Chapter 132: Ghosts of the Past

"I lost my family five years ago."

Valerian looked at the girl as she began to tell her story. She had her hands folded over her legs and her head turned down.

Her silver-white hair fell over her eyes, making it difficult for him to see them.

"Five years ago, our village was attacked. The monsters broke through the tree line. Until today, no one knows just how that happened."

"What about Asterion? He should have been able to ward them off by himself. He’s strong."

Pointing out the issue, Lyra’s form shrank, and her shoulders turned inward, making herself small.

"I- I don’t know. He j- just wasn’t there..."

There was real pain in her voice as she recalled the events that changed her life forever, and tears began to build up in her eyes.

"Haaa."

Breathing in once, she calmed herself enough to continue telling her story, and Valerian let her take her time.

"My little b- brother and I... r- ran into the forest out of fear. And my p- parents followed after us."

Her eyes went to the picture standing on the chimney, as hurt flashed through her eyes.

"I don’t know how far we ran, but a monster f- found us."

Her voice began to crack up as tears streamed down her face, tears that she didn’t even bother to wipe away.

"I tried to pr- protect him. But I was weak, and he died... hik."

She fully broke down and buried her face in her palms as she began to bawl her eyes out. Valerian watched as the girl cried about her family, but there was only one thing on his mind.

’Where was Asterion?’

He still couldn’t let it go. An SSS-rank being that just happened to disappear, and at that exact moment, the monsters attacked the village?

’Maybe his disappearance caused them to attack, but then where was he?’

It couldn’t just be about him being careless or being asleep; that’s not enough for them to attack. His mana would still be enough to ward them off.

’This is getting way too strange.’

With every piece of information he gathered, his suspicion of Asterion, and especially Sylas, only grew. He wanted to know just what this place was and who these people were.

Lyra’s crying went on for a few more minutes, minutes that Valerian used to ponder the mystery of the village instead of trying to comfort the girl, something she seemingly didn’t take offense to.

When she caught herself and wiped away her tears, she finished her story.

"My parents found us, but it was too late. My brother was already d- d- dead. And when the monster tried to attack me, they jumped before me and d- died."

’Hmmm, how did she survive?’

While he was curious, he was sensitive enough not to ask this crying girl that question; instead, he offered his consolation.

"I’m sorry. That’s terrible."

Lyra shook her head, causing her silver-white hair to move with her head.

"It’s o- okay, but still, thank you, Valerian."

She looked up and met his eyes with a small smile of gratitude. She moved her hand and tried to lay it on his, but Valerian saw her movement and shifted his hand away.

Lyra noticed how he avoided her hand and took it quickly back.

"I- I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me."

Letting out a deep sigh, Valerian turned to her.

"It’s okay. It’s just that I’m already in a relationship."

"Oh..."

She turned away and looked at her hand that had nearly missed his. The room turned quiet in the awkwardness, and Valerian didn’t want to stay here.

’Now, how do I leave? I can’t just stand up and walk away; she was just crying about her dead family!’

Noticing his uncomfortable shifting, Lyra spoke up.

"This might sound weird, but you can stay here if you want. There are e- empty rooms..."

The mention of the empty rooms took her mind back to her family, and she could feel the next wave of tears build up in her eyes.

Looking at the girl who was about to cry again, Valerian began to feel bad.

’I technically don’t need sleep, but maybe it’s best to agree. It must be lonely in this big house...’

The house was big enough to hold four people, and Lyra had been living in it alone for the past five years. So he agreed to keep her company.

"If that’s okay with you, then I will take you up on that offer."

Her eyes began to brighten faster than Valerian thought was normal, and she smiled at him.

"Great! Come, I will show you your room."

She stood up from the sofa and walked to the stairs, waiting for Valerian to follow. Standing up, he walked behind her up the stairs.

’This house is really old...’

The walls around the stairs clearly showed their age, and it creaked with every step.

When they reached the second floor, Lyra led him to a room and opened the door.

"You can use this room. Mine is actually right next door if you want to talk... or something."

She slightly blushed at the second part, but Valerian ignored it, just nodded, and entered the room.

"Thank you, Lyra, for the food and the room."

She just smiled at him and stood by the doorframe.

"Don’t worry about it. I like the company."

When Valerian nodded again, Lyra left, and Valerian closed the door. Now standing in this old room, he took a look around.

’This must have been the room of her parents.’

There was a big bed that could fit two people in the room, as well as a large closet.

Taking a few steps, Valerian sat down on the edge of the mattress and felt the bounce.

’I probably shouldn’t sleep. I’m still not convinced about this.’

Thanks to his physique, he didn’t need to sleep physically, but it was still necessary for his mental state. But going a few days, if not weeks, without sleeping shouldn’t have any meaningful effect on him.

’Now... where do I start?’

For the first time since he entered the trial, he really began to think about how to leave it. For that, he had to improve his space magic, but he wasn’t sure how that would work.

Since his high mana affinity and talent in everything mana-related were so vast, he never really trained any of his affinities. So he had no point of reference on how to improve on one.

’Sylas said that I have an affinity for the ’concept that is space.’ So shouldn’t this be second nature to me?’

He channeled his divine mana through his body and called on his space affinity. Following his command, a slight tear in space appeared above his hand. Casting space magic felt as good as always, albeit a bit more difficult because of his weakened body.

’So what do I do?’

He tried to do more experiments with his space mana: teleporting small distances, creating small tears and cuts in space. And during his experimentation, the sun dipped lower and lower until it was deep into the night.

’Fuck, this is harder than I thought.’

Plopping down on the bed, Valerian wasn’t sure how to continue. He tried everything he could do with his space magic, but he just couldn’t get a clue on how to leave this place.

’To leave, I have to open a portal out of this dimension. But how do I reach a place that is in another entire dimension?!’

How his teleportation magic worked until now was that he folded the space around him while anchoring himself at his destination. But to do that, he had to be able to reach his destination with his mana senses.

And since he couldn’t expand them beyond the confines of this dimension, he couldn’t just teleport out.

’A portal, huh...’

’Wait, a portal?’

A strange thought came to him. At the same time, information flooded into his brain, causing him to be disoriented for a second.

’W- what!?’

Sitting up on the bed, Valerian began to comprehend what this information was exactly, and he couldn’t believe it.

’Why haven’t I thought about that before?’

When he thought about the portal, he realized something: he had never in his life created a portal. Whenever he wanted to be somewhere, he teleported. And even when he took others with him, he teleported them.

But never in his life had he created a portal.

It was like there was a barrier that stopped him from questioning it and prevented him from thinking about it.

Yet this information wasn’t something secret, as teleportation gates existed and they were created by space mages.

’But why has no one ever asked me to create a portal?’

Thinking back, no one had ever asked him to make one, and they never questioned that he always just teleported. In all the books about space magic, there was never any mention of how to make a portal; it was always about teleportation.

It was like gaining the knowledge to create a portal needed a certain type of question regarding the fundamental nature of space magic.

’This...’

Excitement began to boil up in his chest as he further comprehended this new knowledge.

’This is the way out!’