Ancient Mana Technique

When Darthoxis left the city of Yrobound, Agron dismissed the raiding army immediately.

With a serious face, he travelled with his own party to the Kingdom capital of Arnelia, Duran.

He must inform the current King of the developments, especially involving an old God taking up a land in the continent without the King's jurisdiction.

After travelling for less than a day, he arrived at the Kingdom, where he and his entourage were welcomed warmly by the citizens.

"My King, I do not know what these developments entail; however, we must prepare our own measures." Agron bowed while kneeling.

Agron was actually sweating profusely when conversing with the young King, due to the terrifying aura enveloping the King.

"Commander Agron, I say we must nurture more Heroes." The young King named Elliot who was the 16th King under King Krieg's bloodline, stood up from his throne.

Elliot was actually only a prince; however, due to his sickly father's vegetative state, he was crowned as the King of Duran, despite his age of only 18.

The young King inherited the Holy Sword Durandal from her ancestor named Lauron.

Lauron was the greatest warrior who has fought for the betterment of the entire Kingdom.

The Durandal, with her hands, culled down evil forces and monsters invading the Kingdom and the cities within its border.

She singlehandedly repelled their enemies and even stopped wars.

After hundreds of years without an owner, the Durandal was kept collecting dust in the Kingdom's treasury, but after Elliot showed immediate results and accepting the crown without hesitation, his father let him wield the Durandal.

Elliot always loved training; he even risks his own life to lead a band of Adventurers himself into the dungeons near the Kingdom.

Only a few more training and he will soon reach the pinnacle of Adventurers.

He reached this point without any Spiritforms; this is only due to their bloodline and their ancestor, Lauron.

One of the many reasons for Elliot's strength is a mastery of mana techniques, with the Holy Sword's ability to let its user to ascend, Elliot developed a signature technique.

The technique was then named by Elliot himself as the Spiritlight.

Under Lauron, she used the Holy Sword's mana to forcefully ascend herself into a Valkyrie, capable of evolving.

However, Elliot used the mana in a completely different way, where he constantly absorbs the mana from the Holy Sword to supply his actual spirit.

This way, even without battling, he is constantly growing in strength just by connecting his own mana through the Holy Sword and circulating it.

Through this simple process, he soon developed a signature technique where he could steal and damage an opponent's mana.

No one could believe Elliot until one of them tests it upon themselves.

When Elliot used the Spiritlight, he only applied it on his fists and sent a light punch towards the opponent's armored chest.

Clang!

As expected, the opponent on the receiving end of the attack did not receive any damage however; he soon found out that he cannot form mana on his fingers and even mind.

It was like his knowledge of mana has been cut off and blocked!

This terrifying ability is constantly being upgraded by Elliot, who at this point, is still circulating his own mana with the Holy Sword.

Even Agron is not confident if he could last a few moves with the young King.

"I could agree to that, however, the supply of Spiritforms have been in decline, which is even the reason why only one Spiritform has been granted on the last competition in Blacnard." Agron recalled the production problem the engineers have been facing this year.

Among the entire continent of Blacnard, only a single Spiritform has been granted to the sole winner of the competition.

If Blacnard only received one Spiritform, then Arnelia could also expect the same.

They do not exactly know the reason for the sudden decline of Spiritforms created by the engineers.

With this, they would not be able to boost their army's power without nurturing more Heroes.

"Hmmm, that is indeed a problem…" Elliot fell into a deep thought before adding, "Then help me with some procedures."

"Procedures?" Agron was confused.

"Procedures to establish a guild, my own guild! With my guild we will take the preemptive strike!" Elliot declared.

[…]

Meanwhile, Veil was struggling to imitate Nerula's mana control.

Even in her past life, Veil only absorbed atmospheric mana and mana from various sources such as World Crystals.

However, as Nerula demonstrated, she could also absorb mana from her opponents, especially when the said opponents used a skill.

Within that moment, the opponents' mana would leak when using the skill, which could then be taken advantage of by Nerula's mana absorption.

As Veil heavily panted and fell down on her knees, Nerula spoke.

"Take your time, my student; an Ancient Mana Technique is not as simple as you think." Nerula informed her student.

Pant pant pant.

"Ancient Mana Technique?" Veil asked with a confused face while she regains her breath.

"Mhm. This technique exists since the Ancient times, however, only Ancient civilizations like ours know of it, at this point in time, no human being should know of it."

"As long as you understand the concept of your target's mana flow, you would soon master this technique. It will surely produce mind-blowing results." Nerula shared the full detail.

Veil stood up with a serious face and nodded, she immediately tried to focus on the crystal again; the moment it leaks a mana, she would try to absorb it.

Veil's training with Nerula continued for almost a week, at the end of her training, she can take hold of her target's mana strands even for a smallest leakage.

With this, she could at most, disrupt her opponent's skills, which could then prove extremely important in battle.

She is not expecting any war to break out, so she could only take her time in dungeons that would appear around the Shurana.

However, she was proven wrong immediately in the next news she heard.

"A band of Adventurers riding magic vehicles was seen thousands of yards away from here; it seems that they are charging towards our city." A Shuranian handling the recording crystals around their city reported to Nerula.

"Master Nerula, let me receive them." Veil smiled.

"Very well, do not act carelessly." Nerula permitted her student to go.

Vrrrmmm.

Various vehicles powered by magic crystals arrived shortly, Veil standing in front of the gate with a mask and a cloak.

