“Wait a second, I just thought of something. With magic we cannot see anything and the same can be said if we don’t use it. This, of course, will lead us to think that there isn’t anything here… If we don’t use our heads that is.”

  I can see the confusion and curiosity in her, I mean, I think so as well, you know, I still can only see the pink orb and its perfect round shape… Moving on, before I go on my usual and unnecessary jabbering. I say this because out of nowhere I remembered the maze from a little way’s back. That maze had a small device that was resetting the maze itself and everyone that was there was sent to the beginning. That thing was hidden to magic by a spell but in that case, I could physically see it with my blue eyes. However, in this case though, both are true and as a consequence, it led us to think that there isn’t anything here even though the magic line ends right here meaning that there is indeed something here, something hidden to us…

  “Do you know any magic spell that can hide the user from being found both by magic and physically?”

  “I do, the magic spell Conceal can achieve that.”

  Nice! She got it rather quickly. But yes, the magic spell Conceal can indeed do this. It has to be a high level one but nonetheless, it can do something like this. Now, while we both have no clue who could have done this, we cannot discard the possibility that this “universe” was the one who did it; however, even if that is the case, we still can remove the spell with the spell Dispel. This spell is the most efficient one from the family of magic jam spells not only that, I can use this spell in a radius, whatever around me or target in a specific area, making it easier for us as I simply need the range of said radius to be as big as this area, maybe a little more but not the entire library as it might disturb its current chaotic state. Though that’s not my only concern as I might accidently do something to the bookshelf downstairs, sending our previous efforts down the drain and towards the abyss. But the biggest problem is not any of these but in fact our Miss Pink Orb here as I can disturb and even cancel her current magic orb. And of course, that’s the biggest no-no that I can currently commit.

  “That is correct and the best way to remove said spell is with magic jam. Back off a little bit as I will be using Dispel in this area. I don’t want to accidently cancel your orb with it.”

  “Yes, I will back off... Is this far enough?”

  “Yes.”

  I mean, no need for you to be that far, like, seriously. You’re easily close to the railings, that’s way too far but oh well, better be safe than sorry. Moving on then, I slowly walk up to what I think might be the middle of this area but keep in mind that I’m still at the corner of the walls, just closer to it now. Once I’ve confirmed my surroundings one last time, I quickly map out an area around me and from there, a magic circle appears, one that is as big as said area. The reason for this is so that I can have a magic barrier, one that will be used to contain the magic from the spell. Now, why do I need to do this? Just limit the range of the spell and you’re good to go, no? That’s not a bad way of thinking and even a correct one however, do you think a “mere” A rank adventurer can cancel a magic spell from a monster whose rank is S and above? Of course not, too much difference in magic strength for him to be able to do that. Yes, part of it might be disturbed and even cancelled if he was A+ however, since there is such disparity between those two ranks, what the adventurer is doing is simply removing a single drop of water from a bucket. By forcefully limiting the range of the magic spell, it will allow me to go “all out” as there is a good chance that whatever is being hidden by said spell might force me to be a little more “serious”, making me use spells of higher rank. Or maybe not and as always, I’m overthinking all of this. Since time is not on my side, I prefer to “waste” a little more of magic rather than wasting time doing something only to not work because I did a half assed attempt instead of a serious one.

  Well then, time to show her why I’m the Hero.

  “Dispel!”

  Magic noises!

  With a clear and somewhat loud tone of voice, I say the name of the spell and with it, I activate it. I didn’t do anything special or anything like that, I didn’t say an incantation, didn’t gather magic in a specific area for a period of time and so on. I simply concentrated for a brief second and voila, an S rank Dispel was just activated in a second. The range of this spell if I didn’t contain it into this small area, it would actually be much bigger than the entire library, easily having close to 150 meters of diameter. Not only that, the efficiency is the same across the entire range, just because it’s closer to the edge it does not mean it’s any weaker than in the centre, nope, exactly the same. If it was A rank for example, while the range can be the same and even bigger, the drop in efficiency is tremendous, making the S rank version several times better as it literally does not have reduced efficiency throughout its radius. The only limit factor is indeed the range but even then, it’s more than you would ever need. Enough of my rambling, it seems I was right on my way of thinking although I did go quite a bit overboard.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  “It’s done!”

