章節 31: Allegiance (6)
"You... just increased my core purity," Heine's eyes were clouded.
Leaving Estelle's ridiculous stats behind, her actions were completely unrestricted by the rules and laws he knew. His world view was always getting destroyed by the young girl.
He had always tried to accept the outrageous facts and take it with a grain of salt, but he was slowly getting more confused.
Even if Estelle was alone, she would still be able to perform what others needed large numbers to do.
Even if Estelle was alone, she would still be able to do the research, write her own materials and articles, and make breakthroughs for the current state of magic. Heine had witnessed her prowess himself. The five - year - old already had a sharpened logical mind and would not lose out to the best scholars.
Even if Estelle was alone.. maybe she would even be able to do the Spirit Borrowing technique they talked about just now.
Heine's thoughts were straying farther and farther.
"Heine?" Estelle put up her hand and made a fly swatting gesture in front of the unsuspecting Heine.
Heine broke out of his mind space, but was still mentally burdened.
Increasing one's core purity. Even if it was just for a few moments, it would bring massive, tremendous benefits for the user.
Firstly, it would refine their magic output and increase their control. Not only would magic be more practical, its firepower would also be raised.
In addition, there was still so much to explore, so much to venture into. No one was ever recorded to have increased their core purity.
No one.
Estelle wouldn't know this, but Heine knew just how frustrating it was to suddenly break through a bottleneck that has been plaguing the users, especially if it was done with minimal effort and no thoughts.
Heine knew how much people of his level prized their accomplishments, because it was just that hard to achieve something new when they reach a certain level.
"It's nothing. You can.. do the same thing to her, but I think you need her permission first," Heine resigned to the truth and told his honest opinions.
It was a strange feeling.
Although the mana was identical to his, it still felt foreign.
Like his body wasn't willing to accept it fully.
Nonetheless, the two entities still mixed with each other and created a unity.
Seeing Heine brush it off just like that, Minerva wasn't willing to let the matter go.
If her hearing was correct, then what Estelle did was another impossible miracle.
"What- Heine, come here for a sec," Minerva dragged the blanked out Spirit King outside the room, leaving Estelle with the unconscious Yulia still laying down on the floor.
Estelle looked at the two leaving figures in confusion, but focused on Yulia's body.
"Heine, you, you know what she did. You know what it entails," Minerva confronted the man.
"Yeah, but what are we supposed to do? None of us is in the wrong. It wasn't her fault that she was born like that, born to destroy all common sense. What can we do?" Heine retorted back. He thought that he was fully strapped in and prepared to face all of Estelle's antics when he decided to become her 'guide', but Estelle has proven time and time again that she was capable of doing everything alone.
"Ahh, it's up to her, honestly. The best thing we could do is nurture and teach her about this world's boundaries, and suggest that it'd be better not to show it. But in the end, it's really.. her choice. If she chose to destroy, there's nothing we could do," Heine cynically laughed, as if he wanted to mock himself for being so passive in contrast to what he used to be in his younger days.
But really, what could they do? Even as her guide, she was progressing at an unforeseeable pace.
"That.. no way," Minerva hung her head lower and lower.
Indeed, even after spending 5 years together, she has to admit that there was a fear factor in their interactions.
Fear.
They were scared of the girl.
The girl who kept bringing out miracles.
How laughable.
"Her current existence is beneficial to us. You know that she's not someone to act without proper thinking. It's just that.. I worry for the future. Emotions can get out of hand as quick as lightning," Heine batted his eyelashes, forcing his thoughts to stray away from the negatives. Not only that, he still had one contract.. that would grant him one chance to borrow her power involving the safety of his people.
'His people' would naturally include him as well, so he calmed himself down to rely on the contract. Although they might seem dramatic, it really wasn't an overreaction. They were interacting with a ticking time bomb in a daily occurrence. The mental stress and tension might not be shown outwards, but they sealed it deep within their hearts.
"Come. Let's go back inside. I will vouch for the results, it won't hurt your sister. Please, allow it. I'm sure that Yulia would voluntarily make herself a test subject once she discovers Estelle's mana... sharing?" Heine did not know how to phrase the term, it was truly something he never saw before.
Up until now, they had to wait for their bodies to accumulate mana in a natural way whenever they wasted their mana pool. Estelle, a mana bank that would never run out, could bring a catalyst to the world's balance.
<World's balance...> Heine was reminded of the term 'Constellations'. They consisted of powerhouses that strove for nothing but the balance of the entire world.
Yulia mentioned it before. He only believed it a little, but now, he was forced to recognize Estelle's feats.
If not the 'Constellations', then she'll go out and create her own set of team.
<I wonder, if my words would actually come true and she'll become the next Sage.> Heine chuckled, despising himself for comparing the two back then.
It seemed too real now.
Now that it really was about to come into fruition, he couldn't treat it as a joke anymore. Who knows, maybe all of this was because he jinxed himself a few years back?
Shrugging, he entered the room once again to find Estelle sitting beside the sleeping Yulia whilst holding a crystallized bottle that contained blue liquid inside.
