ã€ŠSoul Odyssey - Epic, portal fantasy, progressionã€‹


 1 - Adam Hartwell

    Chapter 1- Adam

    Adam Hartwell lived a fairly uneventful life. He wasn¡¯t well off by any means but had one unique trait. He wasn¡¯t the strongest or smartest, but he did always have a pension for reading people.

    Whether it was others lying to him or predicting which way his opponent would move back on his school sports team, his senses were always better than others. It served him very well in school as it helped him gain an advantage over his peers. However, this never gave him the edge in life.

    He never pursued higher education and despite his strong senses, he spent his life struggling to get by. Being an only child raised mainly by himself due to his mother''s death when he was younger, his father was never too interested in him and spent his time out working as a lumberjack. Spending long periods away from home and never being there for him made Adam grow up and only rely on himself.

    But Adam never truly blamed his father''s absence for his current situation. He was never too keen on socializing anyway but after spending years going from job to job and never having enough money to live on, he too turned to working long hours doing manual labor for shit pay. Being 31 and lacking any proper education or life goals, he spends his time working his ass off knowing that sooner or later he would need to get a new job that would hopefully pay more to afford anything more than his little apartment and barely functioning second-hand truck.

    It was the end of fall when Adam woke up early in the morning. His new gig needed him to drive an hour and a half to work every day and he didn¡¯t want to be late yet again and have his ass whooped by his annoying boss. He could tell that the guy didn¡¯t like him for whatever reason but he needed the money so he would just have to suck it up. He made himself a coffee and snacked on a piece of dried bread left over from a couple of days ago.

    It was hard to chew but he washed it down with his mug of coffee and made his way to the door after making a mental note to stop by the local store on his way back. After getting to his truck and spending a few minutes heating the engine to try and get it started, he set off for another day of work at the construction site of some family''s new custom-built home. He would spend the whole day mixing concrete and climbing scaffolding, mainly as an extra set of hands for the builders.

    His boss hired him to fill out the ranks of his main team and as such he was given the annoying and menial jobs that nobody else wanted to do. This gig was going to last another few weeks before his contract ended and he would need to hunt for something else again. The cold air made everything more annoying and despite sweating all day the wind still felt like daggers with every breath.

    Winter was always a pain when working outdoors so he would be on the lookout for gigs that he could do indoors after this. Last year he spent three months working in a tile factory but the back-breaking repetitive moves he needed to do all day made him swear never to go back. Before he could think about it any further, one of the builders came up to him.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    ¡°Yo Adam got a minute¡± he was a tall man built like a gorilla sporting a long curly beard in contrast to his bald head covered by a beanie hat. Adam liked the guy the most out of all his teammates, Paul had spent years working on various construction projects and was a very open and likable guy.

    ¡°Sup Paul, lost your phone again?¡± The large man waved him off with his hand and came to rest on the stack of wooden planks Adam was currently sitting on. ¡°You know very well that that was just a one-time mistake. I wanted to talk to you about something else.¡± The large man reached into his jacket''s inner pocket and took out his phone which he now kept close to him at all times after the hour-long search the other day that resulted in it being found on his car seat.

    I know you need work after this and I have a cousin that owns a convenience store and is looking for competent people to help out. I told him you might be interested, I can give you his number if you want¡± Adam looked at the man with confusion for a moment before realizing that his problems may not be so hard to solve after all.

    On his way home from the construction site, Adam was more hopeful about the future than he had been in a long time. After all, Paul was a great guy and convinced his cousin to give him a shot. He was eager to finish his contract with his current boss so that he could work for Paul¡¯s cousin in a cozy store for the winter. Beats working on some construction sites exposed to the biting cold of the coming winter weather.

    He made his way back home and climbed up the stairs to his apartment with exhausted legs. But only after making his way inside did he realize he forgot to stop by the store to get some more food on his way back, his thoughts of the future fully occupied his mind at the time. He instead found some of last night''s pizza to put in the microwave and plopped onto the couch to watch some TV. Despite his lack of degrees he still enjoyed staying up to date with the latest discoveries and enjoyed watching various documentaries so the Discovery channel was almost always his go-to.

    Today however he was too tired to care about the world''s air and water circulation and its relation to different climates across the globe. He very much wished it would change to send him some warm southern air to unfreeze his apartment as the cost of heating was too much for it to be on all day, meaning he comes home to a cold apartment every day and has to wait for it to slowly heat up again before going to bed.

    That night he dreamed of lying on a warm tropical island with the sun beaming down on him with the distant noises of tropical birds and remembered thinking, everything will sort itself out just fine¡­ Basking in the warm sensation made him feel more relaxed than he had ever been after spending the whole day working. This calm dreamy relaxation was short-lived however as Adam heard a loud screeching noise and woke up with a jump. Sitting up, he tried to find its source but only confusion met his mind as he was no longer simply dreaming of a lovely beach getaway but was sitting on a patch of grass between a couple of bushes with the ocean in front of him and a tropical forest behind him.

    Adams''s mind felt as if it had hit a wall as this didn¡¯t feel like a dream and the adrenaline now coursing through his body agreed with his assessment. He tried to rub his eyes to wake back up only to realize that he was currently awake. He stood up as fast as he could to try and understand the current situation but then he noticed something that truly made his heart sink. The sun was at least 5 times bigger than before and the moon was nowhere to be seen. However, what truly made his legs tremble uncontrollably was the colorful semi-transparent pale blue and white rings extending out across the horizon. He dropped back down again and stared at the giant planetary ring in awe and confusion until his mind finally clicked.

    ¡°I¡¯m not on Earth anymore¡­¡±

 2 - The beach

    Chapter 2 - Beach

    Adam spent a few long moments staring up at the sky in sheer awe of the planetary ring extending across the horizon as he contemplated what could have happened. He remembered coming home and going to bed as well as his dream of lying on a warm beach¡­ Or was that even a dream?

    The sound of the ocean a few hundred meters away and the warm atmosphere must have been real since he could still feel the same heat on his body even now after waking up. This should mean he was moved here while sleeping. ¡®Wait, am I dead?¡¯ He looked down at himself to see if everything was in order, two arms and legs, a head, and no signs of any injuries.

    He got back to his feet and started to make his way out between the path of bushes he was sitting between. On unsteady legs, he started making his way out of the patchy cover of the tropical forest and made his way to the vast ocean expanding out in front of him. There seemed to be another island to his right quite a distance on the horizon but other than some light gray stone and green, he wasn¡¯t able to make out much more. He scanned the horizon for anything else but was only met with water.

    His eyes kept drifting up to the sky as the rings of pale blue reflected the abundant light from the sun in all directions. It looked like the rings were glistening in the sky like a shattered disco ball. Adam was mesmerized by this optical marvel when he noticed movement from the corner of his eye. Turning to his left and staring out across the ocean he noticed a darker spot seemingly right below the small waves. Focusing his vision on that spot fifty meters or so from the beach, he noticed what appeared to be a snake or tentacle slivering right below the water''s surface before it descended into the depths. Adam''s reaction was swift and immediate as he turned around and started putting distance between him and the ocean.

    ¡®Fuck this, I¡¯m not going anywhere near that bloody thing¡¯, His imagination was running wild as to what sort of alien monster was lurking just out of sight. After briskly jogging his way back the the treeline near where he first woke up, he then froze in place as a memory suddenly came back to him. The loud screeching noise that woke him up. Until now he wasn¡¯t paying attention to the different sounds around him, too preoccupied with his bizarre situation but now that he was on guard about possible threats he immediately realized the noises in the distance that he first associated with tropical birds were most likely anything but.

    Realizing for the first time that he is well and truly alone in a different world and probably surrounded by all sorts of alien creatures that wouldn¡¯t think twice about having him as a snack. Fear truly began to take hold as his confusion was overwhelmed by his sense of helplessness and dread. ¡°What the hell is happening¡± his breathing accelerated and his head was feeling heavy but before he began to hyperventilate and break down, Adam clenched his fists until his knuckles started going white and slapped his face.

    ¡®Now is not the time to lose your shit, Adam, focus on what you know¡¯ he was always good at remaining calm in bad situations but this was really pushing his limits. He was no stranger to the outdoors and was more than capable of camping out in the wild so he knew that food and water were his first priorities. ¡°If I had known I would get teleported to an alien beach, I would have worn something other than boxer shorts and a T-shirt, although at least I¡¯m glad I didn¡¯t sleep naked I guess.¡±

    The coast he was on seemed to stretch rather far and was relatively even, allowing him to peer down at least 2 kilometers down the beach before his view was obscured by a small cliff with more stones jutting out of the water in front of it. The other side however was mainly covered in dense vegetation so he couldn¡¯t know how far it extended. The didn¡¯t appear to be any large volcano or mountain in the sky above the dense canopy of exotic trees so he wasn¡¯t sure if he was on an island or not. The sun was starting to make itself known now as it was a few times hotter than Earth¡¯s and the vegetation was his best option for some shade. He decided he could start looking for any freshwater within the exotic forest but he knew that if he went too deep he would no doubt come face to face with some nasty monster.

    The next hour was spent walking on the beach, listening intently for any noise coming from within the giant mass of green, while also never letting his guard down against the waters and anything that may lurk within. After having identified a less densely packed zone closer to the stone cliff, he made his way inland in hopes of finding food and water while also avoiding anything that may consider him a snack. The trees and plants were a diverse mix of all sorts of species but their defining features were their bright green colors. Almost every plant had the same shade of green and appeared at least twice the size of any normal tree on Earth.

    ¡°At least I won¡¯t run out of oxygen¡± Adam watched many documentaries about Earth¡¯s past eras and recalled that there was a time before the dinosaurs when the atmosphere was very oxygen-rich because the plants grew to enormous proportions and would release huge amounts of oxygen in the air through photosynthesis. This also resulted in insects becoming humongous to absorb as much oxygen as possible. This thought gave Adam a terrible realization.

    ¡®Don¡¯t tell me there are giant man-eating centipedes here, the mere thought sent shivers down his spine as he continued advancing with renewed vigilance. However, despite his efforts he couldn¡¯t find anything to use as a weapon. He found some stones he could throw but no sticks suitable to be fashioned into makeshift spears. Most of the plants weren¡¯t made of wood but rather some sort of rubbery material that could bend without breaking. Anything solid enough was too big to be of any use since only the trunks didn¡¯t seem to be made of the bright green rubbery wood everything else seemed to be.

    Although the leaves and vines were also unusable for him, thoughts of making makeshift shoes were floating on Adam¡¯s mind, the sand felt pretty hot under his feet, and walking around barefoot would severely limit his ability to run from giant centipedes. For now, however, he needed a place to set up camp and find food and water. He decided the best place would be on the beach as it was the only open space but he didn¡¯t want to be completely exposed so he decided to check out the rock cliffs along the beach. With careful steps, he started making his way up the least steep spot he could find to get to the 3-meter elevated ledge on the side of the cliff. It was easier than expected despite the incline and the relatively small available purchase for him. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    It was only now that, while standing on a fairly flat 5-meter surface jutting out off the cliff face, he noticed how light and flexible he felt. Granted he has spent most days wrapped in warm clothes but still, he felt stronger, sharper, and more flexible than before. The air also seemed to feel more refreshing and healthy although he spent most of his life in colder climates and this is an alien world after all so it was logical that this air had a slightly different composition. ¡®Now that I think about it, should I count myself lucky that I landed on a planet with breathable air or unlucky that I somehow fell through space to begin with?

    He couldn''t tell if the sun had moved but he didn''t want it to get dark and be lost in the jungle so he continued to explore the jagged cliff face in order to find some shelter in a cave or something. The ledge he was on was only a few meters wide but stretched quite a bit up away from the ocean so he followed the uneven path ahead. After a few minutes, however, he found what he was looking for. A crack along the wall that seemed about the size of a car. He hesitated, not wanting to run into this world''s equivalent of a bear, before carefully making his way inside.

    It was high enough that he could stand up, but both the ground and ceiling were very uneven with stone clumps hanging from the ceiling. He kept his head low to avoid any injuries and was careful with his footing as he made his way further in. He couldn''t hear any noise inside but he made sure to keep an eye on the entrance for if he needed a quick escape. The cave wasn''t very big actually so he ruled it out as being an animal''s den. It was actually quite square by cave standards. There was a few meters of room on either side of the rock and in fact, the left side of the cave next to the door had a small fist-sized hole in the wall letting more light in which helped him see the end only about twenty meters away.

    It would create a nice little cliffside room if the floor and ceiling were only a little more level. Every so often, points of light can be seen dancing along the cave floor as the perpetual moving planetary rings reflected the sunlight through the cave entrance. Adam decided that this would be his home base for now and his empty stomach''s complaints made him move on to his second task, finding food without becoming it himself.

    Adam climbed down the cliff face and was careful to memorize its location before heading into the jungle while keeping the tall stone cliff in view behind him. It was only after a few minutes of travel through the less dense part of the jungle terrain that he lost sight of the cliff amongst a sea of vegetation. He was hesitant to go any further without a good landmark, he was likely to get turned around in the dense jungle and the last thing he wanted was to spend the night in this freaky alien jungle with its strange-looking plants and bone-shilling cries and far-off screeches. In fact he was surprised he hadn''t come across any wildlife yet.

    ''Although this is their home turf so they may be watching me right now amongst the trees and I have no way to tell¡¯. He was on the lookout for anything that looked edible but the only thing he could find was different types of leaves, dark green vines of various sizes, and lots of other exotic plants he had never seen before. The vines however seemed to be like ropes. He tried to rip off a length from a small vine dangling down from a branch but he couldn''t break it off as no matter how he pulled, squeezed, or bent it, it simply remained intact. He even tied it in knots a few times and it acted just like rope, except it was far more durable.

    After giving up on trying to get any, until he could get something sharp to try, he made his way to a less dense area. There was a massive pale lime-colored tree ahead and no other plants seemed to get too close to it, leaving a perimeter of grass around it for a few meters. Adam was immediately interested in it as he got closer to the large tree, not only did it resemble a pale broccoli with its dark green dots at the ends of its branches but something else also caught his eye. Hanging not too far from the ground was what appeared to be a pale blue fruit similar in shape to an upside-down heart and the size of a watermelon.

