[I think I’m going to lose my mind.]
[Huh……?]
Jun received a message from Maya through the “World Tree’s Essence” for the first time in a while.
And honestly, he was surprised by her first words.
She’s not the type to whine like this.
What on earth was she doing to make her sound like that?
He asked, and the reply came quickly.
[I came to some kind of ruin. They told me to talk to ancient spirits…….]
[Yeah, that’s why they brought you, right?]
[It’s different. These spirits. What they say is hard to understand. I can’t make sense of it.]
[Ah…….]
Come to think of it, Maya didn’t know ancient languages, did she?
Naturally, there was no way she could understand what the ancient spirits were saying.
[And on top of that, their consciousness is blurry. Trying to talk to them is making my head feel like it’s going to explode.]
[Yeah, I can see how that would be a problem.]
The funny thing, though, was that this ordeal was actually accelerating Maya’s growth.
She had always needed to improve her ability to communicate with spirits, and the problem had been that she didn’t have enough mana accumulated in her mind during that process.
Some time ago, Jun had told her a very simple yet brutal way to increase her mana capacity.
Use up your mana to the point of depletion, and make mana usage a part of your daily life.
Back when she was with Jun, she couldn’t use up her mana to such extremes, since they never knew when a fight might break out……
[They’re taking such good care of me that I can’t even complain…….]
It seemed the Altas Adventurer Party was guarding Maya with everything they had, since she was the only one who could gather clues.
The fact that the party leader himself was guarding her spoke volumes.
The problem was……
[Hahaha. I see. Our Maya is working hard while being treated like royalty, huh?]
Meanwhile, Eleanor had been fasting for days under the belief that one must maintain a pure body to accept divine power.
[Are you at least getting decent meals, Maya?]
Even now, Aiden was fighting for his life among the thorn bushes, eating raw meat every other day.
[Ah, damn it. A horde of monsters. I’m pulling out for a bit.]
And Jun was being pushed to his limits by Laness.
With all of them going through their own hell, none of the three could spare any sympathy for Maya.
They were barely surviving themselves. Sympathy wasn’t even on the table.
So Maya couldn’t really complain about it either.
In fact, sometimes when she overheard the chatter between her companions…
“Here, drink this. It’s juice made from fruit known to be excellent for mana recovery.”
“Th-Thank you……”
“And tonight’s dinner is steak, topped with finely ground blue herbs.”
“Ooooh……”
There was simply no room left to voice complaints.
Mentally, she was drained from the constant use of mana.
But her body told the truth.
Since coming here, Maya’s skin had started to glow with radiance.
“You’re so skinny. What are we going to do with you.”
“Munch munch.”
Ron Kyler, the leader of the Altas Adventurer Party and a level 7 warrior, was surprisingly looking after Maya like a younger sister.
***
A little over a month passed.
One day, with roughly two months remaining until the season’s end…
“Congratulations, Velles. You’ve finally done it.”
“Ahh, ahhh!!”
Late at night.
Velles had finally succeeded in casting pure ice-element magic and defeated the Red Lava.
Laness was overjoyed. She cheered and didn’t hold back her praise toward Velles.
He didn’t have the same level of talent as Jun, but he was still someone Laness had been keeping a close eye on.
In any case, Velles, exhausted but proud, returned to camp with a satisfied look on his face.
When Laness was left alone with Jun, she spoke.
“Looks like you’re just about ready now, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
Meanwhile, Jun nodded to himself in quiet reflection.
He could feel his vitality brimming.
It was the result of having used only water-element mana over the past weeks.
To use only water-element mana in an area saturated with fire energy for an entire month….certainly no easy task. But the payoff had been worth it.
It really got tough around the halfway point.
Since the day he first managed to wield pure water-element magic and went a step further to create the unique attribute known as “Absorb Light”, Laness had given him additional homework.
“From now on, you’ll be using enchantment magic too.”
That meant he had to infuse and maintain pure water-element mana into enchantments.
At first, he didn’t think it would be that hard…
I did something terrible to Maya, didn’t I!
But once he tried it for himself, he realized just how difficult it really was.
Even just maintaining pure water-element mana consistently was no small feat, and now he had to manifest it in the middle of combat as well.
There was no room for tricks or shortcuts.
This wasn’t about survival. It was about growth.
He could feel his mental stamina draining by the day.
As much as Jun found joy in learning, there was nothing he could do about his brain feeling fatigued.
Even so, armed with his trademark tenacity, he endured for a full month.
And at last, water-element mana had firmly settled into his mana circuits.
“Shall we begin right away?”
“Yes. No reason to delay.”
The monsters in this area had already been completely wiped out by Laness.
That meant all the preparations were essentially complete.
Even I have to admit. This is the perfect opportunity.
The environment here was helpful in many ways.
That was because the lingering traces of the Red Dragon’s magic were suppressing the aura of the Sea Serpent.
Its power may have decreased, but in exchange, its presence has grown stronger. It must have increased its size to counter the opposing energy.
That made the process of planting the attribute into the circle and then separating it much easier.
She brought me here because she calculated all of this.
