Dawn approached seemingly faster than ever, bathing the world with radiant light from the boundless horizon. By the time the light seeped through the open window, did he realize that a new day was coming.
Stowing the even black cube in his pocket, Lieren couldn't help but click his tongue in annoyance as the light reached his eyes. Standing up with visible reproach, he covered his eyes and walked over to the window and shut it close, even taking the trouble to lock it properly.
A single word escaped from his morning breath:
"Annoying."
Yeah, who even likes the sun, anyways? Especially not when he was on the verge — he thinks — of figuring out what the ball of light and the seven translucent chains were about. It was on the tip of his tongue, he just needed the right words to describe it.
Walking back to his polished and finely-made desk, which he just realized — but did not mind — that he had been sulking on for the past twelve or so hours, laboriously studying the black cube with his flat attention.
Something creaked behind him.
Ignoring it wholeheartedly, he sat on his padded seat and bunkered down his body. He leaned forward on the mahogany desk, then took out the black cube and studied it again.
Straining his arms, he opened the channels in his body and let the mana flow through uninhibited. The wild mana gushed out of him like a raging tsunami, rushing with furious force. It was though the a dam had been broken inside of him. It animalistic and indomitable attribute made the whole process much more furious than any mage, possibly in existence, violent and ferocious in nature. It was unstoppable, unconquerable, and never-ending.
…Or it was supposed to be.
Before the mana could flow through his arms and hand and out of his palms, which was facing the black cube from either side in a strict and gentle embrace, something stopped the wild mana from leaking out. The invisible force was unstoppable, unconquerable and unyielding. It refused to move and allow the ferocious force to leave his body, protectively guarding like some kind of loyal servant. A loyal, stubborn, and moody servant, both the worst and best he had ever seen.
Despite continuously waning down the density of his Resistance since he had begun investigating the black cube upon receiving the horrendously piecing pain of peering into the ball of light and seven translucent chains, meanwhile burdening his eyes with so much wild mana and physically straining it for all its worth, he still had not made much progress.
The process of reducing his inborn Resistance was grueling and demanding, requiring consistent focus and constant focus on his part, which was beyond difficult. It was like ordering a devil you know to shut up and calm down their presence; it was not just impossible, but also annoying and completely out of his hands.
And yet, he had managed to do it. If it were not for his crying muscles and aching bones, he would probably have been dancing his pants off right now. The shock and ecstasy of performing such a toilsome feat was so vast that he almost fell off his seat like an idiot… barely.
But his focus was elsewhere. And these thoughts were banished as soon as they had come. In the end, he was forced to pour all his attention to the black cube like some kind of gluttonous monster. His desire for knowledge and insight was akin to that of a devious Mindflayer or the insidious Beholder.
It was as if he was a monster himself, fervently and single-mindedly peering into the deepest secrets of the world. At least, those that interested him to high degrees.
If it wasn't for the cursed sun, he would have most likely figured out what the black cube contained, or at the very least what he was supposed to do with it.
The density of his aura was deadened to the point where it was ripping apart...
No, that was not right. It was more like the substance — or rather the mysterious material that his Resistance was made out of — was unraveling itself, creating several even openings… almost like it had been woven to existence by some sick, twisted sorcerer. The miniscule openings allowed him to pour his wild mana out in uncontrolled intervals, pushing them all out with unrestrained intent.
He did not bother to push the wild mana out. Rather, it was the wild mana itself that wanted to escape. It would seem that, the willful attribute his unique form of mana beheld was because of its zealous desire to be freed from his body. It also explained why Invisible Abjuration was as powerful as it was.
It was all because of the wild mana!
His eyes, or rather its ability to naturally open up the seams of his Resistance just like opening his eyes, helped greatly with this. Since Invisible Abjuration relied on vision and sight as condition for activation, his eyes had been continuously tempered to be able to release high amounts of concentrated wild mana at will, with a clear switch that he could trigger at any time, as long as all the conditions had been satisfied.
Which proposed a problem. Not a big one, but rather a most troublesome problem.
When Lieren had found this unique ability he had been unconsciously tempering, he immediately tried to pour mana into the black cube through his eyes... only to end up shooting an invisible exploding arrow at the black box, almost destroying it — is what he had thought. In truth, the box was unscathed, with the impenetrable inky blackness enshrouding it denying any sign of visible damage. Whatever he had done to the black cube had seemed to be ineffective, which was both relieving and disappointing.
It was his spell, after all! The one that even blinded the Witch of Envy enough to deal a fatal blow! Though the Witch appeared to be acting… odd and uncomfortable, Lieren still managed to catch her attention long enough for his Aegis to behead her. Even though that only ended up making the situation worse…
He was still upset, though!
Pouring mana wild mana into the black cube, he felt something change within it. As though a new gear had been placed and reconfigured inside it like some kind of complicated clockwork apparatus.
Without wasting a second longer, he held his breath and activated Manavision, peering deep inside with black cube with stalwart curiosity… and opened his eyes wide.
He almost forgot to breath.
Deep inside the impenetrable inky blackness, within the boundless expanse of vast white, around the ball of light that seemingly existed apart everything else… was a broken chain.
One of the seven translucent and mysterious chains had been damaged. Several questions hung in the air:
'What, where, when, how, why?'
What damaged the chains? Where had it come from? When did it occur, exactly? How was it damaged? Why did it break right now, and not earlier?
Floating bubbles of thought hovered over him like those thinking clouds he often saw in children's story book. He seldom liked to read those because the characters were cute and alluring. His mind was racing with unyielding intent to bring him his answers, speeding over one possibility to the other.
But sadly, these thoughts had to be set aside for another time. When he wasn't being rudely watched. He threw a dark glance back with heavy bags under his eyes, and said aloud, forcing out his voice through a parched throat:
"Could you not? I'm very busy here."