Villain Transmigration: Author Transformation

While the three of them were quick to suppress it with such coldness, the fire seemed to break free from their clutches, even clamoring further than it was ever before.

The room had never been this sweltering and smothered every nook and cranny to a bright white amidst the cold nights.

Everyone protected themselves, bracing from the inevitable impact that not only would it also blow up on her but everyone within the room.

Bright, fiery flames engulfed every inch of space within but none one of them expected what happened next.

The moment it came in contact with Nathalie's personal space, the fire began to fizzle out. Flames somehow consumed themselves, until it became a glimmer of sparks, and fell right on the floor. 

Although the putrid smoke was around, with them coughing hard; Arnold had a grimoire on his hand and swung his other arm, collecting all the cloud of smoke into a ball of ice.

Looking around, neither signs of embers nor trails of ashes were found, except for the burnt ashes of the scroll that sizzled not too long ago.

"Impossible!" Arnold jolted upright, unable to believe what he witnessed in front of him. "W— What happened?!" Much to his bewilderment, he couldn't help but gawk at her.

Nathalie hunched her shoulder as she beamed at him.

[Nothing much…]

"That isn't 'nothing much' so to speak, Mysti." For a while, he glanced around him. "That was such a high-energy burst for a mere 'fireball' yes?"

[I only suppressed the oxygen supply, then regulating the temp in a given pressure...]

"A what?" Ashtra added, "Anyway It was so strong that even the three of us couldn't take it."

[I think it's amplified.]

"You mean because of the materials?" Arnold queried.

[Other than that…]

"Because of that… Occult diagrams then?"

[That too!] Nathalie also gave him a curt nod as she glanced at the scroll she had to focus on at the moment.

"That was spectacular." Ashtra narrowed his gaze at her. "To think you're able to manifest the mana around you directly."

Keith and Arnold had their eyes and mouth agape at the same time, with the latter nodding in awe, saying, "My goodness, indeed it's true!"

His hands began to tremble, curling them to fist, scouring around once more. 

Nathalie wasn't foreign to it as well; for she was as sensitive as the surroundings. The density around them went thinner the moment he activated the scroll; right now, the room was on its way to recovery when the flow of mana started to permeate to their location to achieve equilibrium.

Meanwhile, Ashtra hummed for a while now. "I've grown so much since eons. I achieved the likes of it with sheer power. Had I not known and further convinced it had something to do with this…  Then, perhaps it's impossible to believe how you did that, even from the first glance."

[To be honest, I got the same mechanism as yours, somewhat.]

"Is that so?"

Ashtra was one of the legendary creatures that dwelled within the lands; and after venturing far and wide, he wouldn't have grown to how he was now without going through so much. 

While it paid off at the end of the day, not all could even reach his presence, hence his well-deserved reputation.

Even if it was rather infamous.

Right now, he was at the state he didn't need to consume the ones stored in him as he could manipulate the mana in his surroundings with his will.

Nathalie thought it might've worked since she knew the fundamentals of the world— most especially the magic system.

The mana that resided within an individual replenished over time, and its capacity grew no different from a person who uses up their energy to move, gradually building up from time to time.

Sometimes, it could also strike inconvenience, especially when it fails to meet the condition of a spell due to mana loss. 

"But that's something we expected for someone like him, Mysti."

[Certainly, father. But there's a catch.] Right now, Nathalie gave them a brief thought about how she did it, scribbling to another parchment. [Unbeknownst to Ashtra, his thoughts to manifest any spell undermined a serious intent and magical command to appear to his bidding.]

Even Ashtra's lips parted, impressed, with the theory behind his power. From the drawings, it became much clearer to him.

But as individuals like them, only a handful of people would only take a glimpse of it. For they rely internally on it ever since.

For Arnold, as the blood of a wizard flowed through his veins, his affinity to nature became convenient, which wasn't a problem for replenishment. 

Not all turned out to be gifted that way.

Though at least not to her, since she had the curse.

So she found an alternative method. 

While it was as powerful as to utilize that method to achieve power, it also had setbacks. With a few scribbles, they leaned further, almost head to head, leering at the parchment.

"My Lady, that's a magical sequence..."

[Indeed, these magical sequences, be it in the form of diagrams and keywords to manifest a spell, are foundations of it.]

"So you're telling me that instead of using mana inside the body, it seeks out the environment, yes?" When Arnold mused, she nodded, which he went at it again. "Through… What are these?"

[Basic commands for the predetermined sequences of initiation, propagation, and termination of the spell through mathematical and logical statements.]

Nathalie went to scroll down her phone as she went towards her memo, accessing the key facts she knew so far.

She went at it, writing again, and they tried to read it aloud.

"For as long as the conditions are met, the spell could reach its fullest potential."

Arnold then slammed his fist, rattling the glassware, which had her panicking for a while from spilling. "Then, that would mean the ratings of magic spells as a whole are messed up."

[But that's because the standard is aimed at internal coverage.] After which, she then started to scramble in her stead, keeping them in one place. [We need to hurry, they are coming!]

A couple of seconds after, they got the gist of what she meant, and at the last minute, the parchments went empty on the table when the door went to an ajar as Athan and Sylvester with few guards barging in.

"Enemy—?! Huh?"