(Written while listening to: "I Got No Time" by The Living Tombstone on youtube)
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"♪Shock, shock, shock, shock my dragon I can't stop! Hey!♪" Laito busied himself with nonsense to cope with recent quite stressful events… and the painful backlash he suffered from using sorcery despite being a mortal.
The environment didn't help.
The tunnel he escaped into was quite spacious and the surface of hard rock it was made from was perfectly smooth, without any crevices, or imperfections.
Except for the occasional vents, which basically were just square holes in the ceiling.
These vents creepied Laito out to no end.
When he walked down the tunnel, the mana he absorbed was the only source of light present.
And he regretted it was there.
Without it the tunnel would be plunged into perfect darkness…- and now with the light present for the first time since dead gods know when…
Its presence could allow things to cast shadows.
'Morded was right… shadows are helluva scary, when you are not the one controlling them.'
Thankfully, the perfectly smooth tunnel didn't allow the presence of many shadows… or even any at all as even Laito himself didn't cast one… being the source of light.
This brings the topic back to vents.
Laito felt "something" watching him from them.
He absolutely hated the feeling.
'Just keep going. Don't stop even for a moment.'
And so he walked.
And walked.
—
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At some point he decided to summon the Spell, as he still needed to check on his new "temporary attribute" as the Spell has called it.
Attributes: [Divinity of Light], [Keen Sight], [Stamina Recovery], [Incandescent Chainmail], [Mana Surge(temporary)]
'Yeah, that's the one.'
[Mana Surge] Attribute Description: [You directly absorbed large amounts of pure Mana, sourced from the Well of Creation. You should be dead, but the Divinity in your soul mitigates the negative effects of its overwhelming power. You will still die, given enough time.]
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'Ohhh… so that's what my ROB meant as me being "on timer". Damn, it does start to get a little stuffy in here.'
Earlier the feeling of mysterious energy coursing through his body was quite invigorating… pleasant even.
But then it was slowly getting worse… not yet unpleasant, but slightly uncomfortable as if his insides were a bit too big to fit inside his skin.
'Gotta hurry.' He thought as he dismissed the runes and increased the pace to jog.
It didn't take long before he noticed an orange light that apparently marked the end of the tunnel.
Laito increased his tempo even more and as he stepped into the light he found.
Gold.
Mountains of golden coins.
Not only gold, but all kinds of precious metals, jewelry, encrusted chests filled with more gold and gems.
There were also stray pieces of armor, weaponry and other items strewn around here and there.
One thought instantly came to Laito's mind.
'Dragon hoard.'
Obviously it was quite a common stereotype that dragons had their hoards of riches, that they guarded above all else.
And since Laito had just encountered one it was a logical conclusion that these mountains of gold belonged to Obbadoth, from whom Laito had just escaped…
But then dragons obviously had means to access their own hoards so who knows if Laito definitely managed to escape.
'Where does this light come from?' He wondered as he followed the glimmer of the gold that kept reflecting an orange glow from its source.
'...There.' He noticed the source was right at the foot of the biggest pile of precious, right at the centre of the chamber…- or rather "vault" would be a better term.
The light was coming from a single lantern. It was held by…
A person.
It was difficult to judge said person's features, even with Laito's enhanced vision, as the orange glow was quite dim.
It also casted shadows which further unnerved the desperate Aspirant.
The person with the lantern was humming quietly to himself and Laito felt that he had heard that voice somewhere earlier.
'But who could that be?' Laito thought as he advanced to approach the enigmatic figure. 'There's only one way to find out…- even though I am not sure I WANT to find out.
Yet regardless of his internal dilemma he got closer to the figure…- he didn't even try to hide his presence as at that point the reincarnator's body was glowing like a blue lightbulb.
As he got closer to the humming figure Laito froze in shock.
'No fucking way.'
Not just because Laito recognized the person… but from the suffocating pressure that he felt the lantern's holder gave off around.
Although Laito never before felt this aura before he recognised the person as the boy had indeed seen that person before.
Once.
At the Incandescent War Council, just before The Carnival.
The Silver Sovereign.
This time not just an apparition…- but in the flesh.
It was hard to mistake this short, overdressed man for anybody else.
'What is he doing here?' Laito thought as his head spun trying to endure the unrestrained presence of the Supreme.
"Huh?" Silver Sovereign stopped humming and turned his head in Laito's direction to take a look.
"Oh. What do we have here?" The emperor of the Sun Empire asked himself out loud.
"Isn't that Gandy's little pet project.. Hmm? Come on here there's no need to be strangers."
Laito felt the pressure lift from him and started to breathe again. He tried to compose himself a little as he got closer to the guy who was standing just one step below divinity.
"Yessir!" Laito accepted the invitation without any hesitation.
"Good…" Silver Sovereign said, his voice now tinted with a smudge of… melancholy?
"I guess it won't hurt to have a little chat…" The short emperor continued as he turned back to play around with a small stack of gold, silver and copper coins that he kept counting and rearranging back and forth.
"...before we all gonna die."
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[3,5 years left until MHA plot beginning]
[Chapter End] The story is not over yet
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