Chapter 102: A World of Mana
Francis ran a hand through his hair as he thought over the information that he’d just recieved. In the background, the teenagers were lively talking, extolling the virtues of his fake master who could teleport. A feat that was considered both legendary and impossible.
It wasn’t hard to guess why as Francis was weary of even [Void-walking] a few feet, let alone normal teleportation. Only the greatest Mages dared to teleport in the light and scattered ambient mana of the Dragon Isles. Compared to this planet, the ambient mana in the Dragon Isles may as well not even exist.
He had gone with the old cover story of being the apprentice of a hermit and falling into a teleportation accident. It made it easy to ask questions anyone normal should know. And the answers he got astounded him.
Mages were an oppressed cla.s.s. They either lived away from society in hidden enclaves or covens, or they were enslaved by various governments. The governments themselves considered controlling ‘dangerous’ mages as natural and not evil, but clearly no one here saw it that way. There were some better countries, if one had to choose a master, but their current one was one of the worst.
On Earth, with the exception of China and a few nearby nations, the Mage’s Council ruled the entire planet. Most other types of supernatural races and people had been wiped out or were controlled by now.
To Francis, a planet that was so useful to a Mage’s growth had Mages as a subservient cla.s.s was beyond confusing. He couldn’t understand in the slightest how this happened. Was it related to the technology he was seeing? But why did Mages allow this technology to exist in the first place?
Unfortunately, the boy in front of him couldn’t answer his questions. Only that the Narrain Hierarchy, like all countries, had special weapons to cut through magic and that was how they were captured while their parents and teachers were killed.
He felt it wasn’t so cut-and-dry; why would they bother enslaving Mages - some for war purposes - in the first place, he wondered, but he wasn’t in a position to ask for details. It was a very awkward moment for the emotion-deadened [Harbinger] to hug a crying 14-year-old boy. Especially since the restraints made it more like he was just leaning against Francis.
On the bright side, they a.s.sumed any enchanted item was b.o.o.bytrapped, and withheld from taking his Spatial Ring off him.
“How’s this vehicle work?” Francis asked once the boy answering him calmed down.
“I only know the mana core is in the front of the Floater.”
“Floater?”
“Ah, well, it can’t run well in sand, so it floats a bit lower than usual, but it can’t fly, so it’s just a Floater. But it wears down the control device to float over sand for too long.”
“So all the people running it should be in the front?”
The boy, Samuel, nodded.
“And the restraints, do they have a failsafe?”
“The mana core in center explodes if it’s tampered with,” the boy quickly said, noticing the concentrated look the Arch-Magus was giving the item. Having their hopes dashed away because this man exploded would be quite the tragedy.
“Is there anyone other than you seven that would be missed?” Francis asked, his dark eyes somehow looking even more murderous.
It took Samuel a few seconds before he was able to shake his head no.
Francis grinned and unleashed a small [Void Call] on the restraints. The center disappeared. Using [Arcane Awakening], he tore off the metal cufflinks still attached to him.
The seven around him gasped, but for a different reason then he thought. They weren"t impressed with his strength, or with the strange magic he used to get rid of the restraint, but that he could do both.
Ever since weapons that could deal with magic were invented, Mages of course looked towards other types of magic, such as pa.s.sive body strengthening spells. However, those came with huge drawbacks; you couldn’t use normal magic anymore. They also didn’t strengthen one’s skin too much and were still vulnerable to steel. Certainly not strong enough to tear a metal cufflink off without even a mark on one’s skin.
Francis went to the front of the Floater, walking up to a closed door. With [Arcane Revelation] activated, he could see 13 Souls, one of which was a Mage. No doubt one of the enslaved variety. He upped his [Arcane Awakening] to 100%, planning to avoid using magic in the actual killing when he could. Without further knowledge on their anti-magic tech, it’d be too much of a risk.
As fun as it would be to kill them guns blazing, Francis opted to cut a small hole in the door with his [Arcane Blade] and poured copious amounts of manipulated Light into the room, creating a mini-sun. Following numerous screams of pain, he smashed through the door.
He twisted the first neck he came across and then sprinted towards the Mage in the room.
Not giving him a chance to act, Francis slammed a fist into the old Mage’s stomach. The man crumpled to the ground. It took the [Harbinger] a single moment to make a [Void Call] small enough to work on this Mage’s metal collar and not harm its wearer. He focused on the Mana Core he could see with [Arcane Revelation].
He tore the result off the Mage’s neck.
“What… what did you do?” the Mage asked, too confused to do anything.
