hacking into the TSI-Interpolation Graph to pinpoint the most recent spot of transference.
“I’ve found it. Come closer to me, otherwise, you will be left out of the transference.”
“Come on!” Sugar Bun dragged Xuan Li in close contact with Vor Eyes. Moments later, they all vanished out of sight.
“Their gone?” At that moment, Cinder Burn came along to witness their disappearance. “They are definitely up to something shady.” She went over towards the mossy rock to investigate.