I Reincarnated to Another World as a Woman-Chapter 281: True Resonance

Berserk? Out here? How? Why? What happened?

Theo’s mind is full of questions, but his priority is to enter the gym.

"Can you unlock the gym door? I’m right outside," Theo says. His chest tightens as the questions keep circling in his mind.

"I think I can," Julian’s voice comes through. "Hang on."

Julian hangs up.

A few seconds later, the door chimes, and Theo flicks his wrist to open it.

They both enter the gym and are immediately blasted by the heat.

"Oh my God!" Alicia exclaims.

The heat explodes in her face. It’s like walking straight into a furnace.

It sucks all the oxygen out of the room, making it hard for Alicia to breathe and forcing tears into her eyes.

She immediately chokes and coughs, her eyes squeezed shut.

But the next moment, the heat disappears, replaced by a cool breeze that envelops her entire body.

It’s very comfortable, like she’s standing on top of a hill, enjoying the cool mountain wind.

She takes several deep breaths.

Then she remembers where she is and opens her eyes abruptly.

She is standing at the center of a water bubble. The bubble itself is not big, about two meters in diameter.

Theo is standing beside her.

Outside the water bubble, what is supposed to be a gym looks completely distorted under the heat waves.

The gym is not on fire... yet.

But it looks like it’s about to melt.

Julian enters the bubble in a rush, and once he’s inside, he exhales loudly.

"Oh, thank God you’re here," he says to Theo.

Then he notices Alicia.

He freezes.

He looks back at Theo, his expression clearly saying: What is she doing here? She’s not supposed to know about magic, right?

Theo ignores Julian’s unspoken question and asks directly,

"What happened? Why did Arthur lose control?"

Julian shakes his head.

"I don’t know. Liam and I were exercising. We were getting back in shape since we’re going to enter dungeons again."

"At the end of our session, Arthur showed up. Already in a bad mood. He dragged us into a level eight dungeon, and the next thing we know, he lost control."

Julian finishes his explanation.

"Is he in berserk mode again?" Julian asks Theo.

He isn’t really sure, because Arthur’s condition does not look the same as the first time Arthur went berserk.

Theo doesn’t answer immediately.

He focuses on Arthur, who is currently fighting with Liam.

"No," he finally says after observing for a moment.

"Berserk is a state where you cannot control your magic. Your magic controls you."

"It happens when you cannot control your emotions and it affects your control over your mana. Then your mana takes over."

"But this..."

Theo stops and steps closer to the wall of the water bubble.

His eyes narrow slightly.

"This is not Arthur losing control."

A slow smirk appears on his face.

"This is him in complete control."

"Huh?" Julian is dumbfounded.

"But this is also because he cannot completely control himself," Theo adds lightly.

"Huh?" Julian says louder. "What are you talking about? In complete control, yet not? It doesn’t make any sense, Sis."

Theo chuckles. "No, I suppose it doesn’t. I’ll explain later, when Arthur is available to listen too. Right now, he needs to be stopped before he burns Rhaenas HQ down."

Theo steps out of the bubble.

Heat instantly hits him.

He approaches Liam and Arthur, one slow step at a time.

Alicia watches Theo excitedly. She knows that this is magic. That she is really seeing magic, right in front of her.

Live. Real. Not on TV. Not on the internet.

She feels giddy, like a child seeing her dream toy for the first time.

Julian chuckles when he looks at her.

"Calm down, Chief. If you follow Thea to clear dungeons, you’ll see a lot of this."

"Really?" Alicia’s eyes shine very brightly.

But then she frowns.

"Why aren’t you worried? About this whole thing, I mean. Is it because it has happened before?" she asks.

Julian grins. "I’m not worried because Thea is not worried. If she is, then I am worried."

He turns his attention to Theo.

"Whoa!" he exclaims. "Look at that!"

Alicia rushes to Julian’s side and tries to see where he’s pointing.

"What are we... oh wow! How is she doing that? That is so cool!" Alicia says, clearly giddy.

They are both in awe watching Theo walk slowly toward Arthur and Liam.

But they are not amazed because Theo is walking through the heat like it is nothing.

No.

They are amazed because with every step Theo takes, a large snowflake crystal pattern appears on the floor.

And it does not disappear because of the heat.

The patterns remain, cooling the floor, countering the heat directly.

"That is really cool," Alicia says again.

