On the first day of the New Year, Boom and Rikka put away the Wonder House after having breakfast, and walked out of the dense forest side by side towards the former small mountain village.
After mastering the defensive array, Boom has learned all the elementary spells of the space system. The remaining problem is proficiency and practical application.
That's why he gave himself a holiday today, and he just happened to spend some time with Rikka. After all, this is the first New Year that the other person has experienced, and as an older brother, he has to be considerate.
The Miracle Plain in the cold winter is bare, and the reeds have long disappeared. As for the herds of animals, I don’t know where they are hiding.
Rikka did not turn her hands into short blades today, but instead carried two meteorite swords, just like the most ordinary mercenary. Boom kept summoning fireballs, sometimes throwing them on the ice, sometimes throwing them into the sky.
More than half an hour later, the two stood in front of a ruined wall, quietly observing everything that had happened. At this time, the small mountain village was no longer inhabited, and the mud houses had collapsed one after another.
"This pot belongs to my aunt, and she gave me the skill of making soy beef." Rikka kicked the iron pot with her foot, a trace of sadness appeared on her face.
"I chopped these firewood, and I don't know how that little girl is doing now." Liuhua turned to look at another place and said again.
"You have a reason to die, and you have a reason to live, don't you think?" Bumzan replied softly from the side. Although he was not good at comforting people, he didn't want to see Rikka so sad. "Brother, I'm fine." Rikka looked up at Boom, and then smiled. In her heart, as long as Boom was fine, nothing else mattered.
The two stood there for a long time, until frost formed on each other's eyelashes, and until the morning fog dissipated in the afternoon. When they lifted their feet again, they walked towards the only remaining barn.
Nowadays, most of the barn has been destroyed, and the collapsed roof leans against the broken wall, forming a small space. This is also the best-preserved building in the small mountain village.
Boom and Rikka walked in, originally planning to light a fire and rest, but after seeing the situation inside clearly, they couldn't help but notice a difference.
Boom gently pushed aside the debris on the ground, and when Rikka saw this, he pulled up the copper ring. The secret door reappeared in a burst of dust, and it was the shelter in the small mountain village.
The two of them smiled alike, and Boom launched the black wood circle, and then a flame burst out from the top. Rikka tightened her grip on the iron swords and followed Boom down.
Creak! The only exit was closed again. A few seconds later, the two of them stood in the dark room, with their eyes filled with curiosity but also sadness.
But just when Boom was about to say something, Rikka suddenly squatted down and picked up a piece of paper. This was obviously left behind intentionally, because the thing pressed on it was a gold coin.
"Let's go. Thank you for the gold coins. See you again when we are destined." Boom said softly while squeezing Rikka's little head with his hand.
"It hurts so much, please forgive me, brother!" Rikka knew that her gift of gold coins was exposed, so she had no choice but to use her unique skills and act rogue.
The orange-red flame crackled and lit up the entire dark room. Boom and Rikka leaned together, eating and joking with each other.
"Brother, do you think they are still alive now? They should survive." Liuhua took a sip of hot milk and asked in a low voice.
"Maybe, but how do you know that life is better than death? This world is cruel, and there are so many people who are worse off than dead."
Boom seemed to be answering the other party's questions, but also seemed to be mumbling to himself. He is not a sentimental person, or in other words, he never had the capital to be sentimental before.
The temperature inside the hint rose due to the bonfire. Rikka was worried about Boom's body, so she took out a brown bear skin from the dimensional space.
The two huddled side by side inside, with Rikka holding the black wooden staff and turning it over with her hands. Boom, on the other hand, was staring at the petal magic pattern on his palm.
"Brother, what are you thinking about? Do you hate these two magic patterns?" Rikka turned to look at Boom and asked with some uncertainty.
"Since the past few days, I have always felt a faint tingling in the palms of my hands. Maybe I have some terminal illness." Boom replied with a grin.
"Brother stinky knows how to lie. How could I not know that you have a problem?" Liuhua bit Boom's arm, but the force was pitifully weak.
Boom stretched out his hands indifferently, intending to push the other person away, but then the two of them stood still as if they were petrified.
At this time, Boom's palm was pressed against the opponent's forehead, and the six-flowered magic pattern on the opponent's forehead suddenly appeared. A faint fluorescence flickered, as if something was activated.
After a moment, these lights gradually dissipated, as if they had never appeared. But Boom took out a magic crystal from the storage bag and held it in his palm under Rikka's puzzled gaze.
"Brother, what's going on?" Rikka asked bluntly.
"I feel like my speed of absorbing the magic crystal has become faster. If you don't believe it, look at it." Boom opened his palm and saw that the magic crystal that was shining brightly a few seconds ago had turned gray at this time, and its surface was even more...
Full of cracks.
"Brother, don't tell others that you have advanced again?" Rikka looked at Boom, the doubts in her eyes getting worse.
"No, this seems to be the ability brought by the petal magic pattern. Don't you feel anything?" Boom said and took out a magic crystal again and handed it to Rikka.
However, the next scene left him speechless. He saw Rikka imitating his own example and grasping the magic crystal, but the result was not to absorb magic power, but to crush it into powder.
"From now on, as long as I have the magic crystal in my hand, the spells will continue to flow, but this situation is basically impossible." Boom said softly.
"Why? Just put a few more pills in your pocket, brother will be invincible!" Rikka replied with a smile.
"It's very simple, because it takes about five minutes to absorb a medium-grade magic crystal. Presumably the higher the quality, the longer this time will be." Boom explained.
"Instead of using this ability in battle, it is better to regard it as a means of rapid recovery after war." Boom said again, this is also his idea.
After that, the two decided to spend the night in this dark room. It was not only to calm themselves down, but also to have a unique New Year's Eve.
Boom seemed very happy because he unexpectedly gained the ability to absorb magic crystals quickly. He even took the initiative to extinguish the bonfire and tested his absorption speed of each quality magic crystal while casting the fireball spell.
Seeing this, Rikka no longer bothered her. She nestled herself in the bear skin and seemed to be planning to sleep, but there was a trace of panic flashing in her eyes.
Because just now, Rikka's heart suddenly trembled, and her whole body was in pain as if she had been hit by a siege engine. And what was even more frightening was that the master-servant contract in her body actually had cracks.
"Am I going to die? Am I not worthy of being my brother's contract beast?" Rikka cried quietly, trying hard not to let Boom notice.
Even she couldn't believe this situation, because there are only two situations in which the master-servant contract can be broken. Either the master dies and there are signs before her own death, or one party actively abrogates the master-servant contract.
But these two situations are absolutely impossible. Rikka stopped crying. She always puts things behind her that she can't figure out.
"What are you afraid of when you have a brother! So what if you are not a contracted beast!" Rikka thought as she slowly closed her eyes.