<842 – Soul Pact (3)>
The students, discouraged and resigned to their fate, surrendered to the Fried Chicken Family’s devious torture from the Foundation Professors.
Choosing to find solace in the mere existence of the escape point, they began practicing Binding Magic.
The magic that binds the earth to oneself required advanced mana techniques to connect Nature Mana to one’s body as if they were one entity.
This was a different kind of training than simply casting complex spells or using powerful magic.
It required the ability to coax and soothe the ever-changing Nature Mana, taking it as one’s own.
Hehe. Easy pickings!
If they had some bizarre hidden class, they would have struggled immensely while trying to control Mana of different attributes that didn’t coincide with their classes.
But the “Magic Swordsman” class was a versatile standard occupation that walked both the paths of a magician and a swordsman!
You like this, don’t you?
With a surplus of Dark Mana inside, they stealthily pulled out the attribute mana stored here and there.
If there was no reaction, they passed.
If there was a reaction, they infused.
Even with Nature Mana of the same attribute, the desired mana varied according to its character. The mana that disliked being stuck underground preferred fiery mana, wanting nothing more than a comfortable bed-like mana to lounge around for eternity.
Mana manipulation meant quickly and intuitively understanding the characteristics of mana and soothing them.
When this mana manipulation is executed properly, the Nature Mana shows high loyalty, indistinguishable from the bio-mana within one’s body, obeying commands.
The speed of spell casting, the potency of magic, and any sloppiness in spell formulas would all be covered.
The reason magic casting is tough is that the commands are annoyingly hard and tedious, yet nothing gets done!
Veteran players were different.
Understanding the characteristics and principles of mana, when they arrived in unknown lands, the first thing they did was communicate with Nature and cater to its needs.
Seeing Rosgini commit an atrocity by scorching mana that cried out to be rained upon, she wreaked havoc on the structure of spells and rampaged the Nature Mana, it became clear how important communication was.
If such incidents occur, then one must inscribe the spells meticulously and skillfully suppress the chaos; otherwise, the magic wouldn’t activate properly.
Although Rosgini lacked communication, she had creativity to compensate.
Realizing the Nature Mana was acting up, she overlaid the paths of the furious Nature Mana with the trajectories of the spells to induce a rise in spell-casting speed.
It was a victory of the art of free application and manipulation.
But communicating cleverly like me means the mana will listen well and assist on its own, without needing to command or order them around in the first place.
Understanding the principles causes the features of [Auto] and [Leader] to grow rapidly with just spell-casting.
However, the dimension of this Deadly Realm chosen by the professors indeed constituted a harsh training ground.
The hopes of Nature Mana, in comparison to the Middle Realm, were quite dire.
-Does not respond to commands weaker than the Boss’s signals.
-Come back stronger than our boss.
-Brother, some mana just rolled in here and keeps sending signals.
Mana tends to exhibit independent traits, but if a mana with a particularly strong nature exists, the nearby mana will tend to obey it.
Pure 99.9% Nature Mana, innocently mixed with the drops of sweat shed by a High Elf from the great outdoors.
Gigantic 99.9% Giant Mana, mixed with shed skin flakes from a colossal monster scratching itself.
Malicious 99.9% Dark Mana that leaked out while digging the ground and building hideouts—wanted internationally.
Such unusually strong mana, not commonly found in the environment, attracted assaults from the surrounding mana.
Some mana would perish from the attacks, while others would withstand the assault and turn the tables, beating and subduing the nearby mana.
Boss Mana is the mana that has subdued and ruled over the surroundings.
Naturally, their stubbornness is deeply entrenched.
There were plenty of such boss-level mana here.
-I want to drink blood.
-Stop the unending wind.
-Send me to another dimension.
-Inflict self-harm.
-I love strong teams. Become stronger than the wind.
Blood Magic. Stopping a supermassive storm. Dimensional Magic. Sacrificial Offerings. Becoming a strong team that satisfies strong team fans.
The demands of the Boss Mana were all unsettling conditions.
What was needed in such instances was a possession of diverse abilities.
A variety of magic.
Essentially, various high versatility countermeasures.
-Mosquito blood? I don’t know what that is, but give it to me anyway. What is this? It’s too little. Isn’t even enough to tickle my liver. What? If I behave, you’ll give me more? Well, I guess… I’ll help just a little.
-Backpack… The mana here is so quiet and serene. If you can send me back to that calm place, I’ll do anything…
Most things get handled by items at hand!
Unlike me who smoothly subdues the Boss Mana, way over there, Irene is like a dark trainer thumping a disobedient brat into the depths of the earth, freezing and unfreezing them again and again.
Not listening?
