The Author's POV

—Vuaam!

Kevin's entire body was enveloped in a golden luster. Soon after, Kevin appeared in a whole new place.

"Khh, where am I?"

Glancing around in confusion, Kevin, once again found himself in the middle of a forest. However this time, in front of him, stood a large majestic palace that towered in the middle of the forest. It reached all the way to the sky as green vines entangled themselves on the side of the walls.

At the front of the palace were two giant golden doors that sealed the entrance of the palace.

As Kevin looked at the palace from the distance, he was so shocked by the appearance of the palace that he thought he had actually gone back in time, back in the medieval times.

The palace still felt as majestic and grand as it would've back when it was just built.

"This must be the place Ren told me about..."

Noticing the palace, Kevin remembered everything that Ren told him before entering. From what he would see upon entering the dungeon to what things he needed to avoid and what areas were strictly forbidden.

Collecting himself, nodding his head, Kevin walked all the way until he reached the entrance of the palace.

According to what Ren had told him, behind the golden doors of the place, was where the five-star sword art that he was looking for was located.

Halting his steps for a split moment, the images of what happened between him and Gilbert replayed in Kevin's mind. As he recalled those images, Kevin couldn't help but clench his fists tightly.

'Never again...'

Never again did he want to be humiliated like that.

"Huuu..."

Arriving in front of the two golden doors, taking a deep breath and placing his hands on the door, Kevin proceeded to open the two enormous doors.

—Shiiiiin!

As he opened the door a dazzling glow nearly blinded him, making him unable to open his eyes. Covering his eyes to mitigate the impact of the light, with great difficulty, he forced his eyes open and saw vast sculptures sitting in the palace.

Each sculpture was different from the others; there was a golden armored knight, an enormous dragon, and all other sorts of fantastical creatures. Under the feet of these giant sculptures was a path that led ahead where the statues of two angels holding onto two harps could be seen.

Walking around in a daze, Kevin followed the path and reached a strange altar, where on top, all kinds of books and scrolls that were written with powerfully dense words appeared.

Squinting his eyes to get a better look, as Kevin observed the books and scrolls, he could feel the powerful intent in each and every word written inside of those scrolls.

Boundless.

Those were the words that perfectly described how he felt as he looked towards the books and scroll.

He could practically envision an old man sitting on a large spacious desk writing those scrolls with every last part of his remaining life.

"Hm?"

In the midst of admiring the scrolls and books, sensing something, Kevin noticed that at the very center of this altar was a golden book that shined a golden luster. It pulsated a dense and majestic golden light that almost made it feel as if was alive.

Moreover, compared to the other books, this one seemed to be far more complex...

Touching the book with his hand, Kevin's eyes soon became entranced by the two words engraved on it.

[Levisha style]

"...Levisha style, Grandmaster Levisha"

As if everything started to click, Kevin instantly realized what sword this was. Recalling the legends of Grandmaster Levisha, a smile inadvertently appeared on his face.

Elegant, precise, and concise...this was the perfect sword art that he was looking for.

—Vuuuam!

"huh...khhh"

Just as Kevin was about to open the book, strange golden energy spread throughout the mysterious book as Kevin's hand became stuck on top of the book. It soon enveloped Kevin completely.

Soon after, like a flood, strange images inserted themselves inside of Kevin's mind causing his eyes to turn white.

"Kyuuuuuuaaaa—!"

Shortly after that, Kevin's pained scream resounded across the empty space.

-Thud

Darkness enveloped Kevin's vision, as his body dropped to the ground. Everything turned silent and the book lost its golden luster.

...

"huuuuam..."

Yawning like there was no tomorrow, I checked my watch and stared at the dungeon behind me.

"six hours..."

That's how long Kevin was inside of the dungeon. If I wasn't wrong, currently, Kevin was going through Grandmaster Levisha's trial.

Though it was a tough trial, back in the novel, Kevin successfully managed to pass the trial without much difficulty.

Moreover, only upon succeeding would he finally be able to get his hands on the sword art. I doubt he would give up halfway just because the trial was hard.

Though he was weaker as compared to the time he actually got the sword art, I wasn't worried.

