Results Of The Battle

Oscar inspected the shiny red crystal on his hand. It had black spots that gives an ominous feeling to him. Not to mention the amount of energy it held was incredible.

"It has some Aether in it too."

This was the spiritual core of the corrupted fire spirit he and Kairi defeated. Kairi gave it to him after the battle. It was like mana crystals but not just the spirit cores hold too much mana they also have the concepts of spirits.

"The fire concept used by that strange man and the salamander-like spirit is was powerful. It isn't something astounding but it certainly is powerful."

Oscar was inspecting the core. He didn't see the spirit itself use Aether to recover its mana but he can inspect it now with the core.

His theories and research on Aether were stopped for a while. But with the help of the core, he was planning to continue. The last battle clearly showed him how weak he was compared to a spirit.

"My body almost completely healed. Should I absorb it? It has an incredible amount of mana. And a little bit Aether... No, I should put this on hold. There is a more pressing matter."

He put the crystal in a nearby box and take out his necklace from it. In the midst of the battle, he first felt some strange energy and then his necklace shone and gave him an energy boost as both this strange energy and mana. It wasn't like anything he felt before.

"Grandpa Henry wrote that this was some kind of key. I didn't get it at that time but is this about the strange energy I felt? Does the secret house my grandpa had have information about these things?"

He felt powerless against the strange man when his mana reserves were depleted. According to spirit ranks his mana reserves were barely about Inferior Class. And at the most middle level in that class. His Aether Organ and mana paths are improving day by day. And after his battle last night, while inspecting and healing his body Kairi noticed that his Aether Organ and mana paths improved after he put them under a burden.

There is definitely some improvement but it's not much. Circulating mana in his mana paths also improves his body, albeit it's also barely noticeable. It's only been two days since he gained mana paths and three days since his Aether Organ is completed. So it's already a miracle that his mana reserves are comparable to Middle Inferior Class. But his opponent last night was had already High Inferior Class power and unlimited mana.

Since he met with that one-eyed guy he was sure that there were other people who had powers. Knowing that someone out there has the power to literally destroy everything you have is bad but knowing that there are multiple people who have powers is may in fact worse. The group of people the one-eyed man mentioned, Oscar doesn't know their number or their power. Heck, he doesn't even know if they are real or not. But after the last battle, he can rest easy any more.

He took a person's life. He didn't want it but he did it. This caused him to fully open his eyes to reality, His world isn't safe as he believed. There are or might be hidden forces out there. He can't help but worry about the safety of his loved ones.

"I need to get stronger. Stronger than ever. I'll also need to visit my grandpa's house. I don't if I will be able to find anything at all but I'll have to at least try."

He wasn't able to absorb the mana inside the necklace before. He didn't understand why until now. There was hidden energy inside the necklace which was covered by mana. The necklace itself was made of mana crystal different from the type Oscar had seen. It looked like a black rock from the outside but he could see the mana it had with his Mana Eyes. But now he could also see the hidden energy inside the crystal. Mana was surrounding it and made it almost impossible to notice.

This energy was the same energy he felt while facing Howard. It was vastly different from mana. It had a familiar feeling but Oscar couldn't just figure out why. Its color was also visible to him. Bright crimson with some black parts.

"Wait a minute!"

Oscar quickly grabbed the spiritual core he dropped in the box. He put both the core and the necklace on his desk. Their sizes were different. Core was bigger but this wasn't what he was interested in. The colors were almost the same. The foreign energy and the colors of the core were the same.

"Is this a coincidence? Both of them are the same color."

And he begins his research. He lost himself to research and failed to notice when Kairi appeared right behind him. She watched him for a while. He was writing all of his theories in a notebook. He was also checking the knowledge he already had and eliminating some of his theories.

"You are hard at work."

"! Kairi? When did you arrive?"

"About... ten minutes ago. You were so focused that I was surprised. You look happy while researching."

"Really? I didn't know that. Anyway, didn't you lose way too much mana? What are you doing here?"

"I will close my body into a cocoon soon. Before that, I wanted to come and check on you. It will take some time for me to recover my mana, after all."

Oscar scratched his cheek with a pang of guilt. If I had more mana at the beginning she wouldn't need to spend her mana to help me, he thought. Unlike him, her body was made of mana. The more she lost mana closer she get to death. He didn't want one of his close ones to die because of him.

After a quick check-up by Kairi, she declared that all of his injuries were healed. His mana paths and Aether Organ are improved a little and his body's natural recovery rate seems to increase.

"Your condition is good. But remember you have to rest for a couple of days. Your injuries may have already healed but your fatigue didn't just disappear. It is best that you rest properly before doing anything."

"Don't worry. I'll be careful."

"I hope so."

After saying so Kairi disappeared from Oscar's room. For a while, he looked at the spot she just stood. Even after she was gone he didn't turn his head away. He released a heavy sigh.

"I'm alone again."

He knew that she was only staying in that cocoon for a while but he still couldn't help but feel sad. After what he had done to Lydia he already considered himself as losing her as a friend. And now Kairi was going back into her cocoon too.

"I hope this would pass quickly."