"Why did you stop?" Astra asks me. Her questions prompts Ana to stop moving and come back to us.
"Is there something wrong?" Ana asks when she comes back.
"There is someone inside the cave," I say. "Or at least on top of it."
"Do you have any idea who they are?" Astra asks after a couple of seconds.
"My detection spell can't tell me that," I say. "I only know that something is in the cave. However, since they show up on the detection spell, then that means they are enemies. The only enemies who can get through the warding barrier formation are Diego and his crew, so Diego must be in there. As for what he wants, we'll only know once we go inside."
"Well, we should all go inside," Astra says. "If he's in there alone, it'll be easy for all of us to overpower him. Then we can find his motives."
"Sure," I say, "but you two go in with your hiding spells. That way, he'll only think that it is me. In that way, he'll probably be more inclined to stay, and talk. He'll also probably underestimate me, which will be a big help."
"Sure, but we are helping at the first sign of danger," Ana says.
With that said, we continued on our way towards our cave. Astra and Ana had already put up their spells and were invisible to me. I could still roughly tell where they were though, thanks to the mana links. As we got closer, my detection spell got another hit, meaning Diego wasn't alone. That means that the rest of his crew was probably down there. This makes even less sense, since they should've been hunting for their food. They wouldn't survive the winter if they didn't. Unless they realized that we had to have a stock of food as well. If so, they could just attack us, and take our stockpiled food to pass the winter.
"My detection spell shows that there are two people in the cave," I say aloud in the direction of Astra and Ana. "I think they are all there, planning to attack us. They most likely realized that we had stored food, and would be able to pass the winter with our stockpiled food. We are most likely going to be getting into a fight. I still want to try this strategy though, as it will be easier for us if we are underestimated."
"But then you'll be put in a lot of danger," Ana says.
"I'll be fine, since I have my spell shield," I say before I continue moving, not giving them a chance to convince me otherwise. While I am walking, Ana undoes her hiding spell and walks with me.
"What are you doing?" I ask.
"I have my shield," she says. "Besides, we don't want you to take the risk alone. Astra is still hidden, so we'll still be underestimated, and she'll still be able to launch a surprise attack if necessary."
I can't refute that logic. I am also pretty sure that she'll continue to do this, even if I tell her not to. As such, I continue walking. We soon arrived at the entrance of the cave. I still only got 2 reactions from my detection spell. This might mean that it isn't Diego. Maybe other members of his crew have come over on their own. That doesn't change what we have to do though.
With my conviction set, I walk down into the cave. It is still the familiar entrance, with nothing out of place. In fact, if I didn't have the detection spell, I would have never known that there was anyone in the cave. As I stepped into the cave, I felt mana surging past me. The way it was surging felt familiar, and the amount that was surging was so huge that it was visible. 9 different paths of mana were starting combine into a giant multicolored lance. As I was watching, a water barrier was erected in front of me, instantaneously. It was only then, that I realized the danger that we were in.
"O spell of wind, combine with the fire to form a barrier that surrounds myself."
I quickly chanted my shield spell, and overlaid it atop Ana's water barrier. Despite this, the feeling of danger didn't subside. Instead, it actually grew much stronger. That meant that these barriers would be a hindrance, but now that they were chanted, there was nothing I could do. However, they should buy me enough time to use my strongest spell. I didn't tell Astra and Ana what I was going to do, partly because there wasn't enough time, but mostly because they would be against it.
"O spell of wind flow through my body to reinforce myself. O spell of fire, combine with the wind as a mighty blade of water that follows my movements to destroy my enemies."
Since I was able to do 5 tasks at once, I was able to use both of these spells. Despite doing this, I could still feel a sense of danger. I knew for sure that I would be able to destroy this spell, but the mana that composed it would go out of control. I wouldn't be able to do anything about the out of control mana. The only thing I could use would be my mana drain spell. However, I would have to use it along with the spell sword. I need the spell sword to cut through the spell, so I can use my mana drain spell before. I also can't use it after, since the mana will be out of my control by then. I can only use it along with the other spells. I can't think of these things because the lance is almost completed. I'll just have to do it.
"O spell of wind dwell in my blade to drain the mana of my opponent."
