Moonlight Blue

Mindscape, Summoning And A Core

Back At The Outskirts Of The Forest.

I learned a lot of things, but the one thing I know for sure is that I am still not ready to face the Silent Demon. I still need more power as insurance. I still need to work on my Mindscape magic for now.

The Mindscape magic is a bit different from other magic out there. It is an active magic that would be implanted directly to my brain. It is a combination of various intellect magic spells out there like appraisal magic, analysis magic and more. Its magic formula is derived from all the intellect magic spells that I have studied over the years. It took me six years to finish its magic spell but after I finished it, I ran into a problem. All the monsters that I cast the spell on died from brain shock.

I came up with two theories as to why they died.

The magic spell was too complex for their feeble brains to comprehend.

Their brains couldn’t handle the excess magic contained in the spell.

Reason 2, I gathered, makes a lot more sense than Reason 1. Mindscape is basically a spell that affects the entire brain. The brain is a fragile organ, even to magic, so the spell’s magic is so profound that the damage it causes is too great. Magic spells like appraisal focus magic on the eyes and also on the part of the brain that processes information.

It is also not an active spell, which means the information pulled up by appraisal would disappear once the spell is cancelled. If not, then a lot of information that the brain can’t handle will flood the mental faculties, causing that person to have brain problems. But mindscape is different; it is a spell that is engraved on the brain and the magic ends up focused on the entire brain, damaging it in the process.

So, now the million-dollar question is how do I cast this spell without magic?

I decide to take a walk in the forest to clear my head. It is already at night and the moon is as beautiful as always. There is a spot I like in this forest near the lake in the orange zone. I always go there whenever I need to clear my head.

“The moon is beautiful today too.”

In this world, there are two moons but only one shines brighter because it is much closer to this world than the other. So, it appears larger while the other one behind it appears smaller.

“The night breeze is the best. In my previous life, I could never enjoy a walk like here. With all the bright lights everywhere and the noise of cars, I doubt anyone would enjoy it.”

I miss my previous world sometimes. I miss my sister, my sick mother and the few friends I had. I wondered if I'll ever get back.

And then I hear an unfamiliar pinging sound. “What’s that?”

Of course, there are sounds in the middle of the night in the forest, but this sound catches my attention because it is peculiar, almost alien. It is a sound I have never heard before.

I walk towards the source of the sound, and peek behind a tree only to lay my eyes on four little green men. They are so tiny, with dark green hair, they can fit into the palm of an average man’s hand. Clad in plant-like clothes, they are picking up some fruit from the trees. Even with their tiny physiques, they are visibly stronger than they look.

“How are these guys collecting their fruit?”I whisper. “Are they climbing all the way up there?”

They are. One of them is on top of the tree. He is busy throwing down the fruit to the other green men. The other green men just catch the fruit that are falling like it is nothing. For their size, they are strong.

The green man at the top of the tree then slips and falls. But before he can hit the ground, the amazing thing happens. As he falls, the other green men raise their hands and a form of wind magic is created. The falling green man lands on the wind magic like it is a tuft of grass.

“Magic? But I couldn’t sense any trace of magical power or mana from it,” I whispered. “I need to find out what they just did.”

I then walk up to them but the moment they see me, they flee. Luckily, the one who fell couldn’t react fast enough so I catch him.

“Ping, ping, ping, ping,” it makes those sounds as it struggles to wriggle out of my hand.

I then take it home with me. At home, I put it in a wooden cage. It is scared of me.

“I can’t understand a word he’s saying. I wonder if it’s possible to re-adjust my hearing pitch with mana to the same pitch he’s speaking with to understand what he’s saying.”

I then try out my idea. I begin making sense of his words. “Let... out - me.”

“Okay, I'm nearly there. Just a little more and I can understand him.”

I finally get it. Now I can understand him.

“Hey! Hey you son of a bitch, let me out of here,” it snaps, rattling the cage. “Let me out so I can kick your fucking ass. You think you’re strong just because you are big, huh

motherfucker. Let me out right now.”

Quite a vulgar mouth this guy has, huh.

“Those are quite big words from a little guy like you.”

