The Arcadia System

Chapter 209 – The Circle Of The Willow(2)

"Hmm….." mouthed Reve. 

He could almost feel a headache coming his way. He had planned and planned until he reached this moment, and having reached it, he wasn't going to give up just because some voice told him, 'no'.

However, he also couldn't force his way through. The magical prowess of the other party was so great that he would probably die the moment he thought of attack. 

'What do I do now….?'

His surface thought resounded, "What do I do now?"

Reve instinctively closed his mouth. 

'Oops..'

"Oops.."

He then realized that his sudden action wouldn't change anything. 

He got an idea!

Ruffling his clothes that lay on the floor, Reve brought out a black ring from his subspace. It was an object that Circe had given him many years ago when he was still a fresh student of hers. He had refused to wear it before as he didn't have a stable humanoid form back then, and when he got one, later on, he had totally forgotten about it. 

However, as it came to be, this might just be the perfect time to bring out the sleeping object.

Holding the rope that was interlocked with the ring, Reve bellowed with a victorious smile, "Do you know what this is?!"

"A common—-"

The voice cut its words just when it seemed to spout another round of deriding words. 

The aura of the room lessened and its magical grip in this dark space became unstable. Reve obviously picked up on this. 

His smile widened as this was the reaction he wanted. 

"How do you have this?" panicked the voice.

"How else will I have this? It was passed down to me by my mentor," smiled Reve. 

By now, the darkness has already subsided and Reve could perceive light particles appearing in his vicinity. His smile widened much more.

He had made the perfect decision. 

The voice's whispers still lingered in the air, "Are you by chance….a morrite?"

"No, I'm no morrite, but I was taught by one—"

"Impossible, there is no new generation of disciples. The last living one perished a long time ago without passing the teachings of the Great Mother."

Reve mocked, "Yet, here I stand."

He noticed that the enchantment responsible for exposing his thoughts had already weakened. So he took advantage of that by pondering on the source of confusion he had in him. 

'Great Mother? Disciples? What are all those? Circe only told me that it was proof of our kinship. It was supposed to give me an elevated status among morrites. Damn! Circe, you didn't tell me everything!'

Nevertheless, Reve acted as if he understood everything, "Nothing is ever lost forever. How do you know that there are not other disciples hiding in the reclusive parts of Arcadia?"

"That is true," reasoned the voice. 

its control over the room's enchantments increased as total darkness resumed in the room. 

But this time, there was something different. Reve looked sideways to see a large clear mirror that appeared out of nowhere.

"Enter it," commanded the voice. 

Reve touched the surface of the mirror. It reacted to him, separating its liquid surface to form a holeust big enough for his finger to fit. 

Understanding the mechanics, Reve confidently strode into the mirror with his eyes wide open. He wanted to capture the magic in the mirror.

"Huh?!"

Nothing happened. 

He had walked in and come out….Wait, he came out of the mirror? 

Looking back, Reve could see the familiar mirror. Its surface moved about like a wavy sea.

One thing he noted was that he was not in Red room anymore. Instead, he appeared in some sort of village that was surrounded by green trees. 

All sorts of humanoid beings smiled gleefully as they walked about. They had not yet noticed the stranger that had magically appeared from nowhere. 

In front of him, a well-aged woman with saggy skin lightly bowed as he recollected himself, "I greet the disciple of the Great Mother. I am High Priestess Ianthe."

Reve looked at her and recognized her voice instantly. She was the one that had been tormenting him for many minutes. 

Now that he was before her, he could catch hints of her vast aura that she withheld.

'She is surely a grand mage. Her aura doesn't give hints of innate spirituality so she is only just at the peak of the fourth circle. That, itself, is an achievement.'

Reve knew better than to not be polite. He lightly bent his head, "Lady Ianthe, I'm awestruck by your magical prowess."

"Oh, such fine words. Welcome to the Circle of the Willows."

Her words made Reve give the so-called village a second look. Nothing about it seemed normal. The people here use arcane magic on a daily basis, like the woman that just sparked a flame beneath the clustered firewood or the man that enchanted his ax and chopped a log of wood beside his house. 

Watching them, Reve realized that all the people here, both children and adults, were mages. The lowest rank among them were Initiates and the most popular were Meisters. 

Also, maybe he was dreaming, but Reve could have sworn he caught on the auras of a few grandmasters. 

How could such a powerful force be hidden from the rest of the world?

Surely, only a coven could produce such splendid talents?

Reve was about to continue his observation when he noticed something, "High Priestess Ianthe, may I get my clothes back?"

"Call me Ianthe, and sure," smiled the priestess. 

She cast an unknown spell that absorbed an infinite amount of her magi. The black mirror came into view. Its center opened like a beast's mouth and it spat out Reve's clothes.

The latter quickly transformed and wore his clothes. Now feeling comfortable, he commented on the magic spell that Ianthe performed.

"Fixed teleportation enchant. I do not know if you casted the enchant on the Red room, but you have a spell that can link to it. Superb. The mirror is a spatial spell that hones in on the coordinates of the room."

"As expected of a disciple.. Follow me."