Chapter 95: Duke Livi Was No Ordinary Man in His Youth
"Druga?"
Cocotte's hand hovered in midair, her gaze fixed on Erika in a daze, absorbing the dense natural energy radiating from her body—unable, for a mont, to work out what to make of it.
Natural energy of this intensity, she had only ever felt on the Calamity of Wood itself.
In a flash, Cocotte felt herself transported back to that Pocket Dinsion blanketed in dense forest—thousands of flowers erupting into bloom, wild grass swaying in a frenzied dance.
"Cocotte. Cocotte."
At the sound of her na being called, Cocotte snapped back to herself with a start.
She turned toward Leah, who had called out to her, and stared blankly.
"What is Druga?"
Druga was the na of the Calamity of Wood—sothing Viktor had actually been the one to tell her.
The Calamities had nas of their own, and Cocotte had learned that herself for the first ti from Viktor.
She didn't answer Leah's question. Instead she turned to face the Duke and said:
"Duke Livi, there's no need to worry—Erika is in no danger at the mont."
"Who knows, you might sleep tonight and find her awake again by tomorrow."
Hearing this, Duke Livi's brow eased slightly.
If even a forr Council mber was saying as much, perhaps Erika truly was all right.
He had already done everything within his power.
The Duke let out a quiet sigh, turned to the 2 of them, and gave a bow.
"My sincere thanks to you both."
Cocotte had always despised formalities of this kind—she even forgot for a mont that she was Leah's hired hand, and simply waved a dismissive hand at the Duke:
"Since there's nothing else to be done, we'll be on our way."
Leah gave Duke Livi a nod as well.
"Very well. Allow to see you out."
Duke Livi closed the door, and the 3 of them slowly departed.
No one noticed the unusual flash of black that appeared on the windowsill, now swallowed beneath creeping vines.
A Crow stood on the windowsill.
Its single eye was fixed on the delicate young girl lying in bed, and a strange light shimred within it.
【Guardian of nature beneath the dark night sky, excising the final life-curse from the world—】
【Genusstia, stripping away life that has slipped beyond the grasp of chaos's order—】
As though the words were being drawn up from deep within its chest in a heavy, solemn register, the Crow's voice slowly reverberated through the room.
In an instant, a black Formation materialized out of thin air behind the Crow. White patterns spiraled continuously across its surface, converging toward a dagger-shaped Rune at the center.
From the center of the Formation, a plu of black mist erupted outward and began spreading through the room.
The mont those lush plants were touched by the black mist, they withered and shriveled instantly—crumbling into dust and dissolving away.
The flower clusters on Erika's body withered and vanished in rapid succession. A faint flicker of green appeared in Weija's eyes.
Weija spoke slowly:
"Power you can't yet control—don't just let it spill out freely, little one."
"I'll keep so of it safe for you for the ti being."
With that, it spread its wings and flew out through the window.
All that remained on the windowsill was a single jet-black feather.
***
Erika felt as though she had fallen into a dream.
She dread she was adrift in a realm of chaos.
6 enormous landmasses floated in the space around her, each one surging with trendous magical energy.
Wind, Fire, Earth, Wood, Lightning, Water.
The 6 elents on those 6 great landmasses churned in a state of raw, primordial disorder—like worlds newly born.
Wind and rain, thunder and lightning raged without cease, and the 6 landmasses were plunged into a deep and silent darkness.
One of the landmasses began flickering with intermittent light, and Erika was drawn toward it.
The mont she drew near, her entire being felt as though she had sunk into a sprawling primordial forest—boundless vines and waist-high wild grass stretched in every direction around her.
Towering, thick-trunked cedar trees blotted out the sky entirely, not a single thread of sunlight visible.
On instinct, Erika began to explore this forest. She pressed forward through the heavy mist.
Around her echoed a strange, hollow whooing sound.
The deeper she moved into the fog, the more pronounced it beca.