I’ll freeze you.
Still not willing to listen?
I’ll freeze you.
Now you’re pondering whether to listen or not?
I’ll freeze you.
I’ll listen! Please spare me?
Not needed, I’ll freeze you.
Indeed, it was a sound judgment from someone who had ascended to the fourth level of their domain.
It was a merciless approach to firmly shatter the spirit of the Boss Mana pretending to comply.
Though it took time, it effectively bent the mana to her will, in true Northern Grand Duchess style of mana control.
“How do you perform that control technique?”
“Those dirty, sneaky magicians.”
“Professor, what are you doing to us martial artists? This is just too much.”
As the magicians experienced trial and error in their own ways, the martial arts students who were weak against or didn’t know magic expressed their unfairness.
“I believe the professors ought to pass down secrets for us!”
“Right!”
“Demonstrate it!”
Spotting the angry protesters, I released the control technique and rushed over, standing at a corner to raise a hand and follow along with their chants.
“Open the upper-tier martial arts techniques!”
“Open it!”
“Teach us body techniques!”
“Teach us!”
While fervently protesting, suddenly, Son Ohchun noted my voice and looked shocked.
“Rat, why are you here?”
“Huh? Why? What about you, Son Ohchun?”
“I don’t know. They said the Foundation’s assessment criteria for growth level have been added, so I’m forced to take classes.”
With an utterly aggrieved face, Son Ohchun began to come to his senses.
“But you’re a magician. Why are you here?”
“Why do you think I’m a magician?”
“Aren’t you a master of summoning magic? You originally knew magic well.”
“I’m a Magic Swordsman, you know?”
“Hahaha! You’re not bad at lying either. Did you learn that from Professor Bronze? What magician summons the Avatar of the Outsider in bulk?”
Aw, but it’s true…
“It’s fine. The Agassi has expertise even in martial arts.”
“Ack! The Butler of the Foundation… Are you going to take revenge on me for bothering your leader?”
“My name is Jid Burger. I am a fallen noble from the Empire, the former head of the royal knight order of a small country near the Cheonryeong Mountain Range, a spy for the Foundation, and also a professor of the Knight Department who teaches you about [Everything of the Body].”
At the mention of the impressive credentials of Professor Jid Burger, Son Ohchun was greatly surprised.
“The Burger family barely avoided rising to the Three Great Traitor Families, but isn’t it a scandalously infamous family?”
“Whoa, Son Ohchun Uncle, you know that?”
“How could you not? Isn’t that the family that insisted anything between bread is a burger, even included other families’ signature dishes, swallowed up nine baron families, and ended up getting into a war over chicken burgers with the Fried Chicken Family before being ousted?”
Oh, so there was such a setting!
I’ve gained knowledge!
“In any case, since you desired it so much, I shall pass down a technique equal to Binding Magic. Martial artists often cannot exercise various influences over others or the surrounding nature as a magician might. They primarily focus on self-cultivation and growth.”
“If the magical mindset is about ‘What can others do for me?’, then the Knight Department thinks, ‘What can I do for others?’”
If there were disobedient students, the magic department’s approach would be to make them endure blizzards until they listened or cast illusions that progressively made the professor appear larger to naturally quiet them.
If they didn’t listen, it would be a dilemma of whether to break their legs, slam their heads with the attendance book, or strike the solar plexus; that is the Knight Department’s way.
“In summary, if the earth unfolds a powerful technique that cannot rebel against us, we can achieve a similar effect to the Binding Technique.”
“How do you do that?”
Professor Jid Burger kindly showed an example to the confused students.
He lifted one foot high and slammed it down into the ground hard, performing a simple yet primitive method.
The ground, unable to withstand immense physical force and internal energy, shattered, and the terrain sank where his foot landed while the surrounding ground soared high, creating a natural fortification as if casting the [Wall Creation] spell.
“Just like this.”
The students who had been raising their voices of protest became completely dumbfounded, staring alternately at the wall that soared high and their own feet.
So, by stomping the ground, this could happen? How?? Their eyes reflected a mix of shock, horror, and confusion.
Why can’t they do it?
“You can just do this!”
[Heavenly Weight Drop]
[Piercing]
[Mana Control Technique]
Naturally channeling internal energy, and using Mana Control Technique to guide it, the ground around my foot rose.
While smaller than the professor’s, a sufficiently sized wall to protect me was completed.
“Why can he do that?”
“This is cheating.”
Furious voices arose, and Son Ohchun snapped back.
“Our Rat has already suffered through an entire lifetime of abuse at the Foundation!”
“This isn’t cheating…”
Suddenly, sympathetic gazes fell upon me from the surroundings.
