Chapter 210: Creative Magic

"Let us start by sensing the Mana."

Another feature of Foresight was to detect the presence of Mana or Qi in the surroundings and to point out those areas with colouration. Depending on the density of the energy, the colour varies from pale grey to black.

Lee directed the students to the shades of the trees. The time was half past eleven, and the twin stars were energetic as ever.

"Sit down. Two of you blindfold the other two, and watch their sensitivity to the Mana."

The students did not question his methods, and promptly did as he told them. Two of the students sat on the grass with their eyes blindfolded, and the other two stood a metre apart from them. Lee gestured to them to watch closely, and they sharpened their senses.

'Convert 8 million Essence to Mana.'

[Done.]

Lee sat in front of the two blindfolded students, about two metres away from them. He had given Erikko his promise to uplift the academy to its former glory, and he had started to execute his plan. For a few minutes, he closed his eyes and meditated. Then, he open his eyes and, spoke-

"I will condense a little amount of Mana and bring it to your vicinity. You are to point your index finger to where you feel its presence. If you cannot feel it, you are to tell me."

The blindfolded students nodded. Lee brought his palms together in front of his chest, and kept them about 7 inches away from each other. The vertical palms did not waver, and his breathing became shallow and undetectable. It was as if he was not breathing anymore.

'Activate Light affinity.'

Lee activated Light affinity to form a mirage-like effect so that when he condenses Mana, the two spectating students could witness the process. And as he had expected, the two students had their eyes open wide as they witnessed faint optical fluctuations in between his palm. Lee had attributed very little amount of Light affinity to it, and it still was expensive at each second.

The two students were witnessing the pure form of Mana, or they thought so. When the faint fluctuations wax and wane, their heartbeats were irregularly high, and their minds murmured, 'I want to achieve that stage'.

Now, a tiny ball of Mana had materialised in his palm. Lee slowly extended his palm to the students and they did not show any response. He was cautious not to make any sudden move, so that his act is perfect.

Due to the distance between him and the students, they could not detect the presence of the manifested energy. The students deduced this fact and Lee slowly stood up, and walked to the duo.

As he tiptoed forward, one of the two showed slight response to the energy. There was a gentle breeze flowing nurturing the wild, and it caressed their faces. The variable was not a hindrance to their sensing, but it kind of pacified their sensitivity.

Taking one more step forward, both of the students began to doubtfully raise their hands to their surroundings. The duo was sitting about a metre from the materialised Mana, and they still had trouble sensing it.

The two students watching this became aware of their degraded sensitivity to Mana. The spoon-feeding of stock created spells had made them lazy and less sensitive to Mana, just how machines and development makes humans idiotic and chaotic.

Lee kept the faint lump of Mana in his palms for more than a minute, and the two could not pinpoint the location of origin. What's more is, that they failed to even sense the presence of Mana consistently.

Lee brought his palms together, and enlarged the Mana concentration a bit more. The vagueness of the outline had condensed into a barely perceivable shape. The Light attribute was slightly increased, and the two students saw the translucent sphere of energy.

Their surprise was soon distracted, as the two blindfolded began to respond. Their fingers pointed forward, but Lee was actually silently walking around them. The professor was happy to know that they still have some speck of sensitivity to the pure energy of Mana.

After a few more rounds, Lee stopped wandering. The students' sensitivity to Mana was faulty to a great extent, but he had faith that diligent and intelligent training can bring back their lost acuteness.

"Untie their folds."

Lee said to the two spectating, and they immediately untied the folds of the other two. Faint gasps and muffled exclamation could be heard as the two had their sight fallen on the translucent Mana sphere.

"These two had closely observed your magnitude of perception. Now you may go and learn how you performed, from their narration. If you feel a desire to continue, do not hesitate to let me know."

After saying this, he dispersed the lump of Mana to the surroundings. It spread across the air and dissipated. But before vanishing, the Mana had its energy signature graze the students and all four of them felt the energy emitted from it.

The four students received a revelation and took a moment to digest it. Then, they quickly greeted Lee and hurriedly walked to the dormitory. As they moved further away, Lee could still hear their suppressed exclamations and expressions of surprises.

[That was clever and concise.]

'Thank you.'

[What next?]

'We wait.'

[For whom?]

'Those who want to add a pinch of imagination to their magic.'

Lee sat on the grass cross-legged. His arms extended backward, and supported his torso as he leaned backward.

'How did the in-depth analysis go?'

[It went well. I did not find any leftover traces of Malice.]

'What about the damages?'

[Irreversible. The corrosion of Malice was quite frightening. The loss of every immunity you had might have been okay, but the lack of potential to nurture any future immunities will be a real pain.]

Lee closed his eyes, and recollected his memories about Hegerus. After asking D to create a record of his data, Lee laid down to rest his mind.

"Professor Lee?"