Chapter 101

Open Sesame

While Melvin was making a deal with Cecilia, Kairus and Irena repeatedly created and erased clouds.

“There’s no lightning.”

“Well, it’s not even a thundercloud to begin with.”

The two of them were trying to recreate the storm cloud that had driven Nora Galatea to flee, but intentionally reproducing something that had happened by coincidence was proving to be more difficult than expected.

“This is driving me crazy. This isn’t something that’s going to work with just trial and error.”

While Kairus and Irena wore frustrated expressions, Melvin, who had met with Cecilia, returned.

He shared what had happened, although he didn’t say exactly what he gave or received in return.

“…He wants to stay in this city?”

Kairus looked at Melvin in disbelief.

“Countless legacies left by Dersos are alive and breathing in this city.”

But the actual residents of the city neither appreciated nor protected those mysterious and precious things. On the contrary, it was common to find them neglected or even damaged.

Melvin couldn’t just stand by and watch that happen. That’s why he made a deal with Cecilia.

“Well, congrats on securing a somewhat safe place to stay.”

“Thank you.”

Kairus scratched the back of his head. But if Melvin was truly trying to protect the archaeological valuables of the city, a natural question arose.

‘How exactly does he plan to protect them?’

In this city, persuasion and reason only worked if you had power. But Melvin had no such power, and didn’t seem likely to gain any in the future.

Still, Kairus decided not to show too much interest in someone else’s business.

Unless you’re actually planning to help, there’s nothing more unpleasant than throwing around unsolicited advice.

“Living your life doing what you want is important.”

“To do that, we need to wrap this up properly first, don’t you think?”

Once they opened Pontus, they could take whatever was inside, as much as they wanted.

That was the promise from the Rose Garden.

‘So they’re saying you can only take as much as you can carry in one go, huh.’

Which is why the Rose Garden had so easily agreed to let them take whatever they wanted from inside Pontus as their reward.

“Are we heading out right away?”

Just knowing he could open Pontus had already pushed Melvin’s excitement to its peak.

“There’s no need to waste time.”

After packing a fair amount of supplies just in case, the four who had discovered Pontus together headed back underground.

With the help of his notebook, they quickly arrived at the entrance to Pontus, and Kairus placed the Yucheok Sword in the mouth of the three-eyed dog statue.

Tick—came a sound, followed by the clunking of interlocking gears.

With a grinding noise, the dog-shaped statue began spinning round and round, then suddenly sank into the floor.

Moments later, the hilt of the Yucheok Sword popped back up from the ground. When Kairus grabbed it and pulled, the sword emerged smoothly once more.

“Wow, this big thing actually moves.”

With a deep, resonant sound, the massive door—which had looked like it would never budge—began to move slowly but surely.

It was a door built with machinery so intricate that it was hard to believe it was ancient technology.

“Can’t we just use Flicker?”

At Irena’s suggestion, Kairus replied,

“What for? It’s not like we’re sneaking in to steal anything.”

They had successfully completed their mission. A corresponding reward was waiting for them—there was absolutely no reason to waste Flicker needlessly.

It would only be a waste of time and energy.

‘I should save Flicker for later.’

The power of Flicker would shine when they needed to sneak back into Pontus secretly through this path. There was no reason to use it now, when they had every right to enter openly.

“Finally.”

Melvin stared through the now-open door with eyes full of emotion. He looked absolutely thrilled.

He might have seemed unhinged for saying he wanted to live in this city, but at the very least, his love for archaeology appeared genuine.

After all, people who’ve lost their grip usually have at least one thing they’re passionate about.

“Let’s look around for things worth taking.”

Naturally, their top priority was the variety of books Melvin had mentioned earlier.

“Wait a minute.”

Kairus powered up his Add-On to illuminate the space beyond the open door—and was left speechless.

“This place is huge.”

Even with the Add-On at full brightness, it couldn’t fully light up the interior of Pontus.

“This must be the central hub.”

Pontus featured a star-shaped layout known as an asterisk, with this central hub at its core and corridors branching out in eight directions. At the end of each corridor lay a massive chamber.

“So each chamber has a separate function?” Irena asked.

Melvin shook his head.

“All eight chambers can be considered fully independent shelters.”

Even if the rest were destroyed, as long as one of the eight remained intact, it could still function as a shelter.

“Then the most important records would be kept here, right?”

At Tanya’s question, Melvin nodded.

“Regardless of which chamber you’re in, you’d be able to reach the central hub.”

“Yeah, this place definitely looks like the most important part.”

Using the fully powered Add-On, Kairus scanned the enormous space.

“Shit, how the hell did they build something like this back then?”

“Amazing, isn’t it?”

Kairus had no choice but to agree with Melvin’s words. After all, every part of this place—except the central hub—had been designed solely for survival.

In other words, the only place truly worth investigating was this central hub.

“Is there any kind of time limit?”

To Irena’s question, Kairus replied,

“There isn’t, but we shouldn’t take too long.”

