Supreme Magus

Chapter 1205 - Loose Ends (Part 1)

”She really doesnʼt know!” Bodya blurted out.

”Well, sheʼs just a child, after all.” Olua caressed Tistaʼs head as if she was a small child, irking her to no end.

”Excuse me, Iʼm right here. What is that Iʼm not aware of?”

”Mana geysers are the reason why the Council awards its most outstanding members with a territory. Other creatures can only find them by chance, whereas Awakened can see them.” Olua explained.

”Mana geysers are great places to build your lab or home, providing you with an endless supply of world energy for your arrays. On top of that, mana geysers can be used to identify the location of both crystal mines and enchanted metalʼs veins.”

”Enchanted metals?” Tista echoed.

”Yes. Why do you think Reghia was built there?” Bodya nodded. ”Over time, a powerful stream of world energy can turn any lesser metal into silver, silver into Orichalc.u.m, Orichalc.u.m into Adamant, and even Adamant into Davross.

”Silver forms close to the surface whereas the deeper you go, the stronger the geyser becomes, making it possible to find Adamant veins. Davross takes so much time to form that itʼs not worth the wait, not even for Awakened.

”Adamant is always mined as it is unless it has already started to gain both black and white shades that mark the turning point into Davross.”

”Can all mana geysers do that?” Tista thought about the mana geyser where Solus usually took her tower form near Lutia and wondered why Faluel didnʼt pick such a spot to build her lair.

”I wish.” Olua sighed. ”You canʼt just dump silver or crystals inside a mana geyser and wait for them to grow. Either the process is natural or it doesnʼt happen.”

Tista inwardly grinned at those words, thinking about Solusʼs ability to grow her own crystals and wondering if she could do the same for metals.

”Yet by mining the area around a mana geyser, Awakened can check the presence of magical resources and take them away before anyone else notices. The Council scouts each area before assigning them and divides the mining operations between the Lords of each region.

”After the Council takes its share, the rest is equally divided among the Lords who can choose if to hoard the resources for themselves or sell them to found their research.”

”Then how can you explain that my Awakened mentor, a Hydra, lives near a mana geyser yet she didnʼt use it to build her lair?” Tista asked to make sense of Faluelʼs odd choice.

”There can be two possible explanations.” Bodya said.

”If the Council has located a potential crystal mine or Adamant vein, if not both like it happens in Reghia, then no one would build anything over the geyser. Mining operations require countless people working together and no one likes to have strangers coming and going from your house at all hours.

”On top of that, it would force the Lord of the region to give the passwords for their arrays to all those involved, putting their treasures at risk. The second possibility is that your master uses her lair not only as a lab but also as a house.

”Raising children over a mana geyser is dangerous. The reason why Awakened at birth are just a myth, is that even if the geyser helps the baby to Awaken, their body canʼt resist such a massive flow of world energy, killing them the moment they develop a mana flow.”

”The mana geyser is small and Faluel had many children so it should be option number two.” Tista pondered. ”Well, enough chit-chat. Time to get back to work. Whoʼs our next target?” She took a longsword out of her dimensional item.

”A small tribe of Balors. Before attacking them, weʼre going to try reasoning with them. They are not mindless brutes and their strength might actually help us secure the area.” Olua said.

***

Blood Desert Fringe.

After Nalrond completely recovered his strength, he performed the ritual to commune with Mogar for what he hoped was the last time. Thanks to Quyllaʼs magic circles, forming the mind link put a much lesser strain on his mind compared with his previous attempt.

He could still hear countless voices echoing through his head, but it wasnʼt much different from the noise of Lutiaʼs bustling market during the Spring festival. Mogarʼs flow of consciousness didnʼt feel like a raging river that would sweep him away at the slightest mistake anymore.

It felt akin to a gentle stream of water coursing around his body.

”Well, well, well. It looks like someone didnʼt learn anything from his last visit.” Mogar still looked identical to Nalrond and its voice oozed contempt for it. ”Why are you here?”

”For the same reason that brought me to the Fringe in the first place. To receive your wisdom.” Nalrond replied.

”Are your questions the same as the last time?” A snap of Mogarʼs fingers materialized the three shades. Menadion, Arthan, and the Rezar that Nalrond suspected was his own beast side all stared at him in hatred.

”No. I have no questions. I have realized that I canʼt demand anything from you. Iʼm here to listen to whatever you are willing to share with me, no matter how insignificant.” He said.

Based on both Morokʼs experience inside the Mindscape and his own, Nalrond had come to the conclusion that his people had never truly understood what communing with Mogar really meant.

During his first visit, the planet had shared with him many details about Dawnʼs attempts to learn from Mogar how to conquer the weakness typical of the undead. Despite her almost limitless power and nigh-indestructible body, even the Bright Day had come out of the Mindscape empty-handed.

ʼDawn must have survived thanks to her nature of Living Legacy while I would have died like my clansmen before me if not for Quyllaʼs magic circle protecting my mind and the combined efforts of my companions to heal my body.

ʼDawnʼs failure means that raw power is pointless in here. Mogarʼs strength is too big to challenge even a shred of its consciousness. Morokʼs failure means that the trial isnʼt about accepting yourself or having a strong will.

ʼDespite all of our differences, the only thing all three of us have in common is that we came here making demands and yet we didnʼt listen to what Mogar attempted to say.ʼ Nalrond thought.

”Then let me ask you a few questions.” Mogar nodded, confirming his suspicions.

”Do you really think that your friend Lith is the first person to have their life force cracked? That no one else before you, be they Awakened or not didnʼt attempt everything they could to find a solution?” Mogar pointed at Arthan who even in death had a smug grin on his face.

”Just because you donʼt like an answer it doesnʼt mean that there is a better one. You canʼt bring back the dead just like you canʼt turn rotten food into delicacies because life doesnʼt come from nothing.”

The Mad Kingʼs face twisted into a grimace of wrath as his body slowly faded away and Mogar absorbed him.

”A parent surviving their child brings terrible grief that sometimes turns into madness. The same grief and madness that brought Menadion to take away her own daughterʼs humanity to create an artificial unliving being.