Chapter 398 (1/2)

Chapter 398

Chapter 396: Limitless

Varay remained utterly still as my hand rested over her sternum With Realmheart active, I could see the purified mana-like translucent snowflakes co with purpose The particles were steadily being distilled and released back into her body through her channels to strengthen her physical for with the ability to see mana, Realmheart replicated the sixth sense alacial steadiness of Varay’s core radiating out fro on this second sense

“Release a s as purified watermotes of its deviant ice forh her mana veins and into the atmosphere “Now, draw on the a it inside your core Specifically, think about clarifying your core itself”

Varay took a steady breath in I opened my eyes to watch the particles of atmospheric mana—almost all water and earth—be pulled into her body and then her core, just like how her lungs drew in the air Within the snohite core, the mana was quickly purified and made ready for her use

I asked her to repeat this process a couple of times, then moved on to Bairon He studied me carefully as I pressed e to his otherwise bright white core

“Does your core or your mana feel any different now than before Cadell attacked you with soulfire?” I asked, watching closely as he released mana, took a stiff breath, and then drew it back in

He repeated the exercise again before answering “I’m not sure how to answer that question I had to work tirelessly to rebuild ave up and accepted h…when you channeldifferent in your core?”

He closed his eyes as he repeated the cycle two ained all th,” he said eventually “But I also don’t reic felt any different before”

Nodding silently, I ainst her sternum, her lips curved up into a cool smirk “I told you once before, I’ from the rocks where Gideon and Emily had laid out all of their equipment He chuckled appreciatively “And much too pretty, too”

She cast a surprised look over her shoulder, then turned a raised brow into flirt with me?”

“Actually, he’s an asuran weapon of mass destruction, and he flirts with everyone,” I said matter-of-factly “Now focus Release your mana, hold it, then draw ambient mana back in”

I couldn’t sense whateveron the Lances’ potential, but I hadn’t expected it to be this easy Moreso, I needed to establish some baseline in the feel of each Lance’ particular core and mana manipulation

All three were incredibly efficient at both releasing and reabsorbing ned so it wouldn’t interrupt the process of actually using ht, we’re all set up over here,” Ehts

I nodded, and E the three Lances with various apparatus that would allow them to read mana output and reaction times much more accurately than I could onthat, I withdrew three items from my dimension rune I handed the first to Mica, who turned it over curiously in her hand, and then its twin to Varay Bairon received the horn I’d taken fro it carefully in front of him like it was a wasp nest

“These horns contain a huge a froo They are incredibly potent, but,” I said quickly, as both Bairon and Mica opened their mouths to speak, “I need to warn you, there are additional effects as well You’ll capture some of the previous owner's meue quickly soured into uncertainty “But what benefit do you hope that we’ll gain fro the horn in her lap and looking up at me “If your hope is to simply overpower the barrier with a sudden influx of mana, I’m afraid it’s been tried before Elixirs have no effect on us”

“Nothing as easy as that,” I adavethe last of theat the readout, his half-grown eyebrows furrowed in concentration “I can’t promise our time and effort will bear fruit But none of us can afford to just accept our current liaze distant and her expression stony Next to her, there was a charge in Bairon’s eyes, an intensity that filled the air with a buzzing static that raised the hairs on my arms

But it was Varay who surprised raceful aze locked on the mossy stone at my feet “Arthur, I know I speak for all the Lances when I say we are grateful for your time and effort” A pause, just a heartbeat, then: “But are you certain your efforts here are worth your tiainst Alacrya and Epheotus If your ti yourself—”

“No,” I said firmly as her intense eyes bore into led for the word, then blurted out, “another deity to replace the asura It needs soldiers and generals People Heroes Dicathen needs the Lances”

The ever-iaze searching to deterht” Giving me a stiff bow, she sank back onto the soft bed ofthe horn in both hands across her lap “What do you want us to do?”

Kneeling next to the lake, I ran h the icy cold water “The first step is to figure out what exactly is preventing you fro your cores further I want each of you toon the e amount of mana so quickly would force a core to rapidly clarify As wethis sped-up process, we’ll be able to watch for any signs of the binding affecting you”

“You hope,” Gideon gru an irritated look fro in?”

“Of course,” Varay said

“Let’s do this,” Mica added with a fir, but closed his eyes and focused on the horn in his hands

“All set over here,” Eis hopped off the boulder and trotted up to Mica, who looked down at hiave a resigned sigh and said, “Don’t get too excited about this, but…” and then vanished into her body

Mica gasped and nearly jumped to her feet, but I stopped her with an outstretched hand “Theto help keep you stable until you’ve gotten control of it, okay?”

“Maybe a little warning next time?” she snapped “I feel violated”

I focused on Realh the Godrune as possible “Go ahead, Mica Begin”

The effect was ied by the black shadow that clung to all things Vritra related, began seeping froed at the sensation, and very nearly tossed her horn away Her wide and frightened eyes stared ahead unseeing

“It’s just a vision,” I assured her, keeping ers hite around the jet-black horn “Stay in yourself Reh it Don’t pull too hard Just let the , guiding words as I began pushi+ng out with aether, interside the is’s presence Not all of the Vritra-born mana wanted to be drawn to her core and instead seeped out of her h careful manipulation of the aether, I was able to round up these stray particles and herd them in the correct direction

Meanwhile, Mica’s eyelids were pressed shut so hard the skin around theht white, while her cheeks flushed plunashed her teeth and fidgeted restlessly, I knehatever visions she was seeing ot it,” Mica said a few“That was…totally, incredibly, extreht around the horn “Keep drawing on it, but not too fast” R ead f irst at ReadNovelFullcois and I moved onto Bairon He adapted more quickly to the flow of the decay-corrupted mana and surfaced from the visions after only a minute or two Varay had it harder, her visions so severe that I had to hold the horn in her hands for her as she whih, she too hadray particles ofher body

