Rise of The Living Enchantment [LITRPG REGRESSION]

Sitting quietly on the ottoman in Zen's room, Aiden stared out the only window present. He was lost in thought, slightly confused.

He had seen what he had seen. He had been sure of it. He'd missed the face, seeing it only for a fraction of a second. Even then, it had been barely a fraction of a second. But he could not mistake the face. In his past life he had seen it on portraits. The Order had a record of him somewhere in their archives.

Aiden shook his head. Someone said something that he didn't catch in the room. At some point he had stopped paying attention to the others and their conversation. All he could think of was what he had seen.

The robe, styled like a kimono. The hand hanging out through the lapel like a ronin's. The hilt of a katana. It was as stark a representation as Aiden's trench coat was of him. This early into his time on Nastild, only one person dressed like that.

Why, he wondered, was the Demon of Nel Quan in Trackback?

But he would find out soon. He would find out if it was truly Jang Su, or if it was someone else. For an extra fee, he had commissioned his guides to find him, giving them only the description of his clothes and weapon.

It was only a matter of time before he found the answer he was looking for.

Hearing footsteps at the last second, he turned his head just in time to avoid a flick to his ear. He looked up to find Feira standing there with a look that said she wasn't happy with the fact that she had missed.

"We've been trying to get your attention, Lord Lacheart," she said not kindly.

She was still the only one in the group who called him by his title. For all her satisfaction in challenging him, she remained respectful in that regard. Actually, she remained respectful even when she was challenging him.

"You have it now," he said, shaking the thoughts from his mind. If Jang Su, the Demon of Nel Quan, was here, it did not mean that he had to worry.

There was no way he knew about the crystal.

"I was asking when we'll be going into the cave," Zen said. The looks on everyone's faces said that they were thinking the same thing.

Aiden found that surprising.

"In two days," he said, confused. "Didn't I tell you guys already?"

Ted shook his head. "You've just been staring out the window."

"And why are we here?" Feira asked, standing right next to him, hands on her hips. "We just followed you because…"

"Because you lost your bet," Aiden said, silencing whatever else she would've said. "As for why we are here? It's to get stronger."

"With the crystal cave," Zen said, unimpressed. "Does it have some kind of special monsters that we can't find roaming the wild?"

Valdan and Fjord gave him a surprised look.

Zen's expression turned into one of confused embarrassment. He knew that he was supposed to be embarrassed, he just didn't know why.

"What?" he asked, looking from one to the other. "Is it mana crystals? Is that it?"

"You've not heard of the crystal cave before?" Fjord asked, shocked.

Zen shook his head slowly, then turned to his sister. "Have you?"

Feira shook her head. "This is my first time, too."

"See?" Zen pointed at his sister dramatically. "I'm not the only one."

"That would make sense," Valdan said, mulling over their words. "Your town is kind of out of the way. And as famous as the place is, not many people know of it."

"Are you guys fond of beating around the bush?" Feira asked generally. She turned and flicked Aiden's ear. "Is this how it always is? You grunt out instructions and they beat around the bush in explanations."

"He's usually the one beating around the bush," Ted said with a smile. "He had something he needed to tell me, and he beat around the bush for two months before telling me."

Feira shot him a chiding look. "That's just wrong."

"Just tell them about the place and let me think in peace," Aiden groaned, throwing his head back. "I really need to think."

Everyone looked at Valdan.

Clearing his throat, Valdan did not hesitate to explain.

"The crystal cave is common for its monsters for one reason," he said. "There is a special type of monster that is known to wield illusion magic. With this skill, it takes on the form of other monsters. This gives people seeking to grow their levels and skills a variety of monsters to face without having to change locations in search of different types."

"If it's an illusion, doesn't that mean that it's not real?" Zen asked. "Doesn't that just make it… you know… some kind of deception? If Feira casts an illusion that makes you think she's me, she'll still fight like her. Kind of hard to think that would change much."

"Their illusion magic is based on changes in the ambient mana," Fjord said, answering the question. "From what I've heard, they shape the ambient mana around them, giving it whatever form they wish. It imitates skills and everything else."

"It somehow grants them the fighting prowess of those around it," Valdan added.

Aiden cracked an eye open at that. It was a wrong explanation. The [Doppelganger]s within the cave did not develop the same level of fighting prowess with what they imitated. They learnt how to fight like what they imitated.

If they turned into you and fought against you, their movements would be generic even if not necessarily simple. If they fought against you long enough, however, they would begin to imitate your movements. They would begin to fight like you.

"That's very dangerous," Zen muttered.

Zen's words stopped Aiden from making any corrections. He was right, a monster that could claim the fighting prowess of whatever they faced was deadlier than the truth. It was safer if they thought the monsters were the deadliest things.

Aiden closed his eyes again.

"Then there's also the crystal itself," Fjord said with a childlike touch of excitement.

To most people, the [Crystal of Existence] was a myth. Kings sent armies into caves and claimed it for themselves. Most people grew up hearing stories about it. By the time they became adults, the stories became nothing but just that… stories.

Only those who became a part of it knew those stories to be true.

