Regnum Aetern: Dual Rebirth

Adrian stared at the now entranced Evangeline, unamused. Seeing her standing behind him without announcing her presence, it seemed that she was trying to sneak up on him. After all, she must’ve been there for at least five seconds for her to have fallen under the effect of the painting.

Well, he couldn’t really blame her for falling under the painting’s effect since the conditions for triggering the effect were too loose. Anybody could’ve fallen under its effect.

’Seriously, why would the shopkeeper put this painting out in the open like that?’

She could’ve covered it up with a piece of cloth or something. Sure, she had warned them ahead of time, but that warning only mentioned being careful of touching things, not looking at them.

’I should free her of the effect first.’

He reached out his hand and covered her eyes, making sure her line of sight was completely blocked. He removed his hands a few seconds later, and Evangeline was now looking at him, somewhat dazed. Confusion was clear on her face.

"What just happened?"

He shook his head.

"Nothing much, don’t think about it."

He considered telling her about the painting, but it seemed like a waste of time, so he didn’t. He simply moved his position a bit, making sure to hide the painting with his body so that she wouldn’t be able to look at it again.

"Anyways, why were you trying to sneak up on me from behind?"

Her expression turned awkward.

"Ah, I wasn’t trying to sneak up on you. No, maybe I was? Anyways! It was nothing, don’t think about it! I’m actually here for something else."

She raised her hands, showing him the two identical-looking wands she was holding.

"These two are torches I picked up from a shelf. Adi, I want you to spot the difference between the two of them."

’Is this some kind of game? Huh, whatever.’

He nodded. There was no reason for him to refuse. And even though he found it tedious, he knew he would need to go along with her sometimes.

She handed him both ‌wand-like torches, allowing him to have a closer look. They were black metal rods with a round, colourless gem attached to the top. The craftsmanship seemed plain and minimal. He handed them back to her after getting a proper look.

"Found anything?"

He shook his head in response to her words.

No matter how much he looked, the two seemed completely identical; there was absolutely no visual difference, assuming he hadn’t missed anything.

"Now look here."

Saying that, she began channelling mana into both of them. Suddenly, the colourless gem at their top began glowing with a bright golden light. The intensity of the glow and the colour of the light were identical for the two torches.

"Found any difference now?"

He shook his head once again.

"I can’t find anything; maybe it’s about time you reveal what that difference is."

"That’s the thing." She flashed him an awkward smile. "I can’t find any difference between these two magical torches either."

As he heard her reply, a slight frown appeared on Adrian’s face.

’If these two were identical, then why did she make me try to spot a difference?’

But the answer came from her without him having to ask, as she raised one wand-looking torch forward.

"This one only costs five thousand something lux," then she raised the other one. "This one, meanwhile, costs sixty-three thousand lux. These two are the same no matter how I look, yet there is such a huge price difference between them; I just don’t understand."

’So that’s what it’s about. Hmm...’

A theory began to form in Adrian’s mind. But he needed to confirm something before he jumped to conclusions, so he asked.

"There must’ve been a piece of paper attached to the shelf, right below them both; did you look at what was written on them?"

"Uh, now that I think about it," she rubbed her neck. "I did see something like that. There was a bunch of stuff written on it, but I, um, kind of skipped over everything else and only looked at the price."

Adrian sighed.

’So this really was the problem. This is so stupid.’

"The difference is obvious, then. The cheaper one is a magitool, while the other one is a fragment relic. How did you not think of something so basic?"

He expected her to widen her eyes in realization. But contrary to the reaction he had expected, Evangeline instead tilted her head and asked in confusion.

"Magitool? Fragment relic? What are those?"

Adrian, too, tilted his head, mirroring her.

"...You don’t know?"

She firmly shook her head in reply, making him frown once again.

’How does she not know? It’s basically common knowledge.’

It wasn’t common knowledge only for nobles; even commoners would probably consider it basic information. It was essentially something almost everyone in this world knew.

He glanced at her again. Evangeline looked genuinely confused and clueless. It was unlikely that she was putting on an act. In the end, he decided to explain.

"Let’s start with magitools first. Magitools are magical gadgets artificially crafted by people themselves. Creating them is rather simple; all you need to do is cast a spell, and before the spell takes effect, use a sealing spell to seal it within an object."

He pointed at the cheap torch.

"This way, if someone channels their mana into that object, the spell sealed within it will activate even if the user doesn’t have the corresponding elemental affinity, just like how you activated a Tier One light element spell without having light affinity yourself. Magitools may be single-use or permanent depending on the skill of the one who crafted them."

Creating magitools was something anyone with mana could do since sealing magic was a branch of neutral magic and didn’t really require an elemental affinity to learn it. Though apparently, learning neutral spells was insanely harder since there was no elemental affinity to guide the person.

Evangeline readily nodded along.

"I see. I think I remember Mama talking about neutral magic, where she mentioned sealing spells."

Adrian pointed at the other torch, the one that was expensive.

"Moving on to Fragment Relics, they aren’t created artificially like magitools; their existence is natural. You must be aware of mana’s most notable property, correct?"

If she didn’t even know about that, then he would have to wonder if the girl before him had lived in some sort of cave until now. Thankfully, it didn’t seem to be the case.

"Hmm...," she raised her brows. "Are you talking about that property of mana that causes us to ascend to higher phases? The property that evolves things to a higher quality or existence?"

Adrian nodded.

"Correct. That property of mana is exactly what creates Fragment Relics. Objects that evolve due to being in contact with mana for a long time and gain supernatural traits. Fragment Relics are also different from magitools in the sense that their power isn’t limited by elemental logic like magitools."

If he were to use something as a comparison, the abilities of fragment relics were similar to Origin abilities in the sense that they could be absolutely anything and had no inherent logic behind them.

Hearing his explanation, Evangeline looked at the two magical torches in her hands. She moved her gaze between the two of them, and this action continued for a while. But then, her expression twisted in confusion once again as she turned to him.

"I got your whole explanation, Adi. But that’s not the point. These two look the same, work the same, and there is no visible difference. Then why’s there such an absurdly huge difference in their price? I mean, I’m not saying that there shouldn’t be a difference, but the gap is more than twelve times! How does that make sense?"

’...She isn’t wrong. That is, if one only looks at the surface.’

Indeed, the two objects looked and functioned the same way, so the fact that there was such a vast difference in price between them simply because they were of different types would probably seem absurd.

But Adrian shook his head.

"That price difference is not unreasonable at all. That is simply how vast the gap between magitools and fragment relics is. Magitools are more like a commodity. Fragment relics, on the other hand, are like an investment. Because, unlike Magitools, Fragment relics will never malfunction. And more than anything, Fragment relics can evolve with time and become more powerful."

That was the most wondrous quality of Fragment relics. They were divided into different grades, and a Fragment relic may evolve to a higher grade after enough time, so their age mattered greatly as well.

And although Adrian lacked deeper knowledge about them, he knew that Fragment relics of grade two and above possessed their own mana reserves and didn’t need the user’s mana to function. The painting behind them was a good example.

So even someone who didn’t possess any mana would easily be able to use those Fragment relics. In this world, fragment relics were like cheat items that could make a weak and feeble person overpowered.

Evangeline still seemed to have some doubts, but she nodded in the end.

"I’m not really convinced, but I guess I’ll have to make do with that explanation for now." Then, suddenly, a glint appeared in her violet eyes, looking excited. "Anyways, Adi, can we, you know, buy something from this shop?"