Chapter 117
Nille and Lin Yue made their way toward the shimmering gateway that remained open near the castle grounds. The spatial passage he had unconsciously created was still stable, its edges rippling faintly with celestial light as spiritual energy from the surroundings continued to sustain it.
As they approached, a familiar blur of fur suddenly burst through the gateway.
The Lakivot.
The moment the creature spotted Nille, it hurried toward him without hesitation.
Its tail swayed excitedly as it reached his side, immediately rubbing against his legs while letting out a series of contented purrs.
Nille couldn't help but smile.
"Looks like someone was waiting."
The Lakivot answered by pressing its head against his knee.
Lin Yue laughed softly before crouching down beside the creature. Luna immediately accepted the attention, purring even louder as she gently stroked its fur.
"You've become much friendlier," Lin Yue observed.
The creature tilted its head and blinked innocently.
A few moments later, footsteps approached from behind the gateway.
Liraya Venshiel emerged shortly afterward.
The dark elven girl immediately noticed Nille and hurried over.
"Benefactor!"
Nille nodded.
"Liraya."
The young dark elf looked relieved to see them both safe.
"I heard there was a discovery beneath the mine."
"There was."
Liraya's eyes widened with curiosity, but she wisely refrained from asking further questions.
Instead, she looked down at Luna.
The Lakivot had already become something of a local favorite among the settlement's residents.
Nille glanced toward her.
"Thank you."
The dark elf blinked.
"For what?"
"For helping take care of Luna."
A bright smile immediately appeared on her face.
"Oh."
She looked genuinely pleased.
"Luna is easy to care for."
The Lakivot proudly lifted its head as if agreeing.
Nille chuckled.
Then his expression softened.
"There is actually something else I'd like to ask."
Liraya immediately straightened.
"Anything."
Nille crouched down beside Luna.
The creature immediately climbed closer, pressing itself against him while continuing to purr.
Slowly, he began brushing his fingers through its soft fur.
"Luna."
The Lakivot looked up.
For a moment, Nille remained silent.
His thoughts drifted elsewhere.
To memories.
Questions.
Unfinished stories.
Pieces of the past that still lacked answers.
"I named you Luna because of a memory."
The creature's ears twitched.
"A memory that never truly had closure."
His voice was quiet.
"Something from my past that never received a proper answer."
Lin Yue remained silent, sensing there was more meaning behind those words than he was revealing.
Nille continued brushing the creature's fur.
"Back then, I thought I would eventually understand everything."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"Turns out I only found more questions."
His gaze briefly shifted toward the distant castle.
Toward the mine.
Toward the ancient tomb hidden beneath it.
"Just like now."
The spirit's words echoed faintly within his mind.
The seed.
The forgotten civilization.
The Great Flood.
The ancient lineage.
The Celestial Cloth.
Questions.
Endless questions.
And somewhere beneath the castle, hidden within centuries of silence, lay a piece of the answer.
Perhaps more than one.
Nille looked back at the Lakivot.
"This place holds part of what I'm searching for."
Luna blinked.
Then tilted her head.
The gesture made Lin Yue smile.
Nille gently scratched beneath the creature's chin.
"Can you stay here for me?"
Luna's ears perked up.
"Stay with Liraya."
The Lakivot glanced toward the dark elf.
Liraya immediately knelt beside them.
"I'll take good care of her."
Nille nodded.
Then he looked back at Luna.
"And while I'm gone..."
His gaze drifted toward the castle once more.
"...protect this place."
For a moment, the Lakivot simply stared at him.
Then something unexpected happened.
The creature turned toward the castle.
Toward the settlement.
Toward the distant mine entrance.
Its playful demeanor faded slightly.
Not completely.
But enough.
Luna slowly sat upright.
Then, with surprising seriousness for such a small creature, she gave a single nod.
Lin Yue blinked.
Liraya blinked.
Even Nille paused.
A moment later, Luna returned to rubbing against his arm as though nothing unusual had happened.
Lin Yue burst into laughter.
"I swear that thing understood every word."
"Maybe," Nille replied.
