The Infinite Mana
Narel recounted everything that had happened so far. “I arrived on Earth about a thousand years ago. The Pope at the time was… probably Melpus III. That was his name.”
“A thousand years ago? For me it was only ten years ago.” Serpina pondered for a moment before forming a hypothesis. “Was the time setting on the first dimensional travel spell wrong, and the different flow of time between dimensions made it worse?”
Narel nodded. “I think the difference in time flow is the reason too. The teleportation magic I restored and created in this world has no time discrepancy at all.”
Narel continued. “After we secured a place to live, the first thing I did was start hiding magic. I believed those of us who came from another world had a duty to prevent the same mistakes as before….”
“The same mistakes as before… You’re talking about that, aren’t you?”
“Yes. Even if I didn’t know anything else, I had to stop the future I already knew.”
“I see. I understand.” Serpina and Narel nodded together.
Meanwhile, Negin and Lee Hogwang, who had been listening from the side, were completely lost. So what exactly was that? Unable to hold back any longer, Negin cut in. “Hold on. Alliance Leader. Could you explain it so the rest of us can follow?”
At Negin’s request, Narel hesitated briefly before answering. “Hmm… You’re right. I’ve ended up like this because I hid the truth too much… I suppose it’s fine to tell people I can trust. Where should I begin? Let’s start from before I was even born…”
…….
The other world where Serpina and Narel had lived—Myursel. Myursel was a world where mana had become a universal energy. It resembled the typical medieval fantasy setting. Then one day, a certain genius had a thought. ‘Magic is the power that makes the impossible possible. But it always requires mana as fuel. Because of that, magic isn’t actually a convenient force that can do anything.’
So then. ‘Couldn’t we copy mana itself using magic?’
Using one unit of mana to create two. If that were possible, infinite mana could be obtained. With infinite mana, nothing would truly be impossible.
Countless mages before him had entertained the same idea. And every single one of them had failed. The archmage who laid the foundations of magical theory, the great mage who reached the pinnacle of magic, even the self-proclaimed Demon King who plunged the entire continent into war—all failed. Magic could make the impossible possible, but increasing mana itself was the one exception. That was common sense.
Still, that genius mage challenged the impossible. He devoted his entire life to research, and by the time his other achievements had faded and even his name was forgotten by the world, the genius mage succeeded. He actually succeeded. An infinite engine that produced two mana from one had been created. It was the result of unprecedented talent and countless miracles overlapping.
The genius mage revealed infinite mana to the world, and from that day everything changed. Commoners and even slaves could enjoy the benefits of magic. Monsters that destroyed crops and threatened lives were eradicated. With food and survival problems cheaply solved, culture flourished. A new era dawned. If one could freely manipulate mana and invoke magic, truly nothing was impossible. Everyone believed it.
The problem began after the genius mage died. One day, the magic of that ‘infinite mana’ began to run wild. The cause was unknown. On the day it went berserk, the kingdom housing the magic vanished entirely. By the time an expedition arrived to deal with the crisis, nothing remained except the magic itself.
The rampaging spell indiscriminately unleashed every magic it had ever used. From common spells like Fireball and Wind Cutter to tactical magic like Earthquake and Blizzard. A scene from hell unfolded. Fireballs flew through the sky instead of leaves, rock spikes erupted randomly from the ground. Lightning struck in every direction while gravity shifted wildly. At least those straightforward destructive spells were manageable. The truly catastrophic ones were the summoning spells. Undead, golems, homunculi… kept being summoned. Infinitely. Some of the endlessly generated summons wandered away, using others as shields to escape the raging magic’s range. And then they attacked any life they encountered. Since the number of summons was infinite, the number of lucky ones that escaped was also infinite. The endless tide of summons swept outward from the areas closest to the magic. Resistance was impossible. After all, the opponent was ‘infinite.’ At best, one could only buy time to flee. The culture that had just begun to bloom was trampled by emotionless summons, and the developing civilization regressed decades in mere months. As the entire continent faced annihilation, even the usually sedentary dragons were forced to act. Only the infinite could oppose the infinite. Only dragons possessing Dragon Hearts could halt the advance of the summons.
It was around this time that Serpina reincarnated in Myursel. Dragons cherished their hatchling young immensely. Every region had stories of kingdoms destroyed for accidentally harming a curious hatchling that had snuck out of its lair. Even so, Serpina had seen her mother dragon’s face only a handful of times. Every dragon was that busy protecting the continent. Serpina was no exception. Once her young Dragon Heart began functioning properly, she had to keep fighting. Even if she didn’t roam across multiple regions like adult dragons, she still had to defend her assigned territory.
