Stellar Echo: Heart of the Myst-Chapter 149: VOL 2 - 94: You can trust me on that.

Without intending to stand aside like dead weight, Ethan quickly retrieved from his storage ring a pair of thermal flasks adorned with beautiful carved runes. Several porcelain cups, and some desserts that were kept in a gorgeous display case that maintained them fresh and at their peak. Ethan then placed them on the coffee table and served them into the cups. At that moment, he looked at everyone present and announced with a smile.

"Here is a little refreshment to lift your spirits—some pastries and coffee."

Upon hearing the announcement, the students turned to look at Ethan and then gazed at the impressive desserts and the cake, quickly assuming he was not speaking to them. But at that very moment, the Direct Disciple opened the gate of the display case holding the desserts, then added with a smile as he looked at them.

"Go ahead, the previous fight was quite tough, and it's good to have a little snack; it might help us better weigh our options in solving the riddle."

"Thank you very much, Direct Disciple Williams."

Upon realizing that it was indeed for them, the students quickly expressed their thanks with cheerful and somewhat moved smiles on their faces, as the chance to eat what the Direct Disciples enjoyed was far too rare; so, with great enthusiasm, they began to take some pastries and their cups of coffee, soon displaying expressions of delight at the incredible taste of what they were eating.

(Direct Disciples really do have the best things...)

Upon tasting the pastries and the coffee, the same thought occurred to the three students—not only were they exquisite, but with each bite, a warm current flowed through their bodies, erasing fatigue and energizing their exhausted muscles. At that moment, Ethan turned to look at Zoe, Elara, and Liliana, then commented with a smile.

"Come on, fellow disciples, although they're nothing out of this world, the pastries are made with High Honey from the Tau System and the coffee is Albor Coffee, so together they can energize the body and clear the mind."

"Thank you for the attention, Disciple Williams, though I must apologize—I'm not much of a coffee fan; I prefer tea." Liliana remarked with a smile as she gracefully took a dessert, a gesture echoed by Elara and Zoe with slight nods as they too took some desserts.

Liliana's words brought a somewhat awkward smile to Ethan, who had only coffee with him, since in his circle—his family and his master—coffee was the most popular beverage, and he was no exception, while tea was something consumed only on rare occasions.

"I apologize, Disciple Faye, but I don't have any tea with me at this moment." Ethan said, his face showing a hint of regret. To which Liliana replied with a smile, simultaneously retrieving a beautiful teapot from her storage ring.

"Don't worry about that, Disciple Williams—I appreciate your thoughtfulness; I do have some tea with me."

"I am equally grateful for your attention, Disciple Williams, but getting back to the topic, I suppose our next course of action will be to wait until nightfall so that we can rearrange the stellar charts with precision." While taking one of the cups of tea Liliana had served, Zoe remarked with a serious expression, prompting the other two girls to nod as they sipped their own tea.

"You're right—adjusting them based solely on our memories could lead to mistakes; it's better to wait until night." After placing her cup on the table, Elara agreed with a nod, then took a small bite of her dessert, a gesture that brought a satisfied smile to her face.

"Then, for now, we can take our leave and rest a bit."

After tasting the dessert, Zoe commented in a calm tone, and the students nodded before saying their goodbyes and heading toward their respective shelters with slow, tired steps. Meanwhile, Elara, Liliana, and Zoe remained in the area for a moment, and by the time the students had disappeared into their tents, Elara turned to look at Ethan and spoke in a calm tone, though visibly tired.

"Disciple Williams, it's best that you rest; we'll meet around midnight."

"Alright, then I'll leave you to rest."

With a slight bow and a smile, Ethan rose from his seat and headed toward his own shelter—a much larger and more opulent structure than the others—leaving behind the beautiful ladies, who shortly afterward departed as a group toward another of the luxurious-looking tents.

Although the exterior of the shelter appeared to be made of some kind of fabric or leather, the interior was completely different, with floors resembling dark marble and ebony walls adorned with all manner of precisely carved runes. This revealed a space far larger than its exterior suggested.

At the center of the room stood a large, luxurious-looking bed, flanked by shelves filled with books and various magical artifacts. Off to one side, a few meters away, was a beautiful dark-wood desk of sophisticated, minimalist design, its surface etched with runes from which several holographic screens emanated.

On these holographic screens were displayed all sorts of numerical tables and statistical graphs with data pertaining to the shelter itself, as well as real-time images of the surroundings. Not only of the shelter but even projections of the exterior of the cave. These were complete with intelligent systems that identified everything shown, to the point of being able to provide a danger estimate.

The place also featured a cozy living area furnished with beautiful leather sofas and a low table at its center. In this area, a large window replaced one of the walls, offering a view of an expansive universe filled with stars and galaxies—as if the site were in the middle of a space station.

