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Spica continued, taking a sip of tea. She felt thirsty talking about a subject that she didn’t understand well.

“The manna of the upper manna hall is mainly used for spiritual activities, while the manna in the Dragon Heart is mostly for the manifestation of magic. Dragons’ lower manna hall supplies manna for their physical activities, like your manna hall in your lower abdomen. As the flight requires the most manna among dragons’ physical activities, it is natural that our lower manna hall is located between the wings. The State of Harmony means two trinities. The first one forms among the upper, middle and lower manna halls, and the other among spirit, manna force and body. I learned that when these two trinities are achieved at the same time, you can reach the State of Harmony.”

Lara and Sasha focused on Spica’s explanations. They were similar to what Id told before but contained slightly different contents as well. Id understood what Spica tried to explain. He knew that his manna flowed differently in the manna passages inside his forehead and chest. A relatively spacious passage of manna was formed right in front of the obstacle in his head that had been removed during his stay in Blackanvil’s house. When Id circulated manna, its flow slowed down there, and a considerable part of manna stayed there for a long time. There was a similar space in the manna passage between his lungs. Id realized that his method of manna circulation, which he used to use before removing the obstacle in his head and Sasha and Lara were still training with, had a defect. At the same time, he also realized how to rectify the problem.

Spica continued after a short pause.

“Although there might be time differences, most dragons enter the State of Harmony at around the age of four thousand. From this point on, dragons rarely eat food and live with manna as their primary energy source. As the skeleton and scales continue to grow, dragons grow in size, but dragons that have reached the State of Harmony lose their weight gradually. Many dragons stay in the State of Harmony until death, but some dragons enter the State of Ultimate at around the age of seven thousand. I learned that it is the state where the spirit, body and manna force are almost unified, but I have no idea what it means. Anyway, the dragons, who enter the State of Ultimate, completely transform. Blood and flesh disappear, leaving only organs related to manna circulation. When I first heard Vega’s explanation, I imagined the scene that a dragon’s whole body becomes a giant Dragon Heart. Anyway, from this point, dragons can use high-end magic like Teleportation. The State of Myth is literally entering the realm of gods, so ordinary creatures can’t explain it. The dragons, who reached the State of Myth, sooner or later, execute a Dimensional Teleportation to the world of gods, so we don’t need to know much about that.”

Listening to Spica, Id felt the necessity to organize the concepts of how human beings entered the State of Harmony. He might be the first human who had reached it. As he could not ask anyone or refer to any records, he had to observe himself and establish new concepts. Thinking it would take a long time, Id asked Spica about another issue.

“What happens to the Dragon Heart when a dragon dies?”

“When a dragon in the State of Ultimate dies, all parts of the dragon’s body, including the Dragon Heart, break down by itself and return to Mother Nature’s manna. When a dragon, who has not reached the State of Ultimate yet, feels its life is over, he uses magic to break down his own Dragon Heart. In either case, a manna storm occurs during the disintegration of the Dragon Heart. So usually, dragons choose a place to die where there is no life close to them as much as possible, but from time to time, lives are damaged or affected by the manna storm.

Id responded to Spica.

“Vega gave her Dragon Heart to ask me to keep your safety, but I am unsure if it’s right for me to keep it. Wouldn’t it be better to send it back to Mother Nature?”

“Vega taught me how to dismantle a Dragon Heart, but I’ve never used it before, of course. Therefore, I am unsure if I, a hatchling, can cast the spell properly. Vega might have had other reasons for giving you her Dragon Heart, so, I think, you should decide its disposal carefully.”

As Id nodded and fell into his thoughts, the others started their manna circulation.

***************

James Cronos had completely missed the whereabouts of the person who took the Dragon Heart. He began searching for clues little by little after meeting Harry, the Commander of Count Perkins’ northern Rainger Unit, and two six-circle mages, Antares and Fomalhaut, sent by Duke Cronos. Commander Harry reported to James Cronos.

“My men confirmed that four people entered the Polermone Mountains a week ago, following the hunter’s path from the Kontsevaya side of the Scandia Kingdom. Judging from the traces they left, I believe now five people are traveling together. The girl you saw at the gold dragon’s lair seems to have joined the party recently in the mountains. They’re moving south at tremendous speed.”

James spoke to Harry with an edgy look.

“You are saying they broke through the siege of your three-hundred-stong Rangers so easily?”

Harry replied without hiding his displeasure.

“They got out even before we made a proper siege. It was already too late when we were ordered to move.”

As the atmosphere between James Cronos and Commander Harry became strained, a six-circle-expert mage, Antares, intervened.

“Judging from their traces, they must have a top-notch Spiritual and a six-circle-master mage in the party. Given their abilities, the Rangers alone can’t catch them.”

Antares evaluated Spica as a six-circle-master mage. Having been even more offended by Antares’ comments, Harry responded brusquely.

“I’ve asked the southern unit to take a tight siege. If we track down them while the southern unit keeps their course, we’ll soon be able to surround them.”

James spoke in a calm tone as if to appease Harry.

“I didn’t mean to undervalue your Rangers. I just wondered how they had moved so fast. Antares, how far do you think we are from them?”

“It’s probably not more than ten kilometers. If we leave early tomorrow morning, we might catch up with them before dusk.”

Looking around Harry’s Rangers, James Cronos ordered.

“Let’s camp here tonight. We’ll leave tomorrow an hour before dawn. We must catch them tomorrow.”

***************

When Id’s party, which departed early in the morning, advanced about thirty kilometers south, Selena, who had been talking to Sylves, informed Id.

“About three hundred Rangers are two kilometers ahead. Since their siege is pretty wide, Sylves advise we'd better take a long detour east or west.”

The party stopped at Selena’s words. After a while, Id told his companions.

“Let’s just break through the siege in a wedge-shaped rank. I’ll be at the front. Spica stands behind me on my left, and Sasha behind Spica on her left. Lara stands behind me on my right, and Selena behind Lara on her right. On my first signal, Spica and Lara launch magic attacks. Lara, cast a spell in advance, please. You need to attack extensively since the aim of magic attacks is not to kill the Rangers but to confuse their formation. Sasha, Selena, please shoot your bows at the center of the Ranger’s camp at my second signal. Don’t try to increase the hit rate but shoot as many arrows as possible. When I break through the center of the Rangers’ camp, stick close behind me, narrowing your formation and focusing on defense. Suppose the distance from the person in front of you is more than two meters apart while on the move, you must immediately notify. Don’t forget that maintaining distance between colleagues is the most important thing in the breakthrough. Once we completely penetrate their camp, we’ll turn our formation into a single file. Sasha leads and follow him in order of Spica, Lara and Selena. I’ll be at the rear. We will advance as fast as we can to widen the distance from the trackers as much as possible. Any questions?”

Id waited for a while after he finished talking, but no one asked any questions. As Id began to move again, the other four followed him, forming a wedge-shaped rank as Id instructed them. Though Id speeded up gradually, everyone kept up well.

Commander Richard of Count Perkins’ southern Ranger Unit, had called thirty squad leaders at dawn to order operations.

“Reduce the spacing between each Ranger from ten meters to five meters. Even though there would be a risk that they will detour far away, I believe they are more likely to try to penetrate our siege. Instruct your Rangers to keep the colleagues on either side in sight.”