Cale leaned back and had one leg crossed over the other as he silently listened to the discussion. The High-Magicians had been talking for several minutes about the Kormandents and how best to deal with them. Grischa, who was sitting right next to Cale, followed the conversation attentively. For him, it was the first time he heard the whole background story from the seekers' perspective, so he was curious. That Grischa couldn't remember anything was left to the council, as well as Aletta and Cale.

Cale placed his hand on his legs in front of him and, using his null magic, made the first book of the Chronicles appear. He held it for a moment, merely staring at the noble cover, before turning it over to the back and opening it. On the last page was a single message he had secretly deposited in each of the 5 books.

'In memory of W.A.B.P. - who will never be forgotten'.

As if entranced, he stared at the small print sentence at the end of the book. He had only written and published the chronicles because Philippa had suggested it to him in his previous life. 'W.A.B.P.' were the first letters of his friends strung together. But now he was supposed to teach people from this very book? The book that he had initially written only for himself and had developed into a kind of life project? Would the people listen to him at all correctly, let alone believe, what stands in it?

With skeptical feelings, he closed the book again and closed his eyes for the moment. There were about a hundred different creatures listed in the five books; to discuss them all in one day seemed insane. He thought it would be better to present the creatures in groups on different evenings. Only the 'how' was still a big question for Cale. Knowing about the matter and teaching someone about it were two different things.

Cale could feel Grischa leaning towards him, which is why he made the book disappear and looked up at him.

"Say, what do you think of the theory that the creature creates a copy of itself when it teleports and, like the communication crystal, abruptly transfers its mana from one place to another?", Grischa quietly spoke up. Somewhat puzzled by the thought, Cale stared at his friend, who continued to keep everyone's gaze on the center of the group.

"Aren't you kind of forgetting that the Kormandent has a body too?", Cale quietly chimed in. "Even if he can mirror his mana, what happens to the rest?"

"So just nonsense?"

"Not necessarily."

After the statement, Grischa's gaze broke away from the group and looked over at Cale.

"What are you thinking about?", he replied curiously, draping his arm over the back of the seat before turning his whole posture toward Cale.

"I don't really know, but what if it's based on the principle of zero magic?"

"The zero magic?", Grischa repeated softly as the voices around the two grew louder.

"Yes. Zero magic tears some sort of hole in the mana of nature that surrounds all of us. This allows me to deposit objects in this void, which is why you can no longer perceive them. But the point is that no one has ever tried to place a living being there. At least, I think so."

"You mean...that one could be in there.... sounds plausible. And by having your own mana in your body, you should be able to exit the void again."

Grischa rubbed his chin thoughtfully before directing his gaze back to the group. His eyes lingered on Luc, the High-Magician who was one of the most important members of the search party.

"Do you know how Luc's Igrikum works exactly?", the 1st seat finally spoke up. The High-Magicians became so loud that the Eldest stepped in and asked them to remain quiet. "As far as I know, he is able to manipulate shadows and can also move from shadow to shadow as long as it is in his field of vision."

"Unfortunately, no. Maybe we'll ask him later. His shadow stepping and teleporting shouldn't be that different, you're right."

"Are there any other unanswered questions?", Sefra raised at the same moment, causing Grischa and Cale to instantly cease their private conversation. Sefra's bold eyes slowly slid around until they stopped at Grischa and lingered there. After there were no objections, she began to raise her voice for the last time. "Then I have a question for you, Caleb. What exactly did you do with the mark on Grischa's back and where did all your mana come from?"

Surprised by the direct question, Cale twitched nervously before swallowing once unobtrusively and sliding forward a bit, so everyone could get a good look at him. He'd had a premonition for days that the subject would be brought up in front of all the High-Magicians, and finally it happened.

"To put it simply, I enclosed the mark with my Igrikum into a barrier, which broke the connection between it and Grischa's mana heart. I can control my Igrikum very precisely, determining what it can and cannot pass through, regardless of whether it has a physical body or not. That is why I was able to protect Exarion from the creatures with my barrier, yet let the humans enter."

Cale then elegantly extended his hand forward and began moving mana within his body. He made a small source of Mana appear in his right hand, which was not visible to the eye, but could be clearly felt by any of the High-Magicians.

"My own mana is... a little strange. I can't tell you why, but I'm a little different from normal mages. My mana pool has been growing since I was a kid, and I doubt it will ever stop growing. It's so big now that it's become painful for me to let the mana flow through my body unhindered", he explained calmly, releasing a large amount of mana outside, not intending to expose himself to the High-Magicians. "The principle I used on Grischa I had been using on myself for years. With the help of my Igrikum, I permanently suppressed my pure mana to make it easier to control."

