The appearance of that aura caught Ruger completely unprepared, as though a hole had been torn in the mystery.
The other party's identity also startled him. It was not what he had expected.
The choice to reveal it at this moment surprised him just as much.
Why? Why reveal it to me?
Why now?
So many things, so many unanswered questions, whether about this place or events outside, began to show a glimmer of clarity when connected to this fellow's identity. The mysteries that had baffled so many Wizards, the speculations that everyone argued over-he seemed to have run straight into them here. And that collision had brought him straight to the essential answer, the solution at the heart of all those questions.
Thoughts seemed to flash through Ruger's mind.
Questions suddenly resolved, even deeper uncertainties, and the rush brought on by the abrupt change in circumstances all flashed past, one after another.
Delight and exhilaration, the torment of uncertainty and astonishment-all those feelings erupted together amid the flashing thoughts.
Ruger felt that if his mind made a sound, it would surely have been crackling.
Am I going to die here?
That thought still surfaced at just the right moment, rising irrepressibly amid all the crackling in his mind.
The other party's sudden words and abruptly revealed aura both gave him a bad feeling. Surely this was not all a prelude to asking him for a handkerchief to wipe away tears.
If it was, this High-Rank Wizard was taking "high-rank" a little too far.
Another question lingered in his mind. He was astonished, exhilarated, even frightened, but he had never stopped sensing the fellow before him.
There was no mistaking that aura, yet it did not seem to belong to the one he had encountered before.
There were slight differences.