Mana Addiction and Claiming Territory
The morning at Black Mane Mountain Stronghold began, as always, with the heavy thud of Rodin’s pickaxe. Rodin wiped away a bead of sweat and raked the soil smooth. Every time he brought the pickaxe down with casual force, the veins of mana clustered beneath the ground shattered pleasantly, spilling into the air. To Rodin himself, it was nothing more than ‘The dirt feels a bit softer today.’ Yet the mana he unconsciously released was already breathing vibrant life into every single cabbage leaf.
And right behind him stood the hollow-eyed Master of the First Magic Tower.
“Haa… haa… This is impossible. How can refined mana of 99.9% purity be released so naturally without any artificial processing or incantation? These numbers are shaking the very foundations of magical engineering!”
Lize shoved the crystal orb in her hand right up against Rodin’s footprints. Every step he took made the orb flash and scream as if it were overloading. She practically crawled on all fours, even leaning down to sniff the soil he had just trodden on.
“Hey, why the hell are you sniffing around behind me from the crack of dawn? Get lost. You’re throwing off my fertilizer rhythm.”
Rodin glared at her, shrugging as if the whole thing was a bother. But Lize’s eyes were already glazed over—not with reason, but with a primal, scholarly addiction to mana.
“This isn’t sniffing, it’s a precise academic analysis! One careless breath of mana from you has higher density than a hundred bottles of the highest-grade mana potions stored in the Magic Tower’s vault! Ahhh, this fragrance… this density that seeps deep into my lungs… I can feel my brain cells activating in real time!”
“Fragrance my ass. It’s just the smell of sweat from working. Stop bothering me and go dig somewhere else. If you’re bored, head down the mountain.”
Rodin grumbled and swung his pickaxe again. At that moment, a faint wave of mana rippled outward from his body in a perfect circle. Lize took the wave head-on and collapsed with an ecstatic expression.
“Haa, this density… this pressure… I might actually lose the will to return to the Magic Tower. No, I’m not going back. If I could just collect all the mana you exhale here, I feel like I could break through the wall of the 10th circle!”
Rodin stared at her like she was a madwoman before silently driving his pickaxe back into the soil toward the cabbages.
Lize had made up her mind. This place was no mere bandit den. It was the continent’s greatest mana source, a holy site containing the future of humanity’s magic. Therefore, she could not leave. No—she would not leave.
“Right here should do.”
Lize stood in the empty plot beside the warehouse, where only weeds had grown rampant, and gave her silver staff a light wave.
Shwooooong—!
A massive, geometrically complex magic circle spread across the ground. It was a high-tier spell that fused 5-circle spatial expansion magic with 6-circle materialization magic. Moments later, space twisted, and a sleek mage’s workshop rose from the earth. From the outside it looked like an ordinary wooden shack, but opening the door revealed an advanced magical laboratory identical to those inside the Imperial Magic Tower.
“Excuse me, Tower Master. What exactly do you think you’re doing?”
Veronica appeared with an armful of documents, her gaze icy. She meticulously scanned the new building while fiddling with her quill.
“Unauthorized occupation of private property is unacceptable. I’m the one in charge of construction permits for this stronghold, you know.”
“Permit? The greatest mage on the continent is offering to conduct research here—the landowner should consider it an honor! If I organize the mana flow in this place, your farming will improve too!”
“Honor is honor, but rent is rent. The mana concentration here is dozens of times higher than in normal regions, so the lease will be three times that of a regular territory. Oh, and of course you’ll be providing wide-area detection magic and barrier installation for stronghold defense as part of the move-in service.”
At Veronica’s coldly calculated words, Lize’s eyebrows twitched violently.
“Three times?! Are you really an imperial princess? You sound more like the daughter of a merchant family!”
Just then, Rodin walked past with a sack of fertilizer slung over his shoulder. Every time he exhaled, the clear energy of mana tickled the tip of Lize’s nose. Her pupils dilated instantly and she shouted.
“……Fine! I’ll pay! I’ll pay, okay?! But in return, let that man stay near me while I’m researching! I need to measure his mana!”
“Transaction complete. Welcome, our second guest.”
Veronica stamped the contract with a victorious smile.
“Why is the forest so noisy today?”
Rodin had gone out to gather mountain soil for the cabbage fields and to scout, but he stopped in his tracks. Over a hundred ‘Gray Wolves’, stimulated by the mana waves from the hot springs, had surrounded the stronghold entrance and were growling menacingly. The moment Dagan and Gil drew their swords in tension, Lize strolled out beside Rodin while yawning.
“Step aside, Rodin. What are all these mutts doing, getting in the way of my mana collection?”
Lize laid her staff horizontally. Behind her, a colossal silver magic circle unfolded like interlocking gears. The air vibrated with a scream-like resonance, and every bird in the forest took flight at once.
"[9th Circle Magic: Nebula Judgment]"
Lize gave the tip of her staff a light flick. From a cloudless sky, hundreds of pure mana projectiles rained down like a storm. It was not indiscriminate bombardment. Each of the hundred-plus wolves received exactly one shot directly above its head—flawless, precision strikes.
Kagang! Kuaaaang—!
