“I wouldn’t kill a child.”
“…….”
The Metamorph was silent after that.
Even if it didn’t understand everything I said, it seemed to be coming to its own understanding.
“And there’s something you need to do first to know who you are.”
“What?”
“Give yourself a name.”
“I have a name. They called me ‘Calamity of Metamorph’.”
“That’s not a name. Even if it is, it’s lame. You should change it.”
At those words, I fell into thought for a moment.
…Honestly, it reminds me of a certain monster from a certain work that’s famous both as a game and an anime. It also starts with ‘Meta’.
But I couldn’t bring up that name after saying that ‘Calamity of Metamorph’ is a lame name, so…
“…Let’s go with Mei.”
With no particular meaning, I just came up with a short name with the first letter.
The Metamorph tilted its head for a moment and then said.
“…Okay.”
“Good. From now on, you’re Mei.”
“Okay.”
A plain answer that I couldn’t tell whether it liked it or not.
Now that I’ve even decided on this guy’s name, I should finish what I was doing.
“Menosorpo.”
I spread out the rune. To the maximum size. I couldn’t know how big it needed to be.
“Watch carefully from there.”
I told Mei and then went up into the sky. This was the biggest reason I spread out Menosorpo.
Because within this, I can fly freely in the sky.
Like the principle of the refrigerator I mentioned earlier, ‘compression’ is necessary to turn gas into liquid.
It won’t be solved that easily, but I have a slight advantage over others in handling Mana. It’s because I don’t use special formulas or trigger words to handle Mana.
That’s why I can do something as brute-force as this.
‘First, Obsidian.’
I manipulate the bracer to surround the Obsidian, creating a giant spherical ball. It doesn’t need to be that sturdy at first.
The important thing is the size. A generous size that can hold all my Mana even if I release it all.
As a result, the Obsidian spread out widely, and what I saw in front of me was a black, slightly transparent spherical membrane.
‘Next, Mana.’
The Mana I originally had, and the Mana I had endlessly grown. And the Mana of Helheim that I had absorbed by breaking the fragments.
I take it all out without reservation. Originally, Mana is consumed for using magic, so I can’t take out Mana if there’s no magic, but Weaving is an exception.
The Dragon Heart itself is a Mana crystal. To complete this, that is, to complete the Weaving, I can take out Mana without reservation.
I created an illusion of the Dragon Heart inside the giant ball made of Obsidian, and slowly poured Mana into it.
The speed was slow, but it was endless.
“…What is this?”
Actually, it was the first time I saw the amount of all the Mana I had with my own eyes, so…
Even as I watched my Mana filling the giant ball in front of me, I was a little overwhelmed.
It’s a bit funny that I’m overwhelmed by my own Mana, but…
I glanced down at Mei.
Mei was staring up at me blankly from the ground.
…I told it to observe and learn, but I wonder if Mei can even copy this?
‘Well, it’ll figure it out if it keeps watching!’
I trapped most of my Mana inside the ball, and…
“Hup!”
…Clenched my fist, causing the giant ball of Obsidian to forcefully shrink its size.
“Keugh, ugh, ugh…!”
The Mana inside the ball struggled to escape. A tremendous pressure swirled within the ball.
Overcoming that, the ball of Obsidian further shrunk its size into the shape of a small Dragon Heart crystal.
To turn Mana into a Mana crystal, I literally compress it with force.
There’s no other way as brute-force as this, but I’m the only one who can do it.
Crack! Crackle!
Sparks flew inside the ball of Obsidian. Not lightning magic or anything, but ruptures caused by Mana colliding with each other, unable to escape the pressure.
‘It’s okay for now. It’s not important to have a complete Mana form!’
Rather, that form needs to be broken. In order to become a crystal, the structure needs to fundamentally change.
However…
‘…I don’t have enough strength…!’
I’m just compressing my own Mana.
I’m keenly aware of how much control is needed to actually do this simple one-liner.
I can already wield Obsidian like my limbs. The me, who has taken in the Mana of Helheim has complete control over its subtle movements.
But it’s a different problem from the control of Mana itself.
I’m just using Obsidian to forcibly prevent Mana from leaking out.
Since I can’t adjust or control it, I’m resorting to a brute-force method. Lunia Fricell, the genius of Mana control, would be speechless if she saw this.
‘It’s going to come undone like this!’
When the premonition of failure came, I had to make a choice.
Should I keep doing this, or should I give up here?
If I push through and succeed, that’s fine, but if I fail, I won’t have the strength to handle all this Mana I’ve poured out.
I can’t even imagine what would happen if I released all this Mana that I’ve gathered up to this point in an instant.
So, if it’s not going to work, I need to slowly release it here in advance.
‘It can’t be helped. This isn’t my only chance.’
I eventually decided to give up. It’s not a task that needs to be accomplished right now. Of course, I’m worried about Bartello’s weakness, but it’s not like he’s stepping down right away…
The idea itself wasn’t bad, so if I come up with another method and supplement it—
“That’s amazing. This.”
Just as I was thinking that, Mei was in front of me.
“…How are you floating?”
“The same way you are.”
…This cheat-like bastard.
“Can you copy this too?”
“No, it’s impossible.”
Mei shook its head.
“I don’t have this much ridiculous Mana.”
Mei can learn all skills, abilities, and magic at a fast pace, but it can’t create something out of nothing.
It can’t imitate something beyond the Mana it possesses. Even if it could, it would do it on a smaller scale.
“But…”
Mei reached out towards the slowly shrinking ball of Obsidian.
“I know what to do.”
In an instant, the fiercely raging momentum felt inside the spherical ball subsided. It’s not that Mana is escaping.
Along with my pushing with Obsidian, the Mana is being controlled from within.
“…How did you…”
“I didn’t just learn from you. This is a woman’s technique.”
…Zodiac Daisy, I guess. I met her when I went down to the prison.
Did it steal that in that short time?
“Okay. Then let’s keep shrinking it like this.”
“How much?”
“Smaller than a finger.”
“That’s really brute-force.”
After saying that…
…We both compressed the Mana according to our respective roles.
The Mana sparked, shattered, and reduced in size. Within the Obsidian that perfectly enveloped it, preventing any leaks, the Mana further thickened its concentration and became more organized.
And at some point, the irregular movement completely stopped, and…
Boom!
…The Mana instantly shrunk in size and settled entirely within the structure of the Dragon Heart.
A pitch-black Dragon Heart covered in Obsidian floated in front of me.