Chapter 153: Mana Predator (1)
[The Asrahan Core Technique Skill Option ⑤: Supercharge has been activated.]
[You are absorbing a large amount of mana from random surroundings.]
Ziiing!
Lloyd’s eyes closed, and he gradually lost consciousness. Something took place in his heart. Three strands of circles that wrapped the heart accelerated. At first, it was slow, soft, and calm. But later, it became fast, violent, and ferocious. They rotated at a limited speed, only to transcend and break it. No more hesitation. Indiscriminate object. At last, everything was regarded as an object to be absorbed.
Kaboom!
The three circles roared, going tyrannical as they wielded influence all around them. Everything that came within 44 feet transformed into a storm, and he started to absorb everything that came into the zone.
Crack! Crack!
The moisture in the ground dried up in an instant. The ants on the ground, a nameless beetle, the nearby fireflies, and even the ticks in the dust entered the supercharge zone and lost their mana. Their skin dried up, and they lost blood. And they cracked, soon reducing to ashes. The undead Mastodons weren’t an exception.
“Gwoack!”
The one in the lead let out a ferocious roar, and its eyes held a glint of deathly sensation as they shot daggers at Lloyd. But when it took one more step, its eyes changed.
“Gwoak…?”
Ziiing! Its head entered the zone first, and its eyes, which held more water compared to other parts of the head, shrunk first.
“Gwoak!”
Thwack! Its eyes dried after its mana was lost. It sank and broke, and at least its mouth and ears twitched.
Crunch! Crunch! Its insides boiled as the mana was stripped away in an instant, drying everything out. The layer of cells that held up the rotten tissue was instantly torn.
“Gwack!”
The skin and muscles split to turn the horns and husks into ash. Its joints and marrows broke and smashed to pieces, and the seven-ton body collapsed. And a second later, one more final thing happened. It was the evil magic the necromancer cast when they made the undead. The carcasses began to explode.
Whoosh! Kaboom!
The staggering and shrinking undead Mastodon exploded. It took place just about 15 feet from where Lloyd was sitting. The ferocious blast and shockwave. There seemed to be nothing that could protect Lloyd from the flicking flames. But it wasn’t the case. Lloyd was safe because he even absorbed the explosive force of the explosion.
Ziiing! Lloyd’s mana circle roared ferociously, and it rotated ravenously as it revealed its evil greed. The supercharge skill trapped the flames that flew toward his way and the shockwave that was enough to rip his body. It didn’t matter that the explosion took place. Actually, the skill welcomed this magical explosion as it offered Lloyd more amplified mana.
Ziiing! Lloyd devoured the explosion in a flash, and messages appeared in front of his closed eyes.
Ding Dong!
[You are absorbing a large amount of mana through the Supercharge skill.]
[The amount of mana being absorbed is going over the manaheart limit.]
[Your manaheart is being expanded by force.]
[You have attained a skill experience point.]
Crack! Crunch!
The mana inherent in Mastodons, the energy imbued by the necromancer, and the explosive force of the corpse explosion all transformed into mana. And it was absorbed by Lloyd in a short period. Indeed, it overstrained his manaheart, but it only worked to help him grow.
[The manaheart skill has been upgraded.]
Ding Dong!
If Lloyd had his eyes open and could read, he’d have welcomed the arrival of these messages.
[Skill Name: Manaheart.]
[Stage: Low-Level Sword Expert Lv. 3]
[Physical Ability Improvement Rate: 340%]
[Currently Owned Optional Skills: ① Shock Neutralizer / ② Complete Resistance to Poison ③ Frenzy]
[Required RP to level up: 400]
[Current RP: 2,870]
Cough!
His manaheart grew too quickly, and Lloyd’s body convulsed from the violent impact. But even while this was happening to Lloyd, the Mastodons kept coming at him.
“Gwoack!”
Since they were zombies, they were barely intelligent. Yet, even when the others were reduced to ashes and exploded, they rushed without any end or stop. One after another, they continued to come and shrink as Lloyd usurped their mana and eventually exploded. But even the burst of energy was absorbed before they could hurt Lloyd.
Cough! “Argh!”
Every time the large volume of mana entered Lloyd’s system, his upper torso tumbled as though he was caught in a storm. This experience differed from the time when he absorbed the mana of Queen Magentano.
Argh! Ack…!
The queen’s mana was extremely pure. It was refined, processed, and spotless. And so, it was quickly absorbed, although its extreme density required him to enlarge his manaheart. As long as he did that, he could take in the queen’s mana just fine. However, the situation right now was poles apart from that time.
“Eek!”
Cough! Lloyd coughed violently, and blood spluttered out of his mouth. He was coughing blood because the mana of the undead Mastodons was too thick, dirty, and rough.
“Argh…!”
The mana belonged to the dead and decomposed creatures, and it was foul and evil because it received the curse of an evil necromancer. This mana would be the dirtiest one in the world, and it obviously left serious damage to the body that took it.
Grit! Lloyd gritted his teeth even as he was in a trance. Pain gripped him so severely that his body shook like a leaf as he endured the pain. He nonetheless maintained the absorption, and the more he absorbed the evil and corrupt mana, his body parts indirectly experienced death.
Thump! His heartbeat became irregular. Ventricular fibrillation took place. His heart muscles twitched, and cardiac infarction stifled his heart. But then the muscle soon returned to normal. The same thing took place in his respiratory system.
“Ha… Cough!”
Asthma attack. His bronchial tube narrowed in seconds. Breathing became labor, and several red spots dotted his face. The alveoli in his lungs rot only to become normal soon. This strange phenomenon took place throughout his body. An ulcer appeared in his stomach. Gall bladder stones were produced in his gall to block the pipes. Biles surged to fill up the liver. Bilirubin in his gall accumulated in his system. Jaundice. His liver tissue was ripped apart. Fibrosis. Acute hepatocirris.
