His magical power was already almost exhausted, and now with the addition of intense emotional upheaval.
The world channel that had been forced to stay connected suddenly cut off.
Realizing his immature attitude, Kuro immediately took deep breaths, trying to calm his emotions.
Going back to his room in the church, he grabbed a bottle of magical power recovery potion and drank it all.
"What's wrong, Kuro-kun?"
Usually after finishing his last magic practice, Kuro would always return directly when his magical power ran out, update his blessing, then rest. However, drinking a bottle of magical power potion like this to continue this had never happened before.
Kuro, who'd originally planned to leave right away, only realized after hearing Hestia's question that he hadn't updated his blessing today yet.
"Hestia-sama, could you help me update my blessing?" Kuro said somewhat excitedly: "The idea I've been trying finally worked, but my magical power is still too little I'm hoping to increase my endurance as much as possible."
Hestia, who was sitting on the sofa reading a book boredly, suddenly showed a delighted expression on her face.
"Really? Congratulations, Kuro-kun."
Hestia understood Kuro's desire to master this magic very well. Even though he claimed it was to increase his magical power, every night he still practiced magic until he was completely exhausted.
However, Hestia sometimes secretly observed Kuro's practice and found that he always called out many people's names in a small voice while practicing.
In his tone of voice, it was full of seriousness and hope.
A few moments later!
"All done." Hestia clapped her hands: "Here, the update results."
Kuro Lv1
Strength E440→E447
Endurance S992→S998
Dexterity E418→E435
Agility E403→E419
Magic F365→F392
Magic: Distant Call
Skills: Flames of Revenge, Mask of Suffering, High Player
After the blessing update was finished, Kuro glanced at the results, then quickly put on his clothes, hurried out, and used magic again.
The most important thing right now was to re-establish the connection 'path'.
Watching Kuro's departing back, Hestia didn't follow him.
Even though she was also curious about the people from other worlds that Kuro mentioned, she preferred to give Kuro more freedom.
As his patron goddess, she felt what she needed to do was give him maximum support.
"Coming from unknown places, traveling far! Dimension fusion, destined meeting! Contract already formed, price already paid! Pierce through, my soul! Call forth, unwavering resolve! Here it is, the opening of change!!"
With the incantation spoken, a large blue magic circle appeared from the dark ground and quickly spread.
In another distant world, Kirito was currently sitting at home, feeling confused about everything he'd experienced in the past few minutes.
Just when he was thinking about whether there were hidden traps in all this, he again became aware of the voice echoing in his head.
"Excuse me, is this Mr. Kirigaya Kazuto?"
Kuro's tone was full of excitement. Ever since he learned that he'd traveled across dimensions to the Danmachi world, he'd started thinking about whether other worlds really existed too.
However, as time passed and too many things happened, he gradually abandoned these thoughts.
Ever since learning about his magic's effects from Fels, he'd always been looking forward to this day.
But countless failures had almost made him give up.
"Who are you really? Why do you keep looking for me?"
This was already the third time Kirito had asked this question.
In a situation where his opponent wasn't giving any information and also knew him very well, Kirito had raised his vigilance to the highest level.
Facing Kirito who was clearly very wary of him, Kuro's joyful emotions quickly cooled down.
Indeed, everything about Kirito is very familiar to me, I can trust him unconditionally.
However, to him, I'm just a stranger who suddenly appeared and is very suspicious.
Like with Ryuu back then... what she had toward me was only wariness.
And the more I show friendliness and familiarity, the more I know about my opponent, the stronger their wariness becomes.
"Just call me Kuro. I come from another world a normal, ordinary person," Kuro wanted to continue explaining but suddenly paused for a moment before continuing: "It's just that somehow, I traveled across dimensions to a different, dangerous world..."
Without hiding anything, Kuro tried to summarize his experiences with simple words.
Kuro didn't know how to gain Kirito's trust, but he understood that for protagonist characters like this, the most important thing was showing sincerity.
