Aethernea : Soulbound [Book 1]

Episode 92 - Devour the Free Mana

Previously:

Elaru gives Kiel the ring she had made for him two days ago. It had now been enchanted with the spell she had designed and mystified. Elaru makes Kiel close his eyes and gives the ring to him as a late birthday present along with a happy birthday card.

* * *

Kiel had to admit that he was impressed. Elaru has put a lot of thought into this.

"Of course, people would deduce that there is a possibility of your artifact being fake, but the possibility is higher that it isn't a fake. After all, you can use pure mana. And it would be impossible for them to channel mana into it and confirm that it is a fake. If they can't confirm it is a fake, then it is as good as real."

Kiel stared at the elegant ring glittering under the crystal light. It didn't look like an ancient artifact at all. But then again, most divine artifacts still looked the same way they did when they were made. They could be buried in mud and covered by dust, but they would never age.

Unlike normal artifacts, which would eventually run out of mana and stop working, divine artifacts contained the eternal power of the gods – they would never run out of energy.

Which is exactly the reason why Elaru couldn't include a mana crystal inside this ring to power it. If she included a mana crystal, it would be clear that it wasn't a divine artifact. However, without mana crystals, how would one power it?

When he voiced his concern, Elaru smiled. "That's a good question. The ring has just been enchanted, so the enchantment has still an abundance of mana to power it. However, eventually, that mana will be used up, and you'll need to charge your ring. Since the ring wasn't enchanted by you, it can't be powered by your mana."

"Naturally."

Magic could only be powered by the same mana used to cast it. Meaning that only the mana from the mage who cast the enchantment would be able to power the artifact.

"However, I included a Devour spell inside the enchantment, therefore, if you place a free mana crystal in the proximity of the ring, it will be able to absorb the mana contained inside the crystal."

Devour. An arcane magic spell with the ability to absorb free mana in its area of effect.

Mana was a mysterious energy created inside a soul that was initially ownerless. A freshly created mana was flexible like clay, any mind that came into contact with it could mold it and claim it as its own. It was exactly because of this that Kiel could use the mana inside Elaru's mana pool – as long as his mind was the first one to touch the freshly created mana, the mana would become his.

Once the freshly created mana was claimed by a person, it could never again return to its original form. No other person could ever turn that mana into their own.

However, mana was the energy that originally didn't belong in this world, and as such, it couldn't sustain its original form for long once it left the soul. If the mana didn't crystalize into a spell thus stabilizing, at most, in a few days, the mana would dissipate into the surroundings, becoming free mana of the world.

Mana inside mana crystals was no exception. Unless special measures were used to stabilize the mana inside the crystal, it too would become free mana after a few days, albeit, it would remain trapped inside the crystal.

Such free mana cannot be controlled and cannot be claimed. However, free mana still carried energy within it, just like light or heat carried energy, free mana also carried energy. And where there is energy, there is a way to use that energy.