A few hours later, after observing the rotary mechanism on top of the lighthouse, Zephyr came back to the room to find a method to destroy it.
'A bomb it is…' He muttered while sitting inside the room in the tower.
'Similar to an LED bulb, the crystal lamp emits light by exciting its internal structures with mana. For that, it stores mana during the daytime. But the moment the light in its surroundings decreases, it senses the change and begins to emit the light with the stored mana.'
'Simply put, it does mana to light conversion through something I can't exactly understand.'
Zephyr could deduce some facts and find similarities between the technology of this world and his previous world. However, without confirming with further testing, he didn't dare say he knew the exact mechanism it used.
'Even then, I'm pretty sure the crystal is storing mana and steadily releasing it to generate light.'
'So, the next plan is to take out the steady part while making the entire thing unstable…practically a bomb.'
'From the looks of it, the base that rotated stabilized the giant crystal. The thing I should target is the base. But it is too big…'
The base was made out of pure iron. It was coated in some anticorrosive oil to function properly. So, it was still in pristine condition.
Destroying it like he had done with the weather forecasting artifact is not possible, unless he has more cores of mana.
Suddenly, he remembered something.
'Can I use the mana in the crystal to cast the spell?'
Till now, he had been thinking about using his mana to do everything. But he was missing a big point.
Absolute mana control. His trait.
'I don't have to use my mana.' A sudden revelation came his way.
The crystal does not have consciousness. It will not resist when he tries to mobilize the mana.
'So, if I can use the mana stored in it, I could cast a big enough spell to melt the stabilization runes on the base.'
'But doing so would make the crystal release all its energy in a few seconds.'
'At that time, it won't just be light that would come out of it.'
Zephyr expected an explosion. An explosion big enough to rock the entire lighthouse.
At that time, if he couldn't escape fast enough, he would also explode with everything else.
'I would have to take on the job of stabilizing the mana the moment the base loses its function.' Zephyr noted in his mind.
'The third mechanism in the tower that serves the secret function must also be somehow connected to the stabilizing base and the crystal.'
As his thoughts flowed, he suddenly paused. Once again, he realized how stupid he was.
"Damn me…"
"Am I an idiot in this life? How could I miss that?"
The door to everything he needed was already wide open. He just had to step through it.
"Why should I destroy it first?" Suddenly, an idea sprouted in his mind.
Zephyr was so focused on destroying the lighthouse and signaling the storm tower that he almost missed what was right in front of him.
"Just make more cores, Zephyr. Just make more."
There was an upper limit to the mana he could absorb from the atmosphere. Similarly, the mental strain it put on him as he absorbed mana and created new cores was also considerable.
But the lighthouse was giving him free mana.
The crystal was like a giant mana battery.
Normally, a mage would have struggled to absorb the mana in it. But with absolute mana control, he would be able to do it.
"Just make more cores. Why think when you can just make more cores?"
Zephyr smiled as he stood up.
The thunderstorm had softened a bit. Though it was still raining, the wind and lightning seemed to have decreased.
In a few hours, the day would end. With no ambient light, the crystal would activate and use up the mana within.
'I need to act fast.' Zephyr decided promptly.
Once the decision had been made, he swiftly climbed up to the top of the lighthouse and stepped into the enclosure holding the concave mirror and the giant crystal.
The crystal was almost as tall as he and was shaped like an egg.
He looked at the translucent, murky white crystal for a moment before sitting next to it.
Then he raised his palm and touched it.
'Hm…'
Immediately, he felt warm.
Contrary to what he expected, the crystal was warm.
Zephyr closed his eyes and focused.
Following the warmth, he tried to sense the mana hiding within it.
Just as he expected, he immediately felt a tremendous amount of mana within. The mana was soft and warm like a sunny day. It reminded him of the spring.
The mana, like an amorphous substance, was floating around the center of the crystal.
Even with his eyes closed, because of the proximity and direct contact, he could clearly visualize the movement of the mana.
'This trait is too overpowered.' He thought silently.
The new experience was truly shocking.
Silently calming down his excited heart, Zephyr began to channel the mana towards him.
'Now for the hard part.'
'I don't know how much I can absorb. But I still have to try to be as efficient as possible.'
The mana inside the crystal lamp was comparable to the mana of a beginner mage. From a simple estimate, Zephyr deduced it to be about 2000 or so cores worth of mana.
He wanted to gobble up everything.
However, he also knew he couldn't.
Transferring that much mana while forming new cores would be taxing. Even without inscribing runes, he would fail to absorb all of it. That is when you disregard the simple fact that all the mana it has will not be compatible with him.
After all, the mana he felt had a slight warmth to it.
Which must mean it had a slight affinity to fire or light elements.
To Zephyr, who was not an intermediate mage with elemental specialization, it would be akin to poison. So, he would have to avoid it and only absorb the purest mana from it.
That was going to be tricky.
Still, he was hopeful.
—
A few hours later, when the day was about to transition to night, two men carrying a sack appeared next to the lighthouse.
Zephyr, who was fully absorbed in forming the cores, failed to notice them.
So, after looking around and making sure no one was nearby, the men opened the sack and threw out the item inside.
The corpse fell onto the cold, hard stone floor near the tower with a thud.
The corpse was that of a familiar person. If Zephyr were here, he would have instantly recognized the person.