When Erik jumped into the column of light, he suddenly found himself in a strange space where he couldn't tell up from down. The only source of illumination was a distant sphere of light, from which beams seemed to emerge, sweeping across the bizarre space like some kind of scanner.
But Erik was not alone in this strange space; thanks to the faint light, he could see some people in the distance, as well as spheres of energy and even flying artifacts, which would occasionally disappear—and sometimes, some artifacts and energy spheres were brutally destroyed.
Fascinated by the strange scene before him, Erik began to channel the Myst to sense it more deeply, but that made him open his eyes in surprise. For some reason, he completely lost his connection to the Myst whenever he moved a little away from it, something he had never experienced before.
(What's going on…?)
Filled with doubts, Erik tried to concentrate on the Myst, but suddenly felt the artifacts that helped him mask Elara and Zoe's mana fail, causing him to lose control over the girls' mana. He quickly looked down and saw that the cord connecting them looked incredibly worn and on the verge of snapping.
Without thinking—and almost instinctively—Erik pulled the two young women towards him, hugging them tightly against his body. At that moment, he focused completely on making all the Myst he could reach surround them like a thick cocoon, while activating all the defenses on his armor.
Simultaneously, the Myst around Erik began to move erratically, almost as if it were indignantly scolding its peers who refused to obey his commands. At that moment, the star-haired young man began to feel the distant Myst grow "lighter," slowly falling under his control. Soon after, immense amounts of Myst began to dance around him, forming a gigantic cocoon.
Inside the Myst cocoon, Erik looked around with a bit of surprise, not understanding how the Myst had suddenly come back under his control so easily. But at that moment, the beam of light that seemed to be scanning the space reached him, dazzling him and forcing him to close his eyes.
…
"What is this…?"
When Erik was able to open his eyes again, he found himself standing in what seemed to be a dimly lit rocky cavern. The only source of light was a kind of crystal stalactites emitting faint glimmers of light in different colors. Without paying too much attention to that, he quickly lowered his gaze to check on the girls in his arms.
Looking down, Erik saw the two young ladies staring at each other in absolute astonishment, their faces so red that even their ears were blushing. This inevitably provoked an amused chuckle from the star-haired boy, who quickly let them go and took a step back, asking at the same time.
"Are you both all right?"
"Y-yes."
Elara quickly nodded her head like a chicken, doing her best to hide her red face. At the same time, Zoe responded by regaining her firm and elegant demeanor, although her voice couldn't help but tremble a little, and her blushing face didn't help her maintain her image.
"E-everything's fine."
"That's good, and I apologize—the situation got a little out of control, and I was forced to keep you close to prevent us from being separated."
Erik commented in a calm tone as he looked at his armor—or, more specifically, at the detailed data that appeared in his field of vision when he focused on it. This caused Elara and Zoe to exchange confused glances, before asking,
"Things got out of control? What do you mean, Erik?" Elara asked, confused, looking directly at the handsome, star-haired young man. At that moment, Zoe asked seriously as her blush slowly faded.
"Did something happen?"
"So you really didn't notice anything…" Erik remarked, not particularly surprised as he finished checking his armor. Then he raised his head to look at the pair of beautiful young women and continued speaking in a more serious tone.
"Although I don't really know how or why, when we jumped into the column of light, we entered a strange space. I assume it was specially prepared to analyze anyone who tries to enter, but for some reason, I saw spells and magical artifacts getting torn apart in that place, and the same thing happened to ours—look."
As he finished, Erik pointed to the girls' wrists, where traces of the frayed rope could still be seen, just about to fall off. This prompted the two young women to lift their arms for a closer look, feeling a bit surprised.
"Something like that really did happen…" Elara commented in a complicated voice as she examined the rope in her hands, to which Zoe added while gripping the hilt of her katana at her waist.
"It's scary—I didn't even feel a thing."
"How was it for you? What did you feel? From my perspective, you both seemed to be in some kind of trance." Erik asked, full of curiosity, to which Zoe replied, still feeling a bit uneasy.
"Actually, for me, it was like no time passed at all. Right before jumping into the entrance, I strangely felt the Myst around me with unusual precision, so I focused on that, and before I knew it, we were already here."
"It was the same for me—we jumped into the entrance and were already here, instantly." Elara nodded and added in a serious tone, no longer showing any trace of her earlier blush.
"Wait, you started to sense the Myst better?" Erik asked, both confused and curious, as he looked at Zoe, who answered calmly, though by the end of her words her voice took on a dreamy quality.
"Yes. When your mana completely enveloped mine, I started to sense the Myst with incredible clarity, to the point that it felt like, if I tried, I could extend my consciousness infinitely through it. It was truly amazing…"
"Actually, it was the same for me—I had never felt the Myst like that before. It was as if I could sense the Myst merging with my senses and becoming a part of me…" Elara added, in a state not much different from Zoe's.
For his part, Erik listened with equal parts surprise and curiosity. After all, even if the girls were exaggerating and it wasn't quite so grand, feeling the Myst as an extension of oneself was something natural for him. According to what he had heard from his masters, it was a sign of having reached one of the highest levels of connection with the Myst, something that only very few people were capable of achieving.
