“...Alright, let’s go!”

I had thought about many things regarding the high possibility of the door to the other world closing. The time left was short. Even at this very moment, the door to the other world could suddenly shut.

“Hoo!”

“Thanks, Fūsuke.”

The next morning, I passed through the door to the other world with Fūsuke. Ande was already awake, reading a book left behind by the Grand Mage.

“...Masayoshi, you seem to have come to terms with things. What happened?”

“Ah, well, I was pretty shocked yesterday, but after thinking about it, I’ve made up my mind. I can’t abandon my original world to stay in this one. However, while the door is still open, I want to do what I can.”

“I see...”

“Once again, I’m really sorry. I ended up destroying the door to the other world that the Grand Mage left behind.”

“Masayoshi, you are not at fault. You were merely trying to protect yourself. If anyone is to blame, it would be my master for not informing you that this barrier magic and the door to the other world were linked.”

“No, not even the Grand Mage could have predicted that…”

Panic-stricken, I had unleashed an advanced spell at an enemy near the barrier magic. There was no way even the Grand Mage could have foreseen that. ...Ande was probably just trying to be considerate of me.

“So, Ande, I have something I want to ask. About repairing this door—if someone could actually use the magic to connect to the other world, wouldn’t that increase the chances of fixing it?”

“………………Have you tried it?”

“I thought about trying, but the chances of failure seemed too high, so I stopped.”

As expected of Ande, he immediately understood what I had intended to do.

Yes, I could use the magic of the Grand Mage thanks to inheritance magic. That meant I could use the magic to connect this world to another. Even though I had never used it before, I could feel in my body that I was capable of doing so.

However, this magic was different from other spells. It wasn’t just a matter of casting it—I couldn’t specify where to connect to. From my original world, pinpointing the exact location of the Grand Mage’s house in Ande’s world was beyond my abilities.

“If someone like me, with no knowledge of magic, recklessly tried it, who knows what could happen? That’s why I wanted to consult with you first.”

“...It was wise not to try it recklessly. According to my master’s records, this spell is incredibly complex and precise. If you failed and nothing happened, that would be fine, but there was also the possibility that you, the caster, could have been erased from existence, or even that the room you tried to connect to could have been blown away.”

...So it could have been that serious? I had only considered the possibility of accidentally opening a door to some alien horror or cosmic entity. But yeah, that would have been bad enough.

“Also, this spell apparently consumes a tremendous amount of magical power. Without a mechanism or magic tool like this barrier spell that absorbs external mana, keeping the door open for long periods would be impossible.”

“I see. So this barrier magic absorbs a significant amount of mana from its surroundings.”

“Exactly. I had always wondered why my master chose to build his house and conduct his research in a place like this, but it seems he had a good reason.”

Apparently, the Grand Mage had chosen to build his home in this Forest of Ruin for a proper reason.

“So, going back to my question—if someone far more knowledgeable about magic than me, like you, could use this spell to connect to the other world, wouldn’t that increase the chances of repairing the door?”

“...Yes, the chances would likely improve. But do you truly understand what that means?”

That’s right. I had inherited not just magic from the Grand Mage, but also inheritance magic itself. If I passed this ability to Ande, who was well-versed in magic, rather than keeping it myself, then the chances of repairing the damaged door would rise significantly. However, there was one major issue.

“Yeah. Inheritance magic doesn’t allow me to choose just one spell to pass on. I can only transfer all of my spells, skills, mana, and power to a single recipient.”

In other words, I couldn’t just transfer the spell to connect to the other world. I would have to pass on all of the magic, skills, mana, and strength I had inherited from the Grand Mage to Ande. And since Ande already knew this, he must have read about it in the Grand Mage’s records.

“...You do realize that you would lose everything you inherited from my master, along with whatever power you originally had? Let me be clear—no matter what happens, even if the door is successfully repaired, I cannot return the inherited power to you.”

Yes, inheritance magic wasn’t some convenient ability. Even if Ande succeeded in fixing the door, if he used inheritance magic to give back my powers, he would also transfer all the power and skills he had cultivated over the years.

“Yeah, I don’t mind. Unlike you, I never had any power to begin with. Losing the strength I received from the Grand Mage just means I go back to how I was. That’s all there is to it.”

That’s right. Unlike Ande, I hadn’t trained for years to build up my strength. By sheer coincidence, my room had connected to another world, and by sheer luck, I had inherited the Grand Mage’s power. That power had never truly belonged to me. Losing it and returning to how I was before—that was all it meant.