    Adam had no idea if this thing was edible or even a fruit but what he did know was that this was the only thing that seemed like it could be food that he had found so far and he was willing to take this risk since he might not find anything else at all to eat otherwise. Besides, he can always just take a small bite to make sure it''s edible before eating the whole thing. But before any of that, he needed to get it down.

    Unfortunately for Adam, like most things in this strange jungle, the small stem that connects the fruit with the branch was impossibly tough and determined not to let its load go without a fight. He scanned the large tree for more fruits but they were all too high up and therefore out of reach. He started looking around for a stone he could use as a tool and eventually found one after making his way back in the direction of the cliff.

    It was in the rough shape of an elongated pyramid about the size of his palm. It was a flat pale grey color and seemed pretty strong judging by its weight but he wasn''t thinking of sharpening it into a knife but instead opted to use it to gouge out a piece from the heart-shaped fruit to make sure it was actually something edible before he wasted any more time and energy. Adam carefully pushed the pointy side of this stone into the fruit and only now noticed its skin was covered in dim honeycomb patterns that ever so slightly glowed a faint pale blue color and felt warm to the touch despite being covered by its unique tree''s many branches. It wasn''t as easy to open as a watermelon, as the exterior took some considerable strength to get through but once the tough outer layer was pierced the inside gave no resistance.

    Before he could pull the stone tip back out from the dozen centimeters of the fruit, a transparent liquid started dribbling down the fruit and dropping onto the floor. Adam put his finger over the hole and then put it in his mouth to taste it. It was as if he just had a cool glass of water on a hot day as the task of fresh, sweet liquid entered his body and he immediately placed his mouth under the pierced fruit and angled it to drink as much of the delicious liquid as possible.

    After a few minutes of drinking, the liquid stopped coming and Adam was pretty sure this was some sort of alien coconut fruit. He expected to be able to crack it open to find the edible part of the fruit. The liquid inside was probably sweet water so at least he found a source of freshwater for the time being and it seemed to have fully restored him. It had been at least a few hours since he woke up and he hadn''t eaten or drunk anything since then, not even his morning coffee but that sweet liquid was like magic as it completely washed away his fatigue and made him feel more aware and full of energy than he has felt in a long time.

    He didn''t even feel hungry anymore even though his stomach was demanding sustenance only minutes ago. With newfound energy, he started sharpening his stone into a makeshift knife to be able to cut down the fruit but after at least an hour of sharpening his stone and desperately trying to cut the fruit down, he ended up just poking several holes in the top of the fruit near where it attaches to the tough stem and after making them close enough to each other, he grabbed the fruit in both hands and yanked it down with his whole body weight. He then made his way back to the beach where he sat down with his exotic fruit and started hacking away at it in order to gain access to whatever food the fruit was hiding as well as the rest of its wonderful juices.

 3 - Status window

    Chapter 3 - Status window

    The sun definitely seemed to have moved a little but Adam had no way of knowing how long it had been since he awoke, probably five hours ago or so therefore it didn''t look like it would be night for a long while, meaning a day here would likely last a lot longer than an Earth day.

    This was a good thing for Adam right now since he needed all the time he could get to learn more about his new environment and nightfall would likely be the time the predators came out. During his trip in and out of the less dense part of the jungle, he looked around for any wildlife and did eventually notice some smaller insects similar to ants climbing up trees from their nests underground but no alien monkeys or even snakes so far.

    He assumed they were there somewhere as this environment was perfectly suited for them but surprisingly enough the first animals he noticed were a group of birds flying far off in the distance near the other island. They were too far away to see properly but they looked almost white with some hints of green on their bellies. He feared they may be some sort of prehistoric flying monster, but they rather resembled big falcons except for their tails that were almost half as long as their entire bodies.

    They seemed rather unique as they were as wide as a palm and equally so, all the way down to their tail end, where it then abruptly ended in a small tuff of white fur similar to a rabbit''s tail. He couldn¡¯t see more as the group of a dozen birds disappeared over the second island.

    He had long cracked open the heart-shaped coconut fruit and found more of that amazing sweet water along with small semi-solid balls lining the entire inside of the fruit. They reminded Adam of small cherries except instead of a red color they had a distinct semi-transparent blue tint to them. He plucked one out and bit into it to find that despite its looks, it did not contain liquid inside but was rather a jelly-like substance that released a similar yet more potent sweet taste than the fruit¡¯s liquid.

    Its effect on Adam was even more pronounced as his whole body felt stronger and tougher after eating it. There should have been at least 30 of the small blue cherries so he only ate a handful and decided to keep the rest for later. He didn¡¯t want to leave his only source of food and water unattended on the beach however, so he made haste back to his cave.

    After a few minutes of walking, he heard the sound of movement behind him and turned around a split second later to find some abomination crawling out of the treeline and onto the beach behind him. Adam was confused for a second as his eyes had trouble focusing on whatever had just moved. A moment of confusion later he began running away as fast as he could in the opposite direction.

    What he saw when he turned around was seemingly a mix of a lizard, a snake, and a centipede matched together with a camouflaging ability that blended it in with the jungle. The terrifying monster had countless small lizard legs all along its long body that extended back into the treeline meaning it was at least 15 meters long. Its centipede-like form was only made worse by its snaking main body, which he could only make out because of its contrast with the bright sand.

    The other end of its wavy body seemed to merge with the jungle meaning he would have no way of seeing it coming if not for the fact that he was on the beach right now. Its head was poorly defined as it appeared to lack any sort of eyes, nose, or ears but instead, Adam was staring face to face with a dark void filled with countless rows of needle-like teeth. Without needing much thought, he sprinted as fast as his legs would take him down the sandy beach and towards his cave. He tightened his grip on the large fruit in his hands as he didn¡¯t want to lose his only source of food to this terrifying monster. However, this didn¡¯t help him move any better as the added weight was making running on the slippery sand even harder and sent sand flying with every step.

    He was constantly stumbling but either through sheer luck or his extremely high adrenaline, he was able to stay on his feet and keep moving. The monster however didn¡¯t seem to be bothered by the sand as its many legs were moving at blurring speeds as it snaked its way to the fleeing Adam. He glanced back to see it gaining on him at a rapid pace. The sight of it made his hair stand on end as he gained an extra spring in his leg. Despite his best efforts, he simply wasn''t fast enough as the thing snapped at his legs with every step so every step was likely to be his last, the creature was simply too fast and had better mobility.

    Adam felt his heart jump in his throat as time seemed to slow down and Adam searched for anything to get him out of this. There were no places to hide and nothing to use as a weapon, his stamina was dropping and his speed was diminishing. He clenched his muscles and willed them to be a little stronger, just move a little faster. He reached down deep for anything to get him away from his pursuer. Then suddenly, he began to feel a warm feeling permeating his whole body. His muscles felt stronger, he was fully re-energized and began running faster.

    Even his balance on the sand seemed to improve as the warm feeling spread from his stomach into every muscle as the refreshing gust of energy as it rippled through every fiber of his being. Suddenly he gained a huge burst of speed and started leaping across the beach more than twice his previous speed. He was so fast that he was practically flying just above the sand as his legs started blurring together with every leap.

    Adam and the creature were racing across the beach, his steps were wide and flung more sand in the air with every large leap, the beast on the other hand used its many legs to practically glide along the beach in near-perfect silence despite leaving disturbed sand in its wake, but nowhere near as chaotic as it''s fleeing human prey. Now though, the creature for the first time since the start of the chase, started to fall behind as Adam ran straight for the cliff up ahead, and after less than half a minute, he jumped with all his might and made it two-thirds of the way up the 3-meter cliff side slope.

    He used his left hand to drag his body the rest of the way as he continued to use his right hand to grip the coconut heart fruit. Luckily for Adam, there were many loose rocks on the cliff side so he grabbed the closest and lobbed it at the creature who had fallen behind a little after his mad dash. He missed the first two throws but hit it with the third as it was now right up against the cliff. Adam was about to run away from the cliffside to avoid it once more when he noticed that the creature was unable to climb the stone wall. Only now did he notice that the legs of the creature were not solid like a centipede but rather pretty soft-looking, probably designed for fast but silent movement within the jungle. Its whole body seemed to be made for flexible and silent movement within densely forested areas, allowing it to easily bend and snake its body between trees and using its camouflage ability to hide in wait for unsuspecting prey, but out here in the open, it looked rather out of its depth.

    It was fast but based on its size and many legs, it shouldn¡¯t have had too big of a problem running him down. Yet here he was, safe and out of its reach. It tried to climb the stone wall again but gave up after a few seconds, instead deciding to crawl away back toward the jungle where Adam guessed it would hide in wait for him to come back down before ambushing him. He pushed the thought out of his mind and tried to calm down his shaking body. ¡°That was way too damn close, I knew there had to be centipedes in this shit world but that was so much worse. At least it can''t climb rocks though so that''s something at least¡±, he attempted to regulate his breathing now that the danger had passed and he was coming down from his adrenaline high.

    Never in his life had he been so close to death. He¡¯s had a few close calls, the occasional hammer falling from the construction site or the truck¡¯s brakes not working properly on an icy day but all of those close calls were accidents and he only realized how lucky he was after they were over. This however was an entirely new feeling of helplessness, he knew that if he slowed down just for a fraction of a second then that beast would have been on him in a heartbeat. And he knew that if it so much as touched him back there then it would be game over. Never in his life has he felt so shit scared and desperate to get away from anything like today.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    Then again, he always hated centipedes as they looked super freaky to him as a kid, and even as an adult he wasn¡¯t a big fan. All those legs moving in tandem and their ability to crawl anywhere gave him the heebie-jeebies. Adam was only marginally grateful that this world''s equivalent of a centipede had less sturdy legs and couldn''t climb walls. If he was being chased by an upscaled earthly centipede then he might have been royally screwed. Hell, if he kept running like he did to get up here he might have been able to jump his way back to Earth just from the fear. Thinking about it, that last jolt of energy he had felt was different than just fear and adrenaline.

    It was a sensation he recognized, looking down at the coconut heart he had placed on the ground at his feet while he caught his breath, he realized that whatever that fruit was, it somehow energized him enough to escape the beast. In hindsight, its effects were pretty obvious since it did the same thing when he first tasted it. It somehow helped him with his hunger and low energy despite only having tasted a small amount of the liquid. Adam had calmed down a bit now yet he still felt much stronger than before, like how his body felt when he was pumped full of adrenaline except he wasn''t anymore, his breath was steady and the shaking in his hands had stopped.

    He picked up the fruit again with his right hand and noticed that it didn''t feel as heavy as before. He checked through the hole in the top of the upside-down heart fruit to see if the cherries were gone but as far as he could tell they were all still there. This fruit was the size of a watermelon and he needed two hands to carry it from its original tree to the beach. Now the fruit seemed to weigh half as much and he could lift it with one hand without too much effort.

    ¡®Could this fruit have somehow changed my body to somehow make me stronger?¡¯

    Just then, the moment he started to question what had changed with his body, a window appeared in his vision and he almost fell over in surprise. The bright blue light of a floating box with slightly fuzzy edges that seemed to blend into the rest of the world came to life in his vision. His shock was quickly filled with anticipation as he realized what it was upon glimpsing some white text in the middle of the panel. Adam wasn''t the most nerdy person but he did enjoy the odd gaming session every so often on a rainy day. He may only have had an old PS2 but he knew a status window when he saw one. And what else could this be if not that?

    Adam Hartwell

    Mana core: [black - early - (???)]

    ??? (???): [???]

    Spells: [ - ]

    (???)

    ¡°Well, that''s disappointing, where are my stats, my skills, and my points? And what the hell are all those question marks?¡± ¡°At least there is a spell section so that''s something, I guess I will be able to learn spells. I can''t wait to be able to conjure fireballs and lightning strikes. And I''m assuming a mana core is like a magic heart right¡­ Hold up, is this why I feel so much stronger now? I have magic flowing through me and reinforcing my muscles?¡±

    ¡®Is this really everything?¡¯, ¡°Hey, urh¡­ system? More information? Stats? Tutorial?... I need to contact an admin¡­ Hello?¡± No matter what he did or said, the panel never changed. It followed his eyes as he turned around and its only change was when Adam wanted it to go away. That was the only mental command that seemed to work. His frustration with the lack of helpful information didn''t bother him too much though as the idea that he could use magic made him forgive whichever stupid god made such an unhelpful system screen.

    With a rush of excitement and anticipation, Adam tried to focus on that warm feeling he felt from within him when fleeing for his life. The same he got from eating the fruit, and as he focused inwards, his mind suddenly became aware of something new inside him. It was like a tiny black pebble but it definitely seemed to be the source of the warm feeling throughout his body. ¡°I guess this is the so-called mana core, although it says that it''s early. Does that mean I got it sooner than expected like it was born prematurely because of the effects of the coconut heart? Or does it mean it can be upgraded and mine is just an early version? Maybe both I guess.¡±

    He sat down to be able to better focus and quickly noticed that every time he exhaled, the warm feeling that spread from his core intensified as if each breath was feeding mana to the core which was then diffused across his body. Adam took a deep breath before holding it and waiting to see the effect not breathing would have on the core. That big breath seemed to fill the core with more mana than usual as it continued to infuse and empower his body at a constant rate until he couldn''t hold his breath any longer.

    ¡°So this mana is in the environment all around me and I can absorb it by breathing. The mana core must be a battery to store it in then.¡± He was excited to stress test his new power so he continued to try and feel it flowing throughout his body as he experimented with his breathing for the next few minutes. He was so focused on it that he completely forgot about the near-death situation he was in only minutes earlier as his whole mind was preoccupied with the inner workings of his body. It was only when he heard some fairly loud screeches from somewhere behind him that he snapped back to reality. He tried to locate the source of the noise as they sounded somewhat familiar.

