After a period of study, Aoko and Touko had already mastered all the Carian Glintstone sorcery available in Ensis Castle. However, Aoko, who possessed memories of a past life, noticed through comparisons that the sorceries that had appeared in the Lands Between were quite different from the Glintstone sorceries here.
It was not just a matter of simple shape or power variations—Aoko even learned sorceries in Ensis Castle that she had only seen used by the magic instructors of the Carian Study Hall, spells that players previously had no way to learn, such as the Glintstone teleportation sorcery Miriam's Vanishing.
Magic Instructor Miriam was the administrator of the Carian Study Hall and a dedicated magic instructor serving the Carian royal family. According to Rellana, this magic was once only taught to the most trusted Glintstone sorcerers of the Carian royal family, which was why the traitors of the Royal Carian Academy did not use it.
However, since the magic instructors Ymir and Rellana, who were part of the expeditionary force, had been trapped in the Shadow Realm for countless years, the restriction had lost its meaning. Rellana simply handed the spell over to the Aozaki sisters (Was it not just because of their red hair?).
Touko had always been envious of Aoko's spatial magic, and Miriam's Vanishing became the Third Magician's first teleportation spell in her life. Upon learning this spell, Touko briefly revealed her true nature—after teleporting, she reappeared in her loli form for a short while.
Initially, Touko wasn't very interested in Carian Glintstone's sorcery, which she saw as using magical energy to create various swords—essentially still swordsmanship. However, after learning Miriam's Vanishing, her enthusiasm skyrocketed, and she began eagerly discussing with Aoko what other forms of Glintstone sorcery they could learn in this world.
Aoko, too, was deeply intrigued by this entirely different magical system. Unlike magic circuits embedded in a magi's body or the omnipresent magical weave spread throughout the cosmos, Glintstone sorcery focused entirely on the mysterious mineral known as Glintstone.
"Glintstone is the amber of the stars."
This was the first lesson that the heretical Sorceress Sellen taught the Tarnished about Glintstone sorcery in the Lands Between, revealing the essence of this magic system.
As a highly advanced Sorcerer, Aoko used her perception abilities to examine the Glintstone embedded at the top of the staff Rellana had given them. There, she sensed the presence of life—meaning that this mineral, which appeared to be just a stone, was in some sense alive.
Initially, Aoko and Touko thought the Glintstone might contain unknown microorganisms, but after careful research, they discovered that the life within was instead a form of pure energy, stored within the stone and capable of radiating power outward.
Modern Glintstone sorcery required Glintstone as a casting medium, but according to Rellana—and Aoko's memories—the earliest Glintstone sorcery in the Lands Between did not need a medium, because it was magic that summoned stars.
Aoko realized that this magic was the one called Founding Rain of Stars, and she was particularly fascinated by the idea of summoning a meteor shower out of thin air. However, since she had no way to reach the Lands Between at the moment, she had to put this curiosity on hold.
Rellana, for her part, was more of a practitioner than a researcher—if she were on the Type-Moon Earth, she would be more like a Magician than a mere Magus.
Many of the deeper theoretical questions Aoko and Touko posed about Glintstone sorcery were beyond even Rellana's ability to answer.
So she gave Aoko and Touko a letter of introduction along with a map leading to Cathedral of Manus Metyr.
"Go find my teacher, Professor Ymir," Rellana said with a smile. "I'm more of a knight than a scholar, so I won't mislead you any further."
"I understand how people like you think," Rellana continued. "I've seen that same obsession with truth in my elder sister and Professor Ymir—that's why they've been able to go even further in Glintstone sorcery than I have."
After agreeing to Rellana's request to clean up any lingering Horned Ones along the way, Aoko and Touko decided to first visit a place marked on the map as the former settlement of the Horned Ones—Bonny Village. If any remaining Horned Ones were still there, they had no objections to doing a little urban renewal on Bonny Village.
However, according to the map, the village was located in a valley beneath a cliff. If they wanted to reach it quickly without taking a detour, they would have to fly.
After leaving Ensis Castle, Aoko and Touko immediately activated the Sky Wind Realm spell and soared into the sky, flying rapidly toward Bonny Village.
After about two hours of travel, they arrived at Bonny Village. However, instead of the expected sight of a resistance camp, what they saw looked more like a town famous for its porcelain.
The village was filled with pots and jars of various sizes. Some were as large as houses, while others were about the size of ordinary pots Aoko was familiar with.
Wooden stakes stood throughout the village, resembling flagpoles, with ropes strung between them. Hanging from these ropes were numerous pots of different sizes.
Aoko immediately thought of Jarburg from the Lands Between, as well as Warrior Jar Alexander, a beloved friend of the Tarnished. Could this also be a village of living jars? Or perhaps the origin of the living jar crafting technique?
"Something's not right about those jars," Touko frowned. "I can see human souls inside them."
"Are they living jars?" Aoko mused. "In the Lands Between, there was a technique that turned jars into magical constructs by storing the bodies of fallen warriors inside them to enhance their strength."
"No, it's not that," Touko shook her head. "The souls inside these jars are suffering. Every single jar contains a human soul."
As a master of souls and the Third Magician, Aozaki Touko spoke with certainty. Even as a magus from Type-Moon's world—where a lack of humanity was common—she found the sight before her deeply disturbing.
"These jars are humans. They are not magical constructs," Touko continued. "The people of this village turned humans into jars. This is an act of the utmost cruelty."
Aoko silently took in the entirety of Bonny Village, imprinting the scene into her mind.
She saw that the village contained an uncountable number of jars—which meant that the villagers had tormented just as many human beings.
PS: I never played Elden Ring. Now I'm so interested.