It was around noon when the group stopped once again to rest. Several days had passed since they left Krimisha, and it was already possible to see the Belvuch Mountain Range stretching beyond the horizon.
While waiting for lunch, Sariel sewed his torn and burned clothes from the fight against Sharaad as he sat on a fallen log. His hands constantly exuded Ice magic.
Luna watched intently, seeing the threads glow light blue as they were woven into the damaged clothing, until the traveler changed his element to Water and sewed the same areas again, his hands constantly bathing the threads in a transparent blue glow.
As soon as he finished, he changed elements, moving on to Fire, then Lightning, Wind, and the only element of Combat that Luna had not yet witnessed, Nature.
"What are you doing?"
"Repairing my clothes."
"And why are you bathing the threads with magic?"
"Why don't you try to figure out the answer?" Sariel kept his green eyes on the fabric.
Once again, she did not receive a direct answer, but she was already used to his behavior, as it was his way of teaching her.
"Is it to protect you against magic?"
"Whose magic?"
"Well, your enemies, of course."
"Wrong."
Upon hearing this, Luna remained silent for a long time as she tried to find an answer, but nothing she considered made sense.
Realizing that the princess was struggling, Sariel decided to give her a hint.
"Do you remember what Sharaad's remains looked like? Think about that."
Luna remembered when they approached the crater and how fragile Sharaad's body was, so delicate that they crumbled at the slightest touch.
'What does that have to do with him bathing his clothes with magic?'
Unable to extract anything from that, she decided to focus her attention on other key moments.
The entire crater was so fragile that they had to tread carefully so that the ground wouldn't give way.
It was then that she remembered the moment she helped Sariel complete the spell that killed Sharaad. The ice that concentrated on the glaive was so intense that Luna's clothes almost froze just from being close to it.
She didn't notice it at the time due to the urgency of the situation, but some parts became stiff, and she had to change them later because they had become uncomfortable.
And that's when a thought ran through her mind: why didn't the same thing happen to Sariel's clothes?
The ice didn't stiffen his clothes, and the fire didn't burn it when he fought Aegreon.
In fact, his clothes only suffered damage when he was attacked by others.
In that case, the only answer would be...
"To protect your clothes from your own magic?"
Hearing this, the traveler stared at Luna with a surprised look. "You're smarter than I first thought."
"Err... Should I take that as a compliment?"
"Haha! Of course! That's a very difficult question that you managed to answer with just one hint."
"Ah, in that case, thank you." The princess watched Sariel sew his clothes while bathing the threads with the power of Nature. "And since you're Volatile, you have to do this process more times because you can change elements, right?"
"Exactly, that's the only disadvantage I can think of being Volatile. Other people only have to worry about one or two elements, but I have to do this with all combat elements."
"And does everyone who uses magic do this?"
"Yes, after all, it would be quite problematic for a Fire magic user, for example, to have their clothes burned every time they fought. There is no other use for this 'technique' other than to avoid being naked during battle."
"And why didn't you teach me this before?"
"Your magical power is still returning, so you are not yet able to use enough power to damage your clothes, but I will teach you eventually. In fact, just by watching me, you will learn how to do it."
Sariel focused his attention back on the sewing, with Luna still curious about that element she had never seen before.
"Are you curious about the Nature element?"
"Yes... until now, I've never seen anyone use that element."
"Nature and Reanimation are the rarest elements to find."
"Why?"
"It's just one of the thousands of mysteries that scholars are trying to figure out."
"Can you show me how it works?"
Hearing this, Sariel, while still keeping his eyes on the fabric, touched the dead, fallen trunk that he was sitting with one of his hands, and the wood began to glow green.
Then, miraculously, leaves began to sprout, as green and healthy as those of a century-old tree. The branches grew toward Luna, with apples ripening in seconds with a strong red color, more beautiful and larger than any apple she had ever seen.
Realizing it was an offering, the princess picked up the fruit and took a bite, experiencing a juiciness and sweetness she had never tasted before.
"It's better than any apple I've ever tasted! How could this cause damage? It doesn't seem like something that would belong to the combat elements... Does it just make plants grow quickly?"
"All combat elements are extremely destructive in the right situations. Ice can be powerful in a cold environment, so Nature has its power amplified in a forest."
"But this element still seems a little different from the other combat elements. How is it used?"
