Chapter 133

War Advances Technology

Burnell was beside himself with excitement.

He had consumed so much coffee and so many stimulants that it seemed caffeine had replaced the blood in his veins.

After wandering around naked like a madman, he finally came to his senses long enough to throw on some clothes before standing before Ferda.

Erika stood beside him.

"Do you remember when I dissected living monsters for my research?"

"I do."

"Back then, I discovered something. I identified the neural signals that control a monster's regenerative abilities."

Those neural signals had been documented across more than a hundred pages.

Naturally, Ferda hadn't even pretended to read them.

"Explain."

"R-Right. Imagine it's not contaminated water inside a container, but the inside of a monster's body!"

He gestured wildly with both hands and feet as he struggled to explain.

"A monster is injured. Naturally, it has to repair the damaged area, right?"

"Correct."

"To do that, it sends signals to the wound, concentrating its regenerative ability there. Correct?"

"Correct."

"When those signals are sent, the Junk Mana flowing through its blood is directed toward the injured area. That's how it stops the bleeding and regenerates the tissue."

He paused, his eyes gleaming.

"We're going to apply that principle to the water tank. If we send a 'this body is injured' signal into a material that imitates living flesh..."

Erika immediately grasped the idea and summarized it.

"So according to your theory, the Junk Mana will gather wherever the signal directs it?"

"Exactly!"

Burnell responded with delight.

More than anything else, he seemed overjoyed that someone had actually understood his explanation.

"So you're saying it purifies the water?"

"Purifies it? Ha! If that were all, then my excitement would be nothing more than third-rate! It's far more than simple purification!"

Burnell practically shouted with renewed enthusiasm.

"Your Highness! Haven't we been saying all along that we needed mana stones? This technology literally condenses masses of Junk Mana into mana stones! Compared to extracting materials directly from monsters, the amount we can produce isn't even in the same league!"

It wouldn't simply purify the contaminated water.

It would also supply the raw material needed to manufacture mana stones.

Killing two birds with one stone.

"So that was what had you so excited."

"To be honest, Headmaster Bernard and I figured this out on the second day."

"In just two days?"

"Then why didn't you report it?"

"Even with a sound theory, we still had to build something capable of applying it. If we'd only presented the theory, no one would've believed us."

Ferda nodded.

He had already heard plenty of long-winded theories from Burnell.

"So I spent another two days building a working prototype! And this... is the result!"

Burnell revealed an object that had been hidden behind the blackboard.

It looked like a weight attached to the end of a chain.

The chain had been specially treated to serve as a conduit for mana, while intricate magical formulas had been engraved onto the weight itself.

Seeing it, Ferda felt a slight unease.

"Can even a low-circle mage activate the magic formation?"

"A Third Circle mage is sufficient. I managed it just fine myself. As long as they can channel mana into it, it'll work."

Naturally, Burnell had already considered that.

Third Circle mages were about as capable as the communication mages who accompanied young nobles, so there was no issue.

"So... does it actually work?"

Erika looked down at the weight.

Even Burnell, who had been overflowing with excitement until now, became solemn.

"We're about to find out."

No matter how brilliant a theory was, no matter how perfectly the formulas had been incorporated into a device, inventions often failed to function.

For scholars and inventors alike, it was the most heartbreaking moment.

Now it was time to find out.

***

Isabella brought back a large jar filled with water flowing from the Demonic Wasteland.

It was the first time Ferda had seen the water for himself.

It gave off a faint metallic smell and was tinged crimson, resembling rusty water where iron oxide had dissolved into liquid.

Unlike ordinary rust water, however, this was deadly.

You weren't supposed to so much as dip a finger into it.

"A-All right... here we go."

Burnell lowered the weighted device into the jar.

Once it reached roughly halfway down, he poured mana into the chain.

Hummm—

The water vibrated.

Mana flowed through the chain, activating the magic formation.

Everyone watching held their breath.

No one wanted to see the product of days of labor end in failure.

Moments later, the murky water gradually became clear.

At the same time, crimson crystals began condensing around the weight.

Burnell carefully lifted it out.

Red crystalline masses clung to the weight like flesh.

Meanwhile...

the water had become astonishingly clear.

People often said appearances could be deceiving.

But this time...

what they saw was exactly what they got.

"My goodness..."

"So it really can be done..."

Isabella and Erika stared at the water in astonishment.

"Well?"

"You really did remove the Junk Mana from the water."

"Not all of it," Burnell admitted. "A minute amount remains. But it's safe enough for human consumption. In fact, it's less dangerous than drinking untreated groundwater."

