The Mages paused their eating and held their breath as The King closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Moments later they started to feel an invisible pressure emanate from his position, spreading through the hall and out through the hill underneath.

Invisible runes on the Scepter glowed with gentle white light and then spread to the floor underneath. It lasted for a few seconds and then dimmed, prompting The King to focus his mind once more.

This time came a surge from Mana from his body, went through the Scepter of Verrant, and traveled into the floor deep underground.

Everyone held their breath, and especially the Grandmaster Spark watched on with great anticipation for the things to come. He experienced the same phenomena almost half a century ago, but never so up close.

He was thrilled!

The palace experienced a slight tremor moments later, and a few servants looked worryingly at the ceiling. However nothing happened, nothing physical that is.

A surge of Mana gushed from below the throne room, hundreds, thousands of times greater than the normal concentration, and it still kept increasing rapidly. Exclamations of awe and excitement echoed in the grand hall as the Mages felt their body fill with Mana and their gems replenished at an amazing rate.

Their expended Magical Artifacts filled up like filling a bucket in a river instead of a dripping faucet. In an environment like this, no matter how retarded you were and what garbage talent you had, a normal person would struggle running out of Mana even if they wanted to.

The Mages, having a few dozen Ether Crystals each were instantly turned into magic machineguns, with the only limitation preventing them from truly making use of the situation to the fullest, being their feeble minds.

The King gripped his Scepter as he sat back on the throne and sighed and made a wry smile. "I truly hope it was worth it… It's going to take me years to collect this Mana again…"

Gerald was right in the middle of punching a Hobgoblin to death when his nose twitched. There was a nice smell coming from somewhere. Among the pungent stench of the battlefield, it was extremely distinct.

"Do you smell that?" he elbowed a warrior beside him.

"Smell what?" The guy pulled down his face covering and took a good whiff. His face then scrunched up and he quickly covered his nose again. "I do, I smell shit and rotting corpses, what else?"

He thought Gerald was just fooling around and proceeded to ignore him, stabbing an overly aggressive Goblin in the eye.

"Hmm." Gerald distinctly felt a fresh scent mixed in, so he tore off the head of the monster and tossed it aside. He then followed his nose and sniffed in the direction from where the smell was coming from. It pointed him towards the center of the capital and his eyes landed on the Royal Palace.

"Oh? Oooh!" He just remembered what he was smelling. It was Mana! Very pure and dense Mana!

He opened his Magic Eyes and looked around. The air was filled with Mana, much denser than it had been days ago, and it appeared the increase was still happening. The walls started to glow with some runes hidden beneath the surface and the entire city gave off a feeling of awakening.

"Oh! No way!" As he looked down, he could see huge lines of Mana running a few dozen meters below the surface, where all of them combined into even thicker lines going towards the hill in the middle.

"Lay Lines run just below the city?! And it seems like…" His gaze landed on the Royal Palace. "... They all meet there. A focal point of magic, no wonder…"

Some grand spell had to have been in place to keep it all contained and hidden, and it seemed that the capital was here for a reason. All Mana in the surrounding area was gathering here, making it a perfect place to live and defend from. He used to wonder why the Spirit Lake wasn't turned into a fortress, but it seemed that idea has taken root here long ago.

Maybe the Spirit Lake was discovered just recently and they didn't yet have time to build it? Who knows.

He left the frontline as he followed the Lay Lines and wasn't watching where he was going when he almost bumped into a couple.

"It's you again!" a woman exclaimed in an annoyed tone.

"Hum?" Gerald looked and the one that disrupted his thoughts.

"That's him, that's the shameless guy I've told you about!"

The one complaining was an Elf, Ilyana Falle to be precise, the arrogant and prideful Elf woman he met in a forest not too long ago. Beside her was another Elf, this one was a male who wore a similar condescending expression. He was even slightly taller than Gerald so he could look down upon him with arrogance.

"Ah, the human warrior, yes? He doesn't look like much…" the male Elf said disdainfully after giving Gerald a quick glance-over.

"Huh? And who're you supposed to be? Her boyfriend?" Gerald retorted and floated a few centimeters off the ground to look him straight in the eyes.

The Elf had perfect facial features and spotless skin, long silver hair, and a handsome appearance. However, his body looked scrawny. Gerald's muscle mass was at least twice his, and he appeared much more balanced.

The two stared at each other intently while ignoring Ilyana's whining. Apparently, Elves were arrogant towards each other too.

"A joke? So you think you can stand on the same level as me, huh?" the Elf scoffed and his eyes narrowed with dangerous intent.

At that moment Gerald felt a sharp pain in his brain. It was like some asshole was poking his finger through his skull, directly at his gray matter. He squinted one of his eyes in pain and his face contorted as he glanced in the direction of where the pain was most intense. It was the smirking Elf.

"Knock it off!" Gerald shoved the guy with both palms with such force that it almost made him fall. Immediately the pain subsided.

The Elf male looked at his chest and then at him, in disbelief.

"Huh? You- Why are you not reeling in pain? Are you…?" He squinted his eyes, a piercing gaze that made Gerald feel like he could see through him completely. "No, you are not… Just a normal human, huh? How unusual…"

"Such a strong Soul," he then murmured, too quiet for Gerald to hear him.

"What's there to be surprised about? An annoying pair like you, I heard you are hanging around some nobles. Planning to become their lapdog, huh?"

"Pfft, hahaha!" The Elf almost died laughing and he held his stomach for a few minutes as he roared. It was the funniest shit he heard in a while, the most ridiculous assumption anyone could come up with.

"You-" He wiped the tears from his eyes, barely catching his breath. "You think that trash is worthy of our assistance?" He burst into a short laugh again.

After calming down, the Elf male spoke with a serious face and a tinge of contempt, "He should be honored to be in our presence and do his best to please us. The only person in this backwater Kingdom worth of my aid is your King, but he already wasted his chance!"

"That trash, barely reaching the Nascent Soul with so many resources on his disposal," he added, grumbling to himself. "Truly an incompetent King!"

Ilyana glanced at him with a lowered head and spoke, "Aren't you about the same? You should be even older than him, right?"

"What do you know!" The male immediately became enraged and shouted back. "Hmph! If I wasn't banished young I could have single-handedly ruled over this place!" His mood soured and he looked for someone to vent on. His gaze landed on Gerald, and the latter noticed.

"Alright, I think it's time for me to go," Gerald said and quickly took a few steps back. "I wouldn't want to disrupt your date, enjoy the city!"

"Wait!"

Gerald was already far away when the Elf shouted after him. However, Gerald just turned around and yelled, "Remember to eat more, you look malnourished! Just a bit more and you'll look like a corpse!" He then waved at him before disappearing into an alley.

The Elf stood there, shaking in anger. A simple human dared to ignore his words and then mock him on top of that?

Bam!

He punched a wall in anger, breaking a few stones in the process. "Damn, I fucking hate this place!"