Chapter 91: He’s a Man Worthy of Being My Brother-in-Law
Rast stored away the items left by the Dean Silver, along with that pure white holy grenade, into his coat.
The appearance of this item, in fact, looked exactly like two crystal-clear chess pieces, seemingly made of glass, just like the chess pieces in Rast’s past life.
One was a “King”, and the other a castle-shaped “Rook”.
As long as one held either piece, it could be used to perform a castling maneuver, allowing the user to switch places with the other chess piece.
Of course, just like the rules of chess in his previous life, castling could only be performed once per game, and the stand-in chess pieces Rast now held were consumables, destroyed after a single use.
Even so, this was still something that could save one’s life at a critical moment, akin to using Flying Thunder God.
The Dean Silver leaving this to him clearly considered its synergy with the holy grenade gifted to him earlier by Professor Barbalossa.
Without this for coordination, the holy grenade’s blast radius would most likely result in harming oneself more than the enemy.
One could only say, the Dean Silver had thoroughly established his proud tsundere beast character setting.
……
The outer defenses of the Arcane Tower were many, but the interior was no longer tightly guarded.
After all, if an intruder could get past all the outer checkpoints and reach the inside of the Arcane Tower… then things like security doors and passwords were basically ornamental.
Soon, Rast arrived alone at the entrance to the Terminal Nightworld.
The entrances of other Nightworlds all appeared like doorways, radiating ripples of light like water.
But the Terminal Nightworld’s entrance was slightly different.
It was a massive jet-black stone stele.
It resembled the grand obelisk at the entrance of Starfall University, but unlike the obelisk, this stone stele appeared more illusory and ancient.
There were no names of Night Travelers inscribed upon its surface. Instead, beneath the shroud of dim night, it bore countless ancient and arcane imprints.
These were traces left by the passage of time, imbued with an aura of solemn antiquity.
It was as if this stele, just like the essence of the Nightworld, had witnessed the rise, flourishing, decline, and eventual end of an ancient civilization from a bygone era.
It was as if——
This was the tombstone of that once brilliant civilization.
Rast paused before the pitch-black tombstone.
The faint night shroud briefly faded, and under the flickering light, the clear surface of the stele reflected Rast’s current figure.
His posture was upright, his bearing extraordinary.
His handsome face held sharp contours, his expression indifferent.
Only those dark eyes beneath his tousled black hair, at first glance, seemed clear and bright like stars embedded at the lake’s bottom.
But upon closer inspection, one could see cracks hidden in their depths...
Like shattered porcelain, already riddled with fractures inside, held together only by glue to barely maintain its form.
“Didn’t expect that just reading some documents in the archive would mess up my mental state like this.”
Looking at his reflection on the stele, with his mask slightly lowered, Rast couldn’t help but let out a bitter smile.
If it were him back when he was still trapped in Deep Blue Port, this mental state... basically meant he was about to return to Canaan and reunite with Xiao Ai.
However, for the current Rast——
Even if he returned to that place in the gaps between Nightworlds, Canaan might no longer be the utopia capable of healing all wounds.
Just like the illusion in Frostwater Town, woven by the blood mist from his own memories.
Canaan existed in reality, and he could reunite with Xiao Ai in the real world, even go to Starfall University with her, and go on adventures... but all of this was merely a fantasy Rast wished for on his own.
And since it was a dream, there would inevitably come a day to wake up.
“But even so, I will uncover the truth,” he murmured softly.
The truth of why Canaan vanished from reality, yet remained in the crevices of the Nightworld.
The truth of the person who planted the dream called “Shoreguard” in his heart when he was a child.
And the truth of why he was trapped in Deep Blue Port for three hundred years...
As he spoke this, the ripples in Rast’s spiritual sea calmed instantly.
He took a deep breath and leveled his thoughts.
In the reflection on the stele, his eyes were now shrouded by a misty gray fog, concealing their sharp brilliance.
Rast put on once again that flawless, unbreakable mask he showed to others.
“Now then, final check.”
“Five single-use healing crystals, holy grenade, stand-in chess pieces ‘King and Rook’, emblem attire ‘Iron-Crested Moon’, emblem attire ‘Sevenfold Perspective’, various alchemical elixirs, custom enchanted bullets... nothing missing.”
“Mental strength full, physical condition adequate.”
“All inherent skills off cooldown, The Fool’s Library’s original volume confirmed, all historical records of the Sixth Era in the Arcane Tower’s database, including multiple common languages of that era, memorized.”
“Preparation complete, ready perfectly.”
He gently reached out his hand.
Letting his right hand touch the surface of that massive jet-black tombstone.
In the next instant——
Everything around him, from the flickering flames to the flowing wind, froze in that moment.
Only the thickening night mist wafting out of the stele remained——
Gently enveloping Rast’s figure.
He once again entered the Nightworld.
The Terminal Nightworld, belonging to the Sixth Era.
……
“Sigh, every single one of them always makes me worry.”
“With the talents these brats have, they could just lie flat in the academy and grind levels in peace... yet they insist on acting all extraordinary, practically living in the Nightworld year-round.”
“Sigh, that kid went into the Nightworld without even a word, now I don’t even have the mood to eat dried fish.”
In the empty Arcane Tower, a streak of silver light suddenly flickered.
The Dean Silver floated mid-air, gazing at the gradually dissipating night mist near the massive tombstone, and let out a long sigh.
Though it always said it hated the scene of parting, it still tsunderely followed along in secret, only revealing itself once Rast had entered the Nightworld.
“Now, whose food ticket should I go swipe today... Little Tina, or Little Xia?”
“But with Little Tina’s temperament, she’s either already in the Historical Remnant or on her way there by now... Little Xia should be stationed at that Nightworld entrance near the border. If I want to find her, I’ll have to travel for days again.”
