Chapter 183 Dense Mana

“Come now, lady Hinotori.”

He directed me towards a crystal-clear orb that sat on a pedestal in the centre of the room.

[Item name: Mana Appraisal Orb]

[Item Rank: High Rare]

[Item Description: An orb made out of appraisal crystal. With it, one’s magic power can be measured into numerical values]

Effect #1 – Changes colour based on mana density

Effect #2 – Records magic power as a number]

[Value: 20 gold coins | 5 store points]

‘A mana appraisal orb?’

‘That’s what he meant by testing our magical output?’

‘T-this should be a breeze then.’

‘I thought he was going to make me fight some monster or something. Phew.’

“Please put your hand on the orb.”

He gently requested of me.

‘Hmm, if she’s the same as Vermillion, then this should shatter.’

I honestly had no idea who this Vermillion person was and I had the urge to ask, but I would push that to later. I put my hand on the orb, but nothing happened.

‘Am… I supposed to do something?’

<<Channel mana into the orb>>

‘Oh, I see.’

‘Dumbass.’

‘Shut it!’

Just as I tried again, nothing happened.

“Oh… I forgot to give you the test permit.”

The old man spoke up, saving me from embarrassing myself any further. He threw a scroll my way and I caught it.

[Item name: Magic Test Permit]

[Item rank: Low epic]

[Item description: A scroll that allows the wielder to use their magic to any limits within the Atlantis domes.]

[Value: 100 gold coins | 5 store points]

‘This is the magic card she was talking about? Well, I see its effects aren’t useless. Still, isn’t it a pain to just be walking around with this?’

I started to channel my mana into the orb. It glowed a little bit, changing colour from red to orange to yellow to green. Following the rainbow colours till it turned dark purple, much like my feathers. I didn’t stop pouring mana into it till it turned pitch black and the orb looked like a case containing ink.

“EH!?”

I heard cries from both the princess and the grand court mage. His name was Magik by the way. Yeah, couldn’t be less obvious than that.

‘S-Such mana density!’

The old man screamed in his head.

‘Mana density?’

<<The pure concentration of the mana that you manipulate>>

‘Um… so how dense is black?’

<<Absurdly dense. The almost the purest form mana can take>>

‘Eh? Almost? Then what’s the purest?’

<<White>>

‘Eh? How does it turn from black to white?’

<<That is unknown. Simply a reaction found in Appraisal crystals>>

‘Is that so?’

Golden numbers printed out on the orb in a dazzling light.

“W-What’s the number?”

He asked as he came in closer.

“50?”

‘That’s disappointing. Vermillion had the same mana density, but her magic power was also over a hundred. With this number and mana density, she at best has the same power as an advanced mage here. That’s a far cry from Vermillion. I guess you can’t have two of the same monsters roaming about.’

He was having a whole-ass monologue about how disappointing I was compared to someone I had never even heard off before! How rude could one be?

‘Agent, do you know of this Vermillion person?’

<<The name Vermillion is not uncommon, as such there are multiple people, he could be referring to>>

‘Oh, come on! You can’t tell me you didn’t know of any prominent Vermillion back in the day.’

<<There are 2 recordings of prominent Vermillions in the past. However, none of them should have possessed the ability to come down here.>>

‘Eh? For real? That’s weird. Maybe the one he’s talking about lives underwater?’

<<It is possible. My knowledge does not involve that of places separate from Krione>>

‘Krione? I-Isn’t that the name of the world?’

<<Krione is the name of your birth continent.>>

‘Eh? Wait… are there are other continents?’

<<There used to be 5 continents. However, post the God Wars, that is unknown and my range was limited to the continent of Krione alone.>>

‘So, the other continents are destroyed?’

<<Possibly>>

‘I see. Oh well. Wait! But… if you weren’t aware of what was happening in Atlantis even though it wasn’t destroyed, doesn’t that mean you wouldn’t know if the other continents are safe?’

<<Yes.>>

‘Uh… I don’t even want to think about that. Let’s get back on track.’

“You’re on the level of a Senior Court Mage. Let me get your magic card for you.”

He swam back to his desk that was overflowing the scrolls and all sorts of crystals with different purposes.

“Impressive. A senior court mage is one of the strongest mages in Atlantis. It takes years for people to reach that level. You must have had years of practice.”

‘Y-Years? Uh… that’s none of your business.’

I shut her down. It would be way more condescending if she knew I was younger than her. A smile was etched onto her face as she looked at me, her imagination probably going wild. Though, it was still strange that I couldn’t hear her thoughts.

‘Agent?’

<<Possibly a natural resistance of the [Orator] class. She currently possesses no specific skills or items against this>>

‘What do you mean possibly? If it was wouldn’t it show up on her status screen?’

‘Gaah, the agent is starting to prove useless again. But, psst Tori. We need to talk about something.’

‘Eh? What?’

‘Um… this is a bit awkward to say…’

Akira informed of his suspicions. I suddenly became suspicious after hearing him. Out of nowhere, I began questioning everything I had done up to this point.

‘Um… wow. Ok. Uh… huh. L-Let’s talk about that later.’

I decided to postpone that discussion to another day.

“Here you go.”

The old man came back holding a scroll in hand which he then gave to me.

“This is your magic card. As long as you’re in Atlantis, this will allow you to use your magic.”

‘Is that so… ok.’

I swallowed the scroll instantly.

“EH!?”

[You have consumed the Magic Permit]

[As long as you are within the domes of Atlantis, you will be capable of using your mana and magic up to the Intermediate level]

Just as the agent said, it worked. Well, that was it for the day. Both the princess and Magik were staring at me like I had done something weird.

‘S-She reminds me of Vermillion too much. That thing ate the Test card I gave her and almost destroyed the city.’

This Vermillion person sounded like a wild card. Then again, I couldn’t say I wasn’t tempted to eat the test card he gave me. Maybe I should have done that instead of waiting for this card.

‘I guess we’re done here, princess?’

“I guess so. Let’s go get Susu and that friend of yours.”

We left the old man to his business. He was saddened that we had to leave… well that I had to leave, but didn’t show it on his face. Still a bit surprised that I made it out of there without him realising that I could read his mind and all his embarrassing thoughts. He really was the doting grandfather type. Probably one of Elriek’s father’s uncles.

The princess led us towards the prisoner cells where Sunalla and Yokino were both chained up. I honestly forgot about those two after Yokino didn’t respond to my message, but now I knew she was just intentionally not giving me feedback. She was embarrassed by the fact that she got imprisoned and hadn’t been able to escape after more than a day there.

Sunalla on the other hand was under some intense depression. The princess tried to cheer her up and eventually succeeded in getting Sunalla to act as if she wasn’t going through any pain. According to Yokino, Sunalla’s father had been confirmed dead and ever since, she hadn’t even spoken a word. Both of them already possessed magic cards so they were able to use to magic, but the anti-magic cuffs that were used on them was what kept them down there.

I had several questions as to how Yokino had one, but she said she had been down here before. Although 3 months with her growth rate before meeting me, felt sort of impossible, I had to hand it to her. She had been to a lot of places.

After getting them out, the princess then directed us to the palace courtyard.

‘Um, where are we going now?’

I asked her, failing to see why we hadn’t headed back to her room to discuss the information I gave her the previous day in order to strike a deal.

Brazenly, she answered with her arms spread wide apart.

“Oh? Didn’t I tell you? We’re going on a walk through the city.”

<A/N: Sorry for the current schedule. I have exams coming up so I have to reduce the amount of chapters I write in a week!>