The Master of Uradan

Rohan looked at the dome spinning in the middle of the cave. His injuries were all superficial, and with the bandages all over his body, there was only a small amount of blood dripping out.

The instant he had seen these red threads, Rohan had immediately understood what it was. There were exactly the same strands he had seen in his dreams, and the red was exactly the same as the red dots that he had seen appeared a few times.

This place should be the core of the mountain. Earlier, when he had thrown a wind spell, the mana had mysteriously vanished, without an ounce of a remnant. It had simply disappeared after it touched those threads.

It was only a weak spell, as well as the only one he had. He couldn't be sure, but he believed that all the spells, no matter how powerful, would meet the same destiny. If that was indeed the case, then that meant no one could advance through this barrier.

Even though the dome gave the impression to be made of countless threads circulating infinitely, he had felt the sturdiness of it. It was like a stone wall, without any solution to pass through.

The injuries were not that impressive, and his leather armor wasn't impressive at all. It shouldn't be able to save him to that extent if this dome could kill him. Thus, he reckoned that he could touch it without so much problem, with at worst more cuts here and there.

He wanted to try and punch it with skill. If a mage couldn't go through with a spell, then what about a Supreme Warrior with a godly strength? Obviously, they have already tried if it was indeed the core of the mountain.

He couldn't help but groan as he stood up. Although there were no heavy injuries, the pain wasn't something Rohan appreciated specifically.

He slowly approached the red dome and was now only a couple of meters away from the threads. They were all circulating in the same direction, and no sound could be heard. Rohan had the impression the air was distorted around the dome, but it was maybe only an impression. If it was really strong enough to shred the air and create a ripple around it, Rohan wouldn't be alive anymore.

While Rohan observed this strange phenomenon in front of him, the sound of footsteps echoed from above. The faint noise filled the ears of Rohan like thunder. How could he forget about that? The warrior was here!

He darted his eyes and looked at his surroundings. Unfortunately, apart from the large dome in the center, there was nothing else. The only passage was the one he had taken, a dozen meters above him. Nothing to hide, nothing to flee.

Suddenly, sweat broke out from Rohan's forehead. He threw himself on the ground. As he rolled down to flee away, a sword cleaved down where he was not even a second ago. The air was cut apart, hissing violently under the great pressure.

The tip of the sword stopped with extreme precision before touching the floor. Rohan stood up as he looked with dread at the newcomer. His long white hair flew around along with his thin beard.

His eyes were locked against the young warrior, showing the terrible anger flooding the old man.

"You are you?" His deep voice shook the surroundings. It wasn't filled with mana like an Advanced Warrior could do, it was simply the strength of his vocal cords and the rage filling his tone. "I do not believe a single second that you are from the Barren Lands, little boy."

His sword pointed to the ground as he faced Rohan. He wasn't surprised by the red dome on his right, but that was to be expected. There was simply no way for the great clans keeping the Kolmos mountain for centuries to not know about this place.

Rohan had no choice anymore, he could only tell this man the truth. As well as a small lie.

A devious smile appeared on his face. "Indeed I am from the other side. It had taken so much time for someone to figure it out, not even the Blackwolf clan knew about it."

"You dare to trick a clan from the Barren Lands?! You people deserved to die!" His bellows showed how much he was feeling indignant at this prospect. But before he used his might to crush Rohan, he stopped on his track. He was slightly shocked, as he observed the strange almost invisible blade hovering there.

It wasn't a mana blade, as it was too transparent for this blade to be made of pure mana, and he could sense the fluctuation of the mana forming it was somewhat different. His expression changed.

"You…" Rohan's left hand pointed to the old man, with a nearly meter-long wind blade hovering there. "You are a wizard?"

Rohan complimented himself as he was right. This blade was nothing, and he knew that it could never reach the old warrior. He would be able to dodge it with ease, but Rohan didn't want to fight him in any case. He only wanted to slow down the man, and this second was completely enough.

Then, in less than an hour, Rohan made his second stupid choice. He threw away the wind blade toward the old man, and without waiting for the obvious result, he jumped to his left, where the dome was standing.

He had dreamed about those red threads, about a red cocoon enveloping him. He had already seen the red dots, and more than once. The chance that Horim was right was extremely high.

It was made of mana, Rohan was sure of that. But it was also special.

Mana was everywhere, and warriors, wizards, paladins, and all other mana users needed it to become stronger, and to increase their lifespan. But no one could will the mana and use it freely. They first needed to make it them. For this, every one had his own method.

For the warriors, it was the meridians, creating an opening to permit the mana to enter and fill their mana core which converted it into their mana.

For the wizards, it was the different runes that made the mana fuse with a strange power, permitting it to use the power of an element.

For the paladins, Rohan didn't know about it, but they also had their method.

But all the mana users shared the same limitation. The mana entering their body was doing so with the help of ways created by humans. It wasn't attracted, it was simply passing through an opening when it touched the body of a mana user.

Thus, to make mana become one's, the mana user firstly needed to touch it in some way. For example, a warrior needed to brush it with one of the openings of his five meridians. That was the general rule.

But this dome, made of red threads, was somewhat different. It was only his instinct, but Rohan was sure of it. Otherwise, any mana users would have been able to enter after this many times.

This red mana, couldn't be extracted.. No one was able to control this mana.