Another world, Celeste

Chapter Twenty Four, pt 2

I repeat to myself. "Precision and slowly. Don't rush."

And so without delaying it any further, commencing the extraction of black mana from the corrupted core of the king of Lion Pride.

Roy is already on standby to respond for any sudden changes in the black mana's movement. With the wand pointing at the shaved part, I gather mana and compressed it to form a beam of thin light magic and the white lion wince but does not groan upon contact. Solely relying on the displayed heat sensor on the translucent screen as my eyes, I can see the light beam point of entry. Once the beam pierced through the skin, I activate 'Serenity' again and effectively altering its form into a drill; swirling around the light beam, easing the inflicted pain towards the white lion as a replacement for anaesthetic. This is something I come up with when we discussed reducing the risk of rapid decline in heart rate when the white lion could no longer bear with the pain due to the prolonging procedure.

The dome is filled in utter silence except the irregular timing from the sound of the white lion groaning which is a sign I interpreted as a need of readjusting the light beam's course slightly and increasing the effect of swirling 'Serenity'. I don't know how much time has passed as I keep going until the light beam reaches the halfway point. That's when things become harder. The closer the light beam is to the corrupted core, the more the white lion is visibly in agony. Not only that, I'm almost at my limit too. My hand holding the wand is starting to shake and my sight is getting unfocused either from the sweat sliding down from my forehead or eye strain. I cannot tell anymore. If having immeasurable mana is my strong point, my physical endurance which is slightly above average, to begin with, is now raised with continuous training but still not enough according to Lorelai, Roy and even Mint. Seriously, what do they expect from me?

Roy clasp my shoulder without much force. "Keep up a little more."

Apart from relaying a word of encouragement, I feel a surge of mana coming from my left shoulder where Roy currently places his hand. Thanks to the mana transfer, it feels reinvigorating and my head is feeling clearer. I guess what I felt is kind of like mana exhaustion but at the same time, it's not. Though I am juggling multiple magic simultaneously for an unknown period so maybe it is already to the point of mana exhaustion. What about taking a really quick break and taking a restorative potion or how about asking Roy to open up a bottle of restorative potion for me? Unfortunately, I can't move my hand nor take my eyes away, else it'll cause the beam to deviate and cause internal bleeding or something. Sadly there are no such things as convenient as a straw at the moment. Why couldn't I think of making a bundle of straws before this? Without knowing the real reason as to why I'm suddenly frowning, Roy begins talking about his travels to prevent the weariness from recurring. Despite my lack of response, I am listening to him. After some more time passes, I take a quick glance at the translucent screen and sees that the light beam is finally entering the brightest hue zone where the target for extraction is detected. Almost there.

But, I hit a wall.

As expected, something is blocking the outer layer of the corrupted core. On the displayed heat sensor, at the edge of the brightest hue is being discoloured to a deeper shade which means the black mana is revealing itself due to the unexpected intrusion of the light beam.

"What now?" I ask after reporting the situation.

"In the meantime, probe around it. I expected this might happen and called for someone more proficient with the delicacy of magic to help."

There's nowhere to probe since the light beam's movement is limited and just when the beam is slightly wavering from my loosening grip of the wand, I hear the voice of my saviour.

"Your magic is derailing. Pull back a little and readjust the light to the left by 0.3."

Lord Sol tighten my loosening grip with his hand. I readjust the beam according to Lord Sol's direction.

"Well done." 

Lord Sol strokes my head as he praises.

My mouth quivers and I cry out in relief. "What took you so long?! I'm exhausted to the brink of death here."

"You must still have a lot of strength left to exaggerate like that." Lord Sol dismisses it quickly.

I'm being honest here!