“What are you talking about, you stinking human? You can’t even understand me you dumb orc.”

“I never saw myself as an orc before, so it’s quite funny being called that now.”

“Wha- you can understand what I'm saying?” he seems stunned.

“What did you think?” I answer with an evil smirk.

The green man kneels and cries.

“Aaaargh, I'm sorry. Please don’t sell me or eat me or cut me up to see what makes me beautiful. I beg of you. I have eleven kids at home. Their mother passed away and they need me to survive. Pleeeaase don’t kill me.”

What a load of crap? Did I catch a crazy one out of the bunch or what?

“Don’t worry, I won’t kill you. You just have to answer my questions.”

He then stops crying, settles down and gazes solemnly at me.

“If you want to know the whereabouts of my people, then you can forget it,” it says, sulking, arms folded across its chest. “I'm not talking. I may be a lot of things but I'm not a snitch.” Mhm, I guess this guy isn’t an idiot as I thought.

“You don’t need to worry about that. Now tell me, what are you?”

“What?” it is shocked.

“Don’t ‘what’ me and answer the question.”

“Wait, you captured me without knowing what I am? Pfft, hahaha! Man, I have never met a human as dumb as you. What am I? Hahaha, kid you’re telling me you captured me without knowing?”

“If you laugh one more time, I'm going to kill you and trust me, it’s not going to be painless,” I hiss menacingly.

“Sorry Sir.”

“Now, talk.”

“I am a greeny. A semi-spirit creature which descends from the legendary spirit creatures known as fairies.”

“Now we are getting somewhere.” So, fairies exist in this world, huh?

“Now tell me, what form of magic did your buddies use to save you?”

“Hmph, save me! Even if a greeny could fall from fifty feet up in the air, we wouldn’t die. That's just how strong our bodies are.”

“Answer or else...”

“It was spirit magic.”

“Spirit magic?”

“Yeah, it’s a form of magic that can be used by spiritual creatures like spirits and semi-spirit.”

Spirit Magic. Maybe I can use that to substitute for the magical power problem.

“How can I use it?”

“You can’t,” he answers smugly, and I glare at him.

“I really mean it, you can’t!” it insists. “You are a human after all, and humans can’t use spirit magic.”

“How come?”

“Because as a human, you don’t have spirit energy.”

Spirit energy, huh? If I remember correctly, it is one of the types of energies found in this world (heat and other forms of energies found on earth are not included).

Mana energy also known as the energy of life. Found in humans and other human-like organisms, such as dwarfs, beast men and more. It is also found in the environment as pure mana or mana

Spirit energy also known as the energy of the spirit, found in all living things since it maintains the spirit or soul of them. Spirits and semi-spirit creatures are able to manipulate it in the form of spirit magic since they are able to absorb spirit energy freely. Can also be found in the environment as pure spirit energy or spirit crystals.

Demonic energy. Found in demons and demonic beasts. Also found in the demon territory’s environment in the form of pure demonic energy or demonic crystals.

Holy energy also known as divine energy. It is believed it is the energy of the gods. It is found in holy magic spells but only a little of it can be used by mortals.

Magic itself is also energy but since it is a by-product of mana and magic particles, it is not counted amongst them.

But since human also have a soul, isn’t there a way for us to use spirit energy?

“But there is a way for a human to use spirit energy, right?”

The creature sighs. “You’ll need to form a contract with a spirit. Once you form a contract with a spirit, you’ll be able to feel spirit energy.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. That's how elves do it after all.”

“Explain it more to me.”

It draws a deep breath again. “Elves are spiritual creatures by nature. Unlike you humans, who pray to the goddess of life, Athena. Elves pray to the Spirit King of Nature. Thanks to the spirit king’s blessing the elves receive from the World Tree, the elves are able to use spirit energy in the form of spirit magic. Forming a contract with a spirit thus increases their power to use spirit magic and their summoned spirit can also aid them in their time of need.”

“Oh, I see. You know a lot about the elven tribe.”

“Well, we greenies are originally from the elven kingdom. So, now you understand why you won’t be able to use spirit energy.”

