Black Clover: Nah I'd Lose

"Wait, what?" Erza blinked.

"Yeah."

"Is that even humanly possible? Won't that take too much time?" Erza thought while considering if she could replicate it if she had a lot of time.

Akeru easily could guess what she was thinking.

"Well, it is certainly possible to do this if you have a lot of time and you are informed on some aspects of human psychology, especially things concerned with cognitive biases and heuristics and things related to that. Anyway, with experience, you could do it quickly within a very short time compared to what actual time it would take.

However, there are limits. One of my spells does help me increase my computational abilities, so that helps."

Akeru was ready to divulge information about 'Still Spectator' as he was already planning to explain how he could use multiple elements to others, especially his squadmates when the topic came. 

"I see, no wonder you seem tired all the time—it must be the mental fatigue," Erza said with a face of understanding.

"Is that really visible on my face?" Akeru asked, concerned.

'Though the reason for my mental fatigue is not due to the sensing technique I mentioned. While I could do it, I don't really need to spend much effort when I can do all that by instinct with the help of Ki, so the amount of effort it takes reduces quite a lot. And now that I have "3D Witness," it's like I have wings.'

"Hehe, it is."

They crashed in the inn for a few days, as it took a decent amount of time to gather information due to high-security present.

They would have thought that this city was also similar to 'Abyss Grip' in that regard; however, the reason for tight security was not due to it holding some big secret, but due to it being near the border.

They got the information they were seeking.

"Well, before heading to Cryobastion, how about we look at Polaris Gate first? I really want to see the view. I think it would be difficult to return there during this mission, and I don't think we will get another chance to be in the Diamond Kingdom," Erza said with the best pleading expression she could manage.

"Tch, fine. No need to make that expression—I was also curious," Akeru shrugged.

A detour would just mean more training time, though that location was not really that far away from Frosthaven, so it wouldn't really change things much.

---

"This is..." Akeru gulped.

"Otherworldly," Erza completed the statement for him.

She herself was shocked.

Polaris Gate had served as a watchtower once for the Spade Kingdom; however, due to some reasons, the location of the watchtower was shifted to another better strategic location, dozens of kilometres from here.

The Diamond Kingdom now had this area in their territory; however, it wasn't used for such purposes.

So, this place was deserted at the moment.

They were currently at a very large distance from the ground. Erza didn't know the exact number, but this place was definitely among the tallest peaks present on the Card Continent.

The gate itself was a towering structure of enchanted ice and shimmering crystal, reflecting the ethereal glow of the northern lights that danced across the night sky.

Legends say that it was crafted by ancient mages; however, nobody exactly knows how it came to be, as this structure is older than the existence of Diamond Kingdom itself.

Its truth might be held by some descendants of races like elves, though whether they exist in the current era is a different question altogether.

Its surface was intricately carved with runes that pulsed softly with a bluish hue, resonating with the magic that flowed through the land.

Akeru, who had gotten decently comfortable with the Intermediate level of runes and arrays and could at least comprehend some parts of advanced-level arrays, found himself speechless as the runes on the gates were something completely foreign to him.

Though there are some standards on language/method used for sellable rune arrays, in the end, nobody followed any of the universal languages for rune arrays completely.

A language in this field could be understood as a combination of intentions followed by mana to achieve an end goal.

For example—you could achieve a heating function in multiple ways.

One could directly form heat by making the mana cause the molecules present in the air to vibrate quickly and get that goal.

Another method could be directly converting the mana present in the artifact or in the surrounding into fire mana and making it disperse in the air.

Ultimately, people understand each other's rune arrays by seeing the logic.

As you go higher in expertise, you will find that not only does the number of intentions on a specific array increase considerably along with how one array interacts with several arrays present but also how the intentions themselves start getting complicated.

With the previous analogy, we could say an advanced-level mage won't need to first convert the mana into fire mana or make the molecules vibrate—it could directly will the mana to make the fire in one intention.

How mana executes that task itself is a black box to explain to a normal person, but simply put, if there are two choices like in the example present, it would take one way to achieve it.

So, it's theoretically possible to make an intention so complicated and nuanced that what intermediate or even some advanced level people take multiple arrays to complete could be done by just one intention.

That's exactly what Akeru observed on the array present on the Polaris Gate.

They were currently standing in front of the gate, and the air had gotten colder due to the height.

Luckily, Akeru had created a dynamic heating circle on Erza's clothes, whose temperature could be changed by Erza herself.

So, he didn't need to trouble himself to change the upper limit of the heating again and again when they went to a colder place every time.

WHOOSH

The wind was currently howling, its sound echoing through the mountain passes, creating a haunting melody that seemed to whisper secrets.

The gate was flanked by two statues of creatures that neither of them could recognize.

Akeru was getting a bad feeling from those creatures.

"Maybe we should turn back now; this place really gives me a weird vibe," Akeru said nervously.

"Heh, are you scared, boss?" Erza teasingly asked.

"Yup, what if there is a super-strong ghost or something? Also, I can't understand a thing of those arrays—if it's a trap, we might be contained here till the end of time," Akeru said while trying to scare Erza.

He had already sent the message to Ren about their whereabouts, so if something like this happened, then they would abort the mission and inform Rill about both Akeru and Erza disappearing at Polaris Gate.

"Isn't that more fun? I don't think you will get another chance to visit this. Plus, isn't the thrill of the unknown exciting?"

"I could always come back when I am stronger or knowledgeable enough to decrypt those," Akeru tried to back out.

"Well, aren't our jobs dangerous enough? We might die at any point. Though you are in the Grand Magic Knight realm, there are rarely any individuals of such prowess above 40 years of age." Erza's point made Akeru speechless.

As it was completely correct.

He heaved a sigh.

"Fine, let's go," Akeru mustered his courage.

Upon entering through the grand archway, they were greeted by an awe-inspiring sight: an expansive hall illuminated by radiant orbs of light that floated gracefully above, casting a celestial glow on the polished ice floor.

Each step they took echoed softly, reverberating through the vastness as if the very walls were alive with anticipation.

It was a very unique feeling for both of them as neither of them had entered such a place before.

At the far end of the hall, they found a colossal mural, which was a bit blurry but seemed to depict some message.

***

Author's Note: I gave a brief breakdown of rune arrays, as I think it would be necessary sooner or later, it gives more insight into the difference between the three levels, specifically between Ithe intermediate and Advanced levels of "Rune Arrays," that were mentioned before.

What do you think?

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