At this point, Stas could confidently say that this period of his life was one of the most pleasant.

The absence of threats and warmasters with their oppressive presence was truly relaxing, allowing his brain the chance to switch to something else.

And that's not to mention the vast amount of knowledge he had managed to learn, thanks to Minoru.

Every day was like a birthday, with guests bringing gift after gift.

On Earth, people often fail to understand the value of knowledge. This is especially sad to observe in universities.

Students, barely passing tests and exams, happily party, and even if they study well, their knowledge is quickly washed away by something "more important."

As a result, by the final year of study, very few of the to-be graduates remember what they were taught in the first year.

And the reason for this is quite banal – students do not see where they can apply this knowledge. There is no link between theory and practice.

Of course, there are attempts to fill the curriculum with laboratory work, where, theoretically, this process should take place.

But again, it all comes down to the mechanical execution of assigned tasks devoid of any real attempt to understand the process itself.

Only a few manage to escape from this stupefying conveyor of knowledge crashing down upon them.

In studying magic, however, everything was both simpler and, at the same time, more complex.

In it, every new fact or morsel of knowledge could be immediately applied in certain ways. The only problem was that the ease of applying magic posed a serious threat.

Even an ordinary warmaster could theoretically try to dabble in "weaving" something new, but at the same time, they risked simply burning out some of their prana channels.

Stas had heard plenty of horrific stories from Kizashi about those warmasters who had lost prana channels in their palms and could never again use most techniques.

That's why Stanislav spent so much time gathering all the possible information before actually starting experiments.

As a result, Ordyntsev had formed quite a solid "knowledge tree," where the trunk served as an unshakable and immutable base. Branches – new directions and ideas. Leaves – unconfirmed theories and paths of development.

The roots represented his understanding of how to practically apply this entire "tree."

Interestingly, many people live only using their "roots," without a "tree" and "leaves." And they are quite capable of existing like this. But it's worth keeping in mind that these people will never be able to rise and see the full beauty and uncover the secrets of our whimsical world unless they try to change something.

As for Ordyntsev, he was in a very agitated state at the moment.

Since his last grand discovery, namely the use of a natural-etheric sphere to destroy the remnants of ether in the body, four months had flown by as if they were four days.

Now, Stanislav had come up with a new idea which, by his calculations, if it didn't propel him to the top of this world's food chain, would at least bring him closer.

Overwhelmed with emotion, Stanislav paced back and forth in his study under the lazy gaze of the resting Leviathan.

Since Stas worked in many places, Levi had acquired several lounging beds from which she could vigilantly observe her restless master.

Finally, Ordyntsev paused and licked his lips. His long tongue tasted the air and conveyed a whole palette of smells and sensations to its owner.

It might have seemed strange, but Stas, being in sound mind, deliberately allowed Leviathan's natural energy to purposefully touch and change his tongue.

The reason for this was that, over the last months, he had figured out how his directed mutation worked.

According to his calculations, he was supposed to retain a human appearance, albeit with some unpleasant additions like scales. At the same time, the structure of the bones, the skull, and the position of the internal organs were not supposed to change noticeably.

Moreover, his final form was supposed to have quite tangible advantages, such as much greater strength, prana conductivity, and substantial resistance to natural energy.

After all, the resulting hybrid was, in some way, a magical serpent, which protected him from the destructive energy harmful to any pure human.

In this equation, the sensory organs were also supposed to undergo changes. And Stas was particularly interested in the tongue.

It was an incredibly delicate organ that would allow him to perceive reality much better.

Nevertheless, even here, Ordyntsev had ideas on how to improve the process.

So, he carefully observed the transformation process, and when the tongue began to split, he used the Healing Palm to fuse it back, making it almost indistinguishable from a normal tongue.

Of course, the tasting sensitivity dropped a bit, but even so, it was still an order of magnitude better than that of a regular human.

Besides, Stas's tongue was now somewhat longer than originally. Its position in the mouth had also changed. Now, its base went much further into the throat. It was disconcerting at first, but the man quickly got used to it.

So, when he needed to lick his lips, his tongue straightened, stretching forward.

But let's return to the new discovery that made Stas abandon all his previous projects and disrupt his training schedule.

The essence of it was relatively simple – Ordyntsev was interested in the limit to which ether could restore the host's body.

To answer this question, Stas decided to conduct a rather interesting experiment.

He took a subject and, with the utmost caution, placed a natural-etheric mix in his body, for which Stas had to constantly keep his hand on his chest. Then, he cut off the subject's arm at the elbow and activated the ether healing technique, marking Mari as the source of prana and the subject as the target of healing.

