While under the watchful gaze of the vigers, the group eventually left town. The awkwardness of their party members'' gazes and the hateful res of the townspeople seemed to have little impact on Lucius, who simply walked along the paths without a care.


    Desmond found himself in slight awe of the man, and one thing that piqued his curiosity was the sheer amount of mana that Lucius manipted to make his threat. It weighed so heavily on him that once they had left the town and entered the woods, he finally brought himself to bring the subject up.


    "Lucius." He asked carefully. "If you are truly Intermediate, how do you possess so much mana? You wear it like a damned cloak sometimes, yet others, I sense nothing special. How do you do it?"


    Natali and Rena nced between Desmond and Lucius as if they were also expecting an answer. Rena''s ignorance surprised him because he thought she would at least know, but apparently, that was not the case.


    "It is true that I possess arger mana pool than most; it''s not as much as you think," Lucius answered honestly. "I think it is about thirty to forty percent more than someone of equal rank?"


    "While thirty to forty percent more is astounding…" Desmond replied, "It doesn''t exin how much we are experiencing when you pull those stunts like in the vige."


    Luciusughed before answering, "Channeling."


    "What do you mean? How does that work?"


    "Well, think about when you are fighting; there is a physical limit that you have—a maximum amount of strength you can use and a maximum amount of time." Lucius exined, "However, there are times, like under great duress when you can push past those limits—times where you fight harder andst longer."


    Desmond nodded in understanding, "Yes. Adrenaline. It pushes you beyond your physical limits. I know what you mean."


    "Good." The ck-haired man said with a smile, "Magic and Arts are the same as it rtes to your mana pool. There is a limit to what you can use. However… under times of duress, you can push into untapped potential and ess a normally inessible amount of mana."


    "I see… and you can tap into this?"


    "Yes. One of the many aspects of Channeling. With it, I can cast many Arts and magic spells without the need for activation phrases. But the core of the skill is that I have an extreme amount of control over every drop of mana in my body. Should I really choose to, I have the ability to use all of the mana I possess… which would result in my death.


    "While I may possess thirty to forty percent more than the average person of my rank, the amount I have ess to makes it seem like many times that amount." He informed them.


    It took Desmond a lot of time to understand the truth of the matter. To think that he could ess the entirety of his mana pool, including the reserves that keep him alive. If he used all of that, he would suffer from more than just mana deprivation; he could die. An ability like that took a lot of skill to use.


    "Are you not at risk every time you use a spell?" Jade asked the question everyone was thinking. "If you mess up and use too much mana…"


    "Sure, I could inadvertently hurt myself. Thankfully, I''m not an idiot."


    His gruff behavior and responses were starting to eat at Desmond a little, but he held his tongue. Desmond was rather grateful that the man was willing to answer so many questions, especially about the features of an advanced technique. Many schrs and practitioners were loathe to share such secrets.


    "Are you not concerned that we might take this knowledge and use it ourselves?" Desmond inquired.


    "You can try if you like. I wee it."


    After that, the group was rather quiet on their journey. Rena held a map and was navigating for them. asionally Lucius would run ahead and vanish into the trees while they stopped for a rest. The married couple exined that this was how they did things back when they adventured together as children.


    Their party possessed two warriors, an archer, Rena as the mage, and Lucius as their scout. Desmond had known that beastmen had exceptional senses, but as a half-blood, Lucius had inherited that trait as well. She exined it had be quite useful to her husband and his party members.


    It did not take Desmond long to understand how such an ability could be utilized, and he found himself slightly jealous of the man''s innate abilities. Of course, he was not jealous of Lucius''s strength because strength could be earned and obtained, but no matter what he did, Desmond would never possess those senses.


    They had traveled for a few more hours and were only about an hour away from the Grimspire Ruins when Lucius appeared out of the trees. He dropped to the ground from above like a monkey and made very little sound despite the armor he was wearing.


    "Monster iing. I don''t know what it is, but it''s an E-Rank threat, or at least that''s the feeling I am getting from it." He advised, "Think you can handle it, Desmond?"


    "Sure," Desmond answered resolutely.


    A few momentster, a strange, two-legged beast stepped out of the woods. It looked like a strange mix between a humanoid and a tree. Desmond was able to recognize it immediately as an Ent. They did not have many in his home country, but they were rathermon in heavily wooded areas, which made it sound strange that Lucius did not recognize it…


    Ents could be quite powerful monsters the older they got, but as they grew, they eventually became immobile. This one was rather young, so it had not yet rooted itself into the ground as it was likely looking for unupied territory to im.


    The monster raised its arms made of twisted branches and charged towards Desmond, who was front and center. He readied his spear to attack and activated an Art. "[Spear Arts: Triple Thrust]"


    Three rapid strikes of his spear hit the charging Ent in the chest, sending it tumbling backward into the grass. It screamed in pain andunched a wave of splinters out of its mouth.


    "[Aqua: Water Shield]"


    A wall of water materialized in front of him and absorbed the impact of the monster''s attack. The Ent looked puzzled for a moment allowing Desmond to run around the side of the shield and take advantage of the surprise.


    "[Spear Arts: Heavy Impact]"


    With a massive crack, the Ent flew into a tree, crushing the bark and leaving an indent of itself in the wood. Completely disoriented, it attempted to stand but fell over multiple times. Desmond stepped forward and used his spearhead to stab through its heart, killing it.