A few minutes later, Philip, Justine, Mark, Celine, and Tenshi arrive at the foot of the glowing mountain
"Those blue spikes and crystals back there..."
"They are Mana Stones that emerged through the ground because they couldn't contain and absorb the rich True Mana inside the hotspot. Even so, these Mana Stones contain more Mana than the usual. Have you guys seen the normal Mana Stones before?"
Mark asked with curiosity and Philip answered him nonchalantly. Philip seemed calm on the outside, but in actuality, he is very agitated in the inside. He's trying hard to be serious, otherwise, he'll become lazy and let the world change. The only thing that's pushing him to interfere is that there are several matters that he needed and wanted to protect. It's also because of, when it's inevitable, his search for death
He will always follow his motto in life; "When you're facing death, fight till the death and bring your opponent to death with you" or "I will put up a fight before dying". That's why he had the ability fo Pain Denial for whenever he decides to fight during death
"We have seen a few of them since they are being transported to the Mystical Academy. If those small stones are Mana Stones, why are these spikes and crystals also called Mana Stones?"
Mark asked a good question. Philip looked at him
"They are Mana Stones that was generated in this unstable Mana Hotspot. There is an anomaly inside there that is causing all of these. That magical forest... That shouldn't exist at all, but it did. This crater and this mountain... It shouldn't have occured normally or abnormally. Someone or something did this"
"..."
Everyone was quiet. They didn't know how to respond to Philip because he seemed to know very much what they don't know. Philip continued to mumble and everyone kept listening as they slowly climb up the mountain
"Now... Why do you guys think that this unstable Mana Hotspot was considered as an anomaly that threatens the whole world?"
"Why is that?"
Mark asked
"I don't know either..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"But I do know is that this specific Mana Hotspot is generating too much Mana that it turned into True Mana. This Mana then spread around this place and that caused the wall of True Mana and the space distortion to appear. The True Mana only reached to the wall, but Pure Mana, Dense Mana, and Mana spread further outside and that created the magical forest..."
"..."
"Now, let me ask you this... What happens if Dense Mana spread even further towards the perimeter walls? Not to mention the lighter mass of regular Mana?"
"The magical forest will grow further and people will be able to sense Mana and manipulate and harness them? Wait..!"
Mark is the only one answering and entertaining Philip's questions because he is very interested in this. The others just kept listening and giving facial reactions
"Yeah... You're half right. The magical forest won't spread but people will be able to harness Mana and obtain an ability. You know what that means, right?"
"Anarchy, chaos, destruction, and wars..."
"..."
{𝘈 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥!}
"..."
"Correct... That's why the existence of this unstable Mana Hotspot is an anomaly and threat to the world. Not to worry though, Mana still hasn't spread that far yet that normal people will suddenly be able to have abilites"
"Really?"
"Yeah, though some of the Mana has spread to the atmopshere. That is why there is that cyclonic storm swirling menacingly above us. Even with my Weather Manipulation ability, I can only feed it, I can't stop it. Also, the Dense Mana has spread further to the perimeter walls which killed every soldier stationed there, about several minutes ago"
"What?! Why didn't you say anything?!"
"It wws inevitable, I also saw it too late. That was also the reason why I stopped in front if you that time because all of you, except Justine, Tenshi, and E-1 will suffer from the Dense Mana and catch Mana Sickness. By then, I have dispersed the Dense Mana so that you all would be able to move and tolerate this amount of Mana"
"It was that bad?"
"Yes"
"Then, how do we stop or eliminate this hotspot?"
"Simple, we go inside the chasm, search for the Divine Star, grab it, and get out of here. That's the only way I could think of"
"Chasm?"
"Yes, chasm. There's a deep vertical drop in every Mana Hotspot. Mana is being blown through there like a volcano, and I believe that the Divine Star is at the bottom of the chasm"
"How'd you know this?"
"Let's just say... As I have said, I have a Clairvoyance ability which let's me see the present in real-time"
"I see... Then, this mission should be easy!"
"I doubt it..."
"What? Why?"
"If this mission is made because the unstable Mana Hotspot poses a destructive threat on the world... Wouldn't the Old Man and a few higher beings go here?"
"Now that you mention it, you're right!"
"Exactly, why would the Old Man recommend me to join you guys and why wouldn't Chris come along?"