After traveling for a long while, the sound gradually faded into silence.
The thick mist slowly lifted, and a massive black shape ca into view before Erika.
Primal fear did not drive her back—instead it ignited her curiosity, drawing her toward the black silhouette.
1 step, 2 steps...
Before long, Erika walked up to the enormous shape and saw its true form clearly.
It was a colossal jade-green serpentine creature, and atop its head grew 3 pairs of Compound eyes.
Sensing Erika's approach, the creature slowly turned its gaze toward her.
Before fear could even take hold of Erika, she noticed that atop the great beast's head, sothing—or soone—appeared to be sitting.
The figure seed to be around the sa age as Erika. She couldn't make out the person's features clearly.
Shrouded in layer upon layer of mist, the image was hazy and indistinct.
A beam of light ca from behind the girl. Erika raised a hand to shield herself from the blinding radiance, and the world blurred.
She tried as best she could to squint through the glare and make out the face beyond—but a voice, both familiar and unfamiliar, drifted slowly to her ears:
"You are still too weak, Erika."
"A you like this—how could you ever receive the inheritance that awaits."
Erika was seized by an overwhelming sense of unreality. She sank abruptly to her knees in the undergrowth, and 2 trails of tears rolled slowly down her face.
"Mo... ther?"
That voice—like sothing she half-recognized—pulled Erika into the current of mory.
But she did not wake. Instead she was drawn once more into another expanse of void.
The darkness around her was absolute.
Countless sinister jet-black Crows swept past overhead. Among the tens of thousands of Crows, a single One-eyed Crow alighted on the ground before her.
It was noticeably larger than the others by a full asure, and regarded Erika with its sole eye in a sidelong glance.
Erika recognized this strange Crow—it was the one that accompanied Viktor.
"A... God?"
The sinister Crow seed mildly satisfied. It spread its wings and flew away once more.
The world around her was like a mirror suddenly shattered, countless fragnts tumbling into the void.
In the next instant, Erika appeared in a sea of flowers.
She slowly sat up, and before her floated a seed, vibrant with green life—as though trying to coax Erika into taking it in her hand.
Erika reached out and closed her fingers around it. The seed began to grow and sprout in her palm, gradually enveloping her—until she was cocooned in a shell of green vines.
'Inheritance.'
Like waking from a great dream, Erika's eyes flew open. She found herself sitting in her familiar room, on her familiar bed.
Outside the window, sunlight filtered through drifting wisps of cloud and spilled into the room, and a gentle breeze stirred the gauze curtains.
Erika leaned back against the headboard and opened her palm.
What lay in her hand was not a seed—but a jet-black feather.
Like a trick of illusion, the seed from the dream had beco this tail feather instead.
But the power within her body could not be faked. Erika closed her eyes and pictured the sea of flowers in her mind.
When she opened them again, a warm and breathtaking sea of flowers had already blood before her—like a beautiful painting unfurled across the room.
And she herself was the hand that held the brush.
***
Clang!
2 silver blades clashed sharply together, ringing out with a clear, crisp note.
Viktor deflected Gwen's attack with effortless ease, drew back his blade, and gave it a single spin.
The 2 stepped apart. Viktor gave Gwen a nod.
"That's enough for today."
Viktor stepped back. With a light motion of his fingers, a Cleaning spell whisked the dust and sweat from his body.
Kavra had been watching the 2 of them spar from the side of the Training Ground since the very beginning.
As she watched Viktor, her brow was knit tightly together.
For so reason, today's brother-in-law gave off a strangely aggravating air she couldn't quite na.
She felt an irresistible urge to march over and plant a couple of stabs in Viktor's side.
But she chalked it up to a trick of her imagination, since only a Demon could make her feel that way.
Unless Viktor himself was one.
Gwen hung the silver blade on the weapon rack, wiped her sweat away, and walked over to Viktor's side.
"You're improving fast, and your stamina is considerably stronger than before too."
