Chương 27: Will
Max had a slight grin blooming on his face, while his body levitated a few centimeters above the ground. It had been roughly two and a half hours since the lesson started, and after a few practices and breaks in between, he now had gotten used to the feeling of having his own body as a target of his kinetic mana.
He had to admit, accomplishing something new after a persistent amount of effort always felt gratifying, no matter what sort of endeavor it might be. Moments like this were able to stir his emotions, giving him a mental push to strive for more. Not that he always did; he was terrible at follow-ups. He would often fail at starting the next objective, owing to his depressing outlook that all of it would just end up becoming pointless.
Now, though, he figured it might be different this time. There was something curious about the way fate had woven a new reality for him, and an inexplicable hunch kept tugging at the back of his mind that his once ordinary and stagnant life was now officially over.
He was, for sure, going to be back in this training room again tomorrow. And the day after that, and the day after that. He was going to get stronger, and he was going to get that darn fairy dust, one way or another. He didn't think this; he knew it.
He didn't realize that his eyes had gained a subtle glint of determination; a look never before seen on his face ever since his family had died. It was almost as if the winter in his mind had just ended, making way for spring to come forth, bringing with it a new will.
He suddenly noticed a surprised look on Dean's face as the boy rushed to the side. That was when Max saw Mutya sitting on the floor, grimacing while rubbing her lower back. It appeared she had lost control of her Levitation and dropped on her butt.
Max canceled his own Levitation and approached her. Dean helped her up and questioned if she was okay. The girl was seen nodding before her attention was drawn somewhere else.
Annoyed that he had to rely on other people's reactions as cues for anything that occurred, Max switched on his soundwave vision.
Brody came up to his three students. His left eye was seen glowing orange for a second before it went back to blue; the man was probably checking the time on his Iris. "I'm sorry to say this but, my training session for today is over, guys," he announced. "But there will be a joint class between all the 1st Layer mages in half an hour. You are of course welcome to join, but I won't be the one teaching."
Dean raised his hand. "What did you mean by joint class?"
"Mages who have learned all the basics would usually be divided according to their Talents. A joint class means these divisions will gather here to train together. They would usually either have spars or simply exchange knowledge with each other."
Brody then continued. "Although there are not a lot of them to begin with since, well, we only get a new recruit every month or two. Honestly it was sort of a miracle that we got you three in the matter of a week. Also, it takes way longer to complete the 1st Layer stage than it does the 1st Ring, so you'll see that even though the recruitment frequency is rather sparse, the southeastern section never lacks residents."
Mutya had a look of interest in her eyes as she asked, "Are there any newbies like us? You know, those who haven't formed their first ring?"
Her question was met with a firm nod from Brody. "There is one. I think his name was…Marty? Martin? Something along that line. He arrived about three and a half weeks ago, and is probably now on the verge of solidifying his first ring."
There was a smile on Mutya's face. "Alright then, I'm staying for the joint class." After hearing about the class, the girl had immediately wanted to attend since she felt as if today's training wasn't enough. However, there was a timid part of her that was slightly anxious if she would stand out as the only one below the 1st Ring stage. Not that it would deter her from attending. She just wanted to make sure.
"I think I'll pass, though," Dean said. "I heard mages could use mana to accelerate their muscle hypertrophy. So I'm heading to the gym after this to try it out." It was clear the boy wanted to have a well-defined body.
Brody was seen laughing. "I see we have one more thing in common, Dean! Also, I might have to teach you a technique on how to strengthen your muscles beyond the human limit. Actually, all three of you should probably learn it; it can be useful."
Nami suddenly conveyed a half-teasing suggestion to Max. 'You should start working out, too! Look at how good Brody's physique is! Don't you want to have a body like his?'
'Nope,' Max instantly answered. 'Seems like a lot of work.'
'Mana will make the effort five times easier. Just do it.'
Max was about to refuse again before his Iris suddenly received two texts at the same time. One was Dean's speech transcription, the other was a message from Leo.
"You wanna come with me, eighteen-year-old Max?" Dean asked.
While Leo's message read:
[Max, can I borrow Nami for a bit? I'd like to consult her about something important. Tell her I'll be waiting in front of the Mission Room.]