    They were coming from the other side of the cliff. He was only at the very bottom of the rocky outcrop but it extended high into the sky and stretched from the ocean far into the jungle to the point that he had no idea how big it really was. The noise he heard soon made themselves apparent however as the bird-like creatures he saw previously could be spotted flying high above the cliff and appeared to be fighting over something that one of them had in its claws. It must have been some sort of prey that the birds had hunted and it made him freeze for a second as those birds were incomparable in size to Earth¡¯s.

    The prey they were squawking over however must have been roughly the size of a person. His came as a good reminder that he has been lucky until now not to have attracted more attention than he already has. He has been traveling up and down the beach in the open to be able to spot predators coming but if he can see them, then they can see him too. The thought of those big flying predators swooping down and snatching him up from where he sat made him get to his feet, grab his coconut heart, and hurriedly make his way up the path to his cave.

    The light danced over Adam''s body as he sat cross-legged in his cave. Breathing deeply, he observed his body and how his core was sending out energy to his different muscles. With every breath, his core would send out a new pulse that seemed to travel exactly the same way each time. It appeared as though his body had a second pair of veins specifically for transporting his mana.

    He was able to tell that his body was constantly infused by his core, even when he wasn¡¯t breathing but after some practice, Adam was able to empty his core without letting it re-absorb mana by holding his breath for almost 2 minutes. This allowed him to test his new body while it had very little mana being infused in it but was shocked to find that he didn¡¯t feel any less strong than before. His core was starting to distribute less mana with each pulse as the hours went on, and after continually trying to sense and test his mana, he came to a shocking realization.

    With intense concentration, he was not only able to sense his mana coursing from his core to his muscles, but he could even push and nudge it slightly. Also, his mana wasn¡¯t simply helping him become tougher but was actually somehow infusing his muscles and tempering him. Meaning they weren¡¯t simply stronger from his mana but he was in fact being tempered by his core like a workout, so his gains didn¡¯t disappear when the mana pulses weakened. After a few hours, the mana pulses his core was sending out were almost invisible as his muscles were now just as good as when they were being fully reinforced with mana. Holding his breath now didn¡¯t do anything to stop his core from replenishing as it was hardly expending any mana to begin with.

    Instead, he tried to manually control his core to release pulses with little success so far. He was able to slightly alter his mana by pushing a little more into his arm compared to the rest of his body but it dissipated immediately upon reaching his muscles so he had no idea if that would even do anything. Besides, most of his ¡°discoveries¡± at the moment were mostly guesswork. Sure, he felt stronger but not in any measurable way. Based on his estimation, he had the same amount of strength he did when running from the beast. This means he is as strong as a fit human in top condition so nothing superhuman or too impressive.

    In fact he wasn¡¯t that strong to begin with, sure he worked hard but those tasks didn¡¯t really build much muscle, at least not like a professional athlete or even someone that did strength training in a gym. His muscles seemed a little more defined but he didn¡¯t have a six-pack or anything crazy. Since his core was only early he assumed his body would be tempered with more and more mana as his core upgraded until he might even become some sort of unstoppable superman that could lift cars and smash through buildings. His dreams of being a superhuman were short-lived however as the reality that his mana was no longer helping his body get stronger meant that until he figured out how to grow his core, he be stuck as he is, since this stupid system didn¡¯t even give him a spell book to get him started with magic and he can¡¯t use the mana stored in his core for anything right now.

    ¡°Is magic always this hard to control or am I just bad at this?¡± Thoughts of using the magic coursing through his body to throw fireballs at that freaky centipede popped into his mind but before the disappointment of reality came to suppress his thought a different idea sprung up in his mind. Adam turned to his right and reached out to grab the coconut heart he brought with him as a wide grin spread across his face. If he needed to grow his core then what better than the thing that probably made it in the first place?

 4 - Magic is tough

    Chapter 4 - Magic is tough

    Adam smiled upon realizing that his path to becoming a powerful Archmage who stands atop the world and drowns his enemies in a sea of hellfire with a mere flick of his wrist was simply lying on the ground right next to him.

    Adam plucked a small blue cherry from inside the coconut heart and placed it on his tongue. If his realization is proven correct, makes his current and only food source so much more valuable than he had ever imagined. He focused his attention inwards toward his core located in the middle of his body, just beneath his chest and above his stomach.

    The core had stopped sending out mana pulses for a little while now but as soon as he bit down on the cherry in his mouth, the sweet and refreshing taste trickled down his throat and started dissipating within his body. Adam was kind of freaked out that he could sense all of this, as it was akin to seeing which way his food traveled when he swallowed except instead of traveling down and into his gut, it simply started to spread across his upper body.

    But when it got a little too close to the small black core, it was immediately sucked in. Adam¡¯s core was acting like an endless black hole for any of the fruit¡¯s mana. It actively sucked in the foreign mana initially until the core got a taste and seemed to wake up once more. It resumed sending it''s pulses again. However this time it didn¡¯t send the pulses to his muscles despite using the same pathways along his body, the pulses had the same effect as the core as it gathered all the mana in his body and sent it down to the core to be absorbed.

    Not all the fruit''s mana was being completely sucked in however, so Adam tried to focus on the clumps that were lingering near his shoulder, and to his surprise, the core''s pulses intensified in that spot until all the mana that was previously concentrated there was also sucked into the core.

    Adam did his best to carefully observe the changes in his core and body after eating just one of the fruits. It looked like the core had slightly grown and had once again started sending out pulses through his pathways, as the extra energy was indeed used to reinforce his muscles. Adam was practically jumping in joy as his guess was proven true.

    By eating the fruit he can expand his magical reserves and in doing so get his core to temper his muscles even further. Breathing in the mana from the air seems to work to replenish his core but doesn¡¯t help him grow it. Probably because he needs the magic to be more concentrated like what the fruit seems to have, this was great news for Adam as for the first time since waking up, he finally had a working plan. Use the fruits to grow my core, learn to use the mana in my body to make fireballs, and blast that freaking centipede in the face before flying back home to Earth where he will have his name legally changed to SuperAdamMan¡­

    "Ok, the last part was just a joke but still, the possibilities are endless and there''s no point waiting around for a rescue team"

    He may not be in a full-blown panic after waking up on this alien beach but that was mainly because he was forcing himself not to think about it too deeply.

    When his mind slipped back to thoughts of home and earth, he tried to make it into a joke as he feared that if his current situation were to truly sink in, then he might actually lose his sanity. Until now his priorities have been that of a survivalist stranded on a deserted island like he had seen on a few survival shows over the years.

    It was a great way to prevent his mind from truly processing where he was and that he was well and truly alone and would most likely die here. So all that was being deliberately locked in the back of his mind and Adam latched onto his discovery of magic like it was the answer to all his problems. It was the only lifeboat keeping him from sinking into the dark depths of insanity over his dire circumstances since his task of finding food and shelter had been temporarily resolved.

    Without his magic he would have been truly forced to contemplate his precarious state so he purposely used every ounce of focus he could muster on unraveling the mysteries of his magic, even though all it showed him so far was that it let him lift slightly heavier things and run a little faster than he could before. The image of him cracking the secret to making fireballs and becoming a god of fire and magic was constantly looping in his mind as he filtered through everything he knew about magic from comic books and video games.

    Adam was eating handfuls of the blue cherries and watched their mana get absorbed by his core while he occasionally tried to help speed up the process with minor success. By the time two-thirds of the cherries were eaten, Adam began to feel a little bit like he had indigestion. His mana core had grown yet again and his whole body felt hot. He stopped eating the fruit and only now realized that he was so focused on the energies being released and absorbed by his core that he hadn''t realized that he felt like he was about to throw up.

    Getting to his feet while clutching his stomach, he made his way to the cave entrance. He only just found this cave and he didn''t want to ruin it with the stench of vomit on his first day. Admittedly, it was hard to tell if this was actually his first day since the sun moved so damn slow, and between his cautious exploration of his new environment and the mana-saturated fruit that removed any traces of hunger and exhaustion, he had a hard time keeping track of time.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    Adam sat at the entrance to his cave for what felt like an eternity but it was likely only about an hour. His core seemed to be having indigestion since it was still doing something as its size seemed to grow and shrink several times. His entire body hurt as his pathways seemed to be having a similar problem except every time they expanded even the slightest amount, his muscles threatened to tear apart. He sat there in terrible agony and thought back to how stupid he had just been.

    After eating only a single fruit he had clearly observed it being digested by his core for several minutes until all the foreign mana was absorbed. Obviously, he should have been careful with the fruits, but since he already ate a handful when he was on the beach, he didn''t even think that anything bad could happen. But then he didn''t have his core to suck it up like a miniature black hole, that handful of fruits he ate then must have been responsible for fully saturating his body and forcibly bringing his mana levels to a tipping point and imploded inside him forming the condensed mana core.

    In hindsight, he probably shouldn''t have done that either. The adrenaline coursing through his body was probably what helped jump-start that process of forming his core and empowering his muscles during his mad dash from the monster. This realization made his eyes grow wide as he tried to remember how he felt after eating those cherries and before being jumped by that thing.

    His memories seemed to confirm that what he just did and what he did back on the beach was very stupid. Back then, his body felt lighter than ever and he was no longer experiencing any fatigue, his mind also seemed sharper and that added alertness was probably the only reason he heard the slightest sound of something trying to creep up on him. The memory sent chills down his spine.

    However, while sitting in an awkward position right outside his cave with one hand clutching his stomach and the other placed on the ground in front of him for additional support, Adam decided that this magic stuff was really important for his survival. It would likely be the key to his success but also not something to take lightly as it could just as easily kill him. The new information about the fruit and its obvious value also brought to light a different question.

    Was that centipede really after the fruit all along? Since this world has magic and a higher concentration of which can form a core and double a person''s strength then do the wildlife also have mana cores? And if so then does eating other creature''s cores help upgrade their own? ¡°Is this why I wasn''t attacked by anything when strolling the jungle before? Cause eating me wouldn''t do shit for them? But if that were the case then why didn''t they just eat the fruit from the trees themselves, it was a pain to get down but I''m sure they would have had an easier time than me.¡±

    Adam would have to check his theory about a beast only attacking mana-dense prey when he next went out to get another fruit, but it wasn''t high on his list. He could live with not knowing that answer, as the only way to do so would be to place himself on the food chain since he himself was now a mana core creature and he didn''t like his odds of confronting any other mana beasts, apart from the normal looking ants he saw, which he doubt had cores. Nothing was likely weaker than him in that jungle.

    Even the smallest bird he saw had to be the size of a pony and would try to eat him whole if it got the chance. Very much not wanting that to happen, Adam crawled back into his cave as the pain had definitely faded but his core was still pulsating and changing. Adam decided it would be a good idea to get some rest now since the pain was now more of a background noise than a debilitating problem and he honestly felt exhausted by now. He didn''t dare use those fruits to remove his fatigue.

    The cost of such miraculous effects still made themselves known with the occasional jolt of pain across his pathways and his shaking core that threatened to explode at any moment. The cave echoed his movement slightly as he moved away from the entrance and towards the right side of the wall where it was darkest. Despite being located right next to the ocean, the cave felt rather dry and warm even in the shadows. He hadn''t noticed any wind at all until now and nor did he notice many clouds.

    The few he saw were more fine light patches but his eyes always locked onto the giant planetary rings stretching across the sky and out to the horizon. He briefly wondered how the birds flew if there was no upper draft but an hour of his body threatening to tear him apart and the accumulated exhaustion he was suppressing with the fruit''s effect really took a toll on him and he passed out a few minutes later.

    When Adam awoke, he found his throat extremely dry and his stomach was completely empty. What truly struck him however was that the whole cave had a low blue tint to it now. The sun had most definitely moved as the sky was covered in a ghostly blue color. He could also see the jungle in the distance but had to do a double take when he saw that the once bright green vegetation now looked a pale blue color. Mixed with the light fog that seemed to permeate the island, it looked rather creepy. Adam looked up at the sky but couldn''t see the sun anywhere. It wasn''t dark like nights on Earth, as the rings of white and blue across the sky were practically glowing with light.

    ¡°I guess this is what night looks like here, if I didn¡¯t already know magic was real then this would have convinced me.¡±

    He thought, but he was momentarily confused as the sun had barely moved since he got here. Just how long had he been out for? He was about to turn to grab the coconut heart and quench his hunger and extreme thirst but before he could, a thought suddenly struck him. He turned his gaze inward and was elated to see that his core seemed to have finally stabilized. It was a few sizes bigger now and all traces of the fruit''s mana seem to have been fully digested. He didn''t notice any pulses to strengthen his muscles so it must have finished that process while he was asleep too. Enthralled by this new development he willed his status window to open to observe any changes.

    Adam Hartwell

    Mana core: [black - middle - (???)]

    ??? (???): [???]

    Spells: [ - ]

    (???)

    ¡°Hell yeah baby, a middle-grade core¡± he was about to throw his hands up in celebration but his dry throat made itself known once more. Adam turned from the cave entrance to look for the coconut heart. He remembered it being left at the cave entrance near the left of the passageway. However, the fruit was not there anymore. A quick sweep of his surroundings told him that wherever it is, it''s not here, which can only mean one thing.

    ¡°THIEF. God damn it someone stole my breakfast¡±

 5 - Mana beast

    Chapter 5 - Mana beast

    With the coconut heart gone and along with it, his only source of food, Adam was equal parts angry and scared. The fact that his fruit was gone meant that some creature must have stumbled upon his cave or been attracted by the fruit somehow. This means that at some point when he was slumped against the cave wall, completely unconscious and defenseless, only tens of meters away, an alien creature had climbed up the cliffside and entered his cave.

    He suddenly felt lucky that he decided to leave the fruit where it was and moved to the back of the cave for the added darkness when he took his nap, since it was likely the only reason he didn¡¯t wake up screaming with his body being devoured by an oversized insect or a giant bird. Thinking about it further, the birds seemed a lot louder and more active now that the sun had finally gone down.

    Could the thief have been one of them? It would explain a lot since they would have had a hard time getting into the cave but could have easily snatched the coconut heart from the entrance, leaving Adam to sleep undisturbed in the back. If the culprit was something smaller that could fit inside the cave, then his shiny middle-grade mana core would probably have been a nice snack for any predator that could have reached his defenseless body. The chances of the flying predators being responsible was the most likely scenario. They must be taking advantage of the dimmer light to hunt their prey and my fruit was simply an easy target for them.

