Cautiously, Cale took a seat in the chair across from Chief Ninett Merensen and watched silently for a moment as he took an indulgent sip of Cale and Aletta's favorite tea. They had gathered in a small meeting room of the Magistrat, which was more often used by ordinary mages. He had left Fengari in his apartment and returned her to her cat form, not knowing when the group would return.

"I have locked the door and drawn a sound barrier, no one can unknowingly enter here and eavesdrop on us. If anyone approaches outside the room, I informed you in time, though it's unlikely at this hour", Cale explained carefully, watching as the man put down his cup and turned his cool ones on the High-Magician. His whole demeanor and precautions left Cale curious as to what the man had to tell him.

"Thank you."

"I have to thank you. I can well understand how important the security of this information is to you", Cale politely admitted, implying that he carried similar secrets. Aletta's father merely nodded after this statement, looked at Cale silently for a moment, and then turned his palm upward. A moment later, Cale could feel the Chiefs begin to make Holy Mana appear.

"I was a little surprised that you knew the other name for Holy Mana. May I ask where you got this information?"

The conversation immediately started with a trick question. Cale knew that this designation was not documented in any books that he was aware of, and he also highly doubted that Frignez would have passed this knowledge on to other countries.

"An acquaintance informed me about it", Cale countered without letting on that he had to think about how to respond.

"Presumably not a High-Magician? Who are these people you speak of?"

"I'm afraid I can't give you any names, but this person is part of a group that works with me. The same person had also informed me of the existence of the Thormods at the time. Something that was not recorded in books, as you know."

"Well, I will settle for that. Your colleagues seem to be wise people", the chief calmly brought out, while Cale only nodded gratefully. He didn't want to mention that this group were actually dragons. "The Wrath of the Gods was the original name of the Holy Mana. Hundreds of years ago, the power was given to us humans, and those who received it bastardized the name. It was never an ability that had belonged to us humans, it originally came from the gods."

, Cale corrected, but confirmed the statement with a nod, which immediately showed the chiefs that Cale had already been informed of this.

"How much do you understand about the mana circuit of us humans, High-Magician Leuen?"

"Not very much, I must confess", Cale replied honestly. Over his lifetime, he had never tried to take lessons in Frignez, because the land was careful with its power. They did not like to share their knowledge with strangers, for it was their only advantage.

"The mana are like veins that move through the body. It is a second, completely independent circuit, which has its own heart. The heart, in turn, is a large lake that generates and collects the mana before it flows into the rivers. It cannot be seen with the naked eye, but must be felt. The ability to sense mana is called mana sensitivity. If you suppress your mana as you did before, you will withdraw mana from the circulation to such an extent that the rivers will be completely empty and even the heart will not have a drop left", the chief explained, demonstrating his statement at the same time. He made all mana in his body disappear until its existence was completely extinguished. "With you High-Magicians, however, it is not just two circuits, it is three. Your actual mana circuit sacrifices one half, which allows you to absorb nature's mana in these circuits. Even the mana heart splits into two halves. But this is exactly what is dangerous. If a normal person were to lose his mana, it would disappear completely, leaving only the blood. With you, however, it is different. Have you ever heard the term soulless mages?"

"Yes, they are High-Magicians who have lost their Igrikum."

"Partial. Soulless mages are 3rd stage mages who have lost some of their mana. It doesn't necessarily have to be the Igrikum, it's just as possible to lose your own mana, as of what happened with the first seat Grischa Vonstetten", chief Merensen explained carefully, pausing for a moment before continuing with his statement. "The imbalance that is always spoken of does not refer to the pure mana and the Igrikum. It refers to the mana circuit and the blood circuit, which live in symbiosis with each other. When the mana suddenly loses half of its power, an imbalance occurs that weakens the blood circuit. Therefore, this circuit tries to repel the mana."

"It tries to repel it?", Cale repeated puzzled.

"Yes. The blood circuit no longer receives the power it needs from the mana circuit, but it must continue to do enough to keep the body alive. The soulless mages sit in an internal battle between blood and mana, the blood wants to get rid of the mana and the mana naturally wants to persist. The easiest way to help soulless mages is to help the blood."

"You mean getting rid of the mana?"

"Exactly. And that's where Holy Mana comes in", Ninett pointed out, taking a deep breath before continuing. "Holy Mana is the ability to destroy a Mana circuit."

Stunned, Cale stared at the chief Merensen. To him, Holy Mana was always something that was meant to protect life, but it was the exact opposite? That was why it was originally called the Wrath of the Gods? It destroyed the mana cycle of living beings.

"If we had left Sir Vonstetten to his fate and let him become a soulless mage, could Holy Mana have brought back his sanity?"

"Yes", declared the chief Merensen without hesitation, which is why Cale inevitably became angry. They had been looking for an answer for TWO months and the father of the one who took care of Grischa every day knew all along about a solution! All Aletta had to do was destroy his mana to end Grischa's suffering!

"Does Aletta know about what Holy Mana is capable of?", Cale forced out calmly. He was beside himself, but could not allow himself to become disrespectful to the second chief from Frignez. Even if at that moment he felt he lost any respect he had for Ninett.

