Chapter 752 An Intruder (2) - Benefit Of The Doubt

'She's persistent...' After losing the girl, Eldrian had hidden himself and waited for her to leave. While he had taken the most important things from his cave, there were some other things he still needed.

Though, after what had happened with Solvi, he was now less confident in being able to make what he had planned. Especially with the makeshift materials he had basically self-created.

Their stability was sure to be far worse than the materials he had used.

'It truly does appear that she came alone... is she crazy?' Instead of leaving, she ran in the direction she thought Eldrian had gone. Following her, Eldrian was waiting for her to meet with someone. Yet, even an hour later, no one had come.

During that hour, the mountain forest had not been kind to her. Her clothes were torn from all the times she tripped or got caught by a branch or something. She looked like a princess suddenly thrown into the wilds. Unable to even properly navigate her surroundings.

And just like a princess, she was shockingly obtuse to her situation.

Now and then, she would shout for Eldrian to wait and come talk. That she just wanted to talk. After observing her for so long, Eldrian felt she might be telling the truth.

'No, I must be insane to think that- rather, I'm tired. I need to sleep. Why did this have to happen now?' Eldrian sighed, and as Jade stumbled into a clearing, he decided to meet with her again.

"Stay there!" he shouted, showing himself at the opposite side of the clearing.

"Finally!" Jade smiled and made to close the distance, only to freeze as a small pebble shattered before her feet. Eldrian having thrown it as a warning.

"I told you to stay there! If it is true that you can't control that power of yours, then at least keep your distance!" At this distance, Eldrian found that it seemed to not have much of an effect.

He could still feel her appearance was being altered, almost like what he was looking at was an illusion. But he could accept that, something trying to invade his mind. That he could not accept.

"Okay, okay! Does that mean you believe me?" Jade asked, unable to contain her smile, which crumbled with Eldrian's reply.

"No!"

"Then..."

"But I will listen to what you have to say."

"Really?! That's great! I think we got off on the wrong foot." Jade smiled again, and Eldrian could swear he saw the nearby flowers blooming.

"We did not get off on the wrong foot. You invaded my home!"

"Home?" Jade questioned, unable to connect that cave with a home. Sure, there were some modifications made to it to make it a place one could live in but, it was still a cave.

"Because of you, I was forced to run for my life. And now you are forcing me to run yet again." Luckily, things would change soon. However, Eldrian did not know how much or how fast things would change.

He doubted things would return to normal, but he hoped he could at least call his sis and have a conversation with her soon.

"That has nothing—" Freezing from Eldrian's sharp glare, Jade decided not to argue semantics. "I'm sorry. It must have been hard."

"Hmph! Get to what you wanted to say and leave."

"I-I... I want to talk."

'Why is she insisting on that?' Eldrian could not understand her. She truly gave him the feeling of being a runaway princess. 'Wait, maybe that is it?' Realizing this, he decided to give a little in the conversation. "About what?"

"Magic, of course!" Jade answered with a wide smile. Her eyes sparkling, literally sparkling.

"What about magic?"

"H-how you use it, especially here... on Earth. I thought the mana on Earth is too sparse to form spells."

"It is." Eldrian replied.

"B-but... How could you cast those spells then?"

"I thought you would have more knowledge than that..." Eldrian paused.

'I see. They really know nothing. I thought she would at least know how to control mana and gather it from her surroundings... She said she couldn't control her power. Perhaps that was also true. Does that mean she doesn't even know how to feel and guide her mana? But then... how did she get through the array I installed around the fake wall?'

Eldrian couldn't believe her. It was too insane. "I assumed you were using ANW as a platform to train?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, some do. But it doesn't really work. The old fogies managed to break through the barrier and reach Tier 5, but not many others have managed that."

'Mmm, seems she is being honest. Perhaps a bit too honest... I might be able to get some useful information. So, some of the higher ups can at least guide their mana. That is the minimum requirements to reach Tier 5...'

'If that is their highest level, that is disappointing... Wait, I see. Controlling mana might not be their true aim, if her power stems from a bloodline... perhaps that is the true aim for them. That's troublesome, if it is true... mana is not the primary requirement for them.'

'I know that my auras can show frightening power without mana entering the equation. I am left exhausted after using it... subconscious use of lifeforce?' In ANW, the drain on his energy was less, but there were many possibilities to explain the difference.

'But then, why did they place so much focus on researching magic and mana? Is it just a step that must be taken to reach their goal?'

"I see. Did you come hoping I would help you?" Eldrian asked, having finished his thoughts almost instantly.

"No, no." she quickly denied. After their first meeting, she had a clear understanding that Eldrian wouldn't be willing to do that. "I just wanted to talk about magic. You see, most of the people I can talk with... well, they are blinded by this idea that anything less than perfect is useless."

"What do you mean by that?" Eldrian asked.

"They think that magic has to be something that you control with your emotions. A simple wave of your hand and miracles happen."

'They are either aiming at abilities, or hidden powers of a bloodline... Which means these people, this girl, is a descendant of something or someone from legends.'

'Perhaps this is something to do with that flashback I had a while back? Dynamic magic might also be of interest, but it isn't as simple as a wave of a hand...'

'Well, it might look like that to people from the outside. I see...'

"Are you saying they are looking down on static casting?" Eldrian asked. He could see why. Compared to dynamic casting, it really was limiting. However, Eldrian had long since come to learn that it had its strengths.

The greatest part, those spells already existed in a semi-fixed form. One did not need to be creative to learn them, you only needed to find them and memorize them.

Eldrian found that his creativity was often lacking in the moment. He would always jump to something simple. Simple is often best, but it limits what he normally relies on.

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