How to survive in the Romance Fantasy Game

Recalling the events with Seo yesterday, Riley brushed aside a curtain of tall, sweeping leaves, his steps slowing for a moment as he carefully surveyed the area around him.

“We’re getting close,” he said, his voice steady.

“Can you feel any celestial energy, Rose?”

Rose, walking just behind him, closed her eyes for a second and focused her senses.

A faint shimmer of mana brushed against her perception.

“It’s weak,” she replied, golden eyes narrowing slightly, “but… there really is something.”

“Good,” Riley said. “We should hurry.”

Picking up their pace, both of them expanded their mana senses outward like a second layer of vision, scanning deeper into the dense, twilight-draped forest of the academy grounds.

As they moved, Riley’s mind drifted back briefly to yesterday —

To Seo’s shy confession, to the innocent but genuine happiness that lit up her face.

And to the envelope he’d secretly passed into her hands.

His plan involving the Gyeoul Clan Head — Seo’s influential relative — was already set into motion.

As long as Seo delivered the letter safely, everything should unfold exactly as he hoped.

Whether the old man would take the bait immediately or play coy remained uncertain.

Knowing the clan head’s stubborn and prideful nature, Riley fully expected he would eventually come.

The only question was when and how he would make his move.

Still…

A slight flicker of guilt crossed Riley’s heart.

He had used the opportunity of the date — just a little.

It wasn’t just about making Seo happy, as much as he genuinely cared for her.

For him, it was simply the most efficient choice at the time — killing two birds with one stone:

Seo got her special day.

And he laid the groundwork for securing one of his future guarantors.

“Riley,” Rose spoke up again, glancing toward the distant treetops, “I think the energy is pulsing from the northeast. Should we head there?”

He shook his head lightly.

“No… Even though it’s pulsing in that direction, the real source is moving towards us.”

Rose immediately tensed at his words, adjusting her stance instinctively.

Right now, deep within the monster-infested forest that sprawled beyond the academy grounds,

Riley was making preparations for his next step —

The encounter that would, if successful, secure his second guarantor for the future he was planning.

Their feet moved soundlessly over the uneven earth, weaving between thick roots and ancient trunks,

the heavy silence of the forest broken only by the occasional low rustle of unseen beasts lurking far away.

Normally, venturing this deep into the academy’s forests would have been a death wish.

Monsters lurked everywhere here — beasts drawn to the heavy mana that saturated the land.

At this depth, even elite students would usually be swarmed by vicious creatures attacking from every direction.

But now?

There was nothing.

Not even the faintest sound of movement or the glint of hostile eyes from the shadows.

It was eerily silent.

As if the entire area within a full kilometer radius had been emptied of life.

The reason was simple.

The natural energy Riley and Rose gave off — vast, overwhelming, and quietly dominant — kept all lesser beasts far away.

Even the most crazed of monsters, driven by instinct alone, would think twice before stepping into the aura of such power.

Riley glanced sideways at Rose, who walked calmly beside him, her footsteps light against the frost-covered ground.

She wore a simple, warm white cloak today, its soft fabric blending into the snowy atmosphere of the early winter morning.

Golden hair peeked out from under the hood, gleaming faintly whenever a sliver of sunlight broke through the trees.

Her golden eyes, sharp yet distant, scanned their surroundings with idle curiosity.

At a glance, she looked harmless.

A pretty girl out for a stroll in the woods.

But anyone who underestimated her would be making their last mistake.

Right now, despite the casual outfit and serene demeanor she gave off, Rose was arguably the most powerful mage in the entire academy.

Riley smirked slightly to himself.

‘Lavine should take an interest the moment she sees Rose…’

His current plan to secure his other guarantor was built precisely around that idea.

The Grand Archmage Lavine — aloof, detached from worldly affairs, wrapped up in the endless mysteries of time and space —

even she wouldn’t be able to ignore someone like Rose forever.

Rose’s potential was simply too great.

Even Lavine, with all her godlike pride, would have to acknowledge it eventually.

And once she did… Riley would have an opportunity.

His fingers brushed against the blue silvery earring on his left ear, almost absentmindedly.

It gave off a soft warmth — a faint pulse.

This earring wasn’t just decoration.

[Tears of Chronos]

It was a magically bound artifact, tuned directly to Lavine’s celestial mana signature —

a “tracker” of sorts, though extremely subtle and nearly impossible to detect without a special kind of sight.

Most wouldn’t even realize it was doing anything.

But with Riley’s “opened eyes,” the intricate lines of energy and guidance woven into the world around him were clear.

He could see the thin threads that pointed the way.

Following them was as simple as breathing.

Thanks to that, he didn’t actually have to search blindly for traces of celestial energy in the forest.

The earring quietly guided him toward Lavine’s presence.

And she was getting closer.

As expected, the faint tracks of celestial energy led Riley back to Covan Cave.