“So annoying, it’s too cold to bother moving, and there’s no internet in the Arcane Tower. Might as well sleep here until that brat comes back.”
Just as the Dean Silver lazily rolled mid-air, thinking about whether to return to the academy or simply enter hibernation mode here...
A trace of suspicion suddenly flashed through its ruby-like beast eyes, gazing toward the entrance of the Arcane Tower.
Relying on its magical beast instincts, the Dean Silver sensed a familiar presence approaching from that direction.
“Little Xia?”
“Was just saying I had no meal ticket, and she walks right in?”
The Dean Silver was momentarily delighted, but then quickly deflated again.
Though it had no idea what had happened back at the academy due to all the running around with Rast recently...
Akxia coming to the Arcane Tower at this time clearly wasn’t to chat or look up information.
Most likely, Akxia was also here to challenge the Terminal Nightworld.
Though Akxia’s “Reaper” sequence wasn’t as unique as the Dean Silver’s own, with no duplicates in the world...
To advance, one must walk with death. Even throughout history, the number of transcenders on this path could be counted on one hand. Most either went mad from constant brushes with death or died mysteriously.
Because of that, the knowledge inheritance of the Reaper sequence was extremely incomplete. The only way to advance smoothly was to enter a compatible Nightworld.
And the Terminal Nightworld was the only one compatible with all sequences. Add to that the higher rewards, powerful and confident Night Travelers like Akxia often chose it as their trial ground.
No matter. Even if she was heading into the Nightworld soon, being able to mooch some food before then was still a win.
However, just as the Dean Silver was wagging its snowy white tail and preparing to go find Akxia for some free meals——
Its fluffy tail suddenly froze mid-air.
“Well, what luck. Didn’t expect that by following behind Sister Akxia, I’d run into a surprise bonus here.”
A graceful and melodious girl’s voice echoed through the air.
In the next moment, the Dean Silver saw a young girl about twelve or thirteen, wearing a Western dress and brown shoulder-length hair, walking in behind Akxia into the Arcane Tower.
She looked at the Dean Silver floating mid-air, whose expression was that of someone who had just swallowed a bug, and her delicate, slightly childish face lit up with delight.
The girl lifted her skirt and gave the Dean Silver a flawless royal curtsy.
“Long time no see, Dean Silver.”
Hearing that innocent, heavenly voice, the Dean Silver’s fur all stood on end.
A silver gleam flashed in its eyes, ready to activate its powers and flee.
But at that moment, the air around the Dean Silver suddenly flowed with an inky black liquid.
Though liquid, it gleamed with metallic luster, evoking the image of flowing mercury.
In the next instant, the half-disappeared Dean Silver reappeared in mid-air, frozen in place.
Around it, the mercury-like liquid metal lit up with one alchemical array after another.
In the glow of those alchemy arrays, the black liquid metal condensed and reshaped.
Finally, it transformed into the shape of two small hands.
The Mercury Hands grabbed the despairing-looking Dean Silver and presented it to the girl in the dress.
The girl stood on tiptoe and cradled the Dean Silver in her arms, gently stroking its head like petting a cat.
“Why did you bring Ophelia with you?”
The Dean Silver cast a resentful glance at the girl in the dress and asked the nearby Akxia, who was watching everything with a blank expression.
“She said she’s Little Tina’s younger sister.”
Akxia tilted her head slightly and responded through Moonlight Whisper: “And she also said she’s your friend, Kitty.”
“Friend my ass.”
The Dean Silver’s expression became a perfect match for the dried fish it had just eaten—lifeless and flat.
Ophelia.
Second daughter of Emperor Allen of Granville. Half-sister to Shiltina.
And, since Shiltina refused to acknowledge her royal identity, Ophelia was seen as the only princess of the Granwell Kingdom by outsiders.
Despite her young age, she was a rare genius in the field of engineering.
Those Mercury Hands created earlier from liquid metal were Ophelia’s creation.
Using alchemical arrays’ synthesis functions, she could freely manipulate undead liquid metal composed of countless particles into various shapes at will.
She could even briefly obscure spatial laws.
Of course, if the Dean Silver used its full power, this liquid metal barrier couldn’t trap it.
But the Dean Silver obviously wasn’t going to go all out against a twelve-year-old girl.
Thus, Ophelia, the second princess of the Granwell Kingdom, became the Dean Silver’s greatest nemesis—someone it wished it could avoid at all costs.
“Little Snow Ferret, that freshman named Rast just entered the Terminal Nightworld, right?”
Ophelia gently stroked the Dean Silver’s head with her Mercury Hands, speaking once more in an elegant, innocent tone.
The Dean Silver didn’t even care that she had switched from calling it “Dean Silver” to “Little Snow Ferret”. It narrowed its eyes slightly: “So you really came for him.”
“Of course.”
Ophelia smiled slightly: “Because of that freshman, my dear sister has been acting like a different person lately. She even made time to go on a private date with him during the Starfall University celebration.”
“As her little sister, I naturally have to inspect him properly and find out what kind of holy figure he really is.”
“So, I asked Akxia to bring a real-time image transmitter to help me observe how that guy performs in the Nightworld.”
“A terminal that can transmit visuals between the Nightworld and the real world? The Fireseed Research Institute really made it?”
The Dean Silver’s eyes narrowed.
“But the Terminal Nightworld doesn’t allow team-ups. Akxia is already Rank Five. She might not match into the same Historical Remnant as Rast.”
“That’s true. So I also found the method that the ‘Bronze Rose’ once used to track my sister into the Nightworld.”
Ophelia looked toward the center of the hall, at that stele cloaked in night mist.
“To be honest, I’m quite curious as well…”
“What kind of man is worthy of being my brother-in-law?”