“In latest news, I’ve completed my third mana circuit.” Farah looked down on Schwarz smugly, scooping up some mashed potato into her bowl at the same time. It was remarkable how she managed to give such an innocuous action such an air of jauntiness and pride, and from Risti and Nero’s faces, she clearly wasn’t alone in thinking that way either.

“Congratulations,” Dia replied, before looking at her breakfast with relish. It was one of those times when everyone elected to end their closed-door training to relax, which was why this was the first time she had eaten something that wasn’t a lifestone. This training had lasted for two weeks after the Red God’s familiar spirit showed up without warning, and their persistence was driven by a very simple desire to not die.

So far, things were going well.

The two others echoed her words, right down to the very awkward tone she had employed earlier. Farah eyed the three of them, and then raised an eyebrow. “You guys don’t seem to be that happy.”

“Oh, no. It’s just that we woke up really early in the morning,” Risti replied.

“It’s almost noon.”

“And that we don’t have much of an appetite for some reason,” Nero added, eating his own bowl of mashed potato.

Farah raised an eyebrow and turned to Dia. “What about you?”

“What? I’m happy that you became a tri-folder!” Dia forced a grin. “Anyway, you shouldn’t go after the least talented member of the Seekers of Life. It’s not his fault that his ability to manipulate mana is so low.”

“Crap.” Farah paused. “Sorry, Schwarz. I forgot about this.”

“It’s you, after all.” Schwarz shrugged. “Anyway, I’m rather close to completing my third mana circuit, even if I’ve failed around four times.”

Everyone winced.

“Don’t feel sorry for me,” Schwarz replied. “I should have practiced more finesse and everything. I’m now suffering for my sloth and laziness. Everything’s my fault. I’m sorry for wasting so much precious resources.”

The amount of negativity flowing off the bartender was a bit too painful for Dia to look at, but she knew that he had a point. The last tenth of a mana circuit was always destroyed if the mana-user failed to advance, and after a while, the cost of failure added up. Since Schwarz had failed four times, he had wasted the equivalent of eighty years of lifespan.

All of that were pure-ranked lifestones, and the amount he had used was nothing to sneeze at either. After a while, Schwarz had elected to buy the lifestones he used by placing the equivalent amount of platinum into the Seekers of Life’s shared funds, but he knew that he was still gaining a lot from that.

“Come now,” Farah replied, scooping up some mashed potato for him, “don’t feel so bad.”

“Just put in more effort into the morning training classes…we should really restart them, shouldn’t we?” Dia muttered. “I think I’m close to touching the threshold between Intermediate and Expert too. Maybe a few pushes here and there would do it for me.”

“How do you know if you’re close?” Farah asked.

“Well, I’ve been pushing the limits of my control, remember? The difference between Intermediate and Expert is how much of your total mana you can control at once. At Expert, you can mobilise half of your total mana without any wastage whatsoever. I’m already capable of mobilising four-tenths of my mana without giving off light now,” Dia replied.

“Oh!”

“Of course, that’s in what I call my perfect condition, but I’m aiming to make it possible throughout my daily life and movement,” Dia explained further. “Once I get to that point, I should be on the absolute threshold.”

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The others eyed Dia, and then sighed. She could faintly taste some envy in the air, but if it could spur the others on to work harder, then it would be worth it.

Schwarz, in particular, was looking at Dia in a manner that reminded her of a certain baron asking for help from her father to fund an orphanage, but she wasn’t ever going to say that out loud. Instead, she smiled and said, “If you guys need help or just someone to drive in hard work into your heads, I’m happy to help.”

“Ahem.” Nero cleared his throat. “Before that, however, I think we need to settle one major issue. We’re running out of lifestones. While you guys were locking yourselves up to draw more mana circuits, I paid a visit to the frontlines, harvested some prana jades at a few ancient battlefields and turned in some kills, but what I gathered will only sustained your expenditures for one person to complete their fourth mana circuit.”

“Wait, you did what?” Schwarz asked.

“Went out to kill some enemies?” Nero raised an eyebrow. “Don’t look so surprised. I’m capable of beating everyone here with ease. Don’t look down on the fourth mana circuit. It’s a watershed in strength, and I’m the Holy Son of the Black God.”

