Chương 192: Chapter 189 - The Broken Core

The first day's improvement did not continue into the next day. Even after trying for more than four hours, I was still not able to form a stable solid core. Thankfully, Lady Flavia was not bothered by that. She even said it was common, and that the process required a lot of practice and concentration. So after spending my morning trying to form the core, I went back to collect my squad, and then we made our way to the core room where the Aegis Array was located, finally ready to look at the damage done there.

"Well, this assignment sucks," Barry commented on our way to the core room. Sadly, he was not the only one feeling that way.

"Yeah, this feels like we are back in the mines," Rokan joined in. For the members who had joined my squad after the grand beast tide, manual labor proved to be more taxing than it was for the old members. Since they had joined, most of their duties had been combat-related. Even when I assigned latrine duty, it had only been part of their responsibilities. That was no longer true.

Yesterday, while I was busy with the meeting and learning about core formation, one of the lieutenants had assigned them cleanup work after their company took over security in the commoner district. Today, they would be doing the same while I analyzed the damage to the array core.

"You don't get to say that. You have never done proper labor duty. You should learn from it," Barry said in a preaching tone. Then, looking upward longingly, he added, "There was a time when these were the only duties people like us used to do." Kael and I rolled our eyes almost at the same time.

"Don't fucking talk like it was a good thing," Varric said, slapping Barry on the back of the head.

"Actually, it is not a bad thing," I said.

"We all know there is a tough fight ahead of us, and while the work you are doing might not be interesting, you should use this time to work on your skills. Try using your skills while working on these tasks." This time, it was Barry's turn to roll his eyes. Which I deserved a little. This was not the first lecture they had received from me. In fact, it was something I had been saying almost since I took command of them.

Ignoring him, I continued, "Or, if you have too much energy left, at least spar with others at night. Now that Garran and Varric are Tier-3, they should provide good practice."

"Yeah, like anyone wants to fight those monsters," Barry muttered under his breath. He spoke only in a whisper because he had seen Lady Flavia approaching with her entourage, which included two rune masters as well. Lady Flavia and I acknowledged each other, and after a brief round of introductions, we made our way to the core room beneath city hall. After yesterday's attack, there was still a large amount of rubble above it.

While most of the debris had been removed, the rubble directly above the core room had been left in place so we could preserve and analyze the rune lines around the room before moving anything. That was the reason my squad was with me. As we approached, I sensed a mana shield surrounding the room. I frowned at the mana shield, but I did not comment on it right away. Lady Flavia used a talisman to let us pass through the shield.

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"Lady Flavia, why do we have a shield here?" I asked once we were inside.

"This is something Uncle and his private guards created over all important locations," Lady Flavia replied.

"First, to prevent the enemy from listening. Second, to protect against any mercenaries still hiding inside the town. Make sure none of your squad speaks of this once we are outside the shield." I looked at the others, making sure they understood not to blab about anything outside.

"The enemy outside can listen to almost every conversation we have in town," I said, making sure they understood the severity of the matter.

"We are not high-level enough for him to pay constant attention to us, but anything of crucial importance might still be heard." Then, turning to Peter, I continued, "Peter, coordinate between the squad and the rune masters and organize the cleanup. I will be recording and brainstorming with the other rune masters, so I might not be able to pay proper attention to managing the squad." Peter nodded and took command of my squad, while the rest of us began walking around, analyzing the rune lines and recording them.

As we continued clearing the room, I realized most of the damage originated from the center. The moment I understood that, I stopped in my tracks. My throat went dry as I looked at the destruction. Lady Flavia noticed my reaction.

"Sergeant, it looks like you noticed the damage," she said.

"A mana core provides mana to the runes by absorbing it from mana crystals or the surroundings, while the rune lines around it keep the core stable." She pointed toward the center of the room.

"What the enemy did here was a single precision attack. They destroyed the roof of the room and, with it, the rune lines surrounding the core. That made the core unstable and created a blast that destroyed the entire room." I stared at the damage.

"This is why a large-sized mana core requires multiple rune masters to work in tandem," Lady Flavia continued.

"It is also why we need your knowledge of runes and their workings before attempting anything like this." Then she looked at me.

"And this is why converting a liquid core into a solid core is so difficult. If all the connections are not perfect, the core destabilizes. In the case of a small core, it simply dissipates into the atmosphere. But in a core like this..." Instead of completing the sentence, she just looked around. I nodded at Lady Flavia's words, but inside my head, I was thinking that this would have been important information to know yesterday, before I failed continuously for more than ten hours.

We spent the rest of the day documenting every detail, while the other rune masters questioned me about the working principles of the array, trying to complete the missing rune lines and symbols. When the whole room was cleared, and once we had reached an understanding of what rune symbols needed to be redrawn, we finally left. By then, the sun was already setting. After bidding farewell, we went our separate ways. With most of the buildings destroyed, my squad and I were once again sleeping in tents.

And while my squad still had enough energy left to spar, I was too tired to do anything. I simply made my way to the tent and slept like a baby. The next morning, I woke up before sunrise, and after some morning exercise, I had an unexpected visitor. Leif.

"Hey, man, what are you doing in a lowly soldier's camp?" I asked while washing my face with cold water and drying it with a cloth.

"Well, we lords need to know how our subjects are doing," Leif said. Both of us smiled. Then, turning a little serious, he said, "Come with me. I need to talk to you. That day, we were not able to speak properly." I frowned but followed him. I was not sure what was so important that he wanted to talk during a siege.

"Is it something important?" I asked.

"Nah. I know that from now on, we might not get much time to meet, so I thought we should talk while we can. Also, last time, I felt you were uncomfortable in front of Lela."

"Well, speaking of Lela..." I said, giving him a grin.

"What is going on there?" His face went a little red. Scratching his head, he said, "N-nothing."

"Oh, come on, man. Let your brother know," I said, pushing him lightly.

"Well..." Leif hesitated.

"I like her. She is awesome. You know she is the best archer in our year, right? She is the best archer, and she knows it. I heard even the Duke and the Royal Family tried to recruit her after her first-year results." He paused for a moment before continuing.

"So when I found out she was from our training camp, I approached her. Initially, it was because House Petrae kept bugging me about recruitment during every session with my doctor, and I wanted to know more about them. But later, as we kept talking, I started liking her."

"Wait, how is she the best archer?" I asked.

"I would assume there are a lot of good wind-affinity users."

"There are," Leif replied.

"But not all wind-affinity users are archers, and not all archers have that much experience. More than that, she is just natural at it. It is almost like she can read the wind—" Leif continued singing Lela's praises until I stopped him with my next question.

"So, have you asked her if she likes you?"

"N-no, I have not," Leif said, stammering. Suddenly, I started laughing. I had never imagined having this kind of conversation with Leif, much less seeing him this nervous. I teased him a little more before we finally reached his tent.