n

n

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"Wakey, wakey!

" Irea muttered softly to Layn's ear while shaking his arm.

n

"Huh? What?

" Prying his eyes open, Layn looked around with his sleepy eyes.

"Did I fall asleep?

"

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"Yeah, just for a bit though,

" Irea reassured her man before moving her eyes at the situation in front.

"I believe you might need to help them out a bit.

"

nFollowing Irea's stare, Layn looked towards his underlings, currently fighting with a group of three different monsters.

n'Well, things escalated rather quickly, didn't they?' Layn thought to himself, crawling out from underneath the sheets that lulled him to sleep before.

nTo say that Layn's mercenaries weren't capable of dealing with the monsters on their own was an understatement. 'From what I can see, they are barely holding their own. Injuries might start appearing soon,' he thought, before biting on his lips. 'Well, it's better to be safe than sorry,' Layn decided in his thoughts, shaking his head to regain the clarity of thoughts before rushing forward.

nThe monsters that his people were dealing with were all the same. A mix of a fluffy, puppy the size of an elephant, mixed with the worst kind of hell-spawn that one could imagine. From the middle of their body forward only the rotting flesh covered their naked bones, while the back half of their body was filled with perfectly carved-out muscles.

nOverall, the strange appearance of the monster could be only attributed to one thing. The fears of those who visited the desert, giving the direction for the free mana. A direction that once condensed enough, would manifest in form of those hideous monsters.

nThat, or Layn group was just unlucky enough to encounter this kind of nature freak, naturally born monsters.

n'Well, I guess I don't really have the time to think about it too much,' Layn thought, rushing forward. The process of defeating any form of monster was pretty simple and the archmage had no reason to attempt improving it.

nAt first, he closed the distance. Running past the ranks of his mercenaries, Layn threw himself underneath the massive body of the half-dead monster. This kind of action was so reckless and counterintuitive if not plain out stupid, that even the monster failed to instantly react to it.

nAnd this lack of reaction was the last nail to its coffin. A coffin that was already prepared once fate decided it, along with the two other of its kind, would cross path with Layn.

nOnce underneath the monster's rotting belly, Layn tightened his jaws before pushing his hand right into the disgusting matter that made up the monster's body. Once there, a small wisp of his concentrated mana penetrated through the monster's massive body. All the way to its core.

n

"Guys, don't try to take more on yourself than you can handle,

" Layn said to the mercenaries after turning around. Given how this monster was slightly stronger than the ones from before, it took Layn several seconds to actually consume all of its energy. But doing so brought his aura to the point of oversaturation.

"Now, who did the best during the fight?

" Layn asked while sending a quick look at the other two groups fighting with their monsters.

n

"Ugh…

" No one stepped forward, most likely worried about angering the others. 'Figures,' Layn thought to himself, not surprised at all. 'In the middle of the desert, making enemies out of your companions is not the best idea,' he thought before turning around and looking to the skies.

n

"I don't really have a choice now, do I?

" Layn asked himself, before focusing all the excess mana on his palm. Once the energy reached a proper level of condensation, Layn finally gave it a mental order, enforcing a structure to the wildly flowing magic.

"Fireball!

" he shouted, pushing his right hand forward.

nAs if a droplet dripping out from some kind of fabric, the dense energy separated itself from Layn's aura. Then, as if someone put a match to it, the mana suddenly exploded with fires, quickly turning into a pillar of blaze stretching for as far as one's eye could see.

n

"Not so much for a fireball, huh?

" Once the fires died down, Layn looked down on his hand and bit his lips. 'As expected, wild mana is not that easy to control,' he realized, before taking a look at all the remaining wild mana in his aura. 'At least it diffuses properly,' he thought.

nLayn knew what to expect from farming monsters even before his hunt begun. Given how the monsters were considered endangered species in his own time, the study of the reasons behind the disappearance of such a huge selection of different life-forms was pretty extensive.

n

"Sir! Please!

" someone shouted. Turning his head towards the source of the shout, Layn saw that one of the two remaining groups was being pushed back. Or rather, its members were only holding themselves up with the greatest effort and desperation, already on the verge of breaking under the relentless assault of the monster.

n

"I'm coming!

" Layn shouted back, rushing towards the danger. A few moments later, the monster stopped moving at all. With the connection between its core and the core's projection that resulted in its body broken, what remained was nothing more than wild mana in a peculiar form.

n

"Irea!

" Layn shouted.

"Come here for a second!

