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“Sevi’s age?” he echoed.

“You think it’s common to unlock mana for grown-ups like you, Captain?” Only then did Mayer’s face ease up a little. I added in a grumbling tone, “Besides, adults don’t entrust themselves to support mages like me. They prefer wind or ice mages. I hear they’re good at catching the flow of magic or something? In the sense that mana is formed of lines, lightning mages are favored too.”

“But of all the mages I have seen, you are the best when it comes to handling magic.”

“I think the same.”

Any mage could open a mana circuit. Yet, since I could figure out the progress numerically, I was capable of a little more precise control. This was why I could affirm myself as the only one in Nochtentoria Castle who could manage Mayer’s explosive mana. Using Axion as an example, despite being the best mage of Nochtentoria, he was far from precise. Truth be told, as someone overflowing with magical power, he likely did not need to bother honing his control skills. As we talked, my mana steadily widened his circuit, spreading throughout his body until it finally reached his core. It was time to start picking at his mana and pull it out through the circuits I had unblocked. It was the most difficult task. I murmured to Mayer, “Now, enough with the chatter… It’s going to be a bit hard on you.”

“I can endure.”

“I hope so.” I grinned and pulled at Mayer’s mana according to the pulse of his heartbeat, little by little. It wasn’t an easy feat, somewhat like carrying a huge water tank on one’s shoulder. I had to control the flow of trickling water while withstanding its weight. It was like sculpting a tiny object while focusing on one’s fingertips. The slightest mistake would end everything.

It was a long, nerve-wracking moment where I forgot to even breathe. Cold sweat ran down my forehead. I wasn’t the only one under stress. If I was the person carrying the water tank, Mayer was the tank itself. His body was burdened in equal proportion to his powerful and abundant mana. It wasn’t a good feeling to experience one’s blood vessels expanding and contracting indefinitely on their own. It was a different pain from feeling suffocated and short of breath. Even he wouldn’t find it easy to endure. Mayer let out a low groan and, as time passed, his body began to twitch and twist. He looked strangled as he tried to clutch at his heart, but I hastily stopped him. “You mustn’t.”

Mayer’s hand cut through the air to grab my shoulder instead. His grip was so strong that I felt a wrenching pain, akin to being squeezed by a presser. He pulled me and pinned me to the bed, and my vision turned over. “Kagh!”

I hurriedly checked if my hands were still joined with his as it would have been terrible if I had let go. Not only would my efforts so far have been vain, but his disordered mana would also lose its way and run amok. Thankfully, our hands were still linked and my mana maintained its connection as well. I sighed in relief.

“Haah, haah…” Mayer gasped for breath above me, his face twisted in pain. Golden eyes glazed over while his torso shook from his wild respiration. The hot breath touching my lips infected me with his fever. Darn! I couldn’t afford to lose my head too. I did everything to keep hold of my rationality, but seconds later his body fell over mine. I couldn’t prevent a grunt from coming out. At least he wasn’t wearing armor.

Mayer’s condition was too serious to blame him for his carelessness. He buried his face in the bed with clenched teeth, sweating bullets. Didn’t I tell him it’d be hard? I clicked my tongue and tried to get out from beneath him, but I couldn’t make his 100kg body budge no matter what I did. In the end, I had no choice but to ask him to move, even though he wasn’t in his right mind. “Uh… Captain?”

“Kuugh…” His clenched teeth ground against each other in an audible, ferocious manner. It was clear that he was swallowing back his pain and wasn’t in the state to communicate.