"What is your purpose of visit in this city, Adventurers?" Veil asked when she saw the Adventurers exiting the vehicle one by one.

A young knight wearing a set of exquisite golden armor with a cape approached her.

"I am the current King of Duran, Elliot. We came here to discuss your relation to us humans in this world and specifically, to the land of Arnelia. We do not wish any harm." Elliot introduced himself.

"Very well, I shall inform the Primordial of your visit." Veil nodded before turning around and leaving.

She then informed Darthoxis of their visitors to which Darthoxis agreed to meet up.

"Greetings, Respectable Primordial, I am the current King of Duran, Elliot." Elliot bowed respectfully.

"The King! Hah! You are visiting my humble city yourself? To what do I owe the pleasure?" Darthoxis grinned widely.

"I only wish to discuss your current stand in our land of Arnelia, as you can see, even if you are taking up a neutral land, you are now a city of the continent." Elliot smiled as he explained.

"Current stand? I only saved my people from the scarcity of resources in our previous land, we bring no harm. Out with the truth already, I do not see you visiting me personally for such matters." Darthoxis flashed a serious face.

"…" Elliot did not reply, emotions vanishing from his face.

However, the next moment, he smiled widely as he unsheathed the Holy Sword Durandal.

Slash!

"I wish to test an old God's strength!" Elliot swung his sword towards Darthoxis' neck without a warning.

Even his entourage was surprised by the sudden decision to attack the God; he was still a God even if he is now replaced.

Just as the sword is about to hit Darthoxis' neck, Elliot's entire arm froze in place.

"What?!" Elliot was surprised by the masked person who grabbed his arm without him noticing their presence.

"Attack the Primordial one more time and I will turn you into my ice sculptures and have your bodies delivered to the Kingdom." Veil, the masked person who stopped the attack, warned the young King with a frosty tone.

Elliot immediately dashed back while holding his frozen right arm; he then applied his signature technique Spiritlight to nullify the mana surrounding the layers of frost on his arm.

Crack!

Soon after, the ice melted and he recovered his arm, however, he still feels numb and even his fingers are blistered.

In this state, he would lose grip of his sword, however, unexpectedly, he still assumed a combat pose.

"What? You still want a fight?" Veil asked in cold tone before removing her mask.

"I am just going to show you that humanity and our Kingdom is no pushover!" Elliot released his monstrous aura.

Mana Expansion: Spiritfall!

The room was enveloped by a golden wave of mana with semi-invisible threads slowly draining everyone's mana.

The affected ones backed away, even Darthoxis does not want to stay in such an uncomfortable area.

Now, only Veil and Elliot remained in the middle of the room.

Veil smirked seeing that this environment would be the perfect place to test her Ancient Mana Technique.

'She could still smile under my presence?!' Elliot muttered to himself in shock.

Elliot was more shocked because every single opponent that faced his domain would immediately frown in the sensation.

Mana on one's body is a big factor for relaxation; however, if your mana flow is disrupted or absorbed, one would immediately weaken, even for strong Adventurers.

But now, a girl younger than him is standing upright within his own domain and smiling.

Elliot's veins bulged on his head; he is now losing his usual calm due to the girl's provocation.

Before he could take the initiative to attack, the girl unsheathed a beautiful aquamarine sword with a hint of midnight black.

The moment he sees the mana on the sword, his lips paled.

The amount of ice mana surrounding on the sword is seemingly infinite, which is not something he could imitate with his Holy Sword.

Holy Swords are named such because they existed since the Ancient War, they are rumored to have been wielded by Valkyries, and other races wielding the Holy Sword with perfect compatibility could forcefully ascend.

With only 4 of such swords in the entire world, his current sword is undoubtedly one of the strongest weapons in existence.

However, he is getting proven wrong, an unknown sword capable of supplying an infinite amount of mana!

Only Legendary weapons could produce an effect like that, but not a single Legendary weapon was known to produce an endless mana.

Veil then dashed towards the dazed King as she did not even try to repel the golden threads swirling around her to absorb her mana.

Elliot gets confused even more; his opponent is not even protecting her mana, which is an important factor in battle.

Veil only smiled due to her opponent's confused face, she then swung the Rosalia.

Vuwoshhh!

Elliot briefly accepted his death the moment he regained his senses and did not block the sword coming towards his neck.

As he slowly opened his eyes, he thought that he will wake up on the afterlife, but he felt extreme cold crawling on his neck.

"W-what…" Elliot powerlessly asked seeing that his opponent stopped her weapon on a hair's breadth on his neck.

"Making the opponent surrender without anyone hurting. That is a result which would benefit both parties." Veil answered truthfully as she sheathed her sword.

Darthoxis smiled widely as he knows this was Veil's goal all along, the difference in strength was just that great.

Even if Veil could not understand the principle behind her opponent's domain today, she smirked again knowing that she is now in a position to demand something from the King.

"Seeing that you lost your will to fight, let me accompany you back into the capital, I wish to investigate something there." Veil stretched her hand to help Elliot stand back up.

"Very well, I cannot decline your offer now, can I?" Elliot smiled bitterly while scratching the back of his head.

"I shall thank you for your time with me Esteemed Primordial and Master Nerula." Veil turned towards the two as she said her goodbyes.

Darthoxis and Nerula both nodded and smiled as they watched the girl's back depart as she enters the magic vehicle.