Chapter 99: The Night of Compliments (1)

Boom! The three fragments of the circles collided, causing a massive explosion around Lloyd’s heart.

[Manaheart Skill Option 1: Shock Neutralizer has been activated.]

[Your manaheart can neutralize the impact of the mana blast on its own without the protection of the circles. Therefore, your manaheart does not get any damage from the mana blast.]

Clack! Click!

The manaheart became solid, and it absorbed the impact of the mana blast. There wasn’t any damage left. Instead, the entire force shot toward the outside. Fwoosh!

The blast surged through his blood vessels, lymph nodes, and muscle tissues. It traveled along the path Lloyd led. Some rushed out of the heart to the pectoral muscle and pectoralis minor muscle. The others split and combined as they traveled through the trapezius, rotator cuff, deltoid, and coracobrachialis. And after it passed the vein in the wrist, it penetrated the ligaments and joints until it exploded from the tip of the knife in his hand.

Crash! The large pillar of fire of the triple mana blast shot diagonally. The violent fire created by the collision of pure mana burned everything that stood its way. It cut, melted, incinerated, and obliterated the closet, the wall, and the ceiling. The poison that ran rampant to be freed from the clutches of the circle disappeared as well.

I did it!

Lloyd’s eyes glimmered as he shot out the mana blast with his knife. He had a feeling it would work as he intentionally lowered the spinning power of the circles while activating Circle Shift. His senses picked up the poison trying to slip out of the spin when they slowed down. That was when Lloyd made all three circles collide, right before the venom finally escaped and entered his system. The collision engulfed the poison, and the explosion was so powerful that the venom didn’t stand a chance against it. Like a cat falling into a rapid current of water, it flailed and struggled with its paws to get on land. But it didn’t work. The force of the triple mana blast was overwhelmingly strong. And at last, it got expelled out of him through the knife into the air, carried by the explosive blast and exposed to the immense force in the air.

Crackle! A considerable part of the force discharged in the blast was consumed by heat energy. The extreme heat burned and scorched the toxic substance, and the protein in the poison became altered. The link of the molecules snapped and broke. They changed in shape and color. Unable to hold up against heat, it finally became carbonized.

Fwoosh… The toxic substance was consumed by the fiery heat. But the force of the triple mana blast remained indomitable and powerful nonetheless. It flew ahead with much violence, penetrating the 6-foot-wide roof and many other things that were in front of it. Once it pierced everything, and nothing stood in its way, it shot into the night sky.

Fwoosh! The fire pillar of the mana shot up about 75 yards in the air, allowing anyone in the capital to see its magnificence. As the people laid their eyes on it with panic, the pillar soon subsided.

Cough! Cough! Cough!”

The triple mana blast left a heavy toll on the body. Even though the heart was protected from damage, that wasn’t the end of it.

Ugh. I feel like my whole body was crushed down to the bones.

Every bit of his body was sore and throbbed as though it was beaten down with a hammer. Though the blast lasted only for a moment, it nonetheless was unbearably strong for a human body. And now, the manaheart had been emptied. Lloyd felt both terribly fatigued and like he caught the flu. His legs gave way, and he collapsed to the floor.

This is seriously no joke.

It wasn’t this bad when he had used the triple mana blast to lay down the basic foundation of the suspension bridge. But this time was different as he had exhausted all his energy to save his life. That made a larger difference than he had expected. Even so, he didn’t pass out from the pain, although, in all honesty, he wanted to. There was a reason why he didn’t allow himself to faint, and that was because of the message that floated in front of him.

Ding Dong.

[You have survived despite the fact that your body was invaded by a large amount of Lunatica, a fatal poison.]

[In the process, you have succeeded in expelling the poison in an impressive manner.]

[For your special experience, two of your skills have been equipped with a unique upgrade.]

Unique upgrade? Wait a minute… Optional Skills?

Lloyd dropped to the ground in sheer exhaustion. But what looked like an alert for an award dinged in front of him. He didn’t want to miss it by passing out. He would wake up again in curiosity even if he did. His eyes started quickly moving.

[New skill options have been made available in the manaheart skill.]

[Skill Option 2: Complete Poison Resistance – You have survived despite the powerful compound toxic “Lunatica.” For your experience, a permanent poison immunity has been added to your manaheart. This option will enable you to become highly resistant to all types of poison existing on the land.]”

[New skill options have been made available in the Asrahan Core Technique skill.]

[Skill Option 2: Supercharge – The skill accelerates the recovery of mana when extreme depletion occurs. Once you use the option, one of the circles rotates at a high speed for five minutes and absorbs a large amount of mana from your surroundings. Limit: You can only use this once per day.]

Ha? Hahaha.

A grin spread across Lloyd’s face as he read the message. These upgrades were entirely uncalled for.

All I did was desperately try to make it out alive.

That was all he did. He tried everything he could possibly think of, but nothing expelled the poison from him. Nothing changed regardless of how he spun the circle. He even thought about using the Latent Power Surge of the Asrahan Core Technique.

But if I failed, that would’ve been it for me. The Asrahan Core Technique can’t be used when I’m exhausted. After all, the circle stops spinning when that happens.”

Should the circles have stopped spinning, the poison would have spilled out into his system and killed him right there. Thus, he reached the decision that the mana blast was the solution. He gave everything he had thinking so. And now, he bore the unexpected fruits that were the optional skills.

Complete immunity to poison. Well, there goes my worry of being poisoned to death in my life. I love it. And Supercharge? Hmm… I suppose I got this because I didn’t pass out even after I emptied out all my mana with the triple mana blast.”

Lloyd thoroughly read over the optional skill of Supercharge.

Random absorption of mana in my surroundings?

Absorbing mana was the main goal and foundation of the Asrahan Core Technique. And this optional skill looked like it enabled the basic function to its extreme.

