Chapter 63: Sky Mirror

The world always felt so dark and cold. Losing the ability to see might be one of the cruelest forms of disability imaginable. Especially when that fate fell upon a girl who was terrified of the dark.

A world frozen solid, sounds echoing all around her, no idea where she actually was, which way she needed to go, or what she was supposed to do.

Being blind was the truest form of being lost, without any map at all.

That feeling had always haunted Ilunia. She’d always been afraid of the dark, until, eventually, gaining the power of prophecy, being able to peer into visions, ironically became the one thing that gave her genuine comfort.

Especially after she’d witnessed that particular vision.

In the middle of a dying world, amid Hunters who’d lost every ability to fight, amid an endless ocean of corpses, and amid a sea of blood seeping without end.

A man walked forward with perfect calm, his gaze fixed on a sky, dark, rippling, trembling with a force powerful enough to shatter the world itself.

There, meteors rained down, meteors originating from Invaders far more powerful than anything humanity had ever faced.

When humanity’s hope had run out completely, when everyone believed it was all finally over, he alone remained, the sole salvation left standing.

He raised his hand skyward, and the heavens filled with a breathtakingly beautiful color, painting the sky with stars shining brilliantly bright.

The next instant, that artificial sky collided head-on with every incoming meteor, unleashing a devastating shockwave of destruction.

Yet, not a single meteor made it through. He held every single one back, not so much as flinching, and that’s when Ilunia saw them.

A girl with blonde hair walking closer, a beautiful girl with black hair gripping an ice-covered sword in her hand, and a grown woman whose silhouette stood dark, marked by vertical, slit-like eyes.

All three came to a stop before the man, then bowed their heads.

"Master."

All three spoke the exact same word, in unison.

Hope shone bright once more, amid an otherwise dying flame.

***

"So that’s why My Lord gave me this skill book."

Ilunia had spent considerable time studying the book Julian had given her. She’d listened carefully, studied diligently, and now she was remarkably close.

The skill Julian had given her was, in fact, remarkably simple. A skill Ilunia had glimpsed once before, far off in the future, she couldn’t pinpoint exactly when that moment would occur, only that it belonged to a time yet to come.

A skill capable of creating a mirror-like defense, one whose effect went beyond simply being a thick, sturdy mirror, it also carried the property of reducing the destructive force behind an opponent’s attack.

It was a fairly popular skill, genuinely useful in its own right. But Ilunia had never once known anyone capable of wielding it to the level her Master had displayed.

That made Ilunia tilt her head up toward the sky. Fine, she couldn’t actually see it, but the sky was something easy enough to imagine. And just like that, Ilunia found herself recalling that meteor-filled sky once more, watching her Master step forward and unleash this defensive skill, forging an artificial sky from a mirror.

From that alone, Ilunia knew instantly that this skill carried extraordinary potential.

Her heart pounded hard as she thought about how her Master must have chosen this particular skill book over all the others.

Could that have been an act of genuine care?

’Yes, this is exactly why he’s become my salvation.’

She let out a small sigh, a sweet smile spreading across her face, and with that, Ilunia didn’t hesitate for even a moment, determined to master this skill today.

***

In the training room right now, a closed-off training space accessible only with proper authorization, Julian stood in the middle of the room.

His hand gripped a sword wrapped in a thick layer of frozen ice. The air had turned bitterly cold, and even parts of the floor and walls had gradually begun to shift, taking on a glossy sheen, slowly freezing over on their own.

Not just that, snow had begun forming as well, gradually. And all of that demonstrated exactly how a C-Grade Skill functioned, since at that point, a Skill had already reached a level considered exceptionally high by human standards.

Julian let out a cold breath, releasing a thin trail of vapor. His gaze then shifted, meeting Kina’s, who watched him with an intensely focused stare.

Since Kina occasionally experienced a kind of breakthrough moment watching Julian use his Skills, Julian figured it’d be worth showing Kina exactly how he used his own.

And Julian had done exactly this, repeatedly, right in front of Kina. So far, there hadn’t been any progress, Kina had discovered something, sure, but she’d also run into a specific obstacle delaying her further growth.

Julian had no idea what that obstacle actually was, but all he could do was offer his support and encouragement here.

"What did you see?" Julian then released his control over Frost Edge. Kina, meanwhile, paused for a moment, rubbing her chin, trying to summarize it:

"Master channels an enormous amount of Mana, but instead of letting it scatter wildly, Master manages to keep everything concentrated tightly around the blade."

There were plenty of other factors at play too, and Kina had pinpointed every single one correctly. Kina’s actual problem now had been identified, she simply didn’t yet have enough control to adapt what she was currently observing.

And because of that, her progress had been stalled for some time now. Fortunately, the Academy already had its own program designed to help Kina improve her control, and it was proving to be genuinely reliable.

Once Julian was confident Kina had finally found a clear direction and a useful lead, he wrapped up his business here.

He was about to follow Kina, who’d invited him to head over to a different training room specifically for control practice, but he stopped short.

His gaze locked onto a translucent blue screen appearing before him, something Julian had been anticipating so eagerly his heart pounded hard.

’Finally..!’

What he’d been waiting for, the very thing both their lives might depend on, something that would finally give Julian a genuine sense of security in this dangerous world.

[System]

New Skill acquired.

Skill: [Sky Mirror]

Initial Grade: [E]

Progress: [0.0%]

Skill successfully registered.

[Status Update]

Skills:

• [Sky Mirror] — [E] — [0.0%]

A defensive skill!! Finally!!

Julian felt genuinely thrilled, especially since tomorrow was the day the Elite Academy evaluation would finally begin.