"Wait..."
Kuro, who was telling his story, was suddenly interrupted by Kirito.
"You mean you're currently in another world, and we're now communicating across worlds through your magic are you sure this isn't a joke?"
Kirito rubbed his somewhat aching temples.
Honestly, Kirito doubted his opponent's words.
These stories were like light novel plots if staged in the real world, they were too unbelievable!
However, his intuition firmly told him that all this was real. After all, his own experiences compared to his opponent's were equally full of unbelievable things.
"Of course!" Kuro answered with certainty.
"You think I'm gonna believe you!"
Facing Kirito's doubt, after thinking for a moment, Kuro tried saying: "Maybe I could try summoning you to the world where I am."
"What? I can travel across dimensions too?"
Kirito was shocked and rose from his chair.
"Of course, as long as you're willing. It's just that this is my first time trying this I'm not sure if it'll work."
Lately, Kuro had sometimes consulted with Fels, so he'd learned a lot of basic knowledge about magic.
On the day he learned about the artificial labyrinth, Fels immediately went to Ouranos to discuss strategies for dealing with it.
Even though they hadn't found the key to open the door yet, the Ikelos Familia they'd been monitoring finally started showing gaps.
Through several small clues, he found the entrance to the artificial labyrinth on the dungeon's eighteenth floor.
Facing the large door made entirely of hard metal, plus the disappearing Ikelos Familia members, he confirmed the accuracy of the information Kuro had provided.
You have to know, the artificial labyrinth had been built for years, but the guild hadn't received any wind of it.
It wasn't hard to conclude who was behind the use of this labyrinth.
And the dark factions, after being quiet for years, had surely already recovered a lot of their strength.
If not for the key information Kuro provided, who could have predicted what kind of conspiracy these fanatics would plan?
Fortunately, the labyrinth was discovered first, so the guild could prepare.
Because of this, for Kuro's consultations, Fels always gave complete answers.
About summoning conditions, it seemed that as long as Kirito nodded in agreement, he could make a contract-like pact with him—the chances of success were quite high.
After conveying this information to Kirito, Kuro fell silent, quietly waiting for his opponent's response.
After taking several deep breaths, Kirito, someone who'd experienced many life-and-death trials, quickly calmed his emotions, recovered from the shock, and began considering whether to accept his opponent's suggestion.
Honestly, a cool experience like traveling across worlds what teenager had never dreamed of it?
Kirito was certainly no exception. If not, he wouldn't have been so immersed in SAO.
Actually, his desire was even stronger than others.
But the problem was whether he should accept his opponent's suggestion.
If this was another trick by someone else, once he agreed, he might be taken by an unknown organization to a strange place, then have his memories covered up using advanced technology before being put into a virtual world like SAO.
After thinking for a long time, Kirito seemed to make a certain decision.
"I want to ask one last question why did you choose me?"
"Because you're the hero who saved countless lives in Aincrad, and also the idol I admire the Black-Clothed Swordsman Kirigaya Kazuto!!"
Kuro's passionate words echoed in Kirito's brain: "I hope you can help me. The Kirito I know if you meet someone in trouble, you definitely won't just stand by."
Kuro understood that his words might contain elements of moral coercion this was behavior he hated most.
But he really hoped Kirito could extend a helping hand.
"Need help? What kind of trouble are you facing?" As Kuro predicted, hearing Kuro's request for help, Kirito instinctively asked.
"Actually, I wasn't the one who saved Aincrad instead, I was the one who got saved."
A beautiful figure crossed Kirito's mind, and the corner of his mouth unconsciously lifted slightly.
"But I understand what you mean. Do I need to help draw a magic circle?"
Even though he'd never gone through a chuunibyou phase, Kirito had once secretly tried drawing magic circles.
The chuuni soul that had been lost for so long was now quietly reviving in his heart.
"No need. Since you've already agreed, the contract is in effect. Please don't try to resist."