Let’s try it out then.

He was already depleted of mana anyway. Standing up was labor for him. He would pass out if he loosened up. So, there was no time better than now to test out the Supercharge skill.

Let’s give it a try.

He opened the skill window and activated the optional skill.

Ding Dong.

[The Asrahan Core Technique Skill Option 5: Supercharge has been activated.]

[You are absorbing a large amount of mana from random surroundings.]

From then on…

Ziiing… The three circles started after having been left quiet by the collision of the triple mana blast. It was like turning on a fan that had been stashed in a garage all winter long. At first, they made a clunking noise until they started to rotate. The rotation grew smoother, faster, and fiercer. It surpassed the normal limit. From the soft wind, it grew stronger, summoning a storm.

Ziiing! As the circle roared and rotated in three parts, it formed into a vortex with an impressive absorption power. As though it was a black hole, the vortex started to suck the mana around it.

Clank! Clink! There was no one except for the queen and Lloyd, but the table tumbled. Lloyd absorbed a small amount of mana laden in the mahogany wood. It started to crumble. The same thing happened to the others. The rose on the table wilted in a trice, and the springtail crawling behind the makeup table immediately dried up. Even the marble started to lose its gloss. There were no exceptions made for any people as well.

“What… are you doing right now?”

Queen Magentano’s voice quaked in fear. She dropped to the ground just like Lloyd did after being poisoned. Needless to say, her body was in a terrible state as she witnessed the triple mana blast that shot out Lloyd. She had never seen such a thing before, nor did she ever imagine it would be possible. It came to her as a complete shock that such massive power could be released with just pure mana, not magic.

I have never fathomed once in my life that this could be possible.

But it did happen right in front of her, and by Lloyd, who wasn’t even a sword master. If there was one thing that could harness such powerful force purely with mana, it was an aura. The explosion Lloyd showed to her bragged an overwhelming force that would neutralize an aura. Her understanding of the world shattered at that instant. But before she could recover, another wave of shock came to frighten her once more.

“My mana is… Argh!”

Her mana was being taken by no other than Lloyd, who was on the ground five steps away from her! Queen Magentano hurriedly activated her manaheart.

“Arggh!”

Sink! Crash! She forcibly moved her exhausted manaheart. Otherwise, she feared that she would be sucked to dry and die from excessive mana loss.

Thud! Thud! Her heart pounded visibly, and the mana in her system circulated in harmony, which was something only sword masters could do. This method was also the secret behind gaining endless endurance in battles.

Regardless… I’m losing just a little more mana than I can handle. Argh…

But thankfully, it wasn’t strong enough to kill her. Although, it was more than able to nauseate her. And since she had to maintain the circulation of the mana in her body, she couldn’t speak at all. The mana absorption forced her to put all her energy into replenishing her body again, and ironically, her strained efforts became an excellent help for Lloyd.

Ziiing! Lloyd absorbed an alarming of mana with each second that passed. He was a mana blackhole. Falling into a state of stupor, he devoured the mana around him, especially from the queen.

Whew…

Lloyd breathed in and out, searching for the purest and most refined mana by instinct. He yearned, usurped, and absorbed it to make it his. The source was the queen, who was the sword master. Hers contained the refined power that was brought about after a strenuous mana circulation. It was different from the mana permeating in nature in terms of its density and purity. The difference was truly immense. The mana in nature was just an ordinary atom, while the refined mana of Queen Magentano was a hard-compressed neutron star. If applied, the compression would reduce the Empire State Building in the United States to a tiny millet. That was the power of the mana Lloyd was absorbing from the queen. Her mana’s density and purity commanded awe, and it was entirely different from what came from nature. Such high-quality mana filled Lloyd’s empty manaheart. No, it did more than fill it. It burst in full, forcibly expanding its storage. Lloyd’s manaheart underwent an evolution.

Ding Dong. Ding Dong.

Countless messages appeared in front of Lloyd’s eyes, which were still in the state of stupor. The manaheart’s skill experience continued to rise over its limit. As its experience continued to stack up, his level increased without any show of rest. The level-up messages popped up one after another. As Lloyd absorbed more mana, Queen Magentano’s face grew pale.

Gah… I didn’t think this would be possible…

She never did. It felt like her world had turned upside down. But she had no time to ask questions or energy to walk over to Lloyd. She would have to surrender more mana to him if she did. So, she desperately struggled to stay away from Lloyd. That, unfortunately, didn’t happen as much as she wished. Moving even an inch proved to be a toil. All she could do was become a portable charger for Lloyd’s manaheart.

This can’t be real!

Queen Magentano gave all her efforts to retain as much as mana in her. Every fiber of her being strove to resist the pilfering. But it was in vain. As Lloyd leveled up his manaheart, the amount of mana he absorbed increased. It was a natural occurrence. There was more room for mana in his manaheart as it tore and expanded. Lloyd unreservedly stole mana from her, continuing the unfair tug of war. If the queen was a high-level sword expert, she would have been depleted of mana already and become a mummy. But thankfully, she was a sword master, which meant that she could resist by circulating the mana in her instead of ending up as a bloodless corpse. Lloyd enjoyed the infinite flow of mana as well, thanks to that. Supposedly, the Supercharge was meant to absorb some energy present in nature to gain some strength just enough to get him back on his feet. But when it was used against a sword master, it went beyond, and she became a source of nutrients for an explosive power-up. Lloyd’s manaheart continued to be filled, and it tore and expanded on repeat. He continued leveling up without stopping, from two to three, from four to five. In no time, he reached level ten. And when he reached level 11, which took him just five minutes when others would have taken several years, an eye-catching message dinged in front of him.

[Skill Class Level Up!]

[Your Manaheart skill level has risen to the rank of !]