As they finished listening, Ren's eyes sparkled with interest.
'He left out a lot… but what deep history! Assimilating Blade? I wonder what rank they were?'
Creating your own technique is no easy feat, especially one that has lasted for thousands of years,
This was because, no matter the era, people always find a way to advance,
To last so long is a testament to one's own skill!
'He may have been a Rank 7 no, maybe even a rank 8!'
Yet, compared to Ren's excitement, Aria's and even Relia's eyes were dull.
'What about the prophecy?'
'This martial art addict!'
As mages, they weren't as interested as Ren, a warrior, was in martial arts.
Relia sighed and asked Hale to finish.
"Sir Hale, why don't you talk about the prophecy now?"
"Ah, right!"
Hale coughed a couple of times, realizing he had gone a bit off topic.
"It was told by an Oracle in the union, Lady Vivian of the True Sight Martial Art."
Relia's eyes reacted in recognition; it seemed this oracle was quite important.
"The prophecy spoke of a person with heavenly martial talent…"
[Young, their eyes reflected heaven and thus reflected all martial arts in the world
They held a heavenly talent, and thus they also carried a heavenly burden
They possessed great determination and spirit, and thus would remain undeterred even with such a burden
They, once fully realized, would appear and thus remove the greatest wound of the Martial Union
A omen of Martial prosperity, between Dawn and Dusk, the child of prophecy will proclaim their prominence.]
As Hale finished what seemed like a chant or song, Ren fell into thought.
'It fits?'
Ren was indeed young, and he showed determination and spirit, or at least that was how Hale probably saw him.
However, after some thought, Ren shook his head, and Hale nodded at that reaction,
"I don't have heavenly talent."
"I agree, your body is way too weak!"
Ren frowned at the words, but Hale continued, his expression turned serious as he spoke his thoughts.
Ren unleashed a technique too powerful for his rank, yet the attack nearly removed his arm permanently.
On top of that, Hale had scanned and even touched Ren's body before their test so he could ascertain the condition of his body.
Though talented, it wasn't absurdly talented.
Muscles were thick despite his small size, but they weren't what Hale would consider perfect.
"Then if you knew from the start, why did you test me?"
"Even if you're not the right person, I can't give up such an opportunity to teach such a talented young man!"
It was a natural reaction for an older martial artist to want to teach their juniors, or at least that was Hale's mindset in the matter.
"Well, that's really all there is to the prophecy; even I can tell it isn't enough, so here take this."
Hale, pulling a coin from his pocket, threw it towards Ren, who easily caught it.
The material of the coin itself seemed to be of high quality.
It was about the size of his palm, and on it was an intricate pattern depicting multiple weapons from a sword to a guantlet.
Ren sensed mana from multiple sources embedded into the various patterns of the coin, and the pattern depicting the Polearm had the most mana inside.
It was also familiar to Ren.
'Hale's mana? And the other manas… It's different but just as complex as his is.'
The amount of mana in total was very little, but the uniqueness of each different mana was staggering.
The mana was from people just as strong or even stronger than Hale.
"What is this?"
Hale let out a laugh, making his way out of the tent.
"It's a Martial Lord token. Keep it safe and use it when you meet anyone from the sect. It'll be useful."
With that, Hale promptly left, leaving Ren to wonder what the coin he was given truly was.
"Martial Token…"
Relia recognized it immediately.
"Do you know what it is, Lady Relia?"
She nodded as she explained calmly,
"As the name suggests, it is a token belonging to the Martial Lords of the Martial Union. It's proof of their identity, and isn't something you can buy with money, so I'd recommend you keep it safe."
Her thoughts, however, were the complete opposite.
'A martial token! One of only 12! What kind of plot armor is this!? You can access their library with this.'
Relia could only sigh internally. Even as a mage, such a token was very desirable both for status and potential benefits to one's rank.
Yet different than envy, Relia was happy for Ren.
'How lucky, could this be a transmigrator's fortune?'
If she knew what they had gone through, she probably would have shut her mouth, or in this case, her thoughts.
Yet as thoughts were, others wouldn't know of them, so Relia smoothly moved on to the main topic at hand.
Relia spoke with a slightly nervous voice,
"You two are from Earth, right?"
Ren was still staring at the coin looked up when asked the question.
Aria answered with a smile.
"Yes, we're from a different world."
Relia's eyes flickered.
"The one with a single moon?"
"Yes."
Aria affirmed,
"The one without mana?"
"That's the one."
Ren nodded,
Relia stared at the two, her pupils shook before her eyes started to wet, her previously calm face started to twitch as her calm smile became a more lively and open smile.
"T-thank goodness!"
Since Ren was injured, Relia pounced on Aria instead, giving her a big and tight hug.
