Chapter 57
The group arrived in the dark forest, the three of them walking together. Ezra, as always straightforward, said, "You could still protect him using your mana."
Lucas ignored him for a moment.
They were already deep inside the forest, surrounded by towering trees that seemed to whisper among themselves.
Their branches stretched high into the sky, covering the land so densely that sunlight barely managed to slip through.
Looking up, Lucas finally said, "Because I don't want to waste my mana. I already told you. If we carried Aris, that would mean I'd have to protect him with my mana since he's weak, and moving at full speed would consume a lot of it. That alone would drain at least half of my mana. I also told you to carry him, but your prideful ass didn't want to."
Aris, already bored, said, "You know, guys, I'm right here." He sounded clearly annoyed. "I may be blind, but I'm not deaf, so could you both stop talking about how weak I am?"
Ezra chuckled. "That's the whole point of talking about it, to show that your weakness is slowing us down."
Aris snapped back angrily, "What the fuck is wrong with you? Is being strong all that matters? Just wait and see, I'm going to become the greatest swordsman."
Ezra smiled. "Who said you're going to survive the Mana Core Development Project?"
Filled with anger, Aris shouted, "I'm going to survive, even if it kills me!"
Ezra chuckled. "You're right about the killing part."
Lucas ignored them both.
His focus was on his mana sense as he searched for the best location.
They had now entered the inner core of the forest, where the four Saint Class beasts lived.
He could feel their presences scanning him and his companions as they continued forward.
The deeper they went, the less sunlight entered the forest.
If not for the glowing plants and luminous rocks scattered around, the place would have been pitch black.
Most normal beasts had been removed or controlled to never leave the inner core.
Before any other beast could come to greet them, a massive figure appeared.
One of the great bosses had revealed itself.
A huge tiger stood before them.
It was about one hundred meters away, yet even from that distance its size was overwhelming.
It stood ten meters tall, with white fur and black stripes, and its body was twice as wide as it was tall.
Its blue eyes locked onto Lucas, who stood calmly at the front, smiling.
The two behind him stopped arguing instantly. Fear washed over them as they felt the pressure of a mana core higher than theirs.
One of the Saint Class beasts, the White Tiger.
Saint Class beasts were powerful, capable of creating unique spells of their own.
However, they knew that if they faced a human who had also reached Saint Class head-on, they would lose.
They were ranked Saint Class because they were stronger than Moon Class beings, but a Saint would always win in a direct confrontation.
The reason was simple: the primitive cultivation methods beasts used made them weaker when it came to spellcasting.
While they were physically stronger than most, but compared to Eleanor, they were little more than teenagers.
Humans, with their vast knowledge of spells and variations of common magic, made battles especially difficult for beasts.
The beasts rarely had a true winning chance.
Even so, Saint Class beasts were still stronger than most, and there were even some Moon Class individuals capable of defeating them if they played their cards right.
Lucas looked relaxed, while the two behind him were tense, especially Aris, the weakest among them, whose body trembled uncontrollably.
😡 "What brings you humans into my territory?" The voice echoed directly in their minds through telepathy, filled with anger.
😁 Lucas smiled widely. "Well, I wanted to sign a summoning contract with you."
Silence fell.
The beast suddenly opened its mouth, and in a single microsecond covered the distance as it lunged toward Lucas, jaws wide open, aiming to kill him. "Don't make me laugh."
Lucas smiled, remembering how painful it had been that he needed long chants to cast his strongest defense, which had led to his defeat against Ezra.
That was why he had begun using sealing spells to store magic for later use.
For others, breaking a seal would take at least a minute, sometimes even longer.
But for Lucas, whose mana control had reached levels no one else had ever achieved, the stronger he became, the more he became one with mana itself.
If measured numerically, his control would exceed 1000%.
Breaking the seal for his Astral Mode spell didn't even take a microsecond.
The moment the tiger reached him, a cyan mana cloak wrapped around Lucas like a second skin.
The tiger froze mid-attack.
The two behind him witnessed everything.
Aris wasn't shocked, having seen it before, but Ezra realized Lucas had been holding back during their fight.
Anger surged within him as the overwhelming presence of the mode rippled outward.
The grass turned greener.
Trees grew faster.
Mana in the surroundings became richer.
Lucas was using what he called force, preventing the beast from moving. He raised his hand, and a ball of energy began forming.
As it stabilized, its colors shifted: purple, then gold, then white.
Finally, it solidified into a white sphere.
Creating it alone consumed nearly 80% of his mana.
The power within that single orb stretched and sharpened, transforming into a katana.
Lucas grasped it.
The blade glowed blue, matching the cyan cloak surrounding him, as he looked toward the incoming beasts rushing to protect their king.
"I didn't want to do this," he said calmly, "but I really need to test this power."
His hand moved in a single, simple swing. The motion was slow enough for everyone to follow, yet—
A massive shockwave erupted in the direction of the strike, destroying everything within a fifty-meter-wide path.
The ground split open, forming a massive gash fifty meters wide, five meters deep, and nearly one hundred meters long.
Trees were gone.
Land was gone.
Beasts were gone.
In the dark forest, where sunlight rarely touched the ground, light now poured in unobstructed for a hundred meters.
"If I had tried that on you, you would've died," Lucas said as he was forced out of Astral Mode. It had consumed more mana than he possessed. At that moment, he felt like he might die, but he showed no sign of it.
Blood began wanting to come from his mouth.
Everything around him was frozen in shock, a single question echoing silently:
Is this still power that a human can possess?
The answer would never be spoken.
And once Lucas gained enough mana through his Mana Beast Creation Project, he would finally be able to fully release the power he truly possessed.