Ruler Vol 2 Chapter 7
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Author: Anit666
【Sam’s POV】
“So, today’s the day when we’ll go to that dungeon, huh. I’m kinda nervous.” (Chloe)
Muttered Chloe nervously.
“Chloe…. Is this perhaps your first-time fighting monsters?” (Cornellia)
“Technically, yes.” (Chloe)
“In fact, this would be the first time for me and Jack as well.” (Sam)
Well, we three have fought demons. But demons are different from monsters.
We were currently travelling in a large stagecoach which was heading towards Blatan. There were seven people aside from the coachman: Me, Chloe, Jack, Shiggurath, Liera, Cornellia and Alicia. Since the stagecoach was meant for the use of royalty, it was furnished with every kind of luxury. And even though we were travelling at really high speeds, the carriage wasn’t shaking much. Was it done through the use of magic?
Overall, the trip was very comfortable.
It’s been two weeks since Liera declared that we’ll have to go to a dungeon. During this time, me and Chloe trained a lot to become stronger.
While Chloe was training in both Magic and martial arts, I focused only on the former. I’m already strong enough in physical combat. Cornellia also trained under Liera.
Shiggurath, on the other hand, didn’t train as she didn’t need to. She spent most of her time observing me as I practiced my magic, for which I’m thankful since she guided me whenever I got stuck somewhere. Jack, on the other hand, was running some errands for me.
I also found out that Reygus and Olivia are in a romantic relationship. Poor Liera. Seems like she’s the only single among that group. Just like me.
During these two weeks, I was also able to improve my Decomposition, and develop the Demolition and Schlachten. Schlachten is the name I’ve given to the mass energy conversion magic. I also succeeded in learning Cornellia’s healing magic, and I’ve named it Overhaul. Though I didn’t get the time to work upon illusion and instant death spells.
The problem with my Decomposition was that it was slow, and it didn’t work on people who had covered themselves with a layer of mana. Those faults have been rectified. The casting speed has been considerably increased, though it takes a larger amount of mana. And using it in conjunction with Dispersion can negate the effect of mana layers.
Dispersion is my magic-nullifying spell. It involves firing a dense mana bullet at the target. Though I say bullet, it’s actually of the size of an artillery shell. It was the most difficult spell to create as it required a thorough understanding of how a magic spell is constructed.
Everybody, no matter which race he belongs to, has an inherent mana capacity. It’s something like the MP we see in games, though a method to numerically measure still hasn’t been discovered in this world. Mana capacity varies by individual, but every person of the same species has the same amount of mana in their bodies.
If we talk in terms of MP, then everyone has different amounts of maximum MP they can have. For Chloe it might be 500, for Liera it might be 2000, 1000 for Cornellia, 1 million for Shiggurath, 10 million for Jack and mine would be in the billions. However, every individual, at the moment of their birth, have the same amount of available MP which depends upon their species. This available amount is different from the maximum capacity. For example, even though Chloe’s maximum MP capacity is 500, her body can only hold 100 for now. Exceeding the 100 can be fatal for her body.
It’s something like this: imagine a wooden ball whose core is made of iron. Even if the core can handle temperatures up to 1500 degree Celsius, the outer wooden body cannot and it will burn way before reaching that temperature. The maximum MP capacity is like the iron core, and our body is like the outer wooden body. That’s why magicians use the mana in their surroundings to cast spells as their bodies simply cannot handle the vast amounts of mana required to cast advanced magic spells.
Although there are ways to train your body so that it can handle those large amounts of mana, the process is complex as it has something to do with the soul so only a few people attempt it.
However, actually manipulating the mana in the surroundings is very difficult, so not everyone, no, almost no one can do it. The only ones who can do it are dragons and the members of the first Hero party. Jack and I can also do it, but Chloe cannot. So, magicians utilise a hybrid way to cast magic spells.
They manipulate the mana around them and collect it in their body. Once the mana temporarily becomes the part of their body, it becomes much easier to manipulate it to cast the magic spell. But this method is quite taxing for the body as they are forcibly increasing the amount of mana in it.
