Chapter 189: Blessings
“That’s enough for today,” John sighed, standing up. “You know where to find us. Do you know what you’re looking for?”
Jinae shook her head. “Unfortunately, I do not. A few years ago, I lost contact with soone around here. In fact, it was shortly after you left… regardless, I couldn’t find this village until about a year later. Even then, I’ve been searching with no success.”
“No success…”
John shuddered in fear. If Jinae had been searching for at least three years with no success, what was he supposed to do?
“But I believe that has changed.”
Jinae pointed at John, her smile suddenly feeling sowhat cunning. John took a small step back.
“I identified that the energy surrounding this town is similar to your own. That foreign energy you bear,” Jinae said, shuffling closer to him.
Now that she wasn’t fighting, she was moving like an old granny again. John wasn’t sure if this was an act or if she really moved like that, but he wasn’t willing to fuck around and find out.
“And if it reacts to your energy… surely your presence will unlock sothing, no?”
“?” John frowned. “I hate to break it to you, but my powers don’t react to anything. There’s no synergy, no lock, nothing like that. Look, here I’ll use them right now.”
John’s left eye lit up as [Infinity] activated. He looked bored, kicking at the scorched dirt, now ruined from the little fight between Jinae and Prota.
“Fascinating,” Jinae muttered, looking at John. “I truly sense no mana from you. It really is a foreign energy.”
“You can sense mana?” John said, surprised. “I thought that was a trait unique to dragons.”
“No, no. It just takes the right senses. Although, you are right. Usually, the most mortals can do is get a vague feel for the flow of mana. Seeing mana the way your sister does… that’s unique.”
“But you can also do it.”
“Mm… let’s call that my little secret, shall we?”
John sighed, looking around. “Alright. Look, I told you, my energy isn’t sothing you can just manipulate like that. Nothing’s happening-”
Suddenly, a flash of red light erged from underneath the ground. That was all, but it was a distinct feeling everybody nearby understood.
“Oh, for fuck’s sakes,” John muttered, walking over to where the light had erged from.
It still looked like burnt dirt. There was no indication of any kind of entrance or secret, but it would be la if sothing like that was just there.
“Hm… there seems to be a strange flow of mana here,” Jinae muttered, shuffling over. She knelt down, grabbing so dirt and rubbing it between her fingers. “Fascinating… quite the intricate formation of mana as well.”
Prota also walked over, staring with interest. The light was no longer there, but if she focused, she could see an incredibly complex formation of mana surrounding a small area. It seed to be so kind of barrier spell, primarily composed of ice and earth magic, as well as air and fire magic to generate illusions.
“Well, that should be no matter at all. Give a second, and-”
“Hold on.”
John put his hand on Jinae’s shoulder, his expression one of mild concern.
“Look. Let’s… let’s co back here,” he said slowly.
“Do you believe there to be a threat within?” Jinae frowned, standing up. “Surely we can handle-”
“Alright. Let’s make so things clear before we go on. I’m nowhere near as strong as when I fought you. That power is long gone. Second… there could be nothing. There could be a god inside whatever this is. I need a mont to prepare, ok? If we just rush in, we might be fucking ourselves in the ass.”
“Surely you jest,” Jinae laughed. “Barring a Mystic, what could possibly be down there?”
“You’re thinking in terms of this world,” John warned. “This power isn’t of this world, rember? What happens if the rules change? What happens if you can’t use mana? Maybe there’s a rule that rewrites it so your blood turns into coffee if you cast a spell.”
“That-”
“I’m not saying that’s what’s going to happen. But you can never be too careful, ok? Put it this way. You wouldn’t have thought a manaless man could beat you before you t , right? The sa logic applies down there. This isn’t a power that obeys logic. This power is logic itself.”
Jinae paused for a mont, montarily stunned by what John had just said.
“...I understand. Thank you for warning . In my excitent, I… I may have forgotten myself. Then, what do you propose?”
“Tomorrow. et here. Sa ti, and we’ll head in together.”
“Are you sure that’s enough?” Jinae frowned.
“...I hope it’s enough. More ti won’t help, though,” John muttered.
At that, Jinae smiled. “It’s good to see you healthy, John. That look in your eyes many years back was not good for you.”
She turned to Prota, kneeling down to et her at eye level.
“Thank you, child. You’ve done well.”
With that, she vanished, leaving nothing behind.
