Misaki Town — the Arato residence.
After passing his information on to Aozaki Touko, Arato Sora sat down on the sofa and fell into a daze.
Once his mind fully loosened, his thoughts spread like wild vines—growing wherever they pleased, piling up in messy clusters and sprouting inside his head.
Fujino Asagami.
Aoko.
Touko.
The world of magi.
A lot had been happening around him lately. He needed time to decompress.
Not to mention—after such high-intensity action in that "dream," his精神 was already exhausted.
So he decided that before Touko wrote back, he would temporarily stop thinking about anything related to magecraft.
He stayed in his room for a while, then—almost on instinct—wandered to the living-room cabinet and took out several minerals to fiddle with.
Leaning back into the sofa, he lifted a brilliant gemstone toward the lamp, watching the way light passed through it and changed.
Arato Sora liked rocks.
Stones were the planet's records.
The traces and shapes in how different stones were distributed were themselves part of the planet's transformations.
Whether gemstones, soil, or even flowing water—it was all part of nature's record.
All of it was "another kind of stone," something Arato Sora wanted to pursue.
By observing the marks carved into them, he could restore the planet's true form—and answer the questions in his heart.
Where did they come from?
Why did they exist?
The object itself wasn't important.
What mattered was the unknown it represented—and how it tested and verified existing knowledge.
In the end, what Arato Sora loved was witnessing the truth of the world with his own eyes.
"I looked at the stones in that dungeon world. They were… a unified whole. It's like something else interfered with them, making them take on shapes completely different from reality. That's probably why those bees could grow to that size."
"If I have more time next time, I can study them properly. This time really was too rushed."
Muttering, he laid out his thoughts.
Even as he talked about it like a regret, his eyes were serious—and his lips curled upward despite himself.
Because this time…
He really had seen a different landscape.
Arato Sora wanted to see the truth of this world—wanted to chase down every answer he craved.
If the "mystery" Touko spoke of was part of this planet's development, then why wouldn't he learn it?
If gods existed, then gods were part of nature.
If mystery existed, then mystery was an unavoidable subject in any attempt to explore the world.
He didn't know what his previous world had been like.
But at least this world he'd crossed into… was more interesting than he'd imagined.
His mind grew excited, and his drifting thoughts hooked onto something else.
He stood up and began taking more stones from the cabinet, using tools to observe and study them.
In the dungeon world, he hadn't had the leisure to examine rocks closely—he'd been too focused on setting traps and completing the "destroy the giant hive" task.
But he had glanced at them while working.
Certain features had been burned into his memory.
And those features felt… faintly familiar.
The stones he'd collected from various parts of Misaki Town went back and forth across his work surface as he compared and filtered them.
Time flew.
"Just as I thought."
When the sky dimmed again, Arato Sora let out a tired—but satisfied—sound.
His judgment hadn't been wrong.
That distinctive feature he'd seen in certain stones in the dungeon world wasn't a one-off anomaly unique to the instance.
He found stones with similar features in reality.
The trait wasn't as obvious as it had been in the dungeon—
But after repeated verification, he was certain:
It was a trace intimately connected to mystery and mana.
"Where did I pick up this one again…?"
He flipped through his field notebook, matching it against the tag.
A single name surfaced.
—Shirainuzuka.
He opened a map of Misaki Town and spread it across the table. After checking, he found it was private land located at the highest point in Misaki Town.
The owner of the land was the well-known Kuonji Conglomerate.
"The Kuonji family's young lady… seems to live up on the mountain."
The mountain "haunted house" was also a fairly widespread local legend among Misaki Town's children.
They said a witch lived in a castle on the mountain.
Parents often warned their kids not to go up there—saying the witch would eat them.
Whether the tale came from adults' resentment of the rich, or was simply a crude way to keep children away from danger, was no longer something anyone could verify.
But one thing was certain…
The one living in that mountain mansion was probably someone connected to the world of mystery.
Arato Sora: "..."
After silently analyzing it, he finally let out a helpless sigh.
The world of mystery was dangerous.
Magi were cruel.
Especially in a place like Misaki—far from the Mage's Association—cruelty could run even wilder.
As long as it didn't cause major public chaos, magi killing each other would see no interference at all.
Touko had warned him before she left:
At his current level, other magi could kill him easily.
If he wanted to avoid trouble, he should avoid exposing himself as a magus and disguise himself completely as an ordinary person.
