Chapter 411: The New Continent

"The reason is because the mission will occur on a completely different continent across the seas," the Elder explained. "While we do have the ability to send people there, there is a big issue with that continent itself. The properties of mana in that place are completely different from what we are used to."

The man paused to let that sink in.

"The ambient mana on that continent is much more abundant in its liquid form compared to the gaseous form we have here. Because of that, they do not have what we call mages. The form of mana there encourages them to go with a more physical aspect of magic, and we wish to steal their methods."

The Elder leaned forward.

"Let’s put it in simple words. Their physical methods are only effective for those who actually possess mana veins. That means the traditional knights on our continent would not be able to use them at all, but our mages can."

Adrian immediately straightened up in his chair.

This was exactly what he wanted. Another boost for those with mana veins. That basically meant it was a massive boost for himself, a boost for Aria, and a boost for Serena. He could not help but dream about the possibilities.

He looked straight at the Elder.

"Is there something else? Like what are the exact dangers? If there is any other information you have, tell me now. I am extremely interested in this mission."

The Elder nodded in satisfaction.

"There is one rule I must tell you. You can keep all of the knowledge that your own people find, which you will obviously be providing copies of to us. But you cannot have the information that the other parties bring back. That will cost you a lot if you wish to get your hands on such information. And some of that information might not even be sold to you no matter how much you pay us. Gold is of very little value to us in the Magic Tower."

Adrian nodded.

"Yeah, I get that. But do you have any other information about the place itself?"

"The reason why we are even hosting this mission is because of one specific thing," the Elder muttered. "This is something the other factions do not know yet. I did give Roderick a piece of paper which has all of this information on it, and I am pretty sure he will read it soon. But I guess it would not be bad to give you this information directly too. Consider it a perk for being the leaders of the strongest factions."

Adrian nodded again and waited for him to speak.

"The main goal for us is not exactly just stealing these methods of using mana, but something else entirely," the Elder said. "There is a massive difference in their population. Here on our continent, only around one percent of people actually become mages."

He lowered his voice slightly.

"For them, it is completely different. Almost every single person on that continent has mana veins. Nearly one hundred percent of their population has them. Looks like it is an extremely good environment for magic."

Adrian’s eyes widened slightly.

"But there is another thing that we noticed," the Elder continued. "While every single one of them has mana veins, the average rank of those veins is terrible. Almost ninety-nine percent of their population is stuck with F-rank mana veins. There is only a minor fraction of people who have D, E, or C-rank veins. Finding people with B and A-rank mana veins over there only happens once every few centuries."

The Elder shrugged.

"So while the sheer amount of mages we have here is incredibly low, the actual quality and potential of the mages we do have is much higher."

"Which means that there should be something about their environment that makes them awaken mana veins artificially," the Elder said. "We just do not know how. The head of the Magic Tower actually infiltrated the place himself and found out a little bit of information, but even he did not have the power to steal their methods. And that is why we have this mission for you."

The Elder shifted in his seat.

"I would also like to give you another bit of information. This is a speculation, not a hard truth. The head of the Magic Tower believes that the natural birth rate of mana veins on their continent is actually exactly the same as ours. But the liquid mana they consume over there is what either creates artificial mana veins or forcibly awakens dormant ones. It probably also has properties that completely suppress the actual potential of natural mana veins."

He tapped a finger against his leg.

"If that was not the case, they would have A-rank, B-rank, and C-rank mages among them in numbers equivalent to us. But they do not. Currently, their strongest mage only has C-rank mana veins, which is not something we hold in high regard."

Adrian nodded slowly.

"That is a lot of information, yes. Thank you for all of that."

He leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees and resting his chin on his hands.

"What about the rewards for failure, and also for a success?"

The Elder of the Magic Tower smiled.

"The rewards will vary depending on what you bring back. If you do not bring anything related to the main objective, but still return, you will receive two to three high-tier books from the Magic Tower. They will help you set up your own magic academy in this territory. And I am pretty sure that is one thing you value a lot right now."

Adrian did not say anything, and instead, he just nodded.

"For every technique you bring, every book you bring, every piece of knowledge related to their methods that you bring to us, everything will be evaluated. It will increase the amount of knowledge and resources you can receive from us in return."