Unfortunately, the first experiment failed.

Mari had too little prana, from which the ether had enough strength only to poorly close the "gap."

'Perhaps it's the size of the subject,' Stas thought, and the next time, he conducted the same experiment but on a mouse.

This was also a failed idea, as even a small amount of natural energy ruined everything. Ether healing couldn't be used on animals.

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In the end, Ordyntsev had to come up with other tricks.

Thus, Mari and Kaede had to fish out two ordinary warmasters, and Stas had to improve his energy control.

But finally, all the materials were collected, and it was time for the third experiment.

The anti-ether sphere took its position in the body of another subject. Obeying Leviathan's telekinesis, a stone blade, which she had also created from the floor, sharply cut off the subject's index finger.

In that exact second, Stanislav activated the prana absorption technique, choosing the subject as the target for healing.

Before his eyes, the blood coagulated and stopped flowing, removing the theoretical threat to life. Then, it was the skin's turn to come together, finally sealing and healing the wound.

By that time, the prana of the second warmaster was running out. As it turned out, the two of them were still weaker than Mari alone. The latter, incidentally, was away at that moment.

But, one way or another, everything was going according to plan.

Stas focused and, changing the target of the ether, began to pump out his own prana.

His reserves were incomparably greater, but the difficulty lay in the fact that he had to control too many variables at once.

His brain was literally melting from such an overload.

Inconceivably, he was simultaneously maintaining an anti-ether sphere, creating ether, using a healing technique, and feeding his own prana to it.

Therefore, he didn't even properly see what he was achieving with his healing, relying only on his own prana reserves. And when they began to show the bottom, he relievedly dispersed all the techniques.

Afterward, Ordyntsev looked at the subject's hand with great interest and couldn't help but smile.

His assumption was fully confirmed.

A small part of the phalanx had regrown!

This meant that, in perspective, ether could completely restore severed limbs and destroyed organs.

The question lay only in the cost.

However, further experiments showed that it wasn't that simple. The more time had passed since the loss of the limb, the more reluctant the ether acted, to the point of eventually determining that no further changes were necessary.

That was the problem. Almost the full reserve of an advanced warmaster and two ordinary ones was enough to grow a third of a finger. How much prana would be needed to restore even a single palm, not to mention more severe injuries?

And here, the man's attention involuntarily turned to the inexhaustible source of energy that was, in fact, floating around.

Natural energy was everywhere, but its intensity was so high that ether, absorbing it, instantly became oversaturated and disappeared.

So what did it mean? Right. It was necessary to reduce the power saturation of natural energy so that ether could extract some benefit from it.

Stas wasn't sure that the resulting product - if he could even create it - would be at least somewhat useful, but the thirst for discovery drove him forward.

And, after a month of hard work, Pandora's box was finally opened.

The algorithm was as follows – Stas "inhaled" natural energy into himself, after which he mixed it with his own prana as quickly as possible. The process was not easy, as natural force did not want to mix with prana, so it was necessary to "shake" them in a certain way.

It was on this last point that Stas spent the most time.

In the end, an unstable mixture was obtained, which was then fed to ether healing.

The most interesting thing about this was that, even in this case, the hungry energy could still separate or process the part capable of healing.

Of course, at this point, the efficiency of this process was terrible. However, Stas did not despair, intending to refine the natural-prana mixture so that ether would process it much more efficiently.

At such moments, Ordyntsev felt not like a magician but like some particularly sophisticated alchemist who, though he didn't work with liquids, still had to pick recipes and proportions of "substances."

Needless to say, in the future, Stas planned to heal the most complex wounds, as he now had an infinite source of energy.

As they say, it only takes to plug in.

It's just that, unfortunately, Ordyntsev still had obligations that he couldn't simply brush off.

Thirteen months after the beginning of his seclusion, Kaede brought disheartening news.

Stas's leave had ended, as Jishin was urgently summoning him.

*****

Walking through the Citadel after such a long absence felt very odd and even a bit uncomfortable. Stas had unwittingly become accustomed to being surrounded only by those he trusted to some extent.

Now, however, when unfamiliar warmasters passed by him, he felt the urge either to attack or to hide somewhere.

Leviathan, almost as his literal tail, slithered behind, occasionally plunging into the stone only to emerge a moment later a bit further along, thus shortening the path. She did this also because her size could potentially create difficulties for other people to pass.

Ordyntsev's distinctive appearance, his green armor, and his pet serpent made it impossible for him not to be recognized.

