“Ha, this is unbelievable.”
It was beyond mere disbelief. Keiras felt as though his breath had caught in his throat.
The heat radiating from Flare Ball, a 5th-Class spell, was unmistakable.
In other words, although the Flare Ball Aiman had manifested was smaller, its heat proved that it was the genuine spell.
From Keiras’s perspective, the entire situation was absurd.
Although Aiman had used Keiras’s mana, a 5th-Class spell had still been manifested by the hands of a boy who had only recently begun learning magic.
It was so preposterous that Keiras almost wondered whether he was dreaming.
A Mage with only one mana circle had manifested a 5th-Class spell.
However, Keiras shook his head.
‘No. He is not merely a Mage with only one mana circle.’
He had seen through to the heart of the matter.
This was not simply a 1st-Class Mage using an unorthodox method to manifest a 5th-Class spell.
‘This is only possible because he is Aiman.’
That was the essence of it.
What if Aiman had never become a Mage?
Would he truly have been incapable of doing this?
Keiras’s thoughts continued.
‘Even before awakening to mana, this disciple of mine could see it with his own eyes and manipulate it with his hands. In other words, even if he had never become a Mage, he could still have done this with someone else’s mana.’
As Keiras redefined his understanding of the disciple named Aiman, the boy stared at the Flare Ball floating before him and asked a question.
“What should we do with this? It was made using your mana, so should you not be the one to dispel it?”
“That is true. Even though I constructed this training ground myself, it will not remain intact if we throw that spell at it.”
Keiras had created his current training ground when he was still a 4th-Class Mage.
Naturally, it would suffer considerable damage if struck by a 5th-Class spell.
Therefore, Keiras attempted to dispel the Flare Ball floating before him.
Or rather, he tried to.
However—
“What?”
Keiras looked bewildered.
Aiman stared at him with a puzzled expression.
“What is wrong?”
He wondered why Keiras appeared so visibly flustered.
Keiras revealed the reason.
“……I cannot dispel it?”
The spell had undoubtedly originated from Keiras’s mana.
Therefore, he had assumed that he would be able to dispel it himself.
However, the Flare Ball did not disappear.
Keiras considered the situation.
‘The mana used to create the Mana Cutter was mine, but the spell itself was created by using that cutter to cut the mana covering the world…….’
Keiras was not the only one to reach that conclusion.
Aiman also noticed what had happened.
“Does that mean I have to do it?”
“Yes. Try thinking about making it disappear.”
“Making it disappear…….”
ROAR.
As Keiras instructed, Aiman stared at the Flare Ball and thought about erasing it.
However, the spell continued burning fiercely without showing any sign of extinguishing.
Since more than enough time had passed for him to dispel it, Keiras asked a question.
“Is it not working?”
“It does not seem to be?”
“Then do we…… have to use it?”
It was a spell they could not dispel.
Neither of them knew what they were supposed to do with it.
At that moment, Aiman spoke.
“Since it is a 5th-Class spell, could you not dispel it as though it were someone else’s magic?”
“That would not be impossible.”
The dispelling Aiman had just mentioned was not the act of canceling one’s own spell, but of unraveling another person’s magic.
There was no reason Keiras could not do it.
He was also a 5th-Class Mage, and he knew that the spell he needed to dispel was Flare Ball.
He only needed to unravel the spell formula in reverse.
In the end, Keiras decided to dispel it directly.
Aiman did not merely watch him. He continued concentrating his gaze upon the spell.
He had already witnessed Dispel once before.
Mages dispelled magic by applying its formula in reverse and unraveling the spell. From Aiman’s perspective, it was the same as unfolding a piece of Origami by reversing the order in which it had been folded.
However, something was strange.
‘Hmm?’
Aiman could see it.
Keiras was using the mana he had drawn out to unravel the Flare Ball.
Aiman belatedly realized the problem.
To cast a 5th-Class spell with the limited resource of only three circles’ worth of mana, Aiman had needed to use far more detailed folding techniques.
Therefore, although the finished shape matched the one Keiras had shown him, the order of certain steps had changed, and there were slight differences in the locations of some creases.
Keiras only knew the standard spell formula for Flare Ball, so he was attempting to perform the reverse calculation based on that formula.
As a result, his approaching mana was heading toward a different section instead of the one that needed to be unraveled first.
Seeing that, Aiman shouted.
“Master! Stop!”
“Hmm?”
However, Keiras had already begun the reverse calculation needed to dispel the spell.
A question Aiman had once asked Keiras suddenly returned to his mind.
“What happens if you try to dispel a spell, but the other Mage has altered the spell calculation and you unravel it incorrectly?”
At the time, Keiras had answered him.
“The mana flows backward and causes an explosion with even greater destructive power than the original spell.”
Which meant…….
‘It will explode!’
Just as Keiras’s mana was about to touch the Flare Ball—
SNAP!
“Hmm? What was that?”
Keiras, who had been sending his mana toward the Flare Ball to dispel it, looked bewildered.
He had good reason to be.
Aiman had just swung his arm, and Keiras had felt his mana being forcibly brought under the boy’s control.
“Master, stop.”
“Stop? Stop what?”
“You were about to touch the wrong part of the Flare Ball. Please withdraw this mana immediately.”
“What? Wai…… Wait a moment.”
A 5th-Class Mage master was flusteredly obeying the instructions of his disciple, a 1st-Class Mage.
It was a sight that should not have made any sense.
However, it did.
Aiman’s abilities were far too extraordinary for Keiras to dismiss the boy’s warning.
