The Infinite Bk. 02 Ch. 09

Grond sighed and tossed his sickle far out of reach. "Bakudan... it is not a spell, but a state of being. Everything in the world has its own unique mana flow, most of which we don't even have the proper senses for. Bakudan involves slowing the mana flow in our bodies, even slower than in the air around us. Human eyes can't see that which has no mana flow. When Bakudan is active, we can't move, breathe, or even think. Even dead bodies have more mana flowing through them than a Harajin in Bakudan.

We have to train our reflexes and spiritual senses to detect everything around us and react as fast as humanly possible, be it arrows in the dark or blades on our skin, all so that we can remain somewhat aware of what goes on around us when we are still. It takes years to learn, spending days in meditation to whittle down the motion occurring in our bodies and slow our mana. Countless initiates have died trying to learn it. That's everything you need to know."

"Side effects?"

"None that I know of."

"If I find out you lied to me, I will come looking for the truth, and I won't be nearly so friendly as I've been here."

"It's all true. I just want this to end."

"Took you long enough. Here." Noah tossed him the mystery potion. "The knight sword is over there." He then revealed the fungal cure. "And as for this..." Noah pulled the cork out with his teeth and shocked Grond as he began drinking from it.

"What are you—" Grond fell silent as he watched Noah's wounds close. "You son of a bitch. It's a healing potion. You didn't steal the fungal cure; you just switched the contents of the two bottles. The knights had the real cure all along."

"You poisoned two of them, correct? I thought it would be better if our business didn't interfere in them getting mended, at least more than it had to. Besides, you should be grateful. I'm leaving enough for her." Noah placed the half-empty bottle on the ground beside Tora and then turned to leave.

"Wait," Grond said. "Who are you?"

Noah stopped but didn't turn back. "An eternal stranger."

He walked away. As soon as he was alone, he drank some of the yellow antidote to cure the last of the poison in his system and some mana potion to regain a little bit of strength. Then, he cast his invisibility and began the walk back to the Knight's Sheath while pondering this new information. Bakudan was not the same technique as his, not even close.

However, while that one issue was disappointing, the rest of the information interested him. The training idea and the physics of Bakudan; perhaps he could use them to develop his own magic further. For the moment, he focused on memorizing the explanation and then tucked it away, instead needing to focus on the city around him.

The fires were spreading, the same with the violence. Anyone who could use water magic was recruited to help fight the flames, but they could only prolong the inevitable. Now that the freed prisoners and active revelers had taken up the attention of the authorities, the common criminals had a golden opportunity to go nuts.

For them, this pandemonium was a godsend. They and the desperate homeless were pillaging people's homes and businesses to loot, rape, and kill as they wished. In the distance, Noah could see massive explosions coming up from the dungeon. At the rate things were falling apart, the whole city would be destroyed by dawn, and the country would cease to exist.

"I need a drink."

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