Chapter 11
Clink.
Sevile placed a teacup in front of Azek.
"Drink it. It will help with mana stabilization."
Azek took the cup.
Sevile walked back to his desk.
Heavy curtains were drawn across the office, and lamps cast a warm glow throughout the room.
Sevile's office looked more like a research facility than a professor's chamber.
Documents of all kinds were scattered across the desk. Books were arranged on the shelves in a slightly haphazard, yet strangely coordinated manner. A large monocle, several maps, and raw materials of various kinds could be seen on the second table.
Azek observed everything quietly while sipping the tea.
He felt noticeably better after drinking it.
Thud.
A stack of documents landed in front of him.
The front page was blank.
Nothing could be deciphered from it, but since Sevile had taken it out from a locked cabinet, it was clearly important.
Azek looked up.
Sevile was staring at him, his expression unreadable.
"Open it."
Azek untied the string binding the stack and flipped the first page.
His eyes widened.
words in bold letters were written.
Classified Documents
Authorized Personnel Only
He glanced at Professor Sevile questioningly.
"These are records of experiments conducted in the past in search of alternative pathways to the mana command system.
Read them and leave them on the desk. They are not allowed to leave this office."
Azek immediately understood.
This was an opportunity.
A flicker of excitement rose within him.
Slowly, he turned to the first page and began reading.
soon his excitement vanished.
An hour later, he finished with a darkened expression.
Sevile spoke.
"What do you think the difference is between your execution technique and the ones recorded?"
The entire document contained records of failed experiments.
Each outcome was horrific.
If the mage was fortunate, death had come instantly. Otherwise, a fate worse than death awaited them—distorted internal organs, limbs tearing apart, mana circles exploding.
In one case, the mage's blood vessels had burst throughout the entire body.
In the end, death had been inevitable.
The luckiest survivor had only lived for three months.
It left a bitter taste in his mouth.
The documentation was meticulous. Every mana spell had been recorded in detail.
He looked up at Sevile.
"The answer is simple."
he gathered his thoughts.
"The fundamental principle they applied was wrong in every case."
Sevile scrutinized him carefully.
There was no hesitation in the boy's eyes. His concise response carried neither arrogance nor doubt—only conviction.
"How?" Sevile asked in a monotonous tone.
"Mana is a living entity—a fundamental lifeform," Azek replied calmly. "They treated its energy as an inert object. There is a simple rule in nature: you cannot force your will upon a living system. Even if it works briefly, imbalance will eventually occur."
"And why do you think you succeeded?"
"This is only a hypothesis," Azek said. "But I believe it relates to low mana output."
He paused briefly.
"You do not fear someone beneath you. I introduced only a minimal amount of mana to test the theory. If someone with high aptitude attempted the same method, they would most likely end up in a condition similar to those recorded here."
Sevile looked at him staright.
" so you think your theory is right. if what you said is true then even you will face a similar outcome when designing a higher level spell. won't you?"
azek paused.
" right now I don't know the answer.but I can only find out if I continue this path."
"so you will take the risk willingly?"
"it's only way I can move forward"
azek replied.
sevile saw no hesitation in his eyes.
he really has willowheart
blood flowing in his veins. he thought
"Leave the documents here. You are free to go."
Azek placed the stack down and bowed slightly before heading toward the door.
Sevile surveyed the room once more.
Something was… off.
throughout their talk there was slight mana distortion but azek could not immediately determine what was wrong with the mana flow.
"i guess i expected too much.It is still early for him to notice," he muttered.
He returned the documents to the locked cabinet, then picked up a black crystal from the shelf and inserted it into a box-like device.
Clink.
The lid closed.
The faint distortion in the room immediately vanished.
Sevile walked toward the window and drew the curtains open. Moonlight streamed through scattered clouds.
Outside, on the windowsill—
A small, pupil-less eye drifted silently away, gliding toward a chamber in the East Tower.