Leo swam toward the waterfall with high expectations. He reached the waterfall quickly and crossed it. He prayed that behind the waterfall was the inheritance and not just the cliff.
His prayer had been answered. As he crossed the waterfall, he entered a space behind the waterfall. There was an entire cave the same size as the one outside the waterfall. He sighed. What was it with mages and them choosing to hide their inheritances behind waterfalls?
He climbed onto the stone ground and walked forward. He pulled up the map and saw that the inheritance was supposed to be to his left based on the position of the waterfall he entered through.
He looked and saw that there was someplace to keep walking. He kept walking until he reached the wall. He looked down at the map and saw that the map told him to keep walking. He didn’t know what to do, so he just pushed the wall to see if there was a false door or anything of the sort.
When he did, he almost fell over to the other side. The wall of the cave was just an illusion that completely fooled him. He quickly realized that he wouldn’t be able to get past this place without making sure how magic influenced the environment around him. He realized that the wall was just made of magic and nothing else.
He stepped over the wall and took a step forward. He quickly reached a similar cave that was identical to the one he had seen when he entered. However, the difference was that there was a chest at the end of this one. He walked slowly toward the chest, keeping an eye out for any potential last-minute traps.
Thankfully, there weren’t any. He stood in front of the chest and looked at it. It looked just like an ordinary chest. It was made out of wood and had iron borders that were rusted completely. However, he knew that it was a deceiving appearance. The amount of magic it contained was definitely atypical of a rusted chest.
He took a deep breath and opened the chest. He pushed open the lid and the appearance that he saw faded away. It was replaced by a gold chest that was laid with jewels. He didn’t trust that appearance as well, but he didn’t care about it. He was more concerned about the book that sat in the chest.
He knew immediately that it wasn’t a tome. He would have recognized it based on its appearance and the amount of magic it had. Also, there were a few words plastered on top of the book which wasn’t what tomes did. But he wasn’t disappointed. In fact, he was very pleased with what the book was.
The book was a spell book. It contained the details on how to train on a particular spell. The spell itself was the reason why Leo was happy.
[Valkyr’s Deception]
He opened the book and the description was exactly what he had expected.
[Use magic to make objects seem like completely different objects, deceiving even mages. Change your own appearance using this spell.]
It was a very vague description that was a lot more informal than he was used to. But it conveyed what the spell was going to do. He would be able to disguise himself properly using that spell. That was such a useful spell to have, especially if he was going to use his mage powers any time.
He put the book in his dimensional ring and looked around if there was anything else to take. After making sure that he had taken everything, he exited the cave and was about to go out of the waterfall. However, he stopped in his tracks when he heard a noise.
He quickly extended his senses and saw that he was no longer alone in the core forest. There was another visitor who had the same idea as him. The visitor had gone up into the cave that Leo had raided initially.
Leo quickly started brainstorming ideas. The person who had appeared was a mage like him, but he was stronger. He was a Peak-Stage 3rd Circle Mage while Leo was just a person who had freshly made his 3rd Star. He didn’t even properly learn the spells that made him a proper 3rd Star Mage.
He noticed that the waterfall still had the magic that kept his senses from discovering the place, so he decided to stay there, hoping that the other visitor wouldn’t as well. He decided to wait out the other person and hope that he would leave early after seeing that there was nothing of value at the cave.
He had the option of running out immediately and trying to escape faster than the other person, but that was very risky and he would be discovered immediately.
Ten minutes passed and the person who entered the cave came out. Leo knew immediately that the person was frustrated because he heard a loud roar from him.
“AHHH! WHO TOOK THE RADIANT APPLE??!!”
Leo smiled awkwardly. Now he knew he would have to wait out the person. If the person saw him, he would know instantly who the culprit was. On the bright side, he knew what the fruit was. Now he just had to search up what the Radiant Apple was.
Leo hoped that the person would leave but he stayed there for almost 30 minutes. He was starting to lose hope because the battle would end and the Magical Beasts would get back to the Core Forest. Either them or the mages who won the battle.
Just as Leo was giving up, he heard a snarl. He immediately expanded his senses and realized that a new entity entered the Core Forest. It wasn’t just a normal Magical Beast, it was a 4th Circle Magical Beast.
The Magical Beast saw the mage that was loitering outside and snarled. To Leo’s surprise, he heard a different voice from outside the waterfall.
“What are you doing here, human? Have you come to steal our treasures while the battle is going on? Coward!”
Leo was taken aback. He knew that the only other being out there was the Magical Beast, which meant that the Magical Beast was capable of speech. He knew that Magical Beasts got smarter as they got stronger, but he didn’t expect them to be able to speak in the human language.
“What are you doing here? Have you also abandoned your war? I see that you freshly broke through and haven’t yet become a proper 4th Circle Magical Beast. If we do fight, you would lose.” The person said.
“You coward! You stole the Radiant Apple!” The Beast roared.
“That wasn’t me you dumb mutt! Do you think I would stay here if I had stolen it? I would have long left the place,” the mage said.
“Stop trying to lie your way out of this, human! I caught you red-handed! I will kill you!” The Beast shouted.
Meanwhile, the real culprit was hiding behind the waterfall praying that the two outside would kill each other so he could go home.