“I knew this shit won’t end in just a few days,” Kayde commented as she sat in the meeting room. “You even dragged the raid team into this mess.”
“It needed to be done,” Tevan spoke up. “Troublesome matters occurred, so we need to make changes to the tournament.”
“Are you preventing him from winning?” the captain of the Karama family raid team, Argent, spoke up. “The boy’s potential is unmatched.”
“I agree with that, but we need to proceed with a different approach,” Tevan stated. “We need him to make the choice.”
“He joined the tournament,” Silvester said. “Isn’t that a clear indication that he wanted to join the Karama family?”
“Unfortunately, joining the tournament wasn’t his choice,” Tevan revealed. “He joined the tournament due to a bet with Cassandra Nero. I’m not aware of the details, but there’s chance that even if he wins, he won’t join the family.”
“Great... four people that won’t matter if they won,” Kayde grumbled. “Might as well make sure the kid from a magic tower win.”
“We can’t manipulate the winner of the tournament,” Silvester spoke up. “If we did, it won’t take long for someone to expose it. We have a lot of organizations waiting for a mistake.”
“Silvester is right. We will not manipulate who wins,” Tevan stated.
“Whatever...” Kayde tuned the rest of the meeting out.
The sooner the tournament ended, the sooner he could go back to her office. Whatever happens in this tournament didn’t benefit her at all, so she really didn’t care what they decide on doing.
Personally, she wanted Zane to win since she was technically involved with his growth. She was the one that ordered his apparent Dragon trigger to be hidden in the refugee base, resulting in him bonding with it.
It caused quite the mess, but it already happened and she had to deal with a lot of shit, so everything’s in the past.
Hopefully...
------
“Summoners?” Melissa raised an eyebrow at Zane. “Why do you want to know about them?”
“I want to consider every option available for my core ability,” Zane replied.
“Well, if you’re asking if I know anyone with a core ability related to summoning, I don’t,” Melissa said. “But there’s actually someone we can ask about this topic.”
“Really? Who?”
Melissa smiled.
About an hour later, Zane and Melissa sat in the living room while on a video call with instructor Clarice. “I’m surprised to hear from both of you.”
“How have you been Clarice?” Melissa asked.
Clarice shrugged. “Fine, I guess. I got moved to an elementary school since the refugee base wasn’t going to be rebuilt,” she stated. “Anyways, why did you call?”
“We wanted to ask about summoners,” Melissa answered. “I figured you would know a lot since you came from a family of summoners.”
“Well...” Clarice rubbed her chin. “It’s pretty straight forward. Summoners use monster cores to create their summoned creatures, and then they use them however they want.”
That wasn’t what Zane wanted to hear. If he wanted to make a core ability related to summoning, he needed a method that didn’t need external requirements like a monster’s core.
“Can a summon be created without using a core?” Zane asked.
Clarice looked thoughtful for a moment, giving Zane hope, but she eventually shook her head. “Summoned creatures can’t be made without a base. Additionally, you need a power source to keep your summoned creature intact, otherwise, you’d need to constantly supply it with mana manually.”
“The power source aside, is there anything else that can be used as a base?” Melissa asked.
“Hmm... I remember hearing about someone putting a recorded body structure inside a refined mana crystal to replicate monster cores,” Clarice replied.
Unfortunately for Zane, that still implied an external requirement. But there was something that got his interest. “Recorded body structure?”
“I don’t know the details, but I remember that it was related to someone making a chimera summon,” Clarice said.
Zane nodded, finally getting a hint on how to proceed.
“Is that all?” Clarice asked.
“Yes. Thank you, instructor,” Zane bowed.
“Alright. Go on then,” Melissa shooed him away. “I still want to talk to Clarice about something.”
Zane bowed and rushed out of the room. He made his way to the mage management building and requested access to a computer and the library. For the rest of the day, Zane did nothing but study about summoned creatures, recorded body structures, and potential mana sources.
As for his idea, he was considering to methods. First was using his dragon manifestations as the “Recorded body structure”, but that still needed him to look for a way to provide a power source. The second idea was to figure out a way to use his Dragon manifestation as a power source and find a way to obtain “Recorded body structures”.
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Either way, Zane had a lot of studying to do.
Your mana control has increased
The robotic voice rang inside his head, but he paid it no mind as he continued his research. He barely found out anything about recorded body structures, but on the few articles he managed to find, they all mentioned using magic to the recording process. This prompted Zane to begin researching the mentioned magic.
Recording magic had no attributes and is commonly used by the media. The holographic projections used during the tournament were also a form of recording magic. Recording magic had two requirements, a place to store the record and a visual outlet for the magic like a lens or eyes.
“Hey Averin...” Zane spoke. “I think I figured something out.”
-------
“Welcome to the third event of the tournament!” Wilder exclaimed as he floated over the stadium. “Also known as the bonus round! All remaining competitors don’t need to fear being eliminated this round since this event would be rewarding them instead.”
A holographic projection of the competitors inside a chamber with a giant mana crystal appeared in the middle of the arena.
“In this event, the competitors would be competing on who could last the longest inside the mana chamber. Don’t be fooled though, since this is a great opportunity to get stronger if you know what to do,” Wilder stated.