Francis ignored him and sent a weaker blast of lightning through his palm. The old man was unconscious now. There was no reason to take a risk. After all, Francis guessed some of the stronger Mages lived what would be considered good lives, even if they were technically slaves. It did no one any favors to poorly treat slaves of great use. If they had incompetency issues to work out there were no doubt plenty of more useless slaves available for that. And, judging by this old man’s ma.s.sive mana pool and fine clothes, he may have been a slave of great use.
He may even resent being freed.
It took only a few seconds to clean up the rest of the room. Some gave token resistance of waving swords at him, and a certain genius used a ‘gun?’ that hit his fellow. Francis saw no reason to spare anyone and killed them all, easily snapping any necks he came across, or in lieu of that, just a full force fist from someone with over 60 points of superhuman strength. The result was unpleasant to look at, but effective nonetheless. He’d get the older kids to clean it up.
“You can come in now,” he yelled towards the smashed open door.
Cautiously, the seven kids walked in. A couple of them paled at the sight, but the rest looked at it as if it were normal. Had Francis been less deadened by the Void, he would have been bothered at how used to death they seemed.
He cast a quick blood tracking spell and used [Void Seer] to get a general sense of direction for where his mother and grandfather were. Both were sleeping, which boded poorly for Francis given it was clearly daytime where he was.
He looked out the gla.s.s window of the pilots cabin and confirmed it was just an hour after dawn or so.
“Is there a map or anything?”
Samuel went up and pointed to the center of the cabin, where the mage was on a raised podium.
“You can access a map there.”
Francis went up and found several unfamiliar controls, a strange mix of metal and wood making it look like something from the future and the past simultaneously. A globe opened after he hit a b.u.t.ton and a large, blinking dot evidently represented the Floater.
He took a guess at the direction his family would be in.
“What’s here?”
“That’s the Empire’s territory.”
“That’s where I need to go, any issues?”
No one in the room spoke up, likely having no where else to go.
“Can any of you pilot it?”
Samuel nodded, and Francis left him to it.
After asking a few questions, Francis took some water and food and then threw it outside the Floater along with the old man. He was too much of an unknown, and his Mana Pool had a kind of stability that might make [Mana Reading] difficult or unreliable. He was just like George, the [Stormcaller] he met at Grimlar’s Pa.s.s.
“Take me to the captain’s quarters, or whatever,” Francis asked, deciding to go to sleep and hoping at least part of it conceded with Rainer in [Sleep Learning]. He’d need to figure out how to Void-walk here, and fast.
Francis growled as he woke up. Rainer had attempted to bring him into [Sleep Learning] but the distance was too far. So was he stuck practicing in reality and hoping he could piece himself back together? He sighed, having nothing else to do, and went back to sleep. Despite it being day-time, his prior injuries left him wanting more sleep.
Francis felt another pull, thinking Rainer was trying to bring him in again. He tried, wondering if his twin was doing it differently this time.
“Francis, how lovely to see you.”
Francis stared with confusion. Why was Talvara here to greet him. And why was this place black rather than white? And how could he see despite it being pure black?
“I copied your lovely little s.p.a.ce. It’s nowhere near as versatile, as the place itself is limited to my personal knowledge and skill level - therefore useless to me personally. And unfortunately I don’t understand the true fundamental laws of the universe and so the s.p.a.ce is pretty much useless except for things I understand related to the Void.
“Really, that [Sleep Learning] s.p.a.ce of yours is truly ridiculous. Have you ever given it any real thought to what it would take to make a place where everything functions properly? Where gravity is exactly how it should be, including how it effects magic and otherwise? It’s quite impossible for even a Divinity I’d a.s.sume. Perhaps only an ancient aspect like Death or the World Tree could manage it if they weren"t so boring.”
“So you made it just for me?” Francis asked, a bit confused and more than interested in her knowledge of Divinities. It meant here he could level his Void Skills or perhaps even get [Void-walking] to move in a place with thick mana. Maybe. After all, who knew what universal forces she was unaware of, even in the Void, that Rainer’s [Sleep Learning] s.p.a.ce automatically accounted for?
“No, but I did open it again and bring you here, just for you,” she said with a smile that was somewhere between enchanting and devilish.
Francis grinned and offered his thanks. He quickly delved into his current problem, hoping the ancient Void-Being had a solution for him.
A month later, Francis’ group of teenage Mages had finally reached the border of the so-called Empire. It was an arrogant name that a.s.sumed it was and forever be the only ‘empire’ in the world. Though given they out-sized all the other countries combined, it wasn’t too arrogant.