His muscles went numb. Proteins were destroyed. Osteoporosis and arthritis plagued his bones. His blood turned strange, and his lymph nodes refluxed. His nerve tissues snapped, and his cartilage disappeared due to wear. Just like that, Lloyd’s body became half-dead in real-time, only for his body to fight back and activate the manaheart to the maximum. The destroyed tissues were restored, and the anomalies in his body were made normal. Destruction and regeneration. Death and resurrection. The repetition of these processes allowed Lloyd to train his body.
“Argh… Eek!”
His whole body twitched and shook like a leaf. His breathing turned raspy as he endured the pain. Even when he was in a trance, the pain was overwhelmingly great. The discomfort could not be expressed in words. But that process alone became training for Lloyd. After all, that was what training was all about. The ultimate purpose of the training wasn’t empowerment or development or making progress. Its true purpose was facing the uncomfortable reality.
That was why even those who trained their minds and the ascetics that did penance accepted such a strenuous process with open arms. The discomfort in the body, mind, breathing, psychology, and memory. The objective was to discover the discomfort through daily training. And by facing, acknowledging, admitting, embracing, and internalizing such discomfort, you can move on to the next part of the journey, which is discovering another level of discomfort. That was the objective of proper training.
Empowerment. Progress. Improvement. They were nothing but byproducts obtained in the journey toward one’s goal. In that sense, Lloyd was forced to enter true and real training, and it had nothing to do with his will. In his training, he was thrown into the unending chain of extreme and radical discomfort and made to overcome it.
“Ack… Ah…”
His raspy voice was close to a moan. But, instead, he embraced the pain more desperately. He would’ve never done it if he was sound in mind and even a bit conscious. But on top of his trance, something else allowed him to perform such transcendental patience. It was his optional skill.
Ding dong.
[Manaheart Skill Option ③: Frenzy has been activated.]
[You blindly focus on one goal after falling into a state of frenzy for 60 seconds.]
Just in time, the Frenzy skill was activated. From then on, Lloyd’s countenance turned peaceful. He endured the pain and continued the Supercharge. The corrupt, thick, rotten undead mana was received as it was, and Lloyd turned it into his own. At the same time, his manaheart expanded to a greater degree.
Ding Dong!
[The manaheart skill has been upgraded.]
[Skill Name: Manaheart.]
[Stage: Low-level Sword Expert Lv. 4]
[Physical Ability Improvement Rate: 360%]
[Currently Owned Optional Skills: ① Shock Neutralizer / ② Complete Resistance to Poison ③ Frenzy]
[Required RP to level up: 450]
[Current RP: 2,870]
His manaheart skill leveled up in a flash. But there was more. It was just the beginning of his relentless growth. Messages appeared in series before his closed eyes. The manaheart skill increased like a surging storm. From four to five. Five to six and seven. After going beyond eight and nine, it reached ten. And it went further up.
Ding Dong!
[Skill Class Level Up!]
[Skill Name: Manaheart.]
[Stage: Intermediate-Level Sword Expert Lv. 1]
[Physical Ability Improvement Rate: 600%]
[Currently Owned Optional Skills: ① Shock Neutralizer / ② Complete Resistance to Poison ③ Frenzy]
[Required RP to level up: 800]
[Your Manaheart skill level has risen to the rank of
[Your manaheart successfully processed the extremely corrupt energy during your frenzy. For this special experience, you’ve been awarded new optional skills.]
[Skill Option 4: Un…]
Just then… A new message appeared and covered the skill description message.
Ding Dong!
[The Asrahan Core Technique Skill Option ⑤: Your Supercharge time is up.]
Ziiing… The mana circle went quiet following the emergency message. The violent rotation slowed down, and the devouring mana absorption ended.
Whoosh. The wind blew. The 22-foot absorption zone was carpeted with a thick blanket of dust. But the wind blew it all away. This dust was the dozens of undead Mastodons left with nothing but bones after entering the zone. Once the dust wind blew, an ominous silhouette appeared.
“Gwoack!”
More than a hundred Mastodons were left due to the narrow valley. Only one could enter at a time. Five minutes were too short to absorb the entire herd.
“Gwoack!”
Those who didn’t die by the Supercharge skill roared with hostility. Then, they hurtled toward Lloyd, who was still on the floor.
“Gwoackk!!!!!”
Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! The ground shook. The 13-foot undead monsters galloped. Lloyd, on the other hand, was sitting composedly in his posture without any protection. He didn’t look like he was going to stand and run away. It looked like this until Lloyd slowly opened his eyes.
“Ppodong! Ppo-do-dong!”
Ppodong, who felt that things weren’t going smoothly, moved. He remembered Lloyd’s warning to never get near, but he couldn’t help it. At this rate, Lloyd would be stomped to death, and he had to prevent that. So, he rushed ahead without thinking. But when he passed by Lloyd and tried to ram into the incoming Mastodons, Ppodong heard Lloyd speak. Had it not been for Lloyd’s calling, Ppodong wouldn’t have thought twice about flinging himself to more than a hundred Mastodons.
“Ppodong, stop.”
“Ppo…?”
The voice was calm. Ppodong stopped. Lloyd’s eyes were open, and they were staring at the undead Mastodons. But something strange took place.
“Gwoack?”
The charging undead Mastodon in the very front stopped dead in its tracks. Strange. It merely met his gaze, but it was as though it was struck with lightning or gripped with terrorizing fear.
“Kwoaaak!”
And when the front one stopped, the entire herd followed suit. Just then, a new message appeared in front of Lloyd’s eyes.
[Manaheart Skill Option ④: Zombie Domination has been activated.]