“Teleportation,” John grumbled. “That woman’s got problems. If she could teleport… seriously, this old hag…”
~~~
John was rather occupied in his room that night. He was pulling item after item out of his pocket dinsion, but nothing seed to satisfy him. Prota saw so of the guns he’d used, but then there were items shaped like guns that she’d never seen before. She watched as he pulled out swords, spears, bows, clubs, strange machinery she never could’ve imagined, but none of it seed to satisfy him.
“You really can’t tell anything?” he muttered, likely to Zero.
Based on his reaction, the answer was no.
Prota sighed, ignoring her brother. The fight with Jinae was still on her mind.
Her old ntor was strong. Incredibly strong, so much so that she couldn’t tell if the Elder or Jinae was stronger. Logically, it made so sense, since she was the leader of a group both Leora and Lupin were a part of, but still…
Her initial image of Jinae had been a simple magic teacher. The person who’d taught her how to form her first fireball and icicle. The one who’d initially taught her to shape mana, to form it to her will.
In hindsight, that might’ve been why Prota was as strong as she was now. Her foundations were built on concepts most casters weren’t even aware of. Yes, she was a hard worker, and yes, she had skills, but those would’ve been nothing if she hadn’t started out right.
And now, that sa ntor had praised her. Had admitted that Prota’s life was worth dying for.
Those thoughts made her feel warm inside.
More than that, though, she was inspired. Jinae had shown her magic she had never seen before. That manner of casting spells, that strange energy she’d used to destroy what could be considered her strongest spell at the mont, they were all things she had yet to see, even from Mystics.
Then again, it made sense. Jinae was ultimately a human. Unless she had a hero’s core, she could never store as much mana as a Mystic could. Then, to rival one, she had to co up with sothing else. Sothing stronger.
But what?
Just analyzing the mana wasn’t good enough. The spells Jinae had cast were too convoluted, too out of the norm and puzzling for Prota to be able to copy.
“Prota.”
She was snapped out of her thoughts by John’s voice, now directed at her. Looking over, she saw John, his face blank.
A shudder of fear ran through her body. This was never good.
Taken from , this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Ah, that’s…” John shook his head, and a smile reappeared on his face.
This ti, though, it didn’t feel as forced. It didn’t feel as unnatural. Prota hadn’t taken a good look at John’s expression for a while, mainly because his eyes were a far better indicator of his state of mind. However, looking at it now, there was so warmth in that smile. A sort of joy that hadn’t been there the first ti they’d t.
“Sorry. I was just busy thinking,” John apologized, letting out an awkward laugh. “I’ll try not to do that face around you too often.”
She nodded, feeling relieved.
“Um. Alright. Look, one last ti. I know this is annoying, I know this is… yes, I’m getting on with it, Zero, shut up.”
Prota continued to wait, but the brief intermission had been a good way to lighten the mood. Zero likely knew this, but still, it felt natural.
“Alright. Look. I’ve had my theories about you for a while, ok?”
“About… ?”
John grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck. “I an… we both know you’re not normal.”
Prota’s eyes widened. She wasn’t? Yes, she knew she was strong, and she knew she wasn’t like most people, but that clearly wasn’t what John ant. In this context, normal was referring to sothing else.
“Wha- you did know?” John frowned. “Ok, let list out the facts, then. You can [Reset] with . You apparently have [Deus Ex Machina] energy even though you’re… well, I don’t know. You can use Soul Steal despite the fact that it’s supposed to be an ability only dragons can use. Your control of mana is unlike that of any being, both mortal and Mystic. Is that not… just a little strange?”
Prota looked down, the words sinking in. Yeah, she wasn’t normal.
How odd.
“Um… look,” John said, sitting down. “I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just gonna say it. I think you’re an experint.”
“Exp…erint?” Prota echoed.
“Yeah. Is that… is that troubling?”
“Nn…”
In so ways, it was. What was that supposed to an? How could she be an experint? But on the other hand, if it were true, not much changed. John wouldn’t treat her any different. It wasn’t like she had a reputation to uphold. Her status as a human wasn’t necessarily sothing she cared about.
So, in the end, it wasn’t really that much of a deal.
“No.”
“Great. Look, I’m gonna tell you outright that your mories of this village probably weren’t all that correct,” John explained. “There might be a lot to unpack here. A lot you might not want to find out. I don’t know if I want to find out, personally, but I kinda have to.”
“If John-”
“You can’t keep using that excuse!” John exclaid, sowhat annoyed. “You can’t just go sowhere because I have to go there! Look, I get you’re trying to protect , and I get we’re both doing a lot better when we’re not separated. But there are other things to consider! What happens if this breaks you, huh? What happens if whatever’s in that lab breaks you, and you’re not around anymore. Did you think of that?”
