Scumbag Fate System

Chapter 120: Pattern Emerges (1)

The History Department vault felt colder than usual.

Reinhard sat surrounded by stacks of ancient texts while Sirin, Rika, Alice, and Louis worked at separate tables around him. Each of them had claimed a section of historical records to search through systematically.

Yor was absent; she’d left early three days ago to visit her parents in Luminous City. A communication crystal call wasn’t enough for what she needed to ask, and some conversations required being face-to-face.

"Anything yet?" Sirin called out after twenty minutes of silent reading.

"Nothing," Alice replied with frustration clear in her voice. "I’ve gone through fifty years of geographical surveys, and Silent Peak isn’t mentioned even once. Not in maps, not in territorial descriptions, nothing."

How could an entire mountain range simply not exist in official records?

Reinhard frowned at the book in front of him.

It was a historical account of magical phenomena from three hundred years ago. It documented void distortions and every other anomaly. Everything was meticulously recorded with dates, locations, and severity ratings.

Except for Silent Peak.

The mountain range existed on current maps but seemed to have appeared in historical records as if by magic. It was mentioned casually in texts from 150 years ago without any explanation of when or how it formed.

"This doesn’t make sense," Louis muttered while flipping through another volume. "Major geographical features don’t just appear without documentation. Yet I can’t find a single account describing when Silent Peak was created."

Rika looked up from her corner. "It’s like someone erased the records. Or deliberately avoided writing about it."

What kind of event was so dangerous that even historians refused to document it?

They worked for another hour in focused silence.

Reinhard tried cross-referencing texts and checked to see if anything. But he was only able to find brief mentions of things like "the northern barrier" or "the sealed region". Yet there was nothing concrete that could explain what Silent Peak actually was or why it existed.

Then something caught his attention.

He pulled out a map showing documented void distortion incidents over the past five hundred years. Each incident was marked with a small black dot.

The dots are scattered across the entire continent.

It looked like they were random appearances of void diction, causing localized damage.

But they weren’t actually random.

Reinhard’s spy training kicked in automatically, and one thing he was always trained on was pattern recognition.

He began looking for connections that could be missed as he laid out the map. Then he began to trace the distribution of incidents with his finger.

And he found something.

"Look at this," he called out, and quickly the others gathered around his table.

Reinhard pointed to the northern section of the map. "Notice anything about the void distortion distribution?"

Rika leaned closer and squinted. "There’s a higher concentration in this region. Significantly higher than anywhere else on the continent."

"Exactly." Reinhard pulled out a modern geographical map and laid it beside the historical one. "And this region of highest concentration corresponds exactly to the area surrounding Silent Peak."

Silent Peak wasn’t just connected to void distortions; it was the epicenter.

Just like they theorized, but now had proof.

Alice traced the pattern with her finger. "It’s like they’re radiating outward from a central point. All these distortions over five centuries... They really aren’t random but coming from Silent Peak itself."

Louis quickly pulled out more maps showing different time periods. "Let me check if the pattern changes over time."

He laid out five maps spanning five hundred years. The pattern remained consistent. Void Distortions appeared more frequently near Silent Peak than anywhere else on the continent.

The concentration had actually increased over the past century.

"Whatever is sealed at Silent Peak is getting stronger," Rika observed quietly. "Or the seal is getting weaker. Either way, void energy is leaking out more frequently now than it did two hundred years ago."

If the seal was weakening, how long before it failed completely?

"But how did no one notice this?"

"Maybe they did... But with how strange and deadly Silent Peak is." Reinhard crossed his arms. "None of them cared."

"Or maybe they didn’t notice," Sirin spoke up as she tilted her head. "Remember, the only reason we got this far is that we had notes from the previous Void users and Yor dream."

"That’s true... If we didn’t have those, then a lot of the information we have would be almost impossible to connect."

Everyone nodded their heads.

Sirin then moved away from the group and returned to her own research corner. She pulled book after book from shelves with desperate focus, scanning pages rapidly before discarding them and reaching for the next.

Reinhard watched her search with growing concern. He knew what she was looking for, any mention of people lost to void distortions. Any hint that her sister Sylvia might still exist somewhere.

He headed over there and gently held her shoulder before whispering. "Don’t worry, we will definitely figure out where your sister is."

Sirin trembled before then asking softly. "Is that..."

"Yeah, the other big reason I want us to check... If there really exists a Void Sovereign up there... Then we can ask it to help us locate Sylvia and then get her back."

Sirin bit her lips before then quickly turning to him and hugging him tightly. "Thank you... Reinhard."

"Anytime." He gently caressed her head before watching her get back to searching with a faint smile.

Good, she is doing better... But I should stay a while longer.

After another forty minutes of frantic searching.

Reinhard sighed and said. "Sirin. Let’s take a break. We’ve been at this for hours."

"I’m fine," Sirin said without looking up, her blonde hair falling forward to hide her face. "Just a few more texts. I need to check—"

"Your sister would want you to take care of yourself." Reinhard interrupted gently.

Sirin’s hands stilled on the book she was holding. "I know. I just... But it’s just like you said. We need more proof so that Headmaster Issac can approve of us going. I’m sure with the addition of finding those who went missing from the Void Distortion, the headmaster would be more likely to approve."

The desperation in her voice made Reinhard’s chest ache. Three years of searching, and she still hadn’t given up hope.

But before he could say anything, Alice appeared behind him with a grin.

"I agree with your words, Sirin. But we also need to take care of ourselves, or else we might miss something."

Sirin blinks before saying. "When... When did you become the responsible one?"

"Someone has to be when it comes to you." Alice said with her own gentle smile.

Reinhard’s lips twitched but he nodded as he grabbed Sirin’s hand. And then he lead her towards the table.

Once they reached.

Louis shouted. "I found something!"