I've Got A Mana Processor In A Magic World-Chapter 76: Sage Maximus

The difficulty now lay in maintaining this absolute regularity and instantaneous flip between the two states, as Zephyr had to cycle between them in intervals, all while still focusing on what the Bit itself meant. The more he cycled between the states of pure presence and pure absence, he physically felt his mental energy drain rapidly, and just as he was about to give up before he lost his mind, he felt it. An intense feeling of rightness. Of approval. He felt his mana node thrum, like something tangible just settled into it. It was ecstasy. His mind sharpened into a focus like he had never experienced in his life. Making him feel like everything—every concept was almost at his grasp. So in this extreme state of clarity, Zephyr took a risk.

His mind, moving at insane speeds, sorted through the past few months, the spell models he’d seen, their similarities, Aegis’ analysis, the patterns. He shaved off the fluff, narrowing down to two words, transistors, and logic gates. All the knowledge he had about them came to the fore of his mind. Although he didn’t have the same level of comprehension as he did about the word Bit, his moment of ecstasy and clarity made him feel like the knowledge he had was enough.

But just as he was about to try comprehending them both, the extreme state of clarity ended abruptly, snapping him back to reality.

Zephyr would have yelled in frustration if he could, but his head felt too muddled as he came down from that high. Almost sluggish, like his brain was... slow?

If it felt like this for him, with his enhanced acuity, he couldn’t even begin to fathom how jarring it would be for regular people.

But that was something to think about some other time, because through the muddleheaded state, he could already feel the presence of people around him, putting him at alert.

As he slowly opened his eyes, he saw the three people that had been in the library staring at him with wide eyes. Particularly Master Gregory. His gaze was extremely fervent. "G— Grade 1," he stuttered. "You have a Grade 1 connection to Origin," he whispered in disbelief, looking at Zephyr in a different eye. "Are the Exalted this different from us?" he muttered rhetorically.

The bald butler had just made a move to step out of the library and make a report when he noticed a short man, who had entered the library at some point, looking directly at Zephyr. His abrupt presence drew the attention of everyone in the room, making them turn sharply.

"Sage Maximus!" The three of them bowed their heads in respect.

Sage Maximus nodded lightly, walking towards Zephyr. "I felt an intense surge of Origin feedback a moment ago," he said. "It came from... you," he stopped right in front of Zephyr, who while aware, was still settling from the sensation he just went through.

Sage Maximus noticed his expression and let him have a moment to get his bearings, turning to the two librarians and the bald butler. "Grade 1?" he asked, just to confirm what he already knew.

"Grade 1," Master Gregory nodded, still shell-shocked.

"How many minutes?"

"Less than... eight?" Master Gregory said hesitantly.

Sage Maximus turned in surprise to face him fully, prompting him to further explain, "I’m trying to be generous, since I’m only guessing based on the difference between when we felt the origin feedback and when he was given the book." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"So, it could be less," Sage Maximus said. "He’s going to be chosen by the world as a champion," Sage Maximus stated matter-of-factly. "Among all the Exalted, his first comprehension is the quickest I know of."

Zephyr finally stabilised and immediately, without caring for the people in the library with him, started up his rarely used mana core to conjure the one spell he was capable of— The mana barrier spell.

As he started up the spell, he immediately felt a massive difference. The mana that coursed within his core felt more real, more his, if that made any sense. He could feel the individual units that made up mana. Previously, it had always felt like a general stream—and that was if he was asked specifically to describe it. Usually he wouldn’t even think about it. To him, it was just mana. But this...? now? Even without being asked, he could feel it evidently.

He tried doing something different. Tried visualizing the mana barrier in individual units to see if he could manipulate it differently... but nothing happened. He still lacked the inherent processes to take advantage of the newfound control.

The NOT gate process he had previously used was not inherent. It was still a vague clutch that depended on a direct connection to origin. It now seemed so subpar to him that he shut down the mana barrier spell, eager to continue reading, so he could comprehend words to remedy the deficiency now that he could. But he was stopped by Sage Maximus.

"Be careful," Sage Maximus warned. "Your mental energy hasn’t fully recovered. I don’t know the feeling personally, but I’ve read and heard it can be very addictive. The ecstasy of resonance," he said. "A few people have lost their minds to it, jumping straight into another session while still in that high state, only to fail to comprehend another word. The backlash from which can be fatal," he said with his hands behind his back. "If you’re lucky, you simply come away with a severely inefficient and terribly embedded word. But if you’re not... your mind would be broken and you’ll end up hollow, devoid of any thought. You would be gone," he pointed for emphasis, watching Zephyr carefully. "Didn’t you read the warning?" he asked.

"Warning?" Zephyr muttered. "Ah..." he realized he had most likely skimmed over it when rushing through the content of the page.

"You didn’t read the warning!?" Master Gregory gasped from the side. "That was one of the first things. What else did this kid skim over—? How in the hells did you successfully comprehend the word then?!" he exclaimed.

Sage Maximus watched as Zephyr kept silent with a meek expression. He rubbed his bare chin slowly before nodding slightly and turning. "Well, that was what I was here for. I simply wanted to find out the source of the disturbance in origin," he walked back to the stairway as the bald butler escorted him out respectfully.