In the North side of Last Heaven, 2 medium sized houses sandwiched what seemed to be a large square tower. This tower was not made out of stone but out of soil which seemed to be floating in midair.
Due to space constraints, the Wilson family developed an ingenious way of growing crops. Layers of earth floated on top of each other leaving just barely enough room for plants to grow between them.
This multilayer sandwich extended 400 feet into the sky and was sustained by numerous complex magical formations. Some levitated the soil while others bent light, so it would reach the layers below.
Finally, one formation summoned a giant transparent barrier which covered the tower as if in a bubble. It was exactly this formation that Ethan came to tinker with if only he could reach its proximity.
Unfortunately, 15 rank two mages guarded the farm from all directions, and 10 more were tending to the crops from within. Even during nighttime, the plants still grew explosively thanks to a constant supply of mana.
‘This whole city is on drugs.’ Thought Ethan while munching on a vitality pill.
Not using invisibility or illusions was a pain in the ass, but he made the best out of his situation. Since the yard was secured like a national treasure, he infiltrated one of the houses instead. Normally, this would be a terrible idea, since peak rank 2 mages were stationed in each one.
But, to Ethan this wasn’t a problem. After making his way towards the one on the right, he quickly made a hole in one of its walls. He got in and closed the gap just seconds before a patrol walked by.
‘There goes half my mana…’ he complained. Using magic he wasn’t suited for came at a severe price. Even an expert at mana recovery like him had to be careful.
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Within the darkness, Ethan could feel his enemy’s mana within the other room. Heck, he could feel all mana within 100 feet. It was something mages below level 3 could only dream of.
At a snail’s pace, the boy made his way towards the room closest to the giant tower. Fortunately, the guard was not in it. After placing one hand on the wall which faced the yard, Ethan smiled.
‘Close enough.’ A buzzing sound was heard in his mind as a complex formation appeared within his consciousness.
‘Fascinating…’ Ethan studied every form, sign, and shape as if it were a code. Eventually, not only did he crack it open, but he discovered a bunch of loopholes as well.
‘They’re all connected…’ Whoever built this system left numerous backdoors and links that would allow easy access to everything.
‘Holy s**t! I need to revise my plans.’ His initial idea was to make the force field squeeze the crops, eventually crushing them into mush. However, the complex nature of the system opened the door for much, much more.
‘You didn’t think anyone could hack this, did you?’ A maniacal smile appeared on Ethan’s face. Though this farm was the work of a high level mage, modifying the formations which ran it required skill not mana. Since the youth had plenty of the former, in about 10 minutes, the modifications were done.
He closed the connection and began counting in his head. ‘599, 598, 597…’ His eyes then turned towards the wall behind which the high ranking guard was shuffling through paperwork.
‘Too bad his back is not towards me.’ Ethan started siphoning mana out of his ring towards his left palm. ‘I could use some practice for Charles.’
Suddenly, the guard got off his chair and turned towards him.
‘Well, if you couldn’t sense my mana even now, I’d think your rank was bulls**t.’
“Who’s there?”
The mana in Ethan’s hand took on a yellow hue. The more it gathered, the brighter it became.
“Your mother!” the boy answered mockingly.
The guard set his fist ablaze and punched towards the wall. However, there was already a sizable yellow sun prepared in Ethan’s palm. Both mages struck at the same time.
“AAaahhh!”
“Burst Nova!”
It took quite some for the dust to settle. In the end, one of the mages was smiling. The other was dead.