Because in the mystery world, thanks to the organization called the Holy Church, magi couldn't attack ordinary people without reason—doing so would invite punishment, even pursuit.
Arato Sora exhaled softly.
"Looks like I don't really have a chance to explore."
He summarized the situation to himself.
And just as he finished saying that—
Ring-ring-ring—ring-ring-ring—
The phone in the living room rang again.
He walked to the landline and picked it up.
A familiar voice quickly reached his ear.
"What we talked about last time was half-baked. I think we need to talk face-to-face."
That unyielding forcefulness—
It was pure Aozaki Aoko.
In the past, facing Aoko like this, Arato Sora would probably just smile and toss out a couple of teasing remarks.
But now they'd already broken up, hadn't they?
And if they'd broken up, then there was no need for him to keep accommodating her temperament.
"I've been busy lately. I don't have time."
For now, he didn't plan to leave home.
After all, there was still a giant bee corpse in his house.
If someone saw it, that would be trouble. To be safe, it was better if he stayed nearby and kept watch.
"Hah? No time?"
That familiar "huff" came through the receiver.
Aoko clearly hadn't expected that answer.
"Then I'll come to your place," she blurted—almost reflexively.
"We're not a couple anymore. You don't have the right to just show up at my house," Arato Sora replied calmly.
"Hey, you—"
Whatever she was about to say cut off mid-sentence.
Her breathing came through the phone.
Arato Sora could practically picture her: eyes wide, angry.
He almost wanted to laugh at how she'd been checked like that.
And from that reaction, he realized something—
He really was still bothered by the fact that she'd dumped him.
In the half-second silence between them—
"Either way, we have to make things clear," the girl on the other end said again, her voice subdued after cooling down.
"I've accepted being dumped by you, Aoko. Relax—I'm probably not going to cling to you."
"..."
Silence again.
Arato Sora paused as well.
"Tomorrow after school—set a time. I'll come to your school and find you."
That was the response he finally gave.
"Fine."
Aoko answered, then hung up quickly.
Arato Sora held the receiver and thought for a moment, then shook his head.
Agreeing to meet and make things clear was something he needed to do anyway.
With Aoko's personality, if he didn't, she might just show up at his front door one day and block him in.
And his current situation… was not something he could let Aoko see.
He had an agreement with Touko:
If he told Aoko in advance that he was learning magecraft, then Touko and he would become enemies to the death.
Right now, Arato Sora still needed Touko as a channel to obtain knowledge about the world of mystery.
-------
Promotion Valentine's Month Sale: 20% off for 7 days. Apply now!
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
I, Herta's Fiancé, the Universe's Number One Male Fist (114 Chapter (Simulpub-Full) )
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Succubus in Sixth Street (400 Chapter)
Reborn in Type-Moon, My Sister is Aoko Aozaki (254 Chapter)
MyGO!! A Story Voiced by Me (140 Chapter)
BLEACH: Blade of Purification (158 Chapter)
Konoha: Starting the Game as Yoriichi (400 Chapter)
My Real Job is Spying on Konoha, but I'm Also its Hokage (140 Chapter)
The Pinnacle of the Navy! Starting from Being Captured by Garp (172 Chapter)
Watching Yu-Gi-Oh! short videos is making the veteran players lose...(80 Chapter)
Uma Musume : The Trainer Who Just Wants to Live (200 Chapter)
Zenless Zone Zero The Random Kamen Rider (200 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: It All Began With Me Being Stepped On by Arlecchino (120 Chapter)
Naruto: I Can Synthesize Summoning Beasts (96 Chapter)
Demon Slayer: The Great Swordsman's System, Disciple of Yoriichi (140 Chapter)
My Wife is a General, but I'm an Emanator of Abundance! (160 Chapter)
Type-Moon: My Nine-Fold Path (140 Chapter)
Uma Musume: They're Peeking at My Diary, and All of Tracen is Panickin (Ending)
The Wild History of Type-Moon world (70 Chapter)
Reborn in Conan, But I Refuse to Be the Bad Guy (80 Chapter)
Ruan Mei is begging me to go back? But there's no going back anymore (140 Chapter)
Just a Slacker at Tracen Academy (165 Chapter)
Survival in Blue Archive (70 Chapter)
Kimetsu no Yaiba: Doma Wasn't Hated Today, Either (100 Chapter)
The Vibe of This Chat Group is a Little Off (100 Chapter)
Heartbreak Simulator: I Broke Them and Made Them Cry (80 Chapter)
The Talentless Trainer Doesn't Want to Restart (80 Chapter)
A Journey Starting as a Quincy (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: The Master of Romance Obstruction (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: You Can't Be a Hero Without a Little Chemical Enhancement (40 Chapter)
Honkai Impact 3rd Your Boyfriend is Really Amazing (40 Chapter)
Warhammer 40K: My Fiancée, Fulgrim (180 Chapter)
Classroom of the Elite: Trying to Capture Me! (120 Chapter)
Genshin Impact My Named Senji Muramas (150 Chapter)
A Chef, the Vice-Captain of the Rocks Pirates? (160 Chapter)
Naruto : My Uchiha Girlfriend is Too Tsundere (130 Chapter)
Type-Moon: Reincarnated in a Lostbelt, I Became the Alien God (90 Chapter)
The Way These Horse Girls Look at Me Is Terrifying! (160 Chapter)
Naruto: Tsunade's Deskmate (130 Chapter)
I Just Want to Live a Normal (50 Chapter).