Francis found Talvara’s simulation of a mana-filled world to be lacking. While the injuries weren’t as catastrophic as before, even short-distance Void-walks still had him losing a finger or two. And that was with her advice. Still, it was better than the arm he completely lost on his first attempt in reality. On the brightside, he finally answered a question that been bothering him and that he really should have tested in [Sleep Learning] ages ago. [Arcane Invigoration] combined with [Flesh Manipulation] could in fact grow back a limb. It took about three times his current Aura pool, but it worked nonetheless.
Casting the Blood-tracking spell again, Francis used [Void Seer] on his grandfather before instantly cutting off the skill.
Is there some Divinity of Luck s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g with me? Why do I always see old men having s.e.x when I use [Void Seer]?!
His only consolation prize was both the woman and his grandfather only looked 30-40. It didn’t make it much better, though.
Francis cautiously looked towards his mother and was ecstatic when she was only helping some kids st.i.tch their clothes with magic. That was one possible scene he could really live without. On the other hand, scarring Rainer with the memory did present a glorious opportunity for revenge...
With the Floater, she was only about another week away. Based on the globe, it was considered a danger-zone due the the monsters that lived there.
Francis smiled, looking forward to meeting his family again.
In the [Sleep Learning] s.p.a.ce, Rainer stood across from Kara a bit nervously. This would be the first duel they’d had since she gained her 2nd Tier Cla.s.s. He wasn’t nervous about losing, rather he was nervous whether her current strength would be enough. Enough to finally not fear for her every other second of the day she wasn’t beside him.
Over the past month, Rainer hadn’t gotten any closer to solving his Void Will and Arcane Power issues, but his Avatar, his actual Avatar and not Francis, had made progress on his Arcane skills with the exception of [Arcane Presence].
[Arcane Awakening] rose to level 6, improving general efficiency as well as empowering all the runic-type skills attached to it. All of which he had managed to get level 3, with the exception of [Arcane Awakening: Final Arcanum] which he was unable to get past 1.
[Arcane Energy Manipulation] managed to reach level 9, but he didn’t have a clue what he was missing for the final step. Sarah herself was stuck on level 9 [Enchantment Manipulation] as well, and both couldn’t figure it out. Amer and Furtak only got angry when he asked them, so Rainer a.s.sumed their possibly low level manipulation skills were a sore spot.
“You ready?” Kara asked, shifting to her Wolf form. Her Demonic Aura now had a slight dark-purple tinge.
The [Greater Fel Werewolf] was still changing, according to her. Her Aura and even her body seemed to be altering by the Arcane that now pervaded her. Kara’s bloodline had truly changed when [Mystic Dancer] and [Demonic Werewolf] combined after her Trial. And was still changing. While nothing changed in her Wolfkin form as of yet, who knew the future? She did notice the occasional increase to Intelligence or Aura attributes. It was only a few points, but it did signify a real change.
Apart from the fact that most of her Body Enchantments now had skills at either level 9 or 10, they were also supercharged. Rainer really wasn’t sure if he could win without his Void Will.
“Go,” he said, and Void-walked several times into the sky, deciding to play it safe. He unleashed half of his now 24 stored [Arcanum]s and fired them one by one at the Void-stepping Werewolf. Twelve Arcane Ritual circles hovered behind him. One blasted against her shield, breaking it but losing all momentum. Suddenly, the Werewolf smirked even as an [Arcanum] beam tore through her shoulder. She vanished, and Rainer only reacted at the last moment as she appeared behind him.
He barely Void-walked away, but not before losing a piece of his chest.
“s.h.i.t!” he cursed, not expecting that Kara could Void-step so far. It had been limited to a dozen feet or so before, but now it seemed as far as his. Though, likely without the world-traveling part.
The fight became a battle of Void-step and Void-walk, but lacking even a moment to cast a spell Rainer had to finally resort to a [Void Hold] and his last dozen [Arcanum]s to finish her off. She managed to block a few of them through the sheer amount of Aura in her Shield Enchantment, but lost to the barrage at the end. However, he ended up killing himself with the [Void Hold], leaving it a draw.
Without Void Will, any Void Skills would have to be used through his mind alone, just like how it was when he first learned them. Death was a very real option and something he wouldn’t easily risk outside of [Sleep Learning].
Rather than being disappointed at the draw, Rainer gave a grin to Kara. After so long he finally didn’t have to worry about her. Even if she couldn’t win, she could escape. She’d just need to improve her offensive ability a bit more.
Now it was only a matter time before they took the fight to the Demons, rather than the other way around.