Five people sat around a small purple-green stone. This was odd enough on its own, but when Dia considered the fact that surrounding it was the Countess of Farah County, the Holy Son of the Black God, the daughter of the Folder’s Association President and the de facto ruler of Licencia’s underworld, this was one heck of a line-up.

What was more impressive was how everyone, including her, was seated around a little stone and attempting to reach out to it with a wisp of mana. The thing that took the cake, however, was that the stone was actually reaching back out with its own strand of mana too.

“It’s a sentient rock, isn’t it?” Schwarz observed, a touch of amusement in his words.

“No, not really.” Nero had a sad smile on his face. “This is the amalgamation of last words and wills. The final sunset of life. This is the crystallised lifeforce of many, many dead people. And this is the reason why lifestone mines have been drying up for a long time.”

Dia blinked. “What do you mean?”

“Let’s start with the basics first. Lifeforce. Think of lifeforce as an intangible force of movement. They keep your soul anchored to your body and drive the natural processes of your mortal coil. However, over time, the forces that keep you alive begin to weaken and stagnate.” Nero paused. “Got it so far?”

Everyone nodded. This was pretty basic knowledge, but Nero had couched it in very explicit terms. Dia, on her own part, simply knew that lifeforce was the amount of time one’s heart and mind could remain functioning naturally. She sure hadn’t heard that bit about the soul anchoring thing, though.

“Good. Think of it as glue. While it is still sticky, the core of your existence is glued to your body. However, glue dries, right? Lifestones and simply taking in lifeforce adds more glue.” Nero paused. “However, not all glue is equal. Some are stickier than the others, with the latter being made of lower quality glue from, say, the district of Sukha.”

“Sukha?”

“Oh, it’s a district in Nihal. Good at making foodstuff, but anything else? Yeah, no.” Nero cleared his throat. “That’s impurity. It’s usually in the form of stagnant, unmoving lifeforce that wasn’t liberated correctly…but what’s liberation? Well, think of it in terms of glue again. When the glue that is lifeforce dries, it hardens and becomes brittle, but it still does provide some level of anchoring. And when the person in question dies, the brittle, hardened lifeforce anchoring down the soul is unable to withstand the power of the five grand skies.”

Nero picked up a stick, and then snapped it into two. “With that, the soul is taken away. The hardened lifeforce that served as an inferior anchor is destroyed by the resulting snap, liberating lifeforce and allowing it to return to the air.”

“So, our lifespan is actually the amount of time we have left before this glue dries up and becomes too weak to resist the pull of the five grand skies?” Risti asked.

“Essentially. While I couched it as an analogy, do note that this is quite a visual one,” Nero replied. “Anyway, this liberation means that all lifeforce one used in their entire life will be freed with explosive force, rejuvenated by the touch of the skies. And so they will drift, on and on, until they finally settle down and become lifestones or prana jades.”

“So what leads to the creation of prana jades?” Schwarz asked. “The exact mechanisms.”

“When one dies without heavy thoughts, the lifeforce released disperses at the point of death and spreads far and wide. However, if one dies bearing hatred, resentment and other obsessions, the resulting lifeforce that’s thrown out sticks together, as proof that its owner once existed.” Nero shrugged. “These become prana jades. The purest of mana, comparable to pure-rank lifestones.”

He gestured at the stone.

“And the reason behind depleting lifestone mines…”

“Isn’t it obvious? All the lifeforce used in the great wars six millennia ago have turned into prana jades, locked into ancient battlefields that are sealed.” Nero shrugged. “The obsessions will remain, but there is a lot of lifeforce contained inside every ancient battlefield, repelled from the ground due to the overwhelming presence of prana jades there. But when the ancient battlefields are unsealed, they will run free, and the Fourth Godsfall will open up in full.”

“…Who sealed those ancient battlefields?” Dia asked, rubbing her head. She had been suffering from a migraine ever since Nero had started talking, but it was not so painful that she couldn’t scream.

“Who else but the arbiter of the Godsfalls?” Nero rolled his eyes. “Anyway, lore time is over. I’m glad everyone isn’t moaning and bitching about headaches.”

“We’re just holding it in,” Schwarz muttered. “Can I roll around and call for my parents now? I want to cry.”