    Adam was feeling pretty terrible right now. The excitement he felt about having upgraded his core was quickly washed away by a feeling of helplessness. The only food and water he had discovered was the coconut heart and now it was gone when he needed it the most. Not to mention the fact that the dim blue light probably meant that it was hunting time for all the jungle''s predators. Even if he got lucky and made his way back to the strange broccoli tree and grabbed another fruit, he would only be painting a target on his back once again.

    Except this time he probably wouldn¡¯t get away like last time since now he had an upgraded core and from his hypotheses, that makes him a perfect target for predators. Adam also didn¡¯t know why the beasts didn¡¯t simply eat the fruits from the tree directly. He now knew how magical they were, so what reason did the beasts have to stay away from the strange tree?

    Adam was dreading what he had to do, as it would most likely be the most dangerous thing he needed to do since arriving here. He needed to find food and water that didn¡¯t only contain concentrated mana like the coconut heart. If the stronger mana beasts couldn¡¯t get the coconut fruits, then his chances of doing so again now that he had a core were close to zero.

    Before he ventured out in hopes of finding breakfast, he once again inspected the changes to his body. Judging by how slowly the sun had moved since he got here, it had likely been several days since he fell asleep. The fact that he hadn¡¯t lost all his body weight or died of dehydration meant that his mana core was doing more than simply making his muscles stronger. Since his body must have been strengthened when he slept, he looked down at his body and was shocked to see how defined his muscles had become.

    Adam was never a very muscly person as he never went to the gym, nor did he care about his appearance. He lived a tough life to begin with and spending his free time sweating in the gym was not an appealing offer. His social life was not great and apart from making the occasional work friend like Paul, he mostly kept to himself. Without a girlfriend to impress or a social image to uphold, he mainly ignored his appearance but still made an effort to eat healthy when he could.

    The gym lunatics would go mad with jealousy if they could see him now. He went to sleep as a normal-looking guy and woke up as a bodybuilder. His abs were now clearly visible and his whole body just felt lighter. He stepped outside of the cave to stretch his legs since the cave''s roof was rather low and uneven.

    Adam stretched his body and immediately noticed how flexible he had become. He could never touch his toes before but now he was able to do so with a little effort. His entire body had bulked up slightly but he probably would look even stronger if he hadn''t been starving. Jumping on the spot, he found that he could now jump much easier and higher than before. This would be very useful for outrunning any danger from the jungle.

    Adam was feeling more confident now with his newly gained strength, but after some quick shadowboxing, he reminded himself that anything he had seen so far could annihilate him. Despite his wish to stay in the cave and learn how to control his mana, he knew that if he didn''t get some food and water for his upgraded body he would be in serious trouble.

    He felt hungry when his early-grade core had strengthened him in the beginning and with such drastic changes, he would need to eat a lot more than usual. Before he could come up with an excuse for himself to stay in the safety of the cave, he set off down the cliff as silently as possible and kept his eyes and ears peeled for ambush predators and flying death monsters alike.

    He tried to remember where he had previously gone but the fact that the sky had changed and the plants along with it, the entire process was made a lot more difficult. The sounds of the jungle were also a lot more pronounced and numerous compared to before. Until now the cries and calls of the wildlife had been a constant but ultimately low background noise. With the sun gone, every single noise sounded like a guttural scream to Adam as the predators were most definitely out hunting. He didn¡¯t dare make his way through the jungle to get to the strange mana tree and instead decided to investigate some of the noises.

    It would be dangerous, but even being out here was putting his life on the line. He would rather get some information on what kind of creatures were lurking in this jungle, and better protect himself from them since they were currently announcing their locations with all the chaos going on. He located a couple of roars close to the beach, and decided to sneak up and take a peek at what was going on. The noise sounded like a fight and someone was losing by the increasingly desperate sounds being made by one of them.

    After carefully moving towards them for a few minutes, he found the source of the noise. By the time he got close enough to lay eyes on the creature responsible for the deathly howls, it had already succumbed and was now lying lifeless on the ground. The creature responsible for ending its life was nowhere in sight. It was lying motionless on the ground, barely illuminated by the light of the planetary rings since the jungle¡¯s canopy was obscuring the corpse.

    Adam stayed crouched behind a bush as he analyzed the scene. The fallen prey was a small grey furred creature that looked a little bit like a cat with a head reminiscent of a monkey''s. Its front limbs were longer and skinnier than its bulkier back legs. As he looked closer, it actually resembled a koala but with the more agile build of a feline. After a few more minutes to make sure the predator had left, he crept out of his cover and quickly but quietly made his way to the creature. It had a large bite mark around its head and lower back. On closer inspection, he noticed its claws were like slightly curved blades.

    It had only one claw on each limb of its upper body. Its feet however were similar to a cat''s with four toes, each with a smaller retractable claw. He didn''t dare stay much longer because even now, he was pretty sure this dead fella was part of a pack and was simply the unfortunate victim of some confrontation that was probably ongoing somewhere not too far away. He didn''t want whatever killed this guy to come back and find him, so he grabbed it by the arms and angled its twenty-centimeter blade claws away from his body as he slung it over his shoulder and made haste back to the beach.

    Despite its small stature, the furry creature was surprisingly heavy. Adam couldn''t really make a guess as to how heavy since he hadn''t really acclimated to his new and improved body. He guessed that he had the strength of an athlete right now with his upgraded core as he was restored to peak personal condition when he got his core to begin with. This got him excited to upgrade his core again since it would probably truly bring him to the level of superhumans. As these thoughts were going through his mind, Adam tried pushing some mana from his core and almost tripped when the core actually responded and released a small pulse.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    He quickly regained his balance and readjusted his dinner back onto his shoulder. The fact that the core had actually responded to his mental prod was a huge change from when he tried before. Back when he was absorbing the blue cherries, being able to focus on which place had the strongest pull towards his core was the most he could manage and any attempt at controlling the core was ignored. Could it have been because his core was overloaded and unable to both absorb all the dense mana within him as well as expel his own.

    It does make sense, but it''s also possible that a middle-grade core is just easier to control. Redoubling on his vigilance, Adam made his way onto the beach and continued straight for his cave. He needed food and this guy was all he could get. He was thinking about how to cook it over a campfire like he had seen on those survival documentaries and really hoped it wasn''t poisonous. It didn''t appear to be, but he couldn''t exactly make deductions about this place with earth knowledge. Nor could he get any wood for a fire.

    Adam stopped in his tracks as the question of how to cook this guy brought with it yet another shit-storm to ruin his victory. He just found food but this jungle doesn''t have any normal wood to burn or even any way to make fire. He could try to smash two rocks together with his added strength but all the stones he found up until now have been the same grey and they were more likely to crumble than make sparks when hit.

    Back when Adam was first exploring the jungle, he spent a while trying to get a stick or rock to use as a weapon but nothing worked. The branches were usually made of some rubbery material that he had no way of cutting and even if he had a machete on hand, what would be the point of a bending dark green rubbery spear against the centipede?

    It didn''t take him long to make his way to the cliff. He located the ledge he had to climb to get to his cave and flung his dinner up first. By now, Adam had come to terms with what he had to do. In his state, it was getting hard to move and every time he did, his stomach felt like it was about to consume his organs. He was out of time so even if he could make a fire, he was too hungry and felt too weak to even attempt it.

    Instead, he moved the body towards the cliff''s wall while on his little fairly flat ledge to try and blend into the rest of the cliff. He didn''t want to go into his cave, as what he had to do would definitely make a mess. In his weary state, he almost got up to get his sharpened stone when he stopped and stared at the creature''s arms. Adam would have laughed if he had the energy to do so. The twenty centimeter long claws of the beast looked a lot sharper than some blunt stone and was exactly what he needed. Adam took a deep breath and grabbed the first arm of the beast and brought it to the wrist of its second arm.

    The claws looked like knives except they were a little curved and rounded at the wrist. The tips were flat, with the middle of the claw being much thicker with slightly rounded edges to the point that only the bottom side was sharp. Its curve wasn''t as extreme as a scythe but not as straight as a normal knife either. As he looked at it lying upside down, he noticed that it''s mouth was actually below it''s eyes. Adam was confused as to what sort of fucked up creature this was, until he realized its entire body seemed to be upside down.

    It must have used its feet to walk around the tree tops like a bat, its claw arms were used to cut leaves or whatever the hell this guy was cutting and stuffing into its face. It all seemed to make a lot more sense now. After his mind had processed the probable uses of its visible features, he brought the first claw down onto it''s second arm to remove it from its body.

    ¡°You won''t be needing this anymore buddy so can you give us a HAND?¡±

    It didn''t take too long to cut through once he located the wrist joint and cut through it. The entire blade seemed to be some sort of bone claw as it was a dark color but so was its bone. With the newly separated claw, he moved to the other end of the creature to get access to its muscly legs. He really wasn''t looking forward to eating raw meat but if he had to, he would eat the thighs since they at least had visible muscle. Using his new knife, he made a light cut on its leg and was surprised by how easy it was to skin.

    He removed a large section of the skin and fur without issue. Adam was truly starving and when he saw that pale pink meat, he didn''t think to question if that was normal and instead cut a small strip of meat out and swallowed it without hesitation. Half because he didn''t dare try to taste the raw meat in case it was revolting and half because he couldn''t control himself.

    Adam sat there, leaning against the wall of the cliff that extended high into the sky, and expected to start throwing up or getting a stomach ache. The meat was an alien monster¡¯s and he had just eaten it raw. But nothing bad happened. In fact, after a few seconds of waiting the only response from his starved body was a growl from his stomach telling him he had to be joking if he thought that small piece of meat was enough to satisfy him.

    He got to work cutting piece after piece from the beast''s thigh but always made them small enough to swallow without chewing. In order to not taste it, he focused on controlling his core and was surprised to see that foreign mana had entered his body and was being absorbed into his core. Just like his pathways though, he couldn''t see the pieces of meat in his stomach, only the cloud of mana that was concentrated in lumps where his stomach was. Adam focused on his core and how it acted to absorb the beast''s mana as he tried to manually control his core to only absorb specific clumps.

    This was no easy task as it was akin to controlling one''s heartbeat instead of letting it do its job on its own. Adam barely registered the fact that the available meat on the beast''s thigh was running out since he was concentrating on controlling his mana core. He moved over to the second thigh to begin working on it while almost on autopilot. Not even the hunger was really getting through to him anymore as his main focus was to absorb the mana clumps. He was actually devouring the mana much faster than with the fruit, which went to show how mana-dense that fruit truly was.

    This meat was definitely infused with mana but it looked and felt different than the fruit''s. This mana was much less compressed and was lighter than the fruit''s. It was almost white whereas the fruit''s mana looked more greenish. The core was also not having a tough time at all with it as it didn''t seem to need any time at all to digest it. He was even able to send out pulses of mana immediately after having sucked a piece of the meat dry which would not be possible before. Either his core had truly gotten a massive upgrade, or this beast''s mana was fundamentally different from the fruit''s.

    By this point, Adam had nearly eaten both legs to the bone and was absorbing the mana faster than he could get more meat down. His hunger had gone quiet and his core was much easier to control. He could now control what part of his body the pulses would be sent to and what effect they would bring. He was experimenting with boosting his muscles in between cutting off pieces of meat and was able to marginally increase the strength in one of his arms by pumping mana into it. When he was eating, he was able to dictate which pieces of mana to absorb first and how fast.

    The mana in the meat may not be as dense as the blue cherries but still started spreading across his body a few seconds after being consumed. When he was finishing picking the leg clean, he tried to focus on restraining his core to see what would happen. His core was the storage room for his mana so what would happen if it didn''t suck in the mana but instead let it roam free. He observed it for a few minutes until he came up with another theory about his magic.

    When he upgraded his core while unconscious, he did so by jamming a bunch of mana into his body that his core struggled to digest. Being in intense pain at the time, he didn''t have the patience to observe much about what happened but he guessed that the highly dense mana spread across his body since his core couldn''t keep up. This would have saturated his body in mana, just like when he first formed his core. When it reaches a certain level of mana saturation in his cells, something happens that triggers a sort of miniature mana black hole in the center of his body and forms his mana core.

    By that logic, if the same process were to happen again then that second implosion of mana would merge with the core and cause its mana capacity to be drastically increased, therefore upgrading the core. Adam was also pretty sure that that wasn''t the normal way to do it since the amount of pain he was in was no joke. It didn''t hurt like that when he formed his core so he guessed that having his muscles already pumped with his mana somehow interfered with the second mana implosion process, if not for the soothing and healing effect of the fruit, Adam may have seriously crippled or even killed himself.

    He was once again reminded of how precious that fruit must have been, since this new mana had no such effects. Now admittedly, this is only a theory based on incomplete data, but he felt like this was a real close guess as to what happened. The real question now is how to safely upgrade his core without causing black holes to form within him.

    Returning his mind to the world, Adam finally observed what he had been doing while focusing on his core and the taste of blood in his mouth finally registered. He always enjoyed solving puzzles and mysteries. If he had the opportunity to get higher education then he might have become an engineer. That is to say that Adam was always very good at hyper-focusing on certain tasks or problems while ignoring everything else. In this case being the alien monster he had somehow carved up and picked to the bone from the once thick legs to the beast''s lower back and shoulder.

    He had no recollection of ever skinning and craving up the creature''s main body but apparently he did. He felt full now and the taste in his mouth almost made him gag. It was most foul to say the least. Imagine the slimy texture of frog meat mixed with the intense odor of beef. The fact that the meat was raw only intensified the potent smells and taste of the beast''s flesh. Adam was about to get away from the thing when he realized something important. This creature was a mana beast since its flesh was saturated with mana. Does that mean that it too has a core? Adam turned it over onto its half carved up back and used his new knife to make an incision in the middle of the beast''s body.