“Yeah, but you talked about signing a contract and summoning, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I did but even if you do summon a spirit, how will you learn how to utilise spirit energy? After all, the teachings of that can only be found in the elven kingdom.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Now, tell me the summoning spell.”

What’s with this human? Does he really thing he can use spirit magic? Even if he does summon a spirit, he still won’t be able to understand anything about it. Unless by some weird miracle he summons the Spirit King of Nature, which is impossible. Well, it can’t be helped. I better tell him so he can let me out of here.

“Fine human. Listen carefully.”

He then tells me about the summoning spell. It is easy for me to understand it but I hate the fact that I'll have to chant the spell fully.

I have to succeed. If I succeed in spirit magic, then I'll be able to make my Mindscape Spell a reality.

“Okay, I understand. I'll give it a shot.”

Hmph, stupid human. I bet he didn’t understand a single word I said. Summoning magic is one of the toughest magic out there. A human like him can’t understand it simply from a vague explanation I just gave.

I then draw the magic circle with my magic on the ground. “Oh, mother of all life, heed my call and come forth. Answer my summons as this child beckons for your benevolent self. Summon.”

I feel embarrassed that I have to say those words. Yet the magic circle glows bright green as a strong wind bellows across the starry night. The wind then converges in the middle of the circle as the ground begins to shake.

What’s, what’s going on? Don't tell me that the kid actually succeeded?

A loud bang ensues after as the dust begins to clear. A womanly figure emerges out of the dust. She is all in green. Her hair, her eyes, her clothes, even her skin. She is beautiful.

She has this gracefulness to her akin to an angel. “Who dares to summon this queen? Show yourself.”

This feeling. It's her. The Spirit King of Nature.

The dust completely clears.

She looks down on me as she stands there under the glittering moonlight.

“Hmph, a human and a filthy abomination of a spirit. To think one of your kind would dare to show itself before me. And you human, did you summon me? This must be a joke, right? There is no way a mere human can summon the great-” “Who’s this big mouth hag?” I snap.

The greeny starts sweating profusely.

“Shhh, shhh,” the greeny whispers. “Stop talking you, idiot. That's the Spirit King of Nature. She has a bad temper so just shhh.”

The Spirit King of Nature, huh,” I jeer. “Graceful my ass. She just has a big mouth on her, that’s all.”

“What did you say to me, human?” says the Spirit King, releasing an overwhelming pressure. It however isn’t enough to frighten me.

“Listen here lady, it's one thing to act all high and mighty, but it’s another to act high and mighty in front of me. I summoned you here, so that means you get to listen to me.”

“Or what?”

“Hey little green man, how do I cancel my summon?” I ask whilst looking at the greeny.

“My name is Blue and in order to cancel your summoning, you just need to stop feeding the summon your mana.”

“Huh, that easy. Wait, your name is Blue? How ironic,” I scoff, and then turn to the Spirit King. “Well, it seems I’ll be saying goodbye to you old hag.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” panics The Spirit King of Nature.

Let’s not be hasty now. This human has enough mana to summon me and even after he summoned me, he doesn't seem drained or tired at all. It's been ten thousand years since I have been summoned into this world. If I offend him more than I already have, then he’ll cancel the summon and I'll be driven back to my boring, uneventful life.

“Sorry for what I've said before huma- I mean, the person who summoned me.”

I can see at a glance that she is forcing herself to say these words. Even though her mouth is saying this, but her face is probably saying, “I’ma murder you, you piece of shit.”

“Don’t apologise to me. Apologise to my little green friend who’s probably emotionally scarred by what you said.”

“What?!” exclaims Blue and the Spirit King at the same time.

I just smile at them as I see the Spirit King becoming infuriated and Blue wishing he wasn’t born. Though she doesn’t burst out in anger, I can see the veins popping out of her forehead.

“What are you trying to do kid, get me killed?” Blue whispers, and then turns to the Spirit King. “He’s just kidding

My Queen.”

I look straight into her eyes.

“I’m not. If you want me to form a contract with you, you’ll have to know your place. Now, apologise to him.”

Know my place? Know my place?! I'm the Queen of all living things. How dare a mere human act so superior in front of me. Fuck boredom, I'll just kill him.

