Broken obelisk

"This?" Looking at the cracked obelisk, Aiden mumbled, "This is the effect of the seed of the devil, right?"

"Yes, it is the seed of an Oglit." Mraz nodded.

"You sealed it inside the obelisk, didn't you?"

"There was no other way. Once they planted the seed of an Oglit, there is no way you can remove it."

"No way to remove it!" Aiden frowned, "SO that means I am stuck with it?"

"For now the answer is yes. But lucky for you, that you carry my essence mana. It won't be able to affect my essence mana. Even if my mana couldn't devour it, it is more than enough to seal it."

Mraz's proud voice fell a little, "However, it is not a permanent solution. And if you face an enemy like this, who can forcefully absorb the essence mana, you might face a similar problem."

"But," Aiden checked Mraz's expression before he asked, "This mana is quite effective against the ice elf. Isn't it better to use it? It can increase my chances of survival."

Mraz glared at Aiden before adding, "Do you know why they fear the mana of an Oglit? No, it is not just them. Every living being fears the mana of an Oglit."

"They call it the mana of death." Mraz shook his head, "It's not because it kills you. It's because it devours other mana."

"You can transform any mana on your own as long as you have an obelisk. However, when any type of mana touches the mana of an Oglit or absorbed by an Oglit, it doesn't go to the mana space."

"The mana of an Oglit devours and destroys any mana that it touches. That signifies the death of the mana. Hence, the mana of death."

"But if you can't absorb the mana in your obelisk, then how can an Oglit get so strong?" Aiden was a little confused. "You are not telling that the devil or the black man I had met in the mana crystal mine didn't have any innate mana circle."

Mraz pointed at him and said, "That's why they absorb the mana directly from their seed. Those who carried the seed of the Oglit will cultivate for them and make the seed grow rich in mana."

"And when the time is ripe, they will directly pluck the seed of the carrier, and absorb it in their obelisk. Sometimes they would just take over the body that carries the seed. This is how they strengthen their obelisk."

Listening to Mraz, Aiden felt that for the first time, all the action of the devil makes sense to him. But it just created another headache for him.

"Is there no way to get rid of the seed?" Aiden was expectant. However, Mraz paid no heed to his pleading eyes.

"It's not that there is no way, but you don't have the ability to use it. On top of that, it's just that your body is a little special."

Mraz didn't know how he should explain this, but he said, "Unlike others, the seed is a part of your body. From your memory, I believe that it was the seed that kept you alive."

"It was not impossible to carry two types of mana inside a body. But a red-blooded body is too weak for that. And you didn't know how to use an obelisk. So when they put a water mana heart in you, you should have died."

"The mana rejection and the clash of the wind and water mana should have destroyed your body. But, that seed devoured all the rough mana inside your body."

"So even when your heart carried water mana, and the mana channel had wind mana in it, you didn't burst into a fountain. It was only when you had absorbed my essence mana and mixed both types of mana into ice mana that your body had stabilized."

"And I left out with this thing. That is slowly turning into food for others." Even if he knew that he should be thankful, he couldn't hide his discontent.

"If you are so unhappy, then stop wasting your time and try to become a middle-grade beast." Marz scolded Aiden. As the ice started to condense on the obelisk, the cracks began to fill up with the new layers of ice.

"Middle-grade beast?"

"Condense your fourth innate mana circle."

Listening to Mraz, all Aiden could only frown. After all, even if he didn't lack the mana circle, he could not comprehend even the weakest type of mana circle.

Glancing at the Steele filled with mana circles, all Aiden could do was shake his head. 'How long will I take to become a middle grade one?' As he was thinking, he forgot that Mraz could hear his thoughts loud and clear.

"At your speed, it will take at least…" Mraz thought for a moment, adding, "no, you won't be able to become one. Now stop wasting your time and direct the mana to the obelisk. It will take some time to seal the seed again."

Aiden did as Mraz had asked him, then asked, "What will happen if I continue to use that mana? Even if the seed grows, it is not like the devil can come to take it out of my body."

"You idiot." Mraz wanted to curse a little more, but he was too tired to do so, "Do you think you are some kind of tree that will bear fruit?"

Mraz sighed as the mana circles glowed over the cracks of the obelisk non-stop. The black mana continued to struggle to escape the effect of the mana circles.

However, the mana circles continued to produce a strong suction force that was dragging the disobedient lumps of mana back into the obelisk. While Aiden continued to absorb the surrounding mana, he continued to repair the cracks of the obelisk.

"When it's time to sprout, the seed will give birth to a conscious." Mraz explained, "that consciousness has contained a part of the Oglit soul. Do you really think your soul is strong enough to defeat an Oglit soul?"

Aiden was sure that there was no way he could do that. After all, the thought of the endless void prison, which the black man had created to trap his soul, sends a shiver down his spine.

"However, I have you. Won't you be enough?"

Aiden wasn't sure what was Mraz's expression, but he remained silent for a moment before he cursed, "It is because you depend on me so much that you can't get strong."

Aiden was about to say something but didn't get the chance. Mraz continued, "As long as your soul gets devoured, there is nothing I can do."

"The will of a dead Chenoo might not be a problem for me, but the innate spell of the elf was enough to give me a hard time. It is you who needs to get stronger. As long as you can resist, I will be able to help you. So get stronger."

For the next few moments, none of them talked. Mraz continued to seal the seed of the Oglit while Aiden continued to repair the obelisk.

Aiden did not remember how long had passed when the obelisk glowed again and produced mana that filled his body again. However, Aiden realized another problem.

"Why is my entire body burning?" Aiden frowned, not understanding what was happening inside his body.

"It's not your body," Mraz explained, "it's your mana channels. As you had used the mana of the Oglit, it had wounded your mana channel. However, don't worry, it will soon return to normal."

Even if Mraz had said that the more the mana flowed through the mana channels, the more unbearable it was becoming.

"Using the mana leaves this kind of side-effect. So try to avoid using it in the future. If you don't want to destroy your mana channels."

Aiden nodded and looked at the obelisk, "Why does it look a little longer? It isn't just that, even the amount of the mana had increased."

"The obelisk is the same. It just looks bigger. I just put a few extra seals on the seed," said Mraz. "And for the excess amount of mana, it is because the surrounding mana has increased."

"Could it be because of the gate to the other plane?" That is the only reason Aiden could think of.

"Yes. But you should get outside. I think he wants to talk about something."

"He?" Aiden could guess who it was.

"Ahhhh…" The pain almost overwhelmed his consciousness. He felt that there wasn't a single cell in his body that wasn't screaming in pain.

"Hope you can learn your lesson from this," Mraz added before he fell silent again.

"Did you wake up?" Charak asked as he checked Aiden's body.

Aiden nodded. He gritted his teeth and pulled his body up. He took a deep breath and looked around to find Robin was strapped in one of the seats.

"How is he?" asked Aiden.

"His breathing had stabilized. The bleeding had stopped." Charak sighed, "Without proper pieces of equipment, it will be hard to know. But I think he is out of danger."

Aiden put his hand on Robin's forehead and confirmed that there was no anomaly in his body. He asked again, "How long I have been unconscious?"

"Around ten hours." Charak pointed at the screen, "if there is no problem, it will take about 42 hours to reach the spaceport."