[Psychokinetic] Eyeball Pulling - Chapter 223: Internal Engine

Deep within Lord Darians body, the source of his spectacular power was laid bare. Astrid didn’t expect it. Mana in its container was free flowing. Like waves in a gentle, undulating lake. Only when the master utilised it, did it activate according to the users wishes. Whether that was to create something, destroy something, or whatever the use may be.

But Lord Darian’s container was different.

It was literally like an engine. Hot, loud, powerful. Complex symbols of different shapes and sizes lined the room. And unlike Astrids, he had two separate rooms within. The one on the bottom was the engine. The strange symbols glowed and churned the mana into the middle of the room, grinding it, empowering it. It undulated like a volcano about to burst from the earth. Then when the process was complete, the new fuel transferred into the next room where it was stored for use.

There was no commanding it. The mana automatically surged through the engine without any doing on Lord Darian’s part. It was efficient, complicated, and breathtaking. Astrid had never seen anything like it before.

The stored energy was no longer mana. But something else. Astrid could feel it.

“Incredible,” Astrid said.

No wonder the Eye-Queen demanded she obtain the internal engine. It would make her incredibly vast mana container into an engine capable of powering cities. Maybe multiple of them.

If her Left Eye of Mana changed her mana from a gaseous state, to a liquid. Then the internal engine would improve it even further. The result would be unfathomable. She had to learn it…

“What are the symbols within your container?” Astrid asked, ignoring the distant signs of battle, and the preparation the Lord’s men were currently undergoing for the invasion.

Calm, Lord Darian said, “They are the foundation of the internal engine. When a member of my family reaches twelve years old, we undergo a process named ‘Forging’. This is where we create the ‘Engine Seals’. The seals gather the mana, and in turn, it transforms into a more powerful variation we call ‘Expansion’.”

“Then how do I form those seals?”

Lord Darian placed his hand against his stomach. “It’s an incredibly dangerous process. One only my family can accomplish because of our unique bloodline. We use the mana in our containers like a scalpel. With it, we slice the container into the Engine Seals. It is incredibly painful, only the strongest of us are capable of accomplishing it. The stronger the container, the more painful, and complex the Forging becomes.”

“I’ll try.” Astrid bit her lip.

“I can’t help you with the process. Even if you somehow are able to control the mana into a knife capable of creating the Seals, because you don’t have my bloodline, the Engine won’t form. You still want to try?”

“I do.” Astrid nodded with power.

She realised the absurdity of the situation. And she trusted Lord Darian’s words. There was no way she would ordinarily be able to create the Engine Seals. But she wasn’t ordinary. The Eye-Queen made sure of that. If she said she had to get it. Then she would. For power. For strength.

“Alright.” Lord Darian sighed, pity evident in his eyes. “Take your time to study the Seals in my container. Remember, you need to admit them into memory. If even a single curve. If even a single line is out of place, it won’t work. More than that. If you fail once, your entire container will implode. Leaving you with a crippled base. Your life as a mage will be ruined. Your future will no longer exist.”

Astrid sucked in a cold breath. The damned Eye-Queen made sure to leave out that very important part! What a vicious woman. If she failed, her life was literally over. She wouldn’t be able to save her family, or stop the Order, either…

Whatever. She wouldn’t fail here. Mind blazing with focus, Astrid sunk her awareness into the depths of Lord Darian’s Engine.

She spent twenty whole minutes submitting the Seals into memory. But she didn’t start right away. Instead, Astrid used matter control to score lines into the dirt. She was using the soil as a substitute for her mana container. At first her lines were messy. She wasn’t known for her art skills, but destroying things. It was a new experience. Although she had created walls with Psych Warp, it hardly required a delicate touch.

This went on for ten more minutes before Astrid was fully satisfied at her progression. Each line was perfect. Each curve was in the correct place. But even with that, something in her mind told her that she wasn’t ready.

Just like a tattoo artist, she needed the proper canvas to fully come to grips with her drawing abilities. She needed a container to etch on. Thankfully, Astrid had just the ability.

Finding a little lizard was easy work with Psych Domain. After pulling it out of the jungle shrubbery, she activated Mind Domain. The world changed to white. And only Astrid and the lizard remained.

“Thanks. Uh, you can just stay there. Or look around. Up to you,” Astrid said to the little lizard. Then, it bolted in the opposite direction. Into the vast white of her Domain.

Shaking her head, Astrid focused. She created a clone of herself, then sank her awareness into her own container: her eye. Just like she had done with Lord Darian.

Right away, Astrid could see the difference. Although her capacity was far greater, it was weaker. It only made her want the Internal Engine even more.

