Chapter 71: Dagger’s Peak

Teo’s anticipation could not be hidden. Like a predator, readying to pounce on his prey, he looked straight at the elder as he moved forward. His gaze was similar to someone looking towards his eternal rival; his steps rushed as his body showed his excitement.

Standing besides the steps, the elder gave a smile to the approaching student.

“Well little one, you’re finally here I see. I thought you would arrive early in the morning, but it seems I guessed wrong”

Teo returned a smile as he heard the elder.

As the one in charge of guarding the steps towards the second floor, he was quite familiar with Teo. He would often see Teo ask to go upstairs as the year has ending but he constantly refused him as he strictly followed rules of the academy.

He took his first step and looked towards the elder. The elder gave an amused smile and did not hinder him at all. A few months back, Teo could not even take this single step and today, he could freely do so.

As he ascended to the second floor, he looked around, admiring the layout of the floor. The number of books was far less than the floor below. The majority of the books here contained martial art scriptures, techniques, exercising tips for both cultivators and elementalists. There were even some theory of combat, survival, and medicine, but the focus of Teo’s interest did not lay within these books.

Despite wanting to read them later, he recalled that the second floor had a section about the ancient arrays the kingdom have found.

As he discovered this section, Teo noticed that the shelves were not regular library shelves. The books and documents on these shelves were physical ones that he could remove. As he tried to copy the books’ contents with a blank book, he found that he was unable to do so.

Picking up one of the books, he discovered some passages explaining the process of how the scholars from the past have extracted information from arrays. An example of an array was shown; A drawn picture depicted an array with much of it missing.

He studied the symbols and the lines of the array and found the copy quite lacking. The line’s direction, thickness and symbols were drawn in a lackluster manner.

An excerpt below the hand drawn picture told that this array was found carved into gigantic stone structures of ancient ruins.

The footnote also indicated the location where this ruins were discovered and Teo felt that he had seen this location before.

‘North of dagger’s peak, along the winding river’

Try as he might, he could not recall where he had seen this location. It was on the tip of his tongue but if he could not remember where he had seen it before. At the time he saw it, it must’ve been something not too important, but after this feeling he burned the words within his memories.

He quietly moved on and flipped through the pages. The books were not simply on arrays, but rather the method of how they became inscriptions as well. He continued studying both arrays and inscription together, alone in this small section of the second floor.

-----

A large caravan was closely parked at the outskirts of a small but lively town. Many townsfolk had annually welcomed the students who were passing by as they headed northwest towards the wild lands.

Travelling for eight days, many of the students and elders were weary and stiff, so they would stop over certain towns for a half a day during their journey.

A silhouette of a woman moving through the dense forest startled many of the small animals dwelling nearby. Rowen headed deep into an area with overgrown grass and shrubs, where only a few rays of sunlight could pass through the leaves of many large trees.

Looking around, she made sure no one followed her as she finally decided on a small area devoid of people. She sat down against a large oak tree and finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Up until now, Rowen did have any time alone, so she seized this opportunity to read Teo’s letter. Recalling Teo’s instructions and serious expression, she followed them to a T.

As she read the contents of the letter, her eyebrows curled in confusion. The letter was short but cryptic. Nevertheless, she believed in Teo and circulated her Qi, pouring it into the pendant of her necklace.

‘!!!’

She abruptly stopped pouring her Qi and her mouth slowly dropped after experiencing a strange phenomenon in her consciousness.

Rowen then took the letter and carefully read it once more.

‘Dear sister,

If you are reading this, I hope you are alone. The things I am about to tell you should not be told to anyone else. The necklace I gave you isn’t any ordinary necklace, if you pour your Qi into it, you should understand what I mean. Inside it, should be a ring, please wear this ring as it can save your life. Unfortunately I can’t tell you any more than this as I’ve promised a certain someone to not tell anyone.

Please use these items in secret. I love you. Let’s meet again.

Your little brother, Teo’

Once more, she poured her Qi into the pendant and the same phenomenon occurred. She felt that she was in front of an extremely large room.

She quickly discovered a ring, a letter and several items within this mysterious space. Despite the spacious room, her senses could easily detect any of its contents.

The strange experience caused her consciousness to be aware of two different spaces. She could feel that she was within the forest while at the same time, being in front of a mysterious room.