“I see, so that’s what you’ve chosen. Then I guess I’ll have to force you into submission. Bind.”

Green energy tangles itself around the Spirit King’s body, binding her. The green energy then turns into chains.

“Wha- what is this?”she cries. “What have you done, human?”

What’s going on? I can’t move. Not only that but I can’t feel my energy. It's like I don’t have control over myself.

“Do you get it now? You might be the Spirit King of Nature but here in the mortal realm, you’re nothing.”

Blue is also surprised by what is transpiring. Usually, when a person summons a spirit, they form a partnership contract immediately. Meaning that the other party won’t force the other to follow orders if he/she doesn’t want to. But the spirits are actually tricking us with the contract. The summoner has more authority than the spirit and the reason is that the summoner is the one who summoned the spirit.

No matter how strong the spirit is, if you haven’t formed the contract with it yet, then its entire existence depends on you. Even its power can be manifested by using the summoner’s mana.

Of course, I didn’t know that. It is only now after I asked Blue about how to cancel a summon, that my assumption is confirmed.

“Do you understand now old hag? You might be allpowerful in the spirit realm but here, you are nothing without your summoner, in this case, me. Now, yield.”

Damn it. How did he figure that out? Did the greeny tell him? (Looks over to blue) Nah, he also seems surprised by this. Then did he figure it out on his own? How? He's right. We spirits are powerless without the summoner. Forming a contract with them will basically give us control over their mana. Meaning we could use our powers whenever we want and they can’t cancel the summon if they didn’t have our consent. But to think he would have this much mana to force me, the king of nature to submit. This kid, he’s dangerous. “Fin- fine I... yield.”

Blue is shocked by this turn of events. A human subduing a spirit king is unheard of.

“Now, apologise to him.”

“Tsk.”

It seems she still has her pride.

I tighten the binds on her and her bones begin to make cracking sounds.

“Aaargh, okay, okay I'm sorry little greeny!”she cries. “I'm sorry.”

“His name is Blue.”

“I’m sorry Blue.”

Blue’s heart is pounding.

I know I should be scared but there is just something about hearing the Spirit King of Nature, mother of all living things, apologising to me. I feel really good.

At least hide your satisfaction, Blue. Your eyes are sparkling right now.

“Now, tell me your name,” I ask while releasing the chains.

“Arg,” she spits, panting. “My name is Gaia. As you already know, I'm the Spirit King of Nature.”

“Good, my name is Allen. I'll be in your care.”

Damn you human. How can you humiliate me like this! In front of an inferior being at that. Just you wait, I’ll make you pay for this humiliation tenfold.

I guess she’s still angry but it doesn't matter. All I care about now is forming the contract.

We then form the contract. Of course, it is a master-servant contract, meaning I have the authority. Usually, people are tricked by the fact that spirits are portrayed as demi-gods in the books. So, whenever someone summons a spirit, it is like meeting a God, so they end up making the 50/50 contract.

Of course, not all spirits exploit the contract but the stronger the summoned spirit is, the more pride they have. In some cases, people summon spirits in emergencies. So, when a spirit answers their call, they are so overjoyed they would literally do anything.

But I'm not like that. I just need to be the strongest so that instead of me bowing to them, they’ll instead bow to me. After all, if you can make God bleed, then people will cease to believe in Him. He’d be just like an ordinary person.

“The contract is complete, Sir.”

“Call me Master from now on.”

“Yes Master,” she says, fury evident in her voice.

“Hmm, maybe Your Highness.”

“Yes.”

“Or maybe My Lord.”

Of course, I am teasing her but it just feels good making someone who views herself as almighty bow her head to me.

Now, thanks to my summoning of Gaia, she can now teach me all about spirit energy and spirit magic.

She then begins her teachings. Spirit energy is formed when anything that has a spirit/soul dies. A person’s spirit is made up of spirit energy and the spirit also serves as vitality. If a spirit dies, so is the body. Spirit magic uses spirit energy to attract the magic particles in the air.

Of course, spirit magic is different from regular magic which means its magic formula is different, so is its magic output. No living being can utilise spirit energy except for elves, thanks to Gaia’s spirit blessing.

