Everything hurt, so I shut off the pain. I shouldn't have been able to feel it anymore, but the pain didn't stop. My soul was burning up.
I counted the seconds until it was over. It helped take my mind off the pain.
It was a solid hour until the last of the mana subsided. The explosion only took a minute, but the crazy frenzy of mana contained by my barrier still hurt me.
Releasing the mana would only destroy the surroundings, so I waited until the mana calmed down enough. I stood in the middle of a charred circle.
Mana was like energy, so the frenzied mana acted like a fire. Instead of smoke, the ground looked more like acid had eaten away at it.
Only me, my sword remained, and the stone remained. The mana ate away the body of the cultist. I rebuilt my body as I picked up my sword. It was hot from the mana it absorbed. I integrated the stone into my body for research. It wasn't releasing mana now.
All the other cultists were dead. Zarith and the others were waiting for me. I looked horrible, but the real trouble was explaining what happened.
The explosion probably looked like a nuclear explosion.
'Similar to the four beast bombs.'
The memory of four purple bombs set off in a barrier briefly surfaced before disappearing.
Unlike that memory, my barrier had a ceiling containing the explosion to a dome. I would've been surrounded if the bomb drew everyone's attention.
Arion trotted up, and I got on.
"Are you going to explain?" Complained Zarith.
"Let's rest up first."
Rex and Vesper flew out, finding someplace to rest outside of town. I removed all traces of our existence here. This warehouse was one of the slavers, so it didn't matter much.
Zarith and I met up with Holone. She'd come earlier but was outside as a lookout. We headed to an inn to discuss what happened. It was mainly me explaining what'd happened.
The magic circle wasn't exactly the cause, but it exploded due to how messed up it was. I wasn't sure what the magic circle was for, but I deduced it had a mana absorption array, which caused it to suck in mana even after the cultist had stopped supplying it.
It'd sucked in mana too quickly, and coupled with my intervention, that blew up. The cultist had been controlling the mana precisely so this wouldn't happen.
I recorded what the magic circle looked like and part of the chant, so I decided to review it later. As long as there were no hidden parts, I'd be able to figure out the purpose of the magic.
-----
We all discussed what we'd done before heading to bed. The girls needed a week before everything would arrive. They'd also join the mercenary guild as part of the Greyhound Mercenary Group.
That left me time to explore and research. I decided to do some missions as well. Not only did the guild have regular jobs, but also missions such as monster hunting for their more adventurous kind.
-----
For the next week, I explored the rest of the areas I garnered. There were probably more places for which the slavers simply didn't have papers, but the ones they did have deeds for added up to over 5000 square feet of area.
The warehouses made up a lot of that area. The slavers had accumulated lots of resources and money. With all the supplies from the warehouses, Greyhound wouldn't need another trip for at least a decade.
I also did some quests for the guild, including resource gathering and monster hunting. All the other quests were too dull for me even to consider.
Oshan was also progressing steadily. His mana core was healing, and he had regained the abilities of a rank-four mage. He would recover to his peak with further time and even increase his rank.
Advancing your magic requires the physical aspect of increasing mana and knowledge of advanced mana. With expertise from my previous life, I could easily apply my understanding of the world to magic. This was what allowed me to break through without any bottlecaps.
Other magicians would be slower, needing to comprehend higher magic before advancing their rank. The condensation of the mana core was a procedure of very high skill and intensity. After you know and learn the magic of a higher rank, you know when you are skilled enough to break through.
My mother had shown me a ninth circle magic before. Coupled with my understanding of magic, I quickly reached the ninth rank.
Oshan would also have an easier time advancing because I could teach him. His life experience as a mage also helped me better comprehend the fundamentals. We could help each other advance.
Oshan had also joined the Greyhound group. He would be the leading force here as I and the others returned to Greyhound. I invited Oshan to join us, but he said he wanted to help out the group here.
I respected his decision, and we were going back today. Zarith and Holone had gathered everything from provisions to tools—a lot of the vital stuff the village needed to grow.
The cart was packed, and our pockets were empty. The warehouses had more supplies, but the money was tight. All our money came from the slavers, and no more were in the warehouses. If we sold the supplies, questions would come our way.
Thankfully, we got out with no problems and were on our way back home. I considered expanding our operations so we wouldn't have to worry about the law.
According to the law, escaped prisoners were to be captured. We were also outlaws, considered criminals, and not a part of any government. If we ever got exposed, people would rush over to capture us for money.
As such, if we controlled the city, one way or another, we wouldn't have to worry about that anymore. Controlling more cities like a dark overlord was also an appealing idea.
We continued on our path back home as I reflected on our time in the city. It was exciting but made me feel something was missing. It made me miss my childhood.