Belkan soldiers now occupied the ruined city of Neo Rimo. Everywhere is a total chaos. Not a single house or building is unscathed. Some were even razed to the ground.
At the heart of the city, King Monde of Belka finally arrived with an entourage of mounted knights. He looked around pleased.
"Good… very good. We've finally done it."
"I still don't know how my son the third prince changed from a loser to a genius overnight, but without him, we couldn't have done this." King Monde remembered the third prince and how he suddenly was able to do impossible things like creating fire out of nothing and also make powerful explosives that can destroy a whole city.
He gestured to a man in front wearing an all-black outfit. "By the way, where's my son?"
"We were separated as soon as we arrived. The third prince tasked me to slip through the enemy's defenses and plant explosives while he went to the forest." The man explained while pointing his hands to where Old man Rimo's camp used to stand before it was also razed.
"Someone go and find him." King Monde commanded his mounted knights.
"What about the royal family? Any news of the old general?" He was still a bit fearful of General Rimo. His title as the Strongest General of the entire civilization wasn't just for show.
"I threw the rest of the explosives towards the castle when I saw a cavalry approaching. They were also caught in the blast. The general is still alive but barely holding on." The black-clothed man waved his hands and a disfigured person riddled with burnt flesh was dragged forward and forcefully brought down to his knees.
"Monde you scumbag! You… you killed my son!" Shouted old man Rimo. His anger made him cough blood.
"Haha, Old man, long time no see. You didn't think this would happen, did you? I only wanted this land but you beat me to it. So, don't blame me for doing this." King Monde laughed.
"Kill him." The king of Belka commanded the black-clothed man. "We'll all be dead if he recovers."
"You sonofa - " Old man Rimo wasn't able to finish what he wanted to say. He saw a sword pierced out of his chest as the black-clothed man stabbed him from the back.
"Gather all the captives. We need a lot of workers at the mine so try not to kill if possible." King Monde commanded his soldiers after seeing the old general fall down. "Don't forget to search for valuables."
"Yes, your majesty." Everyone took a bow then dispersed.
After everybody left, the King talked. "Mr. Willow"
"I can no longer sense it. It's not here in the city anymore." A man with pointy ears and slanted eyes appeared out of nowhere.
"Maybe she took it and left the city before we arrived." They both remembered a certain spy back at the mines.
"She might have gone back to her clan. Things will get harder if she decided to give it to their patriarch."
Back at the forest, the two young people still weren't clear as to what's happened to the city and its inhabitants after that big explosion.
"You're finally awake." Edkael saw the princess getting up.
"I hate the storyteller. He always makes me faint." Mumbled the princess.
"What?" says the confused young man.
"Oh, nothing. What happened?" asked Princess Kahlia
"I forgot to tell you. The amount of mana you can manipulate directly relates to your mental aptitude." Lectured Edkael without even a hint of apology for not mentioning this beforehand. "Overuse of mana leads to mental exhaustion."
"Sigh, that's bad news. I thought I will be able to go back sooner." Kahlia sat down and let out a breath. Now that she's learned energy manipulation, she wanted to go back immediately and save everyone she can.
"First, train your mind. Familiarize yourself with the elements. The longer you train, the easier it is to cast them." Edkael stood up and conjured the elements in sequence. "There's no shortcut to it. Train hard and train more."
Without delay, she casted fireball. The longer she kept it floating above her hands, the more exhausted her mind became.
'I hate training. I hate exercise. I don't believe there's no easier way.' The princess complained silently. 'Everything has a shortcut. The trick is where to find it.'
She began to hate training when her mother trained her to cultivate life force. She was ordered to stay still, meditate and feel the life force that's present in the environment for a long period of time. Being young, she hated staying still.
She calmed down when she thought about her mother.
'Will fortifying the mind with life force do?' After she rested, she applied what she learned from her mother and then casted another fireball. This time, she was able to maintain it longer than she used to before feeling mind exhaustion.
Seeing this, Edkael became surprised once more. "How did you do that? The mind can't level up that fast."
"Life force." Kahlia kept it short as she was still exhausted. "I'll teach you later as a payment for what you taught me."