Liraya looked equally stunned.
"Can Lakivots do that?"
"Considering everything we've seen recently?" Lin Yue said. "I'm not ruling anything out."
Nille smiled and gave Luna one final pat on the head before standing.
The creature remained beside Liraya, though her golden eyes continued following him.
Watching.
Waiting.
As though she truly intended to honor the promise she had just been given.
For some reason, Nille found that reassuring.
The castle.
The settlement.
The tomb beneath the mine.
For now, they would remain in good hands.
And with that burden eased, he and Lin Yue finally turned toward the road leading away from the settlement.
Ahead lay Yamatai Island.
Behind them remained the secrets of the past.
And somewhere between the two, Nille knew, waited the answers he had spent his entire life searching for.
Leaving the swamp territory behind, Nille and Lin Yue retraced their path through the Rune Forge facilities. The journey felt strangely ordinary compared to everything they had experienced beneath the castle.
They passed through secured corridors, crossed the sub-basement levels maintained by the Rune Forge Merchant Group, and eventually emerged onto one of the main streets of Yamatai Island.
The island was as lively as ever.
Merchants negotiated prices.
Students moved between districts.
Adventurers prepared for expeditions.
To everyone around them, it was simply another day.
Yet both Nille and Lin Yue knew they had just stepped out of a place that could potentially rewrite portions of recorded history.
Once they were clear of the Rune Forge district, Lin Yue raised her hand.
A familiar spiritual fluctuation appeared beside her.
Moments later, Guāi materialized.
The Abyan looked exactly as eccentric as ever.
"Need something?" the creature asked.
Lin Yue smiled.
"Can you find Corazon for me?"
Guāi stretched lazily.
"Of course."
Without another word, the Abyan vanished into the crowd.
Only after confirming they were alone did Lin Yue reach into her pocket.
Nille did the same.
Both removed the academy communication units issued to students.
Without hesitation, they powered them down completely.
The screens darkened.
The tracking functions ceased.
The devices became nothing more than inactive pieces of metal.
Neither found the action unusual.
The academy had never hidden the fact that the island's security systems monitored student-issued devices.
Most students accepted it.
Others did not.
Those born into merchant clans, noble families, or cultivation sects often developed habits of caution long before arriving at the academy.
Nille and Lin Yue were no exception.
In fact, both of them had disabled their devices before even attending the academy's official midterm announcement.
Old habits were difficult to abandon.
And now that classes had been suspended indefinitely due to the unfolding examination events, neither saw any reason to keep the devices active.
Satisfied, they continued walking until they found a quiet shaded area beneath a cluster of large trees overlooking one of the island's lesser-used pathways.
The sounds of the city became distant.
For the first time all day, they could finally sit and think.
Lin Yue settled onto a nearby stone bench.
Nille sat beside her.
For a while neither spoke.
Eventually, Lin Yue broke the silence.
"There is something bothering me."
Nille glanced toward her.
"The scroll?"
She nodded.
"The chamber was filled with relics."
"Ancient artifacts."
"Items carrying spiritual pressure."
"Some of them probably possessed enchantments older than our kingdoms."
Nille understood where she was going.
"But the scroll didn't."
Lin Yue carefully removed the preserved parchment from her inner uniform jacket pocket
"It had no active enchantments."
"No defensive formations."
"No spiritual hostility."
"Nothing."
She frowned slightly.
"And yet it was the only scroll in the entire chamber that survived."
Nille looked at the parchment.
That fact had bothered him as well.
It shouldn't have survived.
Not naturally.
Thousands of years would have reduced ordinary parchment to dust.
Yet somehow this one remained intact.
Almost as if it had been preserved deliberately.
Waiting.
For whom, neither of them knew.
Lin Yue slowly opened the scroll.
The familiar ancient writing became visible once more.
The same strange symbols neither of them fully understood.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then the writing moved.
Both froze.
The ancient characters shimmered.
One by one, the symbols detached themselves from the parchment.
Not the ink.
The symbols themselves.
They lifted from the surface like strands of golden light.
"What"
Lin Yue stopped speaking.