    The sight wasn''t pleasant but his eyes burnt with the desire to find the truth. He had just carved up and eaten this beast raw and wouldn''t let something as trivial as rummaging around in it''s guts stop him. Eventually, he found what he was looking for. A small black pebble that looked just like his own core if a little smaller and darker.

    This was it. The answer he was looking for. This was how he would upgrade his core. He just had to figure out how to use it first.

 6 - The hunt

    Chapter 6 - The hunt

    Predators have existed since time immemorial, ever since life became multicellular. Billions of years ago, life developed its first food chain, predators that preyed on other living beings for their own survival and growth. This holds true even more so now in this alien world. Mana is the path to higher power here, predators have always and will always kill for power. If every beast has mana, hunting and devouring them is not only a necessity for survival, but it also carries the promise of greater strength. Adam was well aware that he was weak compared to the creatures of this world. He may have lucked into getting a middle-grade mana core but he sure as hell didn¡¯t earn it with his ¡°superior strength¡±. Just because he was made stronger with magic doesn¡¯t mean he¡¯s moved up the food chain. Even if he was the strongest bug in the world, what could that possibly do against an elephant?

    But Adam was determined not to stay a bug. He was never given an easy hand in life and he sure as hell never gave up back then so how is this any different? Sure, he¡¯s been tossed into a strange world of unimaginable terrors and death lurking around every corner, but he¡¯s still alive and he even got his own magic for shit¡¯s sake. He isn¡¯t going to die here. He won¡¯t allow it. He will use his new power and carve out a place for himself here. He will unlock the secret of magic and find others. He has no real desire to return to Earth but he instead wants answers. About how he got here, about magic, about what it can truly do, and everything there is to know about it. He wants to find a civilization that was built on magic and he wants to know what they have found out. He had so many questions but nowhere to start finding answers. ¡°Is this jungle home to some kind of intelligent race waiting to emerge, like the first prehistoric humans who lived in Africa, or are there continents on this world that are occupied by alien civilizations? If this island is only one of many then maybe there might be many other treasures like the coconut hearts that can help me get stronger.¡±

    He spent a long time pondering his next steps after eating the bladed mana beast and extracting its core. He pushed it over the cliff away from the ledge he needed to climb to get up so as to not invite any predators to his cave again. Adam was still wearing his T-shirt and boxershorts while staring down at the small black pebble in his hand. He had got it from the chest of the mana beast but didn¡¯t know how best to use it. He assumed other beasts would simply swallow it and absorb the dense mana inside as he did with its flesh. But Adam wasn¡¯t so sure that that was the best option. When he breathed in, mana from the air entered his lungs and was immediately absorbed by his core to replenish it. However, when his core was full, the mana wasn¡¯t sucked in anymore. It was like his core was ignoring it. Now that he had control over his magic, he tried to force his core to keep absorbing the mana as he attempted to manually pour it into his core. He was able to send it down without a problem but it never entered his core and instead simply floated around it. He couldn¡¯t figure out how to advance his core mana capacity if it wouldn¡¯t let him forcibly expand it to grow it. He thought back to the coconut fruit and how it worked on his core back then, but he was sure that only worked since it had to be some kind of natural treasure with healing properties. How were the other beings of this world growing and nurturing their cores?

    Maybe it had to do with the density of mana. The air had plenty of mana but it wasn¡¯t in the correct state. There is no point in drinking water vapers but you can eat ice and drink water, the form the mana had before being absorbed must be the key. Adam finally decided to just eat the beast core he had been holding in his hand and hoped for the best. He watched the white lump of light slide down into his stomach. His core reacted more than expected as tendrils of his mana began to spread across his pathways and toward the lights. It was being digested at a visible rate, his core seemed to pulsate each time the pulses retracted back to the core with the mana payload. This was definitely different from absorbing the mana from his lungs. His black core seemed to look like a black liquid as it moved and flowed within itself. It began to grow and its color was a lot less dark than before. It had finished absorbing after only a few seconds, which was a surprise but he didn''t feel any changes. Adam opened his status to confirm his fear.

    Adam Hartwell

    Mana core: [black - middle - (???)]

    ??? (???): [???]

    Spells: [ - ]

    (???)

    As expected, nothing had changed enough to be called an upgrade. But he knew that it had grown, so it was only a matter of absorbing more cores until he can upgrade. He needed more concentrated mana, and cores were his best option. The only trouble was that he wouldn''t be able to stumble upon dead creatures with their cores intact, he would have to hunt them. Adam was no longer bare-handed and confused in this strange world. He now has a weapon and a mission to focus on. Find and hunt mana beasts to upgrade his core. He simply needed the right targets. Adam was also eager to test out something new he had been working on.

    Many hours had passed but time seemed to stay still in this place. The now blue island was still enveloped in a light fog that was illuminated by the bright and shiny rings in the sky. Adam was on the hunt for something small that he could take on. He was making his way back to where he found the dead beast hours earlier in hopes of finding its kin. He guessed he could probably best one of them. Or at least, out of all the monsters he had encountered so far, they seemed the weakest. The jungle was as loud as ever so he actively stayed away from the loudest noises and instead focused in on a group of sneering noises not too far from where he got the mana beast. He came upon a section of forest that had rather distinct trees. They looked rather like palm trees, except with a deep blue trunk that looked a lot thicker than any earthly palm tree. What caught his eye though, was the green pear-shaped fruit dangling from the treetops. It was far too high to reach but was likely what that sloth beast lived off.

    He continued deeper into this part of the forest as the sneers now sounded really close. Every tree was a big fruit tree now and while checking the treetops, he saw his first target. It was just like the one he ate, only with a smaller frame and bluish fur instead of grey. It was hanging upside down and using its bladed forearms to delicately slice into the fruit, before sucking them dry of their juices. Adam couldn''t help the grin on his face since his theory was proven right. It hadn''t noticed him yet but Adam had no way to get to it either. The creature was well over 20 meters up the tree and he didn''t like his odds of throwing his blade claw. The idea was replaced with a simpler one. Adam looked around and found a rock the size of his palm. It wasn''t that heavy in his hand actually but he would still have a hard time hitting the beast with it. Currently, the beast was silently sucking on a fruit, oblivious to the danger below. Deciding now was his time, Adam activated his core and started pumping mana across his pathways and into all his muscles. He focused on that sensation of strength as his muscles tightened and we''re empowered. Once he was sure he had grasped it, he focused it all into his right arm and suppressed a wince as his arm lit up with power but also felt as though it was burning. His arm visibly expanded as his veins looked as though they would separate from his skin. When he couldn''t hold it anymore, he threw the rock with all his might at the unmoving creature and hoped it would work.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    What Adam was not expecting was for the creature''s entire head to explode on impact, sending chunks of flesh falling to the ground with a sickening splat. Its legs were twitching uncontrollably as spasms in the thing¡¯s body painted the jungle floor in a milky pink color. Stunned by the events, Adam barely registered the panicked sounds of its fellow beast hiding somewhere amongst the trees. He even forgot about the pain in his right arm for a moment. ¡°What the fuck was that?¡± Adam had expected to make it lose its grip and fall to the ground where he could then finish it off but now he was simply confused about how this happened. Was it just a youngster who didn''t possess a mana core yet? Has he really become this strong? Or had his trick of packing his body with mana really been that effective? He was broken out of his thoughts as the sound of steps echoed behind him. He turned to see nothing there, but then he heard the air above him and dived out of the way. Where he had been mere minutes ago was a large sloth creature staring at him with murder in its eyes. Clutching the weapon in his hand, Adam tightened his grip and moved to block the diagonal slash aimed at his stomach.

    The creature was down on the ground now so its mobility was crap. It did however have a surprising amount of strength for it''s short size and almost knocked the claw blade out of Adam''s hand. Adam once again pushed mana from his core but instead of forcing it all into a single limb, he pushed it all around his body. Time seemed to slow slightly as he avoided the beast''s second swing aimed at his left leg this time. He stepped to the side and in a dizzying motion, punched the thing in its ugly upside-down face. His entire body was reinforced with mana but the hit wasn''t as destructive as with the rock. The creature on the other hand didn''t escape unscathed, as it was sent several meters away with its neck bent at an awkward angle. Adam wasn''t too familiar with its abilities and seized the opportunity to finish it off with a quick stab in the neck to be safe.

    By now, the entire group seemed to have decided not to attack, since witnessing their buddy exploding, and another''s swift death after it¡¯s failed sneak attack. This decision suited Adam just fine as he cut open the sloth''s chest to extract the core. It was bigger than the first one he ate but not as developed as his. He had no pocket to put it in and didn''t want to eat it here in case of some complication he couldn''t foresee. He moved over to the other dead sloth. Or at least what was left of it. The damage was mainly limited to its head, or lack thereof since even its skull seemed to have been shattered and lay on the ground mixed with his blood and brain matter. He hesitantly cut into its chest but couldn''t see anything where a core would be. Feeling a little bad about the whole thing, Adam decided that this could be enough for today. He grabbed the corpse of the stronger sloth with his left arm and moved the beast''s core to his right. He would save this beast to use as a source of emergency food. He left the now silent group of sloths hiding somewhere amongst the treetops and went to get himself a new fridge.

    If this jungle had plenty of one thing, then that would be leaves. Big leaves, small leaves, diamond-shaped, oval-shaped... The only thing they have in common is their blue-green color. This meant that Adam had plenty to pick from. He found a few nice big leaves on his stroll back home. He didn''t dare stand out in the open anymore. The giant birds seemed to be a lot more active now and had a clear sight of the beach. Instead, he kept to the treeline and followed along the beach back to the cliff. He stopped several times to wrap his emergency food in the large leaves and used the blade claw to cut those smaller green vines he had such a hard time with before. The result was a bluish-colored mummy of vines and leaves the size of a child in his arms as he walked the final stretch to the cave. Once there, he stored it in the back and sat down to absorb the core. He had washed it in a small pond he found while looking for the right leaves and figured it would be more hygienic to wash it before he ate it. The thoughts of that raw carcass he was forced to eat resurfaced but he put it aside along with the gut-churning sensation that followed. Right now, he had to upgrade his core and figure out just how much stronger he had gotten. The fight, if you can call it that, was a huge confidence boost to Adam, who until now assumed everything was stronger than him. But was that really the case? Sure, the sloth didn''t have the advantage in the fight nor any time to properly react, but he could probably still kill them without issue If they didn''t gang up on him.

    He ate the black core and watched as it was once again devoured by the black hole in his center. Just like before though, the core was being changed and growing but it wasn''t enough. He needed stronger, or simply more of those small black things. Not wanting to be disappointed by an underwhelming hunt, he instead focused on his new ace. The mana strengthening he used to kill that young sloth. It was only logical that he could do this since his core passively strengthened his body with mana, so why not manually do so for temporary boosts of power? His arm was fine now but having forced more mana that he could comfortably control into his arm had stretched his pathways, making his arm feel like he had fire in his veins. It didn''t last too long though since he only boosted for less than a second. What was the real issue was that he reactivated his mana boosting when being attacked by the monkey. Pushing even a reasonable amount of mana back into the damaged arm was what caused the worst of the pain. Luckily it was only short-lived since his pathways seemed to recover rapidly allowing Adam to further experiment with boosting and be able to hunt something more rewarding than small sloth monsters.

    Until now, he had only used bursts of mana to strengthen himself, but he instead tried to continuously circulate mana around his entire body for as long as possible. It felt strange at first, like something itchy slithering just under his skin. He watched as his core continuously released mana and his body continued to be infused and reinforced. It wasn''t anywhere as effective as the concentrated bust but it was great for discovering where his pathways were located. His body seemed to be filled with white veins of flowing energy in his mind''s eye. His core simultaneously absorbed more mana to compensate for the expenditure since every time it arrived at his muscles, some of the mana dissipated and left his control. After following the path his energy was taking to circulate around his body, something else stood out to him. He immediately pushed his mana back into his body and instead sent a burst straight to the palm of his hand.

    Adam had always wished he could go around conjuring and throwing fireballs, and today may be the day as what he had just noticed was that his palm was the end of his pathways in his arm. It seemed like the end of the road for his magic since it dissipated once it got there. Adam focused all his attention on his palm and tried to send a long stream of mana to form a ball of magic in his palm. It was like trying to make a snowball without being able to touch it directly though. The result was a congealment of energy that looked like a ball of liquid light flowing in slow motion. It didn''t emit any light actually but it was a very strong white. He couldn''t control it easily when it left his pathways and floated above his palm, but he was somehow able to keep it together anyway. He didn''t dare stop pumping it with more mana since it was dissolving at a visible rate. Adam tried to grab it in his hands but it wasn''t a physical object, only a ball of energy. He wondered how he could launch it when another idea came to him. Mana is an interesting energy since it seems to obey his commands if he uses mana from his core. He can move it around and make it have all kinds of effects. It can strengthen his body and sharpen his mind like back against the sloth monster, but it could also act as a magnet to grab and drag down foreign mana he couldn''t control as well. Taking inspiration from that, Adam cut the ball''s supply of mana from his core and instead imagined his hand slapping the ball away. He built up a large amount of mana in his hand, but not to reinforce it this time.

    He angled his hand to stick straight out in front of him and to face the now-dying ball of white energy. Then with a mental command, he willed his mana to push it away. His stored mana burst from his arm, sending the ball flying out of the cave entrance and pushing his arm back from the recoil. His muscles weren''t hurt though, since the magic he released was only traveling along his pathways and they had become a lot tougher and wider ever since he almost died trying to upgrade his magic core. They had been stretched and stressed so much that day that they let him push far more mana into them than before. The result was a burst of pure magic power that launched the energy ball like a bullet into the distance. He had done it, a magic blast spell. He didn''t need to check his status to know that it was of extremely poor quality, but now that he knew how to do it, it was only a matter of time and mana until he got it working. He had used up about two-thirds of his core to make it work so minimizing his expenditure was his first priority.

    He had so much to do and test, what effect would it have on a living creature? Could he use those bursts to fly or at least increase how far he could jump? So many ideas and questions were swirling around his mind. He had a lot of work to do and many targets to test on. Adam stepped out for the second time today since he would have to find something bigger to hunt now. After all, no risk, no reward. But first, he needed to do a little bit of arts and crafts in preparation.

