“I’ve got it!” Isaiah said, pointing at the mechanism attached to the ceiling. “That bright yellow gem! It’s made out of mana crystals! I remember reading it from the research notes. One of the runes used in the ritual is a Mana Conversion rune—one that converts sources of solid mana like mana crystals into usable mana for any biological body.” Now that he thought about it, he’d noticed how the yellow gem seemed to glow slightly during the fight as it emitted tiny, faint particles of yellow light that drifted towards Hugo’s body. It’s a very subtle detail, one that you’d miss if you’re not paying attention. “That must be where my father is siphoning mana from! That’s why he doesn’t need to drink mana potions!”
It was at that moment where Miri just remembered something within the lore of this game. In this world, raw mana generally came in two forms: solid mana and liquid mana. Solid mana was usually in the form of mana crystals whereas liquid mana was used as a main ingredient for mana potions.
Solid mana was usually denser than liquid mana in terms of raw energy density. However, human beings were normally not able to digest and metabolize mana very quickly while it was in its solid form, which was why it was converted into liquid form before being consumed. For the most part, solid mana was usually used to power magical machinery whereas liquid mana was usually used in potions designed for human consumption.
Even so, there existed certain types of runes that specifically allowed a person to absorb energy from sources of solid mana at a rate similar to liquid mana. Because the uses of such runes were quite niche, such as having a large amount of solid mana available while having no liquid mana present, these runes were rarely used. However, currently, Hugo was making full use of it.
“I see,” Anne said with a nod. “So now we need to do something about that mana crystal. Maybe move it away from Hugo?”
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Miri took a step forward and noticed the cracks on the floor of the dome room, one that was formed during the battle when Hugo was casting Sundering Stalagmite and attacking with his Hammer of Titan. Judging by the cracks, the floor beneath them wouldn’t be able to handle any more structural damage and might just collapse at any moment. In addition, if Miri recalled correctly from reading the map of the keep, it was quite a long drop down below this room.
After putting all the various information together, Miri suddenly came up with a clever idea.
“Or, maybe we don’t need to move the mana crystal away from Hugo,” Miri suggested with a smirk. “Maybe we just need to move Hugo away from the mana crystal.”
Anne tilted her head in confusion as she gazed at the mage. “What do you mean by that?”
Miri didn't say it out loud. Instead, she simply whispered it into Anne’s ear. By the time Miri was done explaining her plan, Anne replied with a nod of understanding—signaling that she’s willing to go along with the plan.
Meanwhile, Hugo tried getting up after recoiling from hitting his hammer at the cleric’s Protective Ward. Slowly but surely, he felt his energy fading. No matter how much healing magic was at his disposal, it could only do so much. Healing magic could not cure him of things like hunger, dehydration, and fatigue—only the proper intake of nutrients and bed rest could do so.
Even so, he still got the upper hand in this fight. So long as he could kill his opposition before he succumbed to pure exhaustion, he would ultimately win in the end.
As he stood up, he could see the two women walking towards him. Not only that, he could sense the confidence in their movements, something that he found odd. Were they not at a severe disadvantage just a while ago? Why do they seem that they were about to win all of a sudden?
“Hey, guess what?!” Miri said with a cheeky smirk. “In just a short moment, you are going to lose this fight! Are you ready to get your ass handed to you?!”
