Wesley was currently suspended midair in a dark space that seemed to have no end. Wesley's face was currently filled with unwillingness, dread and anger. Wesley knew that he was safe from that maniac old man inside this space, but his face still contained a lot of dread for a completely different reason.

Wesley, initially had a little more than half his mana left. He was already using half of that to heal his heart, while the other half was being kept in reserve. However, after the old monster found him, Wesley was forced to use Dark Warp, which cost him the quarter he was keeping in reserve.

Now, Wesley was faced with an ultimatum. Remain in this space and use the remainder of his mana to stabilize and heal his heart, or, open up another Dark Warp and leave this place.

If Wesley chose the first option, he would be able to fix his heart without fear from the old man interrupting him again. However, he would be stuck in this space until the day he dies from starvation.

This space is, to say the least, the space between dark elements, however, there is no tunnel now since Wesley had to collapse it. Allowing your tunnel to collapse is the worst thing a Dark Mage can do because, this space is like prison.

This space, which is simply known as the void, is the worst place you want to end up in without mana. The void is absolutely cut off from outside world. Although surprisingly, there is air, there is no gravity, heat or mana.

Wesley would be able to fix his heart with his remaining mana, but he definitely won't be able to refine in here, so he'll have no way to leave, and would eventually die.

Wesley's second option is to leave the space. If he did this, he would most definitely die, because he won't have any mana to maintain his heart. Also, his escape from the old bastard has caused his injuries to become worse, so his refining speed will be definitely slower than his healing rate.

Furthermore, Wesley was afraid that the old bastard would track him down again. Wesley had no idea how that old man found him just now, but he had no intention of being caught by him, because if he did, Wesley's death would be assured and painful.

Wesley immediately made up his mind. Having to choose between slow but eventual death, and quick but certain death, Wesley chose the slow death.

His reasoning was simple, first he would stabilize his heart, then he would try to find a way out of this god forsaken place. If he failed, he fails, but if he succeeds, then he would be able to survive this predicament.

Having made up his mind, Wesley immediately crossed his legs and closed his eyes. He had no idea which was up and which was down because this space had no such thing, but he still needed to focus on his heart.

.....................................................................................................................................................

Wesley's remedy for his heart was extremely basic. Use his mana on his heart's three wounds so that the body's own clotting speeds up. However, although the theory was simple, its application was extremely had.

Wesley had to direct three strands of his mana, to the three wounds; this required tremendous amounts of control and focus, because paying attention to three different things is no easy task. Furthermore, his heart's constant beating aggravated and interrupted the clotting process, while disturbing Wesley's direction of the mana.

Wesley's control of mana was extremely good, however, the difficulty of this certain task was so high that Wesley felt his forehead getting drenched in sweat. If it were any other situation, Wesley wouldn’t have so much trouble, but he was currently racing against the clock.

The longer he waited, the lower his blood pressure dropped, and the more likely Wesley would fall into shock and die. Furthermore, Wesley was already starting to feel lightheaded, forcing him to focus even more on the task at hand.

Fortunately, Aside from a few blood vessels that supplied blood to the heart itself being severed, no other major vessels were injured. Although, he was experiencing intense pain, and his heart was starting to slow, Wesley was not in too much danger.

After half hour of constant nourishment from Wesley's mana, those three wounds were closed. Wesley still needed to make sure that the clots did not crumple under his heart's constant, so Wesley used the remainder of his mana to maintain the clots.

These clots enabled Wesley to be in a less critical condition, but he still had to keep a constant eye on them, because he had very little mana left, and if they broke, he would simply resign to dying.

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Although Wesley was slightly worried about his heart, he still felt confident that he was going to be fine as long as he had enough mana and now that he has succeeded in closing the wounds, his heart should be fine with some time.

What Wesley wasn’t confident in was finding a way out of the void. If only he had enough mana to open a tunnel, this matter wouldn’t even cause him any worry. However, he has already spent the last of his mana in repairing his wounded heart.

He also had no way to refine in this void because the mana that existed in the outside world didn’t exist here. Wesley had to find a way to refine enough mana to open a tunnel, so he immediately started pondering.

Wesley wondered how air could exist in the void, but not mana. If air could enter the void, then mana should be able to enter as well. It didn’t make sense that one can enter while the other is unable.

Wesley simply continued being suspended there crossleged, while he pondered this question. Wesley needed to think of a way to escape this prison, and he did have time, but not infinite time.

After almost an hour of constant pondering, Wesley came up with a potential explanation to the problem. One of Oliver Reme's theories was regarding the state of mana. He hypothesized that mana didn’t fit any of the known states of matter, however, it resembled solids more than liquids or gasses.

Air is a gas, so its particles are able to move away from one another and spread. Which means that they have no fixed volume and are always spreading, unless otherwise blocked. This means that air particles will continue moving until they entered this void.

However, mana is comparable to solids. Static and with fixed volume. They will remain unmoving in their current position, unless they are refined by a mage and then used in some way. This theory was rejected by Reme, because mana was not necessarily matter, because, even though it existed in the world, it neither occupied space nor had mass.

Wesley felt that this was one of the reasons why mana did not exist in this space, but he didn’t for a second believe it was the only way. There is no way that every no mana happened to exist at the exact position as a dark element. Simple statistics made it impossible for such a scenario to occur.

So Wesley wondered what else could have caused no mana to exist in this void. Wesley immediately went over everything he knew about mana in his mind. Adding the multiple theories of Oliver Reme as well as the other books Wesley read, he had quite a lot to go over.

Wesley continued going over the numerous theories, thinking about each one separately, and trying to see how each of them might explain why no mana existed inside the elements. After almost three hours of thinking, Wesley seemed to have found one theory that fit this situation.