 7 - Mana sight

    Chapter 7 - Mana sight

    It was impossible to tell just how long it had been since Adam woke up in this exotic world. He must have spent close to a week unconscious in the cave. That being said, he was eager to get some new clothes. He has been running around this magical world in nothing but his underwear and his torn T-shirt. The air was cool and carried with it a fresh smell like grass on an early morning. The low light helped hide his underclothed body, but he desperately wanted a pair of pants and a jacket. Admittedly, his body had become a lot tougher now and the fact that he was walking around barefoot didn¡¯t even faze him. His skin had become thicker and more durable to the point that not even the sharper stones underfoot did him any harm. Adam had entered the limit of standard human capability since his core advanced to middle-grade. The next step would undeniably make him a superhuman as opposed to a very strong ordinary earthling. However, not needing clothes for protection didn¡¯t mean he no longer wanted them at all. He missed his pockets most of all. Adam decided that he should go down the survivalist route and use what was available to him in nature to create what he lacked.

    That is how we arrived at his current situation. He was out searching for some materials to craft a belt from vines that he could then use to attach pouches made of either sturdy leaves or carved rubbery wood. He already made a barely functional belt with some rubbery vine-looking plant and attached his blade claw to it to free up his right hand. That was when he discovered that not everything that looked like a plant, was a plant. A man-sized lizard was clinging upside down on the trunk of a large blue tree. It blended into the rough and uneven trunk extremely well and was staring right at him. He only noticed since he was playing with his magic to augment his eyes at the time. The two were standing face to face about five meters apart. The lizard was still barely visible to Adam but with his magically enhanced vision, he could make out its rough outline. To give you a better idea of how he had just spotted this crafty lizard, we need to understand what Adam had discovered about his mana practice not long before.

    For the past hour, he had been wandering the outskirts of the jungle while intermittently trying to improve his control over his mana and diminish how much was wasted when it circulated in his body. Adam remembered back to the fight with the Sloth, and how his mind seemed to have slowed down slightly allowing him to easily dodge and outmaneuver the beast. This gave him the idea to focus his mana on his eyes to augment his vision, similar to how it had strengthened his muscles which might allow him to travel throughout the jungle with more speed since he wouldn¡¯t need to keep checking for predators if he could spot them before they became an issue. He had marginal success at first as his mind began to work overtime to process his sight and time seemed to slow but it left him with a headache after only a few seconds. It would be useful in a fight to make quick decisions but not something to sniff out enemies. That was until messed with the mana to focus only on the front of his brain and his eyes instead of his entire head. Unfortunately, Adam was suddenly blinded by bright light encompassing his entire vision as if a flashbang had gone off in front of his face.

    Terrified that he might have permanently damaged his eyes, he stopped feeding his brain with mana and stayed still while his vision slowly readjusted to the dim light of the large planetary rings. The sounds of large creatures echoed across the dense jungle and in his determination not to get jumped again, he almost made himself blind. He reminded himself that magic is key, but magic is also dangerous. After his panic had passed, Adam had a surprising theory about what just happened. He hadn¡¯t often condensed mana into a specific area of his body other than his rock throw and mana blast. Each of those times, his magic had a much bigger impact than basic mana strengthening. What if he had done something similar with his mind just now? He remembered the feeling of being blinded by the white light but it wasn¡¯t because it was bright. It didn¡¯t feel like he was being blinded by a huge lamp but more that his eyes and mind couldn¡¯t process what he was seeing. The light he saw was reminiscent of the white mana clouds he could see when absorbing mana. Could he have attuned his eyes to be able to perceive ambient mana? If so then using magic outside his body would be a lot easier. After all, when he expelled the ball of mana back at the cave, he could only barely sense it after it left his pathways and his eyes only saw a very dim shape of flowing energies that seemed to slightly distort the air around it like a fire. If he could properly see what he had made, then improving it wouldn¡¯t be nearly as difficult since it would remove the guesswork from the process.

    Not wanting to incapacitate himself with another flashbang while he was standing exposed at the edge of the jungle. Adam sat down behind a couple of large trees and focused all his attention inward toward his mind. He carefully extended a strand of mana from his core and gently stretched it out to be a thin line that separated into two threads and connected to his eyes. The other end of that split thread was fed into his brain to finish the makeshift circuit. Nothing happened so far, since the threads didn¡¯t send any mana into his eyes and brain but instead acted as a new pathway. When he was satisfied with his handiwork, Adam started to pump a little more mana from his core and willed it to use his new mana bridge construct as it would any other pathway as he attempted to push mana through them. This didn¡¯t work as well as intended since his little mana bridge was made of the same white energy as the mana he was trying to push through. He had no idea what his pathways were, all he knew was that when he pumped mana out from his core, it naturally traveled across his body the same way each time. That made his body light up with white lines all over in patterns reminiscent of blood vessels.

    Since he was trying to make his own custom mana pathway, the only way to feed more energy past it would be to push the mana out of the way or go around it. Adam decided to push his mana along his construct as if it were a slide into his eyes and frontal lobe. Only a trickle of mana at first, but when nothing happened he pushed more. It was hard to keep the mana construct that connected his brain and eyes from dissipating as it required constant concentration. Splitting his mind to focus on the mana construct, the quantity of mana he needed to get from his core and feed along the construct, and the result in his eyes in the real world, was not an easy thing to balance and required several minutes to get the desired result.

    He had originally unknowingly attuned his mind and eyes to be able to perceive mana, but this sudden change overwhelmed Adam since his eyes could now see the abundant and ever-present mana all around him. He was able to fine-tune the process by using his construct to carefully recreate his mana sight with greater control over what gets filtered out. It was similar to squinting so only the mana of a certain density was visible. By looking down at himself, he was able to calibrate how much mana the new method was displaying. He got it to the point that it didn¡¯t register the ambient mana but anything slightly denser would show up in his vision like a ghostly filter. If he looked down at himself then he could see a small black object just below his chest. It was obviously his core, but he was surprised to know that his core showed up as a black ball instead of the usual white all the other mana appeared to be. He could sense it when looking inwards with his mind''s eye so it shouldn¡¯t have been too surprising in retrospect. Adam had essentially taken his mind''s eye vision to observe magic inside his body and extended it to his real eyes to be able to see the rest of the world''s mana.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    That brings us back to the awkward stare-off between the man-sized lizard and Adam. The lizard must have been using its mana to help blend it into its surroundings since with his mana sight, he could see a white outline of the whole creature. If it were an ambush predator then he wouldn¡¯t have been able to avoid it only hours ago. His mana sight didn¡¯t require much mana so he could technically keep it up forever, except it required active concentration to use. Before he had time to really think about what the next step would be, a strange sensation rang in the very back of his mind. He had a strong urge to see his status window and quickly willed it to open.

    Adam Hartwell

    Mana core: [black - middle - (???)]

    ??? (???): [???]

    Spells: [Mana sight - crude - common]

    (???)

    Adam finally learned his first spell. It came at the right time too but he would have preferred something to use offensively, to be honest. He grabbed the blade claw from his side and started circulating mana in his body. Ever since his mind received that strange sensation that indicated he had learned mana sight, Adam now didn¡¯t struggle to keep it active nearly as much. Whereas before he needed to constantly focus on how much mana he was sending to his eyes, now that crude spell seemed to have affected his pathways as a new path seemed to have been formed where he had made his mana construct. Essentially his wish of having a pathway there had been made real and he was too busy to question it any further. He gladly used any new boon that would help him survive this encounter. Having his mind freed up enough to focus on circulating his mana to boost himself, Adam only had to send occasional pulses toward his eyes and the pathway seemed to take what it needed to keep the spell active automatically. The rest simply stayed in the pathway near his eyes until it was needed.

    Adam wanted to strike first since he had no information on this thing, nor did he want to find out what it could do. He kept his eyes on the white outline and forced mana into his legs and arms. With a sudden burst of power, he rocketed forward with his blade aimed at the lizard''s head. He was upon it in the blink of an eye and slammed the weapon into what he assumed was its neck. The creature hadn''t moved since he noticed it and was too late to escape when Adam attacked. Its skin was hard to penetrate but with his currently boosted physique, it barely posed any resistance as he plunged it into its neck. Suddenly the world started spinning as the smell of blood reached his nose. He found himself lying on his back. He lost focus in the confusion so his spell was disabled. The lizard was nowhere to be seen but it must have struck him back as it fled his attack.

    He checked his body for the injury but didn''t find any. His chest was a little bruised from the hit but everything else was in working order. After that was confirmed, Adam got back to his feet with a jump and frantically looked around while reactivating mana sight. He thought he had dealt it a death blow but apparently not, since it was no longer anywhere in sight. Adam really needed a powerful mana core to advance and that guy seemed like a great choice. Adam had been experimenting with his mana a lot and one thing he knew was that anything impressive or powerful he could achieve required a large portion of his mana. If this creature could use its mana to hide its entire body then how big was its capacity? Luckily, it hadn''t completely gotten away yet since Adam noticed a few spots of mana-infused blood. He only saw them because he was recasting his mana sight spell and fine-tuning it to be able to better detect the creature''s mana. The blood was in a very thin line across the ground so he followed it as it zigzagged from tree to tree in the opposite direction he came from. It appeared to be looking for a place to hide or was simply desperate to get as far away from him as possible. Adam plowed forward deeper into the jungle in pursuit of his prey. He was no longer the weak and defenseless person he was when he first got here. The idea of venturing into the deep unknown of the alien jungle would have terrified the old him.

    The sounds around him were more intense here. Adam was following the lines of blood along the jungle floor as they became larger and more dense splashes. At first, the blood was like fin lines since the lizard must have been moving at rapid speed, now though the thing was obviously slowing down due to blood loss. It wasn¡¯t hard to follow anymore and before long, he found it again. It had stumbled its way into a large patch of greenish vines and bushes that seemed to form a dense wall of vegetation. The lizard was currently hiding inside this natural barrier ofter haven and pushed some of the smaller vines aside to squeeze in. Even with his mana sight off, Adam could have spotted this beast since it had blood everywhere. Its invisibility ability only seemed to work on its skin as its entire neck area and lower body were drenched in light pink blood and clearly visible to the naked eye. He was confident in getting its core but not stupid enough to rush in and put himself at risk. The beast would bleed out and be dead in minutes so he just had to wait.

    Adam carefully observed the desperate lizard when he thought he saw the vines move around it. There were so many different types of plants and shapes in the dense mess of vegetation that it was hard to really make out, but something long and green with spikes had just wrapped itself around the dying lizard''s neck. The creature weakly thrashed and clawed to try and escape, but it was to no avail as the magic that kept it hidden started to fade. The vine latched onto the lizard''s neck and limps and burrowed into its body, cutting and slashing it with the sharp spikes before plunging its vines into the wounds.

    The gruesome sight made Adam take a step back. If there are carnivorous plants that don¡¯t have cores, then he wasn¡¯t actually as safe as he thought even with his new mana sight spell. After a brief moment of fear, he tightened his grip on the claw blade and carefully stepped forward. He needed that core and wouldn¡¯t let some bloody plant steal from him. The claw he was using was great at cutting the local vegetation so he decided to see how it would hold up against these spiky carnivorous plants. When he got close, Adam noticed that the abundant blood from the creature had nearly all but disappeared.

    The vines seemed to be drinking it like some sort of herbal vampire and they developed a pinkish color the closest the vines were to the wounds. The lizard was dead by now but with mana sight, he could see that the core was intact. The vines looked very sharp but they moved very slowly as well. The was no way they could have caught it if not for Adam fatally wounding it. The question was, could he retrieve the corpse without becoming a dried-up skin husk himself?

 8 - Gray core

    Chapter 8 - Gray core

    The vines seemed to have finished drinking the large creature''s blood with surprising speed. Adam was now close enough to the vines and didn¡¯t hesitate to swing at the spiky appendages wrapped around the lizard''s limp neck. The claw was very sharp and combined with his mana-infused muscles, the vines were sliced like butter. They were about as thick as his arm, and pink blood splashed all over Adam as he carved through as many vines as possible. The cut vines slopped around on the ground in contrast to the amputated vines that didn¡¯t even react. A moment later, Adam noticed that the prickly vines he had cut were now repairing and regrowing at a visible and alarming rate. The lizard had forced itself into the mass of plants and only its front end was visible to him. With his mana sight, Adam could see the faint glow of a mana core inside the beast. There was no way to fully remove the lizard''s corpse from the grasp of the ever-growing vines, so Adam instead plunged his blade into the lizard''s chest and pushed his arm in to try and grab the mana core.

    The vines were regrowing above him and slowly descending in his direction. He forced his arm in deeper as he rummaged around the creature¡¯s still warm and squishy insides. With a final push, his entire arm up to his elbow was deep inside the dead lizard''s chest, he had managed to reach past its heart and down inside its ribcage until his fingertips finally felt the familiar sensation of warmth from the beast¡¯s core. With a hint of panic from seeing the menacing spiky vines approach, he tugged the small stone towards himself. As soon as he retrieved the core and a fist full of warm flesh along with it, Adam got to his feet and sprinted in the opposite direction of the large natural wall of green and blue that seemed to stretch as far and high as he could see into the jungle. He kept his mana sight active to avoid being accosted by predators but was now also wary of any carnivorous plants and spiky vines along the way.

    It took him some time to return to the outskirts of the jungle since he lost his way a few times. He went to the small pond he found last time, cleaned his bloody arm, and extracted the core from the flesh he had torn from the dead lizard. Having a better idea of what would happen when he swallowed it, Adam decided not to return but to simply absorb the core right here. Upon closer observation, he noticed it didn¡¯t have the standard black color but instead a gray-colored tint to it. This was a first for Adam who had only ever seen black-colored cores. It made him pause before he absorbed it, and he began reviewing what he had discovered about mana cores so far. You see, Adam has experienced magic with certain properties before, the coconut heart¡¯s water and cherries all had a slight green and refreshing feel to them. Normal mana however looked more like solid white dots like the sloth monster¡¯s core. Normal mana is what he used and what was abundant in the atmosphere but this core felt like it was a shining light. Was this an element affinity like fire or water? It felt like a bright light when he focused on the gray sphere, so was that part of the reason why it was able to hide so well?

