Operation Hollow Forest [5]

Diamond 17 bathed in the surge of mana. The surroundings cleared up as the fog disappeared. It was past midnight and the fog didn't even let moonlight trickle down, so it was still pitch black.

Eventually after over an hour of relaxing, the four pulled themselves up and got to work. Chloe started preparing her workshop to build the MFG and ME while the other three moved the carcasses in a pile.

Keeping them strewn about was depressing and it didn't look good stepping over the bodies. Though the smell and stench were terrible, they got used to it after a while.

The monster carcasses decayed quickly as the dark mana elements were purified.

After collecting the bodies, Alexia cut down some branches of the trees nearby.

Even though they were weaker than normal due to the presence of mana, Alexia still found it tough to cut through.

While Alexia cut down trees, Shivan and Arlo searched the area for a small river. They were almost out of water after the latest battle.

After filling up their canteens, they returned to the camp. Chloe was starting to work on the Mana Fusion Generator on a flat boulder that was being used as a substitute for a table.

Alexia was unsuccessfully trying to start a campfire. Giving up, she asked Arlo for help. Arlo had an affinity for fire/heat magic, so he created a small spark to ignite the dry grass.

Eventually, the fire spread to the large logs, creating a large fire. The bright light illuminated the area, allowing them to see in the dark forest.

Using the fire, they boiled the water in the canteens to ensure all the germs were killed. Also, boiling was useful for the instant noodles they packed. It was just in case they got hungry.

After the water boiled, they poured it into their cups and ate around the campfire. A group midnight snack. Even Chloe stopped what she was doing and joined them. It would have made for a nice scene save for the dead aberrant bodies in the background.

They ate in silence, focusing on the food. Shivan was naturally silent while Arlo wasn't in the mood to talk. Chloe was too busy thinking about her project.

"Come on!" It was Alexia who broke the silence. "It's getting too depressing. Let's talk about something."

"..." 

There was an awkward silence. 

"Hey, Shivan. Did you get stronger?" Unexpectedly, it was Arlo who spoke first. "I feel like you're different from the start of the year."

"I think so," Shivan replied, without looking up from his food. 

"I thought you didn't train."

"I don't. I just practised some mana control in my free time. Also having a near-death experience may have helped." 

"Near death..." Arlo sighed. "You're not going to tell me about it right?"

"Yep."

After that short conversation, the surroundings became quiet. The only noise that could be heard was the cackling of the campfire.

After eating the instant noodles, they cleaned up. They threw their rubbish into the forest. They didn't worry about making a mess for two reasons. 

One, it was aberrant territory so it didn't matter how littered it got. And secondly, it would corrode quickly without any intervention. It was the perfect waste disposal.

Alexia found a soft patch of grass and decided to take a nap. Thanks to the mana flower, any sub-Grade 6 aberrants were instantly killed, meaning no insects would bother her. 

Sub-Grade 6 aberrants were aberrants that were so weak, they couldn't fit into Grade 6. They mostly consisted of small insects, that died when coming in contact with a little mana.

Chloe continued building her miniature MFG. It took a few hours for her to be ready to place the mana flower in the generator. It was already dawn by the time she was done.

Arlo had dosed off by that, while Shivan was semi-awake, constantly checking for dangers. 

To stave off his boredom, he watched Chloe curiously, trying to understand what she was doing. 

"How does a mana fusion generator work?" Shivan asked Chloe randomly when she was working.

"Oh! Didn't think you were awake." Chloe replied. She then explained the principle behind the mana fusion generator. 

Shivan vaguely understood the scientific terms she spat out and only got a rough outline. A mana fusion generator puts the mana flower under intense stress forcing it to collide large quantities of mana together to generate a lot of mana.

The cost of this was damage to the structural integrity of the fuel, causing it to degrade and wither away. The same principle applied to Lumidence Boosts, but instead of a flower, it was humans instead and to a lesser scale.

Though Chloe didn't need that much mana for her experiments, as Chloe put it, the mana produced from the fusion was much easier to control than just using the mana produced from the mana flower.

The science behind that was too complicated, so Shivan barely understood any of it.

After finishing up, Alexia placed the miniature generator to the side as she walked up to the flower. Though mana wasn't toxic to humans, like dark mana was, a dense amount of mana could destroy a person's mind.

Chloe psyched herself up, covering herself in a thick layer of mana as she approached the mana flower. After picking it up and placing it inside the generator, she sighed in relief and stepped back.

The dark mana started creeping back in, which woke both Alexia and Arlo up. They approached with all their things, ready to leave anytime. They looked at the finished contraption.

"Finally, you're done?" Alexia question.

"Yep. I just have to turn it on." Chloe replied. 

"Then what are you waiting for? Just turn it on."

"Okay okay. Calm down."

Chloe pressed a button on the generator as mana started flowing through the magical circuits. It created a small barrier around itself, protecting it against the corrosion of the fog.

"Looks stable..." Chloe tried to hide her excitement. Her MFG which she longed to have for years was finally here in front of her.

"Now for the mana extractor." A small nozzle from the side was turned. It was at its lowest setting, so a stream of mana was flowing continuously. 

"Yes... Yes?! YES! YES!" Chloe yelled out loud as her MFG and the ME were working as intended. She turned off the nozzle as she picked up her latest creation, holding it with pride.

"Chloe... I don't want to burst your bubble, but I think some mana is leaking out." But alas, it was never meant to be. Shivan felt some mana being released from the MFG even when she turned it off.

"I think he's right..." Alexia concurred with Shivan.

Hearing the concerns of her friends, Chloe put down the MFG as she inspected it. 

They were right.

"No, NO, NO! NO!" Chloe scrambled to fix it. But the stream of mana was increasing. The mana density inside the container holding the mana flower was becoming too much to hold.

She could even see some cracks forming in the container.

"I'm sorry, Chloe, but this project has failed." Alexia made an executive descions.

She ripped the MFG from Chloe and threw it as far into the forest as she possibly cou;d.

"It's time to run." Alexia commanded the other two.

No words needed were as they all followed her.

BOOOOM!

A massive explosion rang half a minute later, a wave of mana rushing through the entire forest.

The mana wave destroyed the immediate surroundings as a large gust of wind, nearly knocked them over. It purified all the fog in over a 1 kilometre radius as most aberrants in a 200m radius died from the contact.

It was simultaneously terrifying and exciting watching the ensuing destruction. Watching something like occur was a one of lifetime experience.

"Wow!" Alexia viewed the results. "That was unexpected."

While Alexia was looking at the devastation with glee, Chloe was completely dejected.

"All that money lost... my time...." Words like these could be heard as Chloe looked at the floor with disappointment.

"Cheer up!" Seeing Chloe's plight. Alexia came to cheer her best friend. "If it's money, I'll compensate. Also, it was only your first time. You'll do better. And the fireworks were great anyway."

Chloe managed a small smile a she heard Alexia's words.

"Why don't they use these instead of training mages?"

"Because it's too expensive," Chloe answered Alexia's throwaway questions. "These are too rare and there are too few of them to use it like this."

"See, you're fine already," Alexia responded, smiling happily. Alexia and Chloe laughed as they bantered with each other.

However, the destruction of Chloe's mana fusion generator wasn't the worst thing that could have happened during the operation.

A few seconds later a massive amount of dark mana filled their surroundings.

It was more than they ever felt before. It was suffocating. They could barely breathe, as their mana layers were immediately destroyed.