The Special Seal

Volig and Shingi rested at the shop instead of going home, as there was more space for Volig to sleep. Also, they got used to not sleep on actual beds, so they hadn't any problems.

Shingi, this time, didn't enable his TRANCE ROOM by just sat and fed his Mana Tree with any mana that had high compatibility he could find. He found that some of the mana of Volig that remained in the environment had high compatibility. Still, he would not dry Volig of his mana as his mana regeneration was slower than his, and the potions did not affect him. The mana wasn't coming from an actual Mana Tree, and the brew was giving a boost to the Mana Tree to increase its mana production for some time.

But since that mana was once used and was waiting to vanish, it would be a waste if he didn't use it.

He used it all at the tree roots on the side that his Earth-Element mana seemed to get produced and stored. It seemed like it was an excellent decision as there was an unexpected gift after using all the mana of Volig he could find in the environment.

His Tree had a Mana Fruit.

He had been trying to feed his Mana Seeds to grow them into Mana Fruits, but after a point, they seemed not to accept any more mana no matter how hard he tried.

'Could it be that only high compatible mana can turn Mana Seeds to Mana Fruit? '[Shingi]

Shingi has heard of some mana being more compatible than others depending on your Element, but didn't think it would be possible to create a Mana Fruit, but he thought only of a way to make things faster.

But the more he thought of it; it made even more sense to him. So he started testing what effects had different mana with the percent compatibilities he had.

It seemed anything over fifty percent was helpful, while anything under fifty did not affect and could most likely cause damage. Any between fifty to seventy appeared to need a significant amount to do some change, while seventy to ninety were better.

Volig's mana had ninety-four compatibility and seemed to have the best influence, with not too much amount needed.

Most of the surrounding mana he could use was between fifty and sixty percent and had a minimal amount of more than that, but they seemed to be results of their crafting work, just like Volig's.

Using all the mana with over fifty percent strengthened his Mana Tree and felt two of his Mana Seeds had grown a little but didn't turn into Mana Fruits.

His mana pool didn't increase in size, but it seemed to grow at the speed of refilling itself, which was quite helpful as well.

He kept working on it all night, and in the morning, after having some breakfast with Volig, he headed outside. Volig went to the Mayor's office to discuss their plans to make their shop open for Blessed Ones since it would impact the town's traffic and economy.

He headed through the secret way outside the town and to the Hollow Tree. He reached it soon enough, with no one noticing him.

He saw Aella in front of the Tree, sitting with Egroeg on her lap, the same as when they met here.

When she noticed him, she smiled, and Shingi saw some relief in her eyes.

"I left you for a few days, and you hurt yourself that badly. Why am I not surprised? So what happened?" [Aella]

It surprised Shingi cause he expected her to know, but it made sense that even if she could watch him almost everywhere, she probably didn't.

"Who is Mikhail?" [Shingi]

Shingi went straight at the point, and he noticed a look of surprise from her in the name's mention as she stopped petting Egroeg.

"Where did you hear that name?" [Aella]

Shingi went through their whole meeting with Mikhail and kept paying attention to her reactions. The more he talked, he could tell the more he described him, the more excited she was becoming, although she seemed not to like the description of an Old Man.

When he finished his story and mentioned that he was sending his regards to her, one tear left her right eye.

It was a rare instance because Aella was an emotional individual but mostly to show her anger to those who pissed her off or being happy and playful and rarely of being sad.

He waited for her to say anything, but she kept staying silent, like thinking of what she just heard. A couple of minutes passed in silence as she seemed ready to speak.

"I am not sure if it is the same person as his description you gave me isn't the same as my mother gave me, but there is a chance of him to be my father. That was the name she knew him of, and I haven't heard of anyone to have used it in my search." [Aella]

Shingi had considered this to be the case but had to make sure. A man who had a daughter with a Goddess wasn't a simple man—having that much power made sense now, but being alive after that long and even that powerful made things even more troublesome.

It could be a disguise, of course, as if he could live that long he should have abilities like that, and Shingi already knew he had something to disguise his presence, not to be detected by Skills.

