NOVEL NEXT Chapter 53: Veil of Silence
Kyle decided to stay after class again, something he was already accustomed to doing.
He watched as the other students filtered through the door one by one, their laughter and murmurs fading as they left.
Lora, sat on his opposite side, neatly arranging her supplies for the extra session.
Kyle had come to appreciate these extra lessons with Lora. As much as he hated to admit it, Lora's explanations often filled in the gaps left by Instructor Victoria's faster-paced lectures.
"Alright, let's pick up from where the Instructor left off," Lora said with her usual soft voice.
She leaned over and pulled something out of her bag—a single piece of runic paper. Kyle's eyes widened in surprise as she carefully laid it out in front of him. The paper was pristine, with four basic element inscriptions carved onto its surface. Fire, water, earth, and air—each rune was beautifully inscribed with fine precision.
Kyle stared at the inscriptions, impressed. She had carved the runes beforehand. Amazing!
"Wow," he finally muttered, unable to suppress his awe. "You did all this?"
Lora shrugged, but a faint blush touched her cheeks. "It's not as hard as it looks. The trick is keeping your inscription tool steady enough. I've been practicing a lot with a knife and it wasn't easy. An Inscription pen should do better."
Kyle grinned, feeling impressed she did that with a knife. "You've outdone yourself. This is amazing."
They continued working for another half hour, exchanging thoughts and carving runes. But at the thirty-minute mark, Kyle stood, stretching his arms.
"Alright, I think that's enough for today."
Lora nodded her head calmly. "It's okay. But... We barely stayed an hour?"
He grinned, grabbing his bag. "Not all of us are born prodigies, Lora. I have to pace myself."
She rolled her eyes at his comment and went back to her work.
Kyle winked at her as he slung his bag over his shoulder. "Thanks again for the help. You'd be available tomorrow?"
"Yes," she replied with a nod, watching as he headed towards the door.
As Kyle stepped out from the hall, his stomach growled loudly, reminding him that he only had an Orange drink since breakfast. With a sigh, he pulled out his phone and gave Nate a call.
"What's up?" Nate's voice crackled over the line.
"Yo, Nate. I'm broke and I need money. Think you can lend me some credit?"
Nate snorted, laughter following quickly after. "Ah, so now you see the value of credits, huh?"
"Yeah, yeah," Kyle replied, rubbing the back of his head. "I get it now. Come on, Nate. Help a friend out. I'll pay you back."
"Sure. I'll lend you 100, okay?"
"Fine," Kyle said with relief.
"But you owe me 200 back. Interest, my friend."
Kyle chuckled, shaking his head. "You're feeling greedy, huh?"
"Hey, I'm doing you a favor here!" Nate shot back playfully. "I'll send it over now."
"Thanks, man. I'll pay you back... soon."
With 100 credits in his account, Kyle made his way to the mall. He had a plan, and he needed a mask for it to work out.
After asking around, he found his way to the mask magic equipment section. As expected, these masks were way out of his budget.
Kyle thought about using [Inspect] on equipment, deciding to give it a try.
'Inspect.'
[Mask]
[Grade: Basic]
[Mask]
[Grade: Rare]
As expected, he could see some stats on equipment too. 'What a nice skill.'
The cheapest mask he managed to find was 1000 credits, and he simply couldn't afford that right now.
With a sigh, Kyle decided to stop wasting time and moved on to the common section.
Here, the masks were ordinary and non-magical equipment, but they should get the job done.
Out of his recent habit, he began to use [Inspect] on all of them.
[Mask]
[Grade: Null]
[Mask]
[Grade: Null]
...
All the masks kept showing the same stats, it was unfortunate, but Kyle planned on trying a bit more to find something unique.
"Come on... there has to be something," he muttered under his breath, half ready to just pick anyone.
As he was about to give up and walk to the counter with a well-designed black mask in hand, something in the corner of the display caught his eye.
At first, it looked like just another simple mask, tucked away behind several others, almost forgotten.
