Frey Family?

What was going on?! Lynn's face paled as he hurriedly checked her over. Sure enough, he found a wound on Elaine's shoulder.

It was exactly like the wound on his arm earlier. It had been caused by a Mana-Sucking Monster!

This was bad!

Mana-Sucking Monsters were magical creatures that posed an enormous threat to spellcasters. Their attacks could steal the mana within their targets.

He had been hit earlier too, but his mana reserves were still plentiful, so it had barely affected him.

But Elaine had just used an extremely mana-intensive healing spell, and to help them escape, she had also cast a first-circle spell...

Lynn noticed that the wound on Elaine's shoulder had already begun to worsen. Tiny blue-violet crystals kept precipitating from it.

This was the poison effect carried by the Mana-Sucking Monster's attack. It accelerated the separation of mana.

At the same time, dark purple lines began appearing across Elaine's fair skin.

This was a sign of mana depletion. Once the lines spread across her entire body, they would cause irreversible damage to the spellcaster.

Tsk. Lynn gritted his teeth. It seemed the staff's restorative effect had been completely suppressed by the poison.

At this rate, Elaine would fall into severe mana depletion before the poison wore off.

No! Lynn hurriedly rummaged through the small pouch hanging at Elaine's waist.

Bread, candy, a little mirror... Sister, were you out here for a picnic? Where was the Mana Potion? Why hadn't you even brought a single bottle of Mana Potion?!

Any experienced spellcaster would definitely keep a Mana Potion on hand to prevent something like this.

Damn it. He looked toward the Whispering Forest. Should he go back and search? Maybe those bargain-bin teammates of his had some on them...

His mind raced as he searched his memories for a suitable solution.

Luckily, the original owner had read all sorts of messy books, and Lynn really did find an unconventional method.

Mana Infusion? This method was quite brutal. By forcibly infusing a large amount of mana into someone else's body, one could restore some of their mana.

The reason it had never gained widespread recognition or use was because it was far too wasteful!

If ten units of mana were infused, at most one unit would remain!

You might as well buy a Mana Potion instead!

But Lynn's eyes lit up. Wasn't this method made for me?

Without hesitating any longer, he immediately began circulating the mana within his body.

After casting Frost Ring twice and maintaining control over it for some time, he still had around two-thirds of his mana left.

Lynn figured that if he gave up another third, as long as it helped Elaine recover ten percent of her mana, she would basically be out of danger.

Like ordinary mana, Mana Infusion could not be directly absorbed by a spellcaster... It required a conversion device.

Thankfully, Elaine had brought a staff... Otherwise, he truly had no idea what this girl had come out here to do.

Using the staff as a bridge, Lynn gripped its lower end and pressed the emerald set at its tip against Elaine's body.

Honestly, he had no idea where the so-called "mana pool" that stored mana was located in the human body.

It was probably just an abstract concept...

In any case, he pressed the gemstone against Elaine's abdomen. As the center of the body, it was not too far from any organ.

The next step was the hardest one: how could he release a large amount of mana from his body?

Spellcasters only used mana when casting spells. Taking Evocation spells as an example, the process could roughly be divided into three steps:

First, magical language was used to construct laws. This could take the form of incantations, written words, or spell formulas. The laws themselves came in countless varieties, but they were undoubtedly the core of magic;

Second, mana was guided to fill the framework built by those laws. During the process, the mana transformed into various types according to the laws;

Finally, it was controlled with mental power.

With every additional circle, the complexity of its laws and control rose exponentially.

Perhaps I can start with Frost Ring. It requires quite a considerable amount of mana, and all the corresponding magical knowledge is already in my head...

As he recalled the knowledge in his mind, Lynn tried using this first-circle spell to guide the mana out of his body.

Frost Ring required no spoken incantation. Instead, its spell formula had to be traced with mental power, making it more covert but also more difficult.

Only someone like Lynn, who had maxed out his magical proficiency from the start, could wield it with such ease.

As the spell formula was completed, countless tiny ice crystals gathered around him. Lynn tensed his whole body, and the instant the mana finished accumulating, he withdrew the mental power attached to the spell.

In an instant, it felt as if someone had viciously clubbed him over the head.

With the shaping process interrupted, the ice elemental energy scattered in every direction in an instant.

Lynn could only watch helplessly as it turned into icy mist, gradually spreading out and dissipating.

The staff in his hand did not react at all...

No, mana that had already been transformed could not be reused at all.

But it did give him a new idea.

Don't I still have the zero-circle cantrip Mana Wave?

This was a spell that purely released mana. Its effect was to send ripples through the air with mana, drawing the attention of teammates within a certain range or sensing the surrounding environment. However, it could also attract magical creatures sensitive to mana.

By classification, it was a Divination spell, but its final method of control was somewhat similar to Evocation spells.

Based on the experience he had gained from his earlier experiment, Lynn immediately repeated the process.

He guided the mana and chanted the incantation to construct the laws, then abruptly cut off the spell at the stage of mental control.

Hiss—thankfully, it did not hurt as much as before...

Enduring the pain, he delightedly discovered that after Mana Wave was interrupted, the pure, primordial mana dispersed around his body.

And the staff, acting as a mana converter, finally sensed it. The gemstone at its tip began to glow.

Excellent!

Lynn silently observed Elaine's condition and saw that the dark purple lines on her skin had indeed faded considerably.

But she was still unconscious. Her delicate face, with its slight baby fat, was flushed red as though she had a fever.

Her lips also moved from time to time, as if she were saying something.

Lynn leaned closer and listened carefully, only making out a few fragmented words.

"Need to... hurry... the Frey Family's... selection is coming... find Charlotte..."

Frey? That surname sounded familiar... Wait, wasn't the lord of Roan City, where Colin Town was located, also named Frey?

Lynn's pupils contracted as he carefully lowered his head to study this half-elf girl who had met with disaster.

Could she be a member of the Frey Family?

That was an extremely prominent noble family!

Lynn quickly calmed down.

No matter what, he had already decided to save Elaine. Who she was did not matter much.

He could not just leave someone to die, could he?

Without wasting any more time, Lynn continued with the same process as before.

As a cantrip, Mana Wave required far less mana than a first-circle spell, so he would have to use it several more times.

He would have to endure a few more "knuckle raps" to the brain...

Thinking that, his body still obediently began chanting the incantation. Mana gathered, mental power cut off—hiss, that hurt...

He repeated the process an unknown number of times.

Lynn felt as though his brain was about to develop calluses.

But the pain lessened every time. He seemed to be growing used to this torment.

Finally, the lines across Elaine's body gradually faded, and mana crystals stopped precipitating from the wound on her shoulder.

She was out of danger.

Now, they only needed to wait for her to wake up before returning to Colin Town.

Although he had suffered quite a bit, Lynn still felt rather accomplished.

"Lynn? I..." The half-elf girl slowly woke up.

Lynn helped her sit up, gave her some water, and briefly told her what had happened.

He did, however, leave out the specific process by which he had figured out Mana Infusion.

Elaine's expression changed several times. When she heard that Lynn had saved her once again, she sincerely thanked him.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, she widened her emerald-green eyes.

"Gray... No, we need to hurry back and find someone to save him! He still hasn't had the chance to take me to find my friend!"