Chapter 87: Going Around Problems (2/2)

His mana was draining as Arthur tried to brutally destroy the gate. Almost empty of mana, the gate finally showed signs of cracks making Arthur's heart leap with joy. The gate crumbled the next second, to Arthur's great relief.

However, the relief proved to be too early as the whole space started shaking. Like a house without pillars, the runic lines cracked and crumbled as Arthur was sent outside the space. In his hand, the rune crumbled to nothingness and only the remains of the core proved that it ever existed.

”… What just happened?” Arthur asked himself incredulously. Everything was going well until he destroyed the gate. Did the foundation of the rune rely on the gate itself? Is that why it took Runes Masters so much time and mana to construct the rune by itself without the gate?

”Uh, how do I go from here then? Should I just practice using artificial runes?”

Arthur had his hand on his temples as he pondered the possible paths. The Runes Apprentices Cup was only next week and he sucked at mana control. Master Ronin was even 'amazed' at how much he was brought with his mana, using it in an on and off manner. As for runes inscription? It required even more control.

He sat there for a while before deciding to give it another go. He replenished his mana and did the same thing again, but also failed. He replenished his mana again and decided to use mana to support the runic lines themselves while simultaneously destroying the gate. He saw some success at this as the space was held longer before crumbling when his mana was no longer supporting it.

”UGH!” Arthur threw himself on the bed and shouted with his pillow covering his face. He then started rolling back and forth on the bed as he tried to think of what to do.

”This is more difficult than I imagined…”

But there was no other way.

For the next few days, Arthur kept trying to construct the lines while destroying the gate. His efforts proved futile as it was Monday morning, a day before his travel, and he saw no luck.

He listlessly sat on the bed while thinking of what to do. How could he destroy the gate if the gate's existence was essential for the rune to exist?

While lying on the bed, Arthur closed his eyes to rest. It has been some stressful few days that Arthur couldn't sleep peacefully. Luckily, his mana increased a bit with all of the usage and replenishment. That was the only good thing about it.

Arthur opened his phone and wanted to do something to relax. He started browsing through articles on the latest news that were 'trendy' like new awakeners and how much potential they had. He skimmed through most of the glorifying of the awakeners, the guilds they belonged to, or the government and looked up some names he was familiar with.

Miko was one such name. He missed her, even though they didn't spend 'years' together as friends, she was still a good friend of his. She used to teach him the things he lacked and go through life and death battles for his sake. He sighed when the results were mostly of people he didn't know and closed his phone.

He regretted fighting her when he agreed to help Hazel. He wondered why he thought he had to help her, it only resulted in him being stabbed in the back.

'Did I want others to help me in return, being alone there? Or was it simply the loneliness that made me try to win others?'

He didn't know. He shook his head as thinking about these wouldn't help. His thoughts drifted further into the past as memories kept rolling like a movie tape, unceasing.

Arthur opened his eyes. He checked the time and an hour has already passed by. He decided to try a new approach to the issue of the gate since this one didn't work. Unlike before, he doesn't need to overcome problems. Sometimes it was okay to go around.

Arthur decided that instead of destroying the gate, he would try to close it.