Genshin Impact: A Hundred Confessions? It's Just a System Task (70 Chapter)
OnePiece : Starting as a Veteran of the Roger Pirates (60 Chapter)
Uma Musume : I Have Special Horse Taming Techniques (190 Chapter)
Uma Musume : My other self is a Horse Girl (130 Chapter)
Jujutsu Kaisen : All Affection Stats Maxed Out (200 Chapter)
Satou Kazuma's Decision to Live by Swindling, Starting from Re:Zero (60 Chapter)
Bleach : Ichigo! Take Over the Soul Society (89 Chapter)
Crossover Anime: The Master of Plagiarism with a 'Love Obstacle (140 Chapter)
Arknights Succubus Nurturing System, But I'm a Quiet Office Worker (90 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: Using My Personas to Break the Hearts of Players (50 Chapter)
One Punch Man : i am King? (150 Chapter)
Genshin: My Stats Are Irresistible (70 Chapter)
Naruto: Master of Dream Fulfillment! (70 Chapter)
Why Are All My Chat Group Friends Spin-Off Characters? (123 Chapter)
Arknights : Batman System (30 Chapter)
Chat Group: Swapping Bodies with the Bad-Ending Herta from the Start (72 Chapter)
DanMachi: Why Did My Dungeon Turn Into a Soulslike Game? (92 Chapter)
Losing Money on Uma Musume...What Do You Mean You Actually Won? (93 Chapter)
I'm Gotou Hitori—Who Are You? (40 Chapter)
Were You Ever Even a Uma Musume? Stop Making Things Up! (75 Chapter)
Moon Project: A Full-Time Love Adventure for the Lobotomy Corporation (75 Chapter)
The Leisurely Days of the Hyuga Main House (65 Chapter)
Arknights : A Draco Surviving in a Matriarchal Terra (115 Chapter)
Arknights: What if My Luck Is Too Good? (105 Chapter)
Honkai: The Romance System Only Shows Up After I Marry Mei (55 Chapter)
Arknights: Who Are You Calling Repressed, X?! (105 Chapter)
The Chat Group Only Arrived After I'd Cleared the Game (42 Chapter)
Gojo Satoru Flat-Out Refuses to Admit He's a Supporting Character (40 Chapter)
Chat Group Isn't Supposed to Be Like This! (30 Chapter)
If You're Moriarty…then Who Am I? (50 Chapter)
Uma Musume: Since I "Can't See," They Take Turns Stealing My Underwear (50 Chapter)
Arknights: Why Are All My "Brothers" Girls? (54 Chapter)
Danmachi: Start Training Haki (59 Chapter)
Emiya Shirou's Rebirth (30 Chapter)
I Can Get Stronger Just by AFK'ing—So I Joined a Chat Group (50 Chapter)
Endfield: I Can Always Pull Out One Yuan (47 Chapter)
Limbus Company : I Started a Company in Project Moon (50 Chapter)
Lobotomy: Do Cooks of Alley 23 Dream of Bloodfiend Knights? (50 Chapter)
DanMachi: Freya Familia's "One-Blade Shura" (47 Chapter)
DanMachi: Emiya, the Great Hero Becomes the Protagonist (50 Chapter)
TYPE-MOON: One Special Instance Every Week (40 Chapter)
From Danmachi: The Abundance Apothecary (52 Chapter)
Lord Shadow Descends on DanMachi (30 Chapter)
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it