Three Kings' World

Chapter 8

A sigh escaped Artoria's lips as she closed her book and put it aside, alongside several other books. The books were all about magic, she had been reading for the past few hours in order to solve a very big problem.

Mana.

Ever since she was transported into this world, she found out that her magic core had mysteriously stopped working. She didn't feel that it was "dead," as much as it was just "deactivated," and the reasons as to why eluded her.

And so, in an attempt to solve her problem, she read, and read, and read all about magic. She knew that the chances of finding a solution to her issue in this world would be low, incredibly so, but she kept on trying regardless.

Eventually realizing that reading wasn't gonna get her anywhere, she theorized that a "jump-start" could restart her core. However, said jump-start needed a considerable amount of mana, and dark-orange core mages like Reynolds didn't possess nearly enough raw mana to jump-start her core.

A series of rings brought her out of her thoughts, and she looked to its source, the communication scroll from Gilgamesh. She stood from her bed, taking it from her desk and opening it.

"Saber," Gilgamesh greeted,

"Archer," She returned,

"I have something to ask you, meet me in the beast core shop."

Artoria nodded, "See you there," and closed the scroll, her feet already moving to the door.

As she walked to the beast core shop, her thoughts wandered, still searching for solutions to jump-start her core even now. Her only problem was getting someone with enough mana to even attempt it. Someone who was at least at the light yellow stage.

"....wait...."

Brows rising in realization, a smile spread across her face, and she started walking faster out of excitement

She knew just the mage who could help her.

.

.

.

"Archer," she called, gaining the man's attention.

"Saber," He greeted, taking the wyvern's beast core and tossing it to her.

"Oh-!" She caught the core, stumbling a little from surprise.

"That beast core, it has a consciousness," Gilgamesh stated, "Do you know what it is?"

Upon hearing Archer's words, Artoria's eyes widened, staring at the beast core, her eyes gleaming in fascination. Its icy aura enveloped her hand as she carefully examined it and estimated its size, placing it between high AA-class to S-class.

"Y-You... What beast's core is this?" She responded, her eyes still glued to the cold core.

"Ice Wyvern,"

Artoria nodded, a wyvern was indeed an S-class beast. No, she'd read that they were a dragon subspecies, they likely surpassed even the S ranking, possibly entering the low to mid SS classes. To think he found one, she thought, "Where did you find the Wyvern?"

"Deep in the Beast Glades, I had to restore my reserves, so I went into a dungeon." He explained.

"Wha..." Her eyes snapped up to Gilgamesh's, glaring at him, "You went to the Glades alone?" She asked, her brows raising.

The Golden King's eyes widened slightly at her reaction, smirking immediately as if in realization. "Oh? Is the King of Knights perhaps concerned for me?"

Had it come from literally anyone else's mouth, he would've taken it as a big insult to his power and ability, however, this was Artoria, the King of Knights, so...