Being acknowledged filled Burnell's heart with indescribable joy.

It wasn't simply recognition from the academic world.

What truly mattered was that those words had come from a Spawn of Iorga, Sovereign of Water.

Ferda clenched his fist.

This was the answer.

They hadn't merely secured a new source of drinking water.

They had found the foundation for another leap forward in the territory's development.

"They say war advances technology..."

The road he was walking wasn't leading toward an escape.

It was drawing him deeper.

Deeper into the labyrinth—

toward the immense treasure hidden within it.

Ferda patted Burnell on the shoulder.

"You've done well."

At those words, Burnell swayed violently...

and collapsed on the spot.

It was the inevitable backlash of spending days without proper sleep, consumed entirely by research and invention.

Erika had already suspected as much, yet she deliberately remarked,

"So... once a dog has outlived its usefulness, you put it down. Is that how it is?"

"...That's not what's happening."

***

Under the leadership of Iorga's Spawn, water from the Demonic Wasteland was temporarily diverted.

Since the source lay within the cursed land itself, it was stored some distance away from Hestia Village, with people fetching it from there rather than piping it directly into the settlement.

Isabella officially announced it as a substitute for the village's current drinking water supply.

"Isn't water from the Demonic Wasteland dangerous?"

"I heard contaminated water can turn people into monsters..."

"But what choice do we have? It doesn't look like it's going to rain anytime soon."

"If the Great Lords of Water themselves have approved it, surely it's safe enough to drink."

There was reluctance, certainly.

But there were no alternatives.

And because the authorities had endorsed it, the plan progressed smoothly.

The real problem, as expected...

was the nobles.

Ferda and Erika personally made the announcement to them.

"Drink water brought from the Demonic Wasteland?!"

"No matter what, that's going too far! You're basically telling us to die slowly!"

True to nobles raised in comfort and luxury, they exploded with outrage, insisting they would drink nothing but groundwater.

Ferda even demonstrated it himself, drinking the purified water right before their eyes.

Nothing happened to him.

Yet even that wasn't enough to extinguish the uproar that had already taken hold.

The nobles continued spreading conspiracy theories with little regard for courtesy.

"No matter how great Regent Ferda or some legendary adventurer may be, no one can drink water like this."

"And what if we all turn into monsters after some time? What then? Will you take responsibility?"

Erika spoke to Ferda through telepathy.

—Shall we just tell them to die?

Ferda didn't answer aloud.

But inwardly, he agreed.

These people weren't the sort who could be convinced with long, scholarly explanations or displays of intellectual sophistication. A short, cutting remark suited them far better.

The confidence written across their faces would undoubtedly disappear within a day.

And seeing those expressions change...

would have pleased Ferda immensely.

Just then, Olivia walked over.

"Are you certain it's truly safe?"

Her eyes moved back and forth between Ferda and Erika.

Erika answered calmly.

"Lord Iorga himself has personally certified it."

"That's reliable enough for me."

Without another word, Olivia picked up a glass and drank it.

"Mmm. It's surprisingly clean."

She finished with a bright smile, inspiring confidence.

Only then did the nobles stop behaving like children and finally begin drinking the purified water themselves.

How strange.

When I drank it, they acted as though I was committing suicide.

But the moment Olivia drank it, they eagerly gulped it down as if it were the finest spring water.

The sight irritated him.

He glanced at Erika.

Their eyes met.

As if thinking the same thing, the two merely nodded in silence.

In any case, the drinking water issue had finally been resolved among the nobles as well.

And the mana stone problem is solved, too.

In fact, extracting materials this way proved far easier than harvesting them from monster corpses.

The manufacturing process had been shortened by nearly two-thirds, doubling the production speed of mana stones intended for use as fuel.

That alone bought them another month of preparation.

***

Ferda decided it was finally time to organize his own abilities.

Red Circle: Four Stars.

Shadow Circle: One Star.

In terms of total mana capacity...

he possessed the equivalent of five stars.

But I'm not truly a Five-Circle mage.

He couldn't cast Fifth-Tier spells.

The only conclusion others could draw was that he possessed an unusually large mana pool for a Fourth Circle mage.

That was something he could use as a hidden trump card.

Besides, the Shadow Circle simply looks like... a shadow.

Unlike the blue mana of an ordinary circle, it was black.

Unless someone examined him with extreme care, they would never realize he possessed a second circle at all.

More importantly, everyone knew Ferda as a Red Circle mage.

No one would ever imagine he'd secretly cultivated a secondary circle while still at such a low rank.