“Yeah, a break is a good idea. Can’t have you guys messing up the process to break down prana jade anyway. Go! Shoo! I’ll go and use this myself first!”

Nero chased everyone away, which was the cue for Dia to head over to the firepit and pick up some strips of deer meat. Manipulating her impromptu snack with some mana, Dia fed herself happily as Schwarz gagged and threw up at a distant corner.

“Poor Schwarz,” Farah murmured. “How can we help to improve his Mana Control Proficiency?”

“More training,” Dia replied.

“You monster,” Farah muttered. “Anyway, I hope we can pull him up. He’s in the same boat as me now, when it comes to saturation.”

“Hmm? We’re all saturated from low and mid-rank lifestones, so what are you talking about?” Dia asked. “Anyway, we got a huge haul. If we can break down everything and move onto the next mana circuit, it’ll be fine.”

“You do know that there’s the Second Tutorial, right?” Risti asked. “It’s not as simple as completing your fourth mana circuit and calling it a day. You’ll have to go through your own trials too.”

“Yeah, I know.” Dia nodded. “But I’m sure I can handle it.”

“If you say so, then.” Risti shrugged. “Anyway, let’s go and check on Schwarz. Poor dude has it tough.”

The bartender was still retching when the three of them walked up to him, the sound itself causing Dia’s stomach to flip.

“Need anything?” Risti asked. “I’ve brought water.”

“Oh, you did?” Farah lowered her water bottle. “Okay. Do you need us to pat your back or support you?”

With one stomach-flipping retch, Schwarz got up slowly and straightened his body. “I’m fine. Thanks for offering…I’ll like that water, by the way.”

He took a small sip. “It’s just the outcome of having low Authority. Bah. Sorry for being a burden.”

“Everyone has their own weaknesses,” Dia replied. “Come on, let’s go back to Nero now. We need to start work as soon as possible.”

Pulses of pure green light were emanating from Nero when they returned. Funnily enough, however, those pulses didn’t escape from him; they bounced back after a certain distance and vanished into his body without any trace. Was this the method to use prana jades?

“Ah, you’re back.” Nero opened his eyes. “Alright, sit down. We’re going to talk about breaking prana jade down now, after that detour about many, many things. First of all, what exactly makes up prana jade? I’m sure everyone can see the purple light, right?”

Dia and the others nodded.

“This purple light is the obsession that binds the prana jade. Incidentally, it has no relation to the Violet Goddess or the Indigo God; those two represent entirely different things.” Nero cleared his throat. “Anyway, the natural method is to break the obsession down. There are a few ways, including the passage of time, but this prana jade is probably resistant to time’s erosion, so we’ll go with the second method. Erosion through mana.”

He gestured once, and another prana jade flew over. “Mana is far more conducive to will and thoughts, compared to lifeforce. Obsessions adhere themselves to mana if given the choice, and that’s how we purify prana jade. The resulting items are high and pure-ranked lifestones, because they’re just that good.”

Nero raised the hand holding on to the prana jade, which was shrouded with blue light. After around ten minutes, he drew the mana away, and the prana jade fell apart into lifestones.

“You guys will need…two hours to do the same, because your mana is of a lower quality. For Schwarz, he’ll need four hours.”

“That’s a lot of time.”

“It can’t be helped,” Nero replied. “Still, that’s assuming we’re doing it alone, right? However, if we just fill up those carts with mana…it’ll take a few days, but it’s less labour intensive. We can do both concurrently too, I suppose.”

“Before we do anything else…” Schwarz pointed at the blob of purple mana that Nero had cast away. “What should we do with that?”

“…Leave it. It’ll dissipate once the mana loses form.”

Schwarz eyed the blob. “It won’t turn into a monster, right?”

“Well, it might gain some sentience, I suppose?” Nero shrugged. “I’m not too sure, but it’ll be an interesting experiment. Maybe we can talk to the byproduct of purifying prana jades. It’ll be an eyeopener.”

Dia didn’t know what to say to such an irresponsible statement.

“Putting that aside,” Risti cut in, “let’s get started with flooding the carts with mana. I don’t know how much time we have, but we better not slack off now.”

Dia rubbed her neck. “Let’s get started, then.”