Chapter 92: Mirror Defense

  The game continued, and the little guardian tried every trick in the book, frequently muttering under his breath. He accused Emilia of not playing fair. She, however, merely offered a polite smile and occasionally quoted random pieces of wisdom from Sun Tzu that she recalled from social media.

  "He who fights with wisdom, drinks with ease in his soul." or "The master said, attacks are like water; the more you lose, the less you have."

  Finally, the mage couldn't take it anymore and interrupted her. "That master of yours must have been an alcoholic. He talks of nothing but drinking."

  Eventually, both games concluded; he won one, and Emilia won the other.

  "Fine, fine, as I promised, you shall have your reward. If nothing else, I learned something new."

  "It is not just something new," Emilia was quick to voice her opinion. "Imagine if you applied this trick to an old adversary. Just imagine the look on his face—first rage, then utter helplessness. And what if he also decides to sacrifice heavy pieces? That way, with a single flick of your wrist, you could halt the mirror defense and attack on both boards simultaneously!"

  "Ha, ha-ha-ha! Incredible. Mirror defense—I like it. Very well, girl, you truly impressed me this time. I will even give you a greater reward. I planned to give you three bags of magic stones, but instead, I shall upgrade your magic ring from one to three cubic meters!"

  Emilia immediately began to calculate. The Great System obligingly assisted her with her high algebra skills, and she instantly felt a sharp sting in her heart.

  "If one bag has volume X and is filled with magic stones worth Y..."

  "Master... master... three bags of mana crystals? Did you say three bags?"

  "Yes, exactly... but now, I shall use the energy of the mountain. It powers this entire private dimension with its specialized spatial mana."

  "Master, how large are the bags we are talking about?"

  "I remember how old Filon begged me for five whole years to upgrade his ring..."

  "Are we talking about bags sized for... ahem... a normal adult, or... one of those smaller ones? Wait, Filon? You do not mean Grand Master Filon, the court Grand Master of the kingdom?"

  "Ha! They made him a court official? I told him not to waste his time with politics, but he would not listen. No matter, he is still young, not even three hundred years old. He will learn. What were you asking?"

  "I... nothing, nothing. I am truly delighted about the ring upgrade."

  Emilia did not know the exact value of such treasures, but she was well aware of how rare they were. Rumi, for example, possessed a spatial ring containing a cube-shaped space with sides of about thirty centimeters, and it had to be returned immediately upon leaving that area.

  "Three cubic meters. If I really have that much room, I could fit three tons of water in there... or entire sacks of turnips. I could carry old Orlen's turnips from his field to the city, and he would give me free turnips. Wait, even better. I could carry my entire table with inks and paper and draw talismans anywhere, while eating delicious turnips!"

  Emilia drifted into a daydream about what she could do with all those three cubic meters of space until the little guardian lost his patience and struck her on the head with his staff.

  "Hey, girl, are you even listening to me? Give me your ring and place it on this altar."

  "Yes, senior!"

  Emilia snapped back to reality and saw a small altar that had not been there before. It was crafted from silver, though it was somehow clearer, and the energy within it flowed calmly, like a perfectly still lake. Perhaps it was one of those legendary alloys.

  Countless strange symbols, the likes of which she had never encountered before, were visible around the altar. Gradually, something like a mirage began to manifest above the stone. The air itself seemed to create a strange sense of depth.

  "That must be spatial mana!" Emilia realized, hurrying to pull off her ring. She carefully emptied its entire contents, piling them to her left and right. Then, with great care, she placed the ring upon the altar.

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  The guardian of the mountain immediately activated his magic. Unseen, subtle energies originating from the very core of the mountain, as well as from the surrounding mists, began to funnel toward the peak. Emilia instantly activated her skills, but the guardian looked at her and smiled.

  "You are still too young to work with such energies." He made a magical gesture with his staff, and a nearly opaque magical barrier materialized around Emilia. The last thing she heard before the barrier sealed shut was the guardian's quiet muttering.

  "Mirror defense... and here I thought I hadn't lost at chess since that cursed centaur sent his disciples to challenge me..."

  Emilia was deeply disappointed. She had hoped to use her "Dispel Ignorance" skill to observe the process, but for the first time, the skill was thwarted by this strange magical wall.

  Time passed slowly, and Emilia had nothing to do. Here at the summit, the mountain's aura no longer oppressed her body, and the chaotic energies of the mists were no longer flooding into her energy channels.

