Another Way Out (2)

His understanding of magic was still far too shallow, and he had no way to prove anything for now. But Allen had thought of an excellent way to cast spells. His attempts had failed because he had no mana of his own and could not construct runes. Since he had no mana, he would borrow it. Before coming to Dalaran, he had borrowed mana from the Magic Source to cast Wind Blade. Although he had relied on a staff, he had succeeded, so now he intended to try borrowing mana from his surroundings to construct runes directly.

It had to be said that this was a good idea, but he had overlooked an important problem: without special means to gather it, the mana in his surroundings was very thin. Gathering it quickly required runes, but without mana, he could not construct runes. It became a vicious cycle.

Sure enough, his experiment failed as well. In the end, he had no choice but to turn his attention to objects containing mana. Only those things held enough mana to support his construction of runes.

Had that incident not occurred, he would certainly have gone on to research how to cast spells using magical items. That incident was a turning point for him in the truest sense.

That day, he returned from the library as usual. He had been going to the library for more than half a month straight, and he realized he had to start brewing potions immediately. As it happened, the mana in the Water Elemental Heart had almost fully recovered over the past few days. His potion brewing that day was no different from usual, except that his mental power seemed a little too active, even somewhat unresponsive to his control. He had already failed twice, a failure rate he could not tolerate. He could not keep brewing. He had to stop and carefully check what had gone wrong, so after putting everything away, he sat on the bed and calmed his mind.

His already active mental power suddenly erupted once he immersed himself in it, as violently as a storm. He felt his entire soul trembling continuously, and pain originating in his soul flooded his whole body. He gritted his teeth and tried to quiet his mind, but it was useless. That mental power seemed to no longer belong to him.

It spun wildly, and Allen felt as though the whole world had changed. His understanding of souls and mental power was far too limited, and he did not understand what was happening. His only hope now was the incantation. It was the fundamental reason his mental power was so strong, so what was happening to him had to be connected to it. He began silently reciting the incantation, hoping this would suppress his rampaging mental power.

But the incantation did not seem to help with the situation. Instead, it made all his mental power even more active. Things seemed to be getting worse and worse, and there was nothing he could do. In the end, he could only sink his consciousness into the depths of his soul, trying to protect it.

Finally, after what felt like a century, his consciousness began to blur. Just then, he was suddenly awakened. The instant he woke, the world before him underwent a fundamental change. He could actually see his own soul. No, it could not be called seeing; it was more like sensing, like a sixth sense. He could sense his soul within a strange space. This had not existed before, yet now such a space had appeared. At the same time, his mental power had grown several times stronger than before. He had never felt so powerful. He felt that he could now use his mental power to directly affect ordinary people.

These enormous changes made him realize that what had happened earlier was very likely a qualitative transformation of his mental power. Long ago, he had already felt that his mental power had reached saturation, but he had never stopped practicing the incantation. For seven whole years, nothing had changed. In fact, Allen had begun to give up on the incantation, but he had kept it up out of habit.

Only now did he understand that his mental power had undergone a qualitative transformation. The greatest change was the appearance of a soul space. He did not quite understand what this space was for. After all, even the archmages knew pitifully little about souls. Souls were an existence even more mysterious than magic.

Of course, whatever the case, the improvement in his mental power was certainly something well worth celebrating. But he would have to rest properly for a while. The process of its qualitative transformation had still done some damage to his soul, and he needed time to recover.

That day, he did not continue brewing Healing Potions. Instead, he lay down and went straight to sleep, because sleep was the best way to restore his mind. Over the following week, once Allen had brewed the potions, he did not continue making more. He was either at the library or at home studying his soul space and trying to repair his soul.

Eventually, when the merchant began pressing him, he told the merchant outright that his mental power had been injured and that he needed a week of quiet rest. Only after promising to make up the shortfall afterward did the merchant readily let him off.

A week later, it was time to collect the next month's assignments, but he arrived at the association first thing in the morning, when there were still few people there. He had originally intended to come a few days later, but he had received an important notice telling him that he had to come to the potion-brewing hall that day, saying there was something important to announce. With no other choice, he had come.

