Ch 8: Mana Veins

The ground looked as if it had experienced a meteor shower. There were molten rocks that formed mana puddles on the ground. Plumes of smoke and dust kept rising into the air and the entire battlefield smelt of sulfur. The Alpha Wind Spirit floated silently in the sky with its body all but transparent. The only discerning thing was a black ball spinning in its head. The father and son were standing on the air cube in the sky. Their faces were pale but were plastered with brilliant smiles.

"I think it's time to deliver the final blow," Saxon was ready for this to be over. Eating too many mana berries had taken a toll on him.

"Can we try to capture him alive instead, I want to study him. Maybe I can find out how he interacts with wind energy particles and cast spells. I think this will further my understanding of air particles greatly."

"We can try," said Saxon.

Xasha created an air cylinder around the wind spirit. This cylinder was many times more solid than it was before. This fight had brought Xasha innumerable benefits. His understanding of mana control and mana manipulation had increased after watching it being manipulated at the highest level by two experts. He also witnessed many high-level spells during this fight and they have also improved his understanding of spell structure and Magic circles by leaps and bounds.

Saxon summoned a sea of flames and guided them into the cylinder. The flames were burning over 200,000°C. Once the flames entered the cylinder that was spinning at over 1000 mph. The temperature increase was rapid, reaching a peak of over 500'000°C in a few minutes. Saxon kept adding flames to the air cylinder to make it hotter.

The wind spirit roared, but it was more like a wail of pain than one of anger. Roars got more frequent and got weaker and weaker by the minute. Xasha finally let out a sigh of relief, "it's over," he said with a calm voice.

"I think you might be right k-," before Saxon could finish his sentence he felt the aura of death running through his body, "Run!" He screamed on top of his lungs. Not wasting milliseconds to ask a single question, Xasha willed the cube to shoot off in the opposite direction of the wind spirit.

The wind spirit had released from its body a ball of compressed air that was expanding rapidly. The wind energy particles were packed so tight that the structure of the expanding air sphere is over 100 times more powerful than the strongest air barrier Xasha could Create. The sphere was so fast that even though Xasha acted as fast as he could. The sphere caught up with them in no time at all.

Saxon took his first defense stance since the beginning of the fight. He stretched forth both of his hands and a massive magic circle came into being. The magic circles looked like a bulls-eye with hundreds of runes within each ring. Flames billowed out of the magic circle and formed a 100 meter long Red Dragon Snake that coiled his body around the cube protecting everyone inside.

Xasha closed his eyes, he calmed his mind then activated his open mind to its absolute limit; he activated all the mana in his energy sea all at once. With a wave of his hand, all the air in the atmosphere that was not already being controlled by the wind spirit answered his call and gathered to a single point.

Under Xasha's supervision, the air particles packed themselves into a spiral. It had groves that made it look like a 30ft long screw. The spiral started spinning at an insane rate and collided with the expanding magic sphere. The explosion Xasha had braced himself for did not happen when the two collided. The sphere stopped in his tracks for but a millisecond before it started pushing back the spiral towards the retreating father and son.

It was obvious who had won in that confrontation. Xasha's eyes, ears, nose, and mouth started bleeding. He gnashed his teeth, outstretched both his hands and push against the air with all his might. His fierce war cry echoed throughout the battlefield as he pushed even harder, slowing the sphere's speed slightly.

Saxon could feel his racing heartbeat throughout his body. He felt a sharp rain run through his body with every beat. Seeing his son in such a state had left his already red eyes bloodshot. He jumped off the cube and shot up into the air. He let out his own war cry as he released a red ocean of flames that was 100 times larger than all the other's he'd used before from his body.  

The Ocean compressed itself into a 100ft tall Centaur that was half earthquake Hippo and half Skull Crusher Golem. With 5 massive piers of feet that made the empty air vibrate once it appeared and three pairs of arms that crumple a building into a snowball.

The centaur used all 6 of arms to push against the flat part spiral and planted all 10 of its feet in the ground. Saxon had put his full power into this attack. The sphere stopped moving immediately, small spider web like cracks spread on the body of the sphere. The wind spirit roared in anger as it realized that its last attack was blocked. Saxon who was in the centaur's chest screamed and the flame centaur gave one last push with all its might.

The sphere exploded with a loud boom. The shock wave hit the centaur who was closest to its epicenter, sending it crashing into the ground and rolling dozens of times before coming to a stop. Once it stopped the centaur turned back to energy particles, leaving an unconscious Saxon on the ground.

"Dad!" Xasha willed the cube to fly at full speed towards his father. Jumping off the cube as it hit the ground, he fell and rolled a few times. He didn't care one bit as he crawled on all fours to his father. Grabbing his father's body, he checked his pulse, breathing, and heartbeat. After confirming his father was alive and uninjured, he felt like a 10 story building had fallen off of his chest. He finally let out a breath, screaming on the top of his lungs as he cried tears of joy. The tears washed away the blood that was there previously. 

"Save your tears kid, I'm not dead yet. I overused my mana, I just need some rest," Saxon was Looked like he had aged several decades but he still tried to force a smile.

