The brief laughter slowly faded, leaving behind a strange sense of warmth amidst the unease surrounding the sanctuary.
Mora huffed and folded her arms, deliberately turning her face away from Limbo.
"Hmph... You're the hopeless one."
Limbo couldn't help but chuckle.
"Oh? Since When?"
"Since always."
"That's quite convincing."
"Is it!"
She puffed her face again before quietly walking back towards adri, still pretending to be upset.
Adri gently patted the girl's head before her expression gradually became serious once More.
The warmth disappeared from her eyes.
Limbo noticed the change immediately.
"... something's bothering you."
Adri remained silent for a long moment.
Then she finally spoke.
"It's not just yesterday."
Limbo quietly waited.
"The corruption...."
She looked towards the distant forest.
"...has been changing for years."
Her fingers slowly tightened around the wooden bowl she still carried.
"I've been asking myself same question for a long time."
"Why?"
"Why this forest?"
"Why this sanctuary?"
"Why now?"
She slowly lowered her head.
"And every answer led me back..."
Her gazed settled on Mora.
"...to this child."
Limbo frowned.
"They're after her?"
Adri immediately shook her head.
"I don't know."
Her answer came without hesitation.
"And that's what trouble me."
"If I knew..."
"I would have prepared long ago."
She looked towards Mora once again.
"Everything began changing after this child was born."
The atmosphere became noticeably heavier.
"for the first three years..."
"...Nothing happened."
"It was peaceful."
"Just an ordinary life."
A faint smile appeared on her face as though remembering happier days.
"Mora's parents would constantly argue over the smallest things."
"Her father would always lose."
Mora giggled.
"He always said mommy cheated."
Adri smiled faintly.
"He said that every single time, if he can't win argument."
The smile slowly disappeared.
"But..."
"One day..."
"He disappeared."
Silence settled over the clearing.
"No trace."
"No struggle."
"No farewell."
"He simply..."
"...Never came back."
Limbo quietly listened.
He didn't interrupt.
He could tell Adri hadn't spoken about this in a very long time.
She continued.
"I searched..."
"For days."
"Then weeks."
"Then months.."
"Nothing."
The old women's eyes slowly drifted towards the endless forest.
"And not long after..."
"...Ruddi disappeared too."
Mora lowered her head.
She had Heard the story before.
Yet it still hurt.
"The corruption became different after that."
"It spread faster."
"The creatures slowly stopped feeling like forest i knew."
A long silence followed.
Finally....
Limbo asked the question lingering inside his mind.
"What is the purpose of all this?"
Adri let out a quiet sigh.
"Purpose?"
She smiled bitterly.
"Does snake needs a reason to bite?"
Limbo remained silent.
"It hurts because it's its nature."
"It kills because that's what it does."
She looked towards the corrupted lands.
"The darkness..."
"...wishes to swallow everything."
"Whether it needs a reason..."
"...I no longer know."
She paused briefly before continuing.
"But..."
"It has been searching for something."
Limbo immediately caught that sentence.
"Something?"
Adri nodded slowly.
"I don't know what."
"I don't know whom. "
"But...."
"I know it has been searching."
Her eyes slowly narrowed.
"And while I remained here protecting this place..."
"...many things happened beyond forest."
Limbo quietly absorbed every word.
There were still too many missing pieces.
Yet the picture slowly became larger.
He finally understood why Adri never spoke with certainty.
She truly don't know.
She was surviving.
"Not controlling the situation.
Adri suddenly looked directly into his eyes.
"You've walked into the lion's den."
Her voice became firm.
"Knowing it...."
"...you still choose to stay."
She slowly stepped closer.
"But don't mistake yesterday for victory."
"You blocked a few attacks."
"You protected the barrier."
"You possess unusual abilities."
"That doesn't make you invincible."
The words struck limbo harder than expected.
Because he knew....
She was right.
One successful night didn't change reality.
There were still enemies beyond his understanding.
Still powers he couldn't comprehend.
Still many mysterious waiting to consume him.
Adri's expression softened slightly.
"If.."
"..we survive this."
"There is something I'd like to give you."
Limbo blinked.
"Give me?"
She nodded.
"But..."
She raised one finger.
"You'll have to prove you're worthy of it."
A faint smile appeared on Limbo's face.
"I'll try."
"I don't want you to try."
Adri answered immediately.
"I want result, i want you to succeed."
The atmosphere relaxed slightly.
Then Adri suddenly asked.
"By the way..."
"What is your affinity?"
The question caught limbo completely off guard.
"Affinity..?"
His thoughts immediately began racing.
I can't tell her about the system.
Adaptability?
Fragments?
Unknown Affinities?
Absolute not..
He awkwardly scratched his cheek
"....Light."
The answer came out almost automatically.
"...Light magic."
Adri quietly observed him.
"And?"
Limbo hesitated.
"I..."
"...learn quickly."
"No."
He corrected himself.
"I can learn almost anything."
Silence.
Then...
Adri smiled.
It wasn't mocking.
Nor doubtful.
It was simply...
Interested.
"Really?"
She slowly stood up.
"Then let's see."
Limbo raised an eyebrow.
"See what?"
Without answering, adri closed her eyes.
She took one slow breath.
The surrounding mana didn't move.
Instead....
Something inside her body awakened.
Limbo immediately focused.
A faint stream of energy emerged near the soles of Adri's feet.
It slowly rose up upward.
One point.
Then another.
Another.
Another.
Like tiny stars lightning up inside the human body.
The energy flowed upward in a precise order.
Never rushing.
Never stopping.
Every movement followed a rhythm.
A pathway.
A pattern.
Limbo's eyes widened.
"...What..."
His breathing unconsciously slowed.
He wasn't looking at flesh.
He wasn't looking at bones.
He was seeing something else entirely.
A hidden flow.
A network buries beneath the body itself.
Adri slowly opened one eye.
"There's huge source of energy within every living being."
"It has always been there, dormant."
"It simply requires..."
"...the right vessel."
"....and the right method to draw it out."
One wrong move.....stop midword.
Limbo couldn't look away.
Every instinct inside him screamed to memories what he was seeing.
That paths.
The sequence.
The rhythm...
Everything..
It felt strangely similiar.
As though he had seen something similar before.
Yet...
At the same time.
It was completely new.
His pupils narrowed.
His mind began analysing every tiny fluctuation.
Every pulse.
Every movement.
Every connection.
Can it be learned...
The thought echoed inside his mind.
"...just by watching?"