It was a dull, faded black mask, with nothing particularly striking about it. But something felt... off. Kyle couldn't quite put his finger on it, but his instincts urged him to take a closer look.
He leaned down, careful not to draw too much attention from the shopkeeper across the room, who was busy scrolling through something on a tablet.
His hand slid through the narrow space between the other masks and pulled the black one free from its hiding place. Holding it up, he studied it carefully.
At first glance, the mask was made of rough, black material that felt like leather, with a texture that felt worn over time but still sturdy. Its design was minimal—two small eyeholes, a ridge running down the center, and faint markings along the sides that seemed more like scars than intentional carvings. There was something almost primal about it.
Its color was uneven, fading into darker patches near the edges, and the material looked like it had seen better days, but Kyle couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to it.
"Let's see what you've got," Kyle inwardly prayed before using [Inspect].
Trying not to draw any attention from the shopkeeper as he did.
[Veil of Silence]
[Grade: Divine (Lv0)]
[Status: Inactive]
[Description: A world born in silence is destined to end the same]
Kyle's heart skipped a beat as he read the stats, but he forced himself to remain calm.
'Divine?! What the hell is that grade? It must be strong, real strong,' He glanced back toward the shopkeeper, who was still oblivious, then carefully examined the mask again.
His thoughts raced as he weighed his options. If he made a big deal out of this, there was a chance the shopkeeper might realize what it was.
He might not withhold the mask, as it has been here since and they did nothing. It could only mean— 'They didn't have the means to determine it.'
But they could still jack up the price nevertheless, if they sensed his excitement.
He couldn't let that happen.
Keeping his expression casual, Kyle walked slowly to the counter, holding the mask like it was just another cheap piece of equipment.
He plopped the mask down on the counter with a deliberately uninterested sigh, making it seem as if he was just picking something to be done with it.
"I'll take this one," he said.
The shopkeeper barely glanced up from his tablet, giving the mask a quick scan with the pricing tool. "That'll be fifty credits."
Kyle nodded, transferring the credits without a word. Inside, though, his mind was buzzing with excitement.
'Fifty credits for an unheard grade?' He had to resist the urge to smirk as the transaction was processed.
The shopkeeper handed him the mask in a simple brown bag, still completely unaware of what he had just transacted— something that could change the balance of the Galaxy.
"Thanks," Kyle said casually, tucking the bag under his arm as he turned to leave the store, his heart pounding in his chest.
Once outside, he allowed himself a brief moment of triumph, his fingers curling around the mask hidden in the bag.
Overcome by excitement, he ran home as quickly as possible.
Upon sitting on his bed, he decided to unwrap the mask but eventually decided against it.
'No. I'll wait until I'm ready to go,' he felt like enjoying the moment, so he couldn't let his impatience spoil it for him.
Kyle checked the time—5:02 PM. Still early enough to rest before the match. He set his system's alarm to wake him up by 8:00 PM, then collapsed onto his bed, allowing fantasies to take over from where he had stopped.
***
The alarm buzzed in his mind exactly at 8:00 PM, startling him awake. For a moment, he lay there, appreciating the satisfaction of a full nap.
He hadn't realized how tired he was until now. Kyle washed his face, did a few stretches, and grabbed his mask from his bag, placing it carefully on the reading table in his room.
'Now. Let's see what you've got,' he said, licking his lips.
Immediately he touched the mask and adjusted it on his face, just before a series of system prompts appeared on the screen.
[Potential Soul Equipment Detected!!]
.
.
.
[Do you accept to equip Divine Mask: 'Veil of Silence' as a Soul Equipment?]
[Yes] or [No]
[Divine Mask: 'Veil of Silence' cannot be used without accepting!]
.
.
.
[Soul Weapon capacity can be increased!]
[Available: 0/2]
[Host is advised to reject Divine
Mask: 'Veil of Silence'!!]
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.
.
[Yes] or [No]