“So now, thanks to the contract we just made, you’ll be able to utilise spirit energy and after decades of work, you’ll be able to use spirit magic.”

“Thanks for your help, now everything is complete,” I acknowledge.

“Wha- what do you mean.”

“Beginning inserting Mindscape.”

A gale force wind blows over the place. I start absorbing the mana in the environment. Even the spirit energy starts converging inside of me. Both mana and spirit energy combine as they enter my head.

“What going on? How can he absorb so much spirit energy even though he hasn’t done any practice yet?” wonders Gaia.

Both Gaia and Blue are shocked by what is happening. After all, I had just listened to a vague explanation about what spirit energy is. I wasn’t supposed to know how to absorb it yet and even if I did, I was absorbing way too much. “Now, Mindscape.”

With the uttering of these words, a never-before-seen magic circle appears in the sky.

“What’s happening now?” Gaia asks, panicked. “What the hell are those magic circles? I have never seen such a complex magic circle before. Those magic formulas, I can’t even comprehend them.”

At that time, a single thought enters Gaia’s mind.

Genius. This kid is a never-before-seen genius.

As the magic circles start to constrict on my forehead, a change happens. The clouds in the air start gathering. The wind is bellowing ever so loud, its force collapsing Blue’s cage and freeing him. It is as if a tornado is about to form.

A massive pool of mana starts converging at the spot I am at.

“Are the heavens trying to stop him or are they trying to help?” shrieks Gaia.

A huge bang follows right after the crazy storm. Gaia and Blue watch as my body glows, levitating from the ground.

“Amazing! To think a human can cause such a phenomenon. And the amount of mana and spirit energy he absorbed are just too unreal.”

Maybe it isn’t such a bad thing to follow this kid.

Meanwhile, inside my mind: Huh, so this is my

Mindscape. It’s rather blank.

It is an open space with nothing in it. It feels like I am standing in another dimension. Even though it is rather empty, I feel a sense of refreshment. It is like all my worries and fears are gone. It is the birth of my new self and I am happy about it.

Well, it would be rather depressing if my Mindscape is this dull. I guess I should make a few changes.

I then design my mindscape with a familiar look; the computer. In a computer you’ll find a lot of folders and those folders contain information. With that concept in my mind, I structure my mindscape. Now, if I ever want to remember something, I'll be able to remember the exact details because I can just play the memory in my mind like a video.

I then decide to save the magic formulas of the magic spells I have learned so far. Now, I won’t have the need for chanting. With that in mind, I've just finished my own version of chantless casting. I do a bunch of other stuff too.

I then wake up to find that it is already dawn. Blue and Gaia were with me the whole time while I was asleep.

“I see that you didn’t run away, Blue.”

“Well, I thought about that, but then I remembered that you managed to subdue a spirit king and you also did whatever it was you just did. So, I'm sure it wouldn’t be a problem for you to find a little green man with those abilities.”

“I see. Well, you helped a lot so I'll be freeing you. I also have an abundance of food so you can take as much as you need.”

“What gave you the impression that I need food?”

“Well, you were gathering food in the middle of the night. Your friends ran the moment I showed myself, which means

you guys are prone to predation.” “Huh, you are smarter than you look.” I glare at him.

“I mean thanks for the food. I'll be leaving now.”

Blue then heads into the garden to gather up the fruit. Due to my boredom over the years, I started a garden using seeds I bought in the village and some found here in the forest. I also have a herb garden, which I use the harvested herbs for my experiment of potions.

Over the years I have found a lot of flaws in potion creation. In my previous life, I was a man of science so I know chemistry very well. I then shared my research with Stacy. Thanks to that, she has become a high-ranked potion alchemist. I thought she would leave after becoming one to go and work at the capital but she stayed. I don’t know the reason why. Heck, I don’t even know Stacy’s story of where she came from. But I know that she’s probably a noble or someone from a rich family.

“What about me, Master?” asks Gaia meekly.

That's surprising. To think she would bow her head while asking me a question.

“You can go back for now.”

“Wait, what? I can still be of more use to you, Master.”

“Of course, I'll summon you again in the future. It’s just... right now there are somethings I have to do.”

“Okay, I understand. This queen shall wait for your future summons.”

