Chapter 40 – Day 22 Friday, third week

I couldn't sleep that night.

I couldn't help but think about Darius and his fever.

I know I shouldn't worry too much, after all, Elliot said he was doing much better when they parted, but I just couldn't stop myself from worrying. I was missing him, since we've been sharing the same bed for the past week. It was as if I'm no longer used to not having him by my side.

"You still up, Pat?" I heard Elliot call from his bed by the door.

"Yeah, I'm still reading." I raised the tome I was holding for him to see. "I plan to finish this tonight."

"I can't sleep..." Elliot said with a sigh. "I'm feeling peckish since I only had one bowl of stew during dinner. I hope they get the ovens fixed soon..."

I heard his stomach grumble from where I lay, even with the empty bed between us.

"I think Cat still has some snacks on his table..."

I look at the messy table between Cat's bed and mine and was able to find a couple of caramel bars in one of his drawers. I took one of them and handed it to Elliot.

"I hope that helps, at least until breakfast tomorrow."

"I hope so too," he replied as he popped the whole thing in his mouth. "I better sleep before I get even hungrier."

Later, I heard Elliot snoring softly, yet sleep still refused to come. I kept reading until I heard the clock tower struck six times, and decided to go visit Senior Ethan instead.

"I'm sure Darius wouldn't mind since he isn't here anyway," I told myself as I left our room. "I won't be leaving his side, thus, I won't be breaking my promise either."

And so, I made my way to the 5th floor baths with the usual inconspicuous spell. Senior Ethan was already soaking in the pool when I got there, and he frowned at me as soon as I showed myself.

"Where have you been these past three days?" he snapped at me. "Don't tell me you've been so busy reading books that you didn't have time to meet me anymore?!"

"I-I'm sorry, Senior Ethan," I apologized with my head hung low, "it is true that I have been busy reading the tomes lately, but that's not the reason why I couldn't meet you, I'm really sorry for being away for so long..."

"Hmph, I thought you didn't want to meet anymore, after finding out who I really am," he mumbled with a pout.

"Of course, not, Senior," I appeasedhim, "I was just really busy, in fact, I am very grateful for the pouch you lent me the other day..."

"Oh, that pouch?" he said with a smug grin. "You can keep it, where else could you hide the stuff we 'borrowed' from the library?"

"I can?" I thought of how much the pouch was worth and asked him again. "Can I really keep such a precious artifact?"

"Don't worry, it's just a replica anyway," he said dismissively. "So, what have you learned from the tomes so far? Still workingon that 'perpetual mana siphoning spell' you wanted?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I'm already formulating one," I said with a smile. "I am currently working on a literal mana siphoning spell that would continuously gather mana from my surroundings as I breath, much like in breathing exercises, but without the idle,focused concentration needed during meditation."

"What a lazy bum," he said flatly, "so you planto suck mana from the surroundingwhile you're busy doingother stuff like a greedy glutton? Doyou plan to committhreedeadly sins in one go?"

I couldn't help but laughat his remark.

"But it's the best way to hasten the creation of a new mana core, I mean, I can't just spend days meditating in an adequate area close to nature to accumulate the mana I need..."

"If you ask me, it's just a catastrophe waiting to happen!" Senior Ethan interjected. "Do you have any idea what a mana overload is and what it can do?"

"It is when a person accumulates mana too fast. It can cause yourcore to break, or worst, make the magician and their surrounding suffer in a magic backlash."

"Exactly. Your magic will blow out of control. Worst case, your heart mighteven burst along with it due to the rampaging mana, causing instant death," he went on. "The last known case of mana overload happened fourdecades ago, when a 4th circle archmage forced mana into his core to advance to the 5th circle. He used an ancient forbidden spell that made use of demonic cores, but the cores in his own body couldn't keep up with the amount of mana that flowed into him."

"W-what happened to him, then?"

"His element was water, thus, the top of the tower he was occupying burst out like a geyser, and flooded his land. It's now known as the Mossy Tower that sits in the middle ofthe BloodSwamp in the eastern kingdom. The mana in the area dried up, killing all the living organisms in a 30 meter radius. The area is uninhabitable to this day."