“Breaks… ?”
“When I learned about the truth of our reality, it nearly broke . Almost, and it only didn’t because Zero prepared for what was to co. Do you understand? I don’t have the best will, and I’m a lazy bum, but that doesn’t change the fact that it fucked up. I can’t guarantee that you’ll be prepared. Prota. If this life, if everything we’ve been doing is sothing you enjoy, you might not be ready for what’s down there. Do you understand?”
Slowly, Prota nodded. She didn’t want to say yes, partially because John might not take her if she did so, but at the sa ti, she really did understand.
“So. One last ti,” John said, staring into Prota’s eyes. “Are you sure you want to co?”
For a mont, there was no reply.
Prota was thinking quite seriously about this. Of course, John was a major reason as to why she would tag along, but was there anything else?
Of course, there was.
Understanding herself was sothing Prota always had as a subconscious desire. She’d always held the belief that the world hated her. That there was sothing wrong with her, that she’d done sothing to deserve the life she’d lived before eting John. This strange power, this cursed ability that had taken so much from her was sothing she’d never understood.
Even now, using it to its maximum potential, she still had no idea where it ca from or why she wielded it. She only knew that it was there.
But, like John said, who was she? Just what was her purpose?
Then, there was Anta. She’d briefly t a version of Anta in the illusion, but was that Anta real? Fake? And then there was that strange voice that sounded awfully familiar to Anta.
What if she’d never had a sister? What if Anta was just a fignt of her imagination?
Wouldn’t that an this whole quest had been for nothing at all?
Suddenly, John’s warning made a lot more sense. Would she be able to bear the brunt of having her entire journey’s purpose burned down before her eyes? To realize that everything she’d done was for nothing?
“...I’m coming,” Prota said quietly.
John looked at her, opening his mouth, but it closed without a single word coming out.
“Fine,” he said after a while. “I don’t think I can change your mind, anyway.”
She was afraid of knowing. She was afraid of braving the unknown. The fear of losing everything she’d done, every accomplishnt, every victory, it was strong. It was nearly paralyzing.
But leaving it alone was a far more terrifying thought.
She couldn’t just leave things as they were. Just accepting things as they were was not an option. Even if she failed here, she still had John. She still had her mories with him. Just because sothing was a failure didn’t an it was the end.
And leaving it all behind was infinitely worse than accepting things for what they were.
“You’re a lot more mature than John in that regard,” Zero grinned, suddenly appearing behind her.
“Wha- what the hell’s that supposed to an?” John exclaid.
“Nothing. She’ll know. And no, you can’t ask her,” Zero said, floating back over to John. “Grow up already, won’t you?”
“Huh? Pot calling the kettle black over here!”
Prota watched in amusent as the two bickered, an ever-so-small smile forming on her lips.
Yes. Even if her original purpose was lost, she still had this.
She had a ho. Ultimately, that was what she’d desired. That goal had been accomplished long ago.
Surely, there was no way it would ever be lost.
~~~
Prota had gone to sleep.
John had not.
He was too plagued by thoughts, by worries…
By stress?
“No way,” he muttered, half-laughing. “Stressed? Over what?”
“It’s a natural human emotion, John,” Zero said quietly in his mind. “You know? It’s a reaction to desire.”
“...I’m pretty sure that’s wrong.”
“Well, I’m no psychologist. So yeah, probably. But think about it. If you don’t care about sothing… do you get stressed about it? Stress, as far as I know it, is a fear of failure. It’s what you feel when you’re afraid you won’t get what you want. It’s when you’re afraid of the worst outco. It’s when you fear the bad ending.”
“I… don’t think that’s how it works.”
“Oh, shut up. Just let sound wise for a little. And I’m kinda right, you know. If you know nothing will go wrong, do you feel stressed? No. It’s only when there’s a negative outco. It’s only when there’s sothing to lose, even if you don’t know it.”
At that, John couldn’t respond.
“What are you afraid of, John?”
Normally, John would’ve told Zero to piss off, but this ti, he couldn’t. He didn’t have a coback.
Instead, he had a genuine answer.
“...this is the end, isn’t it?” he said quietly. “Of the [Story]. Zero. I’ve been putting it off, but… what happens next? Where do we go from here?”
“That’s…”
To John’s surprise, the soul actually went quiet. It felt evasive, yes, but it also felt incredibly reluctant.
“John. I can’t tell you that,” Zero sighed. “But… I will tell you this. I implore you to rember the fable I told you.”
“...the one about the horse?” John frowned.
