Multiversal Ascension-Chapter 91: End of Willowbrook Town Defense

The next five hours passed uneventfully, much to the relief of the students who had feared another attack. Once the time had elapsed, they finally relaxed and left their posts, gathering in the town plaza where Draven Farwynd, the lead teacher, gave instructions.

"Take this hour to pack your belongings and prepare to regroup here. We'll leave for the Academy shortly after."

The students, eager to comply, dispersed to their temporary homes. Mikael, Amelia, and Lyra did the same. Upon entering their assigned house, however, they were met with an unexpected surprise.

"Here, this is for you!" Emma exclaimed, holding out a piece of paper as the trio entered.

Amelia stepped forward, crouching down to take the paper gently. "What's this?" she asked with a warm smile.

Emma beamed with pride. "It's a drawing I made of you three. I'm so happy you helped keep the bad monsters away, and I wanted to give you a gift. Gifts make me happy, so I thought it would make you happy too!"

The drawing depicted the trio in a simple yet colorful sketch. Mikael was easily recognizable with his black hair and green eyes, Amelia stood beside him with her equally striking black hair and green eyes, and finally, Lyra was drawn with her distinctive purple hair streaked with pink and her vibrant purple eyes.

Amelia felt a surge of warmth at the young girl's gesture. "Thank you for this beautiful drawing," she said softly, carefully taking the paper.

Afterward, the trio returned to their rooms and began packing their belongings, most of which were already stored in their spatial rings. As they worked, Lyra's mood was noticeably improved, a direct result of Emma's heartfelt gift.

The three said their goodbyes to Emma's family before regrouping with the other students and teachers at the plaza. The town mayor gave a short speech of gratitude before everyone boarded the bus, one of the teachers taking on the role of conductor.

As they settled in, Mikael reactivated the same barriers he had used during their journey to Willowbrook Town. Amelia, seated to his left, quickly fell asleep, her head resting on his shoulder. On his right, Lyra leaned against him, her mind clearly preoccupied with the day's events. Though she couldn't fall asleep, Mikael's warm embrace helped her relax.

***

The return trip was peaceful. Before long, they arrived back in the city they had departed from a few days earlier. The group disembarked and proceeded to the teleportation hall.

Inside, they gathered around a large teleportation circle. As the process began, Mikael's focus was unusually sharp, his expression suggesting he was trying to 'feel' the intricacies of the teleportation process.

And indeed, he was. Frustrated by the stagnation of his Footwork Mastery skill at Tier 0, Level 5, Mikael sought to 'officially' elevate it by further refining his Wind-Explosive Style. Currently, if he evolved his Footwork Mastery skill, it would become an Epic-rarity Tier 1 skill, which had been his initial objective.

However, seeing how relatively easy it was to achieve, he grew more ambitious, aiming to push it even further and unlock an evolution option that would elevate it to Legendary rarity before finalizing its evolution. While it was somewhat disappointing not to evolve it immediately, he chose to play the long game, determined to surpass his limits and achieve something greater.

To accomplish this, he aimed to integrate the concept of Space into his movement technique. After all, what could be more fitting for enhancing speed than mastering the essence of Space? And what better opportunity to study its intricate nature than during the process of teleportation itself?

And this was the reason he was so intensely focused as he felt the increasing pressure around him. He sharpened his senses to their limits, his skin hypersensitive to the steadily rising force. As the seconds passed and the pressure mounted, he began to perceive 'something' in his surroundings.

But just as he was starting to understand what that 'something' was, the pressure peaked, and everything around him abruptly shifted into complete darkness. He tried to process this new sensation, but moments later, the scene shifted again, and they found themselves standing in the Academy's Teleportation Hall.

At that moment, Mikael shook his head. He felt as though he had grasped 'something,' yet simultaneously understood nothing at all. It was a strange feeling, but he pushed it to the back of his mind as he noticed the group beginning to move. He couldn't afford to remain lost in thought.

The group exited the Teleportation Hall, and shortly afterward, Draven addressed them, saying, "Your contributions to the battle will be analyzed, and you will receive your results and rewards later."

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Following this, the students parted ways and returned to their respective dormitories, exhausted from the demanding mission they had just completed.

As the trio walked together, Amelia broke the silence. "It would be nice if we could stay in the same apartment..." Realizing the implications of her words, a faint blush spread across her cheeks.

Her comment caught the attention of the other two, but before Amelia could explain herself, Mikael nodded. "It's true. That would be nice."

"I think so too," Lyra murmured.

Amelia was surprised by their quick agreement. She adopted a thoughtful expression. "Unfortunately, we can't. The dormitories are separated by gender..."

"Maybe we could," Mikael interjected. Both girls turned to him in curiosity, prompting him to elaborate. "During the Willowbrook Town defense, we made a significant contribution by locating and neutralizing the array that was attracting beasts to the town, right?"

"Mm," Amelia affirmed.

"Yes," Lyra added.

"So, instead of asking for the usual rewards—probably credits—we could request a shared house or dormitory for the three of us."

"That... might work," Amelia said, her voice growing more enthusiastic as she spoke. "The dormitories are separated by gender to avoid certain 'complications.' But if the three of us specifically request to live together and use our reward for it, there's a chance it could be approved!"

"But how do we make such a request?" Lyra inquired.

"We can use our bracelets," Amelia suggested.