The symbols continued rising.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
Ancient characters floated upward like glowing fireflies.
Nille immediately stood.
His eyes narrowed.
He could sense no hostility.
No attack.
Yet what he was witnessing defied all logic.
The symbols gathered above Lin Yue's head.
Then, before either of them could react, they surged downward.
Straight into her forehead.
Lin Yue's eyes widened.
The entire process lasted less than a second.
The last symbol vanished.
Silence followed.
Then the parchment in her hands crumbled.
The preserved material instantly aged thousands of years.
Dust scattered into the wind.
Gone.
Neither spoke.
Neither moved.
Several nearby students continued walking past without even glancing in their direction.
Nobody else had seen it.
Nobody had reacted.
It was as if the phenomenon had existed solely for them.
Lin Yue slowly touched her forehead.
"...Did that just happen?"
Nille stared at the drifting dust.
"Please tell me you saw that."
"I saw it."
"Good."
Lin Yue exhaled.
"Because I was about to question my sanity."
Nille let out a quiet breath, his gaze still lingering where the scroll had once been.
"I've been used to seeing strange things now," he said after a moment, his tone calm but honest. "Nothing really surprises me anymore."
Nille crouched and examined the remains of the parchment.
There was nothing left.
No hidden compartment.
No concealed message.
No trace of the ancient writing.
Only dust.
His gaze shifted toward Lin Yue.
"How do you feel?"
She closed her eyes.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then her expression changed.
Confusion.
Surprise.
Disbelief.
"...I can read it."
Nille blinked.
"What?"
Lin Yue opened her eyes.
"The language."
Her voice was filled with astonishment.
"I can understand it."
She pressed a hand against her forehead.
The symbols hadn't vanished.
They were inside her.
Not physically.
As knowledge.
As memory.
As understanding.
The realization struck both of them simultaneously.
The scroll had never been intended to teach through study.
It had never been intended to be copied.
It had never been intended to survive forever.
It had been designed to be inherited.
Used once.
Then destroyed.
Nille slowly sat back down.
A thousand-year-old civilization.
A forgotten tomb.
A perfectly preserved scroll.
A language no longer spoken.
And now knowledge that had transferred itself directly into Lin Yue's mind.
The coincidence was becoming increasingly difficult to call coincidence.
Lin Yue remained silent.
Her hand still rested against her forehead.
Fragments of information continued surfacing within her thoughts.
Words.
Meanings.
Concepts.
Instructions.
Not just a spell.
An entire method of understanding it.
Slowly, she looked toward Nille.
The disbelief on her face mirrored his own.
"I think..."
She swallowed.
"...I think the scroll was waiting for someone."
Nille looked toward the dust carried away by the wind.
For some reason, the answer felt obvious.
"Not someone."
Lin Yue stared at him.
Nille's gaze shifted toward her.
"You."
Neither of them laughed.
Because after everything they had seen beneath the tomb...
That explanation somehow felt like the most reasonable one.
The two of them sat in silence for a moment, still trying to process what had just happened.
Lin Yue's fingers remained lightly pressed against her forehead, as if confirming that the knowledge embedded within her was real and not some illusion left behind by the ancient scroll. Nille, on the other hand, simply exhaled and leaned back against the stone bench.
Then, unexpectedly, he smiled.
"It's going to be fine," he said calmly. "I've been through worse situations than that."
Lin Yue blinked. "Worse?"
Nille gave a small shrug. "I once entered a place that manifested my interest in indoor warehouse farming."
There was a brief pause.
Lin Yue stared at him.
"…Really?"
Nille nodded seriously. "It was like dreaming, but not quite. Similar to what the Second Dean can do."
Lin Yue tilted her head. "You mean spatial manifestation in the real world?"
"Yes. That one."
He glanced upward as if recalling it.
"It might not seem like a big deal to senior students since they've already seen professors demonstrate similar techniques. But for me, it felt… different. Like it was being pulled from inside my mind rather than created outside of it."
Lin Yue let out a quiet laugh. "And what do you call it?"
Nille thought for a moment.
