Though people from the outside might have wondered what was causing such big waves of mana, once they understood it was coming from Silvana’s general direction, they would have quickly gone back to their routines.
Because of that, the girl didn’t hesitate to bring out the mighty mana scanner. After long five minutes of fierce mana clashing, Juliette was ordered to step out of the device and once she had done so, it was almost like her hair kept the bright flashing lights to themselves, glowing with its silvery white hue.
Slowly, however, the glow diminished along with the mana inside the room. On the other hand, the scanner began to form an image inside it, the walls losing their vivid color.
Inside, at a much larger scale compared to the real thing, a glistening, almost with a metal-like sheen, blue, and perfectly round orb started to be formed.
“A silver mana core, that’s pretty rare. Juliette, you said you haven’t use mana once in your entire life, right?”
“Yes.”
Somewhat fidgety with the answer, she didn’t how to respond since she never dealt with the matter. Although, she learned about the cores in her earlier years through books so she was greatly shocked to hear of the news.
“Then, that’s even more impressive. I think it could have a chance to become golden in the future.”
Silvana mused, Juliette promptly asking in even greater surprise.
“Really?”
“Well, if you become able to wield mana, so let’s look at the core itself.”
Even though she said that, the knight girl still couldn’t help but be impressed. To have a golden mana core was like being the chosen child of the gods. Partially taken from the rare instance, only the golden eight were known to have them in their generation, at least to the public.
While she was left to the antics of her imagination, Conall and Silvana took a proper glance at the core.
On the surface, there was nothing wrong with it, no, it looked like the most healthy mana core she had ever seen in her decades long life. There were no scratches, blemishes, or anything. With a deeper look inside, opening it up, they could see there was still nothing there. Just a core that was itching to be used.
The interior walls of the mana core, along with its complex build, were completely fine, without any suspicion of there being something, however, they knew it had to be there.
After a few minutes of trying, just as Silvana was about to give up since none of her methods worked, Conall gave her an idea.
“Can the lab isolate specific types of mana?”
Something clicked inside her brain as he said that, to which she quickly orchestrated the magic circles that started to unveil themselves on every wall of the room.
“Which one should we start with?”
He already had an idea what it was. Although it would be a pain if his diagnosis was true, he would deal with it. No one in the room except for him knew what it could be, so he guided her.
“Do you have any demonic crystals?”
The witch looked at him somewhat perplexed, though she didn’t show it. Not expecting demonic mana to be first, she still nodded her head.
“Yes, however, I only have ten of them. The two strongest of them are Grade B.”
It wasn’t that she had little of them. In fact, she probably had the majority of them in the capital for a normal person. The world simply wasn’t as riddled with the demons as it was in the past.
“Use those two. I’ll pay you back in the future.”
“Alright. It’s gonna be a little creepy for a while, so prepare yourself.”
Unlike the ten poles which needed a Grade A beast crystal each, the Grade B demonic crystals were plenty. Compared to the normal ones, the mana inside was much more potent and vile, while the thing in the mana core didn’t much of it to reveal itself, especially in the mana it was weakened by.
The three of them, including Juliette, who finally came back to reality, watched as all of the mana in the room became empty, with only the evil one being left.
A red hue descended upon the room, completely disrupting the flow of light in their eyes. What they saw at the moment was merely red, nothing else.
From the skin, to the floor and every item gathered inside, a red shade enveloped them.
At the same time, all of them experienced a dreary, nefarious feeling. As though everything was about to go in the gutter, a sensation of uneasiness coupled with the nagging anxiety at the back of their heads. Even though Conall, who was immune to mental attacks, experienced it, the sensation was quickly washed away.
However, they held their feelings intact, trying to repel the ominous mana by not taking any of it inside their bodies, though the boy couldn’t really do that with his stomach and the lack of a core.
Still, their gaze turned to the large mana core being displayed by the scanner that took on the crimson shade as well.
Immediately, solving all of their previous doubts and setting aflame new ones, they saw it. On the center of the red, glistening orb, a mark the two girls had never seen before.
It was unlike anything they had seen. It definitely wasn’t the ancient elven language, nor did it resemble any rune. At the same time, Juliette didn’t find any resemblance to the inscriptions found underground in the goblin village.
Just as they were wondering, from the middle of the mark, an ominous energy arose and something began to come out from the inside of the core.
A long, gruesome, and disgusting worm began to encircle the core around its surface, connecting to the end of its body after it made three loops.
Conall thought to himself while Juliette’s face struck disgust. Silvana, on the other hand, looked intrigued, not knowing what it was.
“Rhiannessi’s devourer.”
“You know what it is?”
Silvana asked, curious how he knew.
“Yes, I read about it in ancient books. It came from the demon realm when it was still connected to the world in the primordial times.”
Silvana’s eyes slightly lit up, but it was Juliette who asked next, somewhat nervous.
“What does it do?”