"L-lady Relia?"
"I'm sorry! But… But just stay still, for a little bit…. please."
Even Aria was surprised, but looking at it from a different perspective made her reaction more reasonable.
Unlike Ren and Aria, Relia didn't have a system or a way to message other transmigrators.
With memories of two lives, she must have felt pretty isolated or different.
On top of that, Relia had read that in the story of the novel she transmigrated to, she died at the start!
The stress of worrying about her life couldn't help but wear her down.
Even if she somehow survived such a fate, threats existed throughout the novel's story that put the empire at risk.
And as a daughter of a duke, an important noble of said empire, it included her as well!
Moreover, she was quite young; if you included her Earth age with her current age of 17, she would be in her 30s.
Although this number seemed high, that wasn't considering the environment she was living in.
In both her lives, she was still in the growing phase of her life, with little real experience of the outside world.
How could an ordinary person ever be prepared for this?
For a world of mana, for a world of violence and bloodshed?
Aria, recognizing those feelings, sympathized with her.
'It's like when I first transmigrated.'
When Aria regained her memories, it felt disorienting, like her sense of self was split into two.
Between the clash of emotions with the Aria living in Solaris and the Aria with a desire to return to Earth, it took her quite a while to adjust.
It took years for her to truly let go of her obsession with returning home; in fact, by then she had already become a god.
'If it wasn't for Ren…'
Aria didn't know how she would have turned out without him, but she knew it wouldn't be any good.
Aria lightly patted Relia's back as she cried; thankfully, it seemed the tent had a way of muting sounds from exiting, since no knights came to check on them despite the sounds of their lady crying.
…
After a while, Relia finished crying.
She sat on Aria's bed with Aria next to her, still patting her back, Ren sitting across on his own bed, smiled at the sight as he asked a question.
"Lady Relia, are you feeling better?"
Taking a handkerchief from a pocket, she blew into it as her eyes reddened from crying, and looked up.
"Yes, t-thanks for worrying, and call me Relia."
Aria smiled, happy that the girl felt better,
"I'm glad you could let it all out, Relia."
Looking at Aria, Relia's eyes could help but tremble,
'S-so nice both of them.'
In the many transmigration stories she read, the main character or other transmigrators often had an arrogant attitude.
It typically came from the immense power they were gifted on a whim or the idea that they were special and therefore better than everyone else.
So it was no surprise that Relia was happy that not one but both transmigrators in front of her weren't that way.
"I should probably tell you about how I got here and the novel I read."
'Novel she read?'
'This world is a novel?'
"Take your time, Relia."
"At this age, isn't time all we have?"
"Tsk, you sound old, Ren."
"I am old!"
Watching them joke around, Relia couldn't help but crack a smile as she started telling her story.
"Wow, so you read a novel and were transmigrated into it."
"And as a character that's destined to die."
Ren and Aria couldn't help but feel pity for the girl and her desperate attempts at survival.
Although Ren's fate slowly killed him, or Aria's fate that brought her trouble was life threatening, they weren't as set in stone as Relia's was.
"Hehe, I managed to survive, though, especially because of your two."
Aria and Ren landed on top of the assassin, stopping them from reaching Relia.
"It's as if fate brought us together."
"Fate…"
"It really is connected, huh?"
At Aria's and Ren's mutters, Relia tilted her head in confusion, but they merely smiled at her with Aria asking a question.
"Relia, you said that assassin was part of a ploy to cause war between the Rael Empire and the Lelfon Kingdom. Can you tell us more about it?"
Relia nodded; she didn't have a reason to withhold information anyway.
"The goal of the people behind the plot is to cause chaos and instability in the world at large."
"I've tried to find evidence of them using information from the novel, but it was pointless, as they first started moving or showing traces only after my death."
If she could gain evidence of their existence, she could have used it to better guard herself and prepare against the assassins, yet it was all in vain.
All she could do was increase her combat power to become rank 3 and look for the perfect opportunity.
She was luckily escorted by Hale, a rank 5 powerhouse and captain of the Aureus knight order, who had business in the capital, yet he was separated from her when she was attacked.
She was thankfully saved by Aria and Ren's timely arrival.
"But there is one thing that is certain: they are called the Chaos Cult."
"Chaos cult?"
"How edgy."
However, in that name, a word stuck out to them, one mentioned by Astlyn inside the system.
'Chaos? Could it be?'
'Isn't it obvious? Let's ask her!'
Aria lightly asked a question,
"Relia, is this Chaos cult trying to revive a god?"
Relia's eyes widened as she nodded, her voice slightly louder,
"Yes! They're trying to revive the Chaos God, and if they succeed the world will end."