Urie once had difficulties in controlling his mana.

Because of the fire spirit, Volcanus' absence, it resulted in the lack of minor spirits usually birthed from the greater's presence. Minor spirits branch off from the greater spirits and roam around freely to tame most of the element-attributed mana in the environment. They do this to regulate the climate while also preventing disasters.

To children that have awakened to a colored mana seed, without the help of the spirits, their handling of mana became akin to riding a horse without reins. It was incomparably difficult. And in the previous case of Urie Loeth, it was like a beginner jumping onto the back of a wild, bucking horse.

“World of Flames.”

Urie had forgotten. Although he had since built up experience, he had currently gone back to handling a colt with an overbearing temperament.

“Ah—!” he winced.

The vision of fire that he had expected to see had caused him to exert more mana than it usually would have, and a backlash he had not experienced before assaulted his consciousness. He hurriedly discontinued the use of his skill as he staggered back into the central pillar corridor.

“Ugh, that was a bad idea... My head hurts.”

His head was throbbing with a dull pain but at least he had seen what he needed to see.

“Three, Four, Five— There are quite a lot of them...”

This was the area around the central pillar inside of Erden's Tower. The landscape was mostly barren, with nothing but numerous scattered rock hills decorating the landscape. But now, those rock hills had given Urie cause for hesitation.

“Maybe I should go back?”

The sound of massive figures thrashing about brought the idea to Urie's mind, but he immediately threw it away when he remembered why he'd rushed in by himself in the first place. He still hadn't caught up to Ashur and Arpaschad.

The fact that they weren't anywhere to be seen meant that they had gone ahead, and the only other place to head for was the entrance of Erden's Tower, rather, from his current position it was the exit.

“How can I get past the rock drakes?” Urie rubbed his eyes while he pondered. When his vision had finished adjusting to the increased brightness, a puzzling scene had displayed itself in front of him.

“Eh? What? Why are there plants here?” he muttered.

There was a huge clump of vegetation that conflicted with the barren image that he had in his memories. As he examined it closer, he could see that the roots of the plants emerging from the infertile soil appeared odd, as if they had grown unnaturaly in a rapid manner and forcefully broke through the surface of the soil.

“Isn't—Isn't this is a rock drake!?”

Bound by resilient and elastic vines and saplings, the large creature was struggling to break free. Its eyes, Urie had noticed through the gaps within its rocky exterior, had that particular glow of mana.

“A mana beast!? I could've sworn I saw...“

What he'd seen briefly with his thermal vision was not the silhouette of a rock drake but the shimmer of the mana seed of a Nifyr.

“Right. Maybe I should look at it again.” he decided.

There was a chance he could be wrong but he felt it an itch that he just couldn't help but scratch. And at the cost of satisfying his curiosity, he braced himself and for a split second, used 'World of Flames' before reflexively jabbing his index and thumb in between his eyebrows as the headache hit him.

“Urgh... I knew that was coming...” he groaned. In a moment he recovered and approached the bound magic creature, “I wasn't mistaken! There was a Nifyr inside of the rock drake!”

But how? Why? If he could only use his sight ability for a bit longer then he might've figured something out.

“I better not. I might pass out if I use it again...” Urie furrowed his brows.

Physical pain was an indicator of something wrong. A warning given out by the body when it is hurt or injured. There was also the kind of pain he was familiar with like muscle pain. Of course, he'd never heard of his head having muscles so he scrapped the thought of this being anything like it.

“I should refrain from using it for now. Instead, why don't we try this—”

Since it seemed as if there was no worry of the rock drake breaking free, Urie reached into the foliage binding the creature and placed his hands on the surface of its fidgeting cobblestone-like head.

“Will this work?” he wondered.

As an experiment, he started circulating mana and placed his hand the closest he could to the mana seed near its forehead as he did before with the Nifyr. He intended to devour what was seeping from the rock drake's eyes since he couldn't do it like he did when he inserted his hand into the Nifyr. As he began, light laughter escaped from his throat and mana had soaked into his roots, inadvertently equipping his hand with a fierce gauntlet of fire.

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“Hahah—! Oh no, wait— stop!”

Although he had succeeded, it was not without fault as he had lacked the foresight to predict what would happen to the plants tying down the creature if a strong enough fire were to suddenly appear. It was for a fact that vegetation didn't easily catch on fire unless they were dry, Ashur had taught him that.

“Argh!? Plants don't burn this easily, don't they!?”

What Ashur did not mention, however, was that like what was happening in front of Urie— the plants that grew in dry soil burned more easily since there wasn't much moisture for them to take in, much less for plants like these that grew hastily from being force-fed somebody's mana.

Now, the plant fibers that had turned brittle from the heat could no longer hold down the rock drake and began to snap. Urie poised for a quick retreat as a simple shrug could allow the rock drake to free itself. Thankfully, he relaxed as he soon found that there was no need for caution. There was still light in its eyes but no longer any madness. The rock drake's indolent nature had returned as it laid back on the ground in slumber after shaking off its binds.

