CHAPTER 175: MIRA SORENHAL

Morning light slanted into the workshop, catching motes of dust as Zane rolled the replica parasite between his fingers. It twitched faintly, reacting to his mana.

"Alright, old man," Zane said casually, "come on. Let’s put this back inside you."

Grom stiffened. "R-Right now? Are you absolutely sure that thing won’t harm me...?"

"Totally safe," Zane replied without even looking at him. "Probably. Maybe. Come on."

Grom gulped and stepped forward with clear hesitation. "Zane... lad, listen. Before you put that—"

He never finished the sentence.

Zane simply grabbed his jaw, shoved the worm straight into his mouth, and pushed it down with a controlled burst of mana.

"GHH—!?"

Grom doubled over, coughing. "I—I regret ever agreeing to your damn plan!"

Zane dusted off his hands. "Pipe it down, old man. You’re acting like a child."

"If someone FORCE-FEEDS me a suspicious parasite worm," Grom snapped, face red, "I think I’m entitled to be AGITATED!"

"Yeah, yeah. Drama queen."

Grom let out a deep, defeated sigh. "Anyway... tomorrow we leave for Stonefang Combat Forge. Mira will also come with us to keep up the deception.

His eyes softened slightly.

"She’s a good kid... talented, hardworking and your kingdom’s best magic-tech expert until now."

Zane smirked, hands sliding into his coat pockets.

"I know. I’ll go meet her and explain the guest lecture."

Lucen opened his mouth—probably to remind Zane not to scare Mira to death—but Zane cut him off without even looking.

"Relax. I’m not telling her about any of this abyssal business."

Then, with a sly grin:

"...Besides, I have my own business with her."

Grom blinked. "Business? With Mira?"

Zane only smiled wider, already stepping toward the exit.

"See you tomorrow, old man.

Zane was already walking toward the exit, coat fluttering behind him.

"Alright. Time to meet Mira."

Behind him, Caelum exhaled slowly.

"This plan... is dangerous."

Zane didn’t turn back.

"That," he said with a small smile, "is what makes it fun."

.

.

.

Zane walked through the quiet corridor, hands in his pockets, his coat brushing lightly behind him.

He stopped before a door with a metal plate engraved:

Workshop for Magic-Tech & Artifacts

He nodded to himself.

"Here we are."

He pushed the door open.

Inside, the clinking of tools and faint glow of runes filled the air. A young woman in her mid-twenties stood over a workbench—auburn bob cut framing her focused expression. Soot smudged her gloves, and several enchanted tools hung from her belt, chiming softly whenever she moved.

Professor Mira Sorenhal was completely absorbed in her work.

She sat hunched over a small metal box, opening it piece by piece. Inside, she inscribed a rune on a thin white crystal board, then carefully placed everything back together.

"Hopefully it works this time..." she muttered.

Just as she lifted the device to test it—

Zane spoke behind her, calm as always.

"What are you doing, Professor Mira?"

"Wha—?!"

She jolted so hard she fell off her chair, hitting the floor with a thud.

"Ow...!"

Zane blinked. "Are you okay?"

Mira scrambled up, flustered, brushing her clothes.

"P-Professor Zane! You scared me! We haven’t even met since the student entrance exam—why are you here?"

Zane tilted his head slightly. "I asked if you’re okay."

Mira’s expression brightened immediately—bubbly and warm.

"Ah—yes, yes! I’m fine! Just surprised!"

She clasped her hands behind her back.

"So... what brings you here?"

Zane didn’t answer immediately. His eyes drifted to the device on her desk.

"But first... what were you working on? You looked troubled."

Mira sighed in embarrassment.

"Well... I’m working on a simple artifact but... I hit a problem."

Zane’s eyes narrowed in mild interest.

"Show me, maybe I can help."

Mira hesitated.

"Professor Zane, are you... perhaps well-versed in magic-tech and artifacts?"

Zane nodded with a smile.

"I know a little."

Mira accepted the answer and lifted the device—a small metal box with a button on top.

"This artifact allows two or more users to talk in real time over short distances. For example—"

She handed him an identical device.

"If I press the button and speak, my voice should come from yours instantly."

She pressed it.

"Hi, I am Mira Sorenhal!"