"So that’s why he’s walking that slowly. He’s casting a spell as he walks," Julian mutters.

"But why doesn’t he cool down the whole room in one go?"

Alicia looks at him when she hears Julian’s comment.

"Maybe because it’s too taxing for her?" she offers.

Julian chuckles again and turns to Alicia.

"One thing you need to prepare yourself for, if you’re really going to learn magic from Thea. She is OP."

"She is very powerful. What you think is impossible, believe me, it’s not for her."

And our teacher, Theo, is even more so, Julian says inwardly.

He looks back at Theo.

Alicia nods and follows Julian’s gaze, turning her attention back to Theo.

------------------------------

Theo, as seen by Julian and Alicia, is walking slowly as he approaches the fighting men. He is doing it for several reasons. The main reason is to neutralize the temperature. And the second reason is to observe Arthur more closely.

He is trying to gauge Arthur’s condition as accurately as possible.

Theo is being careful, because he knows this situation is unprecedented. He does not want to hurt Arthur or anyone else.

As he gets closer, he feels relieved that his initial assessment is correct.

Arthur is not in berserk mode.

He is in a true resonance state.

It happens when a magus has complete control over his mana.

However, right now, Arthur cannot fully control it.

Like he has unlocked a supercar, but his driving ability does not match the power of the vehicle, and yet he still forces himself to drive it.

Theo sighs. His only question for now is, how can he generates this much power if there’s no mana out here? Is this truly his own mana or is it something else?

Theo thinks further, I shouldn’t have doubted his potential though. He’s an ascendant. His mana reserves is bound to be different than the average magus.

When he’s about three meters away, he calls, "Yo, Brother. You mind calming down?"

-------------------------------

Arthur is feeling weird.

Everything is very clear to him, and yet he can’t slow down.

Ever since the simulation started, he can feel that the mana he can control has increased. He can access more mana than he ever imagined.

Even when he was in the dungeon, where the mana is very dense, he couldn’t access it like this. He could feel it, but he couldn’t touch it.

It was like looking at a very beautiful necklace from behind glass.

It’s there.

But untouchable.

Then the haelions come.

They rush at him, attacking ferociously.

Arthur understands that this is a simulation, and the dangers are still there, even though they are not lethal.

Yet somehow, when he attacks them with his fire, it feels good.

He feels satisfied.

Satiated.

Fulfilled.

But the haelions are weak.

Arthur frowns.

He doesn’t remember level eight haelions being this weak.

They are supposed to be strong.

Strong enough to keep his mind off things.

Off Arthur II.

Off his questions.

Off his disappearance.

Off the humiliation of being ignored by a hallucination.

Arthur feels pissed.

He can feel his anger rising.

Fast.

His movements become more reckless.

He watches as one of his fire arrows almost hits Julian.

Mentally he says, Oops.

But he doesn’t say anything to Julian.

He knows it won’t hit him, and Julian is capable enough to avoid it.

He trusts Julian.

Then he does it a second time.

This time, one of his arrows hits Liam’s water shield.

It gives him a different feeling.

Finally.

An opponent worthy of me.

And it escalates quickly.

He smiles devilishly and starts directing his attacks toward Julian and Liam.

Slowly at first.

He doesn’t want them to think he is deliberately targeting them.

Well, he is.

But without their realization.

And it works.

Kind of.

He can feel his mana responding very well to his orders.

It feels as if there’s a super weapon in his hands and he can use it however he pleases. It gives him a different feeling than when he normally wields magic.

Liam does not disappoint him.

He starts engaging Arthur’s attacks more and more.

Arthur’s desire to defeat him grows.

And his strength grows with it.

He accesses more and more mana, because he has to defeat Liam.

And he can feel that Liam’s strength also grows together with him.

Arthur smirks.

Yes. This is what I want. Let’s keep going.

After a while, he can feel that he is stronger than Liam.

He feels satisfied, and he chases that euphoria.

Now he needs to defeat Liam completely.

He accesses even more of his mana, not realizing that his control is slipping.

Heat leaks from his spells, spreading into the air, almost melting the room.

He’s minutes away from burning the entire building.

But he finds that he does not care.

He just has to defeat Liam.

Until he feels a cool breeze.

Arthur is stunned.

How can there be a cool breeze in the middle of this heat?

Then a familiar voice speaks.

"Yo, Brother. You mind calming down?"