Drink, eat, and feast! My people, my soldiers, lovers, and sons! A great victory, God has graced us with!
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“You…” Kai uttered, almost unable to believe his eyes. “You found this many faults and even wrote an improved version just based on a few experiments?”
Barhm sighed, seemingly tired of Kai’s dramatics, and explained. “Once you figure out the base, modifying the structure won’t be as difficult. Besides, did you think that I wouldn’t find any faults after being able to carefully analyze every small section of your mana veins? Give me some credit.
“Not only did you not extract all the impurities you could have, miniscule amount of organic matter also made its way into your system. Left in small quantities like this there wouldn’t be any problems. However, without improving both the technique and the way you use it, that could lead to some serious damage.
“In addition to that, you let yourself get lost in the feeling of absorbing the mana but didn’t study it. If you did, you would have found out that some of it leaked through your mana veins and core, mixing with your blood. Do you really want to die from Mana Poisoning?
“Not to mention, you didn’t bother to control the rate of absorption, which could either wound your mana veins or core. You need to keep a clear head when doing experiments, you acted like a beast. Do better.”
With Barhm listing a multitude of his flaws, in addition to the ones written on the sheet of paper before him, his face turned a bright shade of red, and so did his ears, more than anything. His shoulders shook from shame, however, he also knew that everything Barhm said was right. In that moment, any sort of rational he had disappeared, his animalistic brain taking over reason.
He stood alone in silence, with an indifferent Barhm ready to analyze the way he did things to a microscopic level once again. Lack of self-control, absorbing impurities, damaging myself… Kai began to see a pattern in the way he did things, however, he couldn't quite put a finger on why he did things like this all the time. Maybe my missing soul pieces will help me… the closest one is in Lustra, I believe. However he didn’t check the map now, as it wasn’t the time, and he had other important matters on hand.
Just like before, he took out a Scarfying Bloom and trapped it in a Mana Bubble. Then, after measuring out the right amount of control, he once again called upon his Mana Core. However, this time, he slowed down the process of extracting mana. This time around he didn’t prioritize speed, but efficiency. Despite the huge amount of time it took to empty the plant, the blue cloud of mana that formed this time around was undeniably thicker and denser. After half an hour, the plant disappeared and turned to ash.
Kai made sure to filter out all of the bit before even thinking about filtering out the impurities, and he did so to the best of his ability and senses.
“Keep going.” Barhm encouraged him. Kai followed the order, despite being unable to sense any more organic material inside the bubble. Eventually, the mana inside the bubble homogenized into a flowing, blueish liquid vapor.
After another fifteen minutes, after thinking it enough, and without Barhm saying anything else, Kai created another bubble within the bubble. Once again stabilizing his control, he called upon the Body Core and began extracting the impurities. Similarly to the Mana Core suctioning, he slowed it down, and increased its strength, so that it would pull the impurities better.
He used the Body Core’s innate ability to filter out the mana with greater performance than a Mana Core, however, he then called upon his Mana Core as well and used both of their ability to purify mana. Slowly but surely, the impurity bubble grew large, with more and more flakes, until it shared one-third of the total space available inside the Mana Shape. So many impurities… Kai couldn’t help but gasp and thought about how much of that he’d absorbed until now.
Finally, he stopped and then placed the impurity bubble to the side, making it float with a small amount of control. Next, he took a deep breath, and physically touched the Mana Shape, then called solely upon his Mana Core to absorb the mana at a slow, steady rate.
The same euphoric feeling he had the first time around appeared once again, this time with a much smaller intensity, and Kai controlled himself. Refusing to let his instincts take over his body once again, he followed the path of mana closely as it traveled through his veins. It flowed slowly like a calm river, however, microscopic cracks, scars from a long time ago that had yet to heal, let some of it leak out.
Kai’s heart skipped a beat, unable to believe that he and Aina had missed such an obvious flaw, however he couldn’t blame himself or her. After all, the mana Kai usually absorbed was thicker, and less fine, so it couldn’t fully pass through. Now, however, it did, poisoning Kai’s bloodstream with a minuscule amount of particles.
I’ll need to use the Hippcratus Healing Technique again… thankfully I still have plenty of healing pills left from Aina, I think a dozen or so. More than enough to spare.
For the moment, though, he had to accept the poisoning and use the technique to expel them from his bloodstream later. For the moment, he kept his concentration on the process of absorbing mana. It went smoothly, much more smoothly than he expected, and in less than fifteen minutes, the cloud of mana had decreased by more than half. He tried, however, to compress the mana into a sphere, in an attempt to recreate the pills Aina made. As expected, nothing came out of it, and it just turned into liquid which then quickly turned into something between liquid and vapor once again.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Giving up any thoughts of making something Aina and the other team spent years on, after another fifteen minutes, all the mana inside the Mana Shape completely integrated inside Kai’s core.
He let his control of it go, and he breathed heavily as it disappeared into nothingness. Quickly gathering the impurities into another vial, and storing it away, Kai let out a large sigh of relief and took the time to analyze the change within his body.
Firstly, the mana he had used up during the fight had more than recovered. His star shone, filled to the brim with mana, and his core was thirty-three percent full. A three percent increase in total quantity… that’s… so much! He gasped, barely able to contain his excitement.