“It’s not our fault if we forget that last part sometimes, okay?” Schwarz replied. “I cannot help but associate the Holy Son of the Black God with booze now, thanks to you. Anyway…that’s a lot of lifestones.”

“Yeah. Nearly six hundred pure-ranked lifestones. Do the math and convert them to gold, if you want to.”

“I think we’ll pass. The prices went up recently…” Schwarz shook his head. “Still, don’t you need it?”

“…Let’s just say that being a Holy Son has its benefits,” Nero replied.

“Benefits?” Farah asked, before looking at Nero. “What kinds of benefits are we talking about? You know, I don’t mind supporting the parish of the Black God in my county…”

“Ahaha. Well, I’ll send word to the priests when I get the chance, then.” Nero cleared his throat. “Anyway, I’m proud and happy to announce that I’m a penta-folder.”

“Nice.” Dia looked at her mashed potato, and then paused. “Wait, what? Penta-folder? What the heck?”

“Son of a…" Schwarz muttered. “How did you do that?”

“Privileges of a Holy Son. Didn’t I say that earlier?” Nero replied. “Anyway, we can go into the battlefield now. I can protect you guys out there now, and to be honest, you guys really need it.”

“We’re not going to look for those two lovebirds,” Risti replied, “but I think we can just poke around in ancient battlefields. Are there any in the Istrel Sovereignty?”

“Quite a few, actually. A lot of them are still pristine and unexplored, since there aren’t many tetra-folders and above in existence. Tri-folders can’t really explore the place freely, but with my presence, even normal people can do that” Nero replied, a hint of pride in his words. “Anyway, I found one that’s been unexplored, which was where all the prana jades I harvested came from.”

“Nice.” Schwarz touched his chin. “Prana jades break down into lifestones after a while, right?”

“Some efficacy is lost in doing so, but all that lost lifeforce eventually turns into a lifestone in the end,” Nero replied. “So? What do you guys think?”

“How is this harvesting operation going to work?” Dia asked, curious.

“Simple. I’ll use my mana to erect a barrier where you’ll be protected from strong, lingering thoughts. After that, we’ll dig up the place and grab everything in sight,” Nero replied.

“It’s that easy?”

Nero shook his head. “The hard parts are locating confluences of prana jade. I’ll have to do that myself, and after I locate the target spots, I’ll escort you guys there. It’s a matter of just finding and using them.”

“Hmm. If it’s that easy—”

“Why aren’t more mid-rank mana-users doing it?” Nero asked. “Why would they need to? Most tetra-folders hold very high positions. Nobles would pay them to just stay in their territory in lifestones and prana jades, and as for how they harvest them…well, lives are very expendable.”

A chill ran down Dia’s spine.

“Yeah.” Nero shrugged. “No protection whatsoever. And some mana-users say that sending people to die in ancient battlefields is just resowing the field after a good harvest. These jobs, fortunately, don’t happen often, since most people obviously don’t want to die, but there are slaves and criminals that can be sent there.”

“Without them knowing?”

“Without them knowing,” Nero replied. “Oh, and it’s not a Nihal thing. All three continents have similar practices…you can start by asking the dukes here.”

Dia wondered if her father did such things too, but…did she really need to think that hard? Her father always did have unexplained loads of lifestones, ready to be handed out at a moment’s notice.

She glanced at Farah, whose surprised face indicated that she never did such a thing before, and then heaved a sigh.

Nero looked around, awkward. “Sorry. I kinda brought up a bad topic, didn’t I?”

“We should all be aware of the darker parts of this world,” Farah replied quietly. “And…well, I’m not sure if I wouldn’t do that myself. Of course, I’ll find ways to protect the people sent there, but having a steady supply to protect my territory is very important too. If some huge monster appears and there isn’t a competent folder around, thousands are going to die.”

“Life has a nasty habit of forcing people to make choices between bad and worse decisions,” Risti replied. “Anyway, tell us more about this plan of yours.”

Nero perked up. “The ancient battlefield I located is the graveyard where the God of Hope was killed. Buried with them were over four hundred thousand soldiers from both sides, and…”