"Actually, we might as well try this one first. Even if I drank this, there would be no effect," Estelle dangled the small container lightly. "Mana potion. Something Minerva and I have been working on... The plants finally bore ripe fruits,"
"Potion?" Heine raised his eyebrow.
"To put it simply, emergency first aid kits for mana. It's not easy to make it, though. It's still in the testing phase, so go ahead if you're okay with it. Once again, I can't guarantee anything," Estelle handed each of them one bottle.
Estelle created the bottle based on her past knowledge of games, but it came out looking too beautiful, completely unsuitable for the common potions sold on market stalls in games.
Exploring her Creation Magic led her to discover that there was a limit to everything she does, or at least for now. She had to understand and grasp the structural integrity, elements, and the creation's building blocks in order to create it out of nowhere.
The potion was made with a translucent glass. In order to understand the steps, she had to go and ask a glass craftsman to explain the procedure to her. Only after mixing the current technology with the modern one she knew was she able to create a permanent object.
If she created an object purely from her imagination, with no depth in the required information, it would just be a temporary placeholder that won't even be able to hold a candle to the real ones.
Nevertheless, her power was still a very large cheat.
"I'll take it. My mana hasn't been recovered yet," Minerva trusted the product because she was involved in the process. Logically, the product was supposed to work. Logically.
Taking off the cap and drinking it all down with a massive gulp sound, Minerva almost threw up. Luckily, she managed to swallow everything, preventing a huge mess from being made.
"The taste... must be changed," Minerva cringed at the aftertaste. It was not something you could describe with words. Bitter! Minerva's taste buds screamed in agony, begging her to cleanse her palate.
"Here," Estelle handed her a glass of water, which was hurriedly snatched and drunk up by Minerva.
Water wasn't enough to dilute the taste. The suffering continued.
"The results?" Heine asked, slightly laughing at the woman's struggle.
In a reflex, he wanted to mock her for not agreeing to try out Estelle's personal mana sharing, but that would be too mean.
"Urghh... Oh! It.. surprisingly works," Her stomach churned. With a distorted facial expression, Minerva checked her status and confirmed. Her mana had indeed been refilled.
Although the taste was terrible, it did work. It could be improved, but this was a huge discovery.
"Side effects?"
"None other than the taste, makes me want to vomit," Minerva cringed as she did her best to suppress her stomach's content from jumping out.
"The Core Purity?" Heine asked. This was an important factor. If the Core Purity rise worked through potions too, it would be a much bigger deal than before.
The current mana potion was already equivalent to national treasures, but the moment it had the Core Purity feature, the value would be indescribable.
"Didn't increase,"
Nodding in satisfaction, Estelle took another bottle and began feeding it to Yulia.
"Ah, wait! My sister is-" Minerva wanted to stop the little girl, but it was too late. "She can't eat disgusting stuff.."
Mumbling, Minerva decided to stay silent and not interject Yulia's awakening.
Not long after, Yulia's eyelashes began to flutter.
"...Mn?" Yulia was still light - headed, unable to think clearly.
"You used too much mana. What happened anyways? For you to waste so much energy..." Heine explained the situation.
"Huh? Wait, this taste-" Yulia covered her mouth, gagging in disgust.
Unlike Minerva, who tried to subdue the taste, Yulia wanted nothing more than the ability to relieve herself from the deathly taste.
"Drink," Estelle offered fresh water. Like Minerva, she was frantic to gulp it down as fast as she could.
"W-what cursed thing did you feed me when I was unconscious?!" Yulia protested.
She had a sensitive palate, so this forceful injection would possibly deter her from consuming any objects for days.
"A potion," Estelle replied. Then again, she knew that the concept of potions was something unfamiliar to this world's people, so she did her part and explained the best she could.
About the potion and its effects, and the possible alternate mana transferring process.
"You're saying that not only did you make this.. stupidly horrendous in taste but beneficial cursed liquid, but you could also transfer mana from yourself after a replication process? How is that possible- Wha," Yulia's head spun even more.
Minerva and Heine looked at each other and remembered that Yulia had not been informed of Estelle's abnormality in great detail.
Sneaking a glance at the two, Estelle sighed as she decided that it was best to call a truce for now.
She explained about her powers, the mana she possessed, the matter with Heine's core purity being affected by hers, and even the sealed parts that she lightly prodded on, trying to get a reaction from the blonde.
Yulia was, needless to say, shocked, but she was quick to regain her footings back.
"Try it, then. Do what you did to that Fae to me," Yulia stretched out her hand. "In exchange, I would even promise to try and break the seals you want from now on," She proposed. It was apparent that she prized Estelle's uniqueness in a great position, and was not shy to ignore all the feuds they had up until now if it meant discovering new things.
"See, I told you she wouldn't even consider her own safety. One win for me, wait for my favor," Heine and Minerva had betted on whether Yulia would accept the deal in one go or have second thoughts. Heine, who chose to go with the 'I don't care about myself, I care about my research' path Yulia had ultimately won without difficulties.
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