"My mother used to call it her tea garden."
That made Lin Yue pause.
Nille continued, his tone softening slightly.
"When I was a baby, I remember spending time with her in a beautiful garden. She would sit there drinking tea, like the world didn't exist beyond it."
His gaze drifted somewhere distant.
"When I turned five, she told me about our legacy… and our connection with shamanism."
Lin Yue listened more closely now, her earlier confusion slowly replaced by curiosity.
"But my third eye wasn't opened yet at that time," Nille added. "So I couldn't really understand what she meant."
A faint, nostalgic smile crossed his face.
"Later, I went to the Philippines many times to stay with my grandfather during vacations. But on that fateful day, when I was ten, that was when I met you."
Lin Yue raised an eyebrow slightly. "Ah… you mean at the hospital?"
Nille nodded.
"I also learned Tagalog from our household helpers back then," he continued. "So visiting your country felt strangely natural to me, like I already belonged there in some way."
He leaned back slightly, eyes drifting as he recalled the past.
"My grandfather had sentimental reasons for always coming back. It started when I was around five years old. Every vacation month, my parents would leave me with him."
He paused, then gave a small, calm shrug.
"I never really questioned it. I didn't hold it against them either. In my mind, it was just… their way of living. Like they were on an endless honeymoon every year, while I stayed behind with my grandfather."
His tone remained light, but there was a quiet honesty beneath it, as if he had long since made peace with those memories.
"Meeting you was peculiar… and now, in hindsight, somewhat nostalgic," Nille said quietly.
Lin Yue tilted her head, listening.
"At that time, I had no idea what I was really seeing," he continued. "You looked like you were fighting something… something wrapped in a layer of transparent plastic."
Lin Yue's eyes widened slightly. "What?"
"I couldn't see it clearly," Nille admitted. "But I could sense it. There was something there—something I couldn't fully perceive, but I knew it wasn't normal."
Nille leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on his knees as the memory settled more clearly in his mind.
"I think that was the moment I first realized my perception doesn't work like everyone else's," he said quietly.
Lin Yue stayed silent for a moment, absorbing his words.
Then she gave a small, uncertain laugh. "So you're saying you've always been like this?"
Nille glanced at her.
"Not like this," he corrected gently. "Just… aware in a different way. Since I opened my eyes."
His gaze lingered for a moment longer than necessary, as if seeing something beyond her physical form.
"And now it seems you're starting to experience it too."
Lin Yue exhaled slowly. "I encountered something similar. Writing floated in front of me, then entered my mind directly. After that, I gained the ability to cast two spells… though my fire spell is still low-tier."
Her voice was calm, but there was an unease beneath it—something subtle, like the edge of reality had shifted slightly out of place.
Lin Yue lowered her hand, staring at the space where the scroll had once existed.
"…This is going to take some getting used to," she murmured.
For a moment, silence stretched between them.
The world around them felt normal—passing students, distant voices, the wind brushing through the trees—but to them, it no longer fully aligned.
Something had already changed.
Something irreversible.
Nille slowly exhaled.
Strangely… he didn't feel afraid.
If anything, there was a quiet acceptance in his expression.
As if this distortion of reality had always been waiting for him to acknowledge it.
Like returning to something familiar.
A true nature that had only been dormant.
"I don't think this is something to 'get used to,'" he said at last.
Lin Yue looked at him.
Nille's eyes darkened slightly—not with fear, but with focus.
"It feels more like something that was always there… and finally started looking back."
Lin Yue felt a faint chill at his words.
Nille continued, voice lower now.
"When that writing entered you… I saw it clearly. It didn't teach you. It marked you."
He paused.
"And things that mark you… usually expect something in return."
Lin Yue didn't respond immediately.
The air between them felt heavier now, as if the conversation had stepped slightly outside normal reality.
Still, Nille remained calm.
Even comfortable.
Because beneath the unease, something else stirred in him.
A familiar sensation.
Not fear.
Not confusion.
But clarity.
The same feeling he had once before, when he saw things others couldn't see—when something hidden revealed itself only to him.
A sense of pursuit.
