Free Web NovelChapter 189: Chapter 189 - Elise’s Estate
The icy wind whipped across Theo’s face as the giant owl soared through the clouds.
He tightened his grip on the creature’s feathers and glanced at the transparent screen still floating in front of him.
[System Upgrade Completion: 02:44:12]
The countdown continued steadily ticking down.
’Oh, right!’
He’d almost forgotten about the upgrade because of the tournament.
Theo wanted to think more about it.
But the owl had other plans, making a sharp left turn that almost knocked him off.
"Fuck!" he cursed, gripping on even tighter.
Theo couldn’t help but glance at his instructor, who didn’t seem to have the slightest bit of trouble.
That’s when his attention finally shifted down.
Below them, the massive university grounds had long disappeared, replaced by a very tall mountain ridge filled with elegant, large buildings with at least several miles between them.
Slowly, the owl began diving down, heading for one of the buildings. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
’What is this?’ he thought, eyes wide.
The entire property was covered in frozen sculptures, flowing rivers, and beautiful trees.
With one final flap of its wings, it landed gracefully on a circular platform overlooking the valley.
Not even a second later, Elise’s voice rang out.
"You can climb down now," she said, a hint of amusement in her voice. "I see this ride was a bit too much with how exhausted you were."
Theo looked down at his trembling hands. He’d been holding onto the feathers so tightly that his knuckles had gone white.
Without a word, he carefully slid off the creature’s back.
The moment he touched the ground, his legs wobbled slightly, nearly causing him to fall.
He quickly steadied himself and let out a long breath.
"I’m walking back," he muttered.
A faint smile appeared on Elise’s face.
"I doubt that."
Theo took a step back, his gaze still locked on the majestic owl.
’So her last affinity is summoning,’ he thought. ’That’s something, huh.’
When he’d taken her as his instructor, he’d only seen two of her elements.
But now, he finally knew everything about her.
’That’s nice though. She might even be able to help me with that summoning circle thing.’
Theo smiled slightly.
In just one more day, he’d finally be able to summon it after all.
As he was deep in thought, Elise let her owl go back through the swirling mass.
WHOOSH!
The massive creature disappeared without a trace.
A moment later, the portal itself collapsed, shrinking into a single point before vanishing completely.
Theo stared at the empty space.
’I wonder how that’ll go for my summoning circle,’ he thought. ’Hopefully mine is just as convenient.’
Before he could dwell on it any longer, Elise started walking toward the mansion.
"Come," she said. "There’s no point standing outside."
Theo nodded and followed after her.
As they walked across the stone path, he glanced around the estate once more.
Every sculpture appeared to have been carved from flawless ice, yet none of them showed the slightest sign of melting beneath the afternoon sun.
’All of these look like people?’ he thought, feeling slightly weirded out. ’Who are they even?’
Glancing back at Elise, he hesitated for a moment but decided against asking.
’This is her private life. I should leave that alone unless she wants to tell it to me herself.’
The two of them continued walking in silence.
The deeper they went into the estate, the more details Theo noticed.
Small streams flowed underneath elegant stone bridges, while patches of frost covered the flower beds without harming the plants growing inside them.
It almost looked as though winter itself had settled here permanently.
A few moments later, they reached the entrance.
Without Elise touching them, the massive doors slowly swung open, a mist of warm air drifting out immediately.
"Now we can speak freely," she said, turning around. "Do you want to talk about the fight first, or would you rather see your reward?"
Theo’s gaze slowly turned back to her.
His expression immediately turned serious.
"Can we start with that spell from Lucienne?" he asked. "It felt like it wasn’t a Silver Core spell at all."
If spells like that existed, he needed to understand them sooner rather than later.
Elise remained silent as the heavy doors slammed shut behind them.
Then she nodded slowly.
"That’s because it wasn’t."
Theo frowned slightly.
"So I wasn’t imagining things."
"No."
She led him through the entrance hall at an unhurried pace.
"I don’t know everything about it myself," she said. "But from what I know, that spell was made by two Obsidian Core individuals."
Theo’s steps slowed.
"It combined the Virtue of Temperance’s undead element with the Virtue of Faith’s light element, making it far stronger than any ordinary Silver Core spell."
His eyes slowly went wider.
"Two Obsidian Cores made that?"
Elise nodded.
"They personally designed it for her."
She glanced at him before continuing.
"The version you faced was only a fragment of the original. Lucienne lacks both the mastery and the mana to manifest it in its complete form."
A shiver ran down Theo’s spine.
He’d imagined spells with Obsidian Core potential to be stronger, but never to this degree.
’If I don’t gain one myself,’ he thought, feeling his heart pound, ’my multiple elements may not make a difference in the future.’
Elise seemed to read the concern on his face.
"Don’t worry too much. Most Obsidian Core spells aren’t that strong, as they usually can’t be fused at that level."
"Lucienne’s talent is just a bit unique in that aspect, allowing her to fuse them far more easily than others."
Theo fell silent for a moment.
Then he nodded slowly.
"That makes me feel a bit better," he said.
But in actuality, it didn’t at all.
If one person had such talent, who was to say he wouldn’t meet an enemy with the same talent in the future?
Someone from the Covenant, for example...
’I’d just be dead meat.’
As Theo was deep in thought, they entered another room.
Once there, Elise slowly came to a halt and turned toward him.
"Now," she said, "before we get to the rest of your questions, I promised you a reward if you won."
"As it happens, it has everything to do with spells."
