The Extra Prince Sets Out To Conquer The World

Jade and Abassael, who were scraping up the mana crystals, were ecstatic like people who had discovered a gold mine.

“With this much, I think we can focus on research for the time being without worrying about mana stones!”

That was because the mana crystals that came out after defeating the monsters of the ruins did not disappear even after leaving the ruins.

“You’re right. Since we can use them without the purification or extraction process, I think Lord Jade can perform the time freeze experiment in high gravity situations as many times as he wants.”

Moreover, unlike the mana stones that could be obtained outside, they had no impurities and were pure with distinctive properties, making them an endless source of research. The mana could also be extracted and utilized for magic.

For example, the reverse mermaid shrimp-like creatures that came out of the entrance, the Cassiopeia constellation, had the attribute of the sea, and the creatures like the Komodo dragons that came out of the Lacerta constellation area had the attribute of the swamp.

Imbuing mana with attributes was something only skilled mages could do.

Moreover, if it wasn’t their specialty, they couldn’t even infuse a specific attribute, making it even more valuable.

Of course, there were no exploration teams that went hunting because it was too dangerous and the amount that could be obtained was limited due to the inability to use spatial magic.

Even if it wasn’t the mana crystals of the Labyrinth of Constellations, they could be obtained through magic towers, and excavating artifacts was more profitable.

“If it weren’t for that person, I think we would have run away right away.”

While the two mages were talking about the experimental research they would do in the future, Sophia admired Sword Demon Anastasia, who was slicing through mythical monsters expressionlessly without any sign of difficulty.

“Well, she is one of the Ten Swords Under Heaven.”

Those monsters called the Ten Swords Under Heaven were all uniformly that strong.

Horazon, Precia’s teacher, and Demiway, who protected the kingdom from the Bastille Mountains, were also similarly monstrous.

Recalling Demiway begging over my doll repair bill, it felt incongruous that he was on par with Anastasia, who displayed such monstrous martial prowess, but he was still a monster of the same caliber.

“Wow, is Uncle Sword Saint that strong too?”

At Sophia’s question, Dailhorg, who was also absentmindedly watching Anastasia’s martial arts, came to his senses and answered instead of me.

“Of course! I’m not saying this because he’s my disciple, but I think the Sword Saint is particularly strong even among the Ten Swords Under Heaven!”

“That scatterbrained uncle?”

When Sophia couldn’t believe it, the old holy knight was flustered.

“That’s right! …Although that fellow has a somewhat scatterbrained side, his martial arts are by no means weak.”

At Dailhorg’s words, Anastasia, who was swinging her sword, paused for a moment and said,

“I had encountered the Sword Saint once.”

At Anastasia’s words, Dailhorg swallowed dryly and carefully asked,

“How… how was my disciple?”

“He was strong. We had a light spar over a cursed sword, so I don’t know if he’s particularly strong among the Ten Swords.”

At Anastasia’s calm answer, Dailhorg blushed as if he felt embarrassed by his own words that were like his disciple.

“S-sorry. I spoke carelessly with my lacking eyes.”

At the old holy knight’s apology, Anastasia shook her head.

“Someone of your caliber is sufficiently capable of evaluating, so there’s no need to apologize.”

At her indifferent words, Dailhorg’s face turned even redder.

“No, I sincerely apologize. Even if I have the eyes to evaluate, I spoke without properly looking due to pride. It’s embarrassing.”

Then he bowed his head to Sophia.

“I’m sorry. Miss. I guess I’ve become foolish with age. The teachings of the bountiful earth also say not to be arrogant, but I failed to abide by it.”

When the old holy knight made a heartfelt confession, bright divine power explosively burst out from his entire body.

“What? Awakening?”

“What? Awakening?”

Sophia and I were startled out loud.

The old holy knight, enveloped in warm divine power, shed tears of emotion and prayed.

“He awakened at such a strange timing. Don’t you usually awaken in a crisis and have to defeat the enemy?”

At my question, Sophia also nodded in agreement.

“Right. It’s a bit lame.”

“That’s too much!”

At Sophia’s honest evaluation, the old holy knight sulked as if he was genuinely hurt.

Sophia sweated profusely to appease the old man who was snubbed at one of the few moments in his life.

Anastasia watched the two of them, then picked up her sword again and launched a sword pressure.

As she sliced a goose that was dozens of times larger than the giant geese that had been flying so far, she said to me,

“Boy, what is your name?”

“You’re asking very early.”

I was genuinely surprised. I thought she would ask when it was about time to part ways or not be interested in me at all.

At my words, Anastasia was blankly puzzled with an expressionless face.

“Is that so?”

I chuckled and watched Jade and Abassael running excitedly to catch the huge mana crystals dropped by the dragon-sized goose as it disappeared, and answered,

“It’s Yuan.”

Although there was no special introduction other than the name, Anastasia seemed satisfied and nodded.

“Yuan, there’s one thing I’d like to ask.”

“Please go ahead.”

“Why is Jade here?”

Her question implied many things.

She seemed to have inferred that Jade shouldn’t be here for reasons such as the mana of the Winter Sage that Jade possessed, the castle inherited from Yekatrice, the existence of the hole in the other world, even though she had only exchanged names with Jade.