There wasn’t even time to scream. The wolves evaporated without a trace the instant the mana shells touched them. A lush section of forest was instantly wiped clean into a neat clearing.
“Hiiik! The forest… the forest got deleted?!”
Dagan sat down hard, mouth agape. Gil muttered in a trembling voice as well.
“Boss… don’t we not need hell training anymore? With just that lady, the Imperial Knight Order would be wiped out in one minute flat!”
Rodin looked momentarily disappointed that the wolves he’d planned to use as fertilizer had vanished, then replied indifferently.
“Yeah, it did get a bit easier. But watch your fire. If you burn my cabbage field, I’ll turn you into fertilizer too.”
“Hmph. My magic has perfect targeting. Not a single cabbage or weed was harmed, so you should be thanking me. Now, exhale some more mana. I used up quite a bit casting that spell.”
When Lize slyly placed her hand on Rodin’s forearm, he recoiled in disgust and shoved her away.
The stronghold’s dinner table had become a microcosm of the continent. An imperial princess, a saintess of the Holy See, and the Master of the Magic Tower. Yet in front of Rodin, even this dazzling lineup was nothing more than ‘family members who eat well.’
“Mage lady, please conduct your research outside? The Cult Leader’s mealtime is a sacred ritual for receiving divine grace. Put away that mana measuring device. It stinks.”
Ivona glared at Lize while holding her spoon. Lize had a crystal orb floating beside her rice bowl and was busily jotting down data sheets.
“Divine grace? Don’t make me laugh. I’m currently analyzing the correlation between Rodin’s metabolic activity, nutrient intake, and the resulting mana emission volume. This is science for the sake of humanity, you gluttonous saintess.”
“Something stronger than science is faith—specifically, ‘backbone stew’, Cult Leader! If that witch bothers you, I shall heal you with prayer!”
When Ivona piled Rodin’s bowl high with meat, Lize immediately jumped in.
“Rodin, come to my lab tomorrow. If you let me take just five more minutes of precise measurements, I’ll give you the Magic Tower’s secret ‘highest-grade magical catalyst.’ Mix it into the fertilizer and your cabbages will grow as big as boulders.”
Rodin’s eyebrow twitched.
“If they grow as big as boulders, washing them will be a pain. I’m not going.”
When Rodin firmly refused, Veronica set her spoon down with a clack.
“Both of you, shush! How many times has Rodin said to only eat when it’s time to eat? And you two are on dishwashing duty today, correct? Do not use magic to spin the plates or prayer to remove the grease. You will do it by hand. Labor is sacred.”
The continent’s two greatest women pouted at the princess’s charisma and lowered their heads. Only then did Rodin begin chewing his food in peace.
Deep in the night, long after everyone had fallen asleep, Lize gazed in rapture at a softly glowing glass bottle inside her laboratory. Inside it was the residual mana she had collected from the air around Rodin that afternoon.
“This isn’t mana… it’s art. This concentration, this purity… even if you combined every mana stone in the Magic Tower’s underground vault, they couldn’t match the value of this single small bottle.”
Lize reached out toward the mana inside the bottle. It swirled along her fingertips as if it were a living creature.
“Rodin… just what are you? You’re not simply a powerful sword master. You yourself seem to be a ‘source,’ the very incarnation of mana.”
Lize’s eyes flashed with intellectual curiosity and a strange possessiveness. She was no longer here simply for research. She had no intention of ever letting go of this pure, powerful source of mana.
“I absolutely won’t let you leave. Until I’ve completely analyzed you and made you mine… I’ll turn this stronghold into a fortress even more impregnable than the Magic Tower. So that no one can ever disturb you.”
Lize smiled with manic delight and began calculating a new magical formula.
The next day at dawn. A pale morning mist gently wrapped the cabbage fields. As always, Rodin rose early and headed out to the fields. Beside him, Ivona was singing hymns—“Ohhh, cabbages of the morning!”—while behind them Lize rubbed her sleepy eyes and operated her mana detector. Veronica sighed and draped a clean towel over Rodin’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Rodin. With more family members, there’s never a quiet day. Should I drive them all out?”
“Yeah. But… well, that mage really is good at burning weeds. Seeing her catch bugs with 9th-circle magic isn’t bad.”
At Rodin’s indifferent reply, Veronica let out a small laugh.
“Be careful. Those women have dangerous looks in their eyes. Especially the Tower Master—she seems like she wants to dissect you.”
“As long as they don’t do anything bothersome, it’s fine. By the way, Princess, how much rent did you quote Lize earlier? Her face went completely pale.”
“Ten years’ worth of the highest-grade fertilizer for your cabbage farming. I did well, didn’t I?”
Rodin paused, then looked down at Veronica with a faint smile.
“……Living with you might be the greatest gain of my life.”
At that moment, Lize burst out of the laboratory door and came running, shouting.
“Rodin! Your mana emission just increased by 0.01%! Were you thinking something dirty?! Or were you thinking about cabbages?! Come here right now so I can analyze it!”
“Ugh, seriously, what a pain…!”
Rodin fled in disgust while the Tower Master and the saintess chased after him. Another noisy dawn was breaking over the stronghold.