Chapter 65
Mages escorted people inside the town.
There were a lot of people incoming, and the whole town was bustling with activity just like during the day.
Helen had investigated, and the villagers came from a village 10 km away from Zolar Town.
Monsters had started surrounding it two days ago, and the villagers confined themselves inside the village, creating a temporary barrier by digging a pit and filling it with water.
Monsters weren't afraid of water, but they also weren't intelligent enough to cross the area.
This morning, more and more started coming, so they decided to send someone to ask for help.
Helen had immediately led a small force and rescued the villagers.
Zolar Town was already in the middle of construction, and now, with the influx of new people, the population had increased.
Late-night meetings continued with new plans and revisions.
The incoming people were shifted to temporary camps as well.
When the morning sun rose, the town became fully active and used all of its manpower efficiently, completing tasks with the help of mages.
Azek stood on the newly built town wall.
Lyana and Emilene stood beside him.
They watched a herd of monsters gathering outside the town.
Helen had taken care of high-grade and potential threats, but their mission was to rescue, so they hadn't been able to wipe out every monster.
Now they were expecting another attack.
But the monsters hadn't shown up as expected.
For the past few days, mages had taken turns dealing with any strays that ended up near the town.
This was a small batch, consisting of only twelve monsters.
So Azek had requested to take them on and it got approved.
"There is no end to them, no matter how much we kill."
Lyana shook her head in disapproval.
If Professor Serbian hadn't been here, they would most likely have had to abandon the town by now, because the sheer number of corpses would attract other monsters and turn the area into an active contamination source.
But right now, Serbian constantly took care of the corpses, and Azek lent a hand as well, so the area remained clear.
Azek sighed and conjured mana.
Helen landed beside him.
"So, how are you going to do it?"
Azek had requested her presence because he wanted to teach the mana command through demonstration.
He started gathering mana.
"Master Helen, I see mana as something alive that has its own will. Rather than forcing it to submit, I align my will with it gently to make it do my bidding.
For example..."
He slowly drew out a thread of mana.
It began making contact with the surrounding mana.
A small circle started forming.
When the circle was complete, he excited the mana.
Small, star-like particles flickered out from the circle and shot toward a low-grade monster, striking its eye.
Though the impact was small, the monster shrieked as its eye melted.
He then looked at Helen and said:
"What I did just now was command mana particles to move rapidly in an excited state.
When mana becomes excited, it exhibits its hidden power. Like a cleaver through meat, it burns black mana away, as both have opposite natures. You could say natural mana represents life, while black mana is its dead form, so they cancel each other out."
he paused. And another star started hovering in front them.
"Now, how you make mana excited is something you have to grasp on your own, because it can't be explained in words.
I did it by changing the command. Instead of removing its will, I imbued my will into it alongside its own."
Lyana looked confused.
Azek continued.
"That's one way. Professor Serbian is almost there as well.
He achieved it by injecting his mana into elemental forms and gradually grasping the basics through repeated experiments. But my theory is that mana has to obey willingly; otherwise, the spell will be incomplete."
Azek explained in detail.
Lyana and Emilene listened carefully.
Helen fell into deep thought.
Azek conjured another thread of mana, this time sending it into the ground.
Boulders shot up in front of him and began spinning rapidly.
Debris cleared as mana concentrated in the center, and soon four arrowhead shapes formed.
He continued refining the spell.
The mana lit up, and the arrowheads began glowing.
He released them, and they tore through the monsters.
But they didn't stop after striking their targets.
As if guided by their own will, they continued toward the next.
After every monster was dealt with, they returned to Azek.
The tips remained sharp, but their glow had dimmed significantly.
Azek explained:
"I made the external mana excited by channeling my internal mana into it, then compressed and shaped it into a weapon.
The glow you saw was excited mana.
Now you can see it has dimmed—that means much of the mana has been used, though some energy remains.
When it is completely depleted, the weapon will disintegrate."
Azek waved his hand, and the mana scattered along with the weapons.
"That is all I can tell you about my theory."
He looked toward the monster corpses. The earth split open, and they were buried, already incinerated by his spell, leaving no risk of contamination.
Helen furrowed her brows in thought.
Lyana felt like her head was about to explode.
Excited mana state?
Canceling black mana??
Channeling elemental mana???
There was so much new information that needed to be studied and discussed—and Azek had demonstrated all of it in a single display.
She sighed and looked at Emilene.
"Did you record all of it?"
Originally, she was supposed to learn Azek's theory with Helen, but she had brought Emilene along for her recording spell.
Emilene nodded.
Lyana sighed in relief. Thankfully, she had prepared beforehand; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to process all this new knowledge.
To think that Azek Willowheart could develop such radical ideas despite his limited talent spoke volumes about his intellect.
I'll have to work really hard.
"Genius of the century"? What a joke.
I can't even comprehend the one spell that has become a basic survival necessity for modern mages.
Now she understood why only one professor had learned the spell—and even then, incompletely.
And Master Helen had already grasped the fundamentals.
She glanced at Helen, who was still deep in thought.
Even she is struggling.
Lyana looked back at Azek.
A genius indeed.
By the time they graduated, she knew Azek would be a force to be reckoned with.
But for now, they had to survive the coming battle.