Dark Lord in Chains 122 (Patreon)

Staying for more and revealing myself was tempting … but the risks were too high. Not because I was afraid of her reaction, as I trusted myself to control that. 

The risk was about delaying my magical learning. The fake assassination of Sapphire would happen in a couple days, and I had already alerted elves about that to gain some credibility. I wasn’t sure whether my cute spy would reveal that to other elves or would try to keep closer to her chest — especially since I gave her a way to manipulate Aria from her perspective. 

Regardless of her ultimate choice, having detailed knowledge about the working principles of their magic would come in handy to handle the ploy — not to mention the long-term benefits. 

I stayed concealed while she dealt with the report — enjoying the show whenever she took a break — while preparing to leave the moment she gave me an opportunity. I still didn’t want to use magic to conceal. About fifteen minutes later, she decided to visit the kitchen, and I used the opportunity to slip out.  

I dashed toward the entrance I had created, removing the magical wedge once I left the garden, carrying a pile of books with me. 

Returning to the palace was not difficult, but since I needed to experiment, I changed my destination and left the city instead. However, this time, I didn’t go to the meadow that I used with Cinder and Isolde. Instead, I moved even farther — empowering my speed with living flame — until I reached an abandoned mine. 

I chose the abandoned mine for two reasons. First, the place was concealed enough that I could use some explosive spells without arousing suspicion.  Second, and more importantly, I hoped to find some monsters using the tunnels, and some live targets would help me to test the potential of the elven spells. 

Normally, it was not ideal to practice in uncontrolled conditions, but I was willing to take the risk to quicken the process. 

Even as I moved, however, I did my best to skim through the books, using my speed reading abilities. Such an approach was not enough to understand and unravel magic — but it was enough to give a cursory understanding of the issue. 

And, the best thing I could define elven magic was … likening it to fabric. Many thin strings of mana, of different natures, wrap around each other, reinforcing each other to give strength while also minimizing the impact. 

No wonder their wards were nearly impossible to detect despite their strength. It almost had no outward presence. 

Of course, that didn’t mean it was a flawless technique. On the contrary, the more  I read,  the less I was afraid of fighting an elven caster. Not that they suddenly turned into an enemy that could be easily destroyed or anything, but the biggest disadvantage of their technique was clear. 

Perfection required slow, deliberate action. It was possible to manipulate many mana strings at the same time, but the thinner they got, the more string was required to create the same impact. The finer structure made it very difficult to detect and counter, but did little to actually improve the power, at least not enough to be worth the effort. 

And, ironically, the finer the mana strings,  the harder it got to multitask without making them snap — a warning that was clear in the beginner books. 

Combined, it created an interesting picture. Elven magic was strong, stable, and mana-efficient … but required both incredible expertise and a lot of time to cast properly. Excellent for utility spells that required to stay concealed, and for creating defensive positions when time was not a concern … but not the best method to deliver intense, flowing attacks that I preferred. 

“Fascinating,” I murmured as I considered what it meant for the land they had come from. The nature of their spellcasting would have surprised me if I didn’t know they came from a different plane, but with that, not only it made sense, it allowed me to make some guesses about nature. 

One of those guesses, I was almost certain. They had trouble accessing enough mana, and amusingly, it was probably about their supposedly legendary casting abilities. They either used the mana their home plane could access to the limit, or their ruling classes somehow restricted the accessible mana to protect their power. 

Radical, yet reasonable at the same time.  

Of course, the exact nature was more of a guess. The important thing was to understand the drawbacks of a plane with a lot of accessible mana. 

Never attack a defensive position, constantly unravel the surrounding mana in case there were hard-to-detect spells buried around, and always make sure to keep the battles mobile to make sure their stability advantages wouldn’t snowball into a deadly avalanche. 

“I owe Cinder a big favor,” I murmured as I realized the incredible advantages living flame could provide me in such a battle. The destructive abilities of the living flame worked wonders to destroy their stealth spells. 

Of course, on the flip side, the spell structure of the phoenixes was especially bad to destroy the defensive structures if an elven mage dug in defensively … which I assumed based on my limited understanding. 

No wonder they were rivals for centuries, with their fundamental advantages clashing like that. 

I was able to unravel the traits of the elven magic pretty easily, but that didn’t mean I could replicate the feat. It was more like understanding how someone punched. The concept was simple, but it required a certain strength and a lot of practice to be successful. For their unique casting method, it was even harder. 

“Let’s see if I can push myself,” I murmured as I forced myself to create a dozen mana strings, which was difficult to do even with the assistance of the Tether. I had gone through the skill principles, and even then, it required almost an hour for me to cast the simplest spell, a bolt that I learned when I was barely a teenager. 

Only forming ten times slower, and spending five times the mana to maintain the same effect … elvish spells were supposed to be more efficient, but that was only relevant when they were cast by someone other than a complete amateur. I chuckled as I threw it to the nearest wall, and focused on my palm, creating another ball of ephemeral energy, holding it still for several seconds as I examined it … trying to improve it. 

I still remembered the first time I was starting to learn mana bolt, a few attempts were enough to make my small, underfed body collapse …  it took more than a month for me to even get a limited sense. 

Luckily, my reserves were much bigger after years, allowing me to repeat the attempt a hundred times, and the only thing I needed to deal with was my wandering attention. Soon, they were stable enough to dent the walls of the mine.

“It’s progress,” I murmured with a shrug even as I conjured another bolt, this time trying to put more power in it, but the lines destabilized and the spell collapsed, my hand stinging badly. 

“Now, it’s time to practice,” I murmured as I started climbing down. Dealing with the little monsters and critters that would make an abandoned mine their home was beneath me as an ex-dark lord, but it wasn’t the first time I ignored the sting on my pride. Instead, I chuckled, and started climbing down. 

Soon, a shadow popped from a corner, rushing toward me, only for me to nail it. Yet, even as it dispersed, I frowned. A mana shadow. 

My frown didn’t have anything to do with fear. Mana shadows were a threat against someone without magic, but destroying them was just trivial. I was surprised by its presence. It required some magical energy to form … and required a lack of magical predators to keep them down. They either appeared in lab conditions … or places with recent magical activity. 

I moved down further, suppressing my magical presence further, limiting myself to mana bolts … while the mana bolts I was using were wasteful, they were reasonably stealthy, giving me a chance to practice and stay concealed at the same time. I continued digging down, curious about the source. Ordinarily, I would have sent a subordinate to poke around … but I found myself dangerously lacking when it came to the number of capable people I could order around. 

I had some, but none that would avoid making a mess… Luckily, it wasn’t the first time I had to take a dangerous problem. 

However, I was expecting to find a natural formation of magic, or maybe the migration of a large creature. 

I didn’t expect the presence of a large, man-made ward. It was strong,  but not particularly skilled, and I could see the signs of many different artisans … how fascinating. I was tempted to poke around, but was that really the right idea. I had quite a lot 

Should  I go down, or leave now that my initial practice objective was completed successfully…