Gaia then disappears.

After creating my Mindscape, I feel like the amount of power flowing out of me is enormous. I can feel that my mana core expanded and my mana has become more pure and denser too. I’m pretty sure that my magic will be far more powerful than what it was before. Not only that, but my brain capacity has expanded. That means I can absorb more knowledge now, process it and comprehend it in a short span of time.

Thanks to my Mindscape, moving to the next step will be easy. The next is developing a magic core. A magic core can only be found in monsters but a few years ago, I found a way to create my own magic core. A core filled with nothing but magical power.

There is a reason why humans don’t have a magic core, and it is that magic power won’t have a place to travel in. Every living thing has only one core, meaning that it only has one path for that energy to travel through. We humans have a mana core and we have mana veins to help transport mana throughout the entire body.

But with my Mindscape, I am able to assess my body thoroughly and check every nook and cranny. I managed to find something while I was assessing my body last night. Unused mana veins. I believe that a person isn’t able to use all of their mana veins. It's the same thing about how it’s said humans can only use 10% of their brains. Research studies showed that more than 60% of the neurons in our brains served no specific purpose.

It's the same too with the unused mana veins. The cells in the body already receive enough mana from the mana core. If those unused mana veins were working, then the body would transfer more mana for no reason.

So, I plan to use those unused mana veins but instead of them being for mana, I'm going to use them to be for magical power instead.

But, opening up those unused veins is too risky. One wrong move and I can blow up my whole mana network resulting in my mana core being unstable. Worst case scenario, my mana core could explode resulting in instant death.

I then went to my room and prepared everything I would need. From healing potions, mana potions and more. I also prepared some magic cores I got from monsters in the red zone.

I'm going to do this kind of experiment in the forest. I found a nice area with a high concentration of magical power which a very strong monster used to live there. It's a perfect place. It's a place far away from my house. Just in case I end up exploding, I need to make sure my gram isn’t affected by it.

I then walked to my gram’s room. She was sleeping peacefully as usual.

I then cast my high heal on her and I also imbue her with some spirit energy. When a person is dying, their spirit also crumbles and becomes unstable.

“I’ll be back Gram so, wait for me, okay?” I then immediately go into the forest.…

In The Orange Zone. Blue is heading back home carrying a buttload of food.

“I bet everyone will be pretty surprised when they see me with all this food. The elders will also stop saying I'm incompetent and they will praise me for this.”

Blue finally arrives home only to find the others in a panic. The three elders are busy arguing with each other.

“We should leave this place,” says the first elder. “It's only a matter of time for that little failure to tell that human where we are just to save his own skin.”

“Yes, we should leave immediately,” the second elder concurs, nodding his head. “We should be able to find another place suitable for us.”

“Leaving now will only result in us being feasted upon by monsters in the forest,” cautions the third elder, worried. “Even though their numbers have dwindled over the years, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any out there. And what about Blue? What about my son? Are you telling us to abandon him just like that?”

The first elder then slams his fist on the table. “He’s probably being sold off by now. And the time we spend arguing the faster the humans could be reaching this place. We

need to make a decision right now.”

The three of them nods their heads.

“Great Elder, what should we do?”

The trio look at the Great Elder. The Great Elder is the leader of the greenies.

To think that we would be driven to such a state. Both the first and third elder don’t like each other. The second elder is just a ‘yes man’ for the first elder and fails to think for himself. Sigh, once known as the descendants of the legendary fairies, to think we would suffer like this.

It all started with that demonic energy poisoning the forest. Because of it, we had to flee. A lot of our people were corrupted by that energy. That was a hundred years ago. We the survivors tried to make do with what we had but since it was the first time, we left our sanctuary. We were hunted down by powerful monsters. We managed to survive by hiding where there were little monsters around. A new enemy emerged from there too - humans. Humans who came here to seek fortune and opportunities would capture and sell us. By selling us to nobles, who then used us as decorations, and our numbers dwindled even further. We then moved again to a place where humans wouldn’t have the courage to come after us, and we would be safe from powerful monsters and that was here. All these years, we’ve been surviving only by running away. And now, we have to run away again.

“Guess who’s back.”

