[MANA CORE CREATED]
Though voiceless, the words spoke through his core as they reverberated throughout his entire being.
It was a wave of realization washing over his existence. A note to self, but a subconscious one, to the conscious self.
Doused black by the impurities flushed from his system, Elijah sat in cold sweat with wide eyes, struggling to process what he'd just experienced.
He waited in silence, listening, but in vain. The 'voice' never returned.
Nevertheless— he'd done it.
He successfully created a mana core, and it was incredible.
Mana was being rapidly absorbed from the air, and flowed through his mana pathways with speed and efficiency far exceeding his prior capabilities.This was being done with a level of automation that far surpassed that of the heart beating with disregard for intent or the lungs gasping for air reflexively.
Feeling new strength surge through his veins, his eyes found his hand as it twisted and turned, fist clenching and unclenching—attempting to grasp his new strength.
It was then he noticed. His eyes pierced the veil of skin, and a new layer of perception was revealed.
He could see the mana seeping through his skin, see it swiftly follow the mana pathways finding its way to his core. There, it underwent a subtle change, morphing into something more personal, more susceptible to his will.
His core drank more and more mana, and after reaching its brim, the excess then flowed: to his organs,bones and muscles, strengthening them beyond their limits.
As more mana accumulated, the excess flowing through his organs escaped his body and formed a second layer over his skin and fresh mana took its place creating a perpetual cycle
It was an immaculate system.
A wide grin danced on his lips and his body shivered as he giggled at his achievement.
Suddenly, he was dragged back to reality, as the stench he was exuding assaulted his nostrils.
He gagged, barely holding back a vomit, then dashed away to wash it all off.
Elsewhere In the castle. A tall lady stood over a pot of brew.
Her beautiful blue eyes were shielded by a pair of large goggles, and her silky black hair was safely secured in a bun.
Still, she was currently moving anomalies of her eyebrow length bangs—which obscured her view. Behind her ear, as she stared intensely at her new concoction
"Come on, come on…."
The fresh materials were working wonders for Greta, and the beast blood was an exceptional binding agent. It brought everything together nicely, allowing them to bond at a level higher than she'd been able to achieve before.
Still—
It wasn't enough.
Though it was the best result thus far, her intuition screamed it wasn't at the level it should be.
After all, the magic advisor's words ' you'll know when you've done it' rang in her ear on a loop.
In a workshop on another side of the castle, a ball headed dwarf looking man was hammering intensely. Beads of sweat dripped from his face, but his chiseled muscles exposed due to a lack of shirt, was drenched with sweat.
CHHHWIIIINGGG!
With each swing the steel sung sweetly, it was more reactive than any metal he'd experienced before. But what was truly remarkable, was the strange 'ore' he'd received from the magic advisor with it.
After being tossed into the furnace with the fangs, unlike them, it refused to buckle under the pressure of heat or bend to his pummeling. Instead, it merely adapted, fusing seamlessly with the steel and heat.
It breathed new life into the steel, allowing it to shape according to the blacksmith's will,with far more ease than any metal was supposed to.
Deep within the castle, securely behind a door labeled 'Do not disturb', the young prince had been locked away for the past two days.
Whenever he'd find himself with a puzzle he couldn't solve, hed disappear into this room until he found the solution. Save for one exception, everytime he'd entered it, he exited with an answer.
Behind the locked door was a room filled with mountains books. Most of them written by Calvin himself, filled with previous puzzles and their solution.
His current puzzle and title of his latest book, 'The theory of magic'.
The book was done and Calvin now sat in meditation.
***
After scrubbing extensively, Elijah was now fully cleaned up. His skin glowed as if untouched by imperfections and his presence was a lot more commanding. His subtle aura could hardly go unnoticed.
He took a whiff of the air, taking his time to savor the sensation of mana absorbtion.Then, headed to Greta's lab after making a quick stop.
"Sir Elijah", she greeted him as he entered." I've made minor progress, however, Im afraid it's still lacking compared to your expectations."
A second was all Elijah needed to understand the issue. The potion was ready for the most part, the fresh ingredients granted the effect he'd hope for and the beast blood was a glue holding everything together.
However. While boiling was the easiest way to extract what they needed from the herbs, the more heat they experienced the more they 'died',and the more they did, the more they lost magic. So the solution was simple.
Stablize the magic by preventing the loss.
"Don't worry about it, you did good." Replied Elijah as he tossed a beast core into the brew. "Cut the heat now, and leave it to sit in an air tight container for a while."
Greta blinked a couple times
"Oka— wait what was that you added?"
Elijah smiled as he walked away," the secret ingredient."
His next stop was Edmund's workshop. He was just in time to witness the blacksmith holding his masterpiece high in the air as he examined it.
"Magnus opus!" He exclaimed proudly.
Noticing Elijah be turned and continued.
" Can't say it's what you're looking for, nevertheless, this is better than every sword out there. It's hard enough to hold an edge better than any sword I've seen. yet, still maintaining a high level of flexibility. Truly impressive!"
He gestured the sword towards Elijah,"here, give it a hold"
Elijah took the sword, as soon as he did. He could sense magic faintly resonating within it. Which encouraged him to take a closer look, there, he noticed thin threads of mana tightly interwoven within the steel it itself. Fusing perfectly.
He couldn't sense any special effects from it, but ,it being the only sword of its kind was already incredible.
Elijah took up a shield to test the sword's effectiveness.
Then, however, he had another idea. why just stop there? Why not this what he himself could do in the process.
He held the sword facing upwards, staring intensely at the blade envisioning mana engulfing it—- strengthening it to become sturdier and sharpening it to cut cleaner.
— and not just the mana from the air, he pulled the mana directly from his core. That had become his default source of mana now.
The mana flowed from his hand, and slowly spread over the sword causing it to resonate.
Then, with a simple cut, he brought the sword down separating the shield with ease.
[Skill: Weapon Enhancement Achieved]
The 'voice' was back.
However—
Before Elijah could process it, he was distracted by Calvin's voice cutting in from behind.
"Eli ," he called out, panting heavily. Worry plastered across his face.
"Something is wrong, and I don't know how to fix it"
His words interrupted by panting once more.
"I was meditating for a few hours…"
PANT! PANT!
" — and now, voices are stuck in my head."
'No way..'
"How do I make it stop?."