“Cough”

I spilled out blood from my eyes, ears and mouth. I could feel something was wrong with my body. I had never felt pain like this before... It felt like I was being ripped apart from the inside, by a force too great to contain. 

My vision was blurring, and it took everything in me to keep standing. If I lost my consciousness now, it would all be over. 

“Kale...wake up..."

Kale’s sword was inches away from my neck. He was frozen in place and his eyes were glowing a stronger purple than before. I could feel my mind spell was fighting Miriam’s inside of him.

My spell however was much weaker. I wouldn’t have succeeded in stopping Kale if his aura wasn’t fighting with me. 

‘Stupid grandmaster... this was suicide!'

‘Mind Control’ is a 2nd circle spell. 

Naturally, only mages who gain the 2nd circle can use this spell.

However I was able to cast it with just 1 circle. I did it because of something I read in the story.

***

“Ellan! You won’t believe what this teacher of yours has discovered.”

“What is it this time?”

“I’ve figured out a way to cast spells that are stronger than the amount of circles you have!”

“..? But that’s impossible. You’d explode the moment the spell was cast.”

“And the reason for that is because they don’t have the right amount of circles to control the flow of mana through their body. But what if you can have a temporary circle? A fake circle? Just long enough to cast the spell.”

“How is that possible?”

“When a mage releases a spell they’ve cast, the mana flows back into the atmosphere. Normally this act would just be a waste of mana, but what if you’re able to absorb back the mana you released? Then, the mana in the air around us would follow the flow doubling- no tripling the amount of mana that comes back into your heart.”

“But the point of creating a mana circle is because the mana in the atmosphere is mixed with impurities. That’s why it takes so long to make a magic circle, the body needs time to purify the mana. If the body were to absorb the mana in the atmosphere, it would absorb all the impurities too!”

“That’s right, as expected of my student. However, this teacher of yours has discovered that by absorbing it together with the mana you released, it attracts 80% of the pure mana in the air. The other 20... would depend on how good the caster is at filtering it out.”

“Teacher! That’s amazing!”

“Trust me Ellan! This is a major discovery!”

***

‘I should never have trusted that con of a grandmaster!’

I did exactly as he said in the story, and I could feel a 2nd circle form around my heart when I reabsorbed my mana from the atmosphere. Filtering out the impurities was surprisingly easy to do.

However, it was extremely unstable. I had to heighten my senses to the max. If I lost control for a second, I would explode into a million pieces. Even then I could feel the mana seeping out of my body, causing blood to flow out from my orifices.

‘I can’t hold on much longer... and the spell from Miriam is growing stronger!'

It’s been a while since I’ve seen another crazy mage like you.

Suddenly I could feel the strain on my body loosen. The pain lessened, and my consciousness was returning. The unstable circle was stabilizing.

I’ll lend you a hand just this once.

I looked around but no one else was here. Someone was using magic so that only their voice was heard.

After my temporary 2nd circle fully stabilized, I could feel a great flow of mana flowing in from an unknown source. I used it to strengthen my mind control spell.

Through the two spells fighting inside Kale, I could feel Miriam’s shocked emotions. Her spell was getting pushed back, until she willingly let go. Once I gained full control, I released my spell together with my 2nd circle. 

Kale’s aura exploded from inside him, and his eyes regained its light.

“..!! Vyn, what happened to you?!”

“I- I have no energy to explain. For now we need to-“

I was about to tell Kale that we needed to leave the forest, when we both felt multiple presences. I looked behind Kale, and Kale turned around.

From the darkness behind the trees, figures came out.

“Grhhg”

“Arghh”

“Mrghh”

“Hrggh”

They all had bloodshot eyes and were walking in unnatural ways. It was the same condition as the three men who attacked Taylor.

‘What is Miriam’s goal? Getting information about me shouldn't be important enough to risk their identity becoming known.'

“I don’t really understand what’s going on, but I’ll take care of this. I think this time I can restrain them.”

I nodded. It was taking all of my strength to just stay standing.

Vyn ran toward the herd. His sword was glowing in a deeper red than before. His aura was ready for revenge.

Tsk tsk How can you think of doing something so reckless?

It was the voice again.

“...Thank you for your help..."

Where did you learn it?

“..."

You don’t want to tell me? No matter. I’ll just make you.

Command magic

‘Tell me the Truth!’

I felt an enormous flow of mana around me. It was heavy like nothing I’ve felt before. I could tell that any question that he asks me now, I would have no choice but to answer with the truth.

Now, tell me where you learned it.

“I-“

I flinched.

I could feel a faint flow of mana flowing into my body from my bag. It was a nostalgic feeling.

‘Faye!’

“I learned it from a grandmaster.”

Ho? What was his name?

“I don’t know.”

Explain.

“I only overheard him speak to another person about it.”

How were you able to know he was a grandmaster?

“He told the other person that he was one.”

You’re telling me a grandmaster couldn’t feel your presence?

“That’s right.”

...

“..."

You’re lying. I don’t know how it’s possible, but my spell isn’t working on you.

He was right. Thanks to Faye, I was able to mix in lies with the truth. 

“I. speak. only. the. truth.”

...

Okay that sounded pretty bad.

“Vyn!”

I turned my head towards Kale who was the only one left standing. All the controlled were on the ground, unable to move. I could see a red aura restraining all of them.

Kale had his foot on top of a man who was squirming to get free. It was the herb gatherer we were sent out to find.

“GrrrAHH!”

The man let out a scream and I could see the red aura loosening around him. 

‘Miriam is fighting back!’

You two aren’t enough to handle a master just yet. You owe me one for this.

If I could see the voice’s body right now, I imagined him waving his hand in the air.

From afar I thought I could hear a girl’s voice. 

“kyaaaaaaaahh!”

The voice gradually grew soft, until I couldn’t hear anything anymore. When there was silence, all the controlled lost their consciousness.

“What did you do?”

I sent her far away.

“Vyn, who are you talking to?”

I turned over to Kale, who was carrying the herb gatherer on his back.

“You can’t hear the voice?”

“What voice?”

“There’s a voice who helped us just now.”

Kale looked around and back at me with a worried look in his eyes.

“I think you’ve lost too much blood. Let’s hurry back.”

He won’t be able to hear my voice. I’ve only allowed you to hear me.

“Why?”

You’re interesting. If it were the old days, I would kidnap you and perform all sorts of experiments...

Flinch

But even the dragons change with the times, so I shall take you in as my student instead. 

“Vyn?”

Kale was burrowing his eyebrows. He could now sense that something serious was going on.

I looked at Kale.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. I signed a contract to work at a guild, and I plan to stay there.”

Ridiculous! All the mages in this world would give up their lives to learn from me. Even those stuck ups in the tower have begged me on all fours.

I grew extremely curious as to who the voice could be, but I shook my head. I couldn’t show them any openings.

“If you aren’t going to kidnap me, I’ll be on my way now. Thank you very much for saving us.”

I started walking, and Kale followed behind. He seemed like he had a lot of questions, but was being careful in the presence of the unknown.

After walking through the forest for a few minutes, the voice spoke again.

What kind of guild do you belong to?

I did my best to not show how nervous I was.

“I’m in a mercenary guild. We do jobs for people who need our help.”

There was silence again until Kale and I were out of the forest.

When I call for you, I want you to do a job for me. I believe my help deserves that at least. Until then, you can read these.

I looked back towards the forest, when 3 books suddenly appeared in front of me and fell into my hands.