Black Moon
I stretched out my hand in desperation as the sensation slipped away, so close I could almost brush it with my fingertips.
Only when I poured every nerve into the effort did I finally seize that faint, refreshing coolness and fill my palm with it.
It sank straight through my skin and flooded my entire body.
Feeling as though every part of me—down to the deepest recesses of my being—was being washed clean and clear, I naturally released every sense I had been holding in check.
At once the senses trapped inside me swelled as if they might burst.
The blood racing through my veins, the minute tremor of every muscle fiber, even the single thread of wind grazing my skin—everything registered with razor sharpness.
The moment I adapted to that flood of sensation, every particle of the world seemed to touch me.
I felt an astonishing oneness, as though every point in existence were linked and the world and I had become one.
So this is mana.
Mana had always been there.
The true form of the mana that filled the world was now etched clearly into my consciousness.
Suddenly the breathing method of the Eldirian Great Refinement Art rose in my mind.
Unconsciously I followed its rhythm and drew a deep breath, naturally taking the surrounding mana into my body.
In that instant—
Somewhere deep below my solar plexus and above my navel, a hairline crack formed as if thin ice were splitting.
Crack.
Through that tiny fissure a single small, transparent grain carefully rose, and the clear air that had filled my chest was sucked into it.
At some point the artificial force that had been forcing my senses into hypersensitivity seemed to vanish as well.
When I opened my eyes, Ren and Pria—who had joined us at some point—were looking down at me.
The thick fog that had blanketed the forest was gone without a trace, and the sun hung high overhead, leaf shadows covering the ground around us.
Time had raced past without my noticing.
“What? Don’t tell me you already made a core?”
I nodded at Pria, who asked the moment my eyes opened, as if she had been waiting for it.
Clearly sensing the small core quietly circulating deep inside me, I moved the mana stored within it.
The mana flowed like a wave, riding up through my chest, down my arm, and smoothly out to my fingertips. When I clenched my fist, black mana burst forth with a soft pop and rippled around my knuckles.
“Black mana…? No—more importantly, you can already move mana? That’s Expert level!”
I had no chance to answer Pria’s bewildered words.
I felt an urge to try something more.
Focusing once again on the mana that handled itself as naturally as part of my own body, the black mana surrounding my fist condensed into a clear shape and hardened into a solid form.
It required no willpower. I simply had to want it. The flow was as natural as breathing.
“……Does that make any sense? Leader, I’m not seeing things, right?”
“……No.”
“Bell only just awakened to mana a moment ago. But he’s already reached Master level… that can’t be……””
“…….”
Pria’s voice, usually so skilled at keeping people guessing whether she was joking or serious, now trembled with urgency.
It seemed the situation was that irrational. I felt the same way.
Ren, too, had nothing to say; he simply stood in silence with a stiff face.
Yet the shaped mana soon blurred and scattered, vanishing completely.
I still lacked enough mana to maintain it for long.
Being able to form a clear aura blade with such a tiny core was strange enough to begin with.
Once the core’s mana was drained in an instant, my stomach felt hollow and cold sweat began to bead on my skin.
Apparently this was the aftereffect of completely exhausting one’s mana.
Clutching my midsection, I rose to my feet.
“Looks like I delayed us quite a bit. Shall we get going?”
“No, wait.”
Pria grabbed my arm and stopped me, but her lips only moved faintly, as if she had no idea where to begin.
Ren spoke in her place.
“Have you truly never properly accumulated mana even once?”
“I’ve learned the method. From the refinement art I got from Estelle. But I’ve never actually felt mana. So of course I’ve never accumulated any either.”
“Then it really… doesn’t make sense.”
Ren slowly opened his palm, his expression complicated.
Dense red mana rose above his hand and flickered like flame, then rapidly solidified into a clear shape just as mine had.
The difference was that, unlike my mana which had vanished almost immediately, Ren’s continued to hold its form.