Zane’s device repeated her voice with perfect accuracy.

Mira nodded. "That part works fine. The problem is..."

She grabbed a third device from the table.

"Now watch this."

She held two devices—one in each hand—pressed the button on the right one and spoke again.

The voice transmitted only to the device in her left hand.

Zane’s device stayed silent.

"And that’s the issue," Mira admitted with a sigh.

"Communication between two users works perfectly. But with more than two, the voice only reaches the nearest device—not all of them."

She frowned, clearly frustrated.

"I also wanted to add selective communication—choosing which device to speak to—but if I can’t even fix this... then there’s no point."

She looked up and caught Zane smiling slightly.

"Oh—sorry," she said quickly, "did I overwhelm you?"

Zane smirked, waving his hand casually.

"No, no. I wasn’t overwhelmed. I was just thinking of the solution."

Mira blinked. "It’s fine, Professor. You don’t have to—"

"I said," Zane cut in, "I have the solution. And it’s actually quite easy."

Her eyes lit up instantly.

"Really?!"

Zane nodded and pointed at the device on the table.

"Let me explain. From what I saw, your device captures the vibrations of a person’s voice, converts it into a faint mana signature through the crystal inside, and releases it into the air. The receiving device’s metal tip catches that signature and reconstructs the vibration into sound again."

He paused, tilting his head.

"That’s the simplest explanation. Am I right?"

Mira stared at him, stunned.

"You... understood all that just by looking at it for a few seconds...?"

Zane ignored her shock and continued.

"Your problem isn’t transmitting the voice. Your problem is retaining it."

"Retaining...?" Mira leaned forward, notebook already open.

"Yes. The voice leaves the device only once. A single burst. Because of that, only the nearest device catches it. Nothing reaches the others. The signal doesn’t linger."

Mira nodded rapidly, jotting down notes.

"I tried copying the voice message, extending the emission—but whenever I do that, the closest device receives the message several times... creating echoes."

"Which means," Zane said, flicking her forehead lightly, "you’re approaching it wrong."

She pouted, rubbing her forehead. "Then what’s the correct approach?"

"Simple," Zane replied. "You need to convert the voice into mana waves, not mana signatures."

Mira froze.

Zane continued, voice smooth and matter-of-fact:

"A mana wave can propagate in all directions. Even if one device converts it into sound, the wave itself doesn’t disappear. It keeps traveling. Meaning every device in range will still pick it up."

Mira’s eyes widened, glowing with excitement.

"T-That’s... brilliant! If the message exists as a continuous mana wave, then yes—the wave won’t collapse after being interpreted once! Every connected device will hear it!"

Zane nodded. "Exactly."

Mira’s smile grew wider and wider.

"You solved something I’ve been struggling with for weeks... in less than two minutes."

She stared at him like he was some mythical beast.

"And you say you only ’know a little.’ Unbelievable..."

Zane dusted his hands lightly, as if the first problem had been nothing more than a warm-up.

"Now," he said, "let’s solve your second issue. Selective hearing."

Mira straightened immediately, notebook ready.

Zane explained,

"First, keep a main mana-wave channel — the default one — so that all devices can receive general communication."

He tapped the device gently.

"Then create a secondary mana wave, a distinctive one, encoded with a unique rune. This gives each device its own personal signature."

Mira’s eyes flickered with realization.

"And then..." she continued excitedly, "both the receiver and—"

"The sender," Zane finished with a small smirk.

Mira snapped her fingers, practically glowing.

"Yes! Both sender and receiver need the same unique rune. So when the sender thinks about that rune, the device converts their voice into that specific mana wave — and only the matching device can decode it!"

Zane nodded.

"Exactly."

Mira’s joy exploded out of her. She jumped once, twice, smiling brightly even with soot smudged on her cheeks.

"Professor Zane, thank you! Seriously — thank you!"

She spun in place, hugging her notebook.

"This would’ve taken me weeks. Weeks! And you solved it in a few minutes!"

Zane shrugged lightly.

"No worries."

Mira took a breath, finally calming enough to step closer.

"...Anyway," she said, tilting her head, "you helped me solve my biggest headache. So... what about you? What brings you to my workshop?"

Zane’s expression shifted — a quiet, unreadable smile forming.

"It’s a long story," he said.