"The crystal that is not a mana crystal," Zen confirmed.

Fjord nodded. "In the stories, it's called the [Crystal of Existence]. It is—"

"Hold up," Zen cut him short, hands held out as if stopping a wild beast. "The [Crystal of Existence]? As in the crystal?"

Fjord nodded, grinning from ear to ear.

"That's just a myth," Zen said in disbelief.

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"Yeah," Feira supported. "It's just stories parents tell children. Our mom used to tell us the story every once in a while. Said kings were invincible because of it."

Valdan shook his head. "No one is invincible."

"Well… true," Zen agreed. "Even level one-hundreds can kill level one-hundreds. But the crystal granted those who had it immunity to all afflictions and debuffs."

"It also eliminated the stress of cooldown times for skills that had them," Feira added.

Aiden cracked an eye open again.

Was this the story Zen had grown up with? It was no wonder he had been disappointed when he'd found out what the crystal really did in his past life.

Curious, Valdan asked. "What else?"

"The stories also say that it's in a ruined city, not some desert in the middle of gods know where," Zen answered.

"Onvoth," Feira said, supplying more detail. "The ruined city of Onvoth. This is Trackback."

"This is also the ruined city of Onvoth," Aiden said, closing his eyes back. "Maps have simply changed, and humans have simply moved on."

"But this city is not in ruins," Zen pointed out. "I didn't see any sign that there was even any ruin to begin with. And it's called Trackback."

Feira pointed dramatically at Zen. Aiden eyed the action. It was a perfect copy of how Zen had pointed at her not too long ago. They were definitely siblings.

His eyes moved over to Ted, and he wondered if they had once also had shared mannerisms. Subtle or major.

"Trackback," Feira repeated. Her eyes were growing wild, like a skittish cat. She was like an adult who had grown to believe that Santa Claus wasn't real, only for the fat man to come barging down her chimney while Rudolph waited outside.

Aiden sighed. "When this era of humanity learnt of the crystal, most of the land was still uninhabited, covered in ruins from bygone eras. Old civilizations. If you had access to an old map, one of the outdated ones, you'll see that what the modern ones mark as Trackback, they'll mark as Ruins of Onvoth."

This time, everyone looked at him. Valdan was suspicious. Fjord was impressed, slightly enamored. Ted was barely holding back a laugh.

Aiden had gotten so caught up in trying to educate Zen and his sister that he'd given, perhaps, too much information.

"You know a lot of things, don't you?" Feira said.

Aiden shrugged, feigning nonchalance. "I have friends in high places. I've seen at least one old map. Trust me, it costs far more than it's worth just to see one. I would not recommend."

He paid attention to Valdan as he spoke and felt his tension ease as Valdan's suspicion turned into worry. The knight had addressed it once before. The possibility of whatever information group he was using actually trying to take advantage of him somehow.

"As for the crystal itself," he continued. "What you heard in the stories are nothing more than exaggerations."

Of all the people to react, he had least expected it to be Fjord.

"They are?" he asked, stunned to disbelief. "It doesn't bring a person back to life?"

It was everyone's turn to look at him.

"What?" he challenged them. "You all had your stories, and I had mine."

Aiden shook his head. "It does not."

"Then what does it do?"

"Something less grand but still impressive," Valdan said. "From what I know of it, it is the only thing on Nastild capable of doing it."

He was right. Even the other side of Nastild didn't have anything that could achieve the same feat.

"That is…" Feira gestured for him to continue.

"It helps a person reallocate all their used stat points."

Fjord's jaw dropped. "All of them?"

"All of them," Valdan confirmed, nodding.

Zen and Feira lost interest faster than the speed of light.

"Sounds useless to us," Zen said.

Feira made a face. "Pretty much."

"That's not all it does, though," Valdan said, unwilling to allow them to view the crystal as useless. "That's only when you use it once. It has a passive skill you can use as long as you don't use it once."

"What's that?" Feira asked, curious.

"It cancels out status debuffs."

Valdan waited, hoping for a more active reaction. Nobody gave it. Aiden almost pitied the knight. It was like showing off your favorite part of your movie only for everyone to find it boring after all your hype.

"Still sounds useless to us," Zen said.

Valdan looked shell-shocked. "Status debuffs. Even poisoning."

"But there's a catch, though," Aiden pointed out, eyes still closed. "You can't bond with it and you can't equip it. You have to be holding it to use it. And it has a twenty-four hour cooldown period."

"That's just a waste of everything," Zen muttered. He looked thoughtful, though. "I can see why kings want it. With everybody trying to kill you, you'll have need for such a thing. But are you going to be keeping it on you at all times?"

"You can have it in your storage space," Feira said easily. "As a king you'll have something like that on hand, easy. Just summon it, and boom, instant save yourself. But you have to be smart about when you use it since it has a long ass cool down."

Aiden smiled to himself. "Won't work."

"Why not?" Feira turned to him. He could hear the challenge in her voice, as if he was only saying it to oppose her idea. Maybe joking about thinking that she was the less intelligent sibling had left more of a mark than he'd thought. "Seems completely workable to me."