“We’ll set aside the fact that you’ve already reached Master level for now……. To handle mana this freely, you basically have to open the mana circuits inside your body one by one. Normally, after forming a core, you spend long years of training at the Aura User stage opening those circuits. The more circuits open, the more power you gain—power that transcends ordinary human limits.”
Ren then withdrew the red mana from his hand as if it were pointless and continued.
“But the level you just displayed means that every single mana circuit is already fully open without any of that process. On top of that, that black mana you showed…… I’ve never seen it. I’ve only heard of it.”
Come to think of it, I had overlooked the color of mana until now. Estelle’s and Ren’s mana was red; the mana I had just created was black.
What did the difference in color mean?
“Of course, even among the stories I’ve heard, there were no cases of someone awakening an Authority.”
“Authority?”
“Yes, Authority. You can think of the innate color of one’s mana as determining the nature of their Authority. For example, the red mana I possess is related to the Authority of Destruction. Of course I myself haven’t awakened that Authority yet, but those called the Five Stars have, without exception, awakened Authorities matching their own colors. That is the realm of Grand Master.”
Ren went on to explain that an Authority was a power closer to a supernatural ability that transcended human limits. It was a mysterious force obtained by one who, after long training, finally mastered the extremes of martial arts and mana and broke through the boundary.
It was a transcendent domain that even left behind the very existence of a human being.
Listening to Ren’s explanation, something came to mind.
My “Sixth Sense.” The ability that instinctively warned me of danger in advance, as if sensing the future about to unfold a step ahead.
That was a power closer to a supernatural ability than mere martial strength.
Yet I had mastered this Sixth Sense when I didn’t even know mana existed, let alone its extremes. I hadn’t even reached the end of martial arts yet.
Was it a completely different kind of power?
If it truly was an Authority, would another new Authority appear when I achieved the extremes of mana?
For now there was no way to know. Even Ren himself had yet to awaken an Authority.
Ren, myself, and Pria as well.
Talking about mana, we naturally returned to the carriage, packed our things, and set out on the road again.
“Black mana once drew a great deal of attention. Other colors appear fairly often, but black mana in particular had never manifested in anyone. The Empire scoured the entire continent and found the possessors of black mana. But an Authority related to mana’s color can only be known once one reaches that level. None of those with black mana ever reached such a height, and it remains unknown to this day.”
“So we still don’t know what kind of Authority my mana is related to.”
Ren nodded.
“Correct. Anyone else would advise you not to even think about Authority yet…… but for you, awakening an Authority is only a matter of time. You already possess Master-level mana control; all that remains is increasing the quantity of mana, isn’t it?”
“Setting Authority aside, then those with black mana alone……””
I was about to ask whether the few people who possessed black mana shared any common traits when Ren’s expression suddenly hardened with gravity.
I reflexively spread my senses and immediately understood why his face had stiffened.
Someone was ambushing us along the path the carriage was taking. It wasn’t simply overlapping routes. They were hidden deep in the forest, suppressing their presence as if they had been waiting for us.
Ren signaled for the carriage to stop. The moment we stepped outside, the other side must have realized we had noticed the ambush; shadows burst forth from every direction.
A large group clad in black robes instantly surrounded us on both sides.
Their faces were hard to make out clearly because of the deeply pulled hoods.
Yet Ren seemed to recognize their identity and muttered under his breath.
“Black Moon…?”
“No need for long talk. Kill them.”
The low voice came from the one standing farthest at the rear of the group.
I settled into a ready stance. With my Sixth Sense, I could tell at a glance that these people were not particularly threatening opponents.
But then—
The Sixth Sense, which had not shown itself even once since we left the Red Barrier, suddenly surged and violently seized my consciousness.
I flinched and turned my head.
It was clearly different from the feeling that warned of danger. Rather than danger, it was closer to… an ominous premonition.
What the Sixth Sense pointed to was the man standing at the very back whom I had just been looking at—more precisely, the strange black necklace hanging around his neck.