"Auran, does that mean you've finished with the preparations and the setup of the plan?" Henry asked. Although he spoke calmly, his voice faltered slightly.
"Not quite yet, but I've gathered all the information I need. Next comes the time for planning and proceeding," Auran replied.
At his words, Marian and Nimuk's facial expressions instantly changed.
"You got us excited for no reason," Marian said, clearly disappointed.
Afterward, the three continued with their work for the day. When it ended and Auran and Henry finally returned to their room, Auran sat on his bed and closed his eyes.
Seeing that, Henry quietly went to sleep without bothering him. But even until he actually fell asleep, he stayed alert, aware that Auran was deep in thought and likely planning something.
"I hope this works," Auran thought as he focused inward, slipping into the imaginary space where the unknown mana—emanating from the necklace holding the twin circles together—resided.
The persistent problem that he kept thinking was gradually pushed aside, and as a result, the strong mana sensation erupting from the two circles began to weaken, reducing the amount of unknown mana holding them.
However, this caused the two circles to tremble slightly, sending a sharp but small pain into his head. More than that, the flow of time around the circles accelerated again, spilling a few drops of temporal energy outward.
Auran waited patiently, enduring the pain while recalling all the information he had gathered about the prison. He began to prepare his plan.
At some point, a tiny bit of temporal mana seeped into Auran's mind, triggering a flow of new, inspiring insights. He was already aware of this interesting phenomenon and had planned to see if it could help him in a useful situation.
"So… it's not anti-mana but highly concentrated empty mana," he realized. "Unlike regular mana, which acts like an attractive force, this type is far more dense and heavy, making it difficult for anyone to control. It's like an empty sack of mana—useless for casting or enhancement. But precisely because of that, it's perfect for blocking a person's mana vessel, since no one can neutralize or use this kind of mana themselves due to its high density."
"That means this necklace must have a mechanism to guide this dense mana to areas in the body where mana sensitivity is high," he concluded. With this new understanding, a question that had long troubled him was finally answered. As the night passed, more and more problems unraveled in his mind.
When morning arrived, Auran opened his eyes.
"You okay, man? You don't look so good," Henry asked, concerned.
Looking at Auran's droopy and swollen eyelids, Henry had good reason to worry— so he had stopped halfway while making his bed that morning and looked at auran who seems genuinely exhausted.
"You're looking at a man who hasn't slept a wink all night," said Auran, and right after saying that, he collapsed onto the bed. But before he could succumb to sweet and comforting sleep, the noisy alarm rang, followed by the sound of the warden's metal bat banging against the prison cells from afar.
"Auran, the warden doesn't really like people sleeping past their time," said Henry with concern, peeking through the cell bars to see where the warden was.
On his bed, Auran opened his eyes—bloodshot, and his expression completely drowsy.
"Shit!"
. . . . . . . . . .
"What's with him?" Marian asked as she placed her food plate on the table. Nimuk had the same question as he sat beside her.
"Oh, he's… seems to have sworn off sleep last night," Henry answered as he placed his own food plate down and sat. Then the three of them looked at the last person—Auran, who was slumped over the table, sleeping.
"Auran, breakfast is important, especially in this place. You shouldn't skip it," Henry said as he placed a plate of food beside Auran, one he had brought for him.
But Auran didn't react and remained asleep.
"You think we should feed him? He's the guy who's supposed to drag us out of here, right? If he gets beaten up or sick or something, won't we be the ones to suffer more?" asked Nimuk.
"Well, you're right... but I've never fed anyone before," Henry replied.
After the two of them spoke, they suddenly turned their eyes toward Marian, who was calmly eating her food while listening in. Seeing them staring at her, she looked up, confused.
"What?" she asked.
"Yesterday I helped him rest a bit more before the battle, so I think that should count as my contribution to the escape plan," said Henry.
"Yeah, and I was the one who threw the rock at those guards earlier—that was a big rock, by the way. That should definitely count toward my contribution too," said Nimuk.
"Yeah, don't be a freeloader. Show some care for your teammates," the two of them said as they pushed Henry and moved his plate closer to Marian before backing away.
"Those bastards..." Realizing their plan, Marian was irritated but sighed at last.
"Normally, this guy is really hard to get close to and even harder to understand what's going on in his head—but look at him now, like a baby weasel," she muttered. Afterward, she sat down in front of Auran and prepared to feed him his food forcefully.
But surprisingly, at that moment, Auran woke from his sleep. Although his eyes were still drowsy and swollen, he stayed awake long enough to eat his breakfast. Right after he finished, he went straight back to sleep.
"What was that about?" Marian asked as she picked her own food back up.
"Indeed, it's strange. If it were me, I'd definitely let a woman feed me—even if it was poison or something," said Nimuk.
Both of them then looked at Henry, who was supposedly the one closest to Auran—and one that could understand him.