"What an interesting occurrence… Could it have been the rope? But when I tried it with Liliana, she didn't mention anything like that. Maybe she didn't want to tell me? Or maybe the environment had some influence? After all, Liliana didn't enter any sort of trance either…"
Curious, Erik commented to himself while he pulled out his notebook and quickly began jotting down several notes—something Elara and Zoe couldn't help but watch with curiosity. After all, nowadays, it was uncommon for anyone to use pen and paper to take notes or anything like that; that's what crystal cards and similar artifacts were for.
"Well, for now, we don't have any more information about that event, so it's best to set it aside and focus on what's important. Which direction should we take?" After putting away his notebook, Erik spoke in a calm tone while starting to carefully study the cavern's surroundings. At that moment, Zoe commented seriously,
"First, we should carry out an initial exploration of the area and secure our position. We still have to adapt to the Myst in this place—it's too strange; I can barely even sense it…"
"It certainly is strange. It feels almost ghostly and incredibly scarce… it might take us weeks to adapt…" Elara commented in a serious tone as she raised her left hand in front of her, where a small flame appeared, flickering gently.
"…"
For his part, Erik couldn't help but look at the pair of young women a bit confused. Although the Myst in the area was indeed a bit "heavier," it wasn't that bad—it was much better than in that strange space, so it shouldn't be so difficult to connect to it. Not wanting to say something that could be misinterpreted, instead he called out softly.
"Kaiser, Tiberius, Ebonique."
As Erik's voice faded, two cute wolf pups emerged from his shadow, one with silvery-white fur and the other jet-black. At the same time, a small cluster of black lightning manifested above him, quickly taking the form of a small dragon-snake about 30 cm long. At that moment, the star-haired boy spoke in a calm voice.
"Then let me explore the surroundings a bit. For now, you can stay here and try to adapt to the Myst, since I don't sense anything nearby, so it should be safe."
"You don't sense anything…?"
Hearing Erik, Elara asked in return, watching the pair of adorable wolves and the dragon-snake that quickly landed on Erik's head, almost blending in with his dark hair adorned with stars and galaxies.
"When did you extend your [Ethereal Projection]?" Also studying the cute pair of wolves, Zoe asked, slightly confused, to which Erik replied with a calm smile.
"I didn't. I'm using [Mystic Awareness]."
Upon hearing Erik, Elara and Zoe couldn't help but widen their eyes slightly, visibly surprised. After all, Mystic Awareness was the most difficult to master of the advanced techniques for harmonizing with the Myst. It allowed mana users to accelerate their thoughts and connect more deeply with the Myst. But the best part was that this technique made it possible to passively sense mana in the surroundings, essentially turning the user into a living radar.
Although with Ethereal Projection a mana user could also extend their consciousness and sense their surroundings with great clarity—as if they were actually touching them—and much better than Mystic Awareness, which only detected mana—the latter had an overwhelming advantage over the former: not only was its range greater, but since it was a "passive" detection, it was almost undetectable. In contrast, Ethereal Projection could be sensed by any mana user, even from a distance.
For this reason, while it was common for armors to include long-range detection functions, these were always turned off by default. After all, they weren't much different from Ethereal Projection and were therefore easily detectable, which greatly diminished their usefulness. Moreover, they could interfere with the user's own detection ability.
Additionally, Mystic Awareness had another advantage that made it very valuable and useful: since it detected mana, it was possible to estimate an enemy's level quite accurately through it. And while those with a high level of mana control could fool it, they were a minority. Moreover, an expert user could notice mana concealment, so even in those cases, it remained a valuable technique, as it allowed the user to detect a potential danger.
"You really have mastered Mystic Awareness…?" Elara asked as she stared into Erik's green eyes. He replied in a calm tone, just as the wolves began to grow in size.
"Yes, I discovered it by accident a few years ago."
"You truly are an unmatched genius…"
With a voice that reflected her astonishment, Zoe spoke almost as a sigh. After all, Mystic Awareness was the gateway to master-level mana control and harmony with the Myst techniques, and it was so difficult to master that it wasn't uncommon to find sages who couldn't use it.
"I wouldn't go that far. I just happen to be good at a few things, including mastering Mystic Awareness. But there are others that, no matter how hard I try, I just can't get right. In any case, let me handle exploring the surroundings—for now, focus on adapting to the Myst."
Erik said in a calm tone while petting the heads of the pair of wolves, who had grown enough that their heads were now level with his chest. At that moment, Elara commented in a calm voice—though inside, her heart was racing a mile a minute. After all, such a handsome and capable man was far too attractive for her innocent heart.
"You're truly humble, Erik… but I have a question. I've heard that if a mana user isn't adapted to the Myst of a specific area, the range of their Mystic Awareness drops drastically. So, approximately how far can you cover?"
"About ten kilometers in all directions approximately."
Erik answered calmly, which made Elara widen her eyes and ask hastily, visibly shocked. After all, that was the maximum theoretical range someone at the Ascended level could manage, so his answer could only mean one thing.
"Could it be that you don't need to adapt to the Myst in this place, Erik? You can already connect to it at your full capacity?"
***
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