"Are you sure we shouldn't tell the instructors?" Martha asked.
"If he's as strong as he claims he wouldn't be seated here in chains" Gabriel replied.
'Shit...he got me, I wanted to shake them a little so they'll stand me up, I still have two flames crystals in my storage ring, what do I do' Lewis mumbled under his breath.
'These chains are disrupting my flow of mana, the chains stop Mana from flowing around making it impossible to cast spells, shit'
'I can't just stay here and be taken back to their city as a partner of a criminal, and Alfred is wanted for murder, I wonder who he murdered, maybe a king or a nobleman, so I can't count on them to save me... I need to find a way out of here'
Lewis looked around the camp, they were at least 20 large tent, two students stood watch at each of the tent while the rest where inside sleeping, his eyes wandered around till it got to Gabriel again who was staring at him intensely, Martha and Pete had gone inside their tent to sleep.
"Are you thinking of escaping, you know you can't right?"
"These chains are really unique, they stop Mana from flowing" Lewis said.
"Yes, they cut off the flow of mana leaving a mage powerless" Gabriel said.
"But you missed something, the chains doesn't stop me from manipulating mana, what if I obtain Mana from an external source, then I don't need to move it anywhere" Lewis said as he thought of something.
"This is the wastelands, the mana here can't be extracted and all your bluffing would lead to nothing, I can sense your Mana core, the amount of Mana you have at your disposal is the same with that of my seven year old brother, so you can't fool me"
"Really, so you really believe you can sense my Mana, the Mana you see is what I let you see, and let's make a bet in case we meet again" Lewis said, he knew high level mages must have an ability to hide their Mana capacity so he went with that and it worked.
"What should we bet on?" Gabriel asked.
"I won't be there when you return to your city, meaning I'm going to escape this night for sure" Lewis said.
"That seems like a good bet, and what should we bet on?" Gabriel said.
"I don't know yet but..." Lewis stopped as his eyes caught something and he smiled, "We should bet on anything" he said with a smile.
"What are you looking at?" Gabriel asked as he turned around towards where Lewis was looking and that was what he was waiting for.
Lewis's storage ring wasn't discovered by the student who tied him and he had 54 beast crystal inside, if the chains were blocking his Mana flow then he just had to absorb the Mana from the crystal into his hands and since his flow is blocked the mana would remain in his hands inside of going to his Mana core.
Lewis already had the distraction he need as he quickly brought out two beast crystals from his storage ring before Gabriel turned back to him.
"Isn't the sky beautiful, I was looking at the skies" Lewis said, this wasn't the first time he had absorbed Mana so it was relatively easy.
"Would you mind if I asked you personal questions?" Gabriel asked him.
"I won't, go ahead" Lewis said with a smile, he had absorbed the crystal and was able to cast a spell but his first problem was cutting the chains on his hands.
Alfred was able to change the shape of his fireball spell by refining his Mana to look sharp, Lewis was going to try to do the same but he had to be extra careful so he wouldn't burn his hands or his butt.
'I have to find a way to distract him so I can cut the chains, what do I do'
"First, which kingdom are you from and how did you end up with the criminal, do you not know who he is?" Gabriel asked.
"He saved my life when I was stranded in the forest, also do you mind if I ask you some questions?" Lewis asked back.
"No..."
"What did Alfred do, who did he kill? Was the person important?" Lewis asked.
"I don't know the details but I think he killed his family then he was sentence to death by the king but he didn't accept the punishment, then he fought with the Royal guards and injured some of them then he escaped, he hasn't been seen for over a year now" Gabriel explained.
"Wait, you said he saved you when you were stranded in the forest, does he live there?" gander asked.
Lewis scoffed before speaking, "Yes he lives in the forest, can you live in a forest?" Lewis asked.
"I don't know, but you must know where he lives, if you expose him, that would earn you some credit and you would be released, you know he wouldn't come back to save you, so you should do that, you are too young to spend your days in prison" Gabriel spoke.
"Credit huh... don't worry, I'm not actually going to prison, so good night and sleep tight" Lewis said.
"You think I would leave you alone and go to..." Gabriel stopped as he heard a sound, immediately he turned around to check but nothing was there.
"Enough joke, you..." before Gabriel could speak something hard hit his neck causing him to fall unconscious, Lillian caught his body and gently placed him on the ground.
"How do I cut you out of those chains without making a sound?" Lillian asked him.
"Don't worry, already done" Lewis said as he showed Lillian his hands.