Born in apocalypse

While Azarex was evolving, Dhruv and Aurora had been wandering around the castle. He was happy to wander, as this session was totally different from the one he had with Azarex.

As they were moving, Aurora was explaining every bit of the castle with careful dedication. During this tour, he got to know everything.

The very first thing he was sure of was that the castle was indeed providing mana with the help of an artifact that was pulling mana from the surroundings.

Another thing Dhruv found interesting was that this castle wasn’t the one she was living in on her planet. No, this castle was created by the dungeon.

The thing became even stranger when, despite being created by the dungeon, every aspect of the castle seemed like she had supervised its creation.

When Dhruv asked if she had found anything out of place, the answer remained negative. Listening to all this, he couldn’t help but be amazed by the power of Cosmos once again.

Dhruv couldn’t help but think whether a single person was responsible for all this or if the whole universe was somehow working for it. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

A thought appeared that Coby might be the one, but he quickly dismissed it after marking him as a mere communicator.

’If there really is a single being who is responsible for all these... just how powerful must he be... just at what tier must he be? Or can his power even be quantified in just tiers?’

All these thoughts were wandering in his mind when the duo reached the library. Dhruv continued to follow her as Aurora began to pull one book after another.

At first, she was teaching him some important things about the cosmos, but as time passed she began to get sidetracked and eventually started talking about her race. Pulling out a book, she began showing the depictions of how her ancestors had looked.

Eventually, she reached a page where, instead of humanoids, there was a depiction of monsters. They still possessed the quality of Crystallce but looked more monstrous.

"Who are they?" Pointing at the picture, Dhruv couldn’t help but ask.

Hearing his question Aurora looked at the picture. A smile formed over her face as she remembered the mandatory history classes she had attended.

"We can’t confirm it, but according to my teachings, this is what we evolved from. This is how we looked thousands of generations ago," Aurora answered, explaining the history behind the picture.

"ohhh! This is what she evolved from... but why do they seem familiar to me... so it was them." Thinking this, Dhruv faced her and dropped a bombshell.

"During the second quest, these were the monsters that came out of this dungeon," Dhruv said, looking at the picture.

Hearing his words, Aurora looked at him to see if her master was serious or not. He indeed was.

"Is that so..." Saying these words, she turned silent as numerous theories began to form about why the cosmos would do so. Eventually, she reached an answer but kept her mouth shut about it.

Not getting any information from her, Dhruv attributed this to another of Cosmos’ shenanigans and moved forward.

After wandering in the library for another ten minutes or so, they began moving toward the second floor of the castle... where the second artifact was placed.

Reaching the second floor, Aurora guided Dhruv toward a separate room that housed the [Casket of Aegis].

Judging from the name, Dhruv expected it to be some sort of artifact that came straight out of a horror movie... but as he saw it up close, he couldn’t help but find himself wrong.

It was just a plain white casket. There wasn’t even a single piece of design on it, which in itself made it eerie for some reason. It was so simple that Dhruv suspected it wasn’t the artifact... but his mana sense was telling him otherwise.

It was indeed the real deal.

"So, what’s up with that?" Dhruv asked, looking at the casket.

Understanding what he meant, Aurora moved forward and lifted the door of the casket. The moment its door was opened, why it was simple from the outside became apparent.

’That’s why... everything is cramped inside,’ Dhruv thought as he looked at the box.

Runes were drawn upon its walls, and all sorts of weird mechanisms that he had no idea about were assembled. Taking the stage, Aurora began explaining how the artifact worked, but the only thing Dhruv understood was:

This is a box; there is a mana tube which is attached to another tube. There are two ways to fill the first tube, either let it fill naturally with mana or you can directly feed a core to the second tube.

After hearing some more lectures from Aurora, the duo began descending from the second floor. A smile appeared on Dhruv’s face as he finally reached the location where they were supposed to duel.

"Master, before dueling, shall I check how efficient you are in spellcasting?" Aurora muttered, looking at him with expectation.

"Why not..." Saying these words, Dhruv began manipulating his mana.

Pulling the mana out of his core, he began filling the blueprint. With each passing second, the mana solidified as the spell took its shape.

Moments later, a small red-hot metal ball appeared in his hand... readied to be fired.

"Yeah! It seems about right. You are better at spellcasting than I thought you would be. Even without any training, you are doing a good job at it," Aurora muttered, impressed by his work.

"Thank you, I guess..."

"With a bit of leveling up your mana manipulation skill, you would become even better," Aurora explained, examining the speed of his spellcasting.

"Ahhh! Good, good!.." Pausing a bit Dhruv asked,

"So, Aurora, what is the best way to increase your level?" he asked. There were a few methods he was familiar with but didn’t know which one was best.

"To level up your manipulation, you should use the spell of that affinity more and more... but the best way would be fighting. The more you kill monsters with the spell, the more your level will rise," Aurora explained the best-proven method.

Nodding his head, Dhruv looked at her and asked, "Now shall we start what we came for?"

"By your will, Master..." Saying these words, she began to get ready for the duel as well.