While she was resting, she kept thinking. 'This is not it. Although there's improvement, but it's not enough.'
After thinking for a while, the princess suddenly jumped up and exclaimed "You stupid princess!" then awkwardly sat down again after regaining her sanity when she saw Edkael looking at her nervously.
'I'm not only a native of this planet. I'm also a person of Earth.' She laughed inwardly.
She collected herself and casted another fireball again. She kept it floating for a while then casted another fireball on her other hand.
"Whoa!" Edkael shouted. "That's what life force can do?"
"No. This is Science." Kahlia replied as she stopped casting.
"Science?" Edkael wondered what that new technique is.
"We've been looking at it the wrong way." Kahlia explained. "Don't think about making fire, think about temperature."
"How?" Now the situation became reversed. The teacher became the student and vice versa.
"Cast mana, and imagine it to be millions of super tiny balls then move them and let them collide with each other. The faster you move them, the hotter they get."
Edkael tried to understand. But no matter how he thought about it, he still wasn't able to do it.
"I still don't understand. What about life force? Maybe I'll be able to learn it." Edkael wasn't just going to give up.
"Hold my hand." Kahlia raised her hands towards him.
Edkael became flustered. But seeing the princess innocently looking at him, he finally held her hands, though awkwardly.
"Don't think unnecessary thoughts. Just let your hands feel and focus on it."
The princess let some life force flow from her hands towards Edkael while she kept thinking. 'This will be easier than before since we're now inside the forest and there's a good amount of life force present.'
"Can you feel it?" asked the princess.
Edkael cleared his thoughts and immediately he felt something flowing though his hands. "Yes, I feel it."
"Let's sit down first." Kahlia gestured for them to sit down. "Now that you're familiar with it, meditate. Focus your mind and feel the environment. When you feel the life force from the environment, try to draw it into your body. Let it flow to every part of your body."
Kahlia let go of his hands and let him meditate alone. Seeing that he kept silent with eyes closed, she no longer bothered him.
Edkael felt a something familiar yet different energy flowing into his body. It's like mana yet milder. While the body gradually gets harmed if directly exposed to mana, this new energy felt like refining his body and making it stronger and tougher. Amazed with this new discovery, he forcefully calmed his excitement and meditated more.
After watching him for a long time, Kahlia finally stood up and practiced more mana techniques. Using 'Science' as a base, everything became easier for her because she no longer needs to think of creating something out of nothing. Creating fire was just moving particles, creating water was just absorbing moisture from air, same with the rest.
But suddenly, no matter what she did, she wasn't able to create fire anymore. She waved her hands in the air, made hand signs, even danced silly, but nothing. Not even a spark. She wanted to ask Edkael immediately but decided against it when she saw the he was still meditating. She had no choice but to wait.
"I can't do it anymore." Immediately after he opened his eyes, Kahlia approached him in a hurry.
Edkael calmly waved his hands and a few refined mana stones appeared.
"Illumination crystal? Wait… how did you do that? How did that appear out of nowhere?" The princess was puzzled.
"Spatial runes. It creates a dimensional storage. It is also inscribed on your ring. All you need is to focus your mind into it." Edkael said.
Kahlia tried as instructed. "Nothing. All I see is dark space."
"That's the dimensional storage." Edkael explained. "Now focus on something you see here. Put your hand near it and think of it entering that dark space you saw."
She did as she was told but nothing happened. Seeing this, Edkael winced.
"Sigh. Sorry, I'm being forgetful." Edkael certainly forgot that he was teaching a complete newbie but is better than him in some aspects.
"Here." He gave a mana crystal to the princess. "Your illumination crystal is my mana crystal. Mana is naturally stored inside that crystal. All you need to do is command it to transfer to your ring."
Edkael gave no more detailed explanation. He was trying to see what the princess can learn from his vague teachings.
Sure enough, in no time, the mana crystal turned into an ordinary stone.
"I did it?" The princess wasn't exactly sure what happened. "It seems easy enough. It's like a battery to a gadget or an ammo to a gun."
"Woof! Woof!"
Before she could even try to put things into her dimensional storage, she saw what looks like a cute bluish grey wolf pup with a small straight horn on its head not far from them.