"Leave it to us…!"

"I'm still hungry though…"

​​

The voices of the lower spirits also known as elementalist were enthusiastic that a human who has contacted a greater spirit is speaking and asking them a favor.

Evelyn replied. "Do it without him knowing and when you succeed, I'll let you eat some of my mana…"

"Alright…!"

The glow on her necklace dim. Gil and Evelyn walk the stairs down. Of course, their feet still don't reach the floor.

"We're finished…!"

"That was quick…" Evelyn replied like a whisper. Her sunset eyes were only the thing that could be seen from her face open wide on how efficient the elementals can be.

"He's sleeping!!"

"We knocked him…"

"Food…!"

Evelyn let out a small portion of her mana in her fingertips and the elementals that can't be seen in the naked eyes, gladly took them.

After that, Gil and Evelyn locked eyes. They ran using their wind magic and descended in the lowest part of the basement within a minute.

They saw the guard that was sleeping and drooling in his post. Now that they were close to the room where the statues are being kept, they felt the black mana that was swirling around in the room.

It also has a powerful source that is stationed throughout the four sections of the basement. Mainly the north, east, west and south, all have the flow of black mana connecting to them.

"We should move quickly." Gil said.

Evelyn summoned her space magic and handed him a small paper that was encrypted with magic spells that Cassandra said would weaken the outsourcing of the black mana.

Gil quickly rushed to the other side of the room and Evelyn went to the northern part.

She scans and tries to not use mana as much as possible as they might trace her magic. She scanned the area and saw the flow of mana coming behind the concrete wall.

"What?"

Gil also said the same as they use their telepathy. Evelyn tapped the concrete wall with a small force and heard a hollow sound.

"There's something in there… they must have hid it."

If Evelyn wants, she can just punch through it, but it will impose danger when the temple trainees that were guarding the night shift come by and saw it.

Silvester will immediately become the prime suspect as well as the knights that came with them. And she can't risk doing that.

"I need to approach this with safety in mind."

At that moment, Chrisfold talked through her mind.

She knit her brows and replied. "Don't take anything for now and scan the area if there's any more of those around."

Chrisfold just informed her that there's a weapon that was imbued with dark magic and was sealed with a spell.

She clicked her tongue. Now that the novel is finished, she needs to think about everything on her own.

"What is the temple trying to achieve?"

For now, she dismisses her thoughts because Gil was asking her about what to do with the mana source that comes from the concrete wall.

'Think! What's a typical novel do when the enemies are hiding something evil?'

A bright idea came to mind.

"A secret switch!"

She smiled and also told Gil what she also thought about. Evelyn rushed to the concrete wall and touched it, trying to find a hollow block that she can press or something.

"It must be around here… near the source."

And with luck, Evelyn smiled and pressed a hollow block that she just found.

"Cliche…"

A two inch thick cover of concrete moved down and she was welcomed with a crystal ball with a black mana that wasn't supposed to be seen in the naked eyes were shown swirling around like a liquid inside the crystal ball with a size of a serving plate.

"Ha-haha… they really did some absurd things… just how did they contain this? But wait… liquid? How did they turn the mana into something liquid?"

Evelyn let out an almost scoff laugh as she saw how pure the black mana inside the crystal ball that was containing it.

"If this breaks, then the people here would die because of their incomparability with the mana and will serve it as a poison to their bodies."

At that moment, Gil just talked to her.

"I found it…" Gil also informed her that he succeeded in finding the secret switch.

"Hmm?"

Gil's face scowled when he saw the crystal ball with a liquid black mana inside.

"This is not the natural black mana that can be found when a person dies because of natural occurrence."

Nonetheless, Gil sticks the paper with a magic spell in a place where it can't be seen easily, after that it vanishes into thin air like what Cassandra said. It will automatically hide itself.

He decided that he will discuss it with others when they came back,

For now, he needed to stick the spell and get out from here with Evelyn.

"Are you done?"

Evelyn said after she did her part on the north and west side of the room.

"I'm done, we should get out from here."

Chrisfold and Bern were also done with their duty and quickly fled from the scenes.

Four of them have met at their quarters where Alisha and Cathy were silently waiting for them while they also guard and spy the others with the use of the elementals.

Evelyn changed into comfortable clothes. A white long sleeve that was made from silk and a pair of loose pants. The others also change and hide the black ninja clothed that they use for sneaking in the dome-like temple.

The room was immediately sealed with a barrier and sound proof casted by Chrisfold and Gil. Evelyn can't cast it because the temple priest might have caught them using mana, while spirits mana that contain nature can't be detected because it came directly from nature.

She tapped on the arm rest. Gil, Alisha, Bern, Cathy, and Chrisfold were at all different positions, some are standing, sitting beside Evelyn or massaging their temples. They immediately understood the severity of the situations=.

Gil breaks the tense atmosphere.

"That's not an ordinary mana that came from natural resources…"

Evelyn was biting her fingernails, one of her bad habits resurfacing whenever she was thinking. She reached her hand from the thin air and a small vial popped into her hand.

Putting the vial down on the wooden table in front of her, a black liquid moves around the bottle because of the small impact from Evelyn's action.

Gil quickly snatched the vial bottle and scanned the contents.

"How did you-??"

"I found a small hose that was connected to the crystal ball and where that black mana came from. It was distributed from the north side to all directions of the room. I just use a small portion of my magic so I can get it."

"You're being too reckless, Eve! What if there's a trap or an alarm?! What if your action did something dangerous for you?"

"I knew that… but still, I needed to risk it. Besides, I checked everything before I made the decision into getting a sample. When I checked it, there's none. They were careless in handling their secret…"

"Still…!!!"

"They're being too careless, Gil! I need to take the opportunity before they notice that someone knows about what they're hiding. Especially when you just make a scene by exploding their temple before."

Gil shut up while Chrisfold looked elsewhere like he wasn't part of that scenario.

Bern took the vial and looked at it.

"This is something that came from a force act."

Evelyn and everyone else turn their head at Bern who just commented about the black mana that forms as a liquid instead of an aura.

"What do you mean?" Evelyn asked. She only has limited knowledge when it comes to black mana.

Things that she only knew because Cassandra spilled while she was talking to herself while doing some research in her little laboratory room in their cabin.

"Black mana like the other affinities came from nature, so us spirits who have a keen sense when it comes to these kinds of things are more sensitive in detecting where the source came from." Alisha, Evelyn's water spirit said.

"And that black liquid that Bern is holding is artificial… It didn't come from nature. There's no ounce of elements and rhythm that only us spirits can detect. That is why we can discern it." Cathy continued what Alisha said.

"You know where black mana came from right?" Chrisfold asked.

"More or less… I only know what the text said in some books that I read before in the Academy."

The discussion became a lesson for Evelyn who only knew to some extent that black mana came from the corpses of people or animals who died from natural occurrences. It also came from darkness which only the black mana users can use.

It was also the reason why people with black mana affinity are scarce and the reason why the witches before wage war against the elves in Stygian city, one of the seven forbidden cities.