The Hidden Extra: The Lazy Prince Refuses to Ascend The Throne

Nolan stood at the center of the natural Mana Gathering Formation he had discovered deep within the forest.

The place had changed completely. What had once been an empty clearing was now filled with hundreds of intricate magic circles linked together.

If a Celestial-level mage saw this, they would be stunned. Connecting that many magic circles was nothing short of suicide.

The moment they were activated, a massive explosion should have engulfed the entire forest in flames.

However, Nolan knew the outcome would be different.

He had personally modified every magic circle in the formation. Besides, they weren’t designed for destruction—they existed to connect this world to the one he had come from.

”No... not yet. They’re still not perfect,” he muttered.

He tapped his foot lightly, and his figure vanished, reappearing high above the forest.

From above, the magic circles became even clearer. Together, they formed a massive pattern resembling the sun and the moon.

The formation was so enormous that it could be seen from miles away. Vast amounts of mana continuously gathered around it, drawn in by the Mana Gathering Formation.

”Did you call me?”

A voice suddenly came from behind him.

Nolan didn’t turn around. He simply nodded.

”I need your opinion. What do you think of the magic formation I created?”

Malverna looked down. The moment she saw the hundreds of interconnected magic circles, her eyes widened.

”A Natural Mana Gathering Formation? No... that’s not the important part.” Her voice trembled. ”That magic formation... Are you creating a summoning formation?”

She turned to Nolan, horror evident in her eyes.

”Oh?” Nolan raised an eyebrow before turning to her. ”How did you know I was preparing a summoning formation?”

Malverna took a deep breath, trying to steady her racing heart.

”I’ve seen a similar formation in an ancient book kept by the Demon Palace. But this one is clearly different. A summoning formation only consists of fifty magic circles, while yours...”

She trailed off for a moment before continuing in a hoarse voice.

”...has more than a hundred. I don’t know whether you’re planning a large-scale summoning ritual or something else, but one thing is certain...”

Her gaze locked onto Nolan.

”You’re planning something huge, aren’t you?”

She couldn’t understand why Nolan was doing this.

Was he planning to perform a ritual to summon heroes, just as the great mages of old once had?

Or was it something else entirely?

Malverna had no idea. Even so, she was certain Nolan was planning something far beyond an ordinary summoning ritual.

Nolan merely smiled without answering. Now wasn’t the right time to tell her.

”Did you bring the materials I asked for?”

Malverna nodded. She took out a bag containing the materials she had obtained from Chloe and handed it to Nolan.

”By the way, I never expected a demon—let alone a succubus—to end up leading the most powerful institution on this continent. It’s pretty amusing, isn’t it?” Malverna chuckled.

When she met Chloe earlier, she had faintly sensed a demonic aura coming from her. Although Chloe had concealed it well, Malverna still recognized it.

After all, she had once been the Demon Empress. Very few demons could hide their aura from her.

”A succubus?”

Nolan froze.

The memory of Chloe nearly pouncing on him suddenly resurfaced, causing a faint blush to spread across his face.

”No wonder she was so aggressive toward me. So she really is a succubus.”

Succubi were a race of low-ranking demons. Their role was to seduce humans and drain their essence through sexual intercourse.

During the war between humans and demons a thousand years ago, they had been assigned to infiltrate the human side and gather information from important figures.

Who would have thought?

The little girl he had once saved—the one with extraordinary talent in spatial magic—had turned out to be a succubus.

Now he finally understood why she had grown into such an alluring woman.

Nolan pushed those distracting thoughts aside and returned his focus to strengthening the formation below.

With Malverna’s help, everything progressed much faster.

Before he knew it, two hours had passed.

Nolan gazed at the magic formation before him. Compared to before, it had become far more complete and powerful.

”Perfect,” he murmured, his eyes filled with satisfaction. ”I’m sure even Orrun would be surprised if he saw this.”

The magic formation he had created far surpassed anything he and Orrun had made together a thousand years ago.

It was no exaggeration to say that this was the most perfect version of the Two Worlds Connection Magic.

”But it’s still not finished... I still have one last thing to do.”

He took a deep breath before slowly exhaling.

He couldn’t just leave without making proper preparations.

Traveling to the past alone had already involved an incredible degree of time dilation.

A few months in the past had been equivalent to only a few minutes in the present.

He didn’t know whether the same law would apply when traveling back to his original world.

What worried him most was the possibility that the flow of time might work in reverse.

If one hour on Earth were equivalent to one month—or even one year—here, Nolan could already imagine the chaos that would unfold, especially for Elina and the ongoing battle for the throne.

That was why he still needed to study the matter much more carefully before deciding to return to the world he had come from.

***

Nolan had just returned when Elina suddenly ran up to him, her face pale.

”Brother! Bad news!”

She grabbed his right arm tightly.

Startled, Nolan asked, ”What’s wrong?”

Elina took a deep breath before answering, ”I just got word from the Shadow Guards that Novaria... has disappeared!”

Nolan froze in shock.

”Disappeared? What happened? How could she just disappear?”

”I don’t know.” Elina shook her head. ”The Shadow Guards said they saw her leave the alley where she lives over the past three days. She always went to the free food shop on the south side of town. After that, she vanished without a trace.”

Nolan’s eyes narrowed.

”A free food shop? Who owns it?”

Elina gave a wry smile.

”I don’t know. Maybe someone who’s just trying to help people?”

Nolan fell silent.

Something about it didn’t sit right with him.

”I understand.”

He gave Elina’s shoulder a reassuring pat.

”Wait here for a while. I’ll go check it out with Rafine. Just wait for my news, alright?”

Elina nodded weakly.

”Alright.”