After I chanted my mana drain spell, the lance had been fully formed, and launched towards us. It hit my barrier, triggering the counterattack. However, neither the barrier nor the counterattack did anything. Well, it might have slowed it down a tiny bit. Once I saw this, I immediately tensed myself up. It followed the same path, and interacted with the water barrier. Once it touched the barrier it immediately shattered it. However, I had already done a diagonal slash towards it the moment the barrier shattered.
My sword and the lance collided with each other. My strength holding my sword, while raw magic power holding up the lance. It is at this moment where I felt glad that I had taken off my weights before we went hunting. If I hadn't, I would have definitely been pushed back at this moment. The delicate balance between my sword and the lance was shattered, as my sword sliced through the lance. My mana drain spell began to drain the mana from the spell. I was originally excited upon seeing this, as it meant that I had gotten through this experience. However, to my horror, I could feel that my mana drain spell had only drained â…“ of the lance's total mana.
The rest of the mana inside the lance gushed out from what remained. Even if the two barriers were still up, it wouldn't have mattered, as the remaining mana would have still been enough to break the barriers and kill us. I never knew my mana drain spell had a limit. No, I just never found a spell that could test its limit. I fell down onto the ground as I lost my strength. My mind was in pain from doing 6 tasks when I could only do 5. While I still had mana thanks to the mana drain spell, I couldn't use it in my state. I had no strength to resist what would happen next. I could only hope that Astra and Ana were able to escape.
"Sylvain." "Sylvi." I heard Astra and Ana yelling out my name as I closed my eyes.
I felt a familiar sensation beneath me and above me. It felt like I was lying in my bed, while wrapped in a blanket. The first thought that came to my mind was this must be the afterlife. After all, there was now at I could survive the uncontrolled mana with no strength. However, right after I thought that, I felt a pain in my brain. The pain was a familiar one, and made me think that this wasn't the after life. After all, why would I feel pain in the afterlife?
I opened my eyes, and found myself within my room on the bed covered in blankets. I looked around the room, and everything was as I had left it, of course with the exception of me being in my bed. Wondering about the safety of Astra and Ana, I tried to get out of bed. However, when I tried to move, my mana started acting chaotic. If I didn't settle it, I would harm my body, and possibly make myself unable to use mana in the future. Astra and Ana are important, but I don't want to be a burden to them, and without mana, I would be their biggest burden. As such, I calmed my chaotic mana, and tried to find the reason behind why it became chaotic.
Calming down my mana was easy. I just needed to lie back down and relax. However, when I tried to figure out the reason why it became chaotic, I was at a loss. Circulating mana through me didn't find any clogged points, or anything out of the ordinary. The only thing that was different, was the rate at which my mana would flow. It had slowed down from before, but I didn't think much of that. After all, it is normal to have a slower mana flow when your mana has been emptied, and you are distracted by the pain in your head.
I finished cycling my mana 3 times throughout my body when Astra and Ana came into my room. I wanted to make sure that there was nothing wrong with me, which is why I cycled my mana 3 times. However, all 3 times I could find nothing wrong. Well, at least Astra and Ana are safe. When they saw me, their eyes gradually teared up and they ran towards me. They were very careful with me, but still hugged and cuddled me.
Once they stopped I asked, "what happened? Are you guys okay? How long have I been out?"
"The king and queen were the people who were inside our cave," Astra said after wiping the tears from her eyes. "The king wanted to test you, which is why he fired the lance at you. You were only meant to destroy the lance, while the king would deal with the aftermath. We are fine, as the king and queen helped deal with what you couldn't. You have only been out for one night."
"Are the king and queen still here?" I ask after I digest all the information she has given me. "Also, do you know why they came?"
"They are still here," Astra replies.
"In fact, they are out eating the breakfast I made," Ana suddenly chirps in from the side. "As for why they came, they said they wanted to test you. They wanted to make sure that you could control our mana, even as we grew. They will be coming over from time to time to test you."
"Oh great," I mumble under my breath. I don't hate them. After all, I'm pretty sure they are doing this to make sure Astra and Ana can stay safe. However this situation is really painful to deal with, and is something I'd rather not do. I mean, they could at least tell us in advance instead of just deciding to do this. As I am thinking this, my stomach rumbles. It's not surprising though, since I didn't eat dinner yesterday, and it's already breakfast time.
