Chapter 91: Secrets of the Cosmos

Seraphine watched the retreating back of Valerian as he disappeared with the woman. She had clearly heard what she said, so she knew that they were going to the principal’s office.

To the outside, she had an expressionless face. But on the inside, she was going wild.

’Hey?! Why did I just say hey? And why would he just reply with another hey? AHHH, what am I doing? I should have thought of what to say beforehand. But who could have guessed that we would meet right outside.’

She dropped her head in disappointment and covered her face with her hands.

’I’m so uncool, haaa...’

With a sigh, she moved away from the entrance as more and more students streamed out. Right now, she just wanted to go and have a nice long bath to wash away the embarrassment she felt.

Even in her down state, she still kept up the image of the elven princess and moved with regal poise and confidence to her dorm.

Valerian walked behind the woman as she led the way to the principal. Sending out his mana, he felt the rank of the woman, and to say he was surprised would be an understatement.

’Damn, she is SSS-. Is she really just a worker here?’

The thought that a normal worker would be at the SSS- rank was absurd, but what did he know? This was the Starlight Academy, and maybe every worker here was a powerhouse that every nation would want.

The woman in the suit didn’t seem bothered that Valerian was checking her rank. Her entire demeanor was almost like a robot. She never missed a step, or even changed her expression in the slightest.

The woman led Valerian to one of the spatial gates that connected the academy so that the students didn’t have to walk for hours just to reach their classrooms.

When they stood in front of the gate, the woman took a small sigil out of her pocket and held it in front of the portal. On the outside, nothing changed, but it didn’t take a genius to guess what she had just done.

Without offering an explanation or another word, the woman entered the portal, and Valerian followed behind closely.

The transition was seamless, and the surroundings changed from the school grounds to an office.

Valerian looked around the room, and to his surprise, it wasn’t as luxurious as he would have guessed.

It was barely the size of his bedroom back at the castle, with just a large desk at the end of the room and a small fireplace at the side. In front of the fireplace were a sofa and armchair; they didn’t look particularly expensive, but very comfortable.

But the most eye-catching thing in the room, and the thing that took Valerian’s whole attention, was the window at the end of the room behind the desk.

Valerian looked through the glass, and what met him was the beautiful, endless expanse of outer space. It wasn’t like he was watching it from the planet, but like he was standing in the middle of space, and the cosmos was just sprawled out in front of him.

Galaxies decorated the void, as countless stars shone against the endless black. Valerian could feel his cosmic dragon side resonating with outer space, as a certain calm took him over.

"Beautiful, isn’t it?"

The sudden emergence of a male voice right next to him caught him off guard. But he had already heard the voice before today, so he knew who it belonged to.

Valerian looked to his side, and there, standing right next to him, was Sylas Starlight. His appearance wasn’t loud or flamboyant; it was subtle, like he had always been standing right there.

Valerian looked around, and the woman in the suit was nowhere to be seen, having left immediately after bringing him here.

"You are special, you know that?"

Sylas spoke again, not taking his eyes away from the window. Valerian, too, turned his eyes back to it.

"Of course I know that. Nothing has ever been normal for me."

After that, silence took over the office, as both just marveled at the cosmos.

The silence was broken as Sylas turned to Valerian again and clapped his hands.

"Okay, let’s talk."

With the clap, their bodies disappeared from the middle of the room. Valerian appeared on the sofa by the fire, while Sylas sat on the armchair across from him.

’Again, I couldn’t feel being teleported.’

The strangeness had begun when he couldn’t feel himself getting teleported at the arena, and now again, he sensed nothing.

Sylas leaned back in his chair and made himself comfortable with a light smile.

"Go ahead, ask what you want to know."

This was it, the thing he had been waiting for; for over a month, he had been thinking about this very meeting. He racked his brain with all the questions he wanted to ask the person that even a being like the ancient phoenix Azuriel had mentioned. So he started with the one that was the most important to him.

"How do you know about the Celestials, and how do you know about me?"

There was a certain desperation in Valerian’s voice that he wasn’t able to hide.

"Hmm. You want to know how I know of the Celestials? Well, it’s simple. I met them."

A questioning look appeared on Valerian’s face at Sylas’s answer.

"What do you mean you met them? They have been dead for thousands of years, maybe even longer. You can’t be that old."

Sylas rested his arms on the armchair and interlocked them in front of his face.

"Aren’t you supposed to be a genius? I know it’s mostly about mana, but come on, use your brain."

Valerian frowned at the principal’s answer, as annoyance rose within him.

’Use my brain? What does he mean?’

As he looked at the mysterious smile of the principal, it hit him.

The barrier.

The time dilation for the tournament.

And the expert usage of time magic to even replenish the mana of another person.

"You went back in time..."

The smile on the principal’s face grew wider.

"I give you 50 points for that answer. It’s half wrong and half right."

"What do you mean by half wrong? How could there be a different answer?"

The revelation that the ancient elf went back in time to meet the Celestials was beyond important; it was world-shattering. Going back in time a few days was already difficult and took massive amounts of mana.

