Chapter 110 - Exanite

Rynold stared at the small, golden ball that was in the palm of his hand.

While in the presence of the supposed Anti-Mana Source, Rynold was conflicted. Granted, summoning the Spirit for a few minutes shouldn't prove to be that much of a problem.

The problem that Rynold had was what would come after that.

It wouldn't be a stretch for him to assume that something would go wrong. The Spirit of Fire never really seemed to be open when it comes to disclosing its origins. All Rynold knew was that Prominence Alpha was willing to help him out.

That being said, Rynold felt that there were too many unanswered questions. Questions in which Rynold thought was too big to be left unanswered.

In spite of that, though, Rynold seemed to be able to measure the risk of summoning the Spirit here and now. Since the Anti-Mana Source limited his ability to control his Mana Flow, a Spirit made entirely out of Mana would have a harder time.

With a deep breath, Rynold held his thoughts back as he activated the sphere. Infusing a little drop of Mana into the summoning tool, he held his breath with hope that everything would turn out alright.

"AHAHA! Finally! A fight!"

The Spirit's voice echoed from within Rynold's head with a loud volume. If the Spirit had actually said something like that aloud, Rynold's ears would practically be bleeding.

"Calm down, would you?" Rynold said as he rubbed his forehead in a very bothered manner. "We aren't in a fight. There is literally nothing here. Except for that."

Rynold pointed at the purple light that was coming from a hole in the ground. He didn't have to provide any other information for Prominence Alpha to take an ethereal step back.

"Why is that demon stone here?!" the Spirit of Fire reacted in a very surprised manner. It clearly didn't have a good time standing around that thing.

"I need an explanation," Rynold got straight to that point, "I'm sure it's unbearable for you to be around that thing, so let's get on with it."

Prominence Alpha stared directly at Rynold who had a serious look on his face. Clearly, this wasn't the time to joke around, nor was it the time to fight.

"It's not unbearable," the Spirit of Fire started to explain, "That thing isn't something that is easily trifled with. It disrupts Mana Flow in most creatures, making them restless and tired. But, since I'm a Spirit, I'm unaffected by its presence."

"Then, what is it exactly?" Rynold pushed on, "I didn't call you here just to say things that I already know."

The Spirit of Fire nodded before moving his gaze towards the purple light.

"It's an ore called Exanite," the Spirit of Fire's serious voice echoed within Rynold's head as it started to explain. "Centuries ago, the damn thing was banned in almost every nation, only ever really seen in black markets and shady businesses.

"Because of its properties to disrupt the flow of Mana, any sort of Mana User would stay away from that damned thing. Since Mana was considered the natural order of things, Exanite was the exact opposite of that. So, you'd be able to imagine what sort of trouble you'd get into just by holding it in your hand."

"Okay. That's great and all," Rynold said as he watched Prominence Alpha move towards the purple light. "But, isn't there a way to negate or at least dampen its properties?"

"Hmm...," the Spirit of Fire let out a low hum as it stared at the purple stone inside the hole, "It appears that this particular Exanite is just a small piece. It takes a Mana User of a higher caliber to hold onto a bigger piece of Exanite. Something as small as this one shouldn't be a problem for you."

"You say that but I can't seem to get any nearer to it than I am now," Rynold responded without reservation, "Otherwise, I'd just get my Mana Channels burnt off."

"Interesting," Prominence Alpha raised his hand to his chin, thinking. "Perhaps under years of being buried in such a place has introduced a different property to it. I suggest you-"

Before Prominence Alpha could finish the sentence, Rynold looked up and raised his left hand high. It was clear that Rynold had anticipated something for him to be on guard like that.

Wary of an enemy approaching near, Prominence Alpha started to do the same, reading himself for battle.

"Stay here and figure out a way for me to get that thing out of here. I'll be back after I deal with this nonsense," Rynold shot out his grapple through the tunnel and latched it to the ceiling of his cage.

Reeling himself up, Rynold readied himself for a rather inconvenient interaction that he'd much rather not deal with. Nonetheless, he must.

Since Axiom was relaying information to him all this time, Rynold was able to be warned beforehand of the presence that was near his room. A presence that he could only be described as a pain in his ass.

Rynold ordered Axiom to stay where it was as to not attract any attention to himself. There was no way he would disclose such crucial Magic to the person that was utterly clueless and could only think of themselves.

"What do you want, Princess?" Standing just a few inches from the door, Rynold blocked the view of the tunnel that he had dug out.

As the door opened up, Lissa was immediately thrown off guard by Rynold's face appearing from inside. It was clearly unexpected considering that she didn't tell Rynold that she was dropping by.

"N-nothing!" she said, awkwardly.

"Then," Rynold said as he narrowed his eyes and stared, "With all due respect, please kindly fuck the hell off."

Lissa audibly gasped at Rynold's offensive and vulgar words. But, seeing his eyes narrow down on her indicated that he wasn't kidding around.

"How dare you speak to someone of royal blood like that!" Lissa retorted with a somewhat shaking confidence. "I shall have you executed for offending me!"

Rynold sighed in defeat. He truly didn't want to deal with any of this nonsense right now, and at a crucial time too.

"So, I ask again. What the hell do you want?" Rynold's voice audibly got angrier as he started to run low on patience, "So far, you've come here just to be offended by me and threaten to have me executed. Do you really have nothing else to do in your free time?"

"We- Well...," Lissa answered, still clearly hesitant.

Sighing once more, Rynold was tempted to just close the door. It was clear that he didn't want to have anything to do with the Princess and would do anything just to get away from her.

Case in point, Rynold could actually leave his cage right now but chose not to. He'd rather much be alone in his cell than be out with Lissa. Well, that and the fact that he needed to grab the Exanite down at the cave.

"Seriously? Nothing?" Rynold waited for a couple more seconds before actually responding. He has had enough of the whole waiting game when it looked like nothing important would come out of Lissa's mouth. Considering her status in the castle and her lack of responsibilities, Rynold thought that it was a fair assumption.

"Stop pressuring me!" Lissa suddenly shouted, "You can't keep pressuring a lady to speak to someone beneath her, you know. There is a gap between our social classes that cannot be skipped past with ease."

Rynold stared at Lissa with an even more menacing gaze than before. If there was no clear goal to this conversation, then what's the point of her visit?

"Alright," Rynold's tone was close to exploding. "How about you come back some other time when you actually know what you're gonna say? Don't be stupid coming here with a weird sense of pride that is pointless when you have no fucking clue what you're doing."

With that said, Rynold reached out and tapped on the panel beside the door. It was outside the cage, but he knew exactly what he was doing. A few clicks and taps later, the door slowly closed between them.

Rynold sighed and shook his head as the figure of the young girl was slowly fading from his point of view. He waited until Lissa couldn't see in his cage anymore before turning around and headed towards the tunnel that he had dug.

However, before he could take a single step forward, someone hugged him from behind.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? You know you can't get out once you're in here, right?" Rynold asked as he stared at the hands that were around his waist.

Forcing Lissa's hands to let go of him, Rynold turned around and looked at the back of the girl's head. She was clearly upset as she stared at the ground, not daring to match Rynold's gaze.