Chapter 89 : Chapter 89

Chapter 89

Eddie caught his breath as he was bathed in the sunlight pouring through the clouds.

With every breath, beads of sweat dripped from the tip of his chin.

It wasn't sweat from being hot or from vigorous physical activity.

A cold sweat from enduring the pain covered his entire body.

The cool breeze that blew with the sunlight cooled it down.

'It's been a while since I've been in the sun.'

Since returning from the field trip, Eddie hadn't been able to walk around outside during the day due to circumstances.

Moreover, even when he came to the Pantheon, he couldn't see the sun.

This place was on the vast open sea, far from the continent.

Among them, it was the infamous 'Black Sea' with the worst climate and dark clouds that lingered 365 days a year.

Living up to its name, the sky that Eddie had split was quickly restored to its original state.

Still, thanks to the brief exposure to sunlight and wind, he felt a little refreshed, and his energy quickly recharged.

And in fact, the continuous pain wasn't all bad.

'How long has it been since I've been this focused on magic?'

What Eddie needed most right now was a clear mind.

Thanks to pushing his body to its limits and focusing only on training, his mind was completely empty.

His head was on the verge of exploding from the sheer amount of information he had obtained from the Valcon ruins investigation and thereafter.

But as he challenged his limits, his stray thoughts were naturally pushed back.

Both his worries and emotional turmoil were washed away and subsided by the current hardship and pain.

"Hoo……."

At the renewed throbbing pain, Eddie took a deep breath.

The 6th-star spell still hurt enough to make him gasp.

But it was bearable if he just controlled his breathing well.

Eddie, who was taking a deep breath, turned his head and looked at the Pantheon's laboratory.

By now, the enchanted chalks must be busy organizing information on the laboratory's blackboard.

Even if he focused only on magic outside like this, when he returned to the laboratory, he could devise a plan again with that organized information.

It was the same in his past life, but the Pantheon was a very comfortable space even now.

Eddie resolved to clean the laboratory's belongings well on this occasion, and once again, he cleared his head and readjusted his grip on the wand.

His wand's handle and decorations were already tattered.

The leather was worn and torn where his hand touched it.

And the tassel decoration had already snapped and flown off somewhere.

Now, except for having a handle, it looked similar to his past life's wand, 'Calea.'

Perhaps because of that, a desire to challenge himself flared up in Eddie's heart.

'Continuous use of 7th-star… wouldn't it be worth a try?'

One could not become a great mage by simply using high-power magic once or twice.

Continuously, tenaciously.

Only when one could wield powerful magic as if it were a part of daily life could they be called a great mage.

It was a gateway to reach and surpass the level he had achieved in his past life.

Right now, Eddie could use all types, all attributes up to 5th-star in that way.

For 6th-star, all except for the most difficult non-attribute non-natural magic were possible.

He wondered if he could do the same with 7th-star natural magic soon.

After catching his breath, Eddie slowly gathered his mana.

Among the 7th-star natural magics, the water attribute magic with the lowest difficulty.

It was 'Grandis-Fluctua,' which created a giant wave.

As the mana circle reacted, Rakan's claws also began to react.

The pain that naturally followed.

But this much was bearable.

It wasn't as painful as when he had tried the 6th-star non-attribute magic yet.

The tip of Eddie's wand wavered.

Mana gathered, regardless of whether it was his own or Rakan's.

But it was not yet decided which side would take the initiative of the gathered mana.

Rakan's mana began a power struggle with Eddie's mana circle.

And at the same time.

Thump-!

"Ugh…!"

As the clash of mana occurred, tremendous pain followed.

His heart rate quickened and his body temperature rose.

As a cold sweat broke out, the palm of his hand holding the wand became damp.

Eddie gritted his teeth and tightened his grip.

Then, with a trembling breath, he converted the mana in his body into magic power even faster.

At that, the clash of magic power intensified, and his whole body trembled with pain.

'Was it too much?'

As his breathing became ragged and his vision flickered, a sense of anxiety washed over him.

Eddie was about to withdraw his wand, thinking he should stop now.

But.

“……!”

The moment he changed his posture, his breathing was disrupted, and at the same time, Rakan's mana took over Eddie's mana circle.

And the next moment.

A Grandis-Fluctua of immense power was deployed from the tip of Eddie's wand.

"Cough……!"

Eddie dropped his wand and collapsed to the floor.

He had barely managed to turn the wand's direction right before the magic was deployed, making the application location inaccurate.

A magic with low accuracy has a drastically reduced power.

He had held on in the tug-of-war with Rakan's mana today as well.

But the price of that momentary concentration was enormous.

"Gasp… gasp…! Cough…!"

Eddie coughed painfully as he crawled on the floor.

He tasted blood every time he coughed, and the severe pain made it difficult to even breathe properly.

'7th-star will require more practice. It's still too much for me.'

Eddie, who was barely catching his breath, subdued his mana circle's reaction.

As the mana operation subsided, his flickering vision also gradually returned.

But.

Swoooooooosh-

There was an ominous noise coming from a distance.

'What's that?'

Eddie raised his head and looked straight ahead where the noise was coming from.

And his golden eyes soon widened in surprise.

Because he could see a giant wave approaching from a distance.

"No way! The mana was supposed to have dispersed?!"

Could it be that what was created with the dispersed mana was that big?

Even though the wave was far away, its enormous size could be felt.

If it hit properly, it would surely devastate the Pantheon.