Jun couldn’t help but be impressed by Laness’s foresight.
What would’ve taken him quite some time to plan, she had managed to put together in a single day.
It wasn’t something achievable just because she was an eighth-circle mage.
It was only possible because she had built up an immense amount of theoretical knowledge.
“Then, let’s begin.”
“Yes.”
Of course, Laness wasn’t going to directly help with the task at hand.
She was simply standing by, just in case something went wrong.
If Jun failed to properly absorb the Sea Serpent’s heart fragment and complications arose, that’s when she would step in.
Hoo… I can’t believe how nervous I am about this.
Attempting something like this in front of another mage, especially an Archmage of the eighth circle, required immense courage on Jun’s part.
Even though they’d spent a month together, Jun still didn’t fully trust Laness.
She remained someone outside the fence of his heart.
To let his guard down in front of someone like that….it was terrifying for Jun, something that stirred up his past traumas.
Didn’t she say I have trouble trusting people?
Laness too was aware of Jun’s guarded demeanor, even though he tried not to show it.
She even considered stepping away to give him space.
But leaving him completely exposed in the sixth level and not even at a checkpoint just didn’t seem right.
And then—
Honestly, I’m being ridiculous too.
Her curiosity as a mage was overpowering.
Goodness. To think someone would try to extract an attribute embedded in a circle and rotate it around the circle itself…
Laness had once thought of a similar idea in the past but never followed through.
The theory was shaky, and the stability was far too lacking.
But the mage before her had taken that bold idea and actually brought it to life….with results.
If only I’d met him when I was younger… no, back then, this child hadn’t even been born yet. Heh.
This encounter wasn’t just a stroke of fortune for Jun.
Laness too was gaining small but meaningful insights through their time together.
Even if they’re methods I can’t personally use.
After all, the foundation she had built up to reach the eighth circle couldn’t simply be discarded.
But that didn’t mean those methods couldn’t be adapted in other ways.
And if anyone could do that, it was Laness. Of course, this part had already been discussed and agreed upon with Jun.
Precisely because of that, Laness never took her eyes off Jun, who had begun to focus while holding the Sea Serpent’s heart fragment.
And then—
“……”
The Sea Serpent’s aura slowly began to flow into Jun’s body.
But outwardly, there was no visible change.
Sitting on a small stool, Jun simply remained still, his eyes closed.
However…
The cosmos…?
To Laness, it looked entirely different.
Now that she had reached the eighth circle, her sensitivity to mana was nearly unmatched and what she saw in Jun was the cosmos itself.
It was nothing short of an act of creation.
A new planet forming around a sun (the circle) at its center.
Ah!
For a moment, she was captivated by the stunning sight.
Her heart pounded.
That tingling feeling she’d once felt when she first encountered the field of magic at the imperial academy returned to her chest.
Back then, she’d nearly teared up at the miracles that twisted and reshaped reality before her eyes.
And then—
Elas…
She recalled her twin sister, who had once stood by her side, eyes gleaming like stars in the night sky.
The sister she could no longer see….what would she have thought if she’d witnessed this scene?
I’ve gotten sentimental, haven’t I?
The miracles shown by this wandering mage were so breathtaking that even calling them “beautiful” felt insufficient.
And though some might scoff at Laness, wondering why she was making such a fuss—
No one was more overwhelmed by emotion than Laness herself.
Who would’ve thought she’d be so sincerely moved by a mage who, compared to her, was still practically a child. Someone she had only known for a single month?
I want to show the world.
She wanted to take this brilliantly shining gem out into the world and boast about it.
Even if it wasn’t hers.
She still wanted to shout to the world that she was the one who recognized its worth.
The problem is… I can’t.
Those who saw such beauty would likely have their eyes tainted with greed.
Hadn’t there already been two who made that very choice?
Damian and Sergey….mages of Laness’s generation, both praised for their exceptional talent.
They met their ends after reaching beyond their limits, consumed by desire.
The old me might’ve done the same.
Back when she had just lost her sister, when she was even more obsessed with magic….it was hard to say she wouldn’t have fallen into the same temptation.
As she sank deeper into thought—
“……”
—something began to change in Jun.
The Dragon Heart.
Though it was only a fragment, Jun’s body had absorbed every bit of its power and was now unleashing all the strength he possessed.
The [Mana Body], once sealed, broke free on its own and accepted the energy of the Dragon Heart.
Jun’s black hair began to turn a pure white.
Jun hadn’t realized it yet, but the seal was now 50% undone.
The unlocking of the limit. Reaching 50% upon stepping into the sixth circle.
It meant that the [Mana Body] was absorbing the energy of the fallen Dragon Heart with everything it had.
Sssssss—
A massive vortex of mana began to swirl violently around Jun.
It was so intense that even Velles, who had been napping without a care, nearly jumped out of his skin in shock.
“Wh-What is that…?”
How much more could he possibly be shocked?
Forgetting the composure a mage was supposed to maintain, Velles focused solely on the flow of mana spiraling around Jun.
To him, the phenomenon itself was no different from a miraculous opportunity.
And… the transformation didn’t stop there.
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