Blue suddenly appears. They are all surprised.

“Blue my son,” the third elder, Blue’s father, jumps with eyes filled with tears and hugs his son. “I thought... I thought I'd never see you again, my son.”

“Pops, you are hugging way too tightly. I think you might just kill me.”

“Oh, sorry son. It's just I was so worried when I heard

Pink and the others say you were captured by a human.” Everyone is shocked to see Blue back and alive.

“To think you’re still alive. Tell us Blue, what did you tell the human in exchange for your life? Did you perhaps tell ‘it’ about where we were?” asks the first elder, irritated.

The joy in the faces of everyone then simply disappears. They start questioning his being there.

“Yes, little Blue. Tell us what happened?” says The Great Elder.

“Fine. Then I'll tell you everything.”

And then Blue tells them what had transpired.

In The Red Zone

This place has a really good concentration of magical power. Magical power is basically mana and magic particles mixed together.

“No wonder that guy liked this spot. With this amount of magical power, he might have become as strong as Cinnamon if I didn’t kill him. Yosh, let’s begin.”

I then sit down in a meditation posture and close my eyes.

The first thing I need to do is to locate the pathways of my mana veins using Mindscape. Next, I need to locate the unused mana veins using the same method. I need to locate them all otherwise that might cause a backlash since the mana veins are connected to each other.

Okay, I've got them all now. The next thing that’s left is to open all the magic circuits in my body, from the magic circuits at the top of my head to those at the tip of my toes. I then need to release my mana and blend it with the magic particles in the air.

I then need to absorb all that magic power in one go so that all the unused mana veins can be opened up. It’s like unclogging a pipe by building up the pressure inside it.

I then start absorbing the magical energy. The unused mana veins start opening up one by one as the magical power runs through them. After the unused mana veins are all open, all that is left to do is to focus all that magical energy in one place and form the magic core.

But I miscalculated. The rate at which I am absorbing the magical energy is too high. I don’t have enough time to form the foundation for the magical core. The speed of absorption is far greater than the speed to create a core.

I then lose control of the magical energy inside my body. It starts spreading everywhere. No matter how hard I try to control it, it is already out of my reach. The magical energy ends up clashing with my mana. I cough up blood.

Now, my body is like a war zone. My mana is fighting against this foreign energy entering my body. It is rejecting it. I try to calm my mana but I lose control of it too. Now, these two energies clashing with each other is something that I wanted to avoid.

Aargh! It feels like my insides are being cooked. It hurts! It hurts so much! The energy I am releasing is so fierce that nearby trees are being blown away. Even monsters and magical beasts start running away from where I am.

I'm not gonna make it. I can’t contain this power. I'm going to explode and die.

I take out all the healing potions I have on me and drink them all but they don’t have an effect.

Die? I'm going to die again. No, not like this. I can’t die yet. I still have so much to do, so much to fix in this rotten world.

The energy starts building up in my body. It is ready to explode. The ground starts cracking and the trees are being blown away even more. This is going to be a huge explosion, powerful enough to take out half of this forest including the village.

Gram, Stacy, the villagers and... Amy. I can’t let them die. Especially not now. Not now that we have managed to accomplish so much to improve the village. I need to find a way to quell this power. There has to be a way.

And then deep inside my sub-consciousness a golden flame appears.

What’s that? I don’t care what it is. If it can help me out of this predicament, then it’s all good.

I reach out my hand to grab it. I push myself to grab it. Even though I am in agony, even though my chest is burning, even though my blood is boiling, I reach out my hand and grab it.

Then, immediately the two energies, my mana and magical power, start to calm down. They both start to synchronise with each other as the magical power starts converging right below my mana core. And just like that, my second core is formed.

The weird golden energy seems to have emerged straight from my soul. I don’t know where it came from, heck I don’t know anything about it but now, I'm just glad I made it out alive.

“I can’t believe I made it through that,” I say to myself, panting heavily. “I guess I should hurry back home now.”

When I lift my head and stand up, I am shocked by what I see. The place where an abundance of magical power is found is like a waste land. All the trees are blown away and the ground has a crater, as if a meteor has struck.

I then return home and rest.