Kayde had to give Tevan some credit for coming up a plan like this. Every year, the third event was always something that rewarded the top 20 competitors of the tournament. But that was either giving them access to resource abundant territories, or sometimes a treasure for valuable gear.
This year, Tevan allowed the competitors to enter a place where only the elites Karama family could enter, a Mana chamber.
They did it just to lure in Zane and boost the Gun and Rose mercenary duo. Tasha being within the mix was just a bonus considering she’ll gain access to the Mana chamber soon anyways.
Observing the competitors, Kayde noticed that the Mercenary duo, the kid from the magic tower, Tasha, and a few others had already began using their mana control. But Zane approached the giant mana crystal first. He stared up at it, as if waiting for something to happen.
“What’s he doing?” Silvester asked. “He’s wasting time.”
Kayde shrugged. “Weird kid.”
Kayde watched as Tevan himself approached the kid. She noticed Tevan’s eyes widened, but kept his expression neutral. “Something caught your eye?” Tevan asked.
“There’s a magic circle inside,” Zane replied. “Did someone put it there?”
“Yes and no. There’s always a magic circle inside large mana crystals, we just reshape it to our benefit,” Tevan answered. “This one has a magic circle that absorbs mana from the surrounding to increase the output of mana it provides within this chamber.”
Zane nodded. “I have an off-topic question.”
Tevan raised an eyebrow. “That is?”
“Do you think a summoned creature could make a mana core?”
Tevan’s eyebrow raised even higher as even Kayde raised an eyebrow in confusion at that question since she didn’t know how to answer it as well.
“I’ve never seen it before, so... maybe?” Tevan answered.
Zane nodded again, then one of the competitors fainted.
“That’s my cue,” Tevan said before walking away.
As Tevan was walking past her, Kayde decided to ask a question. “How is he in person?”
Tevan was silent for a moment, deciding on what to say. “He’s passively absorbing mana right now,” Tevan revealed. “At a rapid pace too.”
Silvester whistled in amazement. “Kid definitely has a powerful mentor. A mana control method like that is impossible to pick up on their own.”
“Keep it a secret. Even from the elders and the council,” Tevan ordered before walking away.
Back to the competitors, the majority of them had begun to faint due to the high density of the mana in the chamber. Due to the high density of the mana, their mana cores would be constantly pressured as they absorb the mana into their body.
No matter how talented someone is, a 2nd stage mana core won’t last in this chamber. As evident, half of the twenty competitors have already fainted, while half of the remaining competitors were visibly struggling.
About half an hour later and only five competitors remained. The two mercenaries were struggling the most, but before they fainted, a powerful pulse of magic energy erupted from them.
“Oh? They entered into the 3rd stage,” Kayde commented as the two mercenaries were taken out on a stretcher. “The tournament should be fun.”
The next person to faint was Tasha, but unlike the mercenaries, she didn’t enter the 3rd stage and just fainted from the pressure being exerted onto her core.
“I give up,” the boy from the magic tower spoke.
“Hmm?” Kayde looked at him in confusion.
“This isn’t a contest boy. You can stay as long as you can,” Silvester spoke. “A chance like this doesn’t come often.”
“I know, but I benefit from this less than him,” the boy pointed at Zane. “I will eventually need to face him and both of us remaining here is more detrimental to me.”
Silvester nodded and walked past the boy. “The last competitor has surrendered. Zane is the winner of the third round!”
Kayde watched as the boy left, unsure of what to think of his clever mind.
------
“Your idea better work. Thanks to that chamber that was abundant of mana, you’re on the verge of entering the 3rd stage of your mana core,” Averin spoke. “We lost a lot more time than originally planned.”
“Don’t worry. I figured everything out,” Zane smirked.
They were currently in a training room Zane rented to test out the core ability he thought off.
“To start us off, I’m going to need something from you.”
“What is it?”
“But I’m not sure if you would have it?”
“Spit it out human!”
“I need you to recreate Dark Revel dragon’s mana core.”
“What kind of nonsense are you spouting human?”
“Here’s the idea,” Zane began his explanation.
His idea had three requirements. The first and somewhat easiest requirement was his Dragon manifestations, specifically the dragon’s residual mana signature. The second thing he needed was something even trickier to obtain, a recorded body structure of someone compatible with the dragon’s residual mana signature. And the last thing he needs is probably on possible for Averin at the moment, a mana control method replicating the dragon’s mana core.
With this, it covers the need for a base and a power source for his summoned creature without needing a monster core or a magic crystal.
“What do you think?” Zane asked Averin.
“... I have to admit, human, your idea is impressive. There’s plenty of holes to fix, but it is doable.”
Zane smirked. “Why thank you oh so great black dragon.”
“You still need a body structure for the Dark Revel dragon.”
“I got one right here,” Zane gestured to himself. “The dragon heart belonged to that dragon and it restructured my body to fit it. Where else could I find a more suitable candidate to record.”
Zane could feel Averin grinning. “Start recording then. I’ll prepare your new mana control method and the mana control for Dark Revel.”
“Roger boss,” Zane saluted as he went in front of a mirror. “Let’s get started.”