He also understood why he visited him. He probably noticed him messing with the unique mana under the Tree and came to check it out.

But the question was why he had hidden it there?

"I know what you think, and yes, he is probably the one behind the Seal of my gift. He doesn't want to get found, so he seems to keep everything under his control so that he won't. In my research, I found nothing close to what we have here, but a few declarations that it was possible in theory." [Aella]

It didn't surprise Shingi, as someone powerful was sensitive to the people knowing about their research and would do anything to keep them a secret.

"I think we won't be able to do anything, do it. It seems only himself could disable it or know ho to." [Aella]

At his point, the System would show him notification of the Quest to be failed, but it didn't.

That was cause he had a plan in his mind.

He told Aella to stand aside as he moved right in front of the Tree and stood there with his eyes closed.

He brought in his mind the memories of Mikhail and how he moved his body the moment he was casting his spells. He also used his Blessing of Beliss' active effect, which increased his INT, not to 25, but 26.

After half an hour of just staying there, he started changing his stand, and one could see an Illusion of an Old Man moving in the same way next to Shingi.

The Old Man was none other than Mikhail, and Shingi moved the Illusion to surround him and merge the two.

He started moving his hands and replicate the closed fist with only the index, and middle finger pointed towards the target.

He kept repeating it and getting closer to it, but still being quite far from the original. It didn't bother Shingi, and he continued with each move, increasing his focus even more.

Time passed slowly, as seconds felt like hours and minutes like days, but Shingi wasn't showing signs of stop trying.

There were only five minutes left as his Blessing's effect, as at this point, he enabled two things.

He used his ACCELERATION Skill and Breaking-Limit state.

It seemed like speed was a critical factor in his casting, and he didn't just do it for others not to copy his spells.

With those skills, his speed became significantly faster, but it still lacked a bit.

He kept trying and pushing his limits repeatedly as, once again, as the first time he used this state in combat, cracks started appearing at his body, but he still seemed to lack in speed.

Then some yellow light and what seemed like lighting started surrounding his body as his speed was earning a further boost suddenly.

It was a unique Buff Spell that only one person could cast, Aella.

It increased the speed of someone while also toughening his body to handle the new speed. Aella understood what Shingi was trying, and she wanted to help after seeing the risks he was taking.

With that, Shingi kept moving faster and faster while having his MANA SENSE  notice any change to the Seal.

As they were at the last minute of his Blessing's effect, he noticed the Seal ball to show signs of reacting as it moved slightly left and right.

Shingi, with his spirit raised even more after seeing that, continued his movement. Making them even faster to the point even his buffed body was getting cracked.

At a point, the Illusion of Mikhail that was surrounding Shingi started changing color. Usually, all his Illusion had either yellow-greenish kind of color because of his mana, but now they were adjusting to the actual colors of the one they were replicating.

When it got to the point that the Illusion was lifelike and couldn't even see Shingi inside it, he finished once more his movement, and they heard a sound of glass breaking. But it wasn't one heard by one's ears but in their mind right away, like someone sent it telepathically.

At the same point, a pillar of red light raised and covered the Tree, then a Blue one, then a White one, and finally a Green one. One appeared after the other, with a delay of almost a second each. Then, when they stopped forming, they started blending, making a rainbow-like pillar of light.

Shingi and his Illusion raised their left arm at that moment, and the lights started gathering in a sphere over his open arm.

At the same time, he finished forming the mana sphere, the effect of his Blessing was over, and he could barely keep the sphere's shape. But as Aella saw that, she took over and controlled the sphere herself, which was easier for her since it was now free of the Seal.

The Illusion of Mikhail lost its color and got dispelled by Shingi, who seemed like a wreck and was ready to pass out at any moment.

But then yellow energy surrounded him as his stamina was getting restored, and any damage he had done to himself was getting fixed at an incredible rate.

He turned towards the one who was using the spells to heal him and wasn't anyone else but Nalrin, who was still in his dog form.

He may be a doctor with no patients, but this didn't mean that he wasn't capable of healing, as he was an expert in this kind of magic.

With that, his Quest should be complete, so he waited for its reward as it was the first time one of Aella's Quest was a successful one like that.