So going back to the time of the Celestials shouldn’t be something possible.

The mysterious smile on Sylas’s face didn’t disappear as he looked at Valerian, who was trying to come up with a solution.

"Time is a fragile thing. Messing with it too much will cause all kinds of problems in the past, present, and future. So you must excuse me, but that is the most you are allowed to know. For now."

Valerian didn’t miss the last part, as a theory formed in his head. If going back in time for so many years was possible, then shouldn’t it also be possible to go into the future?

Now the way Sylas seemed to single out Valerian so much made sense: the knowing smile that was on his face the entire time, and the weird look of awe that he had when Valerian cut the spatial distortion.

"You are not from this time, are you?"

"Haha, again 50 points."

’Again 50 points? So it’s half right.’

Seeing as the elf sitting across from him didn’t seem to want to say more about this topic, Valerian still wanted to know about the second half of his first question.

"So you know about me being a Celestial from the future?"

Sylas shook his head.

"No, I don’t know about you from the future. It’s the other way around."

Valerian’s eyes widened at his answer; this was so much bigger than it seemed. If Sylas knew about him not from the future, but the other way around, then he knew him from the past. And that would also mean...

"You know about my parents..."

The mysterious, slightly playful smile on Sylas’s face was replaced with a melancholic, slightly sad smile.

"Yeah, I knew them."

’What is with that reaction? Why does he seem sad?’

Valerian’s whole world was being turned upside down by the revelations he had learned in the past minutes. But if he really knew his parents, then...

"...What happened to... my mother?"

He already knew that his father was dead. He had died trying to hold back the invaders from another realm, dying a heroic death taking out their leaders and the ten strongest generals of each side.

But his mother was still a mystery to him. He knew she was a cosmic dragon, and apparently even their princess. He also remembered the time when he had felt her touch when he first transformed into a dragon.

But apart from that, he knew nothing.

"Ahh, your mother. The beauty of the cosmos, Aurora Aevum."

Her name. It had been one of his biggest regrets not to ask Azuriel about the name of his mother, but now he knew it.

Aurora Aevum.

"Where is she?"

Valerian looked into the rotating eyes of Sylas with burning determination. When Sylas saw his eyes, he let out a light laugh.

"You already know the name. I believe the bird told you."

"The... bird?"

’Is this guy for real? Calling a being above the Demi-God rank a simple bird?? What is wrong with this elf?’

But Valerian kept his complaint to himself and remembered the name of the dimension the cosmic dragons were residing in.

"How do I get to Tiamat?"

"The current you won’t be able to go there. Your mastery over space is... lackluster. Sure, it’s enough to do some attacks here and there. And that attack at the end of the duel was pretty good, by the way. Severing the spatial distortion is a good step forward."

"And even if you manage to open a pathway to Tiamat, your body wouldn’t be able to handle the transition to another dimension. If cutting through a simple spatial distortion already destroyed your arm and left you barely standing, trying to cross dimensions would obliterate you. And your special body won’t save you, as the damage would go straight to your soul and being."

’He’s right. I’m only strong in comparison to people my age. Against the real powerhouses, I’m a joke.’

"But fret not, you are in the presence of the greatest mage in all of Eldoria, past and present. And would you look at that, this great mage is also a teacher. You should count yourself lucky," Sylas said with a wide grin at his own compliments.

Valerian looked at the ancient being that had witnessed the Celestials and crossed through time with disbelief.

"So you should be grateful that you attend my academy. Oh, and by the way: you desperately need some formal training. I wanted to vomit when I saw you fight; it was like a toddler who didn’t know how to move his body yet. I’ll have to make some calls for that..."

’This fucker.’

A vein of annoyance formed on Valerian’s forehead as Sylas continued to babble on about everything he was bad at. Seriously, he was talking like a waterfall, mentioning things Valerian hadn’t even shown during the match, but somehow Sylas still knew that he was bad at the most unimportant stuff, like drawing.

"OKAY! I get it, I suck!"

Valerian folded on the sofa; he just couldn’t continue to hear Sylas talk anymore. It was like the elf knew him better than he knew himself.

’Is this how it is with time travelers?’

"Anyway, you don’t have to worry about all of that. During your time in the academy, I will make sure you become someone worthy of being called a Celestial. But that should be all for today; I can’t tell you more for now. And I believe you have a speech to prepare, Mister Apex."

The sudden shift in topic made Valerian look at his watch, and he was shocked when he saw that he had spent over three hours inside the principal’s office.

"Haaa, fine. I will get going."

Valerian stood up from the sofa and turned around to leave, but paused mid-step without looking back.

"Is she okay? My mother?"

A gentle smile formed on Sylas’s face as he turned his eyes to the window, staring into the cosmos.

"She’s waiting for you. So you better hurry up and become stronger."

Valerian didn’t offer a reply and walked out of the office, leaving Sylas alone in the simplistic room.

"Haa, I have to prepare. And I have to call her... I don’t wanna."

Sylas’s body disappeared from the armchair like he was never there, and the office was left empty.