Second World

”Where do you get this item?!” Peniel exclaimed.

”Lady, do you have to ask the same question twice?” Jack asked, but he sensed a tinge of fear in Penielʼs tone.

”Do not, under any circumstances, use this item!” Peniel said. Her expression was serious.

”Oh? Why? It was a unique grade item. Isnʼt it supposed to be a powerful item? Why canʼt I use it?”

”It is indeed a powerful item, but it brings no benefit to the user.”

Seeing Jackʼs confused expression, she explained further, ”See its category as a disaster item? When you use this item, it will summon a blight that will spread out in a very large area. Everything that is within this area will be destroyed by that demon weed, including the summoner.”

”Including the summoner? Then this is just a mass destruction weapon, what good is it for me?” Jack exclaimed.

”Ainʼt that what I have just said?” Peniel said. ”Just keep that thing in a safe place. Donʼt let others lay their hands on it. It will create a disaster otherwise.”

ʼThe safest place is in my storage bag,ʼ Jack thought as he put the Demon Weed Seedling back into his bag. He then showed Peniel the last unknown item, Chris Memory Stone. ”What about this thing? Do you know?”

Peniel stared at it for a while. She then said, ”I have no knowledge of this stone. It is most probably an Alien Entity.”

ʼAlien Entity?ʼ Jack was intrigued. But since no information was known about this thing, he just store it inside his bag as well.

He then followed Peniel into the room with the Nightmare. Learning from their previous encounter, Jack avoided eye contact with the steed.

”Okay, now since you cannot yet sense the working of mana, I will be your guide here,” Peniel said as he flew to one side of the room. ”See symbol like this? It is spread out all over the rune diagram.”

Jack looked around, there were indeed lots of that same symbol strewn out all around the room.

”They will be the keys, you need to move in the direction that I instructed. Itʼs a good thing that you had a high pool of MP and HP.”

”Why is it a good thing?” Jack asked with a confused expression.

”Because moving this symbol will require MP. Once it is exhausted, it will consume your HP instead. And you canʼt stop once you start. Stopping will cause the backlash or explosion I mentioned before.”

”So no do-over? I have to succeed on my first try?”

”Yes. Do you have confidence?”

”How can I have the confidence in something I have never done before?” Jack replied. ”Saying yes will just be boasting.”

Peniel shrugged, ”itʼs this or we roam around the valley searching for another way.”

The Nightmare huffed and stomped with one of its front feet several times, Jack interpreted that gesture as the steed was protesting them for thinking about trying another way. It appeared that she was eager to be freed of this place. It also appeared that the steed understood their language.

Peniel confirmed this by saying, ”she was saying, ʼjust give it a try, you chickenshit.ʼ”

”Well, itʼs good that only you talk nightmare language. The next time she said something bad about me again, there is no need to translate it. Okay! No pain, no gain. Letʼs do this! So, how do I move this symbol?”

”For this first one, you need to place one of your hands on it.”

”Can I still cast a spell or drink a potion once the process starts?”

”No, you canʼt,” Peniel answered

”In that case,” Jack took out his magic staff and cast Heightened State, increasing his MP recovery. He was thinking at first to drink a Basic Regeneration Potion, but the effect of that potion lasted only one minute. He doubted his MP would be depleted already in one minute time. His full-leveled with two stars Heightened State skill increased his MP recovery by 60% for six and half minutes.

”Okay, letʼs do this,” Jack said again. This time with more wariness in his tone. His hand moved to touch the symbol indicated by Peniel. The symbol lighted up with blue energy, Jack felt as if his hand was burning and something was being sucked from the touching point. He noticed his MP started going down. The rate it was going down was pretty fast despite his Heightened State.

”So fast!” He exclaimed.

”Yes, we need to be quick. Now grab that symbol and moved it to the center here,” Peniel uttered as she flew next to the Nightmare and pointed below.

