"I'll go with you."

"Are you sure you'll be alright? It's a relief for us to have your help, but sending just Lorna alone would be..."

"If anything feels dangerous, you must return immediately."

With a sigh of relief yet faces that still held a trace of uneasiness, the mages retreated.

Lorna also glanced at Yuder with a similar expression, before quickly moving forward with a stern look.

"Understood. Let's go."

The ruins weren't far from the magic circle, marked with traces of monsters. Lorna circled the vicinity, noting claw marks that seemed to disappear in another direction, her voice dropping to a hushed whisper.

"There are many mechanisms set up around the ruins to prevent intrusion. Fortunately, it seems like they've worked. We'll need to disable them to get in. Please wait a moment."

She stretched out her hand, touching a spot in the air. Following that, the atmosphere around Lorna's fingertips began to glow faintly, a departure from its previous state. Although invisible to the eye, it seemed as if magic was being manipulated.

After much effort, Lorna finally completed her task. A moment later, the scenery in the empty air rippled like a mirage, revealing a different image. It wasn't the familiar forest they had grown tired of seeing. The first thing to catch Yuder's eye was an open area where gigantic formations were drawn all over using magic stones and all sorts of tools, and a small guard post set up next to it.

"That's the presumed Magic Spring our Western Mage Union has been studying all this time. I think it's been at least a year since the last outsider entered here."

Lorna, catching her breath, pointed to a location. There were several rocks piled together that seemed to have been there for a long time.

'...they just look like regular rocks.'

To be honest, the place didn't resemble anything Yuder had faintly imagined. There was no visible water despite being named a 'spring', and there were no fences or walls to distinguish the area.

Anticipating Yuder's doubts, Lorna gestured.

"Take a closer look. Ordinary people might not understand why it's called a spring, but as an Awakener, you might comprehend without an explanation."

Yuder slowly walked forward. As he neared the rocks, the magic power from the intrusion prevention spells tingled his skin. He tried not to trigger them as he stood in front of the rocks, but still saw nothing special.

"What's important is what's inside those overlapping rocks."

What could possibly be within these common-looking rocks, piled on top of each other, that has captivated so many people for so long?

As he reached out to touch them, an invisible force seemed to suddenly surge from the dark crevice. He instinctively stepped back, and the surging sensation vanished as quickly as it appeared. There was nothing to see.

'...'

What was that just now?

Yuder squinted at the rock and carefully extended his hand once more. This time, even though he felt the same sensation, he didn't withdraw. As if responding to his action, the unseen force didn't disappear but began to gush out toward the outside.

'Could that be... magic?'

The formless energy that had burst forth from the rock crevice disappeared as soon as Yuder withdrew his hand. He repeated this action several times and realized that magical energy bubbled forth from inside the crevice whenever he approached it within a certain range.

The energy felt similar, yet distinct, to that sensed when ordinary mages cast magic. Invisible to the eye but exceedingly dense and vivid, one could feel its presence without concentrating specifically on it. It seemed closer to the energy that Awakeners released when they exerted their power than it did to magical energy.

"Do you see it?"

"Is this... magic power?"

"Indeed. To be precise, it is concentrated magic power almost equivalent to ancient magic. Now you understand why we named it the Magic Spring?"

Lorna beamed with a proud face.

"The legendary Archmage Luma and the early mages drew their power from a never-ending source of magic, the Magic Spring. I believe that the spring existed in a form similar to this. In a place filled with such dense magic, they must have discovered the true power of magic."

"..."

"The crevice is like the lid of a purse filled to the brim with cream, which in this case is magic power. As you approach, magic power scatters around as if you've squeezed the purse. We suspect that this place may have existed even before this Great Sarain Forest came into being. It's a living relic."

With her young eyes filled with ardent desire, Lorna continued looking at the rock crevice.

"It's not the quantity of magic power stored within that's important, but rather its concentration. The only place where such pure and dense magic power remains throughout the entire continent is likely here. If we can find a way to amplify and utilize it, I believe we can resolve the chronic shortage of magic power we're experiencing, along with the problems arising from it."

Lorna said that the mages of the Western Mage Union were very carefully researching it, casting spells to trap the magic power within so it wouldn't deplete too quickly. Yuder felt as if he was finally beginning to understand the stories that had previously been hard to grasp, even though Kishiar had explained them quite simply.

'There hasn't been any progress in the research for a long time, and even the Pearl Tower had given up hope. But recently, changes have started to occur... What could have sparked these changes?'

The rock crevice, from which the magic power flowed, was incredibly dense and dark, as if filled with shadow. Yuder frowned slightly as he observed the large and small magic circles densely surrounding it.

"When I heard about it before, it seemed you mentioned that changes in the spring only started recently... May I ask what changes have begun?"

"Hmm... I remember the changes started with the concentration of the magic power flowing out becoming increasingly dense after the completion of the 99-fold amplification magic circle that encompasses this whole area."

Lorna answered obediently.

"In fact, there was no amplification circle here when this research first started. We just believed that by understanding the difference between the concentrated magic power here and the ordinary magic power that exists in the current world, we would find the answer."

However, after a mage suggested installing an amplification circle, the mages of the Western Mage Union debated for a long time. Installation of an amplification circle required more money and time than a simple defensive circle. The long debate between those arguing that it was better to focus on other methods and those claiming that installing an amplification circle could be the answer to the changes eventually ended in favor of installation.

And the moment the amplification circle, which had taken a long time to set up, was complete, surprisingly, the magic power that was flowing from the crevices of the rocks began to show a much higher concentration than before.

"Although the amplification circle we were controlling is now half-broken, it doesn't seem like the damage is severe. We'll have to repair it and reinstall it soon."

Yuder was lost in thought, alternatively looking at Lorna's bright face, the source of magic power, and the magic circle surrounding it.

'Just by looking at it, it seems like the strange crack and the source of magic power have no correlation. But the fact that the crack was continuously witnessed here implies that there must be some connection...'

No matter how much he thought about magic, it was hard to find an answer. The absence of Kishiar was never more keenly felt and missed. Yuder looked around as if a crack might appear at any moment, then sighed quietly and opened his mouth.

"Did you, Miss Lorna, happen to see a crack here too?"

"Hmm, are you talking about that strange crack in the air we saw yesterday? I haven't seen it. Since I've been here, I've only looked at the spring, so I didn't have a chance to look elsewhere."

"I see."

"You came here to find that connection, but it must be disappointing that there's nothing today."

"Not at all. I'm grateful just to have been invited here."

At Yuder's neat reply, Lorna flashed a slightly different smile than before.

"Sir Yuder, you seem to possess a truly amazing ability. Honestly, I didn't expect someone who's not a mage to be able to see magic in such a short time. I don't know if all Awakeners are like that though."

"I didn't know that myself."

"You seem to adapt remarkably well to magic. I wonder what it would have been like if you had received a magic response test when you were a child. Have you ever taken one?"

"No."

A magic response test? His life was busy enough just running around the mountains, cutting down trees, and digging up edible grasses every day. Hearing Yuder's answer, Lorna covered her mouth with her hand and chuckled softly.

"Every year, countless children take that detection test hoping to become a mage, but most of them can't even see a thread of magic. Perhaps we missed out on a potential great mage named Yuder."

"That's too generous of you."

While brushing off her compliments, Yuder thought it would be better to come back another time with his comrades. However, as he was about to turn away, something caught his eye.

'...Wait a moment. The slight shadow in the crevice where the magic power is flowing... Isn't that a bit odd?'