Another world, Celeste

Chapter Twenty Four

Pat, pat, pat... huuu

That's the sound of me patting my cheeks and exhaling loudly to get most of the edginess out of me. It's just me and the white lion inside the man-made dome; brightly lit by a floating orb. We can't move the white lion from the Pride Rock-looking boulder due to its greatly weakened condition. I'm also maintaining 'Serenity' since it's the only thing keeping the white lion heavily sedated, which also miraculously helps slows down the corrupted core from diminishing the white lion's life force. I had to confirm the diagnostic several times in case there isn't any mistake. You see, Diagnosis is an extension of recovery magic that is also arguably a variant of the Appraisal skill. What sets those two apart is that the result of the diagnosis is dependent on the person's comprehension of medical knowledge while Appraisal doesn't require any form of prerequisite knowledge. Moreover, unlike Appraisal, Diagnosis is much harder to attain but healers are a profession where one doesn't stop learning, so it's not impossible.

Ah! I'm straying again. Anyways, it's really helpful to have Diagnosis for extreme and delicate cases like this. With the newfound result, I devise a loose plan on how to extract black mana from the white lion's corrupted core without causing further damage to it, though there are still other major risk factors that need to be considered by proceeding with the extraction procedure. One prominent issue would be locating the core within the white lion's body. A core like the heart, is a vital essence where mana absorbs, discharge and flows within us and it is very delicate. As such, the core is treated as a second heart to the beings of this fantasy world. Nonetheless, if I do manage to find the corrupted core, one wrong move could cause a crack and the core will break which in turn end the white lion's life. That's when Roy comes up with a thought-out plan while looking a bit smug. His plan involves my talent in mana perception and fusing two different types of light magic for the black mana extraction. Needless to say, the plan is untested and unsafe but luckily for the white lion, with some ingenuity, I might just make it work.

Okay. Let's check the preparation one more time.

Isolate the white lion king with a strengthened earth dome, check.

Coat the interior wall of the dome with a layer of purification spell, good.

Reinforced the dome's exterior with multiple defensive barriers, that's easily done.

Move the Lion Pride away from the isolation area, hmm, I ask the lioness earlier for its cooperation, just in case, the lions won't listen to the keepers.

It's hard to know what's happening outside the earth dome but judging by the muted noises; the current state outside seems to be hectic. Glad I'm not out there right now where Roy is having to explain things, at least I think that's what he's doing, but I'm a little apologetic to the keepers and guards for adding the unplanned extra work to their busy schedule. What else do I need to check? The most important as Lord Sol repeatedly emphasised is inspecting the thin layer of protective light barrier currently wrapped around my body. Let's double the protective barrier since this is my first time being directly in contact with black mana. My body temporarily shimmers as I cast the spell. I love that part; every time it makes me feel like I'm sprinkling fairy dust onto myself.

I nod in satisfaction. "Okay. Everything's ready on my end."

Then a sigh escapes from me after realising something. I can imagine Lord Sol complimenting me for activating spells consecutively but that's beside the point.

"Why do I have to do the heavy work?"

Grumbling because of the lack of helping hands. After we finish discussing the plan for the black mana extraction, Roy one-sidedly pushes the task of setting up a temporary containment site to me.

"How do you expect me to do that?!"

I exclaim in bewilderment over the suddenness of the important task.

Roy casually replies before walking down from the boulder. "As long as it's sustained with light magic, anything goes."

And that's how I roughly built the earth dome despite the ambiguity with the way Roy phrases that response.

Haa... forget it and move on.

I look toward the white lion and sit down beside him. Taking out a flask from the item bag and replenishing my energy by drinking an iced peach tea. The refreshing taste of peach spread inside my mouth and down my throat but it's difficult to enjoy it like this. In the meantime, instead of doing nothing while not knowing when Roy is going to come back up here, let's do a preliminary scan whilst the white lion's condition is presently steady before it begins showing signs of declining state.

Alright, first is activating mana signature and concentrate solely on the white lion's mana presence while excluding anything else that can hinder my concentration. Next step is to locate where that annoying sensation, I'm referring to the black mana, is emitting inside the white lion instead of blindly searching for the corrupted core and waste precious time. The white lion's mana signature is the same colour as its chalky white fur and you'd think finding a black speck is going to be easy then I'd shake my head in unfortunate silence. So far, I only ever use mana signature for observational purposes from afar and this would be the first I have to use them like a magnet detector.

Starting from the head to its shoulder shows no result and before moving on to the body, sensing the intention of my action, the white lion adjusts itself to laying on its side and exposing the chalky white mane under its neck. I stop for a moment as it catches me by surprise. The white lion silently looks at me; those eyes belonging to the king of the Lion Pride is still gleaming with life and strong will.

I place a hand on the white lion's foreleg and speak softly, "Persist. When this is over, live freely."

With renewed determination, I reactivate mana signature and scan meticulously under the neck and between the forelegs. If only mana signature has a zooming feature then I wouldn't have to squint this hard. The annoying sensation is intensifying which means its somewhere around.... just then, a black smoke flickers momentarily.

"Trace."

In haste, I cast a spell at the end of the black smoke's tail before it fades in between the swirl of mana. The translucent screen instantly pinpoints where the black smoke is hiding. Unsurprisingly, a dot is blinking at the edge of the brightest hue displayed from the heat sensor. I grin widely.

"Gotcha."