Oliver Reme's last theory stated that mana and the elements shared were similar origins. However, he immediately rejected this theory because it is established that opposites attract while likes repel. If mana and elements were the same, they would repel each other and mana wouldn’t be able to be used manipulate the elements.

At first Wesley accepted this theory, the same way he accepted all of Oliver Reme's theories. However, he now felt that there were some truth in the fact that mana and elements shared something that caused them to repel, hence explaining why there was no mana inside this elements.

As far as the fact that opposites attract and likes repel goes, Wesley thought that the explanation for that is extremely simple. When mages use mana, they refine it by attracting it with the aid of their mana core and then they store in their mana core.

The mana core is located at the center of the mana sea, and attracts mana like magnet. After the mana enters the body, it is stored in the mana sea. Wesley concluded that since the core could attract mana, they must be opposites, and that when mana is stored in the mana sea, it is somehow altered, making it able to be used to manipulate the elements.

Wesley's entire theory could be described by words like conjecture of speculation. He had not a speck of evidence for any of his thoughts, and he had no viable way to test any part of his theory. Wesley, however, didn’t mind that, as he suddenly found a possible way out of this place.

According to Wesley's hypothesis, mana and the elements are similar in some way, therefore, Wesley should be able to use his mana core to refine the parts of the dark element that is similar to mana. If he is right, then he should be able to refine and escape this place.

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Wesley immediately calmed his body and started breathing in a practice rhythm. He wanted to test if he can refine the mana component in the dark element he was currently residing in.

Wesley's mana core started vibrating slightly as he stimulated it. Wesley had no idea how this experiment of his might work, so he decided to start of slowly. This was the same vibration speed needed to safely refine mana in the outside world.

There was no mana in the void, so Wesley's core continued vibrating slightly without anything happening. Wesley, however, was not discouraged. He immediately increases the vibration rate of his core to double its initial speed.

Unfortunately nothing happened again. Wesley once again increased the speed of the core vibration, reaching three times its initial vibration speed. However, aside from the core's vibration causing his body to shake slightly, nothing else happened.

Wesley immediately frowned. He immediately sped up his core's vibration speed. Wesley's face instantly twitched as the vibration speed reached four times the initial speed because his core felt like it was clutched and being squeezed by someone.

If Wesley refined with this speed in the outside world, his pores would have ruptured and he would have become disabled for live because the potential amount of mana that would have rushed into his body is simply too much. Fortunately, there was no mana here, so aside from some slight discomfort, Wesley wasn’t at risk of being harmed.

Nothing happened once again. At this point, Wesley was starting to get frustrated. He couldn’t maintain this rate of core vibration because it was extremely getting uncomfortable.

Wesley immediately clenched his jaws and increased the speed of core vibration to five times the initial speed. As soon as Wesley did this, he felt as if his core was about to be ripped from his chest and fly out from his chest.

Although, this wasn’t too much pain, it scared Wesley greatly. Wesley wanted to stop with the refining. It was clear that his hypothesis was wrong and even if it was right, he would be able to test it any further. However, before Wesley could stop his actions:

'Creaaaak'

The entire space around Wesley issued a low creak that seemed to echo from all directions. Wesley's eyes immediately opened, not because he could see anything in this darkness, rather because of surprise and astonishment.

Wesley immediately realized that the reason his core felt like it might bust out of his chest was because whatever it was pulling was stronger than it. Wesley closed his eyes again and instantly increased his core's vibration rate to six times the initial speed.

Wesley concluded that if his core's pulling power was stronger than the opposing force, then he should be able to absorb and refine it. Wesley's theory proved correct because the moment he increased his core vibration rate, the entire space around him started issuing creak after creak as if something was about to be yanked from somewhere.

'Creaaaaaak'

'Creaaaaaaaaaak'

'Creaaaaaaaaaaaaaak'

Wesley's heart was filled with anticipation as the creaking got louder and more frequent. If he found a way to escape from this place, then Wesley would be the first person to ever do so. Furthermore, he would have deciphered some of the mystery of mana.

Ten minutes later, Wesley's entire body was drenched in sweat and his face was paler than paper, but his expression was that of excitement. He felt that the force opposing his core was getting loose. It shouldn’t take too long before he was able to pry it loose.

'Crunch'

Soon enough, the sound of something breaking reverberated throughout the entire void. Wesley eyes opened while full of excitement and happiness. He couldn’t believe that he would be able to leave this space.

Wesley face was filled with incomparable happiness as he was currently grinning from ear to ear. It seems that he has used up his entire life reservoir of luck today by escaping from an elder and then from the void. This is simply the luck of the gods.

However, before Wesley could relish in his self praise, the smile on his face froze and an expression of extreme fear appeared in his face. Wesley's core was still vibrating with six times the normal speed.

Let alone whatever it is that Wesley just absorbed, even regular mana would prove deadly if refined with such speed. Wesley immediately slowed stopped his core's vibration, but it was too late.

'Shatter'

Almost half a second later, the sound of glass shattering resounded throughout Wesley's body. Wesley's face instantly turned ugly and he spat a mouthful of blood. He looked down at his chest with wide eyes as if looking for a wound, but he knew there would be nothing there.

Wesley's eyes stared at his chest for a few seconds in disbelieve and then his eyes immediately turned white as he fell into unconsciousness.

A shattered core.

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Hi.

I have to admit something. This chapter was actually twice as long. But i thought you guys might appreciate nice and soft cliffhangers. You see there are two kinds of cliffhangers, the intentional and unintentional.

This chapter is the former.

Also if you spot a flaw in my bullshitscience about mana, please let me know, i'll fix it ASAP.

Enjoy. -(-_-)/-