Gradually, the Arcor began to enter Corwyn's body. He pulled more and more of it towards him, reached out with his senses farther and farther. Thanks to his intense training over the last three weeks, the amount he could draw in had been increased by a large margin. The powerful energy was flowing through his body, trying to break free, but Corwyn was still able to contain it.
Once he reached his limit, he began directing the Arcor into his palm, holding it there. Then, he focused all the energy in his palm into a single point and sent it inside the white stone. Quickly, it passed through the stone and came in contact with the mysterious material within. The moment it began to make contact with it, the material's force immediately tried to push the Arcor back.
Corwyn increased the amount of Arcor he directed into the stone. He clashed more fiercely with the rejecting force, applying pressure on it. The energy he was contending against was like a pure wave of power, while his Arcor energy was focused into one direction like a spear. Both sides raised their amount of energy even more, and the clash became even more fierce. However, it couldn't go on forever. The one who had more energy would win in the end.
All or nothing. Corwyn focused everything he had left into that one point, the tip of the spear. The material's force started to give in. Excited, he pushed with all he could, and finally, he broke through. The Arcor energy reached the mysterious substance, enveloping and seeping through it. Corwyn slowly began to analyze its structure.
After a few minutes of observation and analysis, he was overjoyed. This weird material was indeed some kind of metal, but one he had never seen nor heard of before. It was made of a truly complex structure, so complex one might wonder who would ever come up with something like it. Corwyn was deeply astonished by it.
He took his time in figuring out its composition. One hour, two hours, three hours quickly flew by, but he had yet to fully grasp how this metal was created. Fatigued, he decided to call it a day and withdrew his attention from the material. Before he left though, he marked the white stone with a cross so he could find that specific stone block again, just in case.
As Corwyn turned around, he scanned the area for Teo. He soon found him, still lying under a tree, asleep. Corwyn couldn't help but shake his head while he walked towards his friend. Once he stood next to him, he gently began to nudge Teo's head with his shoe.
"Heeey, if you sleep so much here, you won't be able to tonight! Get up!"
While twisting his face, Teo began to wake up and blinked multiple times. He murmured, still half asleep:
"Mmhmm, what, are you already done?"
"What do you mean with "already"? It's been more than three hours by now! Did you expect me to sit here the entire night?"
"Oh, it's been that long? Guess I have no choice but to get up then."
As he said that, Teo promptly stood up with a hitch, then looked at Corwyn and asked him:
"So, how did it go? Did you manage to break through?"
Corwyn smirked.
"Yes, I finally managed to do it, and my guess was correct. It is indeed a special metal component that gives the white stone the ability to hold monsters at bay!"
All traces of sleepiness instantly left Teo's face when he heard that news. An excited smile followed, and he spoke about twice as fast as he normally did.
"What? You really did it? Does that mean we can leave now?"
"Unfortunately, I still need time to fully grasp the structure of the metal. It has a complexity I have never seen before from any other metal. But it shouldn't take me too long to figure it out, maybe a few days."
Teo nodded his head in agreement. Right, it didn't really matter if it took a few more days or not, the simple fact that they could leave Konen soon was everything he had hoped to come true for.
Satisfied, the two young men headed back to their lodgings. Before they went for dinner though, they took a detour to Rogar's quarters and reported what Corwyn had discovered to him. Rogar was naturally overjoyed and already began to plan out preparations for their departure inside his head. After Corwyn had finished explaining, he and Teo went back to eat dinner, and quickly fell asleep not much later.
The following day, the entire city was in an uproar. Rogar didn't hide the fact that Corwyn had found a solution to their predicament from the squad leaders, and the news rapidly spread among the entire expedition party, and it didn't take long for them to reach the citizens of Konen as well.
Corwyn would have preferred the information to stay within the expedition party since he still had to figure out how to reproduce the metal and couldn't guarantee anything yet. But rumors quickly grew legs, and by noon nearly everyone living inside Konen was informed.
(Well, it can't be helped I guess. I hope they at least let me continue to research the material in peace, otherwise, it would get really annoying!)
Such thoughts went through Corwyn's head as he wolfed down his lunch inside his quarters. Normally, the entire squad ate together in the dining room, but his comrades continued to question him about this and that, so he fled back into his and Teo's room and ate there. It didn't take him long to finish his meal, and Corwyn headed to the city walls as soon as he was done. The sooner he analyzed the metal and they could leave this city, the better.
Half an hour later, he was back at the wall, walking to the spot he had marked the day before. Just like he had done for the past weeks, he sat down, connected his hand with the wall, and began analyzing the material inside the stone.