With a feverish desire burning within her chest, Astrid began. She thought she had perfected the Seals. But her worries were true. She failed. Not just once, but twice, and even more after that. Working on the container was far more difficult than simply etching the Seals on dirt.

However, that was what Lord Darian had done. Of course, he hadn’t just spent minutes practising, but years, until he was finally ready to take the terrifying jump and put his practice into fruition.

Apparently, three out of five failed. That was a horrifying number. That meant that out of five, three had their containers implode. Their future vanished in the blink of an eye. All the years of scribbling the Engine Seals had gone to waste.

Astrid frowned and renewed her focus. Thankfully, time ran differently in her domain. It wasn’t much of a variance, but it was better than nothing. Especially knowing that a void army had arrived not too far away from her.

It took her a full hour before her success rate had turned from twenty percent, to a satisfying ninety percent. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t make up that other ten percent. It was like there was a mental block in place from stopping her to reach guaranteed success.

There was no guaranteed success.

The knowledge of that sentence made Astrid aware that this next step could very well be her last.

Sucking up her chest, Astrid exhaled a powerful breath. No matter. It was time. She thought and left her Mind Domain.

The small lizard looked confused. His little head darted around before scuttling into the jungle foliage at high speed.

Wish me luck, little guy.

Astrid sat down. She was ready.

“Good luck,” Lord Darian said with a serious expression. It was as if he had already deemed Astrid to a fate worse than death. A crippled life.

“Hey don’t look so serious,” Astrid said with a cheeky smile. “How can I focus with you dampening my mood.”

“Right, sorry.” Lord Darian scoffed. A warm smile emerged from the cold.

“That’s better,” Astrid added, then sunk her awareness into her own mana container.

It was time.

***

Lord Darian felt the little golden haired girl begin the process. In an instant, her brows knit together. From the very beginning, she would have to undergo an unfathomable amount of pain. It wasn’t a pain any ordinary warrior could handle. Let alone a noble girl from another world.

He did have questions to ask her. He wanted to know where she came from, and why? Was Astrid just a wandering noble in search of their next thrill? If so, how did she arrive here?

Lord Darian had heard of long distance teleport arrays. They even had them in certain wealthy kingdoms, but not to the point of crossing whole worlds.

What? Lord Darian took a step forward in surprise.

Astrid’s brows had returned to normal. But that couldn’t be. Once one started on the formation of the Engine Seals, there was no turning back. Astrid was on a one way path, and he knew that better than anyone else.

Quickly checking Astrid’s current situation, he stood still in shock. Her mana container was nowhere to be seen. After a little searching, his brows rose. Her mana container was hidden behind her eye, but not exactly. It wasn’t behind her eye, but deep within her mind. Like a mana container, it wasn’t visible.

Astrid was still forming her Seals. Not only that, the speed at which she was etching the Seals was terrifying. They were perfect, but not as they should be. Each line was meant to be written with grace, but Astrid was cutting deeper than she was meant to.

Her violent nature was rearing its head.

Lord Darian didn’t know what would happen. No one did. But it was strange. He had watched her write the Seals in the dirt. And although it wasn’t a perfect canvas, it was as he had described it to her. It was just like his own Seals.

What had changed?

Lord Darian frowned. She was cutting deeper than he had ever seen before. In the next second, Lord Darian nervously clenched his hands.

Astrid screamed. Her teeth bit far into her lip, seeping red. Blood leaked out from her left eye. It was where her mana container was. Quickly checking what had happened, he couldn’t help but swear. The young woman had messed up. Although a small mistake, with how deep she was cutting into her container, the result was terrible.

Her mana turned chaotic, threatening to rip her insides into oblivion. She was one step from a catastrophic disaster.

But then she got it under control. Somehow, she barely repaired the Seal before continuing on. Like a well oiled machine, she didn’t stop. She couldn’t.

Then, after twenty or so minutes, the air around the golden haired young woman stirred. It kicked up any debris surrounding her. Rocks, dirt, leaves… entire trees were ripped from the earth, and began orbiting her like she was the centre of a cataclysmic storm.

The energy around her swirled. It was chaotic, monstrous… and violent. It was bloodthirsty.

Lord Darian braced himself.

In a huge explosion that threatened to devastate anything in its path, Astrid opened her eyes. They were beautiful. Her left thrummed with tumultuous power. It coarsed through every inch of her being. Her right was like the galaxy. It was like looking into the endless void. It was so familiar.

He gazed over to the tear in space. Behind the tear, was the twinkling of thousands of stars. It was just like Astrid’s right eye.

“So this is the Internal Engine…”