Adam continued telling the people in the room about all their spies had gathered. While the information they had gained was substantially less than what the vampires knew, it was sufficient enough to utilize.
This needed to be dealt with. If Aurora was going to be targeted, they needed to ensure her safety.
The best way to do that would be for her not to leave the castle, but that wasn't an option. They had no info on the trap, and they weren't sure how long the vampires would wait for her.
It wasn't okay to force Aurora to stay inside for the rest of her days, or at least until they dealt with the problem. The most secure method was to outsmart them.
"We'll walk right into their trap." The King announced. "Since we have no details, it's hazardous, but we have no choice unless you plan to stay inside forever."
"I want patrols doubled, groups 3 and 4 to be on shift alongside groups 1 and 2. There will be no mistakes, understood." Tyana ordered Anette.
Anette nodded, running out of the room.
The King and Queen then turned to Aurora and began giving her assurances, telling her repeatedly that she would be safe, no matter what happened.
Grey sat in the back, pondering about the information he heard.
'Aurora is the target of an assassination, and the assailants are vampires. I'm very intrigued. Vampires...' Grey smiled, thinking about studying or at least learning about vampires. While all races had their differences, vampires were the only ones that were truly special. They had their own Element.
Meanwhile, two people were chatting in the background.
"What do you mean you're a maid?" Adam whispered.
"It means exactly that, Adam, I'm a maid," Anise whispered in response.
"But what happened to my cool big sister in the assassi-" Adam was cut off by Anise's hand covering his mouth.
"Don't you dare mention that, A-dumb! How many times have I told you not to pry into my life? I have my reasons!" Anise scolded him, her whispers seeming like screams to Adam.
"My bad, sis. I just wanted to know."
"Hah," Anise sighed. "Don't worry, I know. You've always been like this. If you really want to know, then I'll tell you later."
"Ah, that won't do. I've got to go back to the Border."
"Of course you do. Don't worry, and go kick some ass."
---
The rest of the day was spent preparing. Since Grey and Aurora didn't have anything to do, they trained.
Grey helped Aurora with her bow skills, giving her practice against different types of weapons and ranges.
In a few hours, they were both worn out. Grey sat on the floor, breathing heavily, while Aurora was lying down, panting to get air. Their cheeks were flushed from the intense movements that got their blood flowing, and their heads buzzed.
'That's a strong headache.' Grey complained, feeling a massive, constant pain in his head. Because of this, he had to rack his brain to remember how to heal with Light. 'Let's see. Light heals through the regeneration of cells by forcefully creating them using photon transmutation.'
Grey carefully imagined each step of the transmutation process, from the damaged cell to a fresh cell, just by using Light. Then, he released some of his Mana.
Slowly, his headache faded, his muscles relaxed, and his breathing calmed. He got up, walking over to Aurora.
He placed his hand on her head and activated his Magic.
"Sanitatem Lux." He called out. He had to make sure that he didn't use Magic in the open. Spells were commonplace, logic in fact, so breaking that norm was a big no-no.
Once he was done, he removed his hand, helping her up.
"Are you okay now?" He asked.
"Yeah, thanks."
---
Nothing much else happened to Grey and Aurora, although the King and Queen were busy making preparations.
The two enjoyed a meal together before heading to their beds.
Grey lay down on his bed, contemplating.
'What can I prepare?' The reveal of the assassination plans was quite a shock, and while there wasn't much time to prepare, he wanted to do what he could. 'I think that's all I can do.'
Of all the things Grey had to do, there was only one that he could potentially accomplish that night.
Modifying Kim Jaehyun's Mana training method.
He sat up, yawning, and activated the method. Unlike his passive breathing, this gave much more Mana with the side effect of being painful.
He brought Mana into his body, as much as it could take, and let it linger. This part of the method was shared with the normal method, but it differed from then on.
Instead of letting the Mana flow, and therefore absorbing a portion of it but releasing the rest, he covered as many Mana globules as possible with his own Mana, forcing them to stay inside him.
His Mana, reacting with the Mana that it surrounded, began to crack into the orbs of Mana.
The spheres slowly opened, releasing the Mana inside them, and his Mana devoured it.
"ARGH!" He cried. This forceful assimilation of Mana imbalanced the Mana inside him, causing immense pain, but there was nothing he could do. He had to let it be.
Minutes passed in immense pain, and the globules he had absorbed slowly became his own. The Mana that was now his traveled to his heart, joining the flow of Mana in his body. When the time crossed 10 minutes, the pain finally stopped.
He took a few deep breaths before finally calling out.
'Fallen Star, how'd I do?' One unique part of this method was that the results differed, as you couldn't always cover all of the Mana orbs.
- Not bad. Compared to other attempts, it was below average. You only gained 3 Mana. -
'Only 3? That's not good. Still, compared to both my passive accumulation and the regular method, it's incredible. How about deficiencies?'
- There are a few we can fix, but that's only because you have a Mana Body. The amount of Mana globules you cover, the Mana imbalance, and the length of assimilation. - It informed him.
'Well then, let's see what we can do.'
The first problem they had to tackle was the amount of Mana globules. Due to having a Mana Body, he was not limited to releasing Mana from a single point. Instead of releasing Mana from the heart, all he had to do was release Mana from all over.
Problem solved.
The second problem was that the natural Mana imbalanced the Mana in his body. This was due to its nature. Mana was occupying a body that didn't match its Signature. To fix this, they either had to change his Mana or the natural Mana. Both of these were impossible to do without causing harm to either himself or the world, so that was a no-go.
'What if... we change my receptors?' Grey had an epiphany. Both Mana Bodies and Mana Hearts had receptors that allowed you to absorb Mana, however their locations were different. For Grey, his receptors were located in his skin —of course, they weren't physical things— and for everyone else, it was located around the heart.
- That... may work. But how would we modify them? - Whilst Mana passed through Grey's Mana receptors in the first step, for someone else, it would only happen at the last second. Mana could technically belong to you, but if it hadn't passed the receptors, it wouldn't stay in the body. This was because Mana needed the body's Signature to stay inside it, and it could only receive a Signature if the Mana was their own.
'You could make it so that my receptors add my Signature? Bypass the requirement so that it doesn't cause an imbalance.' Grey suggested.
- Yes! That would work! I'll do it when you sleep. - Fallen Star exclaimed.
'Now, it's just the last problem. The duration. This method is incredibly efficient, but it's still slow.' 10 minutes of regular Mana training could get you about 0.4 Mana if you were talented, so it was unimaginable compared to the norm. However, more was always better... In this situation at least.
- I know how to solve this. It's rather simple really. You wouldn't guess it. - Fallen Star spoke up, issuing a challenge. While they were working together, there was nothing wrong with friendly competition.
'Ah, I see.' Grey nodded. 'You want to taste food, right?' He didn't have time for that. He was tired.
- You're so mean! - Fallen Star pretend pouted. - Fine, I'll tell you. -
- All you have to do is increase your Efficiency. -