Chapter 66
Chapter 66
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: Primordial Mana
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“If you can come here like this, then why did you prepare the coffin?”
“Think of it as a kind of test. It’s similar to placing a mana-blocking stone at the entrance where the Book of Hell is stored.”
The old mage stroked his chin beard and smiled. It meant verifying the minimum qualifications.
“You have to leave the Magic Tower for a bit?”
“Something came up.”
“Either way, it seems you’ve internalized what I taught you quite well.”
“I’m still lacking.”
Tsk tsk. The old mage wore a satisfied expression at Damian’s response.
“Yes, yes. Progress begins with recognizing one’s own shortcomings.”
At that moment, an invisible slash flew toward Damian. But his throat wasn’t severed.
Crunch crunch. Slurp slurp. Black Magic—Devouring—swallowed the attack.
“So, what are you planning to teach me this time?”
“I plan to tell you about something you’re not utilizing properly.”
The old mage’s finger pointed to Damian’s waist. He was referring to Michella’s Subspace Pouch.
Research on mana potions using Absorption was progressing smoothly, but extracting mana from another world hadn’t even been attempted yet.
-Hmm… Hmm… Ah, this is too hard to understand. Mana from another dimension… It’ll be tough without follow-up research from Lady Rubia.
Even Dillon’s analytical skills couldn’t solve it.
It couldn’t be helped. How could one create a finished product just from a rough sketch?
-I prepared this for you.
Damian had only used what Rubia extracted for him before his regression.
-Hehe. As I expected. Is it your constitution? It suits you so well. Feel free to ask anytime if you want more.
He couldn’t keep using it. It was obvious what Rubia would demand in return.
Back then, Damian couldn’t resist her in any way other than keeping his distance.
“A way to extract mana from another world, huh.”
“Oh ho. You even knew about that? This is truly surprising.”
What was truly surprising happened next.
Woooong. As the old mage reached out, the Subspace Pouch wriggled like a living thing.
“This is…”
From within, a dark blue energy was drawn out. The old mage gathered it on his palm and condensed it into a single point.
Fwoosh. Using the dark blue mana as kindling, a green flame rose.
Its apparent heat was only the size of a fingertip. But its actual power was several times greater.
“The concept of subspace was originally research into accessing other dimensions. Now, it’s just used for barriers or as a knapsack.”
Magic’s history predates the Empire. No one knows the roots of the magic used today.
What’s certain is that ancient magic was superior to the current kind. That’s why Rubia de Clarent studied ancient civilizations too.
To think subspace itself is connected to other dimensions. No mage would ever conceive of that.
“Does that mean you can extract mana from another world from any Subspace Pouch?”
“No. The mage who made this one faintly grasped the fundamentals. It’s decent enough.”
Michella was an archmage and Magic Tower Lord. She was the greatest mage of her time, but compared to the old mage, she was insignificant.
“So, what do I do? How?”
Excitement colored Damian’s voice.
‘It’s a method vastly superior in every way.’
The old mage extracted the dark blue mana from the pouch as if pulling out an object.
If he could learn this, Rubia’s method wouldn’t even be worth learning.
“You already know the method.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re a black magician, aren’t you? People today know the word ‘black magic,’ but they don’t truly recognize what it is.”
The same went for mana from another world. Its existence had been observed thanks to the unparalleled genius Rubia de Clarent, but true recognition was impossible.
Strictly speaking, even Rubia herself had failed at perfect recognition. That’s why she needed magic tools and support from other mages.
“Hmm…”
Damian knew about mana from another world. He had just seen it with his own eyes. Before his regression, he had even used it directly.
But if asked whether he truly recognized it… It was hard to answer.
Just as people today saw Damian’s black magic with their own eyes but failed to recognize it properly, Damian knew of mana from another world yet didn’t grasp its concrete differences from ordinary mana.
“How do you use black magic?”
“Through the contract engraved on my soul with the demons.”
“Exactly. Even hell or demons—people from this side can’t properly recognize them. Even you, born with talent, are the same. That’s why you need a ‘connection.’”
Tap. The old mage’s finger touched Damian’s forehead.
“I’ll do that now.”
Whooooosh. Damian’s body was rapidly pulled away from the old mage.
‘Th-this is…!’
It wasn’t an illusion created by the old mage’s mental world. A tremendous force was dragging Damian.
[Beings living on a plane cannot comprehend a three-dimensional space. It’s not a matter of knowledge, but a difference in environment.]
Damian swam through the dark blue space. In a place without up or down, his body undulated like a jellyfish.
Tiny sparkling points repeatedly appeared and vanished like breathing.
Within them, plants and animals were born and grew. They were born from mothers and returned to the earth. This process repeated endlessly.
[Humans only recognize a tiny fraction of this world. You, who handles black magic, recognize just a bit more.]
This time, his body fell downward. In the process, small hands began growing from his fingertips, tightening around him.
[Magic and aura—humans praise their histories, but from a broader perspective, they’re mere instants.]
In the dark blue space, countless versions of himself appeared. They split into two or merged into one.