    ¡°Did this guy use magic to manipulate light?¡±

    Was it refracting the light that hit its body with its light affinity mana to help elevate its ambushing abilities? That would explain how it got such a high-level core, nothing would be able to see past that trick¡­ Unless they developed a mana sight spell to spot the thing.

    ¡°Sorry little lizard but you never stood a chance against my awesome magical prowess¡±

    Mana affinities were something Adam had been very curious about since all fictional magic had different types, he would always go with the fire magic when he could since it had the most awesome and flashy spells. Who wants to be a shitty water mage and summon a pond when you can go around throwing fireballs and summoning wings of flames. That being said, he couldn¡¯t burn things with his mana but was that simply because his core was too low grade to use his affinity for the moment? The only time he had encountered mana with a different feel or affinity was this gray-colored core. The coconut heart was a special natural treasure so it doesn''t count as it wasn''t a living creature. Adam re-read his status screen and was very interested in this line.

    Mana core: [black - middle - (???)]

    He had wondered what those question marks were and why it said black. He now guessed that once he got his core to a high enough grade then it would evolve and change color, no doubt to grey, and that should also unlock his affinity as well. He then got super excited at the prospect of unlocking some sweet fire magic spells. He swallowed the small grey core but having the memory of the coconut hearts overpowered mana, Adam began to build a mana construct cage around the grey ball before it would get the chance to dissolve and spread around his body. His experience with ingesting highly dense mana sources was not a very pleasant one so he wanted to limit his risks as much as possible. He also knew that the fruit was a special case since the beast cores never spread their mana around his body but was instead happy to stay put as his core slowly extracted the mana for himself.

    ¡°Better safe than sorry I guess, don''t want that lizard to have the last laugh because I choked on its weirdly shiny magic¡±

    His careful approach did appear to be the correct choice but his actions were wrong. You see, he was correct in assuming the lizard''s core wouldn''t dissolve so the mana construct he tried to form around it, while good practice for condensing mana, was completely useless and easily dispelled. What wasn''t so safe however was the mana itself. Look, as far as Adam could tell, this mana was a slightly brighter white than the mana he could now see, breathe and control. Oh, how wrong he was. Looks can be deceiving and Adam should have focused more on the feeling he got from the mana. He was brand new to sensing mana, meaning he tended to pay close attention to its texture, movement, and look rather than something as arbitrary as a slight vibe from the magic energy. As soon as he allowed his core to reach out and start absorbing the grey core, his entire body felt like it was about to get crushed. It was like swallowing rocks as the mana had an immense weight to it. It was far more complex than normal ambient mana and since Adam was trying to absorb it as quickly as possible to get stronger, he felt as bad as he did when almost overdosing on that coconut heart mana. His only saving grace was that this pain was concentrated only on his core unlike when the fruit¡¯s mana had spread across his entire body. On the other hand, the concentrated pain in his core made Adam scared his core was about to explode. It was now no longer a small ball but had become a wildly swirling liquid that was barely holding together. With each piece of light mana being dragged down, his core became more and more chaotic. It was like a planet getting hit by comets and breaking apart into liquid clumps of magma and barely staying together thanks to the gravitational effect of the large debris.

    Adam knew that if the core didn¡¯t recombine then it would well and truly be destroyed. After everything he had endured, he wouldn¡¯t let that happen. He used all his willpower to stop attracting the foreign core¡¯s mana to him, and then he focused on trying to push the now disturbed black liquid of his core back to its original solid ball shape. He wasn¡¯t able to push it back together though since it seemed that some sort of reaction was happening inside the black liquid, and it moved in what looked like floating splashes and rotated around, it was reminiscent of when he stubbed his toe and hopped around the room to alleviate the pain. Adam then decided not to force them together but to instead control the movement of the black liquid. He tried to get them to all start rotating in the same direction instead of the random directionless jolts that had them splashing into other parts of the now shapeless core. It took everything he had to slow them down enough to impose his will onto them and get them moving in orbit around where the core was supposed to be. He got them swirling round and round until it resembled a donut shape. By now, he had regained control of the black liquid and the reactions they had after absorbing the light mana seemed to have greatly faded. He kept rotating it and forcing it closer and closer together until the center was filled with the core¡¯s black stuff once again. It wasn¡¯t perfect and it wasn¡¯t the smooth black pebble it used to be, but Adam felt like it had stabilized enough for the next step. He had a large grey core perched inside of him and was currently doing his best to avoid having his own mana go anywhere near it. However, this was his best source for advancement since the fruit, and he still needed to absorb it.Stolen novel; please report.

    The sweating young mage was committed now. He chose to absorb this different mana and now he couldn¡¯t back down. If he left it there then he would need to permanently focus on not absorbing it, since his core usually automatically sent out pulses to replenish its reserves from the ambient mana he would breathe in. Leaving the grey core as a ticking time bomb was not an option. Adam would have to consume it little by little. He didn¡¯t relinquish control over the still swirling and rotating core, he didn¡¯t want it to be blown apart again so he willed it to keep rotating and intertwining the black core into a ball of liquid strings in hopes that the constant movement and interlacing he was doing would hold it together. He sent out the smallest tendril he could manage towards the grey core and brought back a tiny chunk of shiny white mana. He brought it closer and closer to his revolving core until it was abruptly sucked in like his core had its own gravity field. He looked carefully this time and noticed that the center of his rotating black mass now had a small dot of light that appeared to be pulsating and swirling around the center of his core. It was resisting being absorbed and pushed back against the core every time it flashed brighter.

    Fortunately, the constant intertwined movement of the black core was working to grind it down until the light was snuffed out. His core looked a little less dark afterward and Adam was afraid it might have been burned by the light somehow. This seemed unlikely since he couldn¡¯t feel any heat from the mana but a sense of constant light. As if the mana was fighting back against being hidden inside the black ball.  That must have been why his core was almost reversibly destroyed when he first started ingesting the mana. It was not as easy to break down and absorb since it was a lot more dense and complex and had its own unique properties that opposed its suppression and destruction. He felt something similar when consuming the coconut heart since its mana was constantly rejuvenating and seemed to heal all his ailments. Normal mana was a lot lighter and easier for his core to use since it didn¡¯t have any of those effects. It was like the basic bland building block and all the other mana was something that took it and added their own effects and layers to it.

    Adam was now more confident in his guess about how to deal with the core so he continued absorbing piece by piece for the next few minutes. It was not easy since the small lights always tried to blow apart his core, but he doubled down on his efforts and managed to start condensing his core to resemble a ball of threads now rather than a black liquid substance. He imagined his core as an interwoven ball of solid strings and the imagery actually seemed to affect his core. When he saw it as a liquid, it became more like a liquid in its movements but now that he was doing his best to keep it all together, it started looking stronger and more compact. It was no longer a black color but now resembled a dark metallic color. He thought he felt something different with his core so he opened his status window.

    Adam Hartwell

    Mana core: [black - late - (???)]

    ??? (???): [???]

    Spells: [Mana sight - crude - common]

    (???)

    ¡°Yes, I finally made it to the late stage and I still got most of the grey core to absorb. I might get another level or two out of absorbing the whole thing.¡±

    He was elated that he had once again advanced but a sudden realization then befell him.

    ¡°Shit, the magic body augmentation¡±

    As far as he could tell, every advancement came with a greater magical capacity and with it, a round of magical body tempering that would increase his physique. But now was a terrible time for that, his core was in a precarious state since he was practically manually holding it together. If he relaxed his concentration the core would stop rotating and intertwining with itself, thus allowing the light to push it apart once more. He wasn¡¯t absorbing large clumps of mana so it wouldn¡¯t be as bad as the first time, but the pain alone told him that having your core get blown apart was very bad and dangerous no matter if it was fully destroyed or not.

    Adam focused even harder on the ongoing battle within his core as he attempted to suppress the mana pulses he experienced when he first got his core. If he failed then he would most likely lose control over his core due to the mental overload all that activity would cost. He was already getting a headache from forcibly ingesting small pieces of what was essentially small explosives. He noticed that the core wasn¡¯t actually trying to send out the body reinforcement pulse though. Adam was confused for a moment until he realized that he had been looking at this wrong the whole time. The core was his magic heart, it was what allowed him to absorb and store mana and what he used to make his spells. He had always viewed it as a tool given to him by this magical world and was using it as such. However this was his core, he was the one who formed it and he was the one who commands it. It was like any other organ, a piece of him that he had grown to understand over these last few days.

    The status window that he could summon that he got when forming his core made him unconsciously link the two as some sort of video game feature. But in truth, his core wasn¡¯t some preprogrammed video game tool with predefined available actions and routes to take. It was an extra part of him that acted passively to fulfill its purpose but could be influenced or fully taken control of if he wanted and had the aptitude and practice to do so, just like any of his other organs. His heart has always beat without him needing to think it, but with practice and talent, one can influence how slow or fast, and even have it beat exactly to the person''s wish. It all depended on practice and talent but it is still a piece of you and you are ultimately the one in control.

    Adam willed his core to reform into a more solid and stable ball and that was what the core did. He willed small pieces of the light affinity mana to be dragged in and absorbed and that was what happened, he wiled his core not to send out strengthening pulses right now and his core followed his commands.

    With newfound determination, he pushed on and started sucking in bigger and bigger pieces of the foreign mana as his core expanded and strengthened to adapt to the light mana¡¯s effects. He was determined to become stronger and unlock his potential fire affinity and he wouldn¡¯t stop until his core was grey or the grey core he swallowed was fully digested. And so continued the struggle for dominance within Adam¡¯s body, as he sat cross-legged at the base of a tree, surrounded by the undergrowth, not too far from a small pond at the edge of the jungle, the dim haze from the ocean was accentuated by occasional sparkling light coming from the bright rings only barely visible from under the dense jungle canopy.

 9 - Advancement

    Chapter 9 - Advancement

    Adam sat unmoving for many long hours as his internal struggle raged on. His core had relentlessly devoured small pieces of the dense light mana which attempted to rip his core apart at every step. The immense focus he needed to stop that from happening had rendered him completely unaware of the outside world. He had vastly improved his ability to digest the gray core¡¯s mana since he started and had now consumed about half of the lizard''s core. His own core was no longer on the precipice of collapse but had instead become a lot more resilient and increasingly adaptable to fight the light magic¡¯s properties and convert it for his own use. It now truly did resemble a ball of flowing steel threads and no longer got pushed back when the light expanded. On the contrary, after spending so long trying to devour the lights, the ball tightened its grip around the foreign mana automatically whenever the light tried to push back. It was like he had automated the core''s response after having done it so many times, similar to muscle memory for his magic.

    Adam was sweating and his body was lightly shaking with every piece of light his core was able to consume. He had no perception of his body''s external state though and only broke from his light-devouring trance when an odd but familiar sensation made its way into the back of his mind. His status window had just changed and he already knew why.

    Adam Hartwell

    Mana core: [gray - early - (???)]

    ??? (???): [???]

    Spells: [Mana sight - crude - common]

    (???)

    He had done it, he had skipped the late stage entirely and moved on straight to his first core advancement.

    ¡°Well I¡¯ll be dammed, this actually worked? I¡¯m surprised the different magic wasn¡¯t considered poisonous and slowly killed me. Although it technically nearly did by exploding my core¡­¡±

    His core no longer had its distinct black color anymore but was most definitely a grey shade now. He had watched its black color get washed away with each passing hour and fragment of the lizard¡¯s core he absorbed. The core had grown again before condensing and shrinking once again. It now felt like a brand new limb had been grown out of Adam. It was distinctly different from his first core and even the later stages didn¡¯t have such a drastic change. It was very difficult to finish the process of shrinking it back down when the core had started expanding. If he had failed to do so, it likely wouldn¡¯t have evolved into a grey-colored core. The hard part was over and he could feel the core searching for more mana. He allowed it to grab more of the now much smaller light mana reserves he had been consuming and was surprised when a much larger chunk than before was quickly grabbed and consumed. He barely had time to regain control over his core to stop its idiotic behavior when something happened that made him grin wildly.

    He had released his hold over his core to let it get back to doing what it does with the assumption that it would continue to act as he had repeatedly trained it to when consuming light affinity mana. He was very shocked to see it grab a chunk at least five times bigger than what he could safely convert before, but he resisted the urge to try to retake full control of his core when he noticed that it morphed and pulsated around the swallowed light causing it to be consumed in record time. The way in which it moved was a lot faster and smoother than he could manage with only his mental commands.

    It seemed his core had not only learned from his actions about how to suppress the light mana but could now actively do so without his constant and direct control. Was this what the system meant when it made the core upgrade, it not only increased the capacity of its mana storage but everything from his mana¡¯s pathways and the speed at which his core can move and make foreign mana its own had drastically improved. It was like he had suddenly grown a new fully functional hand to control his mana instead of the old limited and weak infant''s hand that his core used to be. It also seemed different in a more fundamental way, it was as though he could now change the mana he was absorbing before releasing it from his core. That extra step could give more solid direction to the mana and seemed to make it a true part of himself instead of something he simply had a hold-of. Whereas his mana was always something that was pushed or pulled around, now it was as if the core had marked it as being an extension of itself so all the mana he pushed out from his core was now easy to control and respond to his will like his core. Was this a step closer to fireballs? He made quick work of the remaining light affinity mana since his core was so much faster and more efficient. Despite having spent hours absorbing small parts of the lizard¡¯s core, his had only managed to consume about half.

    After his evolution to gray, Adam finished off the last of it in under ten minutes. His evolved core was no joke but his mana didn¡¯t seem to have gained an affinity. It was immeasurably easier to control but didn¡¯t look or feel any different. He couldn¡¯t help a tinge of disappointment from dampening his huge accomplishment. That was until his core started sending out pulses all across his body. Now that the foreign core had been dissolved and consumed, his reward for not one but two upgrades was on its way. The amount of mana that was being sent all across his body was incomparable to the only other time he had witnessed this happen, the first mana tempering session. He had held off from allowing his body to be strengthened but now that he actually felt his muscles become stronger, he was very much excited once again.