It wasn't an easy task, but Corwyn patiently inspected every nook and cranny of the metal inside the material, until dusk came again and he had to go back. In the end, after the fourth day since he broke through to the metal, he finally managed to completely grasp the structure of it and tried to recreate it. Corwyn didn't manage it on his first try, but a couple times later, he succeeded in creating a tiny ball made out of the special metal.
Corwyn gave the little piece of metal a close look. Its color was red, with a light golden shimmer on it. You would almost mistake it for copper, but as the one who created it, Corwyn could tell the difference by just touching it. He played around with the ball a little, then enclosed it within his fist and tried to feel the energy inside of it. But to his surprise, he felt nothing at all from it, as if it really was just copper.
(Since it doesn't absorb Arcor by itself, does that mean I have to insert it myself?)
Corwyn pondered over this problem for a while. He was absolutely certain that this metal was the reason for the powerful energy the white stone had emitted. Until now, he had thought that the material absorbed Arcor by itself until it reached its capacity, but it seemed like the energy had to come from another source. In order to test this theory, Corwyn immediately inserted some of the Arcor he gathered into the orb in his hand, and the metal orb quickly took it in and saved it up within itself.
Now that his theory had been proven right, Corwyn gave the little ball more and more Arcor to absorb. As the amount rose and rose, the power it sent out started to rise as well. Corwyn continued this activity for several hours until at last, the metal ball couldn't take in any Arcor in anymore. The force emitted by that little object was now even greater than the one he felt from the city walls.
Satisfied with himself, Corwyn went back to tell the good news to everyone else. The moment they heard they could leave now, the whole expedition party burst out with joy. All of them came to thank Corwyn from the bottom of their hearts, and they held a party to celebrate their near departure. Some of them even sang songs and danced the entire night, until morning came and everyone crawled back into their beds, exhausted.
The following days were quite busy for Corwyn. At the request of Lonren and Rogar, he created dozens of metal balls and gave them to the mages of the city and expedition party to fill them with Arcor. As soon as that task was completed, Lonren gave some of the metal balls to soldiers and ordered them to try out if they would attract the juggernaut or not. The soldiers were a bit unsure at first, but once someone brave among them volunteered, they hastily gave their approval as well.
They headed out in all different kinds of directions, but even after walking around for a while, nothing happened. This made them truly convinced of the power of the metal, and the entire city grew excited. They had to live in seclusion for more than three years by now, but at last, they could leave and see the outside world again.
The gratitude the people of Konen felt towards Corwyn was simply unmeasurable. Each one of them wanted to meet the hero Corwyn was in their eyes personally, but Lonren acted first and announced that there would be an official award ceremony, so the commotion calmed down a little before it could explode.
The day of the ceremony was also the day they would depart from Konen. The members of the expedition party were relieved they could finally leave, however, they also felt a little sad in their hearts. Konen was a beautiful city, and if the fact that they were unable to exit the city hadn't been there, many of them could imagine having a peaceful and relaxing time here.
At the day of the award ceremony, nearly the whole city was gathered at the main plaza of the city. Corwyn walked up to Lonren standing on a pedestal, while the crowd around them exploded with cheers. As he was not used to so much attention, Corwyn moved forward in a daze, taking in the sight of so many people cheering for him. Soon, he stood before Lonren and bowed deeply, and Lonren hung a gold medal over his head. The crowd applauded loudly. He waited for Corwyn to straighten himself up again, then began to speak loudly.
"Without your efforts, Corwyn, this city would have stayed isolated for who knows how much longer! As the mayor of Konen, I offer you my sincerest gratitude! I and everyone else here owe you forever. So if you should ever be in need of help, know that this city will not hesitate to give you its support. Therefore, go now, and continue to support the people important to you!"
"I thank Lord Shan for this honor and his kindness!"
The applause got even louder, and Corwyn once again bowed in front of Lonren.
Corwyn then walked back to his squad in the expedition party. Teo and Hanaan greeted him with stupid grins. Hanaan called out to him:
"Well? How does it feel to be famous?"
"Shut up!"
"Corwyn is a good man."
Corwyn grumbled at Hanaan's tease, but could only remain stunned silently when even the usually silent Dalios made a comment. Rogar gave out orders to leave, and after more than a month, they would at long last part with Konen and head for their next destination.
(Geez, I guess it will be impossible to avoid attention from now on. But as long as it helps those around me, maybe I can bear with it for a while.)
Corwyn thought this as the expedition party finally got into motion and marched into the direction of the city gate.