The Greatest Sinner

After Demien had dealt with the monster, they continued on their way. No one said anything the whole way, everyone was busy with his own thoughts.

Today was the first time Evan had encountered the monster in this life, just as it was the first time he had seen how strong Demien was. He didn't even know what surprised him more.

<I haven`t fought this lizard, but it was definitely dangerous. Demien, on the other hand, had so easily dealt with it. Now I understand why Fane asked Demien to replace Koen's man while he's on a mission. As long as Demien is overseing the fourth section, no one will be able to get in there".

No more monsters appeared. Demien had killed the only intruder.

Demien was pacing the slabs of smoke and taking a puff muttered, "Yeah, bad luck that monster, if it hadn't bumped into me, he would still be alive. It's sad that sometimes luck determines whether you live or die."

"Do monsters often attack this place?" Evan asked with interest.

Demien shook his head in response, "I haven't been here that long and as soon as I pay my debt I'll leave it right away, but I can safely say that monsters pretty rarely try to get in here. For your information, monsters are not mindless creatures. They know they can't get through these barriers and this place is guarded."

"Are you saying that the recent attack is pretty rare?"

"Not really, this lizard was pretty strong. It sensed the barriers were gone and tried to get through, but it had no luck. Unfortunately for it, I was there." Demien said calmly.

<Demien killed him in seconds, yet says the monster was strong.> Evan thought to himself.

"Speaking of which, that monster came out of the wall, couldn't he have dug his way right up to the fourth section?"

Evan and Demien had already practically made it to their designated spot.

Step.

They moved from the smoky slab to the cold, stone floor of the cave. Suddenly Demien stopped and said:

"No, the entire fourth section is protected by an incredibly strong spherical barrier. That monster didn't have a chance to break through it. Even I could hardly do that. By the way, we're here."

Demien pointed his hand forward at the barrier, which slowly shimmered in iridescent colors.

"As I said, it's very dense, so you'll only see everything once you get inside. This is the fourth section. By the way, as far as I know you're here for two weeks?"

Evan nodded.

"Then, you'll probably be escorted out of here by someone else. My debt to Fane will be paid in a week, and Koen`s man should be back soon, okay, see you later."

Demien turned around and left. As always he paced slowly and smoked a cigarette while blowing large puffs of smoke.

<Yeah, I never would have guessed that a man who owns a clothing store and can sew fine cloaks himself could also be quite a powerful magician. People can be very strange and surprising at the same time.>

Evan thought to himself and stepped into the barrier.

Whoosh.

"Wow." That was the only thing Evan could say at that moment.

He had seen many bright crystals of different shapes and sizes before, but what he saw now was on a quite different level.

The fourth section was a huge cavern with countless incredibly bright crystals. Each one was unique in its own way, and even from a distance, you could feel that they were all filled with mana. The crystals came in a variety of colors and sizes, but the blue crystals were the majority.

Nevertheless, the crystals were not the most important feature of the fourth section. In the middle of the cave, there was a small lake with aquamarine water that sparkled even brighter than the crystals. In the center of the lake was a small, round platform.

It was perfect for "Creation", and it wasn't a matter of beauty or convenience, but of its special location.

The fourth section was saturated with mana, but the center of the lake was where mana density reached its peak. It was all about the water, or rather the crystals at the bottom. Unlike the air in which mana slowly dissipated, this water stored and accumulated it.

That was why in the fourth section one could stay only a limited amount of time, after which one had to give time for the water to be saturated with mana again.

But even if the lake wasn't here, the fourth section would still be an amazing place. Evan hadn't started the "Creation" yet, but he could say with certainty that the mana density here was many times higher than in the room in Zak`s mansion where he had "Created" before.

"Well, the last time I condensed mana into "Void Liquid" was over a month ago, time to catch up."

After these words, Evan quickly made his way to the platform in the center of the lake, took a seat, and began to "Create".

Whoosh.

His crimson "Warp" immediately swirled, thereby collecting all the mana around it. Gradually, Evan's "Nirvana" became filled with hundreds of pale blue bubbles that slowly flowed to the "Warp".

As time passed, the speed of the "Warp" increased significantly, and the bubbles turned into pale blue streams that flowed into the crimson sphere like rivers.

The last time Evan "Created" he had achieved a result of 25 drops in four days, six drops per day to be exact. Zak had come in a little late then, which gave Evan a couple of extra hours.

It takes a thousand drops of "Void Liquid" to turn the "Warp" into a "One -Pointed Star". At this point, Evan only had 25.

<This is incredible... so much mana... it makes me want to absorb it all at once!>

Evan was very happy with the reward he`d received for winning the "Tournament of Precious Stones", it was definitely worth it. The mana hovering in the air and in the water was slowly absorbed by Evan's "Warp" and condensed into the 'Void Liquid'.

...

In absolute silence, Evan continued to "Create" and after exactly five days, he opened his eyes and laughed out loud.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, this is fantastic. My condensation rate has increased fivefold at this point! In five days I've condensed as many as 150 drops of "Void Liquid", which is probably even more than those who have purple "Warp".

Quite contentedly Evan muttered. Because Zak had tricked him then, he still didn't know that his speed was several times faster than the geniuses with purple "Warp". Now he was in the fourth Section, a place with a phenomenal concentration of mana.

Thirty drops a day was an unprecedented rate, no magician could have imagined such a thing.

...

Evan continued to "Create" until, by the beginning of the eleventh day, he had condensed 333 drops of "Void Liquid". At that moment, Evan hit the second "Barrier" and even though he couldn't go further for now, he still continued to greedily absorb mana...