There Shouldn't Be Any Errors, Right?
“Nothing wrong with them, right?”
“A hundred and twenty in total.”
A hundred and twenty Mana Condensation Stones, crafted at Yena's request. That much should be plenty for a first round.
“Oh, one thing to note — every stone I send out is bound so that only the recipient can use it. Even if you sell it, no one else will be able to.”
Strictly speaking, I planned to route them through DeoEn's mail system so that only the person holding that exact username could ever activate a stone. The magic formula woven into them couldn't be broken by simply unweaving the mana's arrangement — the only way through would be to write an entirely new formula from scratch and overwrite it.
Anyone who could manage that would deserve a seat in here.
Frankly, I thought it might be fun if at least one person like that existed.
“Do I get one too?”
“Of course. Take one, Yena.”
“Jackpot~!”
Yena sprang up from her seat and happily scooped up a stone. Then she stuck her tongue out at the camera, and I could already hear the chorus of outrage rising from the chat window.
“In exchange, Yena, you have to succeed within a week. If you don't… you might not get to join the next class?”
“What?! That's not fair!”
“It's right here.”
It would be odd for Yena alone to get special treatment when everyone else had to earn their way in. That said, I fully believed she would succeed regardless.
“I believe in you.”
“…Maybe don't believe in me that much.”
“It's not all that difficult, so take your time. Honestly, there's not much difference between doing it here and doing it on stream.”
I wasn't going to personally supervise anyone just because they were in this room. The only reason I gathered them here was that lessons moving past the intermediate stage and into advanced material simply ran more efficiently face-to-face than through a screen. Anyone still at a middling level would gain just as much from the broadcast as from sitting here.
“Now then, let me explain how the drawing will work.”
Flutter.
One of the book-birds flitting through the air unfurled its pages, revealing two lines of text written across them.
Watched over 30 hours of livestream,
OR donated 10,000 won or more.
“Those are the conditions. From among them, I'll draw a total of 119 winners and send the stones through your DeoEn mailboxes. One note — I'll only be sending them to accounts linked between DeoEn and Twitch, so please set that up in advance.”
“Anyone get one?”
“I didn't.”
“Not me either.”
Had anyone actually won? Sitting in the Citadel of the Black Moon, Vlack had gathered the guild members who met Lily's conditions to watch her stream, and asked the question. But as luck would have it, not a single person had been drawn.
If even one had, they might have figured out how the selection worked.
“What about buying one off the exchange?”
“Didn't I tell you that'd be pointless?”
“Still, you never know. Lily is unusual, sure, but it's not like our guild has no mages.”
Wouldn't they have a decent shot at solving it? asked a ranger in the guild who fancied himself something of an archer, and Vlack shook his head.
“No. That thing is genuinely on another level — what she said can't be done, won't be done.”
“Is it really that bad? You did face her, hyung, and she didn't even use her unique legendary gear or any Mythic items.”
“……”
Right. She hadn't used her Mythic gear, nor the Legendary hidden pieces she'd earned from first-clear rewards. That had been the obvious choice, and even now he didn't regret it. If she had used them, the duel's balance would have collapsed and she would have won effortlessly — of that he'd been certain.
…She was insane. Completely insane.
But having actually faced her, his thinking had changed. The sheer craft in how she handled her weapon, the way she read and met her opponent. Her understanding of technique, and her monstrous dynamic vision. And on top of all that, the ability to copy an enemy's skills outright.
Even if she'd wielded Mythic-grade gear, with identical specs the content of the match might have changed — but the outcome would have been exactly the same. On that, he was certain.
“That's one I can't win. And call it a hunch, but I get the feeling she wasn't even going all out.”
“Really? She was that far above you?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmm… Then how about we ask Lady Lily if she'd give us one? We can cover the mana stones ourselves, obviously.”
We're on the same team anyway, aren't we?
“…Well, just in case, find out who has one. I'll reach out separately.”
“Yes, sir.”