“Yes. That one. John. Just because the present doesn’t seem great… doesn’t an there’s nowhere to go.”
John thought about that for a mont. The room was quiet, the only sound that of Prota’s soft breathing.
“Yeah,” he finally said. “I guess… there always is sowhere to go.”
~~~
The next day, John found himself in a clearing for what seed like the billionth ti in this world. Sure, this one was man-made, but still, it felt like this setting was being reused far too often.
Thankfully, the scenery would likely be changing very soon.
“It was here,” Jinae said carefully.
She was dressed in an entirely new attire. Instead of wearing shawls and old robes, she was now dressed in what seed to be a witch’s outfit. She had on a black cloack with strange, purple markings all over it, a large wooden staff in her hand. A tall crooked hat sat on her head, and the spectacles she wore gave her a far more majestic look.
That kindly look on her face never faded, though. Perhaps that was her true expression. Well, such a powerful person being a genuinely kind person at heart never hurt anyone.
“Are you sure?” John frowned.
“Yes. The strange magic I sensed is still present. Shall I remove it now?”
John cast a glance at Prota, who nodded.
“Alright. Go for it,” he said.
Jinae closed her eyes, and for a while nothing seed to happen. John cast a glance at Prota, who seed incredibly fascinated with whatever was going on. Likely sothing to do with magic. For the first ti, he was genuinely curious as to what the world of mana looked like, but not enough that he was willing to do anything about it.
“It’s done,” Jinae finally said.
Once again, a strange light erged from her hands, slowly descending toward the ground. There was an abrupt, violent flash, but when John’s vision recovered, nothing seed out of the ordinary.
“There. The barrier has been disabled. Then…”
With a wave of Jinae’s hands, the scorched earth was moved away, revealing a small bunker door.
“It’s unlocked?” John said carefully.
“Yes.”
“Alright.”
Taking a deep breath, he reached down and grabbed the handles, pulling hard. It took so effort, but they opened without any further problems.As soon as they did, a terrible, decaying sll erged from the staircase leading down. It was like the sll of rotting bodies and stagnant fluids, the very sll of death itself.
“Phew,” John muttered, his nose scrunching up. “Um…”
He was about to reach into his pocket dinsion for a mask when a ssage popped up in his system.
[Your scarf is a filter]
John flinched at Zero’s ssage.
[What?]
[Your scarf is a filter. Sll, poison, all that stuff]
[Why are you telling this now?]
[I told you a long ti ago. You forgot because there was no need for it.]
[How about when Prota was getting mind controlled by the fog in the casino?]
[...was more entertaining if you forgot back then.]
[fuck you]
Lifting his scarf, he found that Zero was telling the truth. The sll disappeared entirely. John was used to fighting and moving with his scarf on, so it was incredibly convenient that this just so happened to be.
Still, his companions would need sothing. He turned back, about to speak, when he found the two of them were fine.
“Filtering magic,” Jinae shrugged. “It’s handy, isn’t it?”
“...yeah,” John muttered.
He looked down into the dark stairwell. The sll of decay could never be good. Last ti, it had been a connection to Doctor. A connection to his sick experints.
To be honest… this ti likely wasn’t very different.
One last ti, his mind was plagued with thoughts. With theories, with concerns, with fears, all of which were quite realistic when he thought of this world as a [Story]. So many things could go wrong.
So many things could be ripped away with the stroke of a pen. A few clicks of a keyboard.
But now, faced with what seed to be reality, he suddenly ca to the sa conclusion Prota did.
He couldn’t just keep hiding away. He couldn’t just avoid a problem if he didn’t like it. Sure, it would spare him the pain of having to deal with the [Author], but he was beginning to realize sothing.
If he hadn’t t the [Characters] he’d co across in this journey, if he hadn’t made a connection with those he’d t along the way… he’d still be in that bar, still bumming around doing nothing.
But he’d t adventurers. The leader of so insane, crazy group. The hero. A god. The princess of an entire nation. A dwarf with talent like no other, an annoyingly cheerful blacksmith, an alchemist with explosive tendencies, an artist, twins of a fallen noble household…
And Prota.
He wasn’t sure if he would lose them or not. Truth be told, he didn’t quite want to think about it. But he knew one thing.
Going out and eting these people was a blessing. Not a curse.
If he hadn’t made the decision to finally head out, to treat a [Character] as more than a puppet, he wouldn’t have had any of this. But now…
Maybe this wasn’t so bad.
“Alright,” John muttered, grimacing as he put one foot down the stairs.
“Here we go.”
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