Chương 156: The Road Was Larger Than the Basement

Seraphina disappeared slowly behind Sieghart instead of vanishing all at once. Towers became rooftops, rooftops became distant shapes, and eventually the city existed only as a dark line behind rolling hills and the long southern road. His mana-powered carriage moved steadily between merchant wagons, mounted travelers, and ordinary coaches pulled by animals. The engine hummed beneath his feet whenever mana flowed through the contacts built around the steering wheel.

That sound attracted almost as much attention as Sieghart himself. Horseless mana carriages existed, but most belonged to wealthy merchants, nobles, military organizations, or people rich enough to waste expensive cores simply avoiding animals. Seeing one driven by someone who appeared approximately fifteen years old therefore produced a predictable mixture of curiosity, suspicion, and several expressions suggesting somebody should probably ask where he had stolen it. Sieghart ignored all of them.

Phantom Image had changed his apparent age again, stretching his proportions enough to make his ten-year-old body resemble an older teenager without altering the recognizable appearance he had chosen for this identity. His new clothing made the disguise considerably more convincing. Sieghart wore a long dark coat somewhere between black and midnight blue, its high collar framing his neck while ornate metallic embroidery followed the seams.

The coat possessed layered tails that moved behind him whenever wind entered the open driver's seat, while decorative chains, narrow straps, and reinforced clasps gave the expensive-looking garment a slightly martial appearance. Beneath it, Sieghart wore a fitted black shirt and dark layered vest, both reinforced subtly through runic stitching without becoming obvious magical equipment to anyone glancing at him from another carriage.

Black trousers disappeared into sturdy leather boots designed for travel rather than noble fashion, though several metallic details across the belt and coat prevented the entire outfit from looking completely ordinary. Sieghart had considered something less noticeable. Then he remembered that looking poor while driving an expensive horseless carriage would probably attract considerably more suspicion than simply appearing like an eccentric young merchant with questionable fashion preferences.

A merchant passing from the opposite direction looked at Sieghart, looked at the empty space where horses should have been, then stared long enough that his own driver had to warn him about the road. Sieghart watched them pass.

"Subtle enough." The road itself was pleasantly uneventful. Farms occupied broad stretches beyond the ditches, occasional villages appeared between distant trees, and nobody tried eating him, kidnapping him, or implanting monster organs into his body. His standards for peaceful travel had deteriorated considerably. Unfortunately, leaving Lunar Arc created one disadvantage Sieghart had already expected.

He would not possess nearly as much uninterrupted time for developing completely new spells while handling navigation, trade, maintenance, supplies, and whatever problems appeared. That did not mean training stopped. He simply needed to change what training looked like. Protection remained active almost constantly while he drove, maintained at deliberately low intensity so Sieghart could practice reducing wasted mana and spreading reinforcement evenly across his entire body.

The Orc King's kick remained an excellent motivational memory. Sieghart still remembered the sensation of Protection breaking before the impact folded him around an enormous foot, launched him across the battlefield, and introduced his spine to a tree at unhealthy speed. The Chimerian that collided with him during their aerial pursuit had reinforced the lesson. Apparently, being difficult to kill remained different from being difficult to injure, and Sieghart was tired of discovering that distinction physically.

Protection needed to become stronger. Not merely larger. Pouring more mana into the spell worked until the structure reached whatever limit his control could maintain. Beyond that point, additional energy produced less benefit instead of creating an infinitely durable barrier. Sieghart had learned the same lesson repeatedly with nearly every discipline. Endless energy was excellent, but magical structure decided how much of that energy could actually become useful before control failed.

He therefore spent the road practicing compression. Protection usually formed like an invisible layer surrounding his body. Sieghart experimented with making that layer thinner while preserving the same amount of reinforcing mana inside it. The result initially felt uncomfortable, almost like wearing clothing one size too small. Mana pressed closely against his skin, and tiny imperfections became painfully obvious whenever the carriage bounced across uneven stones. That was useful.

Every weak point revealed exactly where his attention slipped. Sieghart reinforced his ribs first. Then his spine. Then his neck. The areas struck during previous battles naturally received more attention, though he forced himself to redistribute the spell afterward rather than creating another defensive pattern that protected only injuries he already remembered. An enemy would eventually hit somewhere unexpected. They were inconsiderate like that.

Sieghart also experimented with layering Protection instead of maintaining one uniform barrier. Two thinner layers could theoretically fail independently, preventing one heavy impact from breaking everything simultaneously. The technique worked poorly at first because both layers interfered whenever their mana structures touched, creating instability that made the outer barrier flicker during sharp carriage movements. Still, Sieghart recorded the idea mentally. That one had potential.

He would need a proper training area before testing it against serious impacts, preferably somewhere without walls Mira expected him to repair afterward. The thought of Mira made Sieghart glance briefly toward the road behind him, though Seraphina had disappeared completely more than an hour earlier. Stolen story; please report. He wondered how long freedom would remain exciting before ordinary logistics became irritating. Probably several days. Maybe less. Sieghart smiled faintly.

That was still worth discovering personally. Protection was only one problem. His entire arsenal needed refinement, especially the spells created recently but still sitting at embarrassingly low levels compared with older techniques. Water Jet already demonstrated enormous potential. Close enough, the concentrated stream had sliced through Chimerian reinforcement and armor that ordinary elemental attacks struggled to damage.