“So this is the condensation stone…”
Sitting in a room lavishly decorated with ornate crafts, Leo rolled the condensation stone idly across the table. As for how she'd gotten one — the lesson venue had been her doing. While Yena was hunting down mana stones, word had reached the ears of Leo, who managed a mana mine, and hearing that a class was being held, she had offered the space as thanks for the knight matter.
Lily had declined, insisting she'd rather pay for the privilege, but Leo had waved it off — a refusal was still a refusal — saying only that if she ever needed a favor in return someday, she should come to her then.
And so she'd received a condensation stone after the lesson ended.
“Hmmmm…”
It was definitely a little different from an ordinary mana stone. How to put it… the feel was subtly unlike the stones she handled every day, and the pattern inside was shaped a bit differently too. It felt like a true artisan's work — something shaped by another person's hands.
Leo rose from her seat and headed for the ducal family's training grounds. The duchy's people bowed in greeting as she passed; she told them not to mind her and shooed them all out, then, alone in the empty training hall, called for someone.
“Thunder.”
Crackle.
A sparrow wreathed in lightning appeared, alighting on Leo's small, adorable hand. Thunder, the lightning spirit with that striking yellow glow. The little bird tilted its head.
“Do your zappy thing, okay?”
“Pii?”
“I'm counting on you.”
At Leo's earnest plea, Thunder stared at her for a moment, then perched atop her head. And the power of lightning took root inside Leo's body.
“Nnngh!”
KRAKOOM!!
In an instant, one of the four bridges above Leo's head — the yellow one — flared to life, and her hair began to dye itself gold. Every sense in her body sharpened; her vision widened.
Haaah…
She thought it every time, but this Spirit Descent really did feel strange. Neither human, nor nymph, nor spirit — as if her very self turned ambiguous, dissolving at the edges.
“All right… then.”
Leo lifted the condensation stone in her crackling hand. The lightning power flooding her body stimulated the stone, and in turn the stone stimulated Leo's mana.
CRACKLECRACKLE!!
“Th-there's something in here…”
Something was in there. This wasn't the feel of the mana stones she'd always handled. It felt like something deeper was hiding beneath the surface.
Yellow lightning whirled around her, and cracks began to spider through the distinctive blue arrangement of mana. And in that instant, something flashed through Leo's mind.
A place somewhere with scenery resembling DeoEn. Countless aristocratic-looking students, and before them a verdant mana stone. And before that, something white, blizzard-pale, spewing white mana—
“…Huh?”
Fsss… thud, clatter-clatter.
The condensation stone belched smoke and dropped to the floor. At the same moment, a completely drained Thunder released the Spirit Descent and flopped bonelessly to the ground. Leo stood dazed for a moment, then hurriedly scooped up the spirit and stared at the stone, now turned ash-gray.
What did I just see?
“? Someone's already done it.”
I ended the broadcast and handed out the condensation stones to the winners. Some cheered at their luck in the drawing, while others wailed or groaned in despair. Still, I couldn't hand them out to everyone — I planned to distribute the rest as more mana stones came in.
“Let's see… oh. It's Leo.”
Leo, who had helped me procure the mana stones so easily. Between the lecture hall and everything else, she'd been a tremendous help, so I sent her stone as a gift rather than through the lottery. Her skill spoke for itself, of course, but as a spirit user she was naturally attuned to mana — I'd expected her to manage it without much trouble.
I just didn't expect it in under three hours.
At that speed, she might have pulled it off on her very first attempt. She'd probably done it through Spirit Descent. It might look like cheating, but I hadn't placed any restrictions on technique, so there was nothing wrong with it. Spirit Descent was part of her own abilities, after all.
…There shouldn't be any errors, right?
The mana transfer and the uniqueness binding to a specific person were one thing, but I had built this stone's arrangement almost identically to the academy's formation formula. There had, in fact, been an error report back then — claims that when the formation was damaged too deeply, people started seeing strange things…
Well, I'm sure it'll be fine.