  She decided to use this time to finally get some real rest after the long days spent climbing the stairs and to absorb the remaining medicinal properties of the priceless herb.

  She sat cross-legged and began to meditate slowly. The mana around her was exceptionally rich, and she absorbed it greedily.

  Moments ticked by, and countless hourglasses measuring the phenomenon some called "time" began to track the path of falling sand grains. Their rate of descent was predictable, often bringing a sense of profound peace to those who watched them.

  The hourglasses turned again and again, yet Emilia did not stop meditating. Slowly and imperceptibly, a few thin strands of spatial mana began to seep through the barrier, and Emilia absorbed them without even realizing it.

  Subconsciously, she guided this mana through her channels and led it toward the lake of her consciousness. There, it gathered in one of the corners, forming a strange, ethereal tree.

  ---

  "Wake up, girl, the ring is ready," Emilia heard the little guardian's voice. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around. The altar had vanished, and the mountain's energy had receded. She quickly grabbed her ring and projected her consciousness into it. A smile immediately lit up her face. The ring now opened into a significantly larger space—three whole cubic meters. She immediately began to pack and organize her belongings inside. Now that she had so much room, she even tucked her backpack inside so it wouldn't get in her way.

  "Now then, since I have rewarded you for our game earlier, it is time to give you the reward for passing the trial of body and spirit. I was supposed to offer you a choice between three treasures, but your story is quite peculiar. In this world, excess wealth can bring you more trouble than benefit. Therefore, I have chosen this book of first-level magical glyphs for you. I wrote it myself."

  Emilia's eyes sparked, but then she paused to think.

  "Wait a minute. First, he did not actually give me a reward for the chess game; he just used the mountain's power. Now, instead of one of three rewards, he is giving me a book... and he wrote it himself. Does that not mean he effectively loses none of his treasures?"

  "Um... could they not be second-level glyphs? At least a few of them?"

  "Girl, you are not listening to what I am telling you. Second-level items are things that even the weaker third-level mages are still searching for. To them, you are nothing more than an ant."

  Emilia thought of Chief Nikos, who was at the third level, and swallowed hard. Perhaps she truly was just an ant compared to his power.

  "Yes, but I can be a beautiful ant," she said, sticking her tongue out.

  "Ha-ha, fine. Since you want to be a beautiful ant, I will leave you three glyphs of the second level—the simplest ones possible. One for light, one for cooling, and one for heat."

  "And Uncle Guardian... I... could we replace one of them with a glyph for durability? I make my own armor, and it would be good to have. Here, look."

  Emilia immediately pointed to her armor and the formation upon it. The little guardian did something that caused the energy lines to glow instantly, and he began to examine them with a critical eye.

  "Ha! The work of an amateur. Do you even know Tyron’s Law? And this here—honestly, even one of the goblin servants of old Ge Hong could do better while sleeping."

  The guardian continued to criticize Emilia's work while she tried to ask questions, and he even answered a few of them. Emilia learned a great deal even from these simple interactions, and her understanding of the great path of formations benefited from this greatly.

  Finally, however, the guardian relented. "Fine, fine, I will replace the cooling glyph with the one for strengthening. But know that you are the one losing out. I remember very well how, in my younger years, I froze a barrier like that and was then able to shatter it much more easily. There are many tricks that can be performed with freezing glyphs. If you have the opportunity, try to learn them."

  Emilia did not stop nodding her head, like a hen pecking at rice. She hurried to take the book of glyphs with both hands, bowing low in gratitude.

  The guardian, however, was not finished yet.

  "Since I have given you so many rewards, I also have a request for you. This here is the seed that can continue my lineage. I belong to a race that began to vanish from this world even before the era of the Olympian gods, and my task here in this dimension is to try and find a way to save my people. Here, take this seed and plant it in a hidden place in the forest. Place these 128 formation flags around it; you may choose their positions yourself. I see you have some experience with formations. They will activate on their own and create an invisible barrier. This one here is the 129th flag. It is for you, so that you may see and pass through the barrier. Plant the seed inside, amidst the flags, and if you have time, stop by to water it with water you have previously enriched with your mana. When several small creatures are born, it is very important that you leave them to live on their own, without helping or hindering them. And be careful—ten years from now, when this dimension opens again, I will know immediately if you have followed my instructions!"