“To be precise, it’s not why Jade is here, but you’re curious about whether Yekatrice is alive or dead, right?”

At my guess, Anastasia closed her mouth. Was it my imagination that a subtle sense of impatience and anxiety was felt on her expressionless face?

“I…”

“Yuan! It’s a big deal!”

Jade made a fuss as he dragged a magic net containing the mana crystal of the super-giant goose and countless mana crystals.

Thanks to that, Anastasia’s words were cut off.

“My Lord! There are no more bags to collect mana crystals!”

Jade and Abassael, who had diligently swept up the mana crystals, made a sad face.

In addition to what was contained in the magic net, the bags carried by the dolls, which were five times their own size, were all tightly packed with mana crystals.

Out of the bags carried by the seventeen dolls used as porters, 3 contained food, miscellaneous tools, and artifacts, so 14 bags were filled with mana crystals.

“What should we do? Should we empty a few bags?”

At Jade’s question, which was dripping with regret and greed, I controlled the dolls to pour out all the mana crystals contained in the bags in front of me.

“No, we can’t do such a wasteful thing. Navi, Rami, Biam. I’ll leave it to you.”

At my request, the three spirits dug into the pile of mana crystals. Then, mana was rapidly sucked out of my body, and the pile of mana crystals clumped together by type and compressed.

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!

The mountain-like pile of mana crystals was reduced to a few basketball-sized lumps.

As I tried to control too much mana at once, it seemed to have been too much strain, and as I staggered like a patient with acute anemia, Precia and Gilbert supported me.

“Are you alright? Young Master.”

“Ah, I’m fine. Just running out of mana. Navi.”

-Meow~!

Nabi placed her tiny paw on one of the unclumped mana crystals, swallowed the wind attribute contained within, converted it into mana, and supplied it back to me.

“Phew, I think I’ll live.”

I definitely need to develop a mana circuit. When using a small amount of mana in succession, mana recovery and usage could be done in parallel without much strain, but it was difficult when dealing with a large amount of mana at once.

To use an analogy, a mana circuit is like a water tank that can store mana.

The smaller the water tank, the less water it can spout at once, and the faster it depletes.

Especially in my case, since the mana circuit also plays the role of a rubber hose connecting to separate water tanks called spirits, developing a mana circuit was important for smooth circulation.

There was no point in pondering it now since I couldn’t develop a mana circuit here, so I decided to put it off for later and looked at Anastasia.

When Jade arrived, she closed her mouth and turned her head away. Was she saying let’s talk later?

“Let’s quickly go to the Lyra constellation. It seems the constellation movement is almost here.”

At my words, the group hurriedly moved their steps and crossed over to the next area, the Alpha Site Vega.

Upon arriving at Vega, bizarre birds swarmed like in the previous area.

“This area is crows, no, magpies?”

The Sword Demon took the lead and sliced through the attacks of the giant magpies with white bellies.

Abassael and Jade were ecstatic to sweep up the mana crystals falling to the ground.

When Jade stopped, I glanced at Anastasia, thinking she might open her mouth again, but she only silently swung her sword with a thoughtful expression on her face.

Well, she’ll figure it out.

I muttered while checking the celestial timepiece.

“Hmm, the time distortion is a variable.”

At my muttering, Sophia, who had appeased the old holy knight and returned to my side, asked,

“What’s the variable?”

“Your friend. It’s annoying if we meet again because of the time distortion.”

Even if Delevhem, whom I had deceived, interfered, in the end, it would only buy time, and due to the time distortion, Amelie, who had gone far, could arrive early.

Of course, even so, she wouldn’t be able to arrive earlier than me.

“But I’ve been curious since before entering the ruins, why did you bother to deceive Amelie?”

Sophia asked as if she was genuinely curious. At her question, I chuckled.

“To come comfortably. Thanks to that, I came very comfortably until the middle.”

At my answer, Sophia seemed to have figured me out and asked,

“And?”

As expected, she noticed there was more to the reason. Sophia didn’t know about Arcana, but I should tell her.

Of course, not now, but after we leave the ruins.

“What I’m after and what they’re after are the same thing. Competitors should be quickly eliminated to move comfortably.”

The artifact I was after, the ‘Creator’s Earrings’, was a pair of small gems, one amplifying divine power and the other finely dividing divine power.

For Amelie, who had seized divine power from corrupt priests, the power to amplify divine power wasn’t very necessary.

However, the ability to finely divide divine power was a power that she would covet more than anyone.

The Saint of the Sea had accumulated too much divine power through loopholes, so she could only use normal attacks as area-of-effect skills, unable to use sacred attacks when allies were present.

Upon hearing my explanation, Sophia showed interest in divine power amplification, then suddenly took out a magic crystal filled with apostolic power from her inner pocket as if she had remembered something.

“Wait, it finely divides divine power? Then…”

“That’s right. That’s also divine power, isn’t it?”

It meant she would be able to handle the apostolic power that was too immense to use.

“Ah, we’ve arrived. That was close.”

Not long after we crossed over to the Lyra constellation area, the mana of the ruins fluctuated, and the constellations began to move.