Impulse needed even more practice because five meters per level meant movement could become ridiculous once the spell grew, assuming Sieghart's joints survived whatever acceleration eventually accompanied those distances. Glacial Fist was simply fun. That alone justified improvement. Thunder Arrow might become one of his strongest single-target attacks once Telekinesis allowed multiple projectiles to curve independently around defenses instead of behaving like ordinary lightning.

Earth Creation could eventually solve half the inconvenience surrounding construction, ammunition, barriers, transportation, and runic engineering if its production speed improved enough. Even Flamethrower deserved attention, particularly if Sieghart learned to compress its flames farther without sacrificing continuous output or turning nearby buildings into accidental fuel. There was too much to train. That problem felt strangely satisfying. The more troublesome issue involved his primary magic paths.

White Magic still refused to progress efficiently when Sieghart protected only himself. Summoning Magic wanted constructs performing meaningful roles for people besides their creator. Sieghart had learned those requirements already. He simply disliked them. Traveling alone would make both paths considerably harder to advance unless he started helping random people every time somebody on the road developed problems. That sounded exhausting.

He crossed his arms briefly before remembering that doing so removed both hands from the steering wheel, forcing him to grab it again when the carriage drifted toward the road's edge.

"Right." Sieghart corrected the vehicle. Perhaps traveling alone required more attention than underground brooding. Still, the progression problem remained. He needed allies. That word immediately created complications. Allies meant people. People meant conversations, questions, expectations, conflicting priorities, betrayal risks, emotional attachments, and occasionally someone entering his room without knocking. Ronan had damaged the entire category permanently.

Sieghart considered the travelers ahead while maintaining enough distance that nobody could overhear him if he started thinking aloud again. Trusting someone required time. Mellia's group had proven useful and generally decent, but Sieghart still would not tell them about Infinite Mana, the System, corrupted cores, or anything else capable of changing how they viewed him. Mira was closer. Even then, Sieghart deliberately withheld things. Perhaps that was normal.

Trust did not necessarily require surrendering every secret. The thought helped slightly. Still, recruiting traveling companions simply because the System wanted teamwork sounded like an excellent way to create relationships built on entirely wrong reasons. Sieghart wanted something simpler. Then he thought about animals. A horse would not ask why his mana never decreased. A wolf would not secretly report his System to an Aura noble.

A large bird probably would not care whether Sieghart was Seraphina's successor as long as food continued appearing. That sounded considerably more manageable.

"Animals are easier." A woman riding past on horseback glanced toward him. Sieghart pretended he had been talking about transportation. The woman accelerated. Apparently, the disguise still needed work. Taming magical beasts could solve several problems simultaneously. A strong companion might scout, fight independently, carry supplies, track enemies, and provide another target for White Magic support.

More importantly, if the System considered a tamed creature an ally, then Sieghart could potentially advance White Magic without constantly depending upon human parties. Summoning Magic offered another possibility. Ronan had taught him foundations years ago, but Sieghart had focused almost entirely upon Mana Sword and Mana Shield instead of attempting to call actual creatures. A genuine summon might qualify as an independent entity.

If Sieghart strengthened it, protected it, armed it with Mana Swords, and allowed it to fight independently, several progression requirements could potentially overlap at once. That sounded efficient. Suspiciously efficient. Which meant the System would probably refuse. Sieghart sighed. He could already imagine spending several months learning Beast Taming, finding something dangerous enough to become useful, feeding it, training it, and finally entering combat beside his new companion.

Then the System would produce something insulting. Animals don't count. Nice try. Sieghart disliked that imaginary notification enough that he nearly abandoned the idea before beginning. Still, there was only one method for discovering whether the rule applied. Experiment. That remained the answer to almost everything. The main challenge would be learning Beast Taming somewhere.

Lunar Arc had books about monsters, but Sieghart did not remember seeing anything extensive regarding domestication beyond ordinary horses and working animals. Perhaps adventurers used trained beasts. Hunters might know. Certain foreign societies almost certainly relied upon them. Sieghart had an entire world to search now. Summoning creatures seemed equally promising, though the word itself covered enough possibilities that Sieghart had no idea where to begin. Could he summon ordinary animals from somewhere else?

Construct magical copies? Create contracts with existing creatures? Call spirits? Open portals? Ronan's instruction had given him Mana Sword and Mana Shield, which meant Summoning Magic apparently did not require summoning something alive at all. The broader principle seemed closer to creating or calling something that existed independently from Sieghart's direct body. That made actual creatures plausible. Maybe. He would need books. Again.

Sieghart looked toward the storage compartment behind him where several empty spaces waited specifically for whatever magical texts he found during the journey. The sight made him smile. For years, whenever he needed information, Sieghart had asked Mira, searched Lunar Arc, or waited until another mission introduced someone capable of teaching the missing principle. Now he could simply keep driving until he found someone else. That freedom felt almost irresponsible. He liked it.

A small convoy approached from the opposite direction, including two merchant wagons guarded by six mounted fighters carrying spears and short bows. Several guards looked toward Sieghart's carriage with open curiosity, noticing the absence of horses before examining the apparently fifteen-year-old driver wearing clothing far too elaborate for an ordinary craftsman. One guard called toward him.

"Mana core?" Sieghart understood the question immediately.

"Something like that."

"How long does it run?" Sieghart considered answering truthfully. Forever would probably create problems.

"Long enough." The guard laughed and continued past, apparently interpreting the answer as a merchant protecting technical information rather than a reincarnated child hiding impossible mana reserves. Sieghart approved. Traveling might actually become easier once strangers possessed no context for how unusual he was supposed to be.