"..."
Celine and Tenshi were stunned
"A suicide mission?"
"Not quite... The Old Man knows my power and that's why I was recruited by his recommendation. This is also fate because I get to meet you guys... The only question left is why Chris didn't come. I can't even understand the reason behind that"
"..."
"Not to worry though, I know that the Old Man will come here later and help us when push comes to shove---"
Philip abruptly stopped talking and quickly turned his head towards the west. His eyes were widened and his aura was blazing. A light blue light is circling around his pupils, indicating that his Clairvoyance and Eye Vision abilities are working overtime
"Philip?"
Justine called out to him
"..."
"What happened?"
Mark and the rest also looked towards the direction that Philip was looking. They found nothing
"I see..."
"What do you see?"
"I didn't expect this"
"..."
"The Old Man won't be coming... The Atlantis has resurfaced and they are dealing with a dimensional rift and a martian monster"
"What?!!"
"!!!"
"!!!"
"The fables Atlantis?"
"Yes... This is bad"
"If the Old Man is there, isn't that more threatening than this?!"
"No... Let's keep on going"
Philip picked up his pace and climbed the mountain faster. The rest followed while Justine and Tenshi just flew up
~~~
A few moments later, they have arrived at the mouth of the Mana Hotspot. They lined up before the ledge the leads into the chasm. Unlike the entrance of the Mana Hotspot under the Mystical Academy where it's inside a cave system, the entrance of this Mana Hotspot is on the top of a mountain, like a volcano
"Are you sure we should ignore the Atlantis and the martian monster that you're saying?"
"Yes, the Old Man and the other higher beings will deal the threat over there and we will deal at what's happening here"
"Alright... So, the other squadron around the world is recommended here. How'd you know before hand?"
"..."
Philip paused because he knows that Mark knows the answer to his question
"You know what, nevermind. It's because of your Future Vision, isn't it?"
Philip didn't respond and just peered through the ledge. The moment his head passed the ledge, a large amount of True Mana and Dense Mana blasted through his face. The mouth of the unstable Mana Hotspot is like a geyser that continuously pump Mana into the atmosphere. The amount and force is too great that Philip had to close his eyes and take immediate steps back
"How is it?"
Justine asked
"The density and purity of the Mana that is being blasted is too great even for me"
Even if Philip's body is temporary reformed from absorbing the True Mana around the crater, the purity inside the Mana Hotspot is different from what he absorbed. This made Philip think that there are multiple levels of purity in Mana, not just kinds and types. This might also apply to Mana Stones. He began to think of those spikes and crystals of Mana Stones around the crater is purer than the Mana Stones in normal Mana Hotspots. Mark then moved forward and tried to peek too
"What are you doing?! Do you want to die?!"
Philip grabbed Mark's shoulder at the right time and pulled him forcefully. Mark fell on the ground but he got up instantly
"Why? What's happening?"
"Didn't you see earlier? I was affected when I looked through it and even I couldn't endure it. If you ever peek in there again, your head would pop from the force of the Mana blasting through your face"
"... I'm sorry"
"It's fine. Don't do it again. Form here on out, we need to be incredibly extremely focused"
"Alright"
"But first... Let me fix this"
Philip extended his right hand over the ledge and placed it so that the True Mana and Dense Mana will be blasting his hand. He then snapped his left fingers on his side and abruptly closed his right hand
A level two Fate Control has been invoked
The wave of Mana coming from the mouth wavered and swayed like it was being agitated. The cyclonic storm also change and a deafening thunder roared across the land. The wind picked up around them and whirled in a spiral. Then, a muffled explosion occured deep in the chasm
Philip's blue aura also wavered for a split second but it returned back to normal. The Mana Stones around them glowed brighter as if it was woken up by Philip
"There, now we can enter chasm. Justine, please help Mark and Celine"
"Yes. How about you--"
As Justine was asking the question, Philip just jumped down from the ledge and fell down. Tenshi immediately followed him and Celine was next"
"Ugh!"
Justine quickly followed and pulled Mark and supported him by manipulating gravity and air flow. She also grabbed and supported Celine as she was falling. Celine didn't mind it but she knows she will survive the fall with the feline martial arts and chicken stance
They continued to fall and fly down for a few more minutes
===
Time till catastrophe:
>_ 0:45:21
===