Chapter 6: The Royal Council (3)

~6.3~

*****

“What do you mean?” asked Alexandra Romanov.

Kye glanced at Alethea, who nodded in approval. She then glanced at her mother. “It’s time.”

“So long as you are ready for them to know. It is your business to share.”

“24,985,615. Would anyone care to take a guess as to what that number represents?”

Alexandra took a shot right away. “You said your age exceeds all of ours combined a thousand times over. That number doesn’t cover three of us, so my guess is lives.” Kye nodded, and Alexandra began to mumble. “With an average lifespan of seventy years, that’s what is normal for humans excluding those of us that are long-lived... that’s a little shy of two billion. But that also isn’t enough to cover your claim.”

“Heh.” Kye nodded and began explaining about her past lives, Aether Drive, Mana Burst, and the spells she used in the battle. She left out her average lifespan so that the council could not guess her age.

There’s no point in telling them how long I’ve been transmigrating with the purpose of describing my age. My first life was far longer, and I don’t even know how long.

“The beast was so powerful that even with Aether Drive, I still needed more. Aether Drive is powerful in its own right, but I can take it further. Long ago, I created a technique I call Mana Burst. I had to use both in tandem to compete with that beast.”

She coughed as she finished her sentence and briefly tasted iron in her mouth, but nothing was on her hand.

Is that...?

“What exactly are the effects of each?” asked Ginchiyo.

“Mana Drive and Aether Drive are abilities collectively listed under the skill Drive. They compress mana and aether, respectively. Compression is a sure way to increase output in short bursts. I do that all the time in small amounts. It’s very hard to do manually and can be dangerous if not handled properly, so it’s best to do compressions in short bursts only or not at all. Drive is a system skill, so it can be trained and mastered as with any other skill. I’ll write documentation on how to achieve it later.”

She coughed again. This time she felt blood on her hand.

Am I sick?

She shook her head, hiding the blood in her hand, but earning a look of suspicion from each of her guardians and a look of concern from Alethea, and continued. “As for Mana Burst... I didn’t put it in the system, so it can’t be performed with system assistance. And I have never taught it to anyone. The technique is dangerous. It hyper-compresses mana and outputs it out in a split second. I have to do all of the calculations manually. A mistake with mana compression at low degrees is harmful. The more compression, the more deadly it become. Stacking Drive and Burst together is... wel... a mistake being lethal is putting it lightly. As such I will not explain further or provide instruction on the technique.”

“What is the danger exactly?” asked James Marshall, another founder, and Kye’s great-grandfather on her mother’s mother’s side.

Kye glanced around at the council members to gauge their reaction to the question. Aside Allison, Alethea, and her attendants, everyone present was giving off a look that said they didn’t understand the danger. “The link between body and soul is key. The body will die if that link is severed completely. Mana comes from the soul, and that link is how it moves from the soul to the body. This is common knowledge, yes?”

“Yes. That much is taught in grade school,” Atalante answered.

“For someone like me who has reincarnated so many times, the soul’s mana capacity is astronomical, but with each life comes a new body that must be conditioned to handle more and more at a time. I’ve done quite well to improve my current body so much, but I’m still a long way off from standing among the top-tier people in this world in terms of output.”

“But in terms of capacity?”

“I have... enough.” Kye shook her head and continued. “The link between body and soul can be compromised by compression. Only so much can go through the link at once. The basic concept of compression is to push out more in the same amount of space. It’s like the air in a chip bag. The bag takes up so much space, even though the bag isn’t completely filled with chips. Compression is like a bag that is filled to the brim. You get more chips in the same space. That doesn’t sound very dangerous, and it’s really not that bad. The danger comes when you try to fit dozens or hundreds of bags into the space of one. If the mana uncompresses inside the link, it will damage the link. Too much and it gets severed.”

“And death,” said Alethea.

“Such a technique would be invaluable in the war effort on Daemonheim,” said Apollyon. “Is there no way for even our elite soldiers to learn it safely?”

“There’s no way for you to learn it safely.”

“What?” “That’s insane!” “Do you realize who you’re speaking to?”

Kye sighed. “Why ask that? What purpose does that question serve beyond irritating the person it’s directed to? Obviously I know who I’m speaking to. If you want to play that nobility crap, I’m a royal heir and I JUST TOLD YOU that I am the very creator of the world system. I’m the last person you should speak childishly with, Kolodka Romanov.”

Alexandra slapped her grandson. “There is no place for such words in this room. Either mind your attitude or challenge her to a duel. I suggest you do not do the latter.”

Several others around the table sighed, Astraia and Alethea giggled, and Kye simply shrugged.

“Getting back on topic...” She took a deep breath and released her mana at normal output, startling most of the present company. She looked back at Apollyon. “Let’s say I teach you the skill. To use it even one time, you must manually compress your mana by however much you need, then pull it through from your soul to your body. You are in the midst of battle, and you take a hit. You lose focus for only a moment, but that moment is costly. The mana you were manually compressing expands instantly and destroys your soul link. You are now dead.”

Some were not satisfied with that answer aline. “What if we do not make such a mistake?”

“I would still recommend learning Mana Drive and Aether Drive instead. Those are in the system and are much easier and safer to learn, though they themselves are neither easy nor safe. The only use for Mana Burst is to provide a boost on top of another boost. The mana consumption with using both at once becomes very extreme very quickly. At worst, the slightest mistake is death. At best, you run out of mana in mere seconds. The body needs mana to live, and if you have none... death. This technique is not feasible for mortals. I can use it safely because I have the capacity to do so. You don’t.”

With the gravity of the technique explained, the only question anyone had was about Kye’s own mana capacity to pull off a trick like that.

“I see no point in handing out a number that large, so suffice it to say I have the capacity to use that technique hundreds of times with Aether Drive in the span of a few minutes without risking Mana Exhaustion.”

*****

“Did you see that?” asked Doran. He and Michelle were walking around the campus together and saw Astarte, Kye, and company on the ground floor of the lab building through a window. “Of all people, why is Lady Astarte doing leading them?”

“I bet she’s taking them to the council meeting.”

They shared a nod and hurried back to the dorms to meet with the others.

“The council meeting?” Danielle asked. “You think?”

“Yeah,” Doran said. “Recall the battle yesterday. Kye and Alethea participated. They were the ones doing those enormous spells.”

Elizabeth was annoyed. “How could they hide such power?” She bit her nail and pictured Kye in her mind. “I never stood a chance against her.”

“Everyone has their secrets,” Michelle said.

“I imagine they didn’t want to show off to that degree,” Danielle said. “Or perhaps theres a limitation on the power they exhibited.”

Doran and Michelle sighed and said, “Things are going to get complicated.”

*****

Revision: 11-30-2023