"I thought that we were supposed to be dealing with a gate, now we are here shoveling mana stones into a pit."
"I don't know man, the Guild Leader said to do so and I'm not gonna be the one to tell her no. You can go ahead though, if you want to get burnt alive."
As the situation turned from a gate clearing to anomaly containment, the awakened that were previously called for combat were now supplying Ray's portal with mana.
"And whatever they are using these mana stones for must be really important. They are practically throwing money away."
"Don't know, don't care. I'm just doing what I was told."
The pit that was created by the black portal was being filled with low grade mana stones and they were quickly dissolving and being absorbed.
"Hey, you guys think that they would notice if I go down there and snag a few of them. A handful of them and I'll be set for weeks" One of the older awakened in their squad was looking at the giant pit of money and his hands were getting itchy.
He was right, grabbing and selling a few of them could make him live like a king for a few months and if he chose to absorb them then he could go a few years. The mana in those stones were many times denser and higher quality than the old world and while an older awakened, he had yet to get approved to enter and clear a portal.
He couldn't pocket them now as his supervisor was looking right at him, so the only way to get some was to 'fall' in.
His teammates looked at him like he was a mad man.
"Are you f*cking mental?! You're asking me if you should go steal from the guild while the guild leader is practically next to us. You must have a death wish." He turned away and continued to shovel more mana stones in. "Plus she told us not to enter the pit if we want to keep our lives, if someone like her told us that then you bet your ass I'm staying out of the pit."
"Please, you newbies need to grow some balls. It's just a few mana stones, there's no way that she is going to know. Plus how dangerous is that pit anyway, I'm going to be in there for like a few seconds at most, what's the worst that could happen."
Before his teammate could convince him otherwise and before their supervisor could stop him, he 'tripped' and 'fell' into the hole, sliding down the side in a freakish 'accident'.
He immediately regretted his decision.
Because of how mana hungry the portal was, the mana that was loosely condensed in his core was sucked out, and with it any life he had in his body.
To the horror of the onlookers, they saw their companion getting dried out like a raisin and before his dead body could hit the floor, it was pulled up into the sky.
"Serves him right, the Guild master warned us yet he was bold enough to ignore her." Seemingly unfazed by the horrific scene, they continued to shovel more mana stones into the pit.
High above, 3 people floated next to a black portal that was sucking in everything in a 500 meter radius.
"It's slowing down now. Thank goodness, I can't afford to pour more money into this." While wealthy, not many could afford to spend as much of their wealth at one time like she had, she didn't even know if this was anywhere near worth it.
"Please, who do you think you are fooling? It doesn't take a genius to see that you are using this to clear your faulty inventory. Most of these stones aren't even at 10% purity."
When a mana stone is formed, it often drags impurities into it, leading to a decrease in quality. Nothing under 50% was worth using for crafting equipment and anything under 20% took more mana to access it than they gave. These low quality stones were in a weird position, too worthless to use and too valuable to throw away.
They could still be used for electricity generation, but 1% purity to 25% purity stones were of equal rarity. If you could buy a product that was better in every way to another one and they were both the same price, it wouldn't take a genius to figure out what was a better deal.
Above 50% they were called mana crystals and they were too valuable to even mention, the fact the John could just throw a few of them in to test the waters was a testament to his wealth as a powerful and famous awakened.
"Come one, let me complain for once. Plus that's not what I'm going to tell him-" before she could finish her sentence, a huge fluctuation came from the black portal. Mana stopped flowing into it, so she signaled to stop throwing more stones into it.
A few moments later, the portal started to release more and more fluctuations; before they could even think twice, it suddenly collapsed on itself. Returning to the crack, then shrinking to as tall as Ray, then a black dot and then gone. What they couldn't see was a microscopic dot rushing towards Ray's head and sinking into his glabella, leaving an behind identical copy.
"What just happened?" She looked over to her brother concerned, of anyone here he would know more about this than anyone else.
"I don't know, but it's still there. Space is folding into itself at the center of where the portal was." He shook his head as he spoke to her. "Even I don't know what this kid is doing."
They looked at Ray that floated a few feet in front of them in wonder. This kid had only awakened a month prior but here he is causing such a phenomenon.
"This boy is indeed interesting." They heard a raspy voice coming from behind them and turned around just in time to see someone stepping out of a green portal that appeared.
The man was rather tall, around 6'8", and was rather burly. His jawline was sharp and his brows sharper, but his face was covered in crimson red hair that made John look well kept. On his face was a long scar that ran through his left eye, leaving it completely white, but his right eye was like that of the wildest beast one could ever imagine. Covering his tanned skin were numerous scars of different lengths and depths, but most of them were covered by his baggy, worn out and ripped clothing.
"Very interesting." Another voice coming from another portal. This time it was an average height handsome young man with a clean shaven face and bleach white hair. The entirety of both of his eyes were pitch black and had white dots as if it were a starry sky and served as great contrast to his pale skin. He was dressed rather well, like a butler, but his presence demanded more attention than if the king himself was here.
"Father, Grandfather." Both John and Fey slightly bowed as they greeted these two men with respect in their voices.
"Care to explain what is going on here? John called me over and briefed me on the situation but I'd like to hear it from you. Guild Master Lotus." The burly man said in a kind and soft spoken voice to Fey, contrary to his appearance.
"Of course, father." Fey nodded back to him. "That boy is someone that I was training because I found his talent and experience interesting." She said while pointing at Ray.
"I was notified of an unregistered opening that was about to happen but when I got here there was this black portal that was sucking matter and mana into it. Old world mana is thin and we didn't know what would happen if the portal collapsed, so I started to feed it some low quality mana stones I had lying around. After a bit the portal closed itself, but according to John it's still there." She gestured to where the portal was before suddenly disappearing.
Both of the newcomers nodded as they looked at the unconscious Ray, floating peacefully. The younger looking man spoke after a while. "This portal is interesting, I've never seen something like this before. Very similar to when gates are opening so I'm not surprised the sensors went off. But there is something different about it, obviously besides it looking different. What an interesting boy you have found."
Fey listened to her grandfather and quickly added something else. "Oh and before I forget, he discovered how to use flow on his own. It was a rather interesting story actually, from what-" She was interrupted before she could finish.
Both of the older men looked at her with wide eyes, with shock plastered all over on their faces. "What did you just say?" They said in unison.