[Skill: Mana Manipulation is now Lv4!]
In front of him was a slim stone pillar about the height of his waist. The lady gazed at him with great expectation and nodded as a single glowing blue tentacle sprouted from his back. With great speed it lashed out at the stone pillar and—
Slapped it with the force of a skinny boy throwing a punch.
[Skill: Tentacle Manifestation has been learnt!]
The tentacle retracted into his back where it disappeared into a shower of spark. Yaaro’s head hung low.
“How is this useful?”
The lady laughed— her voice like a divine song that somewhat cheered him up, “Do not be disheartened my Child. You are a little rough around the edges, but there is no doubt that you possess great potential.”
But even her soothing words had no effect on him. Despite training for hours and learning how to manipulate color, shape and size— he could not affect the force of his strikes, nor could he figure out how to make mana projections independent of him.
A handy workaround he’d found was to connect the projection via a thin cord to his body. Although it wasn’t truly independent, it was functionally the same (Except when the cord could be cut). And the handiest feature of all—
His projections could be made invisible!
Yet despite his progress, Yaaro felt strangely empty. He conjured a glowing blue tentacle from his back and watched it snake around the cave. If he’d had these same skills on Earth, he would be in an amazed daze for days.
He brought up his status panel.
Name: [Yaaro Ilay]
Titles: None
Level: 3
Skills: [Enhanced Speaking] [Mana Manipulation Lv4] [Tentacle Manifestation Lv1]
Stats: Mana-> 10,315,780 Strength-> 3 Speed-> 2 Stamina-> 2
Tentacle manifestation. In the webnovels and manga he’d read, it was undoubtedly a cool skill. There was something about the contrast between a human and writhing black tentacles behind them that was intriguing.
But even this fascinating new skill he’d obtained had failed to light a fire in him. There was something heavily weighing down on him that even the lady caught onto.
“What seems to be the matter, my Child?”
There was a short pause, and then a reply, “I don’t know I…”
“I always wanted to go to a fantasy world and use magic but…” He dismissed the tentacle, “I was happy at first but now that I have it, it’s so… normal…”
The lady nodded in understanding, “You are standing at the base of a mountain my Child. You have yet to see the peak. There is so much more to magic than just conjured tentacles and stools.” The lady conjured two stools for the two of them.
In the darkness of the cave, Yaaro’s eyes gazed off into something far away and distant. He was silent for a long time.
“Magic… Mana… I’m really in another world.” And then he let out a hollow chuckle, “Did you know? On Earth I used to tell my friends that I was eager to die, so I could get transported to another world.”
The lady’s gaze also turned distant. And for a moment, they looked at the same thing.
“Yes. I might be standing at the base of a mountain… But when I reach the top, who’s to say I won’t feel the same?…”
“You know, I was finally getting closer to my family…”
“And after so long, I found some amazing friends…”
“I found out what I wanted to do with my life too, you know? My dad was so happy when I told him that, he told me—” He comically impersonated a deep voice, “Finally. It only took 20 years.”
Remembering the glow of that memory, he chuckled, and then silently, his head hung low. For a long time, there was only the sound of dripping water in the cave.
And then quietly, almost like a whisper, his voice came out,
“I want to go home.”
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For a long time, the two sat side by side in silence. Yaaro twiddled his thumbs, emptily staring at the ground, while the lady gently caressed his back like a mother to a child.
“I still don’t know your name.” Yaaro said.
“It is Ariadne, my Child.” The lady said.
“Ariadne… I’m Yaaro.”
Ariadne smiled warmly.
And all of a sudden her demeanor changed. As she abruptly stood up, the stool disappeared in a shower of sparks. She closed her eyes and a golden light emanated from her, blinding Yaaro.
“Ariadne— what—”
In quick succession, the light dimmed and the lady pulled a radiant golden egg out of her bosom. She plucked a strand of her mint-green hair and wrapped it around the egg. Somehow the strand of her grew automatically and coated the egg, turning it matte black and snuffing out its radiance.
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Without warning she gently clasped Yaaro’s hands around the egg.
“I beseech you to trust me. You will learn everything in time but for now, please, take this.”
“In the shadows of Mount Zermat lies a small village. Give this to them, they will help you go home.”
“What is thi—” Sensing an imminent farewell, Yaaro blurted out, “Wait! Ariadne!”
Warmly, with the same motherly smile she had during his welcome, she turned to him.
“Farewell Yaaro Ilay, I am glad to have met you.”
Immediately, Yaaro was surrounded by stone walls and he hurriedly groped the wall, searching for a crack— which he quickly found and tried to peer through. Before he could question his predicament, the ceiling of the cave was blown away and a figure descended from the skies. The arrogant figure was clad in an eagle-helm with a long deep blue plume, a matching deep blue cape and bloody steel armor.
“For the executioner himself to come for me, I am honored.” Ariadne said.
“Hand over what you stole Lady Ariadne. The Lord is merciful, he will definitely overlook this.” The knight’s voice boomed.
“I refuse.”
“Then I have no option but to use force. I apologise in advance.” The Bloody Knight’s tone was somber as he drew a long, thin needle from his plume.
“It is no matter.”
