Chapter 42

The next day.

At dawn, when the sky was still bright, the campfire at the foot of the mountain was extinguished.

When Shien was still sleeping, Vivian entered his tent and dragged him up.

"Now is the time for the nocturnal monsters to return to their nests, and most of the diurnal monsters will only appear after dawn. Now is the best time for us to enter the mountain."

Vivian used this reason to gather everyone together.

However, the girls seemed to have already prepared for this, or perhaps they were already used to this kind of life, so they all looked energetic and did not look sleepy at all.

Only Shien, who was constantly yawning in the middle of the energetic girls, looked like he would collapse at any time.

"Really, too indecent. Hurry up and wash your face, and be refreshed."

Vivian was like a worried sister who rushed Shien to wash up, causing Shien to smile bitterly.

"I thought I was used to waking up early after coming to this world, but I really can't compare to the orthodox adventurers."

As an adventurer, not only did he have to keep watch for several hours in the middle of the night, but he also had to get up early to enter the mountain to complete the commission.

It was really hard. Moreover, after entering the mountain, he had to encounter all kinds of dangerous monsters, so he could not be careless. So even if he did not have enough sleep, he had to be energetic and could not slack off.

"Don't they consider sleeping or something like that?"

Shien washed up in a daze while thinking about such things, until he splashed cold water on his face and fiercely rubbed his face a few times. Only then did he become energetic.

Immediately after, Shien returned to the side of the girls, and together with the girls who were ready to go, they prepared to enter the Mangal Mountain Belt.

"Everyone, come over."

Vivian called out to everyone and took out a map from her luggage, spreading it in front of everyone.

Naturally, it was the map of the Mangal Mountain Belt.

On the map, there were not only detailed road markings, but also several special signs.

There was a red "x" symbol, an icon symbol that looked like a pool, and a few other miscellaneous symbols. This map was drawn with great care.

"First, let's confirm our goal for this trip."

Vivian's gaze swept across everyone.

"Now that we have cleared the Blood-sucking Vines, the remaining two tasks are to collect spring water from the medium-sized mana source and obtain the skin of the Fire Lizard."

Vivian was the first to confirm before she said so.

"There are a total of seventeen mana sources in the Mangal Mountain Belt. One is large, three are medium-sized, and the remaining thirteen are all small. So, let's first eliminate all the small mana sources."

As she said, Vivian took out a quill and marked the thirteen pools on the map with "x" signs.

Only then did Sean know that the pool icons were the locations of all the sources of magic in the Mount Mangal belt.

"The large mana source in the belt of the Mangal Mountain belt is said to have level 80 powerful monsters. Vivian said, "Although if we bring back the spring water from the large mana source, the client will be overjoyed and announce that we have completed the task and will even pay us extra, the large mana source usually has the highest level of dangerous monsters in the area. The large mana source in the Mangal Mountain Belt is said to have level 80 powerful monsters. For safety's sake, we can't go near there."

Vivian crossed out a golden pool icon on the map. She also crossed out the icon of a nearby pool.

Because that mana source was too close to the large mana source, Vivian directly crossed it out, right?

"This way, there are two remaining mana sources. One of them is closer to us, and the other is in the other direction of the mountain range. It is clear at a glance which side we should go to."

Vivian decisively crossed out the other pool sign, leaving only one pool sign.

Then, Vivian used a quill to mark the path from where everyone was to the remaining pool sign on the map.

"This is the closest path to the target mana source. We'll go there from here." Vivian pointed at the path with the tip of her pen and said, "Follow this path. If everything goes well, when we arrive at our destination, it should be the time when the monsters start to become active. We should try to collect the spring water before that, and then guard the vicinity of the source of mana. When the monsters get close, we will immediately hunt down the fire lizards."

In this way, the mission would be successfully completed.

"That's the battle plan. If you have any questions, you can ask them now."

Vivian asked everyone.

Tierre, Lumia, and Merica did not speak, so they thought that there should be no problems.

But …

"I have a question."

Shien raised his hand with a serious expression.

"What exactly is the mana source?"

Shien had long wanted to ask this question.

Until now, Shien still did not know what the mana source was.

However, when they heard Shien's question, Lumia and Merica could not help but tilt their bodies and almost fall to the ground. Even Tierre was speechless, leaving Vivian speechless.

"It seems that you're seriously lacking in common sense, Shien."

Vivian said helplessly.

However, Vivian no longer gave Shien a puzzled look.

"You should know that there is magic in everyone's body, right?"

"… Sorry, I didn't know."

"Is … is that so …"

Vivian began to look at Sean sympathetically, even pitying him.

Even the other girls felt helpless, causing Tierre to fall silent, Lumia to be at a loss, and Merica to have a subtle expression. This made Shien feel like he was being treated as a bad student by a primary school teacher, and he could not help but laugh dryly.

"Then I'll explain it to you from the beginning."

Vivian could not help but laugh, and then began to explain patiently.

"Everything in the world has the possibility of carrying mana, especially life itself. From the moment it was born, it will have mana, because the essence of mana is life force.

"After life force is transformed, it can be turned into mana, so even commoners have mana in their bodies, albeit very weak. Only by raising one's level will one be able to hold a considerable amount of mana, which can be used to cast spells and skills.

"And as an existence that gives birth to all life and things, the world itself has an extremely large amount of life force operating.

"Therefore, be it the atmosphere or the earth, there will be mana that belongs to the world. When this mana is gathered in one place and solidified, it will form a mana source.

"This is the mana source."

Vivian's explanation was rather simple and easy to understand, and Sean instantly understood the nature of the source of mana.

However, there was one thing that Shien had actually wanted to ask for a long time.

"Magic power is transformed from life force, right?"

Shien said in a tone that sounded like he was about to complain.

"This setting is indeed very common, but I've always wanted to ask, in this way, a large amount of mana and life force will be consumed, but will people really not die?"

This was a question that had troubled Shien for a long time.