More so than him being the protagonist, I had faith that he could succeed. After all, Kevin's strength two months from now shouldn't be that much different.

I was sure of this as for the next few months, there were no major events circling him after all. This part of the novel was supposed to be a time skip that directly skipped all the way towards the Intra-Academy exchange.

By the time the arc started, he was still ranked <D->, halfway towards <D> rank.

-Knock! -Knock!

Standing up and walking around the place, recalling something, I knocked on one of the gargoyle statues next to the portal.

As I did, I couldn't help but admire the amount of fine detail that was put into them. From the way they were carved and shaped, they almost seemed to be lifelike. Moreover, what made them especially unique were the two ruby red eyes that were deeply imbued in the areas where their eyes were supposed to be.

...It made them look more alive.

—Shiiiiin!

Still, without caring too much, putting my hands on top of the heads of the two gargoyles statues in front of the portal, channeling my mana into them, they soon shrank and disappeared from where they were. Leaving behind nothing but the portal.

Clapping my hands together in satisfaction, I gratefully looked towards the portal and thanked Kevin

"Will be taking this, thank you very much, Kevin"

—Shiiiiin!

Extending my hand forward, a miniature version of the gargoyle statue appeared in my hand. It looked exactly like the sculpture from before. However, it was much smaller compared to before.

Taking a good look at it, I couldn't help but nod in satisfaction.

-Tssss

Biting the tip of my finger, I placed my finger on top of the statue and let the blood dripping from my finger drip on the statue.

—Shiiiiin!

Thereafter, as my blood touched the statue, the gargoyle statue's ruby red eyes shone brightly as white steam rose from its body.

As white steam released in the air, suddenly, a blinding light covered the whole area around me.

Unbothered by the blinding light, my eyes remained fixated on the statue as a blue text appeared on top of the statue.

[Twin gargoyle statue - E rank]

"There we go..."

An artifact that was originally supposed to belong to Kevin back in the novel.

However, although the statues were indeed taken by Kevin, he actually never used them as I practically forgot about them.

...mhhh, actually more than me forgetting about them, it's more like they were useless to Kevin.

After all, they didn't have any outstanding effect apart from the fact that upon setting them on the ground, they could target a specific person and stun them for a split second. Sounded pretty strong there...but there was a critical flaw that made me, as an author back then, unable to properly use them and hence discard them.

...Problem was that setting them up and activating them from the distance required a lot of effort.

It required the enemy to stand in a specific area where the gargoyle's eyes looked towards and had to be set up in advance. This required you to either predict where the enemy was going to stand, or lure them there.

Both were extremely hard things to accomplish.

Moreover, for someone like Kevin who liked to fight face-to-face, such an artifact really didn't suit him.

Wasn't really sure as to why I even created them in the first place. I guess back then I just really loved overgearing him with artifacts and useless stuff.

If I had to say, even for me, the statues weren't really that useful. Considering that I had to set them up beforehand, I doubt I had a good use for them.

However, it could still serve as a nice souvenir for my mercenary group office.

Moreover, just in case someone comes in, I could activate them and deal with the intruders. Though it was only a split second, for most people it wouldn't mean much, but for me who practiced the [Keiki style] that split second could turn out to be devastating.

"Hm?"

Putting the statue away and noticing a slight fluctuation in magical energy in the air, I turned around and glanced at the portal behind me.

The portal was currently fluctuating wildly as the magical energy in the surroundings intensified by the second.

—Vuuuam!

Soon after, the portal shone brightly as a dark silhouette weakly walked out of the portal. Recognizing the silhouette as Kevin, I stood up.

Walking towards him, I couldn't help but ask

"Did you get it?"

Stopping right in front of the gate, glancing at me, after a couple of seconds, Kevin smiled

"Yup-khh"

However, shortly after Kevin exited the portal, stumbling a couple of steps, face first, he fell towards the ground.

"Huuup!"

Grabbing onto Kevin's weak and haggard figure, I looked at his tired figure. Shaking my head, I patted him on the back and slowly said

"You did good..."

Smiling slightly, before passing out, Kevin softly mumbled

"Thanks...."