~Gore Warning at the end!~
[Jack's POV]
~5 minutes later~
"Ugh..." I groaned as I stood up.
It had been a little bit since Ark gave me the potions, and I was finally able to stand up on my own, with some help from Ark, of course.
Looking over the scene, it showed destruction on one side and shocked students on the other.
I let out a sigh, thankful that no one else died.
"J-jack... are you ok?" I heard Terra ask.
I turned to her and saw her concerned face as she walked over, followed by the others.
I shrugged. "I feel like a dragon swatted me with their tail, but other than that, I'm fine," cracking a smile that did not fit my current appearance.
She looked worried and walked over to check me out herself.
Zek, however, built up the courage to ask, "H-... how was... that spell so powerful?"
I looked down at him and said, "It should have been a rank 5 spell, but I forgot to account for the wind shell compressing the spell into a single point."
He tilted his head in confusion, and I explained a bit more.
"It's similar to a bullseye lantern. A normal lantern will shine light in a certain area in all directions, but a bullseye lantern shines light in a cone, much farther and brighter."
Orin looked at me and asked, "You mean like a cannon?"
I nodded. "Cannons are a better example. If you left a cannonball next to a pile of gunpowder, it would probably fly a few feet at most, but if it's inside a cannon, then it shoots a lot farther.
The same principle can be done with spells by compressing them into a single beam or funnel, though most people haven't caught onto that, and I would prefer not to be named as the person to discover this." [1]
'Speaking of which,' I thought, and used another mind to contact Lavender.
^Lavender. When you are finished, modify everyone's memories, aside from my friends, to remember that I used a one-time-use magic item as a power boost for the spell rather than a 7-fold fusion spell.^
^Ok. I am almost done here. I will begin once we have an answer, but I should warn you, a group this large will require a price.^
^What is it?^ I asked.
^Dream Dust. I know you have some.^ she replied.
^Deal.^ I agreed and returned to my friends.
Zek's eyes shone in excitement. "I had no idea that was possible."
I nodded. "It's not surprising. Most people focus on single spells where everything is combined into one thing. That would require two separate spells or one really complex spell."
He nodded and took a moment to think.
"Would an ice barrel work?"
I nodded. "To a certain extent, though I think you should wait to experiment until after we figure out what happened."
He nodded, and we all turned back to the trolls.
Several students had already walked over and made sure it was dead, and thankfully, with some spiritual energy, I could also confirm it was gone.
Ark helped me walk over with the others as we all started examining them.
"What the hell happened to them exactly? Araki filled me in on what happened while I was passed out, but this is insane," Orin said, shocked by the troll's height.
"These were high trolls, at least they were originally," I said, still not believing it.
"High trolls?" Ark asked.
Zek nodded and said, "Any creature or race with the word 'high' in its name is like an evolved or more powerful version of that race. They typically are smarter, stronger, have a higher magic affinity and so on. It's always something that puts them above the average of their own kind.
Most high races are direct descendants of the first generation born from a Primogenitor, while the other types are derived from or influenced by external factors that altered them.
The high elves are a prime example, as they were the first type of elves to exist. The other types came along later, like wood elves, who were a tribe of high elves blessed by dryads and given a higher affinity with nature magic."
I noticed several of the other students were listening in on this, interested in the conversation and an explanation, but too shy to join in.
I nodded. "He is right. Many species have a high race, but most have to be born as one. It's incredibly rare for someone, especially a monster, to evolve into a high race. Honestly, I didn't even know trolls had a high race."
Araki, who was looking at some of the rubble, turned to me, confused. "Then how did you know they were a high race?"
"They were too tall to be normal trolls, and their skin is the wrong colour. Those two are the typical signs of a high monster," I said.
"Ah, I see. Then what other kinds of high races are there?"
I started walking towards the evolved troll's head to look at the crystals and said,
"There are some for many species, not just people, but animals and monsters too. Humans, elves, orcs, dragons, wolves, vampires, and several others all have high variants. There hasn't been any sign of one for Beastkin, Lizardmen, avians, and several other races."
"There are high dragons?" Zek asked, confused.
"There are high wolves?" Ark asked at the same time as Zek, shocked rather than confused.
I nodded. "Yes and no. Dire wolves and Greater Dragons are the ones I mean, higher variants, but with different names. Dwarves also have a variant called Elder Dwarves, for example.
The word 'high' is mainly used to refer to the common races, with some exceptions, but any creature with a word in its name that means it's higher or greater than an average individual, then they fall under the same classification."
They all nodded, and I noticed a student raise a hand.
I turned to him, and he asked, "Um... not to sound offensive, but does that mean that beastfolk, who are full animals, are a high race when compared to beast-men, who look like humans with animal features?"
I shook my head. "No, they are not. The classification of a high race varies between the race's abilities and other factors, mainly powers or abilities. Aside from appearance, there is almost no difference between the abilities of beastfolk and beastkin.
A high race for the beastkin would probably have some sort of transformation ability, maybe being able to turn into an actual animal form at will rather than just a humanoid form."
