Mushoku Tensei: Reincarnated as a Beast Race Chapter 416 - 415 - Young Rivals — The World-Shift Tool

With everything theoretically ready, all the necessary equipment, spells, and magic circles were where they needed to be.

Now, all that remained were the practical tests. And how did one test a World-Shift Tool?

Obviously, by traveling to another world and returning alive. And that was exactly what Rygar and Aisha were preparing to do.

In principle, the portal should be safe for crossing. The research had advanced enough to stabilize the path, calculate the passage, and prevent the displacement from destroying the body of whoever crossed through.

But the real problem was not merely reaching the other side.

It was what to do after being there.

The destroyed worlds were not suitable for living beings. It was not a simple matter, like lack of food, bad air, or a hostile climate. They were dead worlds, deformed by the absence of the conditions that sustained life itself. Entering them unprepared was suicide, because the laws of physics no longer accepted organic existence.

To solve that problem, Rygar and Aisha finally created a Barrier Magic that received a simple name.

Magical Isolation.

The name sounded modest, but the magic itself was God-Level.

Its function was to isolate the living conditions of the Six-Faced World around the user. In other words, it created a protected zone where the body continued existing under tolerable rules, even inside an environment that should reject, corrode, or kill it. Although the basic idea seemed simple, the execution was extremely complex.

In truth, it had only ended up as God-Level Magic for one reason: the barrier needed to withstand crossing between worlds.

If it could not do that, it would be useless from the start.

Magical Isolation needed to envelop the body before the crossing, remain stable during the displacement, and continue functioning on the other side, even without any guarantee that the surrounding laws would remain constant.

For that reason, in the Kingdom of Gaia, only Aisha and Rygar were currently capable of using it.

Only they had a mana capacity large enough.

Almost.

"Why can’t I go?"

The indignant voice came from atop a large white dog.

"I have more mana than Dad and Magic Mom combined! I mean, I’m literally the Shifter Miko. This is what I do. I teleport!"

The young green-haired elf was around eleven years old. She was lying face down on Leo’s back, the Sacred Beast, with her chin resting on her crossed arms and a sulky expression, feeling extremely wronged by the world.

Leo continued walking calmly along the forest trail, not seeming to care about the complaint mounted on his back.

Aurora was, once again, complaining to no one in particular.

On one side of Leo walked a girl with blue hair. Around her, a round crystal ball floated a few centimeters from her body, following her movements like a small obedient pet.

It was Lara Greyrat.

"You are not even an adult yet," Lara said. "Why are you in such a hurry? Honestly... we could simply rest and enjoy ourselves while the adults solve our problems."

On the other side of Leo, also walking along the trail, was Iris.

She wore a blue dress that contrasted with her red eyes and hair. Her hair was now longer, and her appearance drew even more attention than before.

Since she was born, many people had already agreed that Iris was very cute. Now, at eleven years old, she had become even more adorable. She was like a small star walking under the earth; wherever she passed, it would be difficult for people not to pay attention.

Iris looked at Aurora and spoke carefully:

"I think you should worry more about the competition. Perseus has already been training with that strange old man for several months."

That was another recent development.

Star Rise Academy, the largest academic institution in the world, would hold the first edition of the Dawn Cup that year, three months from now.

It would be an intercontinental competition, held every five years, bringing together young talents from all over the world. Anyone under fifteen could participate, although that rule was a little unfair to races that aged more slowly. Even so, those races were a minority within the chosen format.

The goal of the event was to strengthen international relations between countries, create a space of contact between different peoples, and offer hidden talents a chance to show themselves and gain relevance.

There were several areas of competition.

But without a doubt, the main event would be the Combat Arena.

In it, everything would be allowed: magic, swordsmanship, innate abilities, tricks, combat techniques, and any other resource the competitor could use.

The only detail was that the equipment would be provided by the Academy, to avoid excessive disparity in the quality of weapons, armor, and personal artifacts. In the end, the winner of the Arena would be considered the true champion of the Dawn Cup.

And Aurora, despite being only eleven years old, was extremely confident in her victory.

She snorted and looked at Iris.

"He couldn’t even reach Saint level! Ha! I always said he was stupid, but I didn’t think it would be that bad. His stupidity ended up getting in his way when he tried to control Battle Aura. Honestly, I think I’ll have more trouble facing Diana. Didn’t she reach Water Saint level a month ago?"

Indeed, one of the most important pieces of family news lately was that Diana had managed to become a Water Saint at twelve years old.

Lara sighed.

"I don’t know how you can be so confident when you can’t even use Battle Aura... Diana clearly does not want to win this competition. She will probably just reach a good position and drop out."

Lara glanced sideways at the crystal ball floating beside her and added:

"But if I were you, I would be careful with Perseus."

Aurora lifted herself a little, sitting on Leo’s back instead of remaining sprawled out. Then she looked at Lara suspiciously.

"Did you see something?"

Lara looked away and did not answer.

That only made Aurora even more suspicious.

Iris, on the other hand, seemed thoughtful.

"Well, it makes sense that he finally managed to advance. After all, that old dragon teaching him, Laplace... didn’t he used to be First Place among the Seven World Powers? And he doesn’t even know how to use magic."

Lara nodded in agreement.

Aurora, meanwhile, bit her nail, considering possibilities.

Over the last few years, while her mana continued growing to levels that had not been seen in the world for thousands of years, Perseus had stopped improving so quickly.

While Aurora learned new magic one after another, becoming a King-Level mage in more than one school, Perseus remained stuck at Advanced Level. This confused many people, because until then, he had been considered the most promising talent among Rygar’s children.

The problem was that he was too wild by nature.