Of targets being revealed.
Of unknown forces finally becoming something he could track.
A faint smile formed on his lips.
"It's fine," Nille said softly.
Lin Yue frowned. "Fine?"
He nodded once.
"If there are answers… then they can be found."
His gaze drifted past her, toward the unseen paths beyond Yamatai Island, as if already tracing something invisible through the world.
"And if something is watching us now…"
His expression didn't waver.
"…then I just need to find out what it is."
For a brief moment, Lin Yue realized something unsettling.
The atmosphere around Nille hadn't become fearful.
It had become predatory.
Not madness.
Not panic.
But something controlled.
Something that accepted the unknown the way a hunter accepts the forest at night.
Silent.
Aware.
And ready.
The world still looked normal.
But to Nille, it no longer was.
Lin Yue slowly leaned her head onto Nille's shoulder, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Nille didn't move away. He simply stayed still beneath the shade, letting the quiet moment settle between them.
Around them, Yamatai Island continued its usual rhythm, students passing by in groups, merchants calling out from nearby stalls, footsteps fading in and out along the stone path. No one stopped. No one stared. It was just another ordinary afternoon to everyone else.
But for them, it felt suspended, slightly removed from everything.
Like the world had softened its edges just for a moment.
A gentle rustle came from above.
Lin Yue's Abyan, Guāi, the small Chinese Sparrowhawk, landed lightly on a branch overhead. Its sharp eyes observed everything with quiet awareness before settling into still watchfulness, guarding them without a sound.
Lin Yue's lips curved faintly as she kept her head on Nille's shoulder.
"Guāi found us," she murmured.
Nille glanced up briefly, then relaxed again.
"Good," he replied softly. "Then we don't need to look for anything right now."
The wind moved through the trees, carrying sunlight in shifting patterns across the ground. For a while, neither of them spoke. There was no urgency in the silence—only presence.
Lin Yue's voice came quieter than before.
"Corazon will be here soon."
"I know," Nille said.
She didn't ask how. She had already learned that he simply noticed things most people never thought to see.
A comfortable silence returned between them.
Then Lin Yue spoke again, almost hesitantly.
"Do you ever feel like… everything is moving too fast?"
Nille thought for a moment.
"Yes," he said honestly. "But not when I'm here."
Lin Yue's fingers shifted slightly against her lap, grounding herself in the moment.
"…Here?" she asked softly.
Nille didn't turn his head. His voice lowered just enough to feel closer than words should.
"With you."
For a brief moment, Lin Yue didn't respond.
Then she exhaled quietly, something between a laugh and a breath she had been holding for too long.
"That's unfair," she murmured.
Nille finally glanced at her.
"Why?"
"Because," she said, closing her eyes, still leaning on him, "you make it sound like I can just stay like this forever."
He didn't answer immediately.
Above them, Guāi shifted slightly on the branch, watching the surroundings but no longer tense—just present.
Nille's gaze drifted forward again.
"I don't know about forever," he said softly. "But right now… it's enough."
Lin Yue stayed quiet for a long moment.
Then, even softer
"…Yeah," she agreed.
And for once, the unknown didn't feel like something hunting them. it was actually going to pick them up.
A few minutes later, the soft sound of an engine rolled into the quiet street.
Corazon's vehicle came to a smooth stop beside the shaded area where Nille and Lin Yue were sitting. The window lowered slightly, revealing Corazon's familiar calm expression.
"Looks like I arrived at the right time," she said lightly.
Lin Yue straightened a little, then gently lifted her head from Nille's shoulder. There was no rush in her movement, only quiet reluctance, as if she had to leave something behind for a moment.
Nille stood first, offering a hand to Lin Yue without thinking.
She took it.
Corazon noticed the gesture but said nothing.
A few seconds later, Lin Yue glanced at Nille.
"Come with me," she said.
Nille blinked slightly. "To your place?"
Lin Yue nodded.
"I want to talk… properly. And I think you still wanted answers."
That made him pause.
For a moment, the earlier conversation returned to him, the spirit, the seed, the lineage buried across generations.