After withdrawing the mana he had been manipulating to dispel the Flare Ball, Keiras considered what had nearly happened.
‘If Aiman was right and I was about to make a mistake while dispelling it…….’
DRIP.
Cold sweat unknowingly ran down Keiras’s back.
He was well aware of Flare Ball’s destructive power.
Yet he had nearly been caught in a mana explosion even more powerful than the spell itself.
He involuntarily swallowed.
GULP.
Seeing Keiras’s reaction, Aiman spoke.
“I will simply dispel it myself.”
“……Yes.”
Keiras also decided that leaving it to Aiman would be safer.
Judging from the boy’s claim that Keiras’s method had been wrong, there appeared to be some difference in how the spell had been constructed.
Dispelling it was not particularly difficult for Aiman.
He only had to unfold it in the reverse order from which he had folded it.
Aiman began unraveling the mana that composed the Flare Ball.
PSSSH.
The Flare Ball disappeared with a deflated hiss.
The spell had been successfully dispelled.
After watching Aiman eliminate the Flare Ball, Keiras suddenly behaved as though something had occurred to him.
“Ah!”
“Hmm? What is it?”
Aiman wondered why Keiras had suddenly reacted that way.
In response to Aiman’s question, Keiras grinned.
“I have thought of a way for you to use higher-class magic without an Artifact.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
When Aiman asked about the method Keiras had devised, Keiras raised three fingers.
“There are three methods?”
“Yes.”
“What is the first one?”
“The first method has two possible approaches.”
“Two approaches?”
“Yes.”
It was already surprising that Keiras had conceived of three alternatives to the unobtainable Artifact.
Yet the first method alone apparently had two possible approaches.
Aiman asked him what the method was.
“Then what is the first method?”
“You must find a Mage who will work alongside you.”
“A Mage who will work alongside me?”
“Yes. Even a 3rd-Class Mage would allow you to use spells up to the 5th Class, would he not?”
“You mean finding a 3rd-Class Mage who will provide me with the mana from his circles?”
“Correct. Mages of the 4th Class or higher would probably be too busy researching their own magic to do such a thing. I suspect that a 3rd-Class Mage would be the highest-ranking person willing to take on such a role.”
Keiras believed that a 3rd-Class Mage was probably the highest-level Mage willing to provide Aiman with mana.
However, Aiman thought that even this would not be easy.
“But as you said, are 3rd-Class Mages not also too strong-willed to agree to something like that?”
Keiras was also aware of the problem Aiman had raised.
That was why the first method had two possible approaches.
He proceeded to explain the second approach.
“That is why I thought of the second approach.”
“What is it?”
“The first thing that comes to mind is purchasing a slave with a talent for magic.”
Purchasing a slave with a talent for magic.
A slave would certainly have to obey his master.
However, Aiman pointed out that the idea seemed difficult to implement.
“A Mage can become a noble, so would that not become meaningless once the slave learned how to use magic?”
“Hmm?”
Keiras looked at Aiman as though he did not understand what the boy meant.
Aiman referred to his own circumstances.
“I was also freed from serfdom after becoming your disciple, was I not?”
Keiras pointed out the flaw in Aiman’s reasoning.
“Ah, that was possible because you were a Serf. Slaves are different.”
“They are?”
“Yes. Serfs possess property rights, do they not? Slaves, however, possess no property rights. Therefore, even if a slave becomes a Mage, he will remain a slave for the rest of his life unless his master releases him.”
After hearing the explanation, Aiman understood that Serfs and slaves were fundamentally different.
The difference was whether they possessed property rights.
Because of that distinction, a Serf could become a noble after becoming a Mage. A slave, however, could not own property without the permission of his legal master.
Therefore, even becoming a Mage would not allow a slave to become a noble.
“I see. Then, as you suggested, if we obtained a slave with a talent for magic and trained him to become a Mage, we could use him as a means of supporting my magic.”
“Correct. However, it would not be a perfect solution. Even if he were a slave, you would still be unable to use magic freely without him. Furthermore, we would have to travel all the way to the Capital to purchase a slave, and that is hardly a short distance.”
Aiman nodded at Keiras’s explanation.
“That is true. Besides, the idea of commanding a slave feels rather uncomfortable. What are the other methods?”
Keiras had only explained one of the three methods so far.
They would have to travel all the way to the Capital to obtain a slave, and immediately departing for the Capital solely for that purpose seemed somewhat excessive.
Moreover, the thought of owning and commanding a slave was still difficult for Aiman to accept.
That was why he asked about the other methods Keiras had mentioned.
“The second method is to find a Mana Spirit.”
“A Mana Spirit?”
Aiman tilted his head at the unfamiliar term.
Seeing his reaction, Keiras realized his mistake.
“You must be confused because I have not taught you about spirits yet. I will give you a simple explanation first. A spirit is…….”
Keiras gave Aiman a very brief explanation of spirits.
There were two types of spirits.
Basic Spirits and Rare Spirits.
Basic Spirits were beings associated with the Four Elements of fire, water, earth, and wind.
Spirit Summoners with a strong affinity for nature could generally form contracts with them.
Rare Spirits, meanwhile, were beings born after remaining within or being exposed to a particular substance or phenomenon for a long time.
Unlike Basic Spirits, Rare Spirits could not be contracted through an established method. One had to find them personally before forming a contract.
After hearing the explanation, Aiman gained a general understanding.
“So a Mana Spirit is a spirit that was born after being exposed to mana for a long time, and I would have to find one and form a contract with it?”
“Yes.”
“Then where can we find a Mana Spirit?”
“How would I know?”