[Don’t try to understand. Just accept it. That’s how the world is structured.]
Worlds were born from small points. And they vanished into small points. The process repeated in numbers beyond reckoning.
“Hah… Hah… Hah…”
He returned to the pure white space. It was a mental space created by the old mage, but right now, it felt endlessly distant.
“Urgh!”
His head felt like it was splitting apart. It resembled the sensation of reading the Book of Hell and absorbing its knowledge, but the intensity was far greater.
“Do you get it a little now?”
“No, not at all.”
Even at Damian’s answer, the old mage just kept laughing.
“Then we’ll do it again.”
Damian’s body was sucked back into the dark blue space.
* * *
He prided himself on enduring pain better than anyone.
Using black magic demanded a price, and he had always fought while bearing it.
Today, he realized that was arrogance.
Having knowledge one couldn’t even attempt to comprehend crammed into one’s head was incomparable to any pain he’d endured before.
Ariella had said she realized through Damian that she was just human.
He felt something similar today. He knew only slightly more about the world than others.
And that was just knowledge of hell and demons. In the infinitely expanding parallel worlds, even that was narrow.
Still, after dozens of times feeling his soul bounce out of his body, something remained.
“Tsk tsk. It’s like drawing on a rock with water droplets.”
Hummm. Dark blue mana gathered on Damian’s palm.
It was much smaller than what the old mage had shown, but it was definitely under Damian’s control.
“Strictly speaking, calling it ‘mana from another world’ is also incorrect.”
“Oh ho. You’ve grasped even that? You’re certainly different, favored by the lords of hell.”
The term “mana from another world” implies something similar to yet different from ordinary mana.
But what Damian realized was different.
“…Primordial. Isn’t that a better term?”
“That’s what I call it.”
Primordial mana.
True to its name, it was the power that existed before this world was formed.
Human aura and magic, demon powers—all stemmed from it. That’s why it had such good affinity with black magic.
“Strictly speaking, ‘extracting’ is also a strange term.”
Primordial mana exists everywhere. Thus, it also exists nowhere.
Michella’s Subspace Pouch was like a filter. It refined the primordial mana flowing through the entire world, even this mental space.
It sounded simple in words, but in the present age, Damian was the only one who could do it.
“Yet you look dissatisfied. Even after grasping the world’s most secret knowledge. Was my teaching too harsh?”
“I can’t use it in real combat right away.”
Handling primordial mana required significant time and focus. In battle, where every second counted, there was no room for that.
“Why worry about that? You have a perfect item for it.”
The old mage’s finger now pointed to Damian’s chest.
“You mean the Tear of Eternity?”
“Is that what it’s called now? Not a bad name.”
Swooo. The primordial mana gathered on Damian’s palm surged. The old mage had seized control.
“This is…”
The dark blue mana left Damian’s hand and was stored in the Tear of Eternity.
Hummmm. Placing his hand on it, he felt the primordial mana roiling within.
“That necklace is a vessel for primordial mana. I taught you this today precisely because you have it.”
“But how do you know about it?”
“Because I made it.”
He had suspected it was an artifact, but to think its creator was right in front of him.
‘No archmage could uncover its secrets, then.’
Without understanding primordial mana, it was just an old necklace.
“Still, don’t overdo it. Everything has a price. Rely too much on primordial mana, and your own mana could become distorted.”
“Is this lesson over?”
“Yes. I’ll add advice on a few more things. You know what I mean.”
Molech’s bone fragment and the Mountain Old Man’s scythe.
“You’ll have to explore the bone fragment’s use on your own. That’s why Molech gave it to you in the first place.”
He added a warning to be careful.
Using the bone fragment was akin to summoning a part of a demon. In other words, it would reveal Damian’s secret.
‘I’ll need a private research space after the subjugation ends.’
Training in Ezekiel’s mansion had been fine so far, but it was risky.
“That scythe… A nostalgic item.”
“You know about this too?”
Hashashin’s founder, the Mountain Old Man. An ancient figure, but recent compared to the old mage.
“The scythe’s owner… I don’t know what they’re called in this era, but he lived in my time.”
“…I see.”
A old monster who became death itself. Even if from the ancient civilization era, it wasn’t surprising.
“Try contacting it with primordial mana later. But only where no one’s around.”
Damian nodded and stored the two items back in the Subspace Pouch.
Crack crackle. The sound of shattering glass echoed from all sides. The time limit for this space was near.
“Your expression suggests you still have many questions. But finding answers yourself is far more valuable than hearing them from others.”
As the old mage’s figure faded, Ezekiel’s mansion reappeared.
Not even a single second had passed since Damian entered the mental world.
“…Sir?”
Agnes’s face, staring at him blankly, came into view. He had announced their departure and then suddenly stopped, so she must be confused.
“Sir Damian? Are you unwell?”
“No. Let’s go.”
With that, Damian strode out of the mansion.
“Huh.”
“Something’s…”
“A bit different.”
There were no visible changes to the eye. But in just a few seconds, Damian seemed to have grown.
Shaaa. No one noticed the dark blue haze entering the Tear of Eternity.