"Yes," he admitted. "I still do."
Lin Yue opened the car door.
"Then get in."
Nille followed without hesitation.
As the car began moving, the city slowly shifted past them, markets, bridges, academy districts, and distant waterways reflecting the afternoon light. The atmosphere inside the vehicle was calm, but there was a different kind of tension now. Not danger.
Understanding.
Lin Yue sat beside him, hands resting lightly on her lap before she finally spoke.
"You asked about lineage earlier."
Nille turned slightly toward her.
"Yes."
Lin Yue's gaze stayed forward, watching the road.
"Even before coming to Yamatai Island… my parents already had a connection to this place."
That made Nille look at her more closely.
Lin Yue continued, her voice steady but more serious than before.
"They weren't just visitors. They had a role here. A significant one."
She paused briefly.
"In fact… a lot of what you see on this island exists because of them."
Nille didn't interrupt.
Lin Yue exhaled softly.
"The newly upgraded facilities, the monitoring systems, the stability frameworks, things that make Yamatai Island function beyond normal academy standards… most of it traces back to their work."
Corazon, driving, glanced at them through the rearview mirror but remained silent.
Lin Yue finally turned slightly toward Nille.
"The assessment artifacts used to determine whether someone has awakened their abilities… those were created by my parents."
Nille's expression shifted slightly.
Lin Yue continued.
"And the laws governing how those artifacts interact with spiritual energy, the enchantment structures, the regulatory bindings, that was developed by the Setsuko Clan."
Nille leaned back slightly, absorbing the information.
Lin Yue's voice lowered a little.
"My parents created something even more advanced later… but it was rejected."
Nille frowned. "Rejected?"
Lin Yue nodded.
"Because it doesn't just measure awakening."
She glanced at him briefly.
"It connects to historical lineage."
A brief silence filled the car.
Lin Yue continued carefully.
"Some awakened individuals come from… dangerous bloodlines. Bloodlines tied to destruction, curses, things the academy doesn't openly classify."
"It's like a lineage cartographer," Nille said quietly, picking up the idea as it formed in his mind. "Something that scans through the human realm's historical records from all major regions…"
Lin Yue nodded slightly.
"…and maps what people are connected to, beyond just immediate ancestry."
A brief silence settled in the car as the idea sank in.
She continued carefully.
"It doesn't stop at names or family trees. It traces patterns—inheritance of traits, anomalies in awakening, repeated occurrences of certain abilities across generations."
Nille's eyes narrowed slightly, thinking deeper now.
"So it doesn't just identify who someone is," he said slowly, "it identifies what they come from."
Lin Yue gave a small nod.
"Yes."
She hesitated for a moment before adding,
"And sometimes… what they might become."
The weight of that lingered in the air.
Corazon stayed focused on the road, but even she seemed to grow a little more serious.
Lin Yue looked down at her hands.
"That's why it was rejected," she said softly. "Because once you start mapping lineage like that… you stop seeing people as individuals."
She glanced at Nille.
Nille's eyes narrowed slightly, not in judgment, but focus.
"But Yamatai Academy doesn't use that system," Lin Yue added. "They refuse to distinguish between good and evil bloodlines."
She exhaled slowly.
"They only care about capability. Power. Control. Skill."
Corazon quietly turned the steering wheel as the car merged onto a wider road.
Lin Yue finally looked directly at Nille.
"That's why my parents' deeper assessment artifact was never fully adopted."
A pause.
"It would have changed everything."
Nille remained silent for a moment, then spoke calmly.
"And your parents still come here every year."
Lin Yue nodded.
"Yes. Almost like a tradition… or like they're checking something."
Her gaze softened slightly.
"And now you're asking about lineage… at the same time all of this is coming up."
She didn't finish the sentence.
She didn't need to.
Because the implication hung clearly between them.
Nille looked out the window for a moment, his reflection faint against the passing light.
Then quietly, "I think I'm closer to my answer than I expected."
Lin Yue didn't respond immediately.
Instead, she simply stayed beside him.
And for the first time, the path ahead of them didn't feel like separate directions.
But like something converging.