WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 67: The First Language Born

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The Night Elf Secret Art, born beneath the shade of the World Tree, was said to grow stronger as night drew near.

Naturally, the ritual was set for nighttime.

As usual, I trained alone until the sun went down. Eleanor came to find me again when the moon was high and bright.

"Tonight is a full moon. Come, let us be on our way."

The Night Elf Secret Art grew stronger closer to night, but that didn't mean it had to be dark.

A bright moon actually made the sense of nighttime stronger, so the full moon would amplify the secret art's effects.

Secret arts and spells were apparently old-fashioned kinds of magic, so vague conditions like that mattered. Or something.

But where were we going?

I hadn't heard that performing the secret art required any particular location.

"We are going to a land beloved by Fairies. Mana always wells up there in abundance, so it will help you sense it."

Saying it was better to do this under even slightly better conditions, Eleanor led me away.

We eventually arrived at a broad lakeshore a short distance outside the Dark Elf village.

[Star-Growing Lake]

As soon as we reached the shore, a system message revealed the place's name.

It wasn't a dungeon, but it seemed to be treated as a special location. Come to think of it, I'd seen a Community post about this place before.

It wasn't a strategy guide. It was a story about a Challenger from some server who had fallen head over heels for someone and confessed.

Since they had posted that on a Community where real names were openly displayed, it obviously meant the confession had worked.

I'd heard this was where it happened. Looking at it now, it definitely had a nice atmosphere.

-Chirrrr...

The sounds of insects I'd only heard in the countryside rang out here and there. Whenever the wind blew, the moonlit lake rippled.

Still, I wasn't sure it was worth the trouble of coming all the way down from another Floor.

That couple had apparently been clearing Floors in the twenties, so getting down near Floor 7 must have been a huge hassle.

As I thought that, Eleanor smiled and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"To be honest, we did not come here only because mana is abundant. It is a beautiful place, and I wanted to show it to you."

Even after hearing that, I couldn't really relate. It didn't look that amazing to me.

"It may be a little early for you to understand. Shall we begin?"

-Tap, tap.

Eleanor struck the ground with a staff-like object she had brought from the village, then scattered several small pebbles across the ground.

"To be precise, this secret art connects a passage leading into each other's minds."

"It does not mean that thoughts flow directly through that passage. By opening the doors for each other, we can glimpse what lies beyond them."

"I will open the door to my thoughts for you. All you need to do is follow it inside. It will not be difficult."

After the brief explanation, Eleanor finished preparing and held my face in her hands.

"Close your eyes, and find the door."

The moment I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead against hers, a new world opened before me.

* * *

Though my eyes were closed, I could see a dark passage stretching ahead of me. At the far end stood a golden door.

The tightly shut door opened by itself without me touching it. I walked toward the light beyond it.

The closer I got, the more I felt a faint resistance. It was like walking underwater.

It wasn't particularly strong, so I ignored it and kept moving forward. Slowly, the light began to change shape.

-Halt!

Startled by the sudden shout, I turned around. A small cluster of light was running out, calling out.

The voice sounded strangely familiar, yet unfamiliar at the same time.

The glowing figure gradually took shape, becoming a small child.

I immediately recognized who it was.

It was Eleanor as a child. She was eagerly chasing a creature that looked like a white rabbit.

She didn't seem to be hunting it. Judging by the way she ran after it with a smile, she was just playing. The scenery around us slowly changed.

The place that appeared was familiar to me. It was the resting area where I had spoken with Rizmel not long ago.

It looked like an elf-style playground in an apartment complex. There hadn't seemed to be any children using it then.

Now I understood why. This place had been built when Eleanor was young.

-Where are you going, you little thing?!

Eleanor endlessly chased the small creature as it darted around every corner of the playground. Before long, it jumped over a low fence.

-Ah, I can't go there.

Eleanor had been told not to go beyond the fence, so she hesitated for a moment.

Her desire to chase the rabbit clashed with the thought that she wasn't allowed to cross the fence.

Soon, though, that thought was replaced by curiosity about what lay beyond it.

Her heart and will became one, and Eleanor ran forward before leaping over the fence.

The instincts of the Night Elves, who had explored and fought beyond the forest. Their nature was to step toward the unknown without being bound by fear.

Born as the princess of the Dark Elves, Eleanor had inherited that nature and instinct more strongly than anyone else.

Before I knew it, I had become one with the Eleanor of the past.

Everything Eleanor thought, everything she felt, was being conveyed to me.

Even after catching the rabbit, Eleanor didn't stop moving.

If anything, she ran around even more busily, as though she wanted to explore what lay beyond the fence.

Not long after, she arrived at Star-Growing Lake.

-Wow, it's pretty!

Eleanor's eyes sparkled as she slowly stepped onto the lakeshore. I could feel the lake's ripples with her.

Time passed. The scenes began changing faster and faster. The short Eleanor quickly grew into an adult.

The lake changed with her. At first, it had simply been a lake with lots of flowers blooming around it, but then it began to shine.

True to its name, something that sparkled like fireflies rose into the air and gathered around Eleanor.

It was beautiful.

Starlight fell like rain. Fairies danced amid laughter, and Eleanor danced with them.

The joy Eleanor felt flowed directly into me, along with the breathing of the Fairies surrounding Eleanor.

When I inhaled, starlight entered my body and began flowing through it.

I realized something.

This starlight was the mana I had wanted to sense.

[You have acquired Passive Skill: Mana Attunement Lv. 1.]

Then Eleanor's forehead, which had been pressed against mine, pulled away.

* * *

The moment I left Eleanor's world of thoughts and opened my eyes, I could see lights of mana surging around us.

"Well? You can see them now, can you not?"

Fairies of all different shapes were flying around the lakeshore before I knew it.

The starlight, no, the firefly-like lights of mana flowed around us with the Fairies on the wind.

There had been a reason Challengers clearing Floors in the twenties had gone out of their way to come down here.

Only now could I see it.

The beauty of this lake.

"The Fairies wish to dance with you. Why not indulge them?"

"What? Dance?"

"It is not difficult. You only need to spin around with them."

The Fairies grabbed my hands and pulled me along while Eleanor gave me a push from behind. Before I knew it, I was being dragged along.

"Let your body follow the melody. First, listen."

The Fairies began moving wildly with me. Their movements were chaotic, without any sense of rhythm.

"You have learned how to expand your senses, so you should be able to hear it as well."

"The sound of the wind, the water, the grass, and the insects."

"Are they not becoming one and making a song?"

A song began to reach my ears, and the Fairies' movements, which had looked so chaotic, gradually turned into a dance.

Keeping up with it was incredibly difficult. Of course it was. I'd never danced before.

Eleanor told me not to overthink it. She said I could do it.

"All life born of Mother Earth remembers it. A tone created before any language, carved deep into the heart."

I wasn't a living being born in this land. I was a human born outside the Tower and dragged inside.

Still, strangely enough, just as Eleanor had said, I could dance.

Every time the Fairies guided me with their hands, my body followed the melody as though I were remembering something I'd forgotten.

I was obviously just dancing.

No, to be exact, I was only spinning around with them, yet it felt like something inside me was being filled.

[You have acquired Passive Skill: Mana Attunement Lv. 2.]

[Achievement Accomplished: One Who Dances with Fairies]

[You have obtained Achievement Reward: ‘Spirit Affinity +50’.]

Footnotes:

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