He wasn’t surprised.

In fact, he had been half-certain from the start that this place held some connection to Lavine’s domain.

Now that he stood here again, facing the familiar looming mouth of the cave, he was sure of it.

The entrance was no longer as it used to be.

Pulsing across the cave walls were shimmering red runes — not the natural formations one might expect from old magic, but living runes, drawn with deliberate precision.

Each rune throbbed with a subtle, almost musical cadence, exuding an aura of distortion and tension.

Rose, walking up beside him, narrowed her golden eyes.

For a moment, she simply stared, processing the dense, warped energy.

Then, with rare emotion in her voice, she asked quietly,

“How did you know a special crack was hidden here, Riley?”

Riley smiled faintly, brushing a hand through his hair as he studied the flickering runes.

“I just… felt it,” he admitted.

“Is that why you brought me here?”

“Honestly, when it comes to anything connected to celestial magic, you’re the best person to have around.”

He paused, turning his gaze toward the cave.

“It’s precisely this type of spatial crack that trapped Alice and me here… months ago.”

He didn’t bother giving Rose the full story.

It wasn’t necessary.

The situation back then hadn’t been exactly the same, but the principle was close enough.

A crack between domains, improperly sealed, leaking foreign mana — it had almost become a familiar sight by now.

“Really?”

Rose tilted her head slightly, her brows furrowing in thought.

Her golden eyes darkened, growing serious as she continued to inspect the shimmering crack from a distance.

“…Want me to close it?”.

“Ah, no, not exactly.”

Rose gave him a puzzled look, her arms loosely crossing under her cloak.

“But it would be dangerous to leave something like this open, right?” she said, her tone analytical.

“Although… it does feel a little different. Calculated, even. Like someone intentionally opened it.”

She crouched slightly, reaching out a gloved hand, feeling the distortions without touching them.

“It’s more like… the aftermath of a rogue experiment,” she murmured.

“Not stable. Dangerous. I thought you brought me here to close it.”

Her voice held a soft questioning note at the end, like she was trying to confirm his intentions one last time.

Riley chuckled under his breath.

“Well… I did bring you here because I needed your help,” he said, slowly approaching the crack.

“But no — I don’t want you to close it.”

He lifted a hand toward the red, shimmering wall of magic, feeling its chaotic energy lick at his fingers.

Instead, he turned back slightly toward Rose and asked, voice calm but firm:

“Rose… Can you open this crack fully?”

Rose blinked once.

“…Huh?”

She straightened up, golden eyes sharpening as she stared at him, trying to gauge his seriousness.

Opening an unstable crack like this was reckless at best, suicidal at worst.

Yet Riley stood there with that same steady confidence he always wore whenever he made one of his insane plans.

“This crack… I want you to fix it, Rose. And then…”

Riley trailed off, touching the blue earring on his left ear.

A faint shimmer ran through the air.

The moment he focused, the earring pulsed — releasing a thread of celestial energy, weaving into the surrounding space like a silent symphony.

Rose’s eyes sharpened immediately.

As a genius mage who had read through thousands — perhaps hundreds of thousands — of magical tomes, many of them involving celestial magic, she recognized the intricate patterns instantly.

The celestial energy Riley released wasn’t just resonating with the crack in the cave wall — it was harmonizing with it, guiding it, as though it were the missing piece of an ancient puzzle.

And more than that — she recognized who the mana patterns belonged to.

Despite her immense talents, Rose had learned not to trust only her own genius.

In her youth, and even now, she had diligently studied the legacies of the greatest minds in history — especially the one who stood above them all:

The strongest archmage to ever live.

The founder of the academy itself, nearly a thousand years ago.

The unrivaled Grand Archmage of celestial magic —

Lavine Chronos.

The moment the celestial runes clicked in her mind; Rose’s breath subtly hitched.

The mana flowing from Riley’s earring carried the unmistakable traces of Lavine’s signature — the same signature she had memorized, studied, and admired for years without ever once believing she would encounter it outside dusty records and long-forgotten magical relics.

“Don’t you want to meet the source of this magic, Rose?”

Riley’s voice was light, teasing even, but it carried a weight that settled deep into the air around them.

Rose looked at him sharply.

Her golden eyes, normally clear and unreadable, now shimmered with a rare flicker of emotion.

Once again, like so many times before, Riley was pulling her into a world of mysteries — mysteries that clung to him like a second skin.

Questions flooded her mind.

How did he know all of this?

How was he connected to Lavine Chronos?

What secrets was he hiding under that casual smile?

But Rose, as she always did, pushed those questions aside for now.

Because no matter how many riddles Riley brought with him, one thing was always certain —

Life was never boring with him around.

And somehow, she didn’t mind.

A small, amused smile tugged at her lips.

Without another word, she walked toward Riley, her golden eyes beginning to gleam with calculated intent as she studied the magical crack.

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