"Your Majesty, the knight and mage you sent to Nille failed to complete the mission," a messenger reported, his head lowered, body trembling slightly.

Avaro responded calmly, "Where are they?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty: the knight's headless body was found outside the city. There was no sign of the mage, but from the traces left behind, it appears they fought before a winner was decided."

Nice way to say she tried but failed, Avaro thought, his hand clenching into a fist.

"Summon Rollyet."

///////

Hundreds of kilometers from Nille, outside a cave in a forest far from any town or city...

"Okay, we can start. I doubt we'll be interrupted here," Nova said, glancing at Melissa, who sat against the wall.

At those words, Letto, standing on the other side, flinched.

Is he a beast? Right in front of me? I need to get out.

Letto cleared his throat and said, "Sir, I'll give you some privacy and wait outside. Call me if you need anything."

"Sure, sure. Go ahead," Nova replied, waving his hand dismissively without sparing him a glance.

Crouching a meter away from the mage, he said, "Come on, teach me your magic."

Melissa's expression shifted rapidly. Although she had agreed earlier, that had only been due to the circumstances. Now that she was relatively "safe," she began to entertain thoughts of stringing Nova along, buying time until she could finally escape.

That was when she felt a finger press against her forehead. Tracing the hand upward, she saw Nova's smiling face.

Flustered, she shouted, "What are you trying to do?!"

"Just a little reminder not to mess around," he said lightly.

His finger glowed briefly before returning to normal, but that instant was enough to send Melissa's body into violent convulsions. She collapsed to the floor, writhing from the pain with no way to scream.

When the electric shock finally faded, she gasped for breath, struggling to regain control of her body.

"Y-You…" she said.

Nova watched her reaction and shook his head. "Don't be so melodramatic. It was just a little zap."

When Melissa could finally breathe properly, she stared at Nova, gnashing her teeth.

"Why do you want me to teach you magic when you already know about it?"

"Isn't that obvious? If I'm asking you to teach me, it's because I want to learn what you know. Did I fry your brain by mistake?" Nova wondered aloud.

'I did zap her on the forehead... something might've gone wrong,' he thought.

"YOU—"

Nova raised his finger once more, and Melissa instantly froze.

"Wait, wait!"

She closed her eyes for a few moments to calm herself. When she finally opened them, she said, "Where do you want me to start?"

"From the beginning, of course. Treat me like a kid who just felt Mana for the first time," he said. When Nova first came to this civilization, he chose to become a knight thinking mages had less to teach him but, now he knew, he couldn't have been more wrong.

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Mages had as much to teach him as knights, if not more.

A kid wouldn't threaten me using that very same Mana while asking me to teach him, though, she thought. She wasn't the type to curse but, Nova made her want to give in to those barbaric ways.

Outwardly nodding, she began, "After someone comes into contact with Mana, they gradually develop an affinity for one or more elements."

"The next step, once their elemental affinity is known, is to create a core based on that affinity."

"Is that a different core from the Mana Core?" Nova asked.

She nodded and continued, "Yes. It's a core whose only purpose is to house the element you have an affinity with. Once you form—"

"Wait a moment," Nova interrupted. "What's the benefit of this core?"

"Benefit?" she echoed, then added, "Didn't I already say it? It houses your elemental affinity."

Seeing Nova's confused expression, she explained more slowly, "The core will generate that particular Mana element. So, if the core is efficient enough, you will never run out of Mana and can cast spells of that element without worry."

"No way," Nova muttered.

Thinking he still didn't believe her, Melissa snorted. "You'll find out whether I'm telling the truth or not once you're done condensing your elemental core."

Although she spoke, Nova didn't hear a word of it.

'Incredible. This civilization found a way to go beyond the second Mana manipulation method and stopped relying on the environment. Whoever was the one to come up with this method can only be called genius, a one in a civilization type of genius.'

His early excitement soon turned into a frown as he delved deeper into his thoughts.

'I can't tell why, maybe it's just a hunch, but the first method still seems superior to the rest. Housing and generating elemental Mana sounds impressive, but can it really compare to understanding each and every element and converting base Mana into any of them at will?'

Thinking back to the first method, his expression changed slightly into one of disappointment. 'How sad... I've been studying the first method for more than two years and still haven't understood anything. Is my talent not enough or is it just that hard?' He wondered but soon shook his head, not wanting to dwell on it anymore. Instead, he focused back on the topic at hand.

'Still, I shouldn't disregard these elemental cores. They're a huge improvement over what I can currently use.'

Eager to try, he asked, "How do I form an elemental core?"

Want to try? Ha! It took me three months to form my wind core and I can be considered a genius of my generation. He'll probably take years if he can even do it. Melissa smirked.

"That's very easy. The first step is to gather elemental Mana and form a rudimentary core next to the Mana Core you already have. Then, that elemental core has to be condensed and tempered until it's as strong as your main core."

"The more you temper it, the stronger your element will be. But you don't need to focus entirely on how many times you temper your core. What matters most is how thoroughly you do it," she said, pointing a finger at herself before continuing,

"I tempered my wind core seven times. That makes me one of the few Rank 7 mages in the kingdom."

Surprised? Shocked? Awed? Bet you didn't know how strong I truly am until now, she thought in glee.

If other Rank 7 mages saw her boasting to a nameless young man just to feel good about herself, they would probably cross her name out of every history book.

Mages were nobles, respected by all. They weren't supposed to act lowly like peasants.

But the reaction she expected from Nova never came.

He was too busy mentally going over the process of forming an elemental core.

'Gather Mana particles of an element to condense an elemental core. Temper it as thoroughly as possible, as many times as possible. When everything is done, I'll be able to generate elemental Mana on my own. And, if I take what she said as true, the elemental Mana I'll have access to will be stronger than now.'

Nova snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Melissa.

"I need some time to form my elemental core. Stand guard here."

Without waiting for a reply, he stepped toward the cave but soon halted and walked back to Melissa, who was watching him with a strange gaze.

"I forgot that we just met and you aren't as loyal as Letto, so…"

He pointed a finger at her chest and sent lightning Mana particles inside her, the same way he previously did to Jovar, the bandit leader.

Melissa felt a momentary strange stirring of Mana inside her but couldn't pinpoint what had changed, since the lightning had already settled in her heart. Knowing something had surely happened, but unable to identify what, frightened her.

"W-What did you do to me?"

Nova shrugged and, as he walked inside the cave, lightly said, "I'm making sure you stay here and guard me. Stay within 100 meters, if you don't, I doubt you'll ever see the light of day again."

After he finished speaking and was already deep inside the cave, a chuckle echoed through, reaching Melissa's ears, making her shudder.

100 meters? Did he poison me? But how? she thought, hastily checking her body for any sign of injury or a trace of blood.

But even after a thorough search, she couldn't find a single drop.

Wait. I can ask that servant he brings around. He might know something.

Disheveled, she stepped out of the cave and found Letto sitting under a tree about a dozen meters away, staring at the leaves in what could be considered the most peaceful moment he'd had since he was kidnapped by Nova.

Melissa rushed to him and said, "You! What did that young man do to me? I felt something enter me, but then it disappeared as if it was never there. Do you know what he might've done? Tell me!"

Letto looked her up and down and muttered, "Is he that good?"

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