But before Yaaro could see anymore, the ground opened up and he vanished from the spot, leaving the events in the cave a complete mystery.
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Blinding sunlight made him squint his eyes.
Somehow he was transported outside in a field of golden wheat and in the distance was a city.
Ariadne…
Despite having met her only a few hours ago, he felt as if a small part of him had been torn away. But what could he do about it? He had no idea where he was, and no idea where she was. And even if he did, how was he going to help her? His mana projections couldn’t even shatter stone and that knight had blown away the cave’s ceiling as if swatting a fly!
His heart ached for the motherly woman that taught him magic and his fists balled up— for they could do nothing else.
All he could do now was to find this village, and go back home. But many things came before that— his stomach growled and his throat was parched. Additionally, he had no idea where this village was. And so he walked to the city.
From his pocket he pulled out the black egg— which, despite its lightness, felt like solid steel.
How do I store it? There should be an Inventory of some kin—
He almost yelped.
A translucent blue panel with a grid of boxes appeared in front of him.
Unbelievable.
He’d always read about having a system but to truly experience it was an unreal experience. A subtle smile appeared on his face as he thought about Yokuttan, with whom he was always discussing some webnovel or manga.
Yokuttan… Guys… Are you here in this world too?
If the incident in the train was the cause of his transmigration, then there was no reason for the others to be left behind.
His spirits lifted up somewhat. His grip around the egg tightened as he clutched onto the faint hope of his friends being in this world.
He carefully put the egg inside one of the boxes and watched with wide eyes as his fingers sunk inside the panel. The moment he let go and drew his fingers back, the egg appeared in the box. He desperately wished to bring this system back to Earth.
As he kept walking with no stimulation, his bored mind constantly wandered.
Firstly, the destination of Ariadne’s quest was strange. Of all places, it was a village. Not a secret underground dungeon, or the floating island Aachthaven, or some other mysterious land. It was a simple village at the base of a mountain.
Who knows… Maybe it’s a village of Gods… Or talking animals… Anything is possible.
Soon he reached the towering city walls— a good 5-6 metres tall. If he had taken bouldering classes, climbing it would be possible. But to someone like Yaaro, who couldn’t even scale a cliff with many protrusions, a wall with barely anything to hold onto was impossible to scale.
A small smile spread across his face.
Sure, climbing it was impossible. But in a world with mana, why did he need to climb?
An invisible tentacle sprouted from his back and reached up to one of the battlements. The tentacle wrapped itself around, and with his hands in his pockets he was pulled up into the air. He almost broke out laughing because of how ingenious he thought himself to be. Slowly, he approached the top of the walls and carefully peeked over— The coast was clear.
Deftly, he vaulted over and landed on the walkway. And on the other side of the walkway, the sight he saw was…
Very underwhelming.
Compared to the cities of his world like Dubai and Amsterdam, the sight he saw was beyond underwhelming. It looked like a stereotypical medieval city— cramped and crowded, with cows and pigs being herded through some streets, trash overflowing in some alleys and the tall spires of a church in the distance.
“God, it stinks” Suddenly his head whipped to the side.
A fierce-looking guard stood there, raising his hand to blow a horn.
Immediately an invisible tentacle flew out from Yaaro’s stomach and restrained him.
“Don’t.” Yaaro said menacingly, “If you know what’s good for you.” With eyes like a hawk and a menacing look, he looked downright intimidating. Underneath it however,
You aren’t being paid enough for this, just let it go. Yaaro knew full well that the power of his mana constructs were very lacking. Who knew, maybe even a spear could penetrate it! He, for one, didn’t want to find out.
The man’s gaze relaxed and he dropped his hand, so Yaaro retracted the tentacle and turned towards the battlements, contemplating his descent.
WHOOOOOOOOOM
The sound of a horn brought him back from his thoughts and Yaaro stared at the bastard indignantly, cursing at him in a language he couldn’t understand. The man looked at him with a resolute expression and drew his sword in a ready stance. In any other circumstance Yaaro would’ve been very afraid.
But this was a world with magic. There had to be some way out. Before he could think of a way out, he was surrounded by guards.
With clinking chainmail armor, spears and swords, they surrounded him, leaving him no escape. If this were a game, he would simply brute-force his way through them, but his tentacles were not strong enough. One of the men yelled at Yaaro in an unknown language.
“#@!$ @#$!” Although Yaaro couldn’t understand, he could guess what anyone of their kind would say in this situation:
You are under arrest!
Or something along those lines.
“What will happen when you arrest me?” Yaaro asked, using the enhanced speaking skill. The guards seemed very surprised by this and some of them even tightened the grip on their weapons.
What’s the matter with them?
“#@!@!$.” The guard sneered in response to Yaaro’s question. Yaaro gulped. He could tell that the man said a single word in that unknown language:
Death
Is most likely what he meant. What else could it be? It was either death, or becoming a slave— neither of which he wanted.
“I see.” He walked over to the wall, turning his back to his captors. He unbuttoned his shirt and stripped to his underwear.
“Do you know who I am?”
The guards looked at each other and shook their heads, “#@”
He could tell that their one word answer and their confused looks meant, ‘No’. So he smiled and flung his clothes at them.
“Good. Bye.”
He jumped over the edge.