"A fae circle?" Mary asked.

She, Belinda and Harry remained tense--and no wonder, now that the goblins had completely surrounded the clearing and were standing well within view. They may be barred from entering the circle, but the various manic noises they made were not, and the monsters seemed to be doing their best to drown out any of the group's attempted conversation. But faced with the monsters' clear rage and desire to rip his throat out...Lucas relaxed.

"Look around the clearing," he told the others, "see how it is a perfect circle outlined with a border of trees? Isn't that exactly how Eugene described the one he found?"

"It is..." Mary answered hesitantly, still not looking away from where the corrupted vessel stood, watching them.

"And what if they're just keeping us here for some reason?" Harry countered. "What if they plan to use us for some dark ritual, or something?"

Lucas floundered a little, searching for some way to convince them. No one could perceive the ambient mana like he could, so even if he explained its condition, it would be a point easily dismissed in their eyes. In all fairness, he might have believed Harry's suggestion as well, if he weren't already so sure. He couldn't find any other way to convince them they could relax, but maybe it was good for some of their party to remain wary for the time being.

"We're safe. They can't get in," Lucas said simply. "I'll still wake the others up, and Eugene can confirm where we are once he's conscious."

At his words, Belinda finally collapsed to the ground and let her weariness take over. Lucas's mom went to her side to check on her, but Belinda wasn't in need of any healing. She splayed herself across the ground and let out a great sigh, then turned her head to look at Lucas.

"Thank you, Lu. Thank you for helping my brother," she spoke with complete sincerity. "That fight took a lot out of me, so I'm going to take a nap now. Wake me if we're all about to die."

Sure enough, the [Cook] wasted no time in doing exactly as she said. It seemed like only thirty seconds later that her snores started to fill the air, fighting back the tide of screeching that would not end. Ironically, that did more to relax the other two than anything Lucas could have said. Belinda wasn't the only one that was tired, and once she started resting, Harry wasn't long to join her.

Soon, a second set of lungs joined the fight against the monsters' racket, leaving just two of them awake within the clearing. Lucas's mother took one last look at the ring of goblins, nilbogs, and corrupted, then joined him by the unconscious guards--by Eugene.

"Is there anything I can do?" she knelt beside him and asked lightly. Unlike the others, none of Mary's tension had left her bearing, and it only appeared greater as she looked Eugene over.

"I...don't know," Lucas admitted. "As far as I can tell, there is nothing physically wrong with him. It's like they're all sleeping peacefully."

"But..." his mother trailed off, leaving him to fill the silence.

"But their bodies are full of that corrupted mana in a way I haven't seen before," he finished. "It's not like they were attacked with it--it looks closer to the corruption replacing their internal channels."

That was the wrong thing to say, but he only realized that when his mother noticeably tensed, so he quickly added, "It isn't to that point yet. Nothing has been replaced, so if I can get all the corruption out, there won't be any problem. He'll be fine."

Mary looked down and some of her hair fell to obscure her face, then she shook a little and Lucas thought the move might have been intentional to block the tears. But a moment later, she sniffled and quickly wiped at her eyes before looking up at him. "I'm sorry, Lu," she attempted a smile that only partially worked. "It may be asking a lot, but please help him..."

Lucas nodded seriously. "I will," he declared. "Why don't you get some rest with the others? I can wake you if anything changes."

"I don't know if sleep is possible for me right now, son," his mother told him, but she nodded. "I'll try to lay down, though. Wake me if anything happens."

He nodded again, and she leaned forward to wrap him in a small hug before she stood back up. Mary only moved a few feet away, in total, but she did as she promised and tried to find rest in a particularly large clump of grass. Despite her words, a third set of lungs started quietly snoring a few minutes later. Then Lucas was on his own, and he turned his full attention back to the mana.

Stream by stream, channel by channel, the corruption within Eugene's body had reached a point where it overlayed every twist and turn of his mana, not in a blanket covering, but as an exact copy of his channels. What sort of effect that was meant to have, Lucas had no way of knowing, and it would not matter once he got it out.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

Then he tried to push a bit of his own mana into Eugene...and nothing happened. He was met with a complete wall.

Lucas pulled a bit more MP out in a continuous stream, leaving one end still directly linked to himself, and tried again. He pressed his mana against Eugene's palm, and pushed where one of his channels came close to the surface--and it didn't work. Only this time, the wall didn't put up as much resistance, and it started to give right along with the skin on Eugene's hand. Lucas stopped his mana immediately before he could accidentally puncture a hole in his patient and quickly pulsed [Arclight Renewal] to reverse the slight damage.