"That's gre Da-." Xasha lost consciousness and fell on his father's chest, "This kid."

Xasha woke up. He recognized this place as the hole created while he fought against the wind spirit. He fought off the feeling of weakness as he tried to sit up and look around. He was lying on a stone tablet with a shoddily drawn purification magic circle on it.

"You've finally woken up kid," Saxon jumped into the canyon from the surface.

"Dad, you're okay, how long was I out?"

"Three days. A lot happened while you slept."

"Oh, like what?" Xasha was curious.

"Well this place, there is an S Rank mana vein here," Saxon said calmly, "That is why that wind spirit was here, I think this was its territory."

"So since we defeated it, doesn't that make it our territory now?" Xasha joked.

"Yes, but it's best we stop having such thoughts, a Rank S mana vein is not something we can hold on to with our strength. We are deep in the black plains, there are way too many powerful energy beasts here. Some even stronger than that Alpha Wind Spirit. This time they won't be injured and they will have an army behind them," Saxon had a bitter smile. He thought it was such a waste.

"Is there really nothing we can do? It seems like such a waste, rank S mana veins are the most powerful in this world."

"They aren't just powerful, anyone that has ownership of a rank 6 mana vein has the potential to become an emperor. Of all the rank S mana veins in Lithuania, humans own 12 of them. The Devos family owns 6, that is why they are the rulers of this continent. The Great 6 provinces own one of the remaining 6 each.

"The Von Lotus province is one of the Great 6. The White Lotus Academy is the number one Academy on the continent. Because It's the only place on the continent where one could gain access to such highly concentrated mana without a signing a soul contract," never in his life had Saxon thought he would stumble on such an opportunity and be forced to walk away from it.

"We should get going then, if this place will start attracting energy beasts soon it's best that we are not here when they show up to claim this place," Xasha got up but stopped in his tracks.

"Wait, my strength, I've already leveled up to the silver realm while I was asleep." Xasha checked his body condition. New unenergized cells were in his body and a new silver energy crystal rested in his energy sea.

"Wait. Dad, I can see it, I can see my cells and my energy sea," Xasha was shocked. He looked up at his father and became even more shocked, "Energy particles, Dad, I can see energy particles."

Saxon grabbed his son's shoulder, "calm down kid, what do you mean you can see energy particles? How is that possible?"

"I don't know, I can see them now. I think it's my Truth Eyes, I think they evolved," Xasha calmed down and started thinking up theories. He began observing the energy particles in the air.

"Let's go, your mom is at home waiting," Saxon still had disappointment in his eyes.

"What happened to the wind spirit and the Black Rhino calves?"

Saxon took a black energy core the size of a fist from his storage pack and handed it to his son, "this is all that's left of the wind spirit. As for the calves, most of them escaped. I was too weak to hunt them down and protect you while you recovered, so I chose you. I still recaptured 13 of them."

"That's alright, let's just get out of here, it's a shame about this place but - wait before a few days ago that wind spirit was only at the platinum realm how could it have held on to this place with such little strength?"

"It concealed the energy here somehow, I didn't even sense it until the thing was already dead," Saxon's mood was bad.

"Can't we do something similar? Don't you have something that can conceal energies?" Xasha also thought it would be a waste to just leave this place.

"I have a concealment orb, but it's not powerful enough to hide this much energy, it really is a shame. In a perfect world, we could hide this place for a few years until one of your offsprings can use it as a foundation to build a powerful province."

"I had no idea you had such ambition, dad. If that was the case why didn't you found your own province instead of signing a soul contract to the Devos Family?"

"You are naïve kid, one doesn't just start a province because one wants to. I was just some orphaned kid with no connections or background to speak of. No one would follow me and I couldn't fight for resources by myself, I realized that I couldn't achieve my ambition with the cards I had been dealt.

"I joined the strongest powerhouse on the continent. I wanted to get strong using the resources they had and pass the torch to the next generation. Then I would be their backup. For this, I've worked hard. I had not told you because you have already chosen a different path."

"Guess I really turned out to be a disappointment, huh?" Xasha gave a dry laugh. He made a joke that wasn't a joke.

"Far from it, you're the best son anyone can ask for. You may not be a combat mage but you are a genius, I know you will change this world. You are only 16, yet the compression technique you created has already increased the power of my attacks by 4-5 times.

"Having you as a son will only help my ambition and not hurt it. All you need to do now is give me lots of grandkids. At least one of those bastards will have some political ambition," Saxon burst out laughing at his own joke.

"You need not wait, I'll take the torch," Xasha said with confidence.

"Focus on your own ambitions kid, no need to forgo yours to see mine through."

"I wouldn't do that, your dream and mine work in tandem. Founding a province means I will have endless Libras to fund research and I will have a powerful military to protect me and my family."

Xasha looked into his father's eyes and said, "I promise that in a few years I will come back and found the Von Creig province right here on this spot." His voice was solemn to show he meant his worlds.

"Kid, but. I believe in you kid." Saxon was happy. After seeing the look in his son's eyes, he knew he was determined.

"Thank you dad, now give me that orb. I will study it and see what improvements I can make. It will take some time, so protect me for a while."

"Will do.”