MTLNOVEL Chapter 143
<143 - Dark Mana>
The mob pushed the rock with all their might, while the teaching assistants carried it with their hands, wobbling as they placed it back on the bridge.
“Instructor, is this angle okay?”
“You put it the wrong way. Flip it 180 degrees.”
“Ah, please.”
Sighing, the teaching assistant carefully adjusted the rock in the air, fixing its angle. Seeing the pitiful sight, Son Ohchun remarked.
“It feels like the kids are taking an exam suddenly. They’re toiling away, just to play around with what they struggled to move?”
“They’re sweating a lot for it. Seems like it’s not as easy as it looks.”
“That’s because they’re third years! It’d be different if they were fourth years!”
At Oknodie’s bright exclamation, Son Ohchun and Jezel just shrugged it off.
“Make sure the red line is facing down.”
“Like this?”
“Good job. The exam is delayed by five minutes, though.”
“Ah…”
“If it gets delayed again, that’s points deducted from your allowances.”
As the teaching assistant returned to the grassy area marked as the waiting area, Isabel noticed the stains of grass and dirt on their pants and resolved.
“I will never become a teaching assistant.”
For a moment, she sensed the grim reality of third-year life.
Isabel became aware of the piercing stares around her. Back when she was an active member of the expedition team, she had faced such exposure to danger.
Bandits who lurked around the wilderness, targeting the wealth of adventurers and explorers.
Highway robbers disguised as merchants, encountered on a remote mountain road.
Monsters camouflaged with nature, waiting for the expedition team to approach.
Nothing had changed.
The floating Crystal Orbs brought back the sense of real combat that she had long forgotten.
“Jezel, what are those orbs?”
“They are the professors’ surveillance orbs.”
“…It’s hard to fathom how they show malice towards a student helping a failing examinee rather than offering praise. These professors are incomprehensible.”
This academy is definitely strange. Much stranger than usual.
“You can voice your complaints later. The next participant seems about to begin.”
At Jezel’s words, Isabel pushed aside her uneasy feelings and turned her gaze towards the bridge.
A longsword slightly longer than arm’s length.
It seemed dubious if it was the right weapon to handle a massive rock.
“You seem nervous.”
“Maybe they are confident.”
“Hey, what do you think, Mouse?”
“I see it in 3D!”
“What’s 3D?”
Oknodie sulked and lowered her head.
“I guess it’s okay not to know.”
The punchline of the joke failed.
It suddenly struck her how unique it was to be a resident of this world, different from her previous one.
The same memes, the same laughs, the same memories, were all out of reach.
No one knew what she knew.
Even amid the struggles of being a reincarnated person, the unsettling mana surging from Jakku’s sword stood out in the air.
Mana.
The fundamental material used to wield abilities.
There are various types, but usually, a typical person can only wield one kind of mana.
To manipulate mana, one must fill a face of a cube with a single color of the same attribute, fitting the puzzle together.
Most people’s primary attribute is the non-attribute mana, which doesn’t carry any specific attribute.
“That’s why a swordsman’s sword energy is fundamentally close to being non-entity and colorless, making it difficult to gauge distance.”
However, every so often, individuals growing in unique environments or those who’ve accomplished extraordinary feats, or those with innate skewed attributes, develop colored mana.
This is why natives living in volcanic or snowy areas produce red and blue sword energy.
Even beyond color, the mere fact that sword energy was emitted is something to marvel at.
“Even the mob merely released energy externally without using it for body reinforcement.”
If one continues extreme training without giving up, those with mana will try to reduce the burden on their bodies using that mana.
This is the origin of mana breathing techniques and the foundation of mana manipulation.
The playful sparring of clanking swords begins with mana practitioners wildly cutting through whatever’s in their path.
“Look at that guy. His energy is far more formidable than that of the so-called mob from earlier.”
As a wild beast, Son Ohchun distinctly sensed the difference in strength.
Body Reinforcement and Sword Energy Projection.
Different fields, but without a doubt, the latter is stronger.
Concentrating mana all over their body into a single weapon can’t be weak.
However, unlike the mob, who could fully handle their strength, the sword swung by Jakku unleashed horrifying crackling sounds, creating fissures in the rock’s surface.
“When did Jakku get so strong?!”
“Great! Smash it! Break that rock, so there’s nothing left for us!”
“Whoa! If Jakku breaks that, we can cross for free!”
“Thanks, Jakku! You’re a hero of the Knight Department!”
The head that had tilted towards the instructor suddenly whipped around to the cheering classmates behind him.
I know what will happen next.
Berserk Rage.
Mass Murder.
Indiscriminate Slaughter.
The light taste of massacre that will occur at the end of the first semester, under the hand of Chapter Boss Hestia.
It’s the beginning of a series of events demonstrating the danger of beings tilted towards mana and Dark Mana.
“Whoa, Jakku! It’s dangerous to unleash sword energy towards people!”
“Jakku’s acting a bit strange!”
“That guy’s eyes are glazed over. Did he burn out so much energy that he lost consciousness?”
“Wait a moment. But he still hasn’t withdrawn his sword energy. Isn’t that kinda dangerous?”
“Don’t come near! Jakku, don’t come this way!”
Students backed away in horror.
Following their steps, Jakku moved forward.
Avoiding one person, everyone began to retreat in a fan shape, starting to flee.
WHOOSH!
Jakku, with Dark Mana burning fiercer, prepared to sprint like he could charge at any moment.
“Hold on, Oknodie! Where do you think you’re going?!”
“Mouse, are you feeling brave now?!”
“…No, it’s best not to intervene here.”
Yet Jezel understood me.
Unlike her two naive companions, Isabel and Son Ohchun, Jezel grasped my intention and held them back from interfering.
Neither the teaching assistants nor the instructors could respond to the unexpected situation.
No one in the spectator stands tried to stop me as I leaped from them and landed in the exam venue.
“Lucky meeting you!”
Shouting at Jakku, I aimed my sword at him.
At the same time, black mana blazed from the tip of my sword.
“Is that… Dark Mana?!”
“I sensed something was off since the Developing Insight class.”
“Here it is.”
Jakku, not facing the third-year students, turned towards me.
Seeing him, Jezel remarked.
“It’s said that the owner of Dark Mana is drawn to another owner of Dark Mana. Oknodie revealed her powers to lure Jakku’s rampage.”
“What? Isn’t that a good thing? That mouse isn’t someone who can be hurt easily!”
“It’s not about skill. It’s about awareness.”
I wished I didn’t have to know even that much.
Though perceptive, Jezel went too far, even predicting the ensuing chaos from revealing strength.
“Even the lower-class students are causing issues by failing to control their minimal power, so how would it be with an upper-class student possessing that kind of strength in an emergency?”
Isabel answered with a trembling voice.
“…A bomb. It’s treated like a bomb that could explode at any moment.”
“And quite a high-performance bomb too. It could wipe out the entire upper-class.”
“Then wouldn’t it have been better not to intervene? What the hell is that fool doing?!”
“Probably too kind-hearted. That’s just our little lady’s nature.”