Barhm separated himself from Kai and quickly began writing down more of his findings, talking aloud in his native language. Kai wasn’t able to fully understand it, however, the little he picked up confirmed his suspicions as well. Just as expected, the purer the mana, the easier time it has scraping away at the invisible limit in a Core.
Once my Large Mana Core reaches one hundred percent, I can then use the mana stored inside the star, in addition to outside mana, and push it to its very limits. I wonder, how big can I get it to be? One hundred and thirty percent, one hundred and fifty, two hundred? The bigger it is, the more mana I will be able to store once I create a second star… However, that will have to wait…
He giggled helplessly to himself, like a crazy person lost in their own world, as Barhm finished writing down his notes. “Alright,” he cleared his throat, breaking Kai from his stupor. “That was better, now follow this.” He said, then handed Kai the freshly inked paper.
Reading it, Kai’s spirits both lifted and fell at the same time. He sighed, then collected myself.
Once again starting the process of isolating the Scarfying Bloom, he used an alternative method to extract the mana within. This new method consisted of stopping every two or so minutes, to let the mana settle and homogenize, then start the extraction process again and again. Doing so, Kai created small pockets of mana, separated from one another, which he then separately cleared of impurities.
He found that using this method, the total amount of impurities more than doubled. The sphere of dark purple flakes took over half of the total space available within the shape. After discarding and securing it, Kai, as per Barm’s instructions, willed his body core to heat up. Then, after an incredibly uncomfortable feeling rose up in his chest, he used both cores to suck the mana in.
As it passed through the outer Body Core, the mana solidified slightly and created a small blockage of impurities that Barhm helped Kai clean and contain.
After the entire process, only about thirty percent of the total mana Kai had extracted was absorbed by his core, which didn’t seem to be refined any further.
Disappointed, Kai waited for Barhm’s report on the matter. Just like usual, he wrote on his notes, not for long, though. “This seems to be the limit of what the Scarfying Bloom can do. You will need to practice and learn how to remove the internal impurities yourself, so as to not impede the flow of mana. Otherwise, I think this is the limit. Thirty percent pure, albeit low-quality mana is a good start.
“Now, do keep in mind this technique can be used with any plants, and I made it so, as long as you can split your attention, it can be used with multiple plants at the same time.”
He explained all that without any emotion or change in his tone. A rapid-fire flow of information that didn’t seem to care about what he had just accomplished. Kai couldn’t say he was surprised, but he couldn’t believe that Barhm acted so nonchalantly about it. However, even as he wanted to say something, the boy cut him off. “I need to go and process my findings…” He stopped at the door to his research lab, and without turning, added. “…this is monumental.”
Kai scoffed and collapsed on the ground. Both of fatigue and relief, that he had something he could use, as long as he had what to extract mana from. Mana plants, even small and insignificant, are mostly everywhere on the continent. He recalled the plants he knew of, even if vaguely. Then, thinking of the technique Barhm had created with just some vague directions and help from him.
He took the basic concept and made a way to achieve it using an external element, instead of internal. That’s simply… unheard of. I’m not sure if he’s thinking outside the box or if he’s simply a genius.
To say that Kai admired Barhm would be an understatement, however, no amount of familiarity would allow him to forget that the innocent-looking boy was a monster from who knows where. I wouldn’t win in a fight, it wouldn’t even come close, actually. That simple thought made him shiver and steeled his will.
Walking over to Barhm’s laboratory, he saw the countless documents he had already written, and his eyes had shone upon one that interested him in particular. The art of Invisibility? He thought, intrigued, and read the paper, trying to understand as much of Barhm’s tongue as possible. His pupils widened, and he almost felt himself gasping for breath as his eyes scanned the writing. Amazing…! But he seems to be missing something…
«In order for the subject to turn invisible, and after studying how light functions in this world, I have to a few conclusions. Subject needs to either make it so their DNA does not reflect or absorb light, instead letting it pass right through, therefore not casting any shadow.
A second possibility would be that Subject makes it so their being fools the mind’s eye into thinking that Subject is not visible by changing the way our brain processes the light they reflect. This could either be done through some special magic, or by a very strong physical illusion. I have my reasons to believe it’s the former. For now, my tests are inconclusive as the microscope provided by [Redacted] is not strong enough. End of Report.»
Those theories seem to align with what Rodney believed, however his interests, as vast as they were, never intersected with invisibility, and therefore I have no real help I can provide… He sighed and turned away, leaving for the carpet in front of the fireplace. Bahrm ignored his presence that entire time, and only focused on scribbling down his theories.
Just as Kai wanted to start another training session, though, his stomach growled, reminding him that he barely ate anything for the day. Thinking of of Onyx too, and realising that the Obborik also went unfed, he couldn’t help but sigh. I’m so forgetful. However, instead of pulling out whatever rations he had stored, Kai stood up and whistled for Onyx, who slept peacefully on the couch.
Upon hearing his companion’s calling, his ears perked up, and immediately dashed off the couch, then followed him outside. Kai swiftly placed the fox mask over his face, then covered his head with a hood, and dashed through the dark alleyways alongside Onyx, heading toward the town center.