Chapter 141: The Auracle And Secrets

The more Monica understood about the Auracle, the more certain she became that her original conclusion had been correct.

It was not merely a magical formation engraved onto Stella’s body.

It was functioning like an entirely different body.

Monica’s Mana Projection floated within the inner layer of the Auracle, her golden-ringed eyes moving across the countless symbols and formations surrounding her. Every formation seemed connected to another, forming an incomprehensibly complicated network that stretched throughout the area.

There was a branch of magic known as Arcane Seals, and its entire foundation depended on replicating the workings of the Auracle.

Only Balards from the Gods’ Grave Mountains were capable of imprinting such things onto the body, yet despite centuries of research, no one had ever truly understood how an Auracle functioned. As a result, the entire branch of Arcane Seals had been built upon theories and speculation rather than genuine understanding.

Monica knew about it because her master had forced her to read practically every book within the Mage Tower, regardless of whether the knowledge contained within was useful to her or not.

And strangely enough, there was already a theory that might help her understand the Auracle.

It was called the Theory of Body Stillness, proposed by one of the Mage Tower’s High Mages.

The theory itself was simple.

The High Mage had studied the failed attempts to create artificial Auracles and concluded that when an Arcane Seal was imprinted onto a person’s body, the seal could be affected by the vessel carrying it. Changes in blood pressure, heartbeat, body temperature, organ movement, organ failure, and countless other biological processes could interfere with the seal, causing it to break or produce unintended results.

However, if all of those variables could somehow be kept constant, then Arcane Seals could theoretically be imprinted onto living bodies without being affected by their natural changes.

The problem had been obvious.

An Auracle continued functioning regardless of all those variables.

Because of that, the High Mage’s theory had eventually been discarded as impossible.

’Who would have known how right he was...’ Monica mumbled as her golden-ringed eyes stilled on a large formation.

The Auracle did not need to control those variables.

It simply did not use the body as a vessel.

The Auracle itself was the vessel.

It functioned as a separate body layered onto Stella’s physical body, maintaining all the necessary variables on its own. Stella’s body merely provided the Aura required to operate the formations and supplied the Aura that the Auracle stored within itself.

’To think Balards have achieved something as mind-blowing as this...’

Monica’s expression became increasingly serious as she examined another formation.

There was only one major problem.

Mana and Aura were fundamentally different.

Mana inherently belonged to the world, and its nature allowed it to produce and manipulate phenomena. Aura, on the other hand, belonged to the swordsman who possessed it. It was fundamentally a destructive and defensive energy born from the swordsman’s own existence.

Yet somehow, the Auracle used Aura to operate structures that resembled magical formations.

That was the part Monica needed to understand.

If she could determine exactly how Aura was being converted into something capable of sustaining these formations, and how those formations interacted with one another while maintaining the stability of the Auracle, she could finally begin developing a proper theory for the Manacle.

Unfortunately, her understanding was still far from sufficient.

At the moment, she had only managed to determine how the symbols controlled the flow of Aura and how the surrounding formations responded to those changes.

She still did not understand how the formations could stack upon one another.

Normally, overlapping formations should interfere with each other and collapse, especially when their structures were this complex.

Yet nothing of the sort happened.

Each formation remained perfectly stable, seamlessly connected to the others as though the entire structure had been designed as one gigantic spell.

The Auracle was filled with mysteries that challenged everything Monica knew about magic.

And she was more than prepared to face them.

Or so she thought.

Suddenly, Monica’s Mana Projection began turning black.

The darkness spread across her body like ink poured into clear water, gradually swallowing her limbs and torso.

Monica merely glanced down at herself before ignoring it.

She continued inspecting the Auracle without the slightest concern.

Her husband would take care of it soon.

And he did.

The darkness began retreating, slowly peeling away from her Mana Projection.

However, Monica soon noticed something strange.

The darkness was slower than usual.

At the same time, her body did not feel nearly as tired as it normally did.

She could not understand why.

Still, she certainly was not going to complain.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Elias sat in the chair beside Monica’s bed with Stella sitting comfortably on his lap. Her head rested against his chest as he calmly patted her hair and gently rubbed her back.

"When are we going to leave?" Stella mumbled.

"Once Monica is done checking your Auracle," Elias replied.

"I am not talking about that."

Stella shook her head before adding, "I am asking when we will leave the city."

A surprised expression appeared on Elias’s face.

"Why?" he asked. "You cannot wait?"

"Nope," Stella said with a smile as she leaned back onto him.

Her eyes looked slightly heavy as she had spent more than an hour near Monica, but there was still excitement in her voice.

"I want to go out and see everything."

"Oh?"

Elias smiled and asked, "Do you have any place in mind?"

"Yes!"

Stella’s expression immediately brightened, and stars seemed to appear in her eyes.

Elias chuckled at her enthusiasm before asking softly, "Where?"

"I first want to go to Moondrop Waterfall!"

"Then?"

"Hmm... let me think..."

Stella raised one finger and tapped her chin several times as she searched for an answer.

Then her face brightened again.

"Ah! I also want to see the light festival at Neptune’s Bowl."

"The light festival, huh..."

Elias smiled faintly. He knew that young Stella shouldn’t be aware of these places.

Perhaps she was recalling experiences from before her mind had been broken.

Elias was about to ask another question when Stella suddenly frowned.

"I also want to go to the hidden dungeon where I found that stupid aunty," she said.

Her expression immediately soured as she crossed her arms.

"I do not like her..."