I felt Ark tense at that, realizing what I just implied about werewolves.
I put a hand on his arm, reassuring him that it was ok.
As for everyone else, they nodded and got back to work, examining the troll.
I answered a few more questions as I moved around the troll's body, eventually coming to its head.
I turned to Orin and asked, "Orin, can you try to cut its head open? I want to check something."
He looked at me, confused, and said, "Uh, sure. One sec."
He picked up his sword and walked over.
Everyone took a step back as he raised his sword and swung down.
*Crack*
*Spoosh*
*Splat*
Weirdly, he cut right through, as if it were normal flesh.
Blood and brain matter pooled onto the ground.
Ark and Araki had to look away and cover their mouths, trying not to throw up. Orin and Zek seemed fine, though.
Using my spear as a walking stick, I moved closer to the head and used Orin as support, then used my spear to dig around the brain until I found what I was looking for.
*Clunk*
A large crystal, around 10 inches in length, fell onto the floor.
^Notice: This crystal is the source of the troll's evolution. Unable to glean information in its current state. Please examine it personally.^ the book told me.
I used my spear to flick it a little away and asked a water mage to clean it off.
They did so, and after, I picked it up.
It was surprisingly light for its size, and while faint, magic continued to flow through this thing.
I used spiritual energy and forced it through the crystal and realized what this was.
Inside were dozens of magic circles and spell scripts, all working together. Mana absorption, enhancement, mind control, regeneration, and so many more effects were forced into this crystal, etched with mana so precise and technical that it could give me a run for my money.
Then I saw places where tethers were supposed to connect to something else. I saw several there, more than just these three, to be connected.
Realizing what those could be, I said, very seriously, "There should be more crystals in the other trolls' heads! Grab them and bring them here."
Orin and several other students nodded, realizing this was important by my tone and quickly went to get them.
Zek walked over and asked, "What do you know?"
I looked down at him and said, "I'm not too sure... I have an idea as to what this was, but I need the other crystals to confirm."
He nodded and asked, "Can I have a look?"
I nodded and handed him the crystal.
He used some mana to examine the crystal, both inside and out, just like me.
But as he went inside, he frowned with confusion and focus.
"These formulas aren't from around here. It's a completely different dialect... are these... no, they look like they are from Desolation."
I raised an eyebrow and set up a soundproof barrier. "I'm guessing your master taught you about that place?"
He nodded and said, "Yes. He taught me about the Demonoid continent years ago while he was researching some relics recovered after the defeat of the Demon Lord of Assimilation."
Curious, but focusing on the current matter, I nodded and asked, "Do you remember anything he said about that demon lord or how they came to be?"
Zek looked confused and said, "No. I had only just started my apprenticeship under him when he had them. Besides, he finished his research long before I was ready, and I just never asked about them since a new demon lord won't appear for at least another 150 years.
Plus, even with magic, I probably won't live long enough for it to matter," he joked slightly at the end, trying to diffuse the tense atmosphere with some dry humour, which did get a few chuckles from other people but not me.
"You know about the emergence timeframe?" I asked, surprised that he knew about the timeframe.
He nodded and said, "My master told me about it around that time. Primogenitors, Demon Lords, Fables, Heroes, Infernal Breaches, S-Ranked Dungeons, and many other powerful entities or events appear at very specific intervals.
I can't remember most of them off the top of my head, but I do have them written down somewhere. I think that new demon lords appear every 200 years."
I nodded and asked a few more questions, seeing how much he knew.
Then dismissed the barrier and turned to Orin and the other students as they approached and brought me the other two crystals.
One was shattered, while the other one was intact.
"Good, thanks," I said as I took them and examined them.
Mentally piecing the broken one back together, I examined the scripts, and they were almost the exact same. The only difference was the tethers, connecting to different crystals in a different order.
After examining them and calculating the number of other crystals that could have existed by using the locations and angles for tethers between crystals, I realized there were over 100 of these crystals.
But the good thing was, based on the lack of magic and active tethers and deterioration of the circles, that these seemed to be the last ones.
"From what I can tell, the trolls were part of some kind of experiment. Someone placed one of these crystals in the heads of over 100 trolls."
"There are 100 of them?!" someone shouted.
I shook my head. "No. We killed the last ones. It seems that when one of these trolls dies, mana leaves its crystal, travels along a magic tether connected to another crystal, and causes the other trolls to gain power.
At first, it wouldn't have been much, but as more died, the power would be cumulative, increasing with each death. That would explain why trolls, which have never been documented to evolve suddenly, did so.
These three seemed to be the last, since mana didn't leave the last one when it died and there didn't seem to be a distance limit."
Everyone let out a relieved sigh.
"So then it's done?" someone asked.
I nodded.
Everyone cheered in relief, happy they killed a great monster and lived to tell the tale.
Of course, I had to find a way to get away from them and figure out how much of the actual truth I could tell my friends.
-
[1]: You can also compare this to a lightbulb and a flashlight.