Legacy of The Arcane Lust Mage-Chapter 10: Variant Mana

Bang!

Boom!

The original Lukas hadn’t watched mages fight, and since he was just an ordinary person who had only ever seen such superhuman things in movies or anime, he quickly became fascinated and forgot about everything else.

After a while, he noticed something. Every time Raymond and Arlo attacked, a patterned circle would flash briefly before disappearing.

Thanks to his memories and the fantasy stories he had read back on Earth, he knew these circles were manifestations of their magic spells.

Boom!

Right then, an explosion louder than all the others before sounded, and shockwaves spread out.

Thankfully, they were at the very back of the hall, and Simone and the others were fully capable of defending against the weakened shockwaves, so they were all fine.

When the shockwaves dissipated, Lukas looked at the center of the hall, now covered in mist—or rather, water vapor—with occasional flickers of red.

Slowly, the mist cleared, and Raymond and Arlo’s battered figures appeared in front of them.

Arlo was clutching his left abdomen, which was covered in blood. Clearly, Raymond’s last spell had injured him. There were other smaller injuries too, which he had gotten earlier in the fight.

Lukas and the others weren’t interested in seeing how injured he was, so they shifted their attention to Raymond, who stood straight, seemingly alright.

Amara’s hope flickered out, and her face became downcast, while everyone else also seemed to be disappointed—including Lukas.

But then they heard Simone speak. "He is also injured."

They looked closely and soon noticed the robe and flesh over Raymond’s right shoulder were burned off, and reddish energy was still squirming in the wound. They hadn’t noticed this earlier because they didn’t have a clear view of his right side.

Amara hesitated before asking in a low voice, "How long will that injury take to heal?"

Simone stayed silent.

"It should take 3–7 days," Rose—Raymond’s fourth wife and Amara’s mother—answered.

"No. It’ll take more time due to the variant Fire Mana of Viscount Bloodflame," Evangeline, the second lady, mother of the second Young Lord Peter and First Young Lady Hannah, said. Unlike Amara and Rose, her voice wasn’t low and careful, but calm.

’Variant Mana?’ Lukas noted the term.

Amara’s eyes lit up when she heard this.

Lukas checked his inherited memories, and after verifying the original Lukas also didn’t know what Variant Mana was, he asked Simone, who stood in front of him.

"What’s Variant Mana?"

Simone glanced back at him before looking away. Just when he thought she wasn’t going to answer, he heard her say,

"Variant Mana is just a variance from what is normal mana. For example, Viscount Arlo’s Fire Mana—it is Variant Mana because, unlike normal Fire Mana, it has blood-stimulating and blood-burning properties. This is why his family name is Bloodflame.

He can use his Bloodflame Mana to boost his strength when in dire straits, and when his attacks—containing his Bloodflame Mana—injure someone, it continues to burn their blood until the remnant Bloodflame Mana either loses effect, is negated by an external force, or the target no longer has any blood left."

Hiss!

Lukas sucked in a cold breath. This was too terrifying.

He then glanced at Raymond, who looked indifferent and hadn’t even glanced at his injury yet, and furrowed his brows in confusion.

As if knowing what he was thinking, she continued,

"It’s terrifying when his opponent is weaker than him. However, if the opponent is equally strong, they can suppress the burning effect of his Bloodflame Mana. And if they are stronger, expelling it wouldn’t take much of an effort."

Lukas nodded in understanding, recalling it was something like this in the fantasy novels he used to read in college.

He then asked, "So, Lord Raymond is as strong as Viscount Bloodflame, or is he stronger?"

"They are equals," Simone answered, without any uncertainty in her voice.

’So, he can only suppress remnant mana in his body and would need quite some time to negate or expel it before he can heal,’ Lukas mused, sighing in relief.

While the week or so Raymond would need to heal would be nowhere near enough for him to become strong enough to oppose him, he could at least digest the first bubble’s information and step into the Mage realms.

He glanced at Amara and noticed she no longer looked as happy. She seemed to have realized that the inevitable had only been postponed.

He looked her up and down and thought, ’It would be a real pity if such a pretty girl was ruined by him.’

...

"Do you want to continue?" Raymond asked Arlo, his voice calm, but a hint of grim surprise could be seen in his eyes.

Bloodflame sneered. "If I were here to kill you, I would have continued. But since I’m not, we’ll stop here. But I’ll be back soon to challenge you again. At that time, the fight won’t end in a draw like now—but in your defeat."

Saying this, he swept his glance across Simone and the others before putting on his mask and leaving.

After they left, Raymond’s expression darkened, and he mumbled, "It seems the rumors are true. The Bloodflame bloodline really has an amplification effect on cultivation speed."

A few years ago, he had thoroughly thrashed him at Count Esmeralda’s banquet, but now, he had no apparent advantage over him.

While those who weren’t in the know about Bloodflame Mana’s effect would think he had given Arlo a more serious injury and had the upper hand, those who knew would realize this wasn’t the case.

In fact, if the fight had continued and Arlo managed to injure him a few more times, his combat power would have dropped significantly because he would have needed to focus on suppressing the remnant Bloodflame Mana in his veins.

After a few moments, he shouted, "Check how many people have died."

"Yes, Milord!" a voice sounded from outside the hall.

Raymond then turned toward Simone and the others.

"I need a few days to heal. Try to get better by then," he said, looking at Amara, who just clenched her dainty fists in response.

Raymond revealed a small smile and then left the now-ruined dining hall.

"Go to your rooms. I’ll have maids prepare another dinner and send it to your rooms," Simone said, turning to look at Lukas and the others.

Evangeline, Shasha, and the others nodded and started leaving.

Lukas looked at her and politely requested, "Please send enough for two people. I need to recover soon."

Simone stared at him for a moment, then nodded and left.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l