Perhaps he had arrived too early. An hour passed, and still no one came to notify him. By now, the entire hall was packed with people: full-fledged mages, mage apprentices, and even fourth- and fifth-tier mages. From the looks of it, something major was about to happen. After another while, the very center of the hall suddenly lit up, and a powerful magical fluctuation spread out in an instant. This mana was the strongest Allen had ever encountered, without exception.

Some of those standing closer were even knocked to the ground by the powerful mana. Immediately afterward, purple magic runes spread across the center in an instant, with some even extending beneath the feet of nearby mages. Startled, those mages immediately retreated several steps.

Soon, the magic runes stopped spreading. Then they blazed with light. When he opened his eyes again, a man had appeared in the very center of the hall. He was middle-aged, about forty or fifty, with a large beard and long brown hair. When the mages came to their senses and saw a mage standing in the center, a commotion immediately broke out, and the hall became noisy.

At that moment, the mage spoke. "Oh, my goodness. I really am still not used to long-distance teleportation. Hello, everyone. I am Archmage Kel'Thuzad. I have gathered you here because I have something to announce. The magical beasts in Silverpine Forest have begun rampaging. I believe our Highlord Pelaven needs some assistance. Would you be willing to go? Of course, I will offer some of my collection as payment."

Among alchemists, there was no one who did not know Archmage Kel'Thuzad. He was an eighth-tier archmage as well as a grandmaster alchemist, and the leading figure among Dalaran's alchemists. He also knew inscription, enchanting, and other skills. He was even called Dalaran's second-greatest genius after Chief Archmage Antonidas. His power was beyond question. Allen simply had not expected someone of his standing to come notify the mages in person. It made no sense.

But what he said next immediately made Allen notice a few problems. First, the magical beasts in Silverpine Forest were rampaging, yet not a single piece of news had leaked out beforehand. That was impossible. Second, he had said that Highlord Pelaven needed assistance. Allen knew of this Highlord Pelaven. He was one of Dalaran's few lords, as well as the leader of the Dalaran Guard, responsible for protecting Dalaran.

Yet Highlord Pelaven's territory had not suffered any magical beast attacks over the years. On the contrary, he had been actively expanding outward, toward Silverpine Forest. Finally, Kel'Thuzad had openly expressed his hope that all the mages present would go support the highlord, even offering items from his own collection. The payment for every assignment came from Dalaran's authorities. Allen had never heard of an individual mage funding one personally.

After hearing the archmage's words, Allen's political sensitivity quickly led him to guess that this had to be connected to the selection for the Council of Six. Archmage Kel'Thuzad was an eighth-tier archmage; there was no reason for him not to compete for a place. But Allen soon realized that he had no way to refuse. The archmage's words were meant for the full-fledged mages, not apprentices like him, because apprentices could not refuse assignment requests from the association.

He truly did not want to go. He still had so much to do, and even his soul had not fully recovered, but he could not refuse. What followed was simple. A fifth-tier mage among the crowd spoke up. "You are Chief Archmage Antonidas's student. We are all willing to follow your orders." He then took the lead in signing his name, and many other mages signed theirs one after another. Allen did the same. There was no getting out of it for him.

Once the names had been signed, Kel'Thuzad held the list and spoke. "Very good. You are all mages with the greatest sense of honor in Dalaran. Someone will arrange your journey to Pelaven's territory next. I wish you every success." As he finished speaking, the mana around him suddenly surged, and then the archmage vanished.

A few minutes later, an association staff member led him to a workbench and handed him a list. "This is the payment Lord Kel'Thuzad has provided for you. You may choose only one item." It seemed the archmage was fairly decent, paying them in advance. Allen examined the list carefully. It really did have everything: rare medicinal ingredients, jewels, and pieces of equipment. Overall, their values were about the same, but almost none of them were of use to him. After looking for several minutes, he finally turned to the last page. "This is..." he exclaimed in surprise.

It was a book of basic spell runes. This book would be tremendously useful for his recent research. He eagerly told the staff member, "Basic Spell Runes. I'll take this." With that, he handed the list back to him.

The staff member said nothing and simply took the item out from behind the counter. The book was not thick; it was only a few sheets of paper. Allen immediately accepted it, carefully folded it in half, and tucked it inside his clothes, showing no disdain whatsoever. Afterward, he did not linger and went straight back to his lodgings. The archmage had not ordered them to leave immediately, instead giving them three days to attend to miscellaneous matters, so they would not set out until three days later.