And, as it turned out, many, many people knew him. Moreover, many wished to greet him, as, in the eyes of society, he had a rather impressive reputation.

His rapid rise alone made the heads of families and others in power pay the most attention to him.

Four and a half years and already an advanced-proficient rank. Having a lineage and even personally created techniques. Shiro the Serpent had every chance in the future to attain the title of a supreme warmaster. And such a person was indeed intriguing.

Of course, mainly the ordinary warmasters and occasionally the advanced ones bowed to him, but Stas was not in a position to ignore these gestures of politeness.

And since there were so many people on the way...

By the time Stas reached Jishin's office, he was as mad as a demon and could no longer stand bows and everything associated with them.

And as if to mock, Jishin, on the contrary, appeared full of energy and positivity.

However, Ordyntsev's mood did not prevent him from politely bowing to the prince's secretary. Stas tried to take an example in various things from different great people.

For instance, he was very impressed that Abraham Lincoln, when he reached the post of President of the United States, continued to greet and shake hands with ordinary, unremarkable people.

And although this world had a much more hierarchically strict culture, some principles still worked here, too.

"Our prodigal warmaster has returned, has he?" Jishin smirked as he examined Stas. In his opinion, Shiro hadn't changed much over time, yet something about him was unmistakably different.

After some thought, Jishin would say that the plasticity of his body had become even more abnormal compared to what it was.

And when Stas habitually licked his lips with his elongated tongue, the prince was utterly taken aback.

"Demons!" he swore, his eyes bulging. "Do you have a tail growing under that kimono? What a monstrosity." Jishin shuddered all over.

Stas just gave a nasty smile in response. He definitely liked the prince's reaction. Yet, he suppressed the desire to repeat the trick. After all, everything should be in moderation.

At that moment, Leviathan's head emerged from the floor next to Jishin, which was already approaching the size of a human head.

A second later, the prince was laughing, toppled onto the tatami, and began to grapple with the coils winding around him.

The battle looked frankly terrifying if you didn't know that Jishin, with maximum prana strengthening, could simply tear Levi in two.

Despite working as a treasurer, Jishin had not neglected his training. Perhaps Stas's words motivated him, or maybe the realization of the approaching war. But over the past year, the younger prince had come even closer to the title of supreme.

One look through Leviathan's senses was enough to be horrified by the volume and density of his prana. And he continued to grow.

Stas had to console himself with the thought that it's not the size of your prana reserve that matters but how skillfully you use it. Otherwise, it was easy to drown in depression.

"Enough, I said, enough!" Jishin easily stood up, holding almost the entire body of the huge serpent at arm's length.

Levi reluctantly stopped playing, taking a place next to Stas, resting her head on his knees as if hinting at the need for a pat.

Ordyntsev didn't refuse her this little joy.

"Maybe I should get a pet too. Although, where to find the time for it," the prince muttered softly, watching their pair with slight envy but quickly composed himself. "Shiro, heh, Sumada, your skills are needed by the clan once again."

Stas silently nodded, ignoring Jishin's chuckle and not giving a reason to "grin" any further.

"As we predicted, the Mizuno have started taking decisive steps, preparing for the upcoming war. A war specifically with us," the prince began briefing Stas, taking out and unfolding a map on the table. His finger pointed to the western part.

"As you can see, our homeland borders two other great countries, Chinetsu and Hogoro, and, respectively, two great clans of warmasters, the fiery Hizoru and the airy Avasaki."

Though Jishin said that Rashta bordered two great countries, in fact, there were many small states and clans of warmasters between them. Another thing was that when a big war started, all these states would become nothing more than bargaining chips and a battlefield for the real giants.

Stas really wouldn't want to live in those places.

"Nevertheless, we do not have to fear a threat from their side. Hizoru and Avasaki are ready to tear each other's throats out, and they will not pay attention to us. We, in turn, will clash with the water-wielding Mizuno."

Jishin pointed to the territory marked with blue paint.

"And since it's already known who they'll have to fight, Mizuno decided to weaken us as much as possible before that. Their squads attack and prowl all over our country. And the same is being done by our fighters."

Jishin paused to point to several important cities.

"As you understand, we cannot allow ourselves to be left without money, so I entrust you with the task of protecting our tax collectors by any means necessary. When possible, the same applies to merchants, but the collectors are the most important of all. Otherwise, our own money will feed the Mizuno. And that my father will not forgive. Is the task clear?"

"Crystal clear."

"Then carry out your task and, most importantly, don't die. We still have a lot of work, and I don't want to drag this burden alone."

"I'll try." Stas smiled slightly.