Eddie gritted his teeth and stood up.

'I underestimated the Mana Beast King's mana too much.'

To have such power even after deliberately lowering the accuracy.

Aiming the tip of his wand at the wave, Eddie felt a sense of crisis that he was in big trouble, along with a thrilling sense of ecstasy.

He knew this was not the time, but as he saw room for himself to grow further, the corners of his mouth kept twitching.

Of course, the joy was in moderation.

Now was the time to clean up.

'Blocking it with magic again is dangerous. It's not an easy way to block it, but I have to destroy it with Launching.'

Just as Eddie was thinking that and about to gather his mana.

Screeeeeech-!

With a familiar bird cry, a blue shadow flew over Eddie's head.

"Bex!"

Eddie was surprised to see Bex flying towards the wave.

But he soon realized what he was trying to do as he saw him shimmering with a blue light.

Since Mystic was also a magical creature like a mana beast, its body glowing meant it was gathering its mana.

Bex was trying to help Eddie by crashing his own mana into the wave.

Screeeeeeeeech-!

The mana emitted with Bex's cry collided with the wave.

Boom-!

The center of the wave collapsed, and its overall power decreased, and Eddie did not miss that opportunity.

Eddie, who had given up his mana circle to Rakan's mana without resistance in order to gather as much power as possible.

The mana spewed out by Rakan's claws went berserk and burst out from the tip of Eddie's wand.

Bwoong-!

Although it was Launching, he swung his wand with a large motion.

At that, Rakan's mana dispersed widely and headed for the wave.

The density was low, but this was enough for now.

Boom-! Kaboom-! Boom-!

The wave collapsed in various places.

Its size, which had been on the verge of swallowing the Pantheon, collapsed and died down as it hit the cliff.

"Haaah……!"

Eddie finally let out a sigh of relief and lay down as he was.

A breathless pain washed over him belatedly, but he endured it with familiar breath control.

Screeeech- screech-!

Bex flew down and sat on his chest as he lay there.

Then he pecked at various places on Eddie's face with his beak, scolding him.

Eddie was in pain, but he couldn't bring himself to tell him to stop.

He would have been able to block it even if Bex hadn't come, but he would have fainted and been bedridden for days.

'How can you do the same thing as in your past life, even though you're living a second life? Grow up, for goodness sake!'

Eddie groaned as he took Bex's scolding to heart.

He was happy to have confirmed the power of the strength Rakan had given him, but if he showed it now, he felt like he would really be pecked until he cried.

Bex, who had been pecking for a while, shook his head and lowered his body.

The items in the leather bag tied around his neck were placed one by one next to Eddie's head.

Today's items were a letter from Leodimir and painkillers sent by Gail.

Perhaps they had anticipated the strain during the training.

"How do they know so well what an immature master needs…."

Eddie admired in a low voice and picked up the syringe containing the painkiller and injected it into his arm.

"Haaah……."

After the medicine went in, the pain gradually subsided.

His mind, which had become hazy with pain, also seemed to clear up a little.

'Without the painkillers, it would have been hard to even read the letter properly.'

Sighing softly, Eddie slowly read Leodimir's letter.

As if he knew Eddie wouldn't be coming out of the Pantheon for a while, the letter contained various contents.

The decisions of the final meeting of the investigation committee that had taken place today.

The public opinion war that Kirhausen had started to counter this side.

The respective reactions to the public opinion war.

And the current atmosphere within the academy, especially among the first-years.

Eddie read the detailed contents carefully and drew the current situation in his mind.

'I expected it, but it's a much more sensitive reaction, Furas von Kirhausen. Are you that afraid?'

It was a little unexpected.

To block his path to Leodimir before even figuring out his scheme.

He had prepared for it and even induced an international reaction, but he didn't expect him to ignore that and go on the defensive.

He thought that the path to leaving the current Kirhausen would not be as smooth as he thought.

But other than that, all the contents were satisfactory.

Joy was getting enough of her share of the spotlight in his absence.

Alexein was also continuing to take active actions to solidify his position as president.

It was a shame that it wasn't an action born from true leadership, but it wasn't bad.

At the very least, he had shaken off his laziness out of the anxiety of 'not being pushed back.'

Moreover, the fact that Joy was not reacting to what Alexein was doing and was concentrating only on her own student council work made Eddie even more satisfied.

It didn't seem like she would go back to confronting the nobles just because he wasn't watching.

'Thanks to that, I'll be able to observe the situation much more transparently.'

If this continued, people would start approaching Joy.

Among them, some would be interested in Joy, but there would also be indirect approaches to Eddie.

'Let's see who is the hidden collaborator of the current Kirhausen.'

Eddie's eyes reached the last line of the letter.

A short report that the order to monitor Hendricks had been carried out.

Other than that, Leodimir had not added any more unnecessary words.

It was as if he was hearing a consolation that there was nothing to worry about yet.

At that neat attitude, Eddie was once again grateful, and he got up and walked to the laboratory.

When he arrived at the laboratory with Bex, the chalk was already busily playing on the blackboard.

Eddie grabbed the chalk himself and stared at the blackboard for a moment.

Then he reached out and erased the date written in a square box on one side of the diagram.

The title of the square box was 'Academy Return Point.'

Eddie filled in the content with 'Immediately after the Westin Post interview' instead of a specific date.

Then he added a note in small letters below the square box.

[Negotiate the reporting time using Marcel as bait]

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