If Melvin wanted to live in this city, he couldn’t afford to keep Cecilia waiting too long. They needed to conduct their investigation quickly, grab what they needed, and activate the elevator.

After that, whatever happened in Pontus would be beyond Kairus’s control.

“Let’s see… khek.”

While rapidly searching through the central hub, Kairus examined the countless scrolls stored on the bookshelves.

“You can read Dersos script?”

Irena looked at Kairus with a surprised expression.

“You can read it too.”

“I’m a noble, remember?”

“Right, yeah.”

Being able to read and interpret Dersos script was considered basic education for entering high society in both the Empire and the Republic.

Both Aylan and Valorn claimed to be the rightful heirs of Dersos, so it wasn’t all that surprising.

Though Irena still showed interest, Kairus didn’t respond further and continued scanning the books.

How much time had passed?

“What about this one? It’s called Innis Actus.”

Kairus looked at the scroll Irena held out.

“Hmm, that’s a movement technique.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Irena’s words made Kairus briefly look at her in surprise. He hadn’t expected her not to understand.

“Oh, right.”

The Kellogg family had never been famous for martial arts. It made sense she wouldn’t know.

“Most martial arts that are now unified disciplines used to be separate styles back then.”

Things like sword techniques, body techniques, footwork, and breathing methods used to be divided.

“Then Jerome Haran, the first Imperial Blade of the Valorn Empire, introduced the Theory of Weaving.”

It was the idea that martial arts with the same essence should be woven together like threads on a loom, and practiced as one for greater efficiency.

Jerome Haran also laid the foundation for distinguishing the essence of martial arts and determining which should be combined.

“So nowadays, we don’t categorize them like this anymore.”

But back in the Dersos era, the Weaving Theory didn’t exist, and countless martial arts that shared similarities existed as separate disciplines.

“And this one focuses on foot movement during combat.”

It taught how to use battle gear output to dodge enemy attacks and swiftly position oneself advantageously.

“The core concept is speed.”

Innis Actus, a name that could be interpreted as “Rush of Light,” naturally emphasized nimble and rapid movement.

As Kairus continued examining the contents of the scroll, he gave a small nod.

“This is definitely worth learning for you.”

“…Are you sure? I’ve already learned Swift Blade. Won’t it interfere?”

Kairus shook his head. This footwork wasn’t so low-grade that it would interfere with Swift Blade.

“No matter how badly you mess it up, the worst that’ll happen is that they won’t complement each other.”

However, Irena wasn’t lacking in talent. If she trained in Innis Actus while already familiar with Swift Blade, a definite synergistic effect could be expected.

On top of that...

“The explanation is incredibly detailed.”

To the point that it truly fit the idea of preparing for the fall of a nation—the scrolls stored in the central hub were remarkably thorough. Even among them, the contents of this scroll stood out.

They were so well written that someone could learn without any guidance or instruction.

“…”

While continuing to scan through the scrolls, Kairus’s eyes settled on one book among the many.

“Nimbus.”

Storm cloud. All the books stored in the place Kairus and Irena were exploring had been related to martial arts.

So, this one titled Nimbus, meaning storm cloud, was likely no exception.

“Goddamn it, what is this crap.”

Kairus couldn’t suppress his irritation as he read through it, having gotten his hopes up.

‘This is a spear manual.’

Nimbus wasn’t discussing sword techniques. It was a manual on spear techniques. Kairus found himself in a complicated mood.

Still, he wondered if there might be something worthwhile, even if it was just about spear use. With faint hope, he continued reading the scroll.

“…The main idea is…”

After skimming through the contents, Kairus scratched his head vigorously. It hadn’t been a complete waste.

Initially, he’d been furious out of disappointment, but now, it just gave him a headache.

“It feels like it might work, but also like it might not.”

When it came to cloud creation, Nimbus offered a rather unique approach.

“Use vibrations to break water apart.”

By using battle gear output to generate fast, powerful vibrations in the spear, and then making the spear tip touch the surface of water—

The vibrations would break the water into fine particles, which would then float in the air. The result wouldn’t be much different from fog.

“It’s faster than our current method, and less reliant on conditions.”

Unlike their current method, which required high humidity and a clear temperature differential to generate clouds, this could create fog almost instantly.

Its weakness was that large-scale production would be difficult.

‘But even small-scale fog can be effective.’

They didn’t always need huge, thick fog to overwhelm an area.

In emergencies, even small patches of quickly-generated fog could be useful. Especially if they could use Swift Blade to concentrate it in one area—it would be all the more valuable. Their fight with Nora Galatea had proven that.

“All that’s left is enough practice.”

He couldn’t learn Cloud Seizing Art just yet. But Kairus trusted in the Theory of Weaving.

‘If controlling and creating clouds is the essence of Cloud Seizing Art—’

Then there was no way it wouldn’t share commonalities with Nimbus.

If he became familiar with the Nimbus method of creating clouds, it would no doubt have a positive impact when he finally acquired the Featherwing’s Cloud Seizing Art.

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