Chapter 10: Mana studies

Deep within the forgotten corners of the library, a dim red shine glowed in the darkness. The warmth embraced the annoyed Sinborn, whose face was on top of an open book about the theory of mana. A swarm of fireflies had long ago gathered inside the full yet empty library. The druid that worked there had gotten used to the sight of Barbados and made small talk when the two had the chance. She had almost memorised the exact times that Barbados would come in and leave. She had recently just clocked into her job and found the tired teacher in the exact same place before she left.

"Barbados?" she asked while slowly shaking him.

"Hi Veronica, I'm awake."

"Okay, just wanted to make sure you were ok. Enjoy your studying."

"Thanks." he replied while his head was still on the book. Veronica noticed the fireflies being attracted by his halo. She conjured a moon-blue flower and used it to guide the swarm of insects outside.

"Do be careful of the fireflies. They have been known to cause disastrous fires, especially in libraries."

"Sorry, I'll buy a nightcap to cover it when I visit." His mind hurt as the confusing concept of mana just didn't come together for him. From what he had learned in his learning expedition, it wasn't any more detailed from what Grog had told him. Colour affected mana output because of emotions; texture of mana changed its properties; and the last stage was mimicking a phenomenon. There was a higher level that only a few had apparently achieved which was creating their own phenomen. He was surprised when he didn't see Okia's name in the book when he had assumed her mana counted as a new phenomenon.

He also discovered that when a person dies while using their mana, it continuously leaves their body until the body runs out of it, which affects the environment. When a person dies while not using their mana, it causes their body to undergo a transformation and transform into a creature that only a mentally ill man could imagine. It varied from person to person but some common features were disfigured and malnourished bodies, obsidian black skin and an increase of appendages. These cases weren't that rare as he found a news story from 3 weeks ago when a couple transformed into one of these creatures by merging. What he was more focused on was that from both these endings, a crystal containing pure mana would appear, either from the mana condensing or as a drop from the creature. It was expected to be the highest and most concentrated source of mana on the planet, and Barbados wanted to get his hands on one. There were other ways also to acquire this by hunting wild animals as the same principles applied to them, but the purity was significantly worse. This left Barbados with two choices: he killed a person while they used mana and waited or he killed a person that wasn't using mana and swiftly defeated the creature. Alternatively, there was a 3rd option which he knew he shouldn't consider but was much easier than the other two, to go grave robbing.

"Fuck it," he whispered underneath his breath and rapidly got up, "Veronica, keep this corner like this. If any staff personnel tries telling you to put it away just tell them to fight me. Oh and tell my class to have a tournament style knockout fight to see who's the best." He got his bag and made his way to leave but remembered to ask her a question. "Do you know any places that sell shovels and red paint?"

****

He made his way as the break of dawn pushed away the polka dot pattern of black and white. The Friday morning made it hard to believe that it was only last week that he fought the Knight Council. And he also followed Grog's advice but just missed his chance to meet the Druid girl as he saw her with her group while coming back to the city. He walked wearing his light leather armour he had while he had first woken up. He couldn't believe that in his entire long life he had not once made a shovel, and groaned at the thought of buying one. He already got the red paint just in case he needed to distract any passerby. Barbados followed the instructions of his mobile device to try and get to his destination, but almost shattered it when it suggested he walked through a house. When he did arrive at the city cemetery, there was a constant miasma contained in the graveyard. When a body decomposes it releases a purple-like smoke that can't be seen with the naked eye, but those who are surrounded by bodies and get used to the sight of killing are able to see it. For Barbados, it was a striking purple that clearly looked out of place.

"Welp, I'm a criminal. Might as well add a grave robber to the list." he told himself, and when there was no one around him, he entered. There were golems erected to guard the premises. Although they were a simple creature, they had a high sensitivity when it came to detecting good and bad intentions. "Time to put the paint to use" he thought as he opened one of the large cans and dropped in a seed. Its growth was rapid and quickly grew into a pitch black flower with yellow and orange engravings that lead to a blossoming red head resembling that of a dragons. It towered over him but not as tall to be seen from the otherside of the wall. A golem was blind and deaf, but used special sensors to detect a person's intentions, and the flower he had just grown gave off a certain hormone that clouded the golem's gaze.

Barbados didn't know why a paint-grown Draco Nus, especially a red paint one, grew much quicker than any other plants and why it affected the sensors of a golem, but didn't question it as he could easily ask a druid for the answer.

He walked by without being detected and looked at the many graves. There wasn't a single person at the cemetery, which was one of the concerns he had. He could easily have gone at night, but it would be an obvious attempt and the security could have been more tight. Barbados scanned and had to pick a human grave, or at the very least a half-breed's grave that had a human as a parent. The Sinborn looked around the countless tombstones, but their names were strange and sounded unique. At the furthest part of the cemetery, there was a single tomb with a black marble plaque surrounded by 5 other tombs with white marble plaque that was smaller. The black tomb had the name Stefan the Great engraved in cursive and outlined by a gold metal, and it read 'The True Voivode of East Europa'. On the other tombs was written a single number followed by a symbol of one of the following elements: Ice, Fire, Darkness, Water and Earth. Barbados knew instantly the significance of such a man and wondered if he should really desecrate the final resting place of what looked like a hero. He sucked up his doubts and decided to dig up the grave, throwing away the pride of a hero. Barbados tried to look on the positive, although morbid, side.

It didn't take long for light to reflect off the top of the stone casket, a grey dull but powerful colour still visible after years of being buried. Barbados made a thin scratch onto his body using an ornamental dagger off the dates that were on the marble slab.