“It devours any capability of using mana by secreating a liquid that turn its possessor’s mana into an almost solid state.”
Juliette’s face turned grave, her eyes darkening. Hearing him speak of the exact state she was in, shivers crawled up her body realizing the nightmarish truth.
Desperation clung to her voice. Hope was all she had at the moment, so she asked.
“I-is there any way to get rid of it?”
Conall looked at her with calm eyes. There was a way, of course, and it also happened that he was close to it.
“Usually, you would simply have to rip the mark out, but that would leave you crippled with no way of recovering. The only way is to perform an ancient ritual named Divine Cleansing.”
Hearing him speak of those words, Silvana chimed in.
“And how will we do that? Is there a hidden Grade Ex mage among us?”
To her words and Juliette’s crumbling hope, he smiled brightly.
“That’s the least you have to worry about. Our only issue is finding the items needed for the ritual. Luckily, there is one such item on the path to reach your mother, Silvana.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Hearing him, both of the girls’ eyes widened, differing from one another in intensity.
…
Another seven days flew by quickly. Nothing major happened in the vicinity of the academy, time simply flowing by. There were no mandatory lectures to be attended, so Conall could focus on his stat training solely.
And, after a week of constant, steady training, he raised all of his physical stats by at least one. This time, he also focused on training his mind. Since he had spare time from not having to eat, he played out various exercises for the mind.
Though, he quickly noticed that his advance would be excruciatingly slow. After he increased fifteen points in Mind, he understood that without being able to control mana, it just wouldn’t raise itself anymore. Being near Harmis allowed him to raise it to sixteen, but that was about it.
Only because of his new stomach did he somehow advance one point over the last week. As for the Spirit, he used the five free stat points he had obtained in the dungeon, making his status window look chaotic, unlike just half a month ago.
[Level: 26]
[Strength: 18]
[Constitution: 19]
[Dexterity: 18]
[Mind: 17]
[Spirit: 21]
However, the training was the least important, at the moment. Having retrieved the items from Heph, Conall stood in a dark, unimportant valley somewhere in Hermengrod. Waiting there for someone, on the darkest day of the month, he leaned on the cold, brick wall of the building next to him.
His dark, woolen robes moved along with the cold breeze of the night for the umpteenth time. Having lost count, he just stood there, waiting.
“Have you prepared some warm clothes?”
He asked abruptly, seemingly to no one. However, from the darkness of the alleway, two figures revealed themselves, their silhouettes slightly lit up by the magical lamps from the streets beyond.
“Is that robe of yours enough? It seems cold.”
Juliette asked, veiled by the usual, tattered gray robe she always wore. On the other hand, Silvana didn’t need to change, since her normal outfit consisted of a full body robe.
Taking out the cloth from his robe and unstrapping a belt off his waist, he presented them their new items. The worldly veil went to Silvana while the rapier to Juliette. Though surprised initially, both of them were struck with a fuddle once they realized what metal it was.
“Here, it’s a gift from me before we start moving.”
As Silvana touched the fabric of the cloak, she felt its lightness, yet toughness, not to mention the purplish tint it released under light. Understanding what it was made from, she gave it back to him, or at least tried to.
Juliette was the same. Although she had trouble realizing it was the legendary meranh, once she did, she almost threw it onto the ground in the fear of dirtying it.
Nonetheless, they weren’t able to convince him to take back the items, so they gave up, quickly testing them before hopping onto the broomsticks.
Pouring some of her mana into the cloak, her emotionless face froze as she realized the item’s effect. Creating a mirror in the air, she looked at empty space before her image returned after roughly a minute. The effects clearly diminished from the divine artifact inside the dungeon, but Conall was still satisfied with it, along with Silvana.
On the side, while the witch was impressed by the invisibility, Juliette studied her new sword, already replacing the last one because it broke in the fight with the assassin a week ago.
Looking at its structure made purely out of metal and nothing else, she wondered what the weird shape was for. From one angle, it was a perfectly fine rapier while from the other, turning it around, it transformed into what seemed like a staff.
Nonetheless, Juliette admired the ever so slight purple shine of the sword. In fact, after being treated properly, the weapon’s material closely resembled that of silver, only its glisten giving it away.
The moment the blade touched the brick walls around her, her face screamed in astonishment. Using a little bit of force, it was enough to slice through the bricks as though they were made out of butter.
Not to mention, there was little to no sound while doing so. Even in the inexperienced hands, this weapon would be lethal, she judged.
She proceeded by collecting her cool. They had to accomplish something here. Using her aura to let blood flow to her ring, Juliette took out a certain paper, making Conall smile.
It was a disciple leave. A lot of the professors at the academy weren’t there to mainly teach the students. That was more of a side job while searching for someone they truly wanted to nurture and pour their legacy onto.
After finding their disciple, they had every right to go out into the world with them rather than teach other students at the academy. Being the dream every student wanted to achieve, Conall got it just like that, though from the least attended professor in the academy.
