Chương 37: How Powerful? Very Powerful!

Very Powerful!

Evan shook Julia's hand.

"Simeon told me you might have some answers."

"I might. Let's have this talk inside the library. We have private rooms there." They followed Julia into the cathedral-like library, past shelves that were at least fifteen feet high, the type you needed a ladder for, and filled to the brim with thick leather-bound books. It was very quiet, despite the many students reading and writing at tables in little niches that were periodically placed into the outer wall. It smelled wonderful. Evan had always enjoyed the smell of books.

As a kid, he had been an avid reader, but adult life and all the stressors that came with it had made him give up that hobby. His fingers were itching to pull some of these books off the shelves and get lost in them somewhere quiet, but he had more important matters right now. Julia led them through a door in the back that led to a hallway with more doors, each leading to small private rooms equipped with two, sometimes more, wooden tables and chairs. They went into one of those empty rooms.

Julia closed the door behind them and gestured for them to sit down.

"I'm very happy to meet you," Julia said. She had a pleasant voice. Deep for a woman, and with a slight accent, which Evan of course couldn't place, considering he had learned the primary language of this continent with a magical skill book.

"I have met other world travelers before, since it is my area of study, but it's a rare occurrence. There are not very many of you. May I ask what your home world is called?"

"Uh… we call it Earth. Or Terra, I guess. That's a fancier word for it." Julia furrowed her brow thoughtfully.

"Hm, I don't think I have met someone from your world before. That doesn't mean there are no other travelers from Earth, although I believe I'm familiar with most, if not all, who currently reside on this continent."

"I'm not surprised to hear that," Evan said.

"From what I gathered, you need powerful portal skills to travel between worlds."

"That's correct."

"Well, my world does not have mana or skills, so no portals either." Julia leaned on her elbows.

"There are no no-mana worlds, Evan. Mana is inherent to life. If there is life, there is mana."

"Really?" he asked, surprised.

"Well, in that case, people from my home world have not figured out how to use it. We don't have any crystals and gems or anything like it. At least not unless there's a big magical conspiracy the government is keeping secret from us." Julia cocked an eyebrow at the last sentence.

"Which is a possibility we can't rule out. I talked to a traveler about three years ago who described such a scenario from his own world." Evan was about to argue against that, but then decided that, considering everything he knew about how governments operated, he really couldn't rule out that there was some wild magical stuff going on inside Area 51.

"Maybe, but that's not how I arrived here. No portal, as far as I could tell."

"Then how did it happen?" Julia asked curiously. Evan sighed.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out myself. I was… I think I was about to die, or maybe I did die. Who knows. And the next thing I remember is waking up in this world, with a bunch of weird windows obscuring my vision." Julia rubbed her chin.

"You arrived here with the ledger active?"

"Yes. It was all there. Stats, quests, inventory. There was even stuff in my inventory already, including my celestial affinity crystal."

"Interesting. Very interesting. Your ledger activated before you bound your soul to an affinity crystal, if I understand you correctly. And you even received a crystal as a gift upon arriving in our world."

"One hell of a gift," Oliver muttered.

"A mythical affinity crystal. I couldn't believe my eyes when I first saw it."

"So you were not only saved from death, you were also granted a significant advantage upon arriving here. Sounds like someone was looking out for you. Do you have any idea who it might be, Evan?" Julia asked. Evan hesitated, remembering Simeon's stark warning not to mention Helen's name, not even to Julia. But the connection was obvious. The conversation they had that night and that strange necklace. He still remembered the sensation that had run through his body when he touched it.

Mana, he recognized now, after encountering magical objects more often. Helen Gregory was a mana user, and the necklace she had given him had been a powerful magical object. It was gone when he woke up in this world, so that probably meant it was a one-way ticket only.

"I have no idea. Seriously," he said, careful not to break the promise he'd made to Simeon.

"It doesn't matter all that much anyway. What I really want to know is how I can get back to my own world. These portal powers… can I learn them?" Julia leaned back in her chair, studying him for a moment.

"You have the Celestial affinity. That's a very powerful affinity and well attuned to dimensional skills."

"Makes sense. My first unlocked skill was teleport."

"Lucky bastard," Oliver mumbled under his breath.

"Your affinity is only the foundation, though. You will still need to find a suitable skill gem, which won't be easy. And you'll have to become powerful. Very powerful." Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

"How powerful?" Evan asked. Julia paused again.

"I've never met an astral traveler below rank 20." Oliver whistled.

"Phew, Evan. That's a pretty high bar to clear." Evan felt a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Rank 20? No big deal." Evan thanked Julia for her help and left the library with a lot to think about. The visit to the university had brought some answers and some clarity, but also more questions, above all why Simeon was so intent on keeping Helen Gregory, if that was even her real last name—probably not, all things considered—a secret. Deep in thought and thankful that Oliver recognized and respected his need for some silence, he walked through the Academy's entry gate.

They handed back their visitor badges, this time to another student, a lively blonde girl, who bid them farewell with a toothy smile and a wave. They followed the gravel path that led back down to the village. The late afternoon sun was throwing long shadows and made the ocean behind the village and the ferry dock glitter and sparkle. It could have been the pleasant end to a very interesting day if not for Crispin stepping out from behind a tree. He had more buddies with him this time.

Evan counted four plus Crispin himself, blocking their way. Crispin crossed his arms, a smug look on his face.

"Fancy meeting you here, Oliver." Evan groaned.

"Oh, no, really? You're going full bully, aren't you?" Crispin's head whipped around. He glared at Evan.

"I have no idea who you are, but I don't like your attitude."

