(Kalan)
“Report.”
“Yes, sir. The so-called Satanists have begun to move. We spotted the defectors smuggling goods through the forest to an unknown location just south of Lign Aloes. Our scouts tried to follow them, but they seemingly disappeared shortly after crossing the Gihon River.”
“Hmmm… They always seem to vanish into thin air when we’re so close."
“In any case, any update on the investigation into the attacks on the district of Nazareth?”
“Not really, sir. The only thing we’ve been able to uncover is that all the attacks happened in the two days' time and that the attacks follow a specific trajectory; a straight line through, connecting all the cities and villages attacked. We have also confirmed that it was all done by one person although that person’s identity has not been discovered.”
“Two days? How is that possible? Someone would have had to be able to fly at an incomprehensible speed or right out be able to teleport for all those attacks to fit in the time frame.”
“Yes, sir, it would seem that way.”
“Hmmm… ok." I said rubbing my temples.
"Ask the seven districts to give me a report of every single S-ranked and Transcendent-ranked individual that is currently known. I also want you to request the Third Paladin to personally go and investigate the attacks themselves and report back to me on any findings.”
“I’d also like you to send three small groups of scouts into the forest to search for any trace of where those Satanists went.”
“Yes, sir. Right away!”
“Thank you, Ryla, you are dismissed.”
I watched as she slowly walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.
I stood up and looked out the window overlooking the city.
‘What exactly is going on?’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Eve Solaris)
I guided the ambient mana with my mana towards my body and absorbed it into myself. I then began the process of assimilating the mana, making it my own. After about a week or so, the process became almost routine, second nature, even.
Over the past week, I had made little to no progress in how to form layers around my heart. Everytime I tried to weave mana like a web on top of my heart, it would just absorb it into itself and circulate it through my body and back to my core.
While the heart was acting in the way it would when the layers were formed in the beginning, the mana would not stay, putting me back to where I started.
From what I learned, kids much younger than me usually figured this out in their first month of awakening mana. I, however, have gotten almost nowhere in that aspect after almost a month and a half.
“Ughhhhhhh, this is stupid!” I said, standing up and kicking my bed.
“I don’t understand why I can’t make something so seemingly simple!”
“Maybe it’s because you lack creativity.”
“Huh?” I turned around startled.
What awaited me, however, was a wooden door, absent of a person that I expected to be there.
“I’m sure you know how to weave mana together already?”
I turned around again, half startled and half curious.
I was greeted with the sight of a slender, yet lean looking woman who wore light armor and a dark cloak that covered her face to a degree. She was sitting on my bed, flipping a knife in her hand. A knife that looked very sharp and very expensive.
The mere sight of her seemingly blurred the lines of light and dark as if she was hiding in the shadows.
“How’d you do that?” I asked.
“If you try weaving your mana enough, it begins to reach a tangible state, albeit not completely, that can help form webs of mana or even strengthen the properties of an object.”
And like that, she disappeared. I questioned whether or not this had actually happened, but the sounds from outside my window snapped me out of my trance.
It was as if sound and sight just disappeared whenever she was around, avoiding and covering her in it’s illusions.
However, what she said to me caught my interest even more.
To weave mana… I watched it happen almost by itself when I was absorbing the ambient mana. My mana would intertwine with the mana from outside of me and move almost as one, however I wouldn’t necessarily call that weaving mana. Then a thought occurred to me.
I summoned some mana out of my body and began weaving it back on itself. I could feel as the energy began to feel a bit heavier, in a way, as the more I weaved it together the harder it became to guide it.
I then began to lead it back into my body and towards my heart. What happened next sparked a thrill of excitement inside of me. The mana wasn’t absorbed into my heart, but rather, was almost seemingly sitting on top of it.
I tried to wrap it around my heart, however it didn’t seem to have any effect.
This didn’t stop me, but rather kept me going.
I had learned that, by weaving mana together, one could create mana that wasn’t absorbed into the heart, but rather acted as clothing for it.
I thanked the mysterious woman in my head and began repeating what I had learned until I was able to create a big enough web to completely fit around my heart.
“Finally! Now for the moment of truth…”
I guided the web of mana around my heart and watched as it seemingly was absorbed into it once again.
I began to panic as I watched all my hard work go down the drain.
Then, something happened. The heart itself seemingly began… glowing- radiating with power and light?
And then I felt it. I could feel as mana coursed through my veins and through every fiber of my being. The feeling itself was indescribable. I had never felt this powerful in my life. It was almost as if I was being reborn in some way. I felt… alive.
I did the first thing I could think of and tried to summon mana out of my body.
The mana came out faster and in bigger amounts than I ever thought possible. It was surreal in a way at just how much easier it felt to control my mana in comparison to what I could do with my core.
‘Whoever that woman was… she sure saved me a lot of time’ I thought as I rode the waves of excitement filling me at my new found strength.
I then remembered what Kalan had said about enhancing your body with mana when a thought occurred to me.
I began channeling mana towards my hand and then summoned it out as I normally would. I then curled it around my hand and up my arm. I felt as my arm was filled with a renewed sense of power and strength.
“This is going to hurt if it doesn’t work…” I said to myself as I turned and faced the wall.
I took a deep breath and then began to punch towards the wall.
I braced for impact, expecting my knuckles to shatter under the force of my punch. Instead, however, I opened my eyes to see a newly formed hole in my wall.
“Hey, Eve?!? What ha- oh. Hah. Haha.” Kalan's eyes went from me to the wall and then back to me.
“Well from the looks of it, it seems like you’ve accomplished what I expected to take you a bit longer. Regardless, however, congratulations on forming your mana heart! How’s it feel?”
“It’s… well, it’s amazing. I’ve never felt this powerful in my life to be honest.”
“Right?? I can still remember the time when I formed my mana heart. Man, how time flies. I really have come a long way”
Kalan was looking at me, however his gaze seemed to be much farther away from here as if he was reminiscing on some distant past.
“This probably would’ve taken me longer if I’m being honest. If it wasn’t for whoever visited me, I’d probably still be stumped for another couple of weeks” I said, breaking the silence.
“Pardon?”
“Yeah, uh. Someone visited me a bit ago; I don’t really know how to describe her other than mysterious as her figure seemed to be hidden in the shadows if I’m being honest.”
“Ah, you must’ve met Ryla. She’s my assistant of sorts. She’s a very talented hunter and assassin. You could probably learn a lot from her if I’m being honest. Maybe even much more than what you’d be able to learn from me.”
‘Ryla, huh’ I thought to myself. The image of her blending in with the shadows still very fresh and surreal in my mind.
“Also, if I might suggest, if you could refrain from making holes in the wall above the courtyard, that would be greatly appreciated. Don’t want to hit anyone below with some falling debris if you get what I mean.”
Shock struck me as I completely forgot that people could’ve been walking under my room’s walls without me knowing.
I quickly took a look down from my window to see if anyone had been hit, but thankfully no one seemed to have been hit by the debris.
“Anyways. Once again, congratulations on forming your mana heart, Eve. I know you might be excited and all, but I suggest you take it easy for the rest of the day.”
“After one forms a mana heart, the following day they are hit with an immense mana withdrawal. The effects of transforming one’s own organ and the constant use of it filling your body with mana, wears the individual down.”
“I understand, thanks for that advice.” I said as I reabsorbed the mana back into my body.
“Ah, why don’t we move you to another room. Seeing as how staying in here might be a bit… troublesome.”
“You might be right.” I said with a wry smile.
I grabbed my stuff and began to follow Kalan out the door, closing it on my way out.
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