" Not willing to let a danger like that appear once again, Layn quickly looked towards the third group. In there, Antion was proving his skill as a commander, making the best use of the skills of those fighting alongside him.

nAnd surprisingly enough, Pavrien was quite the flashy one in their group, jumping around the surroundings like some kind of rabbit, constantly annoying the monster with a light attack to its sides. While by itself, his attacks didn't amount to much and would take him several weeks to sufficiently deplete the monsters' energy to take him down, with the perspective of the greater group, his seemingly pointless attacks gave his companions a lot more leeway than either of the other two groups had.

n'I wonder if it's his personal skill or just Antion's sharp eyes,' Layn thought, unable to decide between the two. Yet, before this question could rise to a priority in his mind, Irea finally reached his spot.

n

"You called?

" Dressed in nothing but her undergarments and a long, ugly robe, Irea lost nearly half of her usual charm. As angry as she was when Layn asked her to wear something so plain, that was the only way in which he could hold himself back in her presence, just like he promised to his mercenaries.

n

"Yeah. Come here.

" Layn replied, nodding his head and gesturing at the girl to come to his side.

n

"Ugh, disgusting,

" Irea protested lightly, averting her eyes from the image of the rotting flesh of the monster.

n

"It's not real, don't be bothered by it,

" Layn explained, even though he was perfectly aware how little words like that would help. Disgust wasn't something that could be rationally fought with. It was a predisposition of the human psyche, aiming to make him leave anything that could be potentially dangerous. And even if small pests and insects that most people would find repulsing were no longer a threat to the civilization with herbs and basic medicine, the natural instincts of a man remained just as strong as they always were.

n'Just like with our tendency to grow fatter during the cold season,' Layn commented on his thoughts, before grabbing Irea's hand and pushing it into the repulsing flesh of the monster.

n

"I know it feels awful, but try to think of this warmth not as the heat of the flesh, but as the caressing of the mana,

" Layn ordered. As for now, with his aura already saturated, unless he wanted to draw even more attention to himself, he couldn't really absorb all that much energy anymore.

nAnd this was where Irea turned useful.

n

"Wait, don't tell me…

" Irea said, finally realizing Layn's intentions.

n

"Yeah, I will teach you how to do it.

" He nodded his head.

"Just make sure not to absorb it all directly into your body,

" Layn added before leaning over Irea's ear.

"Rather than trying to consume this energy, try to hold it at bay, as if you wanted to use it right away, but was unable to decide what for.

"

nLayn wasn't smart enough to figure out this kind of feeling one's aura himself. It was the work of one of the antique heroes, the proclaimed first mage, who came up with this idea. And even in the days of Layn's academy, it was still the most commonly taught method for beginners!

n

"I get it,

" Irea said, with her eyes filling with determination. She focused, turning her eyes to slits before closing them altogether. Layn's energy was still blocking the monster's core from reuniting with its energy, allowing him to see when the girl finally felt the principle behind his teachings.

n

"I…

" Irea attempted to say something as soon as the wild energy started to flow into her body, only to end up assimilated into her aura.

n

"I know. It feels insane.

" Layn replied, putting a gentle smile on his face.

"Try not to get too high on this feeling. If you get addicted, then even I won't be able to save you.

" Layn added with a slightly grim tone.

nThe mana addiction. It was one of the greatest plagues that bothered the magic society. Just like one would feel good when drinking water after hours of dying from thirst, just like one would feel good when eating after days of starvation, one would always feel good when free energy like that would fill every single cell of their body.

nBut with time, once one's body would get used to this kind of free nutrition, one would no longer be able to sate the desires of his body with food or water and would grow dependant on a constant supply of magic.

nBy that point, one wouldn't feel high when consuming it at all. The only thing that consuming the mana would do, was alleviating the symptoms of the illness it caused in the first place.

n'I can't afford to have anyone contract it,' Layn told himself, steeling his resolve.

n

"No, that's not it,

" Irea suddenly proved that his entire guess and inner monologue were completely useless.

"It feels like… I accidentally absorbed a little bit of this mana into my cultivation,

" she said, moving her terror-filled eyes on Layn's face.

"I… I won't turn into that monster now, right? RIGHT?!

" Irea asked, clearly desperate for the answer.

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"Nah, you don't need to worry about it,

" Layn replied, pulling his hand out of the already transparent body of the monster before rustling Irea's hair a bit.

"The worst that would happen, would be your body rejecting the foreign mana. And the best that could happen,

"

nBefore Layn could finish his words, the quality of Irea's disposition changed. It was as if the air around her suddenly turned denser, making it harder to catch the girl off guard.

n

"Huh?

" Irea sighed in surprise,

"I just reached the raising senses awareness stage?

"

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