Although people would get suspicious of it, he already asked the dean to handle the problem. As to why he did it? He couldn’t risk getting expelled from the academy for not going to mandatory lectures, which just happened for there to be three of them in the next two weeks. He still needed a few items from there, so he requested the leave from Juliette.
As for Silvana? She would simply use her special mannequin she bought from the Witch Tower to orchestrate the lessons under her absence.
With a week of getting their formalities done and waiting, they could finally go. Conall, along with Silvana, had already explained to Juliette their main purpose in the trip.
Although the girl was shocked to find out that Harmis, her father, gave Conall his heart, she herself dumbfounded the witch after revealing she had always instinctively known about her Calamity status. As she stated to Silvana, it somewhat made them sisters in her eyes, though she was always too scared to approach her.
Having checked everything, they finally climbed on the broomsticks. Because it was far easier controlling a broomstick with a single person on it, Silvana and Juliette rode together on her one while Conall took the spare.
Soon, the normal knights experienced the might the Witch Tower had invented over the years. Conall’s head cocked backwards as he experienced the sudden increase in acceleration, all while Juliette screamed in thrill.
“WHAAAA!”
Her hair fluttered as she flew through the air, but the two next to her quickly silenced her, especially the girl she was behind.
“Do you want to gather the guards’ attention?”
With awkward eyes, Juliette silenced herself as they ascended near the clouds. It was cold, but they would have to manage for a couple tens of kilometers that the capital stretched for. Looking down, Conall saw the illuminated city.
Even though he scoured through every corner above and beneath the surface inside the game, it was still impressive to see just how massive it was. Being the biggest, as well as the safest trading hub of the continent, it wasn’t really surprising, but spectacular nonetheless.
Forgetting the thought, Conall raised his head to witness Silvana casting a few magic circles on all of them.
“Is this to bypass the eye of defense?”
He asked, promptly receiving a nod along with an answer.
“Yes, it will make them think we’re just some birds.”
Flying through the invisible veil of mana, they finally passed through what the city could see, gradually descending closer to the ground. Long gone from anyone’s vision, they quickly traversed through the dark sky.
…
Stopping a few times to eat and rest, they spent three days straight flying through the two kingdoms connected in the north of Etra. They were flying through the tribal grounds of Vyscarr, the home of the mad twins, so they needed to be careful. Even though they could disguise themselves as birds, the sight and instincts of high level beastmen were no joke.
Almost every part of the tribe, which was similar in size to their own Kingdom, was covered by Octa, though it was its outer and most dense layer. Seeing nothing but trees for three days, their eyes easily caught the change in environment.
Suddenly, flying through the sky, Silvana noticed the change in the surrounding air.
“I can’t control my mana very well here. The density and flow is too strong.”
She said to the rest of her group, proceeding to descend down to the edge of the forest. Blue film began to cover the trees and greenery around them, almost like a natural, protective layer of mana.
After a few hours, they finally stepped out of Octa, just before the sun fell. Beyond them, they saw a vastly stretching plain filled with nothing but singular, great trees that strongly opposed Hestrea’s gravity.
Though seemingly cold, it was nothing of the sort. Mana here was simply that great. Bluish-white grass danced along with the lukewarm wind as it covered every last bit of the land. In the far distance, large mountains grazed the light blue clouds that almost seemed to burn under the sunset.
Dispersing the soft pillows by flying through them, high in the sky, tens of various dragons flew through the air. Mesmerized, Juliette’s eyes couldn’t stop following. Truthfully, this was the first time she had ever gone so far away from her home, rarely ever seeing these creatures other than when they migrated back home in the winter.
“So these are the Lohi Mountains?”
She asked, to which Conall replied, also shocking the two of them.
“Yes, this is also where we’ll find our first item for the ritual.”
“Don’t tell me you want to get the dragon berry. You know that’s impossible, at least with our capabilities.”
She voiced her issue. Silvana didn’t really want to venture out into a swarm of dragons to collect the fruit of their dead brethren. However, Conall chuckled on the side, showing a slight grin.
“Don’t worry, it’s even better. We’re aiming for a dragonheart. A fruit isn’t enough for a Divine Cleansing.”
Hearing him, even Juliette turned afraid. All of a sudden, she wanted to go back to the rainy capital.
“Conall, we can always come back here in the future after we’re stronger. We can’t defeat a hundred plus dragons to even have a chance at acquiring one.”
The silver-haired girl protested. What was the point of using mana if she was dead before it could happen?
However, he quickly shook his head.
“We can’t back down. The worm inside you grows day by day. In the time we get strong enough to deal with the dragons, it could already eat your core and kill you.”
He said ruthlessly, making her pupils dilate. On the side, Silvana asked.
“Do you have a way about it? I’m sure you won’t just send us to our death.”
Hearing her, Conall smiled in response.
“Let’s go back to the forest for now. The sun is almost set, but we still have to set up our tents. We also haven’t eaten in a long time.”