After pondering for a bit, plus more persuasion from Dean and Nami, Max finally relented. It was decided that he would head to the gym while Nami would have a talk with Leo. Though Max was slightly curious as to what could be so important that Leo was willing to spare her time to speak with Nami, he figured he could just ask the fairy later. Besides, Leo didn't specify that he shouldn't come, which meant that the topic wasn't supposed to be a secret to Max.
All three teenagers thanked Brody as the man exited the training room. Mutya walked to a corner to replenish her mana as well as cultivate while waiting for the joint class to begin. Max and Dean then headed for the gym.
– – –
Nami glided along the northwestern hallway before spotting a familiar figure waiting for her. The redhead woman had her arms crossed, leaning her back against the wall. Her Iris was glowing amber, which immediately dimmed as she sensed Nami's arrival. She held out a hand for Nami to land on. After seeing Nami undoing her invisibility cloak, she gave the fairy a soft smile. "I'm glad you came."
Nami's heart skipped a bit. She had realized how much of a beauty Leo could be when she smiled, but seeing it again really caught her off guard. She thought she couldn't feel any attraction to any human, thanks to the species differences. She was even convinced about this as she really hadn't felt any heightened emotion even when seeing Max in all his glory. But apparently, Leo's smile had shattered this belief of hers.
'I think I'm crushing on her a little,' the fairy thought.
Leo immediately entered the Mission Room before anyone walked into the hallway. The room itself was also devoid of a soul.
If somebody saw a fairy within The Revolutionaries' HQ, all hell would definitely break loose.
"Welcome to the Mission Room again, Nami," Leo said while taking a seat on one of the chairs. "I'm surprised Max isn't with you."
"I forced him to go to the gym," Nami replied, with her voice amplified.
Leo raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like you've become a lot more fluent in Elysian. Good job."
"Thanks!" Nami grinned proudly after hearing Leo's compliment. She landed on the table right in front of the woman. "So, what's wrong?"
Leo's expression became serious as she started to touch on the main topic. "You and Max already know my desire to free the humans from the fairies' grasp. But that is just the broad viewpoint. I'm well aware that the path toward that goal is a long and arduous one, and I'm gonna need a lot of help, for sure. Which is why I'm starting on something…let's say, more localized."
The Revolutionaries' leader took a deep breath before proceeding. "So far, me and everyone else who have found out about the underground mana network still have no choice but to rely on it to keep the main HQ and other bases running. This is due to the fact that we have no alternative, as there is no way we can just manually power the whole facility using individual effort.
"That is, until I met you. After thinking for a while, I came up with a question: how come the items brought over from The Ancient Ruins seem to radiate mana despite not having been etched with a mana stone, or more importantly, not having anyone constantly supplying them with mana? So now, I wanted to ask you, seeing as you are a native of that planet, what is it that makes those items different?"
It didn't take long for Nami to understand what Leo was trying to do. "You're planning on building your own mana network, using items that can draw in mana without human's intervention."
Leo nodded as a response. "Can you tell me how I can achieve that?"
"To answer your previous question, back on my planet, there's this discipline in the world of magic called Magic Seal Design. Or just Magic Seal. You were probably referring to this when you mentioned items without mana stones or manual mana supply."
"Magic Seal…" Leo repeated in a whisper. "What does it do, exactly?"
"Well, as the name implies, it seals magic onto an item. Or rather, it seals a type of energy by using a mana framework. But the thing is, it can't just be any type of energy. I don't know if mages in this world have ever heard of the term for this specific energy, and I honestly don't know the right word to call it in Elysian…" her voice trailed off as she was suddenly reminded of the moment Max had opened the wooden chest she had been trapped in.
'Lina made the mistake of designing a Magic Seal that can only be opened from the outside, as she wasn't very proficient at it and was in a rush. But how the heck did Max open it? Did he use that weird ability of his to apply kinetic force onto the lock?'
"Nami?" Leo asked, noticing the fairy spacing out.
Nami blinked as she got back to the present. "Oh, sorry. I was just reminded of something. Right, as I said before, there is a particular type of energy necessary to design a Magic Seal. If I used a word that I already know in Elysian, it's probably something like, mental energy? You know, energy generated by a being's thoughts and uuh…will. Yeah, that's probably the right word."
Leo nodded in understanding. "I think I get it. I guess a thought does generate energy, after all. It was once theorized long ago, but nobody has been able to prove it." She paused for a second before nodding again, mostly to herself. "Let's call it will energy."
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