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Chapter 71
“Ugh, my body’s killing me.”
Nathan and Sasha groaned as they stretched and rolled their stiff necks.
“E-everyone worked hard. Thanks for helping out.”
Lionel, though not showing it much, also looked worn out as he massaged his shoulders. He turned to Jaylin.
“Are the blueprints finally finished?”
“Yes. J-just wrapped them up.”
Adrian, who was checking the designs Jaylin and Stephan had drawn, frowned when he spotted Stephan curled up asleep in the corner of the greenhouse.
“What’s that guy doing now?”
“He said he stayed up all night again. He must’ve been exhausted.” Sasha quickly defended him.
“Y-yeah, he was so tired, I told him I’d finish things up.”
“Well, that’s what you get for jumping into it without thinking about productivity. You just pile on the work and suffer for it.”
“Sorry. I-I was the one who suggested it in the first place. I didn’t realize it would be this much…”
Hearing Jaylin’s downcast voice, Adrian—who had been grumbling—suddenly went quiet.
“That happens! No one can perfectly plan everything out ahead of time. Right?”
It was a rather out-of-character thing to hear from Sasha, who always insisted on meticulous planning.
“Sasha, you’re really not the one to say that.”
“Am I?”
“Anyway, it’s fine. What’s done is done, and we’ve wrapped it up. Just wake Stephan. Time to head home.”
Adrian rubbed his face wearily. Even with his usually strong stamina, the tension of trying to finish on schedule must’ve drained him.
Jaylin crouched down and shook the sleeping Stephan.
“S-Stephan. Wake up. Let’s go home.”
Stephan cracked his eyes open groggily, scratching his head, still not processing what was going on.
“Huh? Already? Is it over?”
“Yeah.”
At Jaylin’s answer, Stephan yawned wide and staggered to his feet, barely able to keep his eyes open. Even that short rest hadn’t cleared his fatigue.
It was a quiet dawn. Everyone, exhausted, cleaned up the space in silence. Even Stephan—usually always chattering—kept his mouth shut.
One by one, they gathered at the greenhouse entrance after finishing up.
“All done? Then let’s go.”
Just as Adrian was about to step outside, Stephan stopped him.
“Wait a sec.”
“What now?”
Adrian frowned, sensing Stephan was about to drag him into something troublesome.
“Let’s test if it works right now.”
Of course. Adrian rubbed his tired eyes.
“Do we really have to do this now? Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”
“Nope! I have to see it now. I’m dying to know how it looks. I’ll even cover your booth shift tomorrow morning if you just do it, okay?”
It was hard to believe this was the same guy who had been half-dead with fatigue moments ago. Stephan clung to Adrian’s arm with newfound energy.
Adrian realized indulging him would actually be faster than arguing.
“Fine. But I’m going out tomorrow afternoon, so don’t back out later.”
“Got it! Promise!”
Sighing heavily, Adrian walked slowly to the center of the blueprint Jaylin and Stephan had drawn.
The design was huge, packed with constellations.
Kneeling on one knee, Adrian pressed his palm flat against the floor. As soon as he released his mana, the diagram greedily sucked it in.
His mana surged from the center, exploding outward, flooding across the diagram.
Once enough power filled the array, Adrian withdrew his hand and rose.
“For something that’s not even an attack spell, it sure eats up a ton of mana.”
Grumbling, he shook his wrist lightly, feeling the drain.
He stepped aside from the activated design, shoved one hand into his pocket, and strolled lazily toward the exit.
Someone turned off the lamps that had been lighting the greenhouse.
Behind Adrian, the magic circle—covered with runes and formulas—began to glow.
In the darkness, from the center of the design, a white light shot up toward the dome ceiling. From it, thousands, tens of thousands of stars bloomed like watercolor bleeding across paper, forming a vast hemisphere.
Sasha let out a loud gasp.
“Whoa! This is insane!”
“Not bad,” Nathan muttered, dropping his folded arms as he gazed upward.
“Not bad? Nathan, are your aesthetics broken? This is pure art.”
“…You’re right. I take it back. It’s stunning.”
When he’d first heard what Jaylin and Stephan were trying to do, Nathan had been skeptical. But the result was breathtaking. The once-barren greenhouse was unrecognizable.
Once again, Jaylin had exceeded his expectations.
Sasha dashed to the center of the dome, spread her arms wide, and spun in circles, laughter ringing bright and clear.
“Come on, hurry! It feels like we’re floating in the night sky!”
At her beckoning, Nathan and Stephan brushed past Adrian, sprinting to the middle.
The breeze from their rush ruffled Adrian’s hair. He turned his head, and the world around him had transformed—tens of thousands of stars filled the space.
It wasn’t just like the night sky had been transplanted—it was even more beautiful.
Adrian stepped slowly into that world, where deep darkness and radiant light coexisted.
Hundreds of shooting stars streaked across the heavens, burning out their lives in dazzling arcs. The sight sent shivers racing through him.
Lionel, standing with Jaylin, was just as speechless. When he finally found his voice, it was low and husky.
“…It’s incredible, Jaylin. Truly.”
From the center, laughter and gasps of awe rang out as Sasha, Nathan, and Stephan spun like children.
“Hurry! Come look from here!” Sasha waved enthusiastically toward the three still near the entrance.
“Shall we?” Lionel asked, glancing down at Jaylin.
“Yes!”
Swept up by their friends’ joy, they too ran toward the center.
Just as Sasha had said—standing beneath the dome’s center felt like walking through the middle of the universe. At some point, they began holding hands, not even knowing who had reached out first.
They ran through the stars. Under the starlight, their faces glowed—shining with happiness, joy, and the freshness of youth.
Eventually, out of breath from laughter and shouting, Stephan collapsed onto the floor with a heavy sigh. One by one, the others also sank down to rest.
“Totally worth all the effort, huh, Jaylin?” Stephan asked, still staring up, his face dappled with the shimmer of falling starlight.
Jaylin could feel his excitement.
“Y-yeah. Really. I’m glad we did this.”
It was something they could only have achieved together.
Adrian, who had gathered star chart references and organized them neatly despite grumbling.
Stephan, who had painstakingly converted those constellations into runic formulas.
Jaylin, who had translated the technical parts into a blueprint.
And Nathan, Sasha, and Lionel, who helped set up the booth in time.
Alone, it would’ve been impossible.
“Jaylin, this is what I love.”
Stephan quietly confessed the dream he had been holding inside. His eyes sparkled like the stars above.
“T-this? You mean…?”
“Yeah.”
Having finally voiced what he’d long kept to himself, Stephan rubbed awkwardly beneath his nose.
As a child, he’d boldly told others his dream. But his friends had laughed at him.
They said studying magic diagrams like this—something costly and time-consuming—just to make people happy or comfortable, was pointless. Abilities like his, they insisted, should be used for a “greater cause.” And by that, they meant destruction and war.
So Stephan stopped talking about it. Like a snail retreating into its shell, he hid his dream, nurturing it in secret.
It was a lonely road, full of failures. But he held on, vowing that one day he would succeed—and prove wrong those who had mocked him.
And now, in this moment, he felt certain.
Jaylin would not laugh at his dream.
That certainty gave him the courage to finally speak it aloud.