With somewhat tired expressions, Zoe, Elara, and Liliana made their way to the shelter's living room, where they collapsed. On the coffee table, a tea set appeared that began preparing tea on its own before floating over and serving it into the cups.

"It really was a complicated moment..." After letting out a tired sigh, Elara commented as one of the porcelain cups flew to her.

"No kidding—the beginning was extremely complicated, and getting hit by fire and electricity hurt a lot, though not as much as colliding with the wall of light; that really knocked the wind out of me and left me dizzy for a moment..."

Zoe added with a sigh after taking a sip from her own cup, glancing at Liliana, who was drinking from hers with a relaxed expression. But Liliana quickly set her cup aside and spoke in a tired voice.

"Well, it was a very tense moment—I feared failing to achieve stability in my mana construction if I didn't make it solid enough. But I'm sorry; I'll practice more mana constructions and try to create stable, resilient, elastic structures."

"Perhaps you should ask your younger brother for help; it seems he's very skilled at that. After all, the throne he conjured at the start of the tournament looked very comfortable." Elara remarked with a smile, eliciting complicated expressions from both Liliana and Zoe.

"Although he focuses more on Myst constructions, it's really crazy what he can do now—even the chairs he creates are practically indistinguishable from real ones. If you sit with your eyes closed, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference; they are truly impressive..." Liliana said softly, with a slight sigh, becoming increasingly aware of her younger brother's astounding talent.

"But speaking of the matter, how should we respond to what he did to us? It wasn't very kind of him..."

Zoe asked with a somewhat troubled expression, for although Erik had indeed caused them many problems with his cunning 'steal and run' act—a fact that had angered her a bit—the truth was that, in her eyes, he still appeared dazzling and even more attractive than before.

His plan had been unexpected and meticulous, analyzing the mechanism of the column of light to perfection before anyone else and moving at the exact moment, catching everyone off guard—able to 'steal' the staff right under the noses of the strongest of his generation and escape unscathed, leaving them as a mere afterthought. Something that, honestly, not many—not even she herself—could do.

But the most astonishing thing of all was that, until now, no one knew for sure how he had done it; although his impressive speed could be explained by a one-time-use magical artifact of maximum Revealed level, everything else remained a complete mystery that many teams, including his own, had tried unsuccessfully to uncover.

Erik's act of passing through the column of light was the most alluring to all the groups, as it granted a substantial advantage in obtaining the staffs. Throughout the tournament, several participants had attempted the same feat with various hypotheses in mind, but so far, those who were lucky ended up with severe injuries, while the unlucky were directly teleported to the space station.

"Really, Erik pulled a very nasty trick on us there, but don't worry—I will personally make sure he gives you a satisfactory explanation for his little stunt. You can trust me on that."

Liliana said with her arms crossed, looking rather angry, as she had truly suffered because of that reckless fool who hadn't even thought to take her along on his spree—or at the very least, warn her of what he was about to do so that she wouldn't be involved—which prompted Elara to reply rather hastily.

"It's not necessary, it's not necessary. Although it's true we experienced some difficulties, this is still a tournament, and technically, we were competitors, so his actions are perfectly understandable." As she spoke, Elara seemed to realize something, and she quickly added in a somewhat shy tone, lowering her voice.

"Although, if he really feels inclined to apologize, I wouldn't mind if we went out to dinner one or two times."

"Hmph, you look like a lovesick fool." Liliana snapped in annoyance at Elara's comment, to which Elara retorted indignantly, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"I'm not a fool! Don't forget who designed the strategy that allowed us to get the staff!!"

"Now, stop fighting, both of you."

With an ironic smile on her face, Zoe said in a strict tone, prompting the two girls to huff before turning their heads—as if to indicate they would ignore the other—though Zoe could only gently shake her head before changing the subject with an amused expression.

"But then, what do you all think of the riddle?"

"Oh!!"

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Liliana's eyes lit up at Zoe's words, and immediately, with a somewhat proud smile, she gently waved her hand, causing the view from the panoramic window to change—now displaying an image of incredible clarity of the starry sky. Holographic screens appeared before each of them, showcasing various controls and more detailed images.

"Fufufu, in reality, my shelter can keep records of up to one year of data related to itself, and that includes recordings of the exterior, among which are recordings of the surrounding airspace, many of them pointing directly at the night sky."

Liliana said with a small, proud smile, for her shelter was indeed quite impressive—the very best that could be achieved for a magical artifact of its type while remaining at Revealed level—something only possible because it was made by her master personally. A gift for the tournament given exclusively to her, as Erik had made one for himself, giving her a small sense of victory.

"So you're also worried about a traitor." Upon seeing the impressive display, Zoe couldn't help but comment in a grave tone, to which Liliana quickly nodded solemnly, while Elara straightened in her chair with a similar expression.

***

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