The step after that is the orientation of mana. Mana needs to orient itself in a specific way, which depends upon the spell, to cast it. I’m not entirely sure how that works, but I do know that if the mana wasn’t allowed to orient itself, the spell casting would be stopped.
When I use Dispersion and fire the mana bullet, the bullet bursts upon contact with the target causing a mana explosion. A mana explosion has no physical effects: it only creates small packets of mana, and each packet of mana has a single instruction: wreak havoc.
If we go over the various stages of casting a spell, then here’s how these packets work.
The first stage, when the magician is collecting the mana. In that case, these packets get absorbed along with the surrounding mana and don’t let the mana orient itself in the required way, thus causing the spell to fail.
The second stage when the mana has been collected and is in the process of orienting itself? No problem, the mana packets forcibly invade the target’s body and disorient the mana’s formation thus causing the spell to fail.
What if the target has covered himself with a layer of mana? Once again, no problem as the mana explosion at the start blows away that layer.
And what about people like Liera, who can easily manipulate the surrounding mana without incorporating it in their body? Doesn’t matter, as the mana explosion simply blows away the mana and its formation, causing the spell to fail.
What if the magic spell has already been cast? Dispersal can’t do shit then and it’s time to yell ‘Fuck this shit!’ and get out of the way of the spell.
Another advantage of Dispersion is that it’s invisible to the naked eye, thus making it difficult to dodge it. Though it can be dodged through other means, like mana sensing.
It can also be used in conjunction with other magic spells. The mana that will cast the spell forms the core, and the dense mana which will disperse the mana around the target forms the outer layer of the bullet. This is possible through Delay.
Delay isn’t a magic spell, but it’s actually an inherent function of mana. As the name suggests, through it I can delay the invocation of the spell. That means I can collect the mana required for the magic spell, but retard the process of the conversion of that mana into spell.
Schlachten is the mass energy conversion magic. Through it I can convert an object into pure energy, thus causing a very large explosion. Since all of the mass is converted to energy, it’s too powerful. Converting an object weighing 10kg into energy will cause an explosion larger than a 10 megatons atom bomb. This magic is too OP god damnit.
And even though I mastered Overhaul, I still cannot bend time. As I expected, I need more time to learn it. But time is a luxury that I don’t have. We are going to that dungeon after all.
However, Alicia, who is travelling with us, won’t be going to that dungeon. She’s going with us due to official reasons.
Blatan, the city where this dungeon was discovered, is in another country, Lanpas. In fact, it’s the capital of Lanpas. Lanpas is a militant nation. That means the more powerful you are, the higher your position is. That’s why the king of that country, Reishu Zestringer, an elf, is the most powerful of them all.
He used to be a soldier in the Elven Empire, and earned the throne of Lanpas through his own might. According to the books I’ve read, Reishu is one of the strongest among the mankind. So far, only Liera, Reygus and Olivia have been able to beat him.
Reishu became famous during the last Holy war. Despite being a common soldier, he had defeated a Commandment. He was recognised for his power by the then king of Lanpas, and was offered the post of a Prime Minister. 10 years later, he had ascended the throne as the king.
Alicia is going with us because we’ll have to pay him a visit before going to the dungeon.
Normally, when a new dungeon is discovered, the Adventurer’s Guild takes control of it. Adventurers can then use it to train and earn money. However, that wasn’t the case this time.
Lanpas had taken control of this dungeon, stating that the monsters inside the dungeon were too dangerous for a normal adventurer. Thus, entry in that dungeon was banned. That’s why the Holy Empire had to especially request Lanpas to let us, the Heroes, use the dungeon. In return, he wanted to meet the Heroes.
Though why would he want to meet us? Is it going to be the cliché situation where he is going to fight us in order to gauge our strength and hence determine whether we’re worthy of being Heroes or not? I sure hope that’s not the case.
As I was thinking about such useless things, the carriage suddenly came to a halt. The small window for the use of talking to the coachman opened, and he declared in a slightly frightened tone.
“Lady Liera, bandits.”
Just when I had started enjoying myself……………
Wait. Enjoying?
Me, of all people, is enjoying this? Me?
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