The Lake's Treasure

Elgin stood in front of the object that would soon become a massive helper to many people's magical development.

The peaceful and still reservoir didn't have a single ripple formed on its surface even though the winds were blowing the nearby trees' leaves to and fro.

He then felt a chill run through his back.

The cause was unknown, but it was inexplicably there.

Elgin was reminded of Cecily's words, telling him that there was a treasure located here. Since it wasn't the magical aid that she was talking about, what else could be there? He hadn't heard of any other news surrounding this lake other than the magical stones despite countless resets.

The activation required him to be submerged inside the water, so he stripped down before slowly dipping his body inside.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and formulated his plan. The way to activate the lake's attributes.

'Let's see... Divide my mana carefully...'

This process required quite a lot of effort, but it could be done with the current him.

His understanding of mana was quite high. How it worked. How to control it to a decent level. It was present within his area of expertise.

His normal mana activity, however, was like the calm before a storm.

Elgin knew that behind his limiters, there was a raging force waiting to explode all at once. One that would hurt him if he wasn't able to properly control it.

He had to be careful with using his mana. The storm that lurked behind his every use of the mana contained inside him. It was worrying.

Bit by bit, he let the mana inside him seep out of his body and travel into the body of water.

Mixing with the lake's essence. Penetrating the water, and spreading to the grounds below it. Where the mana crystals were located.

His mana polluted the entire lake and circulated around. After a certain amount of time had passed, he finally felt a click.

He was in tune with the mana's magical powers.

He realized that there were indeed powers lurking around, just floating aimlessly and sometimes merging with one another.

However, he felt that the energy was unclean. Messy. Rough.

Like a bunch of energy piled up together from the same element, and yet not being able to completely be mixed.

What was this phenomenon?

He thought it was a hurdle that he had to pass in order for the stones to appear. He used his mana to probe around the various clusters of energies, and concentrated in grouping them all.

It just felt right. He instinctively knew that the energy should be in unison.

The clusters were drawn together with Elgin's help, forming a complete sphere of energy inside the lake.

'That should do it.' Elgin thought it was enough.

He had done a lot, and he managed to feel the connection between the clusters. There were no longer stray energies floating around. The dissonance between the clusters should be what caused the Yale to not emit its attributes right from the very beginning.

Even so, he felt like it was weird. It was too easy.

This was pushing it. There was no need for Players to be the one who activated the mechanism of the lake.

The residents could've triggered it accidentally. The chances should be as large as the Players, but it never happened.

He opened his eyes slowly, and stared at the bottom of the lake.

There were..

No stones.

The stones were supposed to be protruding out of the ground if he had succeeded. It should be visible just by looking with naked eyes.

"..Eh?" Elgin stared at his two hands spread in front of him.

He failed? He didn't activate it?

No, that couldn't be. Rather than failing, it was like.. an obstruction was there.

What was it? From the stories he had heard, the lake's activation only required a spike of foreign mana to finally break the grounds that had been suppressing the stones.

Or could it be, the Player that discovered it hid the truth?

No way, it happened so many times, and the stories were always similar. Don't tell him, they all collectively lied?

There must be a more reasonable explanation to this.

He thought of Cecily's words again. They bugged him. What did it entail?

What was the treasure, if not the stones?

[Oh, you did trigger the sleeping treasure! What a surprise.. Or not, I guess. I already expected you to once again prevail through the odds and.. Hm. I'll go to sleep for a bit. I'll leave the rest of this to you, since I'm not supposed to interfere in.. This kind of awakening.]

Cecily popped out for a moment, said that, and left again. She was unable to be contacted.

'Heartless.'

The faerie truly refused to give a shred of explanation. Not even a hint other than it being a 'treasure'.

Elgin was still as confused as ever. What did he trigger if it wasn't the stones? What was all that work for?

He got out of the lake to try and better understand the situation.

He knew he did something. The feeling of compiling the numerous blobs of energy and giving it their unity back. Spreading his mana around the lake.

Was he supposed to hunt for treasure? Taking Cecily's words in a literal manner?

As he inspected himself to find that nothing was off, the lake began to show ripples.

<..Is it you?> A gentle voice. Calming like the Yale Lake itself.

<Is it you who woke me up by opening the circuits again? You.. revived me?> The voice continued.

Elgin wondered where the voice came from.

Then, once he narrowed his eyes and squinted towards the center of the lake, he was able to capture a small figure.

A creature as small as Cecily, with blue, transparent and shimmering wings. A matching outfit that merged with its skin. Streams of water from the lake rose up and began to swirl around her figure.

The personification of the lake. The spirit behind it.

A guardian faerie showed up in front of him.