Mana Space

The man with a thick moustache had a deep frown on his face as he looked at the data on the transparent screen in front of him. He did not need Gen. Lucas to explain it in detail.

"No matter what, it wasn't something that a puny director of a stronghold could do. Unless…"

"Unless one of the directors of the Federation or…" Gen. Lucas wanted to complete the sentence of the man with the thick moustache, but didn't dare to say, 'one from the councilman had sanctioned it.'

"What do you want to do?" The man could guess the reason why Gen. Lucas came directly to meet him, but thinking about the character of Gen. Lucas, he knew very well that he wouldn't come empty-handed.

"Director, do you remember the missions marked with '?'?"

The director, the thick moustache man, wasn't the director of a stronghold, rather was one of the nine directors of the Federation. The Director of Military Affairs.

He knew very well what Gen. Lucas was intending to say. He hid his little excitement behind his straight face and asked, "Was he the one?"

The data in front of the screen changed again, so did the expression of the director. "Hooo! He could find and explore a mana crystal mine."

"Not only that, director. He also explored the chaos ore mine, had the highest number of Fauna database entries, and even killed a few B-grade beasts." Gen. Lucas didn't hesitate to put up the list, "He was the one who rescued not just his team but also the older operatives."

"He can no longer cultivate magic."

"Huh!" One sentence from the director dampened all of his excitement. Even if he understood his words, Gen. Lucas could not understand the context.

"It was in the report submitted by the captain," the Director sighed and said, "that girl had reported that the boy had lost his ability to cultivate after reaching Earth."

'Why did Aiden hide such important information from me?' Gen. Lucas cursed in his heart while trying to find a suitable reason to explain. However, to his surprise, the Director was smiling at him.

"That is a good thing." The director kept knocking on the virtual table in rhythm as his curved lips peeked out his moustache. "To think he could overpower the Grade B beast without magic…"

'That's right.' A smile crept on Lucas' lip as he said, "He must be stronger than those other operatives."

The director nodded, adding, "It must be something to do with this." The director pointed at the transparent screen in front of him.

The screen wasn't aimed at him, but Gen. Lucas could see the point from behind. He sucked a lung full of cold air and said, "Do you mean to say that he could cultivate using the techniques of local habitat?"

"Maybe," the director didn't sound too confident, "He had completed the mission too. But only he knows the truth." His brows knotted a little as he continued, "But if it's true then…"

Gen. Lucas understood what the director was intending to say, but failed to realize the problem with it. He couldn't stop himself from asking, "Isn't that the excellent thing?"

The moustache man shook his head and said, "That boy was someone who survived an incurable disease and now successfully cultivating an Earthen mana cultivation technique. Do you think the director of R&D will let him go?"

'It makes sense, but...' Yet, Gen. Lucas smiled and said, "As you know that every operative has to sign a contract before the military training starts, so…" his smile grew bigger as the screen in front of the director flickered, "He is part of my force…"

"Then even if he had done something wrong, the military will be responsible for that." The director completed Gen. Lucas' sentence.

"And that is not it. He has completed three special ranking missions with +4 authority, so he will be a one-star general as soon as he comes back."

"That is good." The smile on the director's face grew bigger, as he said, "As a punishment, we could just demote him."

'Even if he had worked so hard, it looks like he won't be enjoying the fruit of his labour.' Gen. Lucas' sigh didn't miss the eye of the director.

"That might be the only way. To begin with, we have no idea whether it was a director or a councilman, and if it was a councilman, then even this might not work."

Thinking about it, the Director could only sigh, and said, "If the council wants it, we might have to hand him over, even if he is a part of the military. They might want to hold on to him and do some experiment on him."

"We can't let them do it." Even if he was in front of one of the directors, Gen. Lucas failed to control his temper, "it wasn't his fault, to begin with. What could he have done? Just accept his fate and become a mana crystal?"

His tone made the director frown, but he didn't stop Lucas. "It might be right that he had killed one of them, but that was an act of defence. "

"That might not be the case." The director shook his head, "the experiment was conducted by the 3rd desert base. And if he wanted to kill, he was supposed to kill the girl. But…"

It was a question that Lucas couldn't answer, nor could he understand the reason behind it.

"Just ask him and let me know," sighed the director. To begin with, he had no intention of putting his nose into such a sticky matter. Even if the mana crystal harvest was illegal on the surface...

'I don't want to get involved in this. It is not a good idea to go against the council.' The director sighed in his heart.

But looking at the man in front of him, he couldn't help it. General Lucas, one of the three five-star generals of the Federation, supreme commander of one of three armies of the Federation. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't just ignore him. After all, the election is just around the corner.

"Director," Lucas stood in front of the door, as he said, "I think someone is stopping him from contacting his family, can you look into it?"

"Huh!" it surprised him for a moment, but when he nodded, Lucas left the virtual meeting room.

"Can it be that it is the work of a councilman? If it is one from the council..." As the director asked, no one could answer him. After a few moments, his body faded out of the room.

*********

Aiden, on the other hand, did not have the strength to receive a call from Gen. Lucas. He was inside the healing pod, as his body sweating continuously, and the blood was leaking out of his nose.

It was clear from his expression that he was in pain. Yet, he gritted his teeth and concentrated on the voice in his mind.

"Don't lose your focus." Mraz's voice continued to resonate in his mind, "You need to complete the circulation of mana. Just a little more..."

'More!?' Aiden frowned in his heart. 'Why don't you just say you want to kill me?'

"Concentrate. Don't let your mind waver. You know you can do it"

Aiden concentrated on channelling the mana through his mana channel as the pain in his body continued to grow. Whether it was the muscles or the inner organs, no matter what the mana touches, it went numb. He felt thousands of fire ants had bitten that each of his bones.

And if that wasn't enough, the direction of the flow differed from that of his wind mana cultivation technique. As the mana was flowing in the opposite direction, he felt that the mana was peeling off the layers of the mana channel slowly.

Even if the healing pod continued to heal his body, it didn't lessen the pain one bit. 'It is just my imagination…' Aiden knew it. Still, it didn't reduce the pain.

"What the hell are you doing? Would you like to die? Concentrate." Mraz shouted in his mind, "Lead the mana towards your heart."

Aiden did as he was told, and the pain continued to grow. The voice in his mind, however, did not stop explaining.

"It's painful, I know. This is the first time. Once you tear up all the resistance and connect your heart to the mana stone…"

As the voice continued to sound in his mind, the darkness in front of him started to clear up. Aiden had no idea that blood was seeping out from the skin, nor did he have time. He continued to channel cold mana through his numb body.

And the pain vanished right after it reached the peak as if there was no pain, to begin with. He stood in the darkness. However, something was different. He could see an area of about five meters around him.

'What is that? Is that a pillar?' Aiden wasn't sure of the origin of the great pillar, which was not too far away from him.

'It's ice.' As he touched the pale blue pillar, a chill penetrated his skin, but it vanished in the next moment.

What remained was a sense of warmth and bliss as the mana coursed through his body. However, it surprised Aiden more.

"It's an Obelisk. The source of your mana." The body of Mraz formed on his shoulder as he said, "And this space is what we call 'Mana Space'."