"It won't work because the crystal is one of the rare things in this world that cannot enter a storage space," Valdan answered. "If you get the crystal, it has to be on you at all times. No storage spaces."

Zen groaned. "Sounds like a lot of work."

"That's why it's not the reason we're here," Valdan said. "Besides, the item has a spawn period. Once every two years. It's not scheduled to spawn again until at least another year."

"We're just here to level up," Zen said. "I can work with that."

Aiden sat up for this one. Leaning forward, he placed his elbows on his knees. "Got some bad news, Zen."

Aiden knew the moment Zen figured out what the news was. It was written all over his face.

So, he nodded, confirming his friend's suspicion.

Feira looked from one to the other. "What's the bad news?"

"The average base monster level in the cave is forty," he explained. "And when the monsters mimic with their illusions, they also scale to the level of the highest person present." He pointed from him to Ted to Valdan. "We're all over level fifty."

"That means that we'll be fighting monsters over level fifty." She paled. "Zen can't go. I'm putting my foot down on this one."

"That's what he's saying," Zen told her, crestfallen. "That's the bad news. Not that it will be difficult and will challenge me. It's that it will be too difficult for me, and so I can't go."

"That, and because you don't know how to fight monsters," Aiden added. "But you will, soon."

Feira released a sigh of relief. "No strength is worth killing yourself for, Zen. You should not be sad because of this."

Aiden knew Zen. He liked to think he knew the core of his friend. Strength capable of keeping his sister safe and taken care of was worth dying for. It had been enough for him to leave her thinking he was dead to join the Order. It had guaranteed her financial freedom, after all.

"Fjord's out, too," Ted said, reading Aiden's mind.

"Because I'm too weak." Fjord didn't sound bothered by it.

Valdan looked at Aiden. "So just the three of us?"

Aiden nodded.

"And when you spoke to our guides, did they show you the best places for the monster hunt?" Valdan continued. "I'd assume that they would know where to find them."

"They did," Aiden confirmed. "But we're not going for just the monsters. We actually have a destination."

Ted laughed, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against a wall. "This is going to be good."

Aiden glared at him as Valdan asked, "What is going to be good?"

Only Ted knew the real reason they were here. Aiden had told him long ago, just after they'd left the town of cannibals.

"He's talking about the reason we're going to the cave," he answered with a sigh.

Valdan frowned. "Why are we going to the cave, Lord Lacheart?"

"For the [Crystal of Existence]."

The entire room fell silent. Aiden felt tension fill the air as it mingled with the silence. It was almost a physical thing. He could reach out and touch them both if he tried.

Then Valdan exploded.

"HAVE YOU GONE MAD?!"

…

Aiden sat on the window ledge, reminiscing about the conversation from earlier in the day. It was night now. Darkness blanketed the world. It was the hour for thieves and all around debauchery.

He checked the ground below once more. There was no one in sight. Only silence met him.

Valdan will be better by tomorrow, he told himself, trying not to let the knight's infuriation weigh down on him.

They still had two days before they would need to go into the cave.

Until then…

He leapt off the ledge activating [Enchanted Weave].

[You have used Weave of Silence]

When his feet hit the ground, the weaving absorbed everything. He landed in complete silence. He was as quiet as the night.

It was unwise, but his curiosity had gotten the best of him.

He needed to confirm it for himself. He needed to find out if Jang Su was really in Trackback, and why.

…

Jang Su sat quietly in the corner. A drink rested on the table in front of him. It was the only one in the room. A single chair, a single table, and a single bed.

Currently, he was drinking one of the more expensive bottles of wine. Over level fifty, he couldn't drink just any wine, since they didn't even give him so much as a buzz.

Trackback, he thought.

He still wasn't sure why he was here, only that he had to be and he would gain experience from his time here. The queen and the princess had not been happy to let him go, but there had been nothing that they could do about it. The [Sage] had been the one to give the instruction.

The royal family did not question the [Sage].

On the bright side, he hadn't been tasked with going alone. He had a partner. A competent one, too.

Jang Su took another sip of his drink. It was hot as it went down his throat. Earlier in the day, he had seen Aiden, the boy he'd fought and failed to defeat in Bandiv over a month ago. He would've missed him had he not been causing a scene.

In a stroke of surprise, Aiden had almost seen him, too. But he had been quick enough to slip from his sight. [Shadow Step] was a fun skill that made it difficult to keep track of him. The only downside was the cooldown period.

The [Sage] had said that no one else but the royal family was to know where he was, so Jang Su had panicked. He wasn't sure if Aiden counted, but he didn't want to go testing the [Sage]. Unlike most people, the man knew everything.

With a slight buzz in his head, Jang Su picked himself up from his chair very quietly, using [Stealth] to mask any sound he would make. Perhaps he would find something more interesting to do downstairs.

"Sit your ass back down, boy," a gruff voice said.

Jang Su obeyed immediately. "Yes, sir."

With a frown, he went back to drinking while his companion occupied his bed even though he knew for a fact that he didn't need sleep.

It was just no fun traveling with a [Sage].