I Reincarnated Into A Single-Celled Organism! - I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 79

I felt alarmed at her words because I realized she was correct as soon as she made them. I had thought the son’s return would have put an end to it, but the spatial crack they used to enter this space was still there. Once the lord grilled his son, he was bound to realize that there must be something of value, or the previous resident wouldn’t have gone to such efforts to protect this space. The noble wasn’t a fool, so it stood to reason that his father was even more knowledgeable when it came to these things.

A question suddenly occurred to me. “How can be certain he’ll wait until the spatial storm ends?”

Although he didn’t have my defense and HP, he probably had the resources of an entire region behind him. If he wanted to come here, he probably was strong enough to brave the storm. Lords had more than 100,000 HP, so if the defense didn’t appear to matter when it came to spatial cracks, he had ample opportunity.

Erika gave me a patient look. “A spatial storm is an instability in space. Those spatial cracks are a type of law. A simple way to say it would be that the laws inside this world are breaking down, and the spatial storm is a manifestation of those laws breaking down. “

“I follow you so far.”

“When a person evolves, they become a higher order. In a way, you could see them as a higher law. The higher your law, the greater the storm rejects your existence. The reason I survived until you were able to save me is the same reason you were able to avoid the spatial cracks. I’m a low-level paragon, so the cracks will do less damage to me. As for someone like you who has almost no evolution at all, the cracks would likely ignore you entirely. That’s why taking me back was dangerous. If I had attracted a single crack, you could have died!”

As she spoke that last part, she looked genuinely aggrieved. Although, I didn’t disagree with her arguments about law. The bigger tree attracted the lightning. I could understand that much. I had seen these strange laws at work with the tribulation lightning too. So, it seemed likely that the spatial cracks were aiming to remove me from existence, while any strikes against Erika were far weaker and thus unable to break through her defense once I had added Encapsulation.

As for her conclusion that she had survived death, even the guy I had thrown into the fog outside the castle had lasted a minute before dying. She underestimated the brutality of the spatial fog, but I didn’t see any reason to scare her. It was fine as long as she didn’t question it.

“In that case, we should find whatever secret exists before he gets here.” I offered, trying to lead her to the pathway that blocked my progression and the primary reason I had chosen to wake her up.

“Huh?” She blinked.

As clever as she could be, she could also sometimes be painfully dense.

“If you want to survive his father, we might be able to trade whatever we find for free passage. Just because the son betrayed us, the father may be more magnanimous. In some ways, being a lord means he can get away with less, and may have to protect you to keep a diplomatic incident from occurring with Lord Nikola.”

“That’s right?” her eyes brightened. “That just might work!”

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. I had limited experience with this world. Compared to the likes of her, I could be considered a shut-in, and yet in my limited experience with paragons, I could already tell they have very few scruples. As soon as they had power, they unabashedly flaunted it to anyone weaker than him. Since the lords appeared to be the strongest in their respective regions, that meant this lord was probably even more uncaring than his son.

I had no doubt that he would take whatever he wanted and kill any witnesses, especially if the item was worth it, but even if by some fate it was garbage, he’d never believe it and kill us anyway to get to the truth. In short, there was no way to deal with the lord. My only choice was to unlock the secret and get out of there before the lord arrived. I was less confident in that second part now that I knew I had no way to store Erika in my Luminal Space.

If I couldn’t find some alternative way to leave this place, we were likely dead. This didn’t worry me too much. Even if we both died since my Luminal Space was shared with my other half, I could get him whatever item was worth dying for, and that would have to be good enough. Erika’s death would be regretful, and imagining Mara’s hurt expression if I failed to save her, I certainly was still thinking through things. However, I had a theory that whatever item this space hid also included a way out of this deathtrap.

“I was unable to figure this door out, do you have any ideas?” I asked her.

“Right.” She turned to the door, a look of concentration on her face, but after a second she let out a cry of surprise. “Oh, is that it?”

“What is it?” I asked.

“The words inscribed on the doorway are magical language.” She walked up to the door, her hand stroking the rocky frame.

“Are they?” I frowned. “I don’t recognize them.”

She blinked, looking back at me. “I didn’t realize you knew magical language.”

“Ah… just enough to recognize it, but this doesn’t look familiar.” I lied.

My other half had consumed the entire library of literature, and it had included several magical languages. As a result, I had a working understanding of them that would rival most academics. Yet, the first one I had encountered was unfamiliar. Even if I had never encountered it before, if it was a language, then Translation should have taken effect.

“I’m not surprised you don’t recognize it.” She relaxed and grinned, turning back to the door. “This is less a language and more the base code. It’s called arcane. It uses the progenitor symbols from which magical languages were derived. It’s less a written word and more a magical signature. With your mana level, it’d be impossible to read this language.”

I frowned slightly. “What does it mean? Can you read it?”

“I can… but it will take some time.” Her expression grew serious. “I had to learn the arcane form as part of my inscription training. Arcane is an inefficient way to cast magic. This is why magical languages were invented, to channel magic more efficiently. Only a powerful being would use arcane, and he’d only do it on something he wanted to last. Arcane could be said to be the purest form of magic, so it degrades the slowest. The symbols on the astral gate are also arcane.”

Although she was still explaining things to me, she had pulled out a pen and paper and started jotting the symbols around the door onto it. She’d occasionally stop, shake her head, and then mumble something under her breath. I sat back and watched what she was doing. It seemed I had done the right thing in waking her up in the first place, as this was completely outside of my realm of understanding. It was only five minutes later when she finally let out a noise.

“Did you figure it out?”

“Mm… it’s just… I don’t understand what it means.”

“Well, what does it say?”

“That is-“ She suddenly straightened, her face turning slightly red. “Nothing.”

“Nothing…” I looked at her flatly.

She winced. “It says… beyond these doors is the trial of lovers.”

“The path of lovers?” I raised an eyebrow.

“It appears that this inheritance or trial is intended to be completed by a pair of lovers. The reward is likely also for a couple.” She spoke quietly. “I had heard that immortals would often set up such things for those that came after, but this is the first time I’ve truly encountered something like this.”

“Well, the pair of us are here. Whether we love each other or not is meaningless. We still have a chance at the reward. We certainly have one up on the lord and his son.”

“It’s easy for you to say that!” She yelled and then bit her lip shamefully. “I’m sorry. It’s just, the conditions are a bit too steep for me.”

I frowned. “What conditions?”

Her face turned a deeper shade of red. “The door will only open and the trial begins if we… must prove we’re lovers by showing our affection.”

“Affection?” I blinked. “Isn’t that a bit much?”

“I’m just reading what the door says!” She cried.

“In that case-“ The words I was about to say stopped in my throat as I felt like I had been dumped in water.

I immediately reached out to a sensory organ I had left, and there I saw that the portal had been opened again and a man with a beard had appeared. Behind him was a sheepish-looking noble and the girl from earlier, who was glaring at the boy furiously. It appeared she had made it through safely.

“That’s magical sense.” Erika’s face turned white. “It’s too late, the lord of Voltania is here!’