I'll use lightning through the Red Circle... and shadow magic through the Shadow Circle.

Having settled on how he would divide his mana usage, Ferda turned his attention elsewhere.

He needed another weapon.

Fortunately...

he already had one.

Earth's Judgment.

The gift Lucy Philiase had given him.

She had called it a punishment that rises from the earth rather than falling from the heavens.

Outwardly, it looked no different from an ordinary staff.

No one would ever suspect it was a divine artifact bestowed by Lucy Philiase herself.

Come to think of it... she said it absorbs the power of branches that have been struck by lightning.

Ferda took out the branch Ahmed Hashim had once given him as a token of friendship.

He touched it to the staff.

Immediately, tiny particles hidden within the World Tree branch visibly flowed into the staff.

Swoosh...

The staff absorbed every last trace.

Then something astonishing happened.

Every remnant of magical power left within the World Tree branch disappeared completely, reducing it to nothing more than an ordinary stick.

Even more astonishing...

despite absorbing all that power, the staff itself emitted no detectable mana whatsoever.

To confirm his suspicion, Ferda channeled mana through it.

Crackle!

No doubt about it.

Its power had increased.

And the spell itself had become far more stable.

It was already stronger than Dark Bolt...

A thought crossed his mind.

Perhaps the Heaven-Defying Lightning Bolt could now rival the destructive power of Lightning Spear, an established Fourth-Tier spell.

An artifact capable of raising a spell's effective power by an entire tier without any side effects...

Its value couldn't even be measured.

That gives me another weapon.

He now possessed heaven-defying lightning powerful enough to surpass even darkness itself in terms of destruction.

And shadow techniques capable of deceiving opponents before striking their blind spots.

"Hmm..."

The question now was how best to use them.

Ferda's battles had always begun with overwhelming displays of dominance—and ended the same way.

But now...

he needed the strategies of a true mage.

At the very least, he needed a trump card powerful enough to deal a decisive blow against...

Gokma.

With that in mind, Ferda immersed himself in research.

***

A month after the incident...

the Mother Monster had finally assembled an enormous army numbering twenty thousand.

Not every creature was a deadly monster.

Half of them were slow, malformed creatures like the Melteds.

The other half resembled monsters or dangerous beasts.

Even among the beast-type monsters, however, only around two hundred were massive creatures comparable to bears.

Even so...

if they charged all at once,

there would be no stopping them.

Erika judged that the amassed horde would soon begin its march.

Olivia gathered every member of the war council to conduct the final strategy meeting in preparation for the decisive battle.

Ferda participated as well.

After discussing their defensive plans, he turned to Count Consilus.

"Count. How are things on your side?"

"There is nothing to report, Your Highness. I have been waiting for this moment all my life."

"What about your drinking water?"

"We're fine. Thanks to the supplies sent by the Blue-Eyes faction, we can hold out for another week."

Although they were receiving outside assistance, there was ample justification.

Burnell had shared the technology, presenting it as merely providing a few prototypes for testing.

Since the supplies were ultimately intended for the campaign against the Demonic Wasteland, it was nothing more than allies fulfilling their obligations.

"Your Highness..."

"What is it?"

"Allow me to say this in advance. It has been an honor to serve you, even if only for a short time. I only wish we had met much sooner."

The sentimental words made Ferda frown.

They sounded like the dying testament of a knight heading to his death.

It irritated him.

"Enough of that nonsense. If you're pushed back, you are to retreat to Hestia immediately."

"If this fortress falls, then I shall be buried with it. A knight's duty is to kill even one more monster if it means saving a hundred lives. I shall slay a hundred more... and save ten thousand. So I beg you... protect the people of this Grand Duchy."

"...Very well."

There was no guarantee the Count would die.

Even so...

Ferda resolved to remember those words.

At that moment, Isabella burst through the door.

"The demonic army has begun moving!"

So... it's finally starting.

Ferda rose from his seat.

But Isabella hadn't finished.

"But they're moving in the wrong direction!"

He froze.

"What do you mean?"

"The thousands of monsters aren't advancing toward us. They're moving the opposite way!"

"The opposite way...?"

"They're marching on the Imperial Capital!!"

The announcement defied every prediction.

Before anyone could even ask whether it was true,

Ferda's communication crystal began to buzz.

The oily voice coming from it had never sounded so welcome.

"Y-Your Highness! This is a disaster!"

Crown Prince Alexander Arken shouted, his voice filled with the panic of someone who had suddenly found himself standing on the edge of catastrophe.