Jack made a grab with his fingers, and he could literally felt the symbol as if it was a solid thing. He made a shift and the symbol followed, there was a blue energy thread that linked it to the rest of the diagram. When the rune he was grabbing was moved to the place Peniel indicated, a numerous bunch of blue energy threads shot out, linking all the other runes that had the same symbol.

Peniel flew around again as she was talking, ”now you can move the other runes using your mind. Move this, this, and this, over to here, here, and here respectively.”

Jack used his mind to move the symbols as instructed. They followed his thought. He was used to making spell formation using his mind so he was not too foreign with this process, they were roughly similar. As he followed Penielʼs instruction, his MP bar continued to reduce. The more time passed, the more complex Penielʼs instruction grew. He had to move six symbols at the same time now.

As time continued to pass, he was now moving ten symbols at the same time. He noticed that he was also moving the same symbols that he had moved previously. He did not question Peniel, he just followed the fairyʼs instruction to the letter. His MP bar was already gone not long ago, the process was now consuming his HP bar.

The complex shift and re-shifting of the diagram continued. Peniel was flying as fast as possible to indicate the repositionings as Jack followed her with his mind as he moved the symbols. Peniel was right, if his multi-thought ability was not boosted by his new talent, his mind would have been spinning with headaches already performing the current process. At the moment, he could still keep up without making any mistakes. However, his HP bar was below half already. This was now a race to see if he could finish unraveling the rune diagram before his life was sucked clean. He tried not to think about it, worrying would just disturb his focus and caused a failure.

When his HP was less than 20%, Peniel shouted, ”final sequence!”

It was twelve symbols at the same time now. Jack concentrated, he could not afford to make a mistake at the final moment. The twelve symbols were shifted and placed at instructed new positions. They rested at their new post one by one in a rapid manner. But when it was the last one, Jack felt a weird feeling. There was a tinge of redness in the last symbolʼs aura and a sense within the energy link that the place he was about to insert was not the correct one. He sensed another place several inches away which exhibited a blue aura that was more in conjunction to the link with the symbols he currently felt inside him.

The feeling lasted for an instant. Peniel was shouting for him to place the symbol, the window for the symbols to be placed in between the others was only a short moment. Too long apart and the whole process would fail. He hesitated for a breath before making a decision. He shifted the symbol and placed it at the position where he sensed was more in rhythm with the symbolʼs aura.

”What are you doing?!” Peniel was shouting in distress.

The symbol was placed and hum was heard as the whole diagram flared with bright light. Peniel was closing her eyes and covering her head expecting a backlash. Jack just stood there unmoving. If there was a backlash, shielding himself wonʼt make a difference.

The light and the hum slowly dissipated. The diagram on the wall was also fading. Peniel opened her eyes and saw the surroundings in confusion.

”It works? How?” She asked.

”Do you want it to explode instead?” Jack asked in a sarcastic tone.

Peniel glared at him and said, ”Why do you not follow my instruction for the last symbol?!”

”If I did, we really will have failed already,” Jack replied. He then recounted the feeling he had when he was placing the last symbol.

”Thatʼs… No, not possible. You are still an advanced class...” Peniel said, more to herself. Her tone was agitated.

”What are you mumbling about?” Jack asked with annoyance.

”What you describe just now is you sensing the mana flow,” Peniel said.

”Oh? So thatʼs what it is? So I can also sense mana now?”

”Can you sense any mana in this room now?”

”Why should I sense any? Isnʼt the rune diagram gone already?”

”Mana always exists around us. Itʼs just about how thick or how thin its density, how violent or how calm its flow. If you donʼt sense anything now, thatʼs mean you can still not sense mana.”

”Really? Then that feeling I sensed before was not mana?”

”Donʼt know. Might only be a fluke.”

”That fluke had saved us from failure,” Jack exclaimed. At that time, he realized the Nightmare was no longer at her initial position. She had always stood at the center of the room all this time. Jack turned around, and found that she was right behind him.. she was rearing up with her two forelegs high in the air, her hooves soon crashed down on Jack.

😉