"Oh, right. That's a good idea," Lyra agreed.

The trio took a brief moment to use their bracelets to submit a shared request. They asked for a common house or dormitory of similar quality to their current Dragon Dormitories in exchange for their contributions to the defense of Willowbrook Town. The request listed their names—Mikael Angelini, Lyra Mystoria, and Amelia Moursky—as the intended occupants.

Once the request was submitted, the three parted ways. Lyra headed to the Dragon Girls' Dormitory for third years, Amelia to the one for first years, and Mikael returned to the Dragon Boys' Dormitory for first years.

The moment Mikael stepped into his dormitory room, he let out a small sigh and murmured, "Finally home," before collapsing onto the comfortable couch.

For the first time in days, he felt truly at ease. It wasn't that the past few days had been particularly exhausting or that he hadn't enjoyed spending time with Amelia and Lyra, but having a quiet moment to himself was a welcome change.

At that moment, he decided to check the mission completion rewards.

[Quest: Beast Wave – Completed]

[Basic Rewards: 3K LP]

[Analyzing completion rate...]

[Final Rewards: 9K LP]

A small smile tugged at his lips upon seeing the LP rewards. But he didn't delve much on it as he wanted to relax, he then pulled out his iPhone and began watching videos on YouTube.

An hour slipped by before a growing restlessness settled in. Standing up from the couch, he stretched briefly before deciding it was time to train. 'Wasting an hour like that feels strange,' he mused, reflecting on the relentless pace he had maintained over the past few months. The itch to be productive had returned.

Once he was standing in the training room, he began to reflect. 'So, what do I need to work on? If I remember correctly, I had several things on my list. Creating an automated cleaning spell, designing a contraception spell, learning a technique to mask my aura and mana core rank, and developing a method to increase my attack power since it's still lacking compared to my movement and attack speed.'

'There's also learning anchored arrays, but I've already made some progress on that. And finally, increasing my rank!' He paused, weighing his priorities. 'Among these six tasks, I could also focus on upgrading my Wind-Explosive Style further. If I can refine it to the point where, upon evolution, it reaches Legendary rarity, not only will the technique become significantly stronger by incorporating the concept of Space, but it will also gain the System's boost as an "official" skill. This would further enhance both my movement and attack speed!'

After careful consideration, he decided to prioritize upgrading his Wind-Explosive Style by integrating the concept of Space. However, he understood that merely experiencing teleportation wasn't enough to deepen his comprehension of this intricate element.

To address this, he made a trip to the library and borrowed two books—one on the fundamentals of Space and space magic, and another detailing a first-circle Space spell called Levitate.

Returning to his apartment, Mikael settled on the couch. Since the training he planned wasn't destructive or mana-intensive, there was no need to use the training room. And if he could, he preferred the comfort of a couch over the hard floor of the training facility.

After spending some time reading the book on space magic, Mikael closed it, feeling that he had gained a better understanding of the subject. He then picked up the book on the Levitate spell and began reading. After a few moments, he decided to try it out, chanting, "Rise and soar, weight no more."

He aimed the spell at a decorative pillow on the couch. When nothing happened—not even the slightest tremble—he frowned, surprised by the difficulty. However, Mikael wasn't discouraged and continued practicing. It took him five hours to successfully cast the spell without chanting, using only his intent.

For another mage, this would have been an incredible achievement. However, for Mikael, who was already proficient in first and second-circle magic of all elements except space, it felt slow. If he had been practicing a first-circle spell from any other element, it would have taken him less than thirty minutes.

Rising from the couch, Mikael moved toward the training room. He knew the next part of his training would require more mana and could potentially cause damage to his surroundings. It was safer to continue there.

Once in the training room, Mikael reviewed his plan. 'I want to integrate space into my Wind-Explosive Style, just like I integrated fire at the start before adding wind. The problem is that space is the most complicated element to manipulate. For now, adding any kind of teleportation is completely out of the question.'

He frowned, considering the challenges. 'Not only is teleportation a third-circle space spell that I don't know, but even if I did, there's no guarantee I'd be able to integrate it into my technique. It's better to focus on something simpler for now, like using space to reduce my weight.'

The idea made him nod thoughtfully. 'By reducing my weight, I could increase my movement speed. Or better yet, I could manipulate my weight dynamically—reduce it while moving and increase it when striking an enemy. That way, I'd move faster and hit harder!' He grew excited at the prospect but quickly tempered his enthusiasm.

'First things first, though. I need to focus on reducing my weight before attempting anything more complex.'

With a clear goal in mind, Mikael got to work. He began by using the Levitate spell on himself, trying to deepen his understanding of its effects. After some time, he felt he had learned enough and moved on to modifying the spell.

The basic Levitate spell was designed for small, lightweight objects. Mikael aimed to adapt it to work on his entire body while changing its function to reduce his weight instead of making him float. The concept was similar but required significant alterations.

Even with his skills, it took Mikael four hours of intense training to create an initial prototype. Using this unnamed spell, he successfully managed to reduce his weight to 45 kilograms. However, he still needed to chant to activate it.

Despite being its creator—something that usually granted a high level of mastery over a spell and allowed for intent casting even shortly after its creation—the complexity of this spell made chanting necessary.

Mikael wasn't satisfied with these "subpar" results and continued refining the spell further.

Author Note:

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