I was lost for words.

"So, what did you have in mind again?" Senior Ethan asked with a frown when I remained silent.

"I-I was actually creatinga similar spell..."

Senior Ethan's frown got deeper.

"B-but mine wouldn't just absorb in mana indiscriminately!" I quickly added.

"And what do you mean by that?"

"In the spell I'm formulating, the castercan choose the mana source, as well as how much to absorb at a given time frame... for example, from the plants in a vicinity, or animals in a farm... just a small amount that wouldn't harm them, for say, 5 to 10 minutes...?"

"And you think that would be enough to feed a perpetual mana sucking spell?" a brow raised questioningly.

"Well, since mana is being replenished naturally, then getting a little from several organisms at a time would stillaccumulate a lot of mana in the long run. Also, I would be able to calibrate it and turniton or off at any time with a simple chanted spell."

"Hmm... so you plan to use it in an area that has enough mana source, huh?"

"That's right, senior, it wouldn't be good to suffer from mana depletion after all, not to mention, mana autophagy."

"Then why not just absorb mana out of the people around you?"

"I-I could never do such a thing to other people!" I gasped in horror.

"So, it's okay so suck it out from plants and livestock, but not from humans?" he asked flatly. "Let's get real here, humans are a readily available and abundant source of mana. They won't notice anyway if it's just a little from each. And you said ityourself, that you can choose the target?"

"Well... yes, but that would be unethical!"

"You do know that mana from humans make up a big percentage of the mana in the air around us, do you? Particularly in densely populated areas, such as this dormitory?" Senior Ethan gave a snort. "Using them as a mana source for your spell would just decrease the amount of'human mana'wewould naturally absorb from the air when we do breathing exercises during meditation."

"T-that may be so, but..." I paused for a while to think. "Wait a minute, senior, aren't you against my spell?"

"I was. But it's proving to be quite interesting..." he replied with a thoughtful look in his face. "If we can adjust the amount of mana flow and guard the core to prevent a mana overload, the mana burst should be just enough to initiate a manifestation... we can even add a fail-safe equation that would stop the accumulation of mana just beforethe newcore emerges..." Senior Ethan mumbled to himself. "Can I see the formula you've been working on?"

"Of course, senior," I replied with a big smile, "let me write it down for you!"

We spent the rest of the morning discussing formulas and possible equations for my spell.

Senior Ethan took out his pencils and sketch pad to write on, and we devised the rules for the 'perpetual mana siphoning spell'. We kept at it until the clock tower chimed the hour.

"Are you ready?" he asked me. "Are you sure you want to try this right now?"

"What better time than now?" I replied excitedly as Senior Ethan double checked the formulas we wrote on his sketchbook.

"But we haven't perfected the spell yet..." he said with a worried expression on his face.

"Exactly why we need to try it out now," I insisted before chanting the first lines of the spell we just created.

It took a full three minutes to finish chanting the whole spell.

I gasped as I felt mana drain from inside me, just as new mana from the air around us slowly entered my core.

"Are you alright?" Senior Ethan held my shoulder as I almost fell on my knobby knees.

"Yes... just a little winded..."

"How much are you siphoning? For how long?"

"I've set it to 20% mana for every breath I take in."

"Isn't that too much for an initial test?" he said with a frown.

"I shall be conducting theexperiment for only 10 minutes, besides, it's just about the amount of oxygen we breath from the air."

"True, but the body can only use about 5% of the oxygen we breath," my senior pointed out, "you, on the other hand, are accumulating every bit of mana into your cores."

"Don't worry, I'll end the spell as soon as my mana is replenished."

Senior Ethan glared at me and sighed.

"Okay then, we'll discuss about the outcome and results later in the library," he finally gave in.

"But what if the library is still closed for investigation?" I hurriedly asked.

"Don't worry, Rian told me it would definitely reopen today."

"And did they find any clue about the perpetrators?"

"None, of course," Senior Ethan answered with a mischievous grin. "They are still trying to track the books, but I've already blocked them. I've broken the tracing spells even before I sent you your haul, so there's no need to worry."

I gave a deep sigh of relief.

"Now get back to your room. I'll see you in the library later after classes."