"The black sea," Aqua said with a frown on her face as she observed the liquid in the glass, "is alive."

This caused the group to immediately pause and turn to her, even Caius who was largely uninterested in what they talking about since it was boring for someone like him.

"That’s not right," Aqua muttered again as she looked at the liquid again, "rather than being alive, it seems that its a carrier."

A small ball of water formed on her finger tip and she dropped it into the black water.

Adrian, thanks to his glasses, noticed that the drop of water was immediately stripped of all the mana it contained.

But instead of trying to corrupt the mana, the black sea’s water tried pulling it to the bottom only for it to hit the glass below.

Aqua’s eyes narrowed further as she watched the mana within the droplet get dragged downward.

"It’s collecting mana," she muttered.

"Not consuming it?" Lucian asked.

"No," Aqua shook her head immediately, "if it wanted to consume it, the mana would’ve dispersed."

"But instead," she tapped lightly against the side of the glass, "it seems to be trying to send it somewhere."

The prince was silent for a while before he lowered his gaze toward the large map spread across the table.

"The sea has been expanding toward the center regions of the dungeon for years now," he muttered.

"And every time land disappears, the corruption density in the air increases slightly," Noelle added.

Caius, who had remained mostly uninterested until now, finally spoke up from where he leaned against one of the crates.

"So basically," he lazily said, "all roads lead to whatever’s sitting at the center of this hellhole."

"Yes," The prince nodded, "according to the ones that have been here the longest, they claimed that the sea originated from the center of this dungeon before spreading all around."

"Which means," Lucian continued as his finger slowly traced the center of the map, "whatever is located there is probably the reason this entire dungeon exists."

"which also means, if we’re lucky, maybe that thing’s also the exit," Darius was the one who suddenly spoke up.

Everyone immediately went silent and looked at him in surprise.

"What?" He asked, "am I wrong?"

"That," Lucian paused slightly, "actually makes a lot of sense."

Everyone’s attention moved toward him.

"If this dungeon truly functions like other dungeons," he continued, "then the core supplying or gathering all this mana would naturally be the center point maintaining it."

"And destroying it could destabilize the dungeon enough to create an opening," Aqua added.

Or completely kill them all.

"So what’s the plan?" Cassian asked, "after all, we have no way of getting close enough to actually confirm whether this is true or not."

"...."

The group was silent for a while before they turned towards Adrian, with the prince asking, "How exactly did you return from the black sea without a single trace of corruption inside you?"

After all, the corrupted mana around those parts was high enough to immediately corrupt one’s mana within a few minutes.

And if Adrian was truly from the black sea, even if he had only been there for a few hours, he should’ve been a walking corrupted mana tank right now.

That is, if he didn’t mutate.

"I have no idea," Adrian answered, "all I know is, no matter how much corrupted mana I absorb, I only get drunk."

"..."

The group went silent again.

Even Caius slowly lifted his head from where he leaned against the crate.

"You get drunk?" Darius repeated.

Adrian nodded calmly, "that’s what I said."

Cassian stared at him for a few seconds before letting out a short laugh.

"That’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard all month."

"It’s true though," Adrian replied.

"No, it isn’t."

Cassian stepped forward slightly, arms crossed as he frowned at him.

"Corrupted mana doesn’t ’get people drunk.’ It destroys your mana circuits, corrupts the mind, mutates the body and eventually turns people into monsters."

"That’s how it normally works," Adrian agreed, "unless it’s me."

Cassian was silent for a short while before adding, "then prove it."

The atmosphere in the tent shifted slightly and Noelle immediately frowned.

"Cassian—"

"No," Cassian cut her off while keeping his eyes on Adrian, "you all have seen the result of harboring someone with corrupted mana, so if he’s also corrupted and is hiding it with such a ridiculous story, then we’re all in danger."

Renelle’s eyes instantly turned cold, "my Butler has no reason to lie."

"I understand your trust in him lady Renelle," Cassian met her gaze without backing down, "but I, on the other hand, have no reason to blindly trust him."

The tension in the room rose immediately and Darius looked between them awkwardly.

"Uh... maybe we should calm down a little?"

He wasn’t nervous because of Cassian or Renelle, but it seemed Adrian was only a single step away from removing Cassian’s head, from the subtle movement of his shadow.

Lucian, meanwhile, remained thoughtful instead of intervening immediately.

Because as much as Cassian was clearly being hostile,

He wasn’t entirely wrong.

If Adrian truly possessed immunity to corruption, then this was too important to simply take at face value.

Finally, the prince looked toward Adrian.

"can you prove it?"

Renelle immediately frowned deeper, "as I said, my Butler has nothing to prove."

"And I do not doubt him," Lucian nodded in agreement, but still said, "but if what Adrian says is true, then it could become our only way of exploring the black sea safely."

Renelle was silent for a while before she turned towards him and mentally asked, [should we just leave?]

She didn’t care if Adrian was corrupted or not, as long as he was by her side, that was all that mattered.

And he didn’t need to prove his resistance to the corruption, if he didn’t want to.

[It’s fine,] he replied with a smile as he patted her head, [besides, this should probably provide a faster way out of here.]

Renelle was silent for a while before she let out a sigh and said, [Fine]

Without hesitation, Adrian the stepped forward toward the table.

Everyone’s attention followed him closely and Aqua quickly spoke up.

"Wait, even indirect contact with concentrated sea water is dangerous—"

He ignored her.

Instead, he calmly removed one of his gloves.

His fingers were exposed to the air and before anyone could stop him, he dipped two fingers directly into the black liquid.

Noelle’s eyes immediately widened.

"Are you insane?!"

But unlike what she expected, Adrian just calmly absorbed the corrupted mana within the black sea’s water and withdrew his hand.

He then looked directly at Cassian and said, "would you like to check how corrupted I currently am?"