That was only natural—the Calamity of Wood drew on life force as its very core.
Viktor had absorbed the Calamity of Wood's Core of Origin, so his stamina was naturally far more abundant than before.
One could say the Calamity of Wood had patched a portion of Viktor's weaknesses as a Glass-cannon.
"Then I'll co again tomorrow."
Viktor gave Gwen a nod, turned, and left.
Gwen understood and stayed where she was, watching Viktor go—but she suddenly noticed sothing about his shoulder, and a flicker of puzzlent crossed her mind.
That Crow—where had it gone today?
***
Viktor walked out of the Delin Manor alone and waited on the street for a mont.
A jet-black Crow ca flapping through the air and landed on his shoulder.
Only then did Viktor continue on his way.
"Do you know of a place called the Inheritance Temple?"
Before long, Weija spoke up from its perch on his shoulder.
Viktor didn't look at it, and simply continued walking toward the Carriage not far ahead.
He climbed in, drew the curtains, and with a flick of his fingers the Carriage began to move on its own.
Viktor didn't answer Weija directly. Instead he asked:
"Why do you ask?"
"Caught a glimpse of it in a certain young girl's dream. Found myself rather curious."
Viktor rested his chin in his hand, turning it over in his mind.
The Inheritance Temple.
In the ga's lore, a Mage's magic encompassed the 6 great natural schools.
But strictly speaking, the 6 great natural schools did not simply refer to the 6 magical elental attributes.
Rather, they referred to the 6 forms in which natural energy existed in the world.
And the Inheritance Grounds were the ultimate destination of these mysterious energies.
They existed at the 6 great borders of the continent, within the rifts of the void.
Any player could enter them, pass through their trials, and obtain the inheritance of the corresponding power.
But players who could consecutively grind through all 6 Temples were exceedingly rare—and Viktor had been one of the very few top-tier players in those days who had cleared all 6 in succession.
"I know the place. What of it."
"Interesting—I've started to find Duke Livi rather fascinating now."
Weija narrowed its eyes, and its crafty gaze swiveled about in its sockets.
Viktor imdiately understood much, and said with characteristic calm:
"So that's why you left just now—you went to find Erika."
"Let guess. Druga's resurrection caused sothing unusual to manifest in her?"
"More interesting than you'd expect."
A flash of green passed through Weija's gaze, and faint green vines crept lazily up along the interior of the Carriage.
Viktor didn't seem particularly surprised. This power—potent enough that even this otherwise-useless Evil God could make use of it—had already told him more or less everything.
"The Inheritance of the Wood Temple."
"This is a stolen power. Duke Livi must have taken sothing at so point—that's why this power has manifested in Erika."
"Well? Isn't this power similar to the Calamity's?"
Weija tittered with glee.
Viktor looked at it with a perfectly blank expression.
When a player completed the inheritance quests of all 6 Temples simultaneously.
A God of the Inheritance Temple would appear—the final Boss for the player to challenge.
Viktor sank into a mont of quiet contemplation.
In his mind's eye, it was a divine being radiating a light like the blazing sun—though its appearance was...
Like a fusion of a butterfly and a moth.
6 transparent, luminous wings vibrating ceaselessly. Its body and head rged into one form, and 2 eye sockets blazed with golden radiance.
Below hung a pair of drifting, tentacle-like appendages.
Could it be that Erika's mother—the one who had never once appeared in the Storyline...
Was that thing?
"Duke Livi was no ordinary man in his youth."
Viktor murmured, with sothing close to admiration.
It was the first ti he had felt even a trace of respect for soone—and a ga NPC at that.
"By the way, the Academy has been rebuilt. School resus in a few days."
"But my Teaching Assistant has beco an Associate Professor, which ans no one is writing my lesson plans anymore. Any ideas?"
Weija, who had been chuckling rrily just a mont before, suddenly blinked.
"Why are you telling this?"
"What do you think I an?"
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