"Can someone bring a plate of food to me?" I ask.
"Do you not want to meet our parents?" Ana asks teasingly.
I don't want them to worry, but they will find out about it eventually, so it is better to tell them this now. Besides, if I do, maybe the king and queen will be able to figure out what is wrong with me. As such, I say, "no, but it's actually because my mana will go out of control when I move. So, moving will cause me pain."
Once I say that, they both look at each other before rushing out of my room. I can vaguely here, "king," and "please help." They must have also thought the same thing as me and asked for the king and queen's help. Besides, if memory serves me right, they did help me before when I was in a similar situation. At that time, they told me when the pain would subside. While I was reminiscing the king and queen came into my room, swiftly followed by Astra and Ana.
"I'll be scanning your body with my mana, don't reject me," the king abruptly stated when he came into the room. He didn't even give me a chance to talk and just did as he said. I at first, instinctively resisted, but then accepted his mana. I could feel it flowing through my body. After it finished a complete cycle, he stopped and withdrew his mana.
"He'll be fine," the king states immediately after he withdraws his mana. He says no more than that, and just leaves the room. I kind of wanted to know what was wrong with me, but I guess I should be glad that there is nothing wrong with me.
As if my thoughts were perfectly seen on my face, the queen came to me and said, "let me check. After I'm done, I'll tell you what has caused this."
"Yes please," I say as unlike the king she allows me to speak before immediately acting. After I finish speaking, she proceeds to cycle her mana through my body. Since I was prepared for it, I didn't reject it. The queen had to cycle through my body twice before she stopped. Once she stopped, her face frowned.
"So what's wrong?" I ask, getting scared from her expression.
"Well, as you probably already guessed, there is an imbalance within you," she says. I nod my head at her, because I had already indeed guessed that there was an imbalance in my mana. After all, if there was no imbalance, then there would also be no pain. I just can't find anything wrong with my mana, so I didn't know where the imbalance was.
"You are probably thinking that there is an imbalance in your mana," the queen says her next words after my nod. "However, that isn't what happened. Instead, there is an imbalance between your mana and your body."
"Huh," I inadvertently leaked out. I had never known that there could be an imbalance between the body and mana. I also have no clue on how that happened.
"It seems you are confused, so let me elaborate a little further," the queen continues. "Since you come from outside of the Forest of Calamity, you should have noticed your mana's quality and quantity growing. In fact, everything that is capable of housing mana can do this. As long as the quality and quantity of the surrounding mana is greater than your own, you will slowly adapt. However, time is needed for this to take place, as your body needs to be able to house the changes in your mana. If the body can't keep up, then a tragedy will strike."
"What is the tragedy?" I ask, fearing the worst.
"That is something you don't need to worry about," she says. "After all the king has said you'll be fine. Instead, you should be worrying about the influx of mana with a greater quantity and quality. If this happens again, you may not survive."
"The mana drain spell," Ana suddenly exclaims after listening.
"The what?" The queen asks.
"To deal with the aftermath of breaking the rainbow lance, Sylvi used his mana drain spell to absorb the mana." Ana says.
"That can't be it," I say. "After all, it wasn't able to drain the entire spell. That means the mana drain spell failed."
"Not necessarily," Astra suddenly says. "Your mana drain spell if used to gather others mana. However, the lance was created of elemental mana. As such, you should have only been able to absorb the elemental mana you have an affinity with, mainly wind, fire, and water."
"But when we fought Diego and his crew, I was able to absorb the spells they cast out," I say. "They also used elemental spells that weren't water, wind, or fire."
"Well, I don't have any better ideas," Astra says at a loss.
It is then that I think of something. During the time I was fighting Diego and his crew, I might have been using my multitasking skill to change the elemental mana. I have been able to change elemental mana before, so it is believable that I subconsciously did this. I can test this out easily by using my multitasking skill to its max, before trying to absorb some elemental mana. If I can't absorb it, then this theory is correct. Right after I thought of this, my stomach rumbled loudly.
I inadvertently laughed at that before saying, "can someone bring me some food? We can think about this later."
My laughter was infectious, causing everyone in the room to laugh along with me.
Once they had finished laughing, Ana said, "sure I'll go get you some food."