Chapter 192

Chapter 194: A Riviria No One’s Seen

Suddenly, she was all fired up.

Loki pointed at the newly emerged skill on the parchment and started shouting excitedly.

Her suspicions were correct! Now there’s proof!

Isn’t this new skill blatant evidence?!

What else do you have to say for yourself, Izay?!

Thinking this, Loki narrowed her eyes, displaying an expression as if she’d already seen through the truth.

In contrast, Izay looked very calm: “Don’t jump to conclusions so easily, Loki. The moon is a star too, right? There’s nothing strange about me having this skill. Just chill…”

“Hmph, keep spinning your tales. Maybe I’ll believe you later~”

“……”

Forget it, can’t pull the wool over her eyes.

After pondering for a moment, Izay decided not to discuss this topic with Loki anymore. Let her think about it herself.

Artemis only wanted to keep their relationship hidden from the girls in her faction.

After all, the goddess wasn’t ready to announce it yet.

As for Loki… strictly speaking, she wasn’t within the group that needed to be kept in the dark.

Izay didn’t think Loki would bother gossiping about this with Letsha and the others after finding out; they don’t even know each other.

At most, she might use it as a private joke against him and Artemis.

So Izay decided not to talk about it, neither denying nor confirming.

Under the teasing gaze of the goddess of mischief, Izay slipped out of Loki’s divine room.

“It’s getting more suspicious! There’s definitely something fishy going on between the two!”

Watching Izay leave, Loki sat cross-legged in the room, stroking her chin in thought.

“But if Izay and Artemis are together… maybe that’s a good thing? I won’t have to worry about him stealing Ais away from me~”

With Artemis’ personality… she probably wouldn’t allow Izay to be fickle, right?

Instantly, Loki felt like she could relax her guard around Izay a bit more.

Slightly happy about this “good news,” Loki picked up the parchment next to her, preparing to destroy the record of Izay’s updated ability values as usual.

Come to think of it, it’s odd.

This time, Izay had four effects for his new skill, but three of them were incomprehensible to Loki except for the last one.

Moon’s Blessing, Hunt’s Blessing, and «Moonlight Power».

The exact effects of these didn’t appear on the divine text…

“That kid must have some idea what these mean?” Loki muttered while setting the parchment alight with the candle flame in the room.

If Izay himself doesn’t understand the effect of this rare skill, then it would be amusing. He’d have to spend time figuring it out himself. There are precedents among adventurers for such cases.

……

Descending the spiral staircase of the Central Tower, Izay was lost in thought, musing over a new power he had just grasped.

He certainly wasn’t like what Loki thought, unable to comprehend his own ‘skills’. On the contrary, he understood them perfectly.

[Moon’s Blessing: Blessed by the Goddess of the Moon, immune to mental attacks, charm ineffective]

[Resonance «Moonlight Power»: Enter New Moon state, temporarily gain the ability to «Transform»]

[Hunt’s Blessing: Facing enemies, long-range attack accuracy improves drastically]

[Entering combat state, agility and dexterity increase significantly]

These were the detailed effects of «Moonlit Ode».

“Resonating with Moonlight Power, transforming weapons into different forms… Sounds like I’m being nudged towards a class change.”

Glancing at the system panel visible only to him, Izay couldn’t help but comment.

Speaking of which, what did this skill change most about him?

It wasn’t the stat boosts during combat, but the new ability gained after resonating with Moonlight Power.

«Transformation» ability, the power to alter objects, even exclusive weapons.

Specifically, it allowed him to temporarily transform his exclusive weapon, «Qie Xie», into a bow form, using magic to create arrows for attack, whose strength could increase depending on the amount of magic infused into the arrow.

And it had a trump card.

By consuming half or more of his magic, he could condense an ultimate arrow.

An incredibly powerful ranged attack, comparable to a certain great hero’s meteor strike.

When fully charged, Izay could only fire this attack once or twice, but its power was unquestionably immense!

“Could it be… I’m the duck!?” Blinking, Izay suddenly exclaimed.

Of course, it was just a random remark. Having a new ability made him genuinely happy.

In the future, when dealing with flying monsters in dungeons, he wouldn’t have to rely solely on «Starfall» as his basic attack. He could shoot them all down.

As for archery, Izay had practiced a little, so he wasn’t worried about missing~

……

Library of the faction.

Taking advantage of the afternoon break, Izay came here alone.

However, it wasn’t to read books.

He came here to check on the situation inside his Magic Workshop.

“Two months without tidying up, surely there will be a layer of dust by now?”

Having this thought inevitably, Izay was even prepared for a major cleaning.

But after a while, upon opening the door to his Magic Workshop, he seemed somewhat confused.

What greeted his eyes wasn’t the dusty scene he imagined, but a bright and shiny interior space.

Completely unrelated to the word “dirty,” it was spotlessly clean.

“Teacher!? What are you doing here?” Seeing the emerald figure lounging lazily on the couch by the wall, Izay was slightly surprised.

That person, leaning casually on the armrest of the sofa, legs crossed elegantly, flipping through a book, was Riviria?

When has Izay ever seen such a sight!?

Upon hearing his voice, Riviria, who had been lying comfortably, stiffened for a moment before calmly raising her head to look over:

“Oh, it’s Izay? You’ve just returned and you’re already diving into the Magic Workshop? Aren’t you going to greet Ais and the others?”

On the surface, she appeared unruffled, but deep down, a roundtable conference composed of several mini-Rivirias had already convened.

“O-Oh no! These days have been too comfortable in Izay’s Magic Workshop! I completely forgot that he would definitely come to check after returning!”

“Don’t panic, we mustn’t be awkward! As long as we aren’t awkward, it won’t be ‘me’ who feels awkward!”

“Ara? Isn’t this just something Izay said offhandedly?”

“This isn’t important! Stay calm first! We’ll bluff our way through this conversation!”

“Agreed!”

“+1!”

They say that when people are in a peaceful environment without anyone around, they gradually let go of maintaining appearances and become relatively open.

Apparently, even Riviria isn’t an exception.

In this environment she personally arranged, where few people ever entered, even the boss lady reveals a side rarely seen by others.