  I turn backwards and towards her as I indirectly call her even though I’ve only affirmed that I was done doing my “thing”. Mere moments later, she’s here. While she didn’t say anything, I can definitely say that she quickly figured out what I have just uncovered, the treasure that we are eagerly and desperately looking for. The book is now within our grasp but with this, it confirms to us that it was indeed hidden by magic, with magic spell Conceal however, I can also say that with an A rank Dispel I could’ve achieved the same as with the S rank version. Now, if I’m so strong why didn’t I see this with both Magic Sense and Magical Eyes? I mean, A rank is nothing compared to someone whose rank is Hero, right? That is correct and there’s nothing wrong in thinking like that, however, the reason for this is much simpler than it seems but it’s a rather annoying fact of how magic works.

  The more magic we use, the stronger the spells will be, it’s that simple. You can make a D rank Firebolt reach S rank with the correct amount of magic. On the case of Magical Eyes for example, it’s a skill that is not tied to how much magic you have, Magic Sense on the other hand is another skill that benefits from you having more magic as you will be able to sense more of it however, its efficiency is tied to the user mastery of such and not pure strength. Both of these skills your body needs to adapt to them, something that takes a “little bit” of time but massive amounts of practice. Ah, who am I kidding, of course it takes a lot of time, even if you work extremely hard, it still will take a long time to master any of them. Even though I’m the Hero, if I don’t practice these skills, how can you expect me to be good at them? I’ve said several times that I’m bad at scouting, mainly because I don’t care for much as I prefer to go “fists blazing” and so on. Though it does not mean that I think my skills are useless either, it’s just that, in my perspective they are not at a good level for someone like me as otherwise, I wouldn’t have all of these problems finding anything. But, enough of this, we still are not done yet, unfortunately…

  “Now we just need to find a way to unlock this...”

  While the book was revealed, it also showed us another problem at the same time. There is a barrier around it, one that while I could easily break it with brute force, if I actually do so, the book will be destroyed in the process as it’s directly connected to said barrier in the sense that, break one, the other follows it and that includes using Dispel as it will destabilize the barrier to remove it instead of shutting it down. Now that I’m saying this, I was quite lucky that my previous usage of Dispel didn’t screw this up. Yikes, really was this close for committing quite the grave sin. Thank you goddess of luck for being by my side and blessing me with some of your luck.

  “Thy who is hidden, shall remain protected…

  Thy who is not hidden, shall not be protected…

  If all are not hidden, chaos ensues and the protection is gone…”

  What in tarnation is she saying? No, seriously, is she reading something out loud? She’s right next to me so, whatever she’s reading must be close to me… I think? There are a few pieces of debris here and there, a few other pieces of wood over there-Ah, wait a second, there is another book here, a little way from the one that is the treasure we are looking for but nonetheless still within my cone of vision. Cone of vision? Why did I say it like this? Well, the moment that my blue eyes saw the title of that book, I quickly understood what she was saying, reading in this case. Quite the long title that makes no sense whatsoever however, it seems to be some sort of a riddle and to make it even weirder is the fact that the moment I grab the book and open it to see whatever it’s inside of it, I’m faced by absolutely nothing. The book has no pages whatsoever, almost as if they were torn apart from it, leaving the shell to root.

  “You think this riddle has something to do with how we can unlock the barrier?”

  “Yes, there isn’t much else here otherwise.”

  “If we consider what we had to do to get here, you might be right. After all, the book was hidden to both magic and physical sight.”

  If we dissect the riddle, that’s the conclusion we both got I believe. It first says that, if they are hidden, they will be protected because of it. In reality, that’s true after all, how can you be in danger if you are “invisible” to those that might want to harm you? This way of thinking quickly follows the second part of the riddle as it says that those who are not hidden won’t be protected. Then at last it says that, if everyone is not hidden, chaos will ensue and no one will be protected. I can deduct from this that we will have to find “others” that are currently hidden and the moment we find all of them, then the barrier might disappear, without taking the book with it in the process. Alright, this does not sound like a bad plan at all.