Chapter 78: A Strange Energy
With light, joyous leaps, young Albert trod away, his face beaming with absolute satisfaction after achieving his greatest childhood dream: obtaining his very first true friend in this cold world. He began to eat his ice cream with immense happiness, filled with pride for his new title, not yet comprehending the sheer danger it carried.
Amelia turned and continued on her path with calm steps, though her small mind surged with a tempest of thoughts and analyses. She did not know why, when that child had asked her to form a group, a sudden urge had stirred within her to make him feel distinguished and valued... but she quickly shook the thought away; this was not the time for distraction.
She had to go to Roger now and uncover the truth.
Amelia approached with extreme caution until she stood at point-blank range from his body lying in the darkness. She squatted down with fluid flexibility and extended her two small fingers to press gently on Roger’s carotid artery, first to verify whether he was still alive or had indeed departed this life.
The pulse was there, but it was incredibly weak, sunken to critical levels. It was not a normal weakness or a disturbance arising from mere physical exhaustion; rather, the pulse behaved in a terrifying, surreal manner—surging with a sudden, raging spike in one second, then instantly plunging to the depths of lethargy and stillness the next, as if fading away.
Amelia’s eyes widened in astonishment as Roger’s hands suddenly began to twitch with intermittent spasms, before falling limp and resting once more on the ground, completely powerless to move.
Amelia attempted to extend her spiritual energy through his jugular vein to permeate his body and examine him with greater precision, but in the end, she was still trapped in the body of a weak girl who had not yet reached [The Gap] stage; how could she possibly breach the natural defense of a body that had been at the Prince Level?
Yet the pride of the Empress within her refused to surrender. She gritted her teeth and tried to summon and channel more and more of her spiritual energy... and just as she felt absolute helplessness due to her meager magical reserves, she suddenly remembered that magical ice cream crafted by her father Cain’s hands and presented to her moments ago!
That ice cream had been charged with her father’s pure, magical aura and energy.
’If that is the case... I can use it as a rare elixir and digest it immediately!’
Amelia did so without hesitation, employing one of the advanced, secret elixir-absorption techniques she had mastered in her past life—a technique that allowed her body to absorb seventy percent of an elixir’s pure effect all at once.
However, what occurred after activating the technique transcended all her expectations!
The moment the ice cream began to digest in her stomach, she noticed that the process of absorbing the latent magical energy within it was proceeding with a seamless, miraculously astonishing speed, the likes of which she had never witnessed in her entire past life.
In the science of alchemy, a master elixir-crafter is not measured solely by their ability to fuse ingredients, but by their ability to make the elixir completely absorbable with the highest possible efficiency, without leaving behind impurities that harm the mana channels. Though this delicious treat seemed like mere "ice cream," the method of its spiritual refinement and the magical craftsmanship that went into its creation were beyond description... It was, without a doubt, the absolute best!
The energy surged with incredible smoothness into Amelia’s body, allowing her to direct this massive, additional burst of mana through her fingers directly into Roger’s collapsed body before her.
’Wait... Did I bypass the barrier of [The Gap] and reach him this easily thanks to the ice cream’s energy?!’ She was gripped by astonishment for a few moments before her energy finally pierced Roger’s body, reaching his magical core to inspect it fully.
But as she sensed his core, her expression shifted into utter bewilderment: "His... his magical core has been completely burned!"
She had never anticipated this scenario. A mage who goes as far as burning their own magical core, depleting their very life essence in such a suicidal manner, is certainly someone who has faced an absolute life-or-death situation—a situation that left him no choice but to sacrifice his entire magical future to survive.
A hundred questions leaped into her mind... Who had driven him to this? And how did he survive?
Amelia noticed a minute detail; his core was burned and shattered, yet it still pulsed with extreme slowness, like an ember beneath the ashes. In other words, he was in dire, critical need of a directed pulse of clean, external energy to regain consciousness and stabilize his body.
Amelia wanted to give him that life-saving burst of energy, but doubt and caution stayed her hand; in the world of magic, poisoning and betraying via mana transfer and passing impurities were among the most famous methods to eliminate rivals. Transferring energy to a body in this state could expose her to a devastating magical backlash or a hidden energy trap that might claim her small consciousness.
She wondered to herself with bitterness: ’Is it naive of me to trust him and risk myself for his sake?’
But when her eyes fell once more upon the warm jade pendant resting on her chest, she felt a sudden flood of reassurance and safety—as if her father, Cain, were standing directly behind her, spreading his absolute wing of protection over her against any treachery in this world.
All she needed was to exercise extreme caution and regulate the flow of mana precisely.
With tense fingers that trembled slightly, she placed her small hand on his shoulder and began to concentrate deeply, moving her energy to slip softly and firmly into his still body.
After a minute of continuous flow... Roger’s hand began to shake more violently, and his inert body, which had resembled a corpse moments ago, began to witness a clear revival of vitality.
But suddenly... the blood froze in Amelia’s veins. She felt that something was completely wrong!
An aura of the "star element" began to manifest and seep from Roger’s body, but it was no ordinary aura; its density and power were far higher than the standard aura produced by users of this element.
After intense, close spiritual examination, Amelia was shocked to discover that this emitted stellar aura was stronger and purer than even the star element cultivated and refined through the legendary, forbidden stellar technique!
It was merely a minute remnant of energy clinging to his battered body, yet its geometric and magical composition was so incredibly advanced and complex that Amelia—with all her experience as a former Empress—had never seen anything like it in her entire life!
In the science of magic, the best way to analyze and decode any unknown technique is to search for the three fundamental, initial principles upon which the star element was built and from which all other complexities branched.
Amelia attempted to dismantle this element, searching for any link or thread connecting it to those three principles... but she found nothing! It was as if this energy, despite its appearance, did not belong to the star element known to the world at all!
"How... how is this possible?!"
She whispered in disbelief, preparing to swiftly pull her hands back to retreat from this terrifying mystery...
But, in a fraction of a second...
The hand of the fallen Roger moved with lightning speed, clamping like a talon and grabbing her small wrist with firm, unyielding strength!
At that moment, every alarm of danger and death flared within Amelia’s mind and body, and her survival instinct ignited into absolute high alert!