"Most people use it to create wooden weapons and armor. Depending on the user's power, the wood can be even stronger than steel, so because it's lighter, it's one of the most sold war items by Nature users for average people. In addition, because it's made with magic, the equipment can regenerate itself."
"Hey! Lunch is ready!" Raymond called out.
"Okay!" Sariel replied as he finished the final touches on his outfit. "Well, I can explain more about Nature later."
"Okay!"
After that, everyone ate quietly, and as soon as they finished, they continued their journey to the Belvuch Mountain Range.
*****
Luna dreamed peacefully while training her ability to control her dreams. She had been practicing a lot lately, so she was already able to alter them as she wished.
Remembering the levels mentioned by Sariel, she now tried to choose memories to relive, succeeding with recent events but failing with older ones.
While practicing, the traveler appeared, inviting her to enter his subconscious once again.
As soon as she entered, Luna found herself back in the large library where Sariel methodically stored all his knowledge.
"What is it?" asked the princess.
"You are almost able to access your own subconscious, so there is something I would like to show you."
Realizing that he would say no more, Luna followed him silently through the enormous library, taking several minutes to reach their destination.
Finally, the tall bookshelves gave way to a large open space where, in the middle, there were hundreds of books piled up, completely disorganized and unlike anything else there.
"Take one and look."
Approaching the pile, Luna picked up a random book and opened it, seeing memories of what appeared to be from one of the civilians of Krimisha, who had been in the temple during the fight against Sharaad.
"What does this mean?"
"As we live, our knowledge only increases, but not everything we learn is always useful. Furthermore, when you browse through the memories of others, everything they have experienced becomes part of your knowledge, but there is a limit to how much you can absorb."
Upon hearing this, Luna looked around at the countless shelves disappearing into the horizon.
"Are you sure there's a limit? This place is endless."
"That's because I organize my knowledge well. If I left everything scattered like that pile, I would be able to store much less."
"So, you suggest I do the same when I gain access to that area?"
"It's not a suggestion, it's a duty. Knowledge is power, you must have heard that phrase before."
"Yes... but what do you intend to do with this pile?"
Upon hearing this, Sariel simply snapped his fingers and all the books in the pile began to burn, turning to ashes and ceasing to exist completely.
Surprised, Luna jumped back and almost fell, but soon realized that the flames emitted no heat.
"Just as you can learn, you can also forget. This already happens naturally, as your subconscious tends to delete unnecessary information to make room for what matters, but this takes a long time, and usually the information is not completely erased."
Luna looked again at where the pile had been a few seconds ago.
"But... how does that work? You really don't remember anything anymore?"
"Exactly, as if it never happened."
"And what determines how much a person can store? Does it depend on magic?"
"Until recently, it was believed that it depended on the amount of magical power, but recent evidence has proven otherwise, with people with little magical power being able to remember more than people with much more power than them. Scholars have reached a consensus that the determining factor is something else, but it is not known what."
"So even scholars know little about magic."
"Only Kura knows how magic works completely, and even the angel shrines I found had reports of studies on various subjects. Although everything is made up of magic and we have been using it since our creation, very little is still known about it."
Luna listened to Sariel quietly and attentively. She was always impressed by the amount of knowledge he possessed, even though he was young enough not to have experienced the war with the angels.
Time passed as they talked, until eventually the traveler said goodbye, and Luna returned to her dreams.
Sariel remained in his own subconscious, in the same place where he had burned the books, when he pulled a book titled Tuba Mirum from under his cloak.
Then he walked through the almost endless corridors of bookshelves. He could very well have simply teleported to the place he wanted to go, since this was his subconscious and he could do whatever he wanted with it, but he enjoyed the walk.
After a long time, he finally reached the end of the corridor, where there was a large white and gold door locked with dozens of powerful padlocks and thick chains.
As soon as he approached, the padlocks opened, and the chains came loose.
The door opened by itself, revealing another room with bookshelves, but this place was much smaller, and each book had a padlock on its cover.
The traveler entered the room and approached a bookshelf with a ladder and climbed up, arriving at a section called 'lost texts of the angels.'
He then placed the book he had in his hands between two others that were already there: Dies Irae, which he had discovered with Luna and Raymond, and Rex Tremendae, which had been there long before he went to Fordurn.
As soon as he placed the book, he left the room and locked it again.