While under the watchful gaze of the villagers, the group eventually left town. The awkwardness of their party members' gazes and the hateful glares of the townspeople seemed to have little impact on Lucius, who simply walked along the paths without a care.
Desmond found himself in slight awe of the man, and one thing that piqued his curiosity was the sheer amount of mana that Lucius manipulated to make his threat. It weighed so heavily on him that once they had left the town and entered the woods, he finally brought himself to bring the subject up.
"Lucius." He asked carefully. "If you are truly Intermediate, how do you possess so much mana? You wear it like a damned cloak sometimes, yet others, I sense nothing special. How do you do it?"
Natali and Rena glanced between Desmond and Lucius as if they were also expecting an answer. Rena's ignorance surprised him because he thought she would at least know, but apparently, that was not the case.
"It is true that I possess a larger mana pool than most; it's not as much as you think," Lucius answered honestly. "I think it is about thirty to forty percent more than someone of equal rank?"
"While thirty to forty percent more is astounding..." Desmond replied, "It doesn't explain how much we are experiencing when you pull those stunts like in the village."
Lucius laughed before answering, "Channeling."
"What do you mean? How does that work?"
"Well, think about when you are fighting; there is a physical limit that you have—a maximum amount of strength you can use and a maximum amount of time." Lucius explained, "However, there are times, like under great duress when you can push past those limits—times where you fight harder and last longer."
Desmond nodded in understanding, "Yes. Adrenaline. It pushes you beyond your physical limits. I know what you mean."
"Good." The black-haired man said with a smile, "Magic and Arts are the same as it relates to your mana pool. There is a limit to what you can use. However... under times of duress, you can push into untapped potential and access a normally inaccessible amount of mana."
It did not take Desmond long to understand how such an ability could be utilized, and he found himself slightly jealous of the man's innate abilities. Of course, he was not jealous of Lucius's strength because strength could be earned and obtained, but no matter what he did, Desmond would never possess those senses.
They had traveled for a few more hours and were only about an hour away from the Grimspire Ruins when Lucius appeared out of the trees. He dropped to the ground from above like a monkey and made very little sound despite the armor he was wearing.
"Monster incoming. I don't know what it is, but it's an E-Rank threat, or at least that's the feeling I am getting from it." He advised, "Think you can handle it, Desmond?"
"Sure," Desmond answered resolutely.
A few moments later, a strange, two-legged beast stepped out of the woods. It looked like a strange mix between a humanoid and a tree. Desmond was able to recognize it immediately as an Ent. They did not have many in his home country, but they were rather common in heavily wooded areas, which made it sound strange that Lucius did not recognize it...
Ents could become quite powerful monsters the older they got, but as they grew, they eventually became immobile. This one was rather young, so it had not yet rooted itself into the ground as it was likely looking for unoccupied territory to claim.
The monster raised its arms made of twisted branches and charged towards Desmond, who was front and center. He readied his spear to attack and activated an Art. "[Spear Arts: Triple Thrust]"
Three rapid strikes of his spear hit the charging Ent in the chest, sending it tumbling backward into the grass. It screamed in pain and launched a wave of splinters out of its mouth.
"[Aqua: Water Shield]"
A wall of water materialized in front of him and absorbed the impact of the monster's attack. The Ent looked puzzled for a moment allowing Desmond to run around the side of the shield and take advantage of the surprise.
"[Spear Arts: Heavy Impact]"
With a massive crack, the Ent flew into a tree, crushing the bark and leaving an indent of itself in the wood. Completely disoriented, it attempted to stand but fell over multiple times. Desmond stepped forward and used his spearhead to stab through its heart, killing it.