?'I… I can't believe it…'
Vaan blinked in surprise.
I-If he could cast the spell without needing to process the Mana then…
Won't he be invincible…?
After all, the biggest reason Swordsmen had an advantage over Mages was because Mages needed 3-4 Seconds before they could show their powers.
If those 3-4 Seconds the Mages needs, disappear, then it would be almost impossible for even a group of swordsmen to defeat a capable Mage.
Take Elara for example, in today's battle, the only thing Vaan did was buy her time.
Once Elara had all the time she needed to cast spells, both Alaric and Kaelen, despite being 4 Star Swordsmen and well-known students of the Sword Division, were absolutely useless against her.
Of course, the big part of the reason behind it was Elara's tactics and spell efficiency.
As someone who was trained by Astra, Elara's practical use of Spells could easily be compared to the elites.
The speed at which she draws Magic Patterns, the Efficiency of her Spells, the timing, and the output, Elara could easily be regarded as one of the best Mages in the entire Agresia Academy in all these factors.
This was the reason why she was able to overpower the two swordsmen.
However, this still didn't change the fact that the advantage any Mage would have if they could cast their Spells instantaneously would be huge.
With Vaan being able to do so, he was no different from being invincible. Now, even taking on Declan or Isable, or even both of them together wasn't a big deal.
Or… at least that is what he thought but suddenly,
"Gruuu…"
Splashy, who had been dancing around with an excited look on her face suddenly fell down on Vaan's lap. Her face was much paler than normal, her breathing seemed uneven and her body seemed to be trembling continuously.
"Splashy?"
A worried look appeared on Vaan's face as he instantly placed Splashy in a more comfortable position. He couldn't understand what happened however, he could connect it to the fact that Splashy had given him this energy.
"Krrriii!!"
Suddenly, the eldest Sister called out.
Vaan quickly turned towards Flamey and the little Spirit pointed at her mouth.
"You want me to feed her?" Vaan questioned.
Flamey nodded and in an instant, Vaan used up all the energy Splashy gave her and started absorbing Mana before Circulating and feeding it to the weakened Splashy.
This time, however, the usual 6 rounds weren't enough.
It was as if he was making up for the insufficient energy in the little spirit's body, it took a total of 30 rounds.
A full hour.
Not that Vaan cared about that at the moment, Splashy's health was much more important, and Vaan, who could notice her complexion getting better continued to feed her as much as she wanted.
Once Splashy was fully satisfied, she grabbed Vaan's finger with both her hands and shook her head.
"Are you okay now?" even though her complexion had returned to normal, Vaan still wanted to make sure.
The water Spirit nodded, her response was a little lethargic, however, Vaan could tell that it was only because she still hadn't completely recovered her energy yet.
It would take a few hours for her to be back in her full vigor.
Thinking about it, Vaan turned towards Flamey, he had his own doubts he wanted to confirm.
"This happened because she gave me the energy she collected? I believe that the energy she collected wasn't enough to fill my Mana Veins, especially with all three of you taking your own shares, so she must have used her own energy in the process, correct?"
This was the only logical conclusion he could come up with.
"Krri."
Flamey nodded.
Vaan then turned towards Splashy and, "Why didn't you stop? Why did you use your own Energy?"
"Grruu." Splashy, however, shook her head.
"You had no other choice…?" Vaan frowned.
Splashy nodded.
As he spent more time with these 3 lovely little creatures, Vaan felt like he could understand them more even without having to rely on sign language.
He could feel a strange connection forming between him and the Spirits.
"Does that mean once you start sharing energy, you cannot start unless you completely fill my Mana Veins?"
Vaan questioned and the three Spirits nodded.
"Then why did you start sharing energy knowing that you do not have enough?" Vaan questioned.
Splashy shook her head and Vaan understood,
"You didn't know. You thought that it was enough."
The Spirit nodded.
"Then do you have an idea now? How much more Faith Energy do you guys need to absorb before being able to share the energy without having to expend your own energy?"
The Water Spirit raised 3 fingers while Flamey and Breezy both raised one.
Vaan nodded in understanding.
"So you need to devour Energy one more time before being able to help me without having to suffer any backlashes.
As for you, since you already spent all the energy you gathered, you would need to devour more energy to be able to help me again."
The three spirits nodded.
Vaan understood as well.
His dream of becoming invincible… it crashed before he could live it even once…
His Spirits can devour Faith Energy and help him use that Energy by allowing him to cast Spells without having to absorb and circulate Mana, saving the initial 3 seconds he needed to do this thankless job, it was something great that could potentially make him the strongest in the entire Academy without having to do anything.
The problem with this, however, was that Faith Energy wasn't something he could let his Spirits devour that easily. Just the scene today had caused a big scene where the entire Church of Haste is in turmoil.
If more and more cases such as this start happening, eventually, he would end up attracting everyone's attention, which would never be good for him or his family.
After all, just as his father said, matters regarding Churches and Gods were too complex and couldn't be touched carelessly.
He couldn't just let his Spirits freely absorb all the energy he wanted.
So his 'invincibility' wasn't a sustainable solution.
Vaan started thinking, something that would help him gather Faith energy without having to worry about the Churches…
"V-Vaan…"
Suddenly, while Vaan was thinking about all this, he heard a voice. A voice he instantly recognized.
A big smile appeared on his face as he turned towards the door and saw the person walking in.
It was Elara.
"D-Did I disturb you?" Seeing the solemn look on Vaan's face, Elara couldn't help but question. Vaan however, quickly shook his head and,
"What are you talking about? You are my fiancée, how could you ever disturb me, Elara?" Vaan replied with a gentle smile on his face.
"Come in." he invited as he made space on the bed for Elara.
Elara, with her face red and hands behind her back, walked in.
Vaan, who started at her had a small smile on his face, he could tell that there were a lot of things going on in her mind, Elara must have wanted to talk and as the good future husband he is, he had already made preparations,
"Come Come, let's loosen ourselves up a bit," Vaan spoke as he patted the space next to him.
"Tomorrow's a holiday, so I believe it is the perfect time to unwind."
Saying those words, Vaan bent over and quickly took out the bottle of alcohol he had prepared.
Seeing the bottle, Elara was surprised, she then moved her hands from her back, and to Vaan's shock, she had a bottle in her hand as well.
"We have already turned into a perfect couple eh? Even our minds are thinking about the same thing now."
Vaan laughed out loud.
A small smile appeared on Elara's face as well.
She quickly crawled onto the bed.
"Let me take out the glasses."
Vaan spoke as he bent over again, however, the moment he returned to his position with two glasses in his hand,
He saw Elara with an uncorked bottle.
Her intention was clear.
She would be drinking directly from the bottle. Seeing her acting like that, Vaan couldn't help but chuckle, he then placed the glasses on the small table next to their bed, then, he uncorked the bottle in his hand before extending it towards Elara.
*Clank*
The two bottles clanked with each other, then finally, the couple started drinking directly from their bottle.
*Gulp* *Gulp* *Gulp*
No one stopped, Vaan was drinking to accompany Elara and help her open up, Elara was drinking because she knew she would be able to openly share what she was thinking after she was drunk.
It didn't take long for the alcohol to do its work and finally, the long silence was broken,
"Promise you won't do what you did today…"
Elara spoke with a tipsy look on her face.
"What?" Vaan questioned, his face seemed slightly intoxicated as well.
"You were hurt…"
Elara complained.
Then, she jumped towards Vaan, placing her head on his shoulder, and with her hand moving over his chest, she pouted,
"It hurt when I saw blood on your chest…"
In an instant, tears rolled out of Elara's eyes.