"No. The information that Holy Mana can destroy Mana circuits is known only by us chief family. So besides you, my wife Delenna also chiefs and Lady Heriog, and chiefs and Lady Clensen. Usually there is also always a healer with Holy Mana, who is also informed about it. This person is currently Juna Allas, our supreme healer in Frignez. However, it was unanimously decided that I would also take on this role after her death."

Juna Allas. This name was quite familiar to Cale. The supreme healer, who was also able to use Holy Mana and played an important role in Aletta's life. She was her teacher, along with Ninett Merensen himself. Cale had only glimpsed the healer, due in part to his 4th life in Frignez, so he knew few details about her. For one thing, Juna Allas was an excellent healer who was always trying to develop new methods of healing. She was a free spirit and one of the few Frignezers who traveled to other countries almost regularly. And last but not least, Cale knew that she would die in the coming year due to her advanced age, leaving a gaping hole in Aletta. Ninett's statement indicated that he was also aware that Juna Allas was close to death. She was one of the reasons Ninett was always on the lookout for Aletta's whereabouts, but Aletta was unaware of that until Juna Allas' death.

"I understand", Cale replied calmly.

As much as he wanted to yell at the chief, he could well understand his position. Only eight people in the entire world know the truth behind Holy Mana, no wonder too. Frignez was able to rob everyone of the ability to use mana. If this information ended up in the wrong hands, who knows what would befall them. A war with jealous people eager to get rich off this power would be inevitable.

"You can not repair destroyed mana circuits, it's impossible even for us healers. By putting the Thormods' mark on Sir Vonstetten's body only temporarily, I had hoped that the problem would take care of itself in a few months. If Sir Vonstetten's Igrikum had been destroyed, it would have been only a temporary solution. If the marking had come off, we would be facing the same issue again", Chief Merensen interjected, as if to defend his actions, but Cale just shook his head.

"That marker doesn't come off. You have to kill the Thormod who put it there. I know someone who has carried that mark all his life, and the man is quite old."

If Aletta had destroyed Grischa's Igrikum, then Grischa could have continued to live without any difficulties. The mark would have suppressed his own mana and thus helped rather than harmed. The only problem would have been that Grischa couldn't use mana and his life would have been in danger if someone killed his Thormod.

"All in all, our variant was still the better solution. If you had let us know earlier, Grischa wouldn't be a mage now", Cale muttered in addition, rubbing his chin thoughtfully before looking up at the chiefs. "Does Holy Mana actually have anything to do with the existence of the Thormods then, and why is it so toxic to creatures?"

"Creatures don't have separate circuits. Their mana flows through the same pathways as their blood. When you come in contact with Holy Mana, it flows into their circuit and attacks the blood itself. They can't differentiate it and see the Holy Mana as a foreign body, killing themselves", Ninett explained matter-of-factly, leaning back. "And the Thormods... are not unknown among us chiefs."

Wordlessly, the two men looked at each other. Cale had not in his life expected his suspicions to come true. At the meeting a few days ago, the chiefs had shown no sign that they knew these people without Mana, yet they did and deliberately kept it hidden. Why? Why did they deliberately ignore such a source of danger and lie to their allies?

"How...?"

"Several hundred years ago, the Thormods were also just ordinary people who had lived peacefully like us. However, according to the history books, a war had developed between the nobility and the Thormods, the ordinary citizens. Ultimately, it ended with the nobility taking away their ability to generate their own mana. The loss of the mana cycle also affects their children and their children's children, it is usually hereditary. But that doesn't prevent them from being able to use mana like the creatures."

"Thormods absorb mana into their bloodstream? Then how do they survive Holy Mana?"

"Their bodies are human, they recognize it as mana. It's not toxic to them because the body doesn't consider it an intruder, probably the exact opposite occurs", Chief Merensen explained, gesturing with one hand as Cale listened to him thoughtfully.

"Do you know how the Thormods are even able to make this mark, then?"

The chief's stiffened in motion, fell silent for a moment, and then dropped his arm on his thighs. His facial expression told Cale that he had to seriously think about answering this question. Cale, on the other hand, picked up his glass of water, took a few sips, and sat back while not taking his eyes off the chief.

"It's an ability", the tall man finally raised, causing Cale to tilt his head to the side in irritation.

"Excuse me?", Cale retorted. He wasn't sure if Ninett was talking about the same thing he was thinking about.

"It's an ability engraved in her heart. It's a part of her body, or maybe even her soul. A gift from the gods, if you want to put it that way. The Wrath of the Gods is also an ability, just like the Thormods. It's called the Link."

"The Link? A rather ironic name", Cale commented, clutching his glass as he smiled. "Can it be destroyed?"

Cale was going to take his chances. Chief Merensen clearly knew more than any other person Cale had spoken to so far. Even the Eldest didn't know nearly as much as Chief Ninett Merensen. How unlikely then was it that the man knew nothing about the abilities of dragons and the Apostles of the gods?

"I'm not sure, I would say no."

"But the Igrikum can be destroyed, you said that before", the High-Magician threw after him, so Ninett looked up at him in surprise. He had fallen into his trap, only the blond-haired man was not yet aware of it.

If the ability was the same as the Igrikum, why could the Igrikum be destroyed and the ability not?