When trying to control his Touki, Perseus faced enormous difficulty. It was similar to the logic of a beast. Monsters and beasts did not control Touki like trained warriors. They relied on strength, instinct, and natural weapons. Even when they possessed mana, it was used more instinctively than disciplinedly.

Perseus had the Laplace Factor, and the natural strength of his body continued to grow. But that alone had not been enough to keep up with Aurora in combat.

She had mastered magic and teleportation brilliantly, in addition to possessing above-average strength, although not as exaggerated as Diana’s or Perseus’s.

Either way, if Perseus had truly reached Beast Saint level, he would instantly become the greatest threat in Aurora’s eyes.

"Tch! Damn Laplace. He could have stayed in a coma for another year or two. What difference would it make to him?"

The Technique God, Laplace, had finally awakened from his coma about a year ago, which caused great commotion for a while.

But things calmed down quickly because he showed no interest in reclaiming his position among the Seven Powers, and actually chose to remain quietly in the Combat Temple, declaring his neutrality toward all forces.

Lara smiled upon hearing her friend’s complaints.

The three continued walking through the forest and chatting as they headed to meet the family. The trail led them to a large magic tower.

As soon as they entered, they saw several people on the lower floor.

Jino was sitting at a table, talking. With him were Eidar, Lisena, and Sylphiette. Nearby, there were some children, including Nel Britz, Jino’s eldest son, as well as other children gathered in the place.

Lara temporarily said goodbye to the two of them and went to one of her mothers, Sylphy.

That was a gathering only for Rygar’s family, so only Iris and Aurora climbed the tower.

The two continued talking as they went up, until they finally reached the research room where their father and two of their mothers spent so much time.

It was a farewell gathering.

Rygar and Aisha would be away for about a month and a half. If everything went well, they would return before that. Even so, this was not a simple trip.

They were not going to another country, another continent, or another labyrinth. They were about to cross the boundary between worlds.

In the room, all the other members of the family were already present.

Including Perseus.

To Aurora’s horror and Iris’s surprise, he was meditating.

Perseus was twelve years old and already looked more like a young teenager than a child. His body had grown, and his muscles seemed more prominent. He appeared to notice their stares, opened his eyes, and, upon seeing Aurora, sent her a threatening smile.

Then, clearly trying to restrain himself, he shut his eyes tightly and went back to meditating.

Iris was surprised.

Aurora was shocked.

That was when she felt something on her legs. She looked down and became instantly happy when she saw who it was.

A little boy around two years old was clinging to her. He had reddish-brown hair, just like Aisha’s, but what drew the most attention were his differently colored eyes. One was green. The other was red.

That was Levi.

Currently, the youngest child of the family. Rygar’s ninth child and the only child of Aisha Adoldia.

Aurora picked him up carefully and affectionately.

"Oh, Levi, where were you? I didn’t see you at home these days!"

Levi laughed as Aurora tickled him.

"Hihihi!"

"I was taking him to see the Academy, so you must have missed each other," Aisha said.

Aisha approached. Unlike usual, she was wearing her battle armor, which made her much more intimidating than her everyday appearance.

Iris looked at the armor curiously.

"Are you leaving now?"

Aisha nodded.

"We are. We cannot postpone it any longer. Hitogami is growing more desperate by the day, and we do not want the episode with Agares to repeat itself, do we?"

Aurora and Iris became dispirited upon hearing that name.

In the incident one year ago, the North King Agares, an apostle of Hitogami, could have executed Rygar’s children with ease if their father had not been there to save them. He could even have taken some of them hostage and blackmailed the family.

That had been the first time Rygar’s children faced someone who possessed enough malice and cruelty to truly hurt them, as well as the strength necessary to make them unable to defend themselves.

It was still a stain on their record to this day.

The rest of the family was involved in their own activities.

Hamish was teaching Lenna how to play Shogi. She seemed committed to learning, although the game was complex.

Verdia was telling an old story about her time as a warrior in the Laplace War, and Harris and Hubert were completely entertained by the narrative. Diana was also there, but seemed more interested in the sweets she was eating than in the story itself.

Farther back, Rygar was talking with Ghislaine and Eris, apparently giving instructions for when he was absent. Although everyone had guaranteed that the family would be protected and safe, and although there was little Hitogami could use against them at the moment, it was still better to be cautious until the end.

Rygar finished talking with the two of them and noticed that everyone was already present.

"All right, everyone. Pay attention here now."

Little by little, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him.

Levi remained in Aurora’s arms, watching everything curiously.

Rygar looked at the gathered family.

Four wives.

Nine children.

Who would have thought that one day he would be in that situation?

He could not be happier.

First, he spoke to everyone at once. He gave general instructions, reminded them that he would be away for some time, and reinforced that everyone should listen to their mothers while he and Aisha were absent. It was not exactly a serious speech. It was more of a farewell.

Then he spoke to each of them individually.

He gave advice, warnings, and small instructions, specific words for each child, because each of them needed to hear something different, since they were very different from one another.

Then it was Aisha’s turn to speak to everyone.

She also said goodbye to the family, spoke with the children and with Rygar’s other wives, and finally picked Levi up and played with him for a few moments before returning him to the family’s care.

Finally, the moment to leave arrived.

One important detail was that no one, except Rygar and Aisha, knew the exact location of the World-Shift Tool. No one even knew what it looked like.

They would not walk to it, nor would there be a farewell in front of the portal.

Rygar and Aisha would teleport directly to a secret location, and only then would they make the crossing.

This guaranteed the highest possible secrecy.

After all, what was at stake this time was extremely dangerous, and if Hitogami obtained even the slightest opening, he would act.

Unfortunately for him, this time, that would not happen.

----

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