Suddenly, a bright white light erupted from the stone, blinding both Zilon and Rivor—and anyone else who might have been nearby. The light was so intense that it seemed to pierce through the darkness of the alleyway, illuminating everything in its path.
As the light slowly receded, two orbs could be seen emerging from the stone. They floated in the air for a moment before darting toward Zilon, disappearing into his forehead.
Sadly, neither Zilon nor Rivor could tell the color of the scrolls that had been absorbed. The light faded away, leaving the two in stunned silence.
Zilon's mind was flooded with messages from the system—the same system he had tried to summon earlier but failed miserably. For some reason, the messages appeared now, just as he was about to read them, Rivor jumped in front of him, bombarding him with questions.
"Did you see the color of the scrolls? Which skill did you get? What grade is it?" Rivor asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
The barrage of questions distracted Zilon, causing him to miss the chance to read the messages.
"Well, can't you resummon the panel so you can read your history?" Rivor folded his arms, refusing to take the blame for Zilon's distraction.
Zilon felt the corner of his mouth twitch. 'What is this, a video game?' he thought.
"No, I can't summon it at will. I have to concentrate to summon it. Unless there's another method, I don't know how to do it like you do," Zilon sighed, feeling a bit frustrated.
"Hmm, I guess your brain is just that small," Rivor taunted, a smirk playing on his lips.
"Can't blame me, though," Zilon shot back, refusing to let Rivor get the upper hand.
The two continued their banter for a while before they noticed that the alleyway had grown darker.
"Woops, it's really dark now. I wish I knew which skill you got and some of your stats too. Maybe I could teach you how to summon a fireball or something. But alas…" Rivor said, turning around and walking away.
"Wait, you can do that? And how can you see in this darkness?" Zilon asked hurriedly as he caught up to Rivor.
"Come on, it's not really that dark, you know," Rivor replied with a smile, hearing Zilon grunt in frustration.
"Well, technically, I can teach you the basics of sensing energy, attracting it toward your body, and the like to give you the effects of a fireball. But the way you create it entirely depends on you," Rivor said, closing one eye as he led the way.
"Hmm, I see. Well, I do remember seeing my stats, but I can't fully remember what they were," Zilon thought aloud.
"Don't worry about it. Sometimes that's how it is. Usually, the system doesn't allow you to tell others your stats directly. There's a method for that," Rivor continued walking.
"Wait, that's normal?" Zilon was surprised.
Naturally, he could actually remember his stats, although not vividly. Hearing that this was normal surprised him.
"Do you know how to do it?" Zilon asked curiously.
"Hah, I wish I could. Those are part of the knowledge you'd call hidden," Rivor chuckled.
"Then does that necessarily mean that everything has a method here?" Zilon asked.
"Well, you can put it like that," Rivor replied.
---
Finally, after a lot of twists and turns, they emerged from the dark alleyway and entered the streets of the town.
The streets were surprisingly bright, illuminated by streetlights planted at regular intervals.
"Wow…" Zilon exclaimed, his face lighting up with awe.
* 'And staring at it doesn't hurt my eyes,' Zilon thought, marveling at the sight.
The city was bathed in a soft blue light, the color of the streetlights. People moved about freely, some still discussing and laughing, while others sat on wooden chairs in the open fields.
Zilon remembered passing this area earlier in the day, but it had been crowded then. Now, with the lights and the calm atmosphere, it felt like a completely different place.
"Do you know what they call these lanterns?" Rivor suddenly spoke after a long silence.
Zilon was quiet but nodded his head.
"They used to be called the Lanterns of the Moon. There are particular rare magical beasts that produce this light, which is extracted from them to create this beautiful sight," Rivor explained, his voice tinged with nostalgia.
"Sadly, because of how rare they are, it's not cheap for even the governors to plant all of these around the city," Rivor concluded.
After a few more minutes of silence, both men enjoyed the view.
"Come on, let's go. I believe we're close to your place," Rivor said suddenly.
Zilon was about to nod when he noticed Rivor looking at him. His mouth was slightly open, and he had a strange expression on his face.
"Hmm? What's wrong?" Rivor asked, confused.
Zilon closed his mouth and smiled.
"Oh, it's nothing," Zilon said, still smiling.
"Hmm, okay then,"nRivor turned around and started walking.
"Right…" Zilon followed suit.
---
After a while of walking—and even entering the wrong houses by mistake—they finally reached Zilon's house.
"Is this where you live?" Rivor asked calmly, not wanting to make another mistake.
"Yes, it is,"nZilon replied, completely sure this time.
"Hmm, okay then. I'll be off," Rivor said, stretching his arms.
Then he extended his hand.
"It was nice meeting you, Zilon Miruba," Rivor smiled as he initiated a handshake.
Zilon, slightly surprised, smiled back and shook Rivor's hand.
"Yeah, it was nice knowing you, Rivor Alford," Zilon replied.
For some reason, Zilon felt like this handshake had a deeper meaning, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it.
Relaxing their grip, Rivor turned around to leave. Suddenly, Zilon remembered something.
"Oh, Rivor, wait!" Zilon yelled as Rivor had already gone a considerable distance.
"Hmm?..." Rivor turned around and was met with a bag of cash thrust into his hand before he could react. He heard footsteps running away.
"This is my token of appreciation for helping me!" Zilon yelled back as he ran as fast as he could.
He knew that doing it the normal way would make Rivor reject the money, but this way, Rivor had no choice but to accept it.
Rivor, on the other hand, was slightly surprised as he saw Zilon running toward the front door of his house. He looked down at the bag and could tell it was filled with gold. From experience, he could tell that Zilon had split his money in half and given one half to him.
"That brat… Well, I might as well give it to the other person in the house," Rivor smiled as Zilon entered the house. He turned around to finally leave, putting the bag of gold inside his small portable bag.
Of course, when he had arrived earlier, he had sensed another person inside the house—someone with a similar magical aura to Zilon.
'I might not have magic, though I can use some skills that have low mana consumption. But I was born into a family with a high affinity for mana control. Sadly, I was an exception—high mana control but low mana to become a mage,' Rivor thought as he walked.
Mana was the term used for energy, although it was just one of many forms of energy.
'Zilon might not know it, but I can tell he has magic in him. He doesn't seem aware of it, though, so I'll get him some books to help him study that,' Rivor continued walking, passing by people who were calmly strolling around the streets.
'Then there's our fight earlier with those hooded guys. Six against one isn't really fair, if you ask me,' Rivor suddenly recalled his fight earlier, analyzing his flaws and weaknesses that had led to his injuries.
'Hmm, then it came to the part where they rushed to kill Zilon…' Rivor thought hard, even pausing his steps to reflect.
'That skill of his… Was it time magic?' Rivor could sense when the skill was activated, so he knew something had happened at that moment.
He had even seen a red tint spread around them and noticed how slow the attacks had become afterward.
He had so many questions—what skill it was, how Zilon had acquired it, and more. Because, in the end, a skill like that was not normal at all.
'It should even be around rare grade,' Rivor sighed and continued walking.
"Well, no matter. The good thing is he's alive. Both of us are," he said to himself as he walked ahead, entering a dark alleyway and vanishing into the darkness.