Her consciousness reached out towards both ring and letter within this room and before she knew it, the ring and letter was both appeared in her hands!

“This is..!!”

Quickly stopping the flow of her Qi, she took the new letter in her hand and started reading it. Her eyes traverse through the page line by line and on the last line, she quickly dropped to the floor. All of her strength seemed to disappear as she found what was written unbelievable!

She reread the letter once more, to confirm that her eyes did not deceive her.

‘Dear sister,

If you are reading this, then you have already seen what this pendant can do.This is a void jewelry, you can keep many things inside it, as for how much, I think you can guess yourself.

The ring is like a protective charm. As long as you activate it with your Qi, it will form a barrier around your body blocking attacks from any angle. As for how strong it can block, I am not sure. It should be able to block the class 4 attacks, but anything higher, I am not sure. There are only 10 charges you can use consecutively, but you can fill it up with your Qi and charge them back up.

Sister, don’t let anyone else use this ring, aside from anyone from our family, the ring will explode if you do so. As for the necklace, it won’t explode, but only family members can use it.

PS. I also added some medicine and other stuff within the ring, so use them when you need.

- Teo’

When Rowen read the words “Void Jewelry”, her knees became weak. She had heard of this legendary item before, and after using her necklace, she knew that the descriptions from the rumors were exactly the same.

Void jewelry, a treasure that no commoner would be able to buy. Only after a while did it register in her mind; the fact that a treasure was hanging off her neck.

As she took several deep breaths, she quickly placed both letters inside the space and wore the ring on her index finger.

It was a simple looking ring, made of a dull silver color. She could not imagine this to be some sort of defensive treasure, but after seeing the void jewelry at work, she could only believe it to be true.

‘Teo, how did you get these things?’

For a normal boy like Teo, it was almost impossible to get these treasures! Rowen’s mind tried to reason why Teo came to obtain such items, and a phrase within the letters grabbed her attention.

‘Unfortunately I can’t tell you any more than this as I’ve promised a certain someone to not tell anyone.’

This sentence implied that Teo might have known a mysterious figure that could have helped Teo arrange all of this!

‘Someone? Who could it be?...’ As she questioned herself further a sudden insight burst in her mind!

She was mystified as she realized who it could be!

‘That eccentric!’

She recalled the mysterious eccentric that many were looking for. The one who shook the academy, forcing several powers to do his bidding! The eccentric that was skilled enough to create a saint tier inscription so he must be skilled enough to create these treasures!

‘Teo must have known this eccentric! These were probably created by that eccentric, but why would he give Teo such things?’

After a moment’s paused she let out an uncontrollable sound

“Ah!”

‘He must have been that eccentric’s helper! Or perhaps even an apprentice!!’

Rowen’s thoughts riled up her emotions and she became excited as she thought of this possibility. This was one of the more believable explanations in her mind. The thought of Teo creating such things was not even considered.

She felt very happy for Teo, to find a master or gain favor of such a person would make him an important figure within the empire!

She took her pendant and hid it inside her shirt. Initially she wanted to show it off to others like any ordinary girl but once she realized its value, she was worried that it might fall off or get stolen.

-Rustle Rustle-

Rowen’s ear’s perked as she detected movement nearby. Upon travelling into this deserted forest, she slowly scattered some of the metallic shavings around the area.

She focused all her senses and using a similar technique as Danie’s [Earth Sense], she discovered two pairs of footsteps.

She quickly moved into the cover of thick shrubs and looked to the direction of these footsteps. Her sense felt a faint killing intent!

Rowen drew her sword, preparing for an engagement. She was too far out into the forest, and the path back was blocked by these two strangers.

She quickly ran further into the forest trying to circle around activating her new boots, but as she did, she noticed that they also started running. Her mind initially tried to guess who these two were, but now she had confirmed that they are after her.

‘This shoes!’

Rowen realizes that her speed increased by many folds. She had only worn boots with low tier speed enchantments, but judging from her current speed, she knew that these were high tier speed enchantment!

Despite moving swiftly, her pursuers movements were not slow as one circled around aiming to block her path!

‘Wind elementalist!’

[Author's Note: I have decided to update on RRL a few (1-2) chapters behind to my releases on my website (releasing 71 here as I released 72 there). These are all rough drafts until my editor gets some free time from his busy schedule. Transition chapters are hard >_<. Thanks for reading and support! ]