"No birth date but the death was on the 2nd July in 1504." he remarked as the sharp blade glided on the skin. He placed his hands slowly on the cover and lifted it to find the preserved body of the long forgotten ruler, still dressed in detailed armour with his gloved hands holding a golden claymore. The armour had a distinct pattern of yellow sun rays moving away like waves from a sunlike figure in the middle. The figure was formed of a golden crystal that Barbados had no knowledge of. He wanted to pry it off the corpse and examine it, but he held himself back not wanting to desecrate the body any more to enjoy a peaceful life without being haunted. There were multiple uneven green crystals that lay neatly on the pristine golden damask cloth that covered the bottom of the casket. Barbados hesitated again and looked at the covered face of Stefan and slowly lifted up the small white velvet square that covered him. Stefan's eyes stared into the air, completely diluted and lifeless. Barbados was surprised at the preservation of the body and assumed it was another effect of mana. He slowly closed the eyes using the velvet and placed back to where it was and picked up the crystals. He placed the mana crystal in a bag and placed it in his space, covered the grave and started moving the dirt back.

****

Back in the academy, Barbados travelled to the library to get his items from the library but was stopped by a professor. Barbados was unaware of their name while they talked about the upcoming exams the students would have. They talked for around 5 minutes before the professor rushed off to their class.

"Veronica, do you know who that person was?"

"That was Erven. He is in charge of teaching phenomenons. He may not seem like it but he is the strongest man in Germany."

"What?" Barbados looked behind but only saw the dust left by the strongest human. He faced Veronica. "That slob?" he asked and she nodded. Barbados shivered at the thought of the power he could possess, and even questioned if he could kill him using mana. "Nah" believed Barbados while trying to indulge in his narcissistic beliefs, while a sliver of him still held onto reality. He picked his items and left for his dormitory. As he opened the door, he could feel an unusual draft inside his room where the window was closed. It moved as if it was alive, avoiding any large obstacles like the bed. Barbados's intuition told him this was the work of a student, as the control of the draft was still wavering and it seemed to be unevenly distributed. "But why would a student be going through the room of another?" he questioned as he decided to observe it more.

After around an hour of waiting and getting angry for wasting his time, he chose a fan from his weapon stash and swatted the fog away. While Barbados focused on looking outside to see if any student had potentially started running away, the bladed fan started cracking. He was saddened to see a creation fall apart in his hands. It hadn't happened before, and the only answer he could give was that the Angels that imprisoned him had confiscated his heart. The only reason he didn't notice it sooner was that he still had the same strength as he did from before. Compared to the other 6 Sinborn, Barbados was the weakest one when it came to physical strength, but his weapons was what made him the most fearsome of all. It got to the point that Angels considered him to be the creature from their prophecies; a creature so devastating that it could rip the world in half.

He sat down and inspected the array of green crystals and picked up the smallest one and tried destroying it in his palm, but it didn't. It glowed a bright lime green where he applied pressure. He tried using a hammer to shatter it, but it just bounced off easily and showed to leave no indent. Next he tried picking away at it using a chisel and it worked. He managed to turn the mass of crystal into a sphere, while carefully picking up the shavings and storing them in their own separate container. He was no alchemist but he would be able to do basic tests like burning the crystal and adding it to miniature animals. But that would have to wait as what he really wanted to test was what ingesting the large marble crystal would do to his body as the concentrated substance was able to harm and this could even kill him. He prepared himself, counted to 3 and swallowed the ball. He fell to the ground and felt his interior being shredded by the concentrated source of mana. The green orb was visible through his skin and made it seem like a cancerous tumour. His body tried to deny this foreign substance, but was overwhelmed by the burning sensation. His tears poured as the pain was never ending, soon followed by small streaks; he felt his consciousness grow wearier from the sensation constantly. He gritted his teeth and stabbed his thigh to try and distract his mind from the puncturing feeling in his abdomen. He repeatedly struck his leg and it seemed to help until a bright green volatile liquid leaked from the wound, which he stopped by forcing his skin to close up.

After the razor feeling in his body seemed to have subdued, he left his conscious pass and fell into a deep slumber. By the time he woke up, he felt the moon gently graze his face and nudge him to wake up. His eyes slowly adjusted to sombre darkness and noticed his body possessing a faint green hue- its resembles being close to that of a peaceful fire. He tried to touch the flame, but his finger passed right through. It reminded Barbados of a phantom, the usual feeling of uneasiness as a supernatural force was stuck onto your unknowing body. He tried to move his body and put out the astral flame, but all it did was create a flowing cloud of shining green glitter.

"What the hell do I do now?" he questioned himself as he continuously tried to get rid of it. "Disappear. Vanish. Uh, surrender?" All attempts lead to zero results. He clenched up his fist in anger and punched his arm as he was feeling stressed. His fist clashed with his arm and sent the appendage flying off his body. He stared in awe at the circumstances. He calmly picked up the arm and tried forcing it into place and healing it back, but a surge of mana poured out of the injury that cauterised the wound and made it impossible to reattach it. "Come back" he thought in his mind and the mana that flowed out returned back through the skin of the molten flesh. After struggling for 10 minutes he was finally able to place the arm back in place.

He laid on the bed, thinking and trying to further understand mana.

"So I control it with my mind." he said in a quiet tone. He lifted his arm and recreated the fist of green mana from before. The unusual substance concentrated in the fist , but when he opened his palm there was no green mana. "Strange," he told himself as he tried concentrating mana at the tip of his finger, "Is visualising it the key to controlling mana?"