Fabio scratched his head sheepishly.

“Yeah, my bad. The moment I opened the release mechanism, all the energy burst out at once. But don't worry! Like I said before, the root converts all types of energy into void energy, so it will recover in due time.”

Sol sighed in relief, remembering that the root could generate more energy over time.

“How long would it take to charge back up?”

“Hmm, hard to say. Letting it recharge naturally heavily depends on the ambient energy, but it's also possible to feed it your own mana or create a gathering array to collect energy faster. Here, let's try with 800 mana.”

Fabio released mana from his body, which was instantly absorbed by the tips of the root. He then cut off the supply and checked again.

“... Well, the conversion ratio isn't ideal. Even though it absorbed it all without an issue, the amount of void energy it generated was less than a tenth of what was wasted. It would take around 10,000 mana to recover what was lost and 40,000 to charge it from empty.”

Sol ran a few calculations in his head.

‘I would need around a week of depleting and recovering my mana to fully charge it. It would take longer considering I need mana for training and my eventual job as a knight captain… I also can’t just empty out my mana in case of an emergency. Mana potions are an option, but they would eventually become a money sink, which isn’t worth it. Considering everything, it would realistically take around a month, less depending on ambient energies.’

Sol glanced at the hole in the roof and the clouds above, punctured by the void energy ray. Even though it would take a long time to fully charge it back up, he couldn’t deny the results.

“So, are you able to make something out of this?”

Fabio confidently nodded. “Of course! I’ll just need some time to test it properly, but I already have a few ideas. Maybe two gloves, one that absorbs energy and one that emits void energy. We can also go down the Lipon route and make a self-sustained void energy blade. Maybe even a cannon that releases it all in one go…”

Sol interjected because he knew Fabio would continue listing ideas endlessly, “Just make whatever you think would make the best use of it.”

“I can promise you that much! Just you wait for my next masterpiece!”

Seeing Fabio so excited to work with the void root, Sol felt glad he had given it to him.

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“Can’t wait. Good luck, and let me know if you need any help.”

Fabio gave him a thumbs up as he put on a thick pair of goggles.

“Will do. If you happen to find any other legendary materials, remember to bring them to me.”

“Haha, I doubt I’ll stumble into another one so soon.”

...

“We have received word of a legendary material being discovered in the Orna Mountains. You will set out in a week's time.”

“Huh?!”

Upon returning to the palace, Sol was summoned to Commander Zaman’s office, where he was given important news.

“Aren’t I still in training? And isn’t that Frostaxe Clan territory?”

Though he had many questions regarding this mission, those two were at the forefront of his mind.

“With your fast progress, you were going to finish your training in a week's time, which lines up perfectly for this mission. And while the legendary material is indeed in their territory, it's close to the border, so we don't have to travel too deep into their mountains. The best part is that the Frostaxe Clan is unaware it's even there.”

“How do we know it's there?”

“Because it was discovered by the Saintess herself.”

Upon hearing of the Saintess, Sol's eyes perked up.

“She divined it?”

“Indeed she did.”

Knowing the Saintess was the source of the information, Sol thought this could be the chance he was waiting for.

‘If I’m the one to recover the material, I can maybe use it to meet with her.’

“What are the details, Commander?” Sol eagerly asked.

Zaman chuckled. “Someone's excited for their first mission. You will lead one of the three squads of the mission. The problem being, you still don’t have a squad of your own. We can’t delay the expedition date as the Saintess said if we leave any later, the Orcs will catch on. What we can do is bend the rules a little and let you pick the members of your squad before your training is complete. That’s why I called you here today.”

From Zaman’s spatial ring, two stacks of papers appeared and dropped onto the table.

“A knight squad normally has five to ten members, but as a rookie captain, you can only have five at most. This stack contains the newly enlisted knights, while the other stack contains veteran knights that are available to be moved into a new squad. I suggest you pick three knights from the newly enlisted and two more experienced knights from other squads.”

Seeing that the two stacks of papers combined were thicker than most books, Sol nervously asked, “How long do I have to decide?”

“You have until tomorrow morning.”

Sol looked past the Commander towards the window behind him. The sun had already set before he even arrived at the palace.

‘Another sleepless night it is…’

Zaman added more to his pile of work. “Once you select your members, I will then give you a budget for supplies. I’ll arrange the transportation, but you will be in charge of submitting the requests for food, tools, and other essentials for the mission. You have until the day before the expedition to arrange everything.”

Sol despaired as he had even more work to juggle while still completing his final week of training, but for a chance to meet with the Saintess, he had to take it.

He took the stack of papers and put them in his spatial ring while asking, “Will that be all, Commander?”

Zaman nodded. “Remember, you can always come to me if you need advice.”

“Thank you, Commander.”

Sol left Zaman’s office and headed straight to his room. Once there, he took out the two stacks of documents and immediately began going over them.

Sol moved the stack of rookie knights’ documents to the side and focused on the veteran stack.

‘I already know which three I want to add, which saves me a lot of time. Now I can focus on finding veterans that complement the team I have in mind.’