Why? Why isn't this working? What am I doing wrong?

He had to try something different. A quick check of his MP showed he had regenerated a couple hundred more points, and Lucas brought them all out in a diffuse cloud before layering it over Eugene. Instead of trying to force a singular entry to extract the corruption, Lucas let his mana permeate the area and tried to make it seep into the man's channels.

It didn't work. It should have. This was technically how Lucas had observed people regenerate their MP. People didn't make their own, they took from the ambient mana and let it seep into their channels just like this. It went unnoticed because the mana wasn't in a widely perceptible form, but Lucas had seen it, he'd seen it a long time ago.

But it wasn't working, and a slight uptick in movement told him why. Whenever Lucas's mana came close to entering Eugene, the layer of corruption would rise up and push back. It fought against him and completely barred entry unless Lucas drilled a physical hole past its wall.

No. No, no, no. Stop fighting!

A pulse reverberated through the ambient mana centered on the man before Lucas, but also from a spot a ways behind him, and Lucas heard a voice.

You cannot take what I have claimed, Legacy.

Lucas turned and looked directly into the eyes of the corrupted vessel, across the distance. An unreasonable rage threatened to spring up in him, but he forcefully tamped it down. Rage wouldn't do any good right now when so much was riding on his actions. Rage wouldn't save Eugene.

"You can't get in," he spoke quietly, though there was no doubt the vessel heard him, "you can't stop me."

Another pulse rung out, and the monster spoke again.

This vessel may be barred, but you took little pieces of me inside there with you!

It laughed. It laughed, and Lucas had to fight down that anger once more.

I will take their lives, and when hunger forces you to come out, I will take your's as well. Rejoice, for the authority you bear will serve a higher purpose!

Authority? It knows about my blank Skill?

That might be actionable information. If that was what the monster wanted, then Lucas could...

A third pulse of mana went out into the clearing, but this time, it was centered entirely on Lucas and seemed to resonate with the fae circle. The calm mana suddenly spiked, not in speed but in intensity, somehow, and a twisting dark worm that had evaded Lucas's notice was forcibly ejected out. The corrupted vessel went rabid and started pounding on the air again, but the sounds of the horde started fading away. Another voice spoke.

Do not give in to his tricks, Lucas. You can still prevail.

You again, he thought. What did I do to deserve your attention? Why are we caught in the middle of your fight?

I do not know. Not even my sight can delve through time, I'm sorry.

Lucas shook his head to clear his thoughts. Nevermind, complaining won't help anyone. You said I can prevail?

You can.

How? Help me save them, and I'll come find you like you asked.

I will guide you.

Lucas felt the calm presence of the fae circle envelop him, and almost without realizing it, he let out another cloud of diffuse mana. He moved by instinct, but in truth did very little different from his last attempt at extracting the corruption. This time, however, when his mana permeated every entrance to Eugene's channels, the ambient arcane energies acted--but they did not push to force and entrance, they pulled.

The corruption writhed within Eugene, and Lucas almost quit in fear that its struggling would harm the [Warrior], but he felt a steady hand press up against him and hold him steady. He kept going.

Whatever was happening, Lucas had far too little control over it, but the fear he expected would not rise up. Something was happening here that he truly did not understand, but it was going to be okay.

When the corruption gave in, it happened all at once. Suddenly, its writhing stopped and it started to get sucked to the surface, the further. Faster than Lucas could blink, the corrupted mana came out and connected to his own, then started to steadily dissolve. Before he could panic, a notification pushed through the hold he'd been keeping on them and appeared before his mind's eye.

[Authority Subsumed! Inspect [----------] for more information!]

I have started the process, Lucas, and it is up to you from here. Your enemy will not stick around now that you have this capability, but be warned: he will return.

I get it, Lucas answered. And thank you, I'll come find you.

Lucas couldn't see the being he was speaking to, and he didn't really think it was fully present, but still he felt when it left. Another bang ringing through the air marked its departure and forced Lucas's attention back to where the vessel remained barred from the circle. The corrupted nilbog slammed its fist against the air one more time and its eyes burned into Lucas.

Then it collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, and one by one, many of the other monsters started to follow. Lucas watched them spontaneously die in droves, and deep down, he knew the others were never going to believe this.

Beneath him, Eugene suddenly groaned and a level of tension Lucas hadn't previously noticed bled out of him.

Right, back on task. One down, nearly a dozen more to go.

* [----------: - Lesser Mana Authority (00.13%) - Limited Sensory Enhancement]

No one was going to die today.