"I don't like yours either, but hopefully we'll never have to see each other again, because Oliver and I are on the way to the ferry right now." He started walking, trying to pull off the same trick as before, getting past Crispin's cronies with confidence and a bit of swagger, but unfortunately it didn't work quite as well this time. Crispin stepped forward and pulled a sword out of his scabbard. A pretty fancy-looking sword, with red gemstones decorating the hilt.

Oliver immediately drew his own swords, but the rusty, worn weapons earned him only mocking laughter. Evan sighed and pulled Agatha's sword. Dawnfire, as he had recently found out it was called. The sparkling blade got Crispin's attention. For a moment, a trace of doubt crossed his face, as if he wondered if he'd picked the wrong person to harass. Before he could make up his mind, Evan attacked.

He hated bullies, especially the kind that tormented the very best friend he had in this world, and he was eager to teach Crispin a lesson and wipe that smug look off his face. Surprised by Evan's sudden jump into action, Crispin brought up his sword just in time to block Evan's first strike. His friends tried to come to his aid, but they were promptly stopped by Oliver's Ironroot, throwing all four of them to the ground and tying them down there.

Evan and Crispin exchanged strikes, and Evan had to admit his opponent knew how to use his weapons. He was a well-trained sword fighter, probably something he'd been taught at the Academy. A quick succession of swings and strikes forced Evan to dodge to the side. He stumbled backward, and Crispin raised his sword for an overhead strike.

His expression looked like he was already expecting to win this duel, but Evan activated [Teleport] and appeared a couple of feet behind Crispin, making him strike at nothing but thin air.

"You have to work on your aim," Evan called out from behind while Crispin still tried to regain his balance. He whirled around with an angry grunt and aimed his empty palm at Evan. Oliver came rushing toward them, trying to distract Crispin, but he reached him a little too late. A burst of flames erupted from Crispin's hand, and Evan was forced to block the flames with his [0Starlight Shield]. Meanwhile, three of his four companions had managed to free themselves from the grasp of Oliver's [Ironroot].

They tried to come to Crispin's aid, but Oliver kept them at bay with his [Gravel Burst]. The fourth one got back to his feet a little later, but managed to aim a sharp stream of water toward Evan. He dodged the magical attack with another [Teleport], this time moving closer to Crispin. Close enough to engage him sword to sword again. Oliver was at his back, swinging his own weapon in a wide arc, trying to keep Crispin's friends from using any more magical skills.

Crispin and Evan clashed in a heated duel, blades meeting and separating in quick succession. Once again, Crispin managed to slowly gain the upper hand. Evan activated [Star Slash] and swung his brightly glowing blade. Crispin deflected the strike, but Evan still managed to deal some magical damage. With his mana pool refilling quickly, he could teleported away again to catch his breath, once again drawing a frustrated yell from Crispin.

Breathing heavily, arm muscles burning already, Evan realized he couldn't defeat his opponent in a sword fight. Crispin was just a little too good. He needed to rely on his magic. Crispin prepared his magical attack too, his palm starting to glow like red-hot metal, but Evan had the quicker reflexes. He whipped his [Comet Shot] toward Crispin. Crispin's eyes went wide as he saw the glowing projectile shooting toward him. He tried to dodge, but was too slow.

The [Comet Shot] hit him square in the chest and rained down a shower of sparks on two of his friends who'd joined his side after moving past Oliver. The magical energy burned right through his gray student uniform and into his flesh, leaving a large wound on his chest. Evan saw the effects his [Comet Shot] had on a human for the very first time, and the results shocked him. Crispin was an asshole who deserved to be knocked down a peg, but this was… intense.

Crispin had dropped to the ground, clawing at his chest, screaming in pain, while his friends rushed toward him. One of them uncorked a glass bottle he'd pulled from his belt and tried to empty the contents into Crispin while he was flailing and thrashing around. Oliver noticed the look of terror on Evan's face and walked over to him, sword still in hand, cautiously eyeing Crispin's friends.

"Don't worry, he'll heal. He would've been fine in an hour or so, and that potion will speed the process up."

"That's a pretty big wound. Looks deep too," Evan said, feeling a bit queasy.

"You're the same rank, he and you. It's very unlikely to kill someone of the same rank with just a single attack. He'll be back on his legs in a few minutes, and we should be gone by then, because I bet he's going to be pissed." Evan gave himself a little shake.

"Right. Yeah, you're right." From where he stood, he could already see Crispin's wound was starting to heal at the edges, and apparently the pain had lessened too, because Crispin was capable of hurling insults at them again instead of just screaming blood murder.

"I will kill you, you bastard!" he yelled.

"Next time we meet, I will rip you apart." A nice reminder that Crispin had been the one to start this fight. They'd only defended themselves, so he really only got what he deserved. Actually, all things considered, Evan thought he'd shown quite a lot of restraint.

"Looking forward to it, Crispin," he called back, a confident smile on his face. Then he tipped his head at Crispin's friends.

"Gentlemen, I wish you a nice evening, but we really have to go now. We have a ferry to catch." They all glared at him, but no one seemed eager to jump back into a fight with their leader down and out. Oliver and Evan walked away at a leisurely pace while Crispin was spitting curses until they were out of earshot. Evan took a moment to check the notifications that had popped up mid-battle.

[You have defeated Crispin Sedius] [You have earned 32 experience points] [Strength +1] [Dexterity +1] On a hunch, Evan also checked his quest log and saw that his [Swordmaster Apprentice Quest] had advanced significantly to 34% completion. He grinned. Crispin might be a total shithead, but he was a great sparring partner.