“Haaah... Thank goodness.” Urie let out a sigh of relief as the corners of his mouth curled up into a smile of pleasant discovery. He dispersed the mana and the flames around his arm, “Now I just have to figure out how to get through to the forest. I don't think every rock drake's going to be tied down like this one.”

Just as he was hatching up a plan of action, from a distance, the sound along with vibrations of heavy stamping and flailing about drew closer to his position. He felt it vaguely familiar, reminiscent even. A reminder of the time he and the girls were trying to run away from the pursuit of a maddened gentle giant.

Should he run back to the central pillar or hope that he could outrun the beast to the forest? There wasn't much time to consider other options, the approaching cry of the beast was pushing him to make a decision.

“Ah—!?”

Beside him, responding to the frenzied arrival of its kin, the rock drake that he had stripped of the Nifyr's influence stood and confronted it. The two giants clashed and Urie stood meekly at the side and watched the show. He shifted positions occasionally as to not get drawn into the conflict. And when the cloud of dust and debris had finally settled, the docile rock drake was pressing down with its massive frame on the other in deadlock.

“Whew—It's pinning the other one down.”

Urie complacently judged the fight, “That's pretty smart what it did— swiping at the other guy's limbs. Though, I guess the reason the other one lost was that it was attacking single-mindedly. It was just like a—”

Just like a Nifyr, he almost commented. He'd fought with them often enough that he instantly likened the mana beast's actions with one.

“I should take this chance to get past them...”

Urie ran across the area of the conflict while keeping an eye on the winning rock drake. It was then that he met with its eyes once again. He would place a step away but would draw it back as the gentle giant would release a low hum that he couldn't interpret as anything other than a cry of help. It felt like the creature was beckoning him for his aid.

“Do—Do you want me to take away the thing inside of your friend?” Urie posed a question.

Without waiting for an answer, however, he moved swiftly towards the mana beast and with the use of his right arm, drained it of the Nifyr's influence. A few seconds had passed and soon the eyes of the beast grew clearer, showing only the reflection of Urie's burning arm.

“I have to go now, I hope he will be fine after this.” Urie left those words before making himself scarce.

He didn't entertain the fantasy that he would find friendship with these massive creatures after giving them help. That and he couldn't shake off the memory of previously being chased by one of them.

The direction of his heading, Urie decided on the exit rather than going back into the central pillar room.

“Why isn't it disappearing!?” he nervously exclaimed. While he was running, yet another problem had emerged for him to face. It was a sight to see his arm continuously on fire, and if not for the red hue of mana coating his clothes, the sleeve of his shirt would have since become ashes.

“Although there isn't much discomfort... Oh!”

It took a few minutes, but the fire slowly grew weaker and receded into his arm. The problem had resolved itself. He decided not to mule over it as he was pressed for time, and continued to make his way to the forest while luckily managing to avoid crossing paths with another rock drake mana beast.

As he reached the vicinity of the trees, he spotted a certain path that seemed to line up straight towards the exit. With no damage to the plants, it was a path made recently with the use of magic. Urie thought back to the binds of the rock drake, “Elves have been through here...”

The elves never used mana within the dark Daerin. There was the need to avoid expending it. Urie wondered as he ran through the path between the foliage and shrubbery if they had finally become able to replenish themselves.

“Ah—!?” he held his breath and stopped in place as he'd spotted a few meters away the body of another magic creature. His expression tightened, “Could this be another mana beast?”

Not knowing whether this one was affected by another Nifyr, he crouched behind a tree and stayed silent. If by hiding Urie could save time from having to deal with another mana beast, he would gladly do it.

“...”

A few seconds, then a minute. Soon, five had gone by.

Urie carefully peeked but saw no movement from the creature. He happily whispered to himself, “Is it asleep?”

Luck seemed to now be on his side. He began to crawl, but against his better judgment, made his way towards the location of the magic creature. He was curious.

“So far, I've seen shadow wolves, rock drakes, and Nifyr. I wonder what this furry creature is?” Urie's eyes glimmered with intrigue as he planned to sneak a glance. And a few meters from the creature, a chill breeze blew from its direction and touched his face.

It felt unnatural. He had never felt such cold wind before. At least, not since...

Urie stood up with a startle and dashed forward, away from where he was hidden. His breathing grew staggard and his heart was once more in a flurry. There in front of his eyes, laid the body of an earth bear pierced through by a transparent, roughly-shaped spear of ice.

“They... They're...” Urie stuttered and bit his lower lip. Following the frozen red running down the spear's shaft, his line of sight panned to the ground. There, he knelt down and picked up a peculiar object.

It was a strand of fallen hair that had taken his notice. Something he could have easily missed, if not for it having a color different than the red on the spear.