It was during this period that Serpina first met Narel. Even the elves, who lived gathered in the great forest and boasted of being invincible within it, had no answer to the infinite offensive. To preserve their race, they needed to enter the dragons’ protection. Among the group of elves that arrived in the territory Serpina guarded was Narel.
Serpina decided to teach Narel while accepting the elf group. Fighting the summons’ onslaught alone was exhausting beyond words. Day and night, summons kept coming; she had to leap into battle even while sleeping. It wasn’t something one person could endure. So she raised someone to fight in her place. Unlike the others, Narel was a high elf, so talent was never a concern. After years of instruction, Narel lived up to every expectation. There were small joys like this, yet the world’s situation remained dire.
The ‘infinite mana’ and the infinite mana of a Dragon Heart were equal in their ability to generate endless mana, but in truth they were not equal at all. No matter how powerful the dragon race was, they were still living beings. Bodies and minds pushed without rest for decades slowly broke down. The once-stable front lines gradually retreated. The habitable range shrank, and the shadow of destruction loomed once more. The alliance of all races prepared for a final, all-out war—to eliminate the ‘infinite mana’ before the dragons, the only race capable of opposing it, became too exhausted to continue. Everyone who could fight went to the front lines; everyone who couldn’t supported them. It was a true war that staked the fate of the world.
And after a battle so brutal and prolonged that words could never capture it… they finally succeeded in destroying the ‘infinite mana.’ Yet the cost was horrific. Eighty percent of the allied forces perished. The greatest damage occurred the instant the ‘infinite mana’ was eliminated—when the enormous mana accumulated inside it exploded all at once. Releasing mana that had exceeded all limits in a single burst. In principle, the explosion of the ‘infinite mana’ was like decades of stored dragon breath. It was a disaster for those caught in it, but the true catastrophe came afterward. The massive mana explosion adversely affected the entire continent. Unexplained natural disasters became frequent, abnormal weather patterns erupted one after another. The continent’s mana twisted strangely, and even properly functioning magic suddenly ran wild. Apocalypse. There was no other way to describe it.
In that situation, Serpina began researching dimensional travel magic. The research itself had started earlier, squeezed in between battles against the endless summons. The world was ending, yet time could still be found. Serpina’s dimensional travel magic produced its first result. The problem was… “It’s too small….” Serpina groaned before the entrance she had created. The spell had been made to return to Earth, where she had lived before reincarnating, but the gateway was far too narrow. She wasn’t speaking of physical size. It was the weight of existence. Simply put, Serpina was too powerful to pass through dimensions.
Serpina next devoted herself to widening the dimensional gateway. It was then that Narel, together with the elves under her command and several other races, came to find her. “You want permission to use the dimensional travel magic?” “Yes. This world has no hope left. That’s the conclusion we reached after traveling the world for several years.” Humans might survive in a dying world, but elves could not. Elves would struggle to endure on this ruined continent. In that situation, the dimensional travel magic Serpina was researching came to mind. “It will help you too, Master. You can test whether the magic works by seeing if we arrive safely.” “I told you not to call me that. Still… haa.” Serpina pressed her forehead and sighed. She cared for Narel. She hadn’t wanted to push her into testing an incomplete spell. Yet she also agreed there was no other option for the elf race. After days of persuasion and deliberation, Serpina allowed Narel to use the dimensional travel magic. Using the information gained from that attempt, she spent another ten years refining her research. Finally, Serpina created an entrance large enough for a dragon to pass through and arrived on Earth.
…….
Narel and Serpina’s story came to an end. Midway through, it had turned into reminiscing, but it was enough to understand what had happened in the other world. “‘Infinite mana’… It’s hard to believe something like that is even possible.” Lee Hogwang crossed his arms and muttered. “But now you know it’s possible. That’s why we’ve kept it hidden all this time. Just knowing it isn’t impossible might be enough to make someone try.” Narel tried to stand and staggered. Negin quickly supported her. “All right, I understand for now. Let’s continue the rest of the story once we reach Shinsi. We have plenty of time, don’t we?” “Y-yes… Excuse me.” Serpina had already shared most of what she wanted to say with Narel while reminiscing. The rest could wait. The group supported the unsteady Narel and headed for Shinsi.