Voltava's words left Hisui at a loss for how to respond for a moment, and the little girl looked toward Moen at the side as if asking for help.
"Accept it."
Moen thought for a moment, then spoke.
"You can buy another one in the future and return it to your grandmaster."
Moen smiled. Since Master Voltava was willing to give the Lyra key to Hisui, then let Hisui accept it. Master Voltava had even brought up the idea of "inheritance of the school," so he clearly took this seriously—there was no need to go against his wishes.
"R-really can I?"
Hisui looked at Moen blankly, not daring to reach out and take the key for a long time.
"Don't feel burdened, child. Your master is a genius, so he doesn't need it. I've already studied for so many years, so I don't need it either. Now you are the one who needs Lyra the most."
Master Voltava said with a smile, persuading Hisui. What he said was indeed true—among the three of them, only Hisui, who had just set out, needed Lyra's companionship.
"Why do I feel not happy at all when you put it like that?"
Lyra, who had been smiling all along, looked very hurt at the side. What hurt her the most was that Voltava wasn't just talking nonsense, she really couldn't refute it. Neither Voltava nor Moen needed her; she was of no use by their side.
"Then I… will humbly accept it."
With Moen and Voltava persuading her, Hisui no longer hesitated and reached out to take the silver key of the Lyra Celestial Spirit.
Voltava and Lyra dissolved the contract they had maintained for many years.
"But now I feel a bit reluctant to part."
After the contract was dissolved, Lyra suddenly said with a smile, which made Master Voltava shake his head and look at her.
He had been with Lyra for many years, and their relationship had long been extraordinary. In fact, he thought handing over the key earlier was a good thing for everyone, it was better than one day suddenly dying of old age.
"It's not like we won't see each other again. I should still be able to live a few more years."
Voltava said with a smile. At his age and with his experiences, he had already taken matters of parting and death lightly.
"You must live longer. I don't want to say goodbye to a friend so soon."
Lyra said seriously to Voltava. As a Celestial Spirit, she should have taken life and death more lightly.
After all, over the long passage of time, they had already seen off countless people. Of course, personalities differ—some Celestial Spirits may have become numb, while others may still care.
For a friend like Voltava, Lyra clearly cared deeply. This was a friendship that had accompanied each other from youth until now.
"…"
Moen watched silently at the side. He could more or less understand the relationship between Voltava and Lyra. For some reason, it gave him a feeling like "elves endure forever, one lasts eternally."
Unlike Moen, Hisui at the side already had tears in her eyes. She seemed to have imagined herself parting with Lyra when she grew old.
This seemed to be something every Celestial Spirit Mage who lived to old age would experience. Thinking about it, it was truly cruel—cruel for the Celestial Spirit Mage, and also cruel for the Celestial Spirit.
It might be even more cruel for the Celestial Spirits. After all, not only do they face the birth, aging, sickness, and death of their friends, they may also face failing in battle and being unable to protect their friends, resulting in their friends being killed.
Therefore, Moen felt that it was normal for Celestial Spirits to be somewhat indifferent to life and death—even as a self-protection mechanism, they should be a bit more detached.
As Hisui and Lyra formed a contract, Master Voltava and Hisui completed the formal transfer of the key.
That things ended in this way was something Moen had not expected. He didn't know whether it was Master Voltava's sudden whim, but now that things had come to this, it would probably be awkward for him to take it back—he couldn't exactly ask for the key again.
"You should still have your father help you collect keys."
Moen reminded Hisui. It would be best to find another Lyra Celestial Spirit key. Lyra had accompanied Master Voltava for so many years, bringing things to a proper conclusion would not betray that friendship.
"Mm! Master, I understand."
Hisui naturally agreed immediately. She had also been moved by the friendship between Lyra and Master Voltava, so she would have her father try his best to help find one, but things like this really depended on fate.
"Practice the harp well."
With this matter settled, Moen directly conducted joint lessons for Hisui together with Lyra and Voltava. Three harp masters teaching Hisui alone—she was truly blessed.
However, opportunities for joint teaching by all three were rare. Once Moen went out on missions, he would be gone for ten days to half a month, leaving one less person. As her master, he actually spent the least time teaching Hisui.
After half a year passed, time reached X779. During these six months, the total time Moen personally taught Hisui was not long, but he was indeed the most important one, because only he could guide Hisui to connect with Lyra.
This point made the Lyra Spirit Lyra particularly frustrated. More than once, she expressed that this Lyra Spirit should be handed over to Moen, although in reality it could not be given, and Moen also stated that if it truly had to be given, then it should be the Celestial Spirit King giving up his position to him. After all, he was not someone who could only stir the stars of Lyra.
"Very good, you're getting more of a feel for it, right?"
Under the starry sky, Moen guided Hisui to resonate with the stars of Lyra.
Facts proved that the disciple he had taken in was indeed hard-pressed to compare with him in this regard. Even with him constantly guiding her by the side, Hisui took half a year to only just grasp the basics, only just able to absorb a small amount of starlight magic power for her own use.
There was no helping it. She could not wear a Cloth, so naturally she could not take shortcuts like Moen.
Moen had already discovered before that the Cloth could indeed help him quickly establish a connection with the constellations in the sky, but these disciples all had to first establish a connection with the stars before they were qualified to be granted the right to use a Cloth. The difficulty of this was naturally very high.
Moen had previously trained "Pegasus Meteor Fist" for a long time, yet still could not communicate with the stars. If Hisui did not have him constantly helping to establish the connection at her side, then half a year would have been even more impossible for her to even touch the threshold.
"Such pure magic power—so this is the power of the stars?"
Feeling the starlight magic descending from the sky above, Hisui was extremely shocked. This pure magic power flowing into her body seemed to invigorate her whole being. This was normal—magic power was the source of life for all things, and pure magic power entering the body would naturally make her whole person feel energized.
This was actually the "bug-like" aspect of Dragon Slayers. Those Dragon Slayers could eat fire, eat iron, eat lightning to rapidly replenish their magic power, instantly becoming full of magic and brimming with vitality. Compared to ordinary mages, they possessed a tremendous advantage.
And the effect of Moen's Celestial Spirit Magic—drawing in the power of the stars and adding it to his own body, in a certain sense, was even more overpowered than Dragon Slayer Magic.
After all, fire, iron, and lightning were not necessarily everywhere, but the stars in the sky were always hanging high above. No matter where one was, looking up, they could be seen.
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