The Lances settled into a rhyth mana fro as the dark mana boiled out to wreath the Lances’ bodies in a ser of thetheir bodies or minds, I was able to really watch the process Once in their cores, theprocessed, the i nothing but pure mana behind But whatever process prevented the cores fro further wasn’t i?” I asked Gideon as I watched the mana move in constant eddies within their cores

Gideon’s grumpy facade had melted away as his mind bent to the task I kneould; he couldn’t resist such a coher-than-nor the mana—except for Lance Bairon, whose channels and core seeiven the Lances’ strength I suspect it is due to the nature of the mana in question, however, not some symptom of the limiters placed upon them by the Lance artifacts”

“It’s too bad we don’t have those artifacts still,” Eainst her cheek as she stared down at their equipment “It would ure out how they worked”

“That would be ideal, but”—I i two of the e rods—“we do have these”

In one hand, I held the dwarven artifact, which was crafted froth with obsidian rings A large ruby-red gened only for use by hued of silver

“But we can’t use those,” Es,” Gideon snapped vehemently at the same time

Of the Lances, only Bairon seemed able to focus on both the horn and our conversation, but he stayed silent, his visage that of a nervous soldier trusting his leaders’ judgment

What Virion had said about Gideon’s reaction to the artifacts came back to me “What did you discover in your examination of these?”

“‘Godly tools are not crafted forfrom memory “Anyone with half a brain only has to look at those things for two seconds to see that they’re a veritable baklava of different spells all layered one over another, none of theenius like ood wrapped up in it all, but the asura haven’t exactly proven their intentions good, so it would be utter foolishness to assureed entirely with Gideon’s assessht examination of the rods, I had discoveredthe first few layers of spells and how they would unfold when the rods were activated It was a risk, but I knew for certain that Kezess had to have built in a key to undo the Lances’ ier

“You’re right, Gideon Which is e’re not going to use them,” I said “At least, not the way Kezess Indrath intended”

“You’ve discovered sorown brows drew up into the middle of his wrinkled forehead and he leaned over his boulder toward me “Go on”

I explained what I had deciphered inthe artifacts Gideon nodded along, and before long Eht,” they said siis

“You two spend too ether,” he cackled

“Don’t you pri “Like…a parasite or sois said, his little snout bobbing up and down appreciatively

“Let’s not waste anythe dwarven artifact back toaround in front of Varay “Mica, Bairon, reduce your draw on the horn to as little as possible without severing your connection I don’t think you’re at risk of draining the horns prematurely, but better safe than sorry”

They wordlessly did as I asked, and there was a slight reduction in the aaze followed ainst the horn She drew in a deep breath and steadied herself

To Realh her body s a consistent rotating rated into that which was already purified

With aether acting as an extension of my senses, I reached into her core, felt the walls, where mana should have continued to scour ahat minute imperfections it still had But theor penetrating it beyond where the body’s channels and veins ran into the organ

Varay was quickly reaching the limit of how much mana she could absorb Soon it would beco in mana, and, for all the mana she could still absorb, an equal amount of purified mana would leak out of her core This would waste thefar too slow of a process to help us see as happening

Despite how much mana she had already absorbed, I still couldn’t sense any round ht for sure that the influx ofwhat Kezess had done to them

“What…should I do?” Varay asked after another long moment, her voice strained between clenched teeth

The gears ofhastily

E useful in all their readings I had the rod, but I couldn’t trust the artifact’s internal progra certain effects Before I could use the spell worked Even erous to the Lances If I couldn’t appropriately direct the spells once I’d released them, this would all be a total waste

Varay needed to ned the Lance artifacts to create a limiter, but more than that, this lie was e amounts of mana Certainly, that meant he had concerns, even back when the artifacts were created, that the artificial barrier could be circumvented somehow But what did he do? How could he hide a spell like that? And, more importantly, how could I find it?

One proble torrent of my mind

More i round to a halt Mana rotation…

Sylvia had insisted hu to learn the ability, but ons had told , or at the very least incoons theid and simplistic in the way they saw humans, elves, and dwarves to see our potential

Steelingto sound inificant a your connection with the horn”

Her brows furrowed into a frustrated scowl “You’re…right That’s impossible”

“It’s not,” I assured her “I learned hohen I was only four”

She scoffed, and the flow of mana wobbled Her expression hardened, and I could practically feel her will claained control “Way to…kick ave her an apologetic sht me said only someone with a pliable body and core could learn it Like a kid But…I think she is becaoing to help guide the mana with aether, like before, to stabilize the connection I need you to keep part of your focus on the horn, but the other part, I need you to cast a spell So” To help the connection, I leaned toward her and took her hands in htly around Cadell’s horn

“Try flying,” Bairon said, most of his attention on us as he continued to draw only a trickle of mana froiving hi all my attention back to Varay and the stream of mana and aether that connected us and the horn

Varay bit her lip, a flash of uncertainty crossing her face, then again wrenched control back Nothing happened for a minute, then two Then five

“I’m sorry,” Varay finally admitted, a hint of sha to letback over Sylvia’s lessons in ht me, I realized with a sudden rush of adrenaline

I had to do it my oay, how only I could

“It’s okay,” I shookcarefully I can show you”

Like shaping clay with a trowel, I began to reform the mana in Varay’s core with e couldn’t influence theit out, creating little more effect than if we’d let it be forced out naturally, but that was only the start Bairon’s suggestion, I thought, was perfect

Flying was second nature to the Lances as white corethe around For even a silver core e, such a feat would have drained their e could fly for hours It was so Varay and I both understood intimately, and one of the few “spells” that worked exactly the same for all Lances