"How much are we talking about exactly?", Joshua Elbert chimed in, causing Cale to turn his attention to the young man.

"Six hundred, seven hundred RM?", Cale threw back. Abruptly, the 11th seat's eyes widened and several others made similarly surprised statements.

"At least now I understand why you thought you could keep your barrier up for quite a few days. With that mana mass, it's no wonder", Joshua muttered between them, causing Cale to look at him in confusion.

"One has nothing to do with the other?", Cale quickly chimed in, causing the others to quiet down.

"What do you mean?", Odin volunteered and for the first time in a long time, Cale looked at his colleagues, stunned. Rangar whispered something to Odin and the three women among them also spoke, but Cale paused in shock for a moment. Seeking help, he looked to the Eldest, who signaled with an unobtrusive shrug that he was as perplexed as Cale. The 12th seat's gaze turned back to Joshua. "Tell me, are you even real 3rd stage mages? Didn't you ever notice that the Igrikum and your own pure mana have two different starting points of mana?"

Cale felt like he was back at his first lesson with Sefra. It was almost as if he was talking to inexperienced children about the future of the world, such puzzled faces he just looked into.

"Guys, the Igrikum comes from the mana of nature, not from yourselves. Even if you no longer have a spark of mana in your body, you can still use your Igrikum. The body always tries to keep a balance between the two sources, which is why it was so dangerous for Grischa. This was not because he was simply out of mana. His Igrikum was destroying his body because his mana balance was out of whack. It was... sort of fighting against itself."

Neither of them commented, so Cale began wielding the Igrikum in his left hand.

"Haven't you ever heard stories from the past? There were mages who had been stripped of their Igrikum and were called soulless. Who actually taught you about magic that you don't know how dangerous it is? We need both the Igrikum and our own mana to live. If we lose one, we become people who live between this world and the next."

Cale strengthened the Igrikum in his left hand while completely suppressing his mana. The only things that can be felt now were the mana of nature in his other hand.

"Did you really not know that?", Grischa interfered in the discussion. Cale caught very clearly how Odin, Joshua, Rosalie, Malte, and Luc uncomfortably dodged the question. He was shocked that barely half of them even understood what it meant to be a High-Magician. With the younger ones, Cale could still almost comprehend it, but with Odin? He was a council member and over 150 years old, how come he didn't know that. Even Rangar knew it and that really had to mean something!

Cale sighed loudly before withdrawing his Igrikum and completely suppressing his presence. He slapped his hand quietly against his head and shook himself before continuing to speak.

"Do you know that 3rd stage mages are also called halflings?", he finally asked, turning his gaze to Odin as he said it, who made no sound. "Or that you can suppress your mana presence, at the same time everyone could use the Igrikum without attracting attention?"

"Well... that actually explains a lot", Odin replied quietly, and Cale watched him make a blood puddle appear over his palm and then start messing around with his Igrikum and mana.

"Guess we get to deal with the Igrikum in addition to Yusuf's mana sensitivity", Aaron spoke up over the crystal, causing Odin's gaze to fall on it.

"How is it that you know about this?", Malte inquired cautiously. "I don't know, but about the whole thin as being a High-Magician, there are no books, only the 13 of us."

"Well, I kind of knew that from the beginning", Rangar explained, beating his chest several times. "An old friend of mine had once asked me what made my defensive armor different from a normal mage's defense. Pure mana is nowhere near as strong as nature's mana."

"It was similar for me", Sefra interjected. "I lived through the 3rd stage, by when I was already a mage. From the beginning, the Igrikum felt different from my own mana, and after some tests I understood why. Although I must say that it took me quite a while to get my Igrikum under control."

"Same with me", Cale interjected into the discussion again. "When I use the Igrikum, I do feel very clearly that my body first absorbs the mana of nature before the barriers are created. I may be talking about a fraction of a second, but that has always made a tremendous difference to me personally. I'm really surprised that you haven't noticed something like that."

"Well, I hate to interrupt", the Eldest announced, causing all eyes to immediately turn to the blond-haired man. "The Igrikum is an unsolved mystery of the world, as we all know. We can gladly talk about it later, but I currently have a completely different request for you."

Silence arose among the High-Magicians for a brief moment, before the Eldest cleared his throat and looked around with a serious expression.

"I would like to talk to you about your insights that you saw at the third stage."