On a bright sunny morning, Aozaki Aoko finished her daily meditation, got dressed, and walked to the lawn in the Kuonji mansion's backyard, her usual departure point for world-hopping over the past few years.
The girls weren't up yet; only the ever-awake Touko and the sleepy, pajama-clad Kuonji Alice were present.
"...Why so early?" Alice complained, rubbing her eyes. "I was up till 2 a.m. maintaining the Slumber Mirror... so tired..."
"Sorry, Alice!" Aoko apologized. "I got a bit too eager this time—won't do it so early next time."
"What kind of world are you heading to this time?" Touko asked. "Is it like the Land Between?"
"Honestly, I don't know," Aoko shrugged. "But these coordinates are precious—I spent ages researching and calculating them. Plus, the world itself is resistant to divination magic, so I can't see what's there."
"All right, be careful," Touko said. "If things get out of hand, just come straight back. You won't lose anything."
Aoko nodded and began preparing the teleportation ritual.
To keep all her spell slots intact upon arrival, she used a pre-prepared ritual for interdimensional travel, which took longer but didn't consume spell slots.
Her outfit, custom-made by Habetrot, was a hybrid of a Rain Witch and Savior's attire: a white cloak with gold trim, cobalt-blue lining and golden stars, and a matching pointed witch's hat.
Beneath, she wore a fitted mithril breastplate and a white-and-gold over-the-knee dress, with specially enchanted black stockings and white travel boots. The look wasn't exactly serious, but the defense was astonishing—every piece doubly enchanted by Aoko and Habetrot, tougher than heavy armor and adaptable to various environments.
Thanks to her preparations, the ritual went smoothly; Aoko swung the Scarlet Staff in a circle above her head to symbolize the energy cycle, then tapped the ritual node on the lawn, unleashing a surge of magical power.
Alice and Touko had to hold down their skirts as the spell whipped up strong winds, magical lightning crackling in the air.
As Aoko's figure grew blurry and disappeared before their eyes, Touko said, "Let's go—Aoko probably made us breakfast before leaving. Let's wake the others and eat together."
"Mhm." After a short pause, Alice quietly agreed, following Touko back inside.
...
...
...
The biting wind, as sharp as a knife, swept mercilessly across this lifeless, snow-covered mountain.
How beautiful—these snowy mountains! Did I arrive at the world's highest peak?
Upon landing, Aoko instinctively activated reinforcement magic to adapt to the extreme environment, only to quickly realize that her magecraft was hard to use here (not impossible, just highly inefficient), a first for her.
She checked her gear and found that the environmental adaptation enchantments were still working; aside from being buffeted by the wind, she felt no cold.
After careful observation, Aoko realized this world's laws were very exclusive. Not only was Nasuverse magecraft hard to use but even the Fifth Magic was completely blocked—likely due to fundamentally different laws or an Overseer barring such powers.
She then tested various systems—Land Between, Lina's world, and others—all heavily weakened here. Not unusable, but very inefficient.
She frowned, but quickly relaxed after noticing that her Weave-based spells were greatly enhanced!
It was hard to describe, but it felt as if the Weave fragment in her soul grew more active with each spell she cast!
Her casting speed increased by about 30%, and, thanks to a tighter connection with the Weave, she no longer needed material components for spells of 6th level and below.
Additionally, she sensed a presence watching her whenever she cast spells.
She didn't detect any malice from this gaze, so she didn't dwell on it—probably something like Alaya or a world will. After all, she was a foreigner here.
Given her Weave spells were empowered, Aoko guessed she might be in a DND world—Greyhawk or Faerûn, perhaps? Surely not Dark Sun...
She decided not to speculate further and to find a town to ask. In the wilderness, she couldn't tell anything.
Taking out a compass to get her bearings, she decided to head north.
Casually making a few gestures, she cast Fly, magical light swirling around her as she soared into the white sky, heading north down the mountain in search of friendly locals.
…After flying for more than two hours in the blizzard, Aoko finally caught sight of the only man-made structure—a massive, pitch-black tower.
It looked something like a prison or an evil wizard's tower—not a friendly place.
But with no other options, Aoko decided to approach the tower's inhabitants. If things went bad, she could always escape; she doubted she lacked the power to flee.
Her magecraft wasn't working well, but she still managed to cloak herself in a chameleon optical camouflage, slowly flying towards the tower.
Just as she neared, she saw three figures burst from a high window—one with large wings, the other two clinging to the winged one.
But they weren't in good shape. At the very least, the winged one was steadily losing altitude, apparently unable to carry the weight of the two others...