    Adam assumed that the level at which one¡¯s body is strengthened is determined by the core¡¯s capacity. His core can only hold so much mana and the pulses fade when the body reaches a higher mana saturation. Since his pathways had grown significantly and he had not only upgraded his core but also advanced it, the amount and quality of the mana was incredible. He watched in awe as the white strands made their way to his every muscle and seemed to make his cells tougher and denser. His body began to light up in white as his muscle fibers tightened and his bones became denser. Even his brain was being infused and his mind was sharper and clearer than ever before. It was like he had his head underwater his entire life as he looked around the jungle from his sitting position. The sounds, smells, and images were so clear to him. It was like upgrading your TV to high definition for the first time. His body had become even tougher and more muscular. He stood up after the pulses had died down and reactivated mana sense. He looked around with mana sight and found that adjusting what was visible was now extremely simple, he could instantly show only his dense core or allow all the ambient mana to be visible. It was like he was using a telescope and simply zooming in and out to focus on the different levels of mana density. Adam felt it made such a huge difference that he knew the spell had advanced. He opened his status screen and was happy to see he was right.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Spells: [Mana sight - refined - common]

    ¡°Hell yeah it is, my first spell is already refined only hours after getting it. Am I awesome or what?¡±

    He immediately started circulating mana and began strengthening his muscles. He pumped them full of mana, while keeping it from leaking as he tried to have his whole body strengthened in the most optimized and effective way possible. He was annoyed when he didn''t get the tingling in the back of his mind to indicate that his status screen had changed. Deciding to practice that later, he forced a ball of mana to form in his hand and was shocked at the difference. The first time he did this, he could barely see the thing and controlling it wasn''t even possible for the most part. With his refined mana spell active and his new highly controllable mana, it was as if Adam was actually holding a white ball in his hand. He could easily see through it with a mere thought since his mana sight was very easy to adjust but he was more interested in how mana leaked when outside the body.

    It was as though it simply lost its density and returned to the environment. He assumed the reason he hadn''t gained a body enhancement spell was because he wasn''t able to sustain the spell for very long even with his new core. If he could make his mana last longer without dissipating then he should be given that enhancement spell. He tried to condense the mana even more as the ball in his hand began to shrink to the size of a tangerine. He pushed more and more into it but kept it densely packed. When he had trouble adding more without increasing its size, Adam started to accumulate more mana on his palm. He spread it flat and piled more in until he couldn''t fit anymore either. Adam aimed the mana projectile at a large tree about forty meters away. He willed the mana built up in his arm to burst out and push the mana projectile forward. He wished for it to go as fast as possible to see if it could actually do some damage. The last time he did this, he shot it out of the cave and was unable to test its damage capability.

    When his palm released the stored-up energy, Adam thought something had punched his hand since the blowback was so strong. He quickly caught himself and watched as the white ball of densely packed energies flew straight for the tree since by some combination of heightened coordination from his core and a miracle, he hadn''t missed. The ball made contact less than a second after being shot and the results were underwhelming to say the least. You have to remember, this is a world full of magic since the very air is rife with the stuff. The result is that the vegetation is incredibly tough. Just like he was strengthened, so was pretty much everything else. That being said, he would never have been able to leave a scratch on that huge tree before, but the huge concentration of mana in the ball and the speed at which it was propelled let it fly straight into the tree and lodge itself three-quarters of the way through the trunk. A mighty impressive feat¡­

    ¡°Dawm, no giant cinematic explosion of wood and splinters? Talk about anticlimactic. I spent five whole minutes preparing that thing¡±

    Thinking about it further, he almost slapped himself for how stupid he had been. The first time he did this, he had no control whatsoever. Now though he could see and sense the mana even outside his body. Why would he still use the poor man''s bullet system with all his new improvements? Adam started forming another mana ball with a lot less attention to detail and without wasting time on compressing it. He would have no time to do that in a real fight so he pumped as much mana he could for a second straight then focused on his connection to the mana. It was now a part of him and he willed it to move forward. To his shock, the mana did just that. It didn''t move nearly as fast as what he had done previously but it instead moved about as fast as a ball can be thrown.

    Not quite a bullet yet but the awesome thing was that he could nudge it''s course while it was ten meters in front of him. This was a game changer for Adam, he could now see many scenarios where this method can be advanced and developed to be truly powerful. The small white ball dissipated after it went too far but a range of about fifteen meters was already impressive for the little amount of mana he had used. The first projectile that made a round tunnel in the large tree trunk was much more mana-demanding so he would probably only be able to make three or four before he ran dry. His lighter version on the other hand didn''t use up much at all and in fact he could replenish the amount lost after half a minute of simply breathing.

    Adam spent the next hour making bigger and smaller versions of his mana ball. He tested his control and how far he could extend his range. Adam was able to summon two white magic spheres at once and had them fly around him in opposite directions. Funnily enough, that was the hardest thing yet since it required him to stay extremely focused on both as they moved in opposite directions. It was quite confusing and if he slipped up for a second then the spheres would dissipate. The mental exercise was not only very frustrating but also the most rewarding. He was now able to conjure two mana bolts in under a second and have them fly around in completely different directions. His range of control was about twenty meters but his mana was very weak the further it got from him. Shooting his white ball into the ground in front of his feet would make a small hole, but doing the same thing twenty meters away and it almost immediately dissipates on impact. That was okay though since he would only get better at controlling and condensing his mana as he went on. His control was not very fine either since he could make general decisions about the mana but that was it. He could will it to move faster and swing left but he couldn''t get it to stop very fast or even make it turn in different directions. He was basically limited to throwing it in a direction and slightly moving its course half way through. When keeping the mana close to his body, his control was better but he didn''t have it move very fast either. Not only because the mental exercise required great concentration but also because having it go too fast would only have it fly away or slam into him. He continued his practice of refining his mana spheres until he got another feeling and excitedly opened his status window.

    Adam Hartwell

    Mana core: [grey - early - (???)]

    ??? (???): [???]

    Spells:

    - [mana sight - refined - common]

    - [mana missile - crude - common]

    (???)

    ¡°Mana missile? Guess that''s actually a pretty good name. Not much of a missile right now but it is only crude after all¡±

    Adam''s first offensive spell was a huge step but he then realized that he had come out into the jungle many hours ago in order to cut down some materials to use for clothing but he was so sidetracked by the sneaky lizard, the blood-sucking vines and then his burst of magical learning and advancement that he had completely lost track of time. He had also become a lot stronger since he left on this trip and his stomach was starting to feel empty again. Leveling up was hard work after all and despite himself, he decided to skip making his own clothes from natural resources, not just because he was hungry but also because he remembered what the spiky vines had done to the lizard and wasn''t sure what plants were actually safe to use. After all, just because something doesn''t chase him doesn''t mean it can''t poison or harm him in other ways.

    That coconut heart fruit was a monster magnet too. The thought reminded him that he would have to go back there next time, but for right now, Adam took out his claw blade and cut down some of the driest and flammable-looking plants and branches around. It wasn''t easy since this alien jungle had a distinct lack of any non-green or blue rubbery stuff. Even the leaves on the ground seemed to be made of a rubbery fiber. He nevertheless grabbed everything he could and made his way back to the cave.

    Sure, he was still only wearing boxer shorts and a worn and torn t-shirt but right now he felt safer than ever in his newly evolved body. He still took the long way down to the cliff as wandering on the beach still seemed stupid right now. But Adam was only looking towards the future. He would learn everything there was to know about this new world and magic as a whole, he would hunt stronger mana beasts from now on and he would start thriving in this strange and magical land¡­ But first, Adam has a neatly wrapped sloth monster to barbecue because screw eating raw meat, that was horrible and he swore never to do it again.

 10 - King of the weak

    Chapter 10 - King of the weak

    It took Adam a long while to get a fire going. He found that using his blade claws to strike against one another produced a small spark. With his augmented strength and reflexes, it didn¡¯t take that long for the blades to constantly produce a few sparks. The main trouble was getting the vegetation he had brought up to his cliffside to actually catch fire. They would probably burn fine in a hot campfire but it wasn¡¯t good for igniting it. He had found some dry-looking mushroom things growing on some odd-looking trees on his way back from the pond and luckily, the mushroom was dry and flammable enough to work as tinder. He simply broke the mushroom into smaller pieces and produced some sparks above it till it caught. When he fed the whole mushroom to the fire, the flames turned a strange yellow color and carried a faint smell of caramel. He tried not to breathe in the fumes, not knowing if they could cause issues for him, and continued to add more strange and unknown dry-looking plants and leaves to the small fire.

    He purposefully made it right outside the cave entrance in order to have a safe place to retreat to if something flew or crawled to investigate the smoke. When the makeshift campfire looked healthy enough, Adam went to get his stash of sloth monster meat. He once again started at the thighs as he carved slices of meat from the creature and pieced them with the strongest stick-like branches he could find. Most plants would bend and fold so it was actually really hard to find something resembling a normal wooden stick. He only had three of the solid blue sticks so he planted all of them on the ground at an angle so that they would dangle their ends over the fire in order to cook the meat he had attached to each of them, similar to roasting marshmallows.

    It took a while to finish smoking the meat, but it paid off. The meat tasted really great actually, especially compared to eating it raw. It was similar to smoked salmon rather than red meat. The food was the best thing he had tasted since the coconut heart fruit. The scenery barely changed so he had no idea how long it had been since he woke up from his mana overdose coma. The darkest period seemed to be over though. He couldn''t wait for the sun to come back. It wasn''t very cold but the constant ghostly scenery was starting to get to him. The noises seemed to be endless in the dim and foggy jungle. The predators in the denser parts of the jungle must be quite large judging from the occasional sounds of destruction he would hear way off in the distance. The jungle itself was unknown to Adam in many aspects. He had spent a lot of time in the tropical forest but never really felt like he was in any immediate or severe danger. He had only encountered one thing that he was always on the lookout for, and that was that terrifying giant centipede that had chased him all across the beach.

    He still couldn''t believe he had escaped that thing back then. He now had a grey core and with it, came some instinctual warriness from other inhabitants of the jungle. He had discovered that most creatures on the outskirts of the island rarely even had cores thanks to his mana perception. It would actually have been quite annoying since he couldn''t see them approaching. Luckily, they could somehow sense that he wasn''t an easy target and stayed away from him. He noticed a few bat-like creatures with wings like normal bats but also smaller wings on their legs. They flew and glided from the treetops but never came too close to him. Only one of them had a core and it seemed to be the leader. He was practicing his mana missiles at the time and resisted the urge to fling his spell at it. He may need to kill other beasts in this world to survive and grow stronger but he refused to go around and exterminate local wildlife. They were much like him after all, doing their best to survive as weak magically deficient beings on the outskirts of a very dangerous jungle.

    He hadn''t found anything around the outskirts he had been exploring that had anything other than a black core. That lizard was the only exception until he came along and ruined it''s winning streak. It appeared that growing one''s mana core is a numbers game. If you have a black core, you need to consume many other black cores to grow but if you have a grey core, the number of black cores you need is multiplied by a significant amount. Most creatures would only bother hunting beasts with the same or higher mana cores.

    That lizard was pretty weak but excelled at surprise attacking weak prey. It must have killed hundreds of black cores in order to get as strong as it was. The only reason why it didn''t seek out stronger prey was because even a black core could kill it if given the chance. In the game of magical evolution, this guy was even worse than Adam. He lamented his weakness when he first arrived and even after getting his core and being strengthened, he knew he still couldn''t compete with the likes of the giant falcons flying overhead or the freaky centipede that almost ate him. Until he summoned his courage and ventured out into the deep unknown of the dark jungle. Driven mainly by an unwillingness to lay back and die and his raging hunger, he discovered the sloths and how easily he could handle them. He hunted a huge lizard with much higher magical capabilities and his confidence grew.

    Adam wasn''t stupid enough to think he was the top dog in the jungle, he simply understood that he currently stood at the apex of the lowest-leveled part of the jungle. And that was fine for him, at least for now. He would need to venture further in order to hunt stronger beasts but having a safe spot to call home was his main goal. He had so much to learn about his magic and he didn''t think most creatures were as lucky as him to advance so quickly. He would need to develop real ways to protect and defend himself in his safer part of the island before putting his training to the test on dangerous creatures.

    But before more training on developing actually useful offensive spells, Adam needed to check out that special tree he had been avoiding. Its value was immeasurable but that was the reason he never went back. Something terribly dangerous must be up with that tree, if not then all those fruits would have been eaten by now. It was such a bizarre-looking tree and he didn''t see anything else even slightly similar to it after his exploring. He guessed it had to do with one''s core so he decided to put his theory to the test and finally see what was up with the mysterious broccoli tree. He wouldn''t go getting too close himself this time since he now not only had a core, but an evolved one at that so based on his current theory, that would be very bad for him. Instead, he went to look for his old pals, the sloth monsters. He did feel a little bad about using them for his experiment but he had already killed and eaten them so he is basically their natural predator in their eyes, might as well make the most of it and kidnap one of them.

    He didn''t throw a rock this time since he didn''t want a repeat of the last time. He instead powered up his new mana missile spell. The spell wasn''t very strong and the white spheres of mana he could conjure would dissipate quite easily when thrown away. This time however, he simply pumped more mana into the ball and compressed it into a tight white sphere. It would now be able to stay as hard as a rock even when thrown far away. Of course, the power behind it was limited so even if it would not break down for several minutes, he couldn''t send it far enough for that to be useful. What he wanted was for it to be as strong and dense as a rock but with the ability to hit its target without issue.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    He was going to try to knock it out with a mana missile to the head but instead had a better idea. He summoned and condensed a second ball and had them both fly straight up towards the feet of the upside-down sloth monster he had been spying on. The missile hit their respective targets with the force of a rock being thrown by a strong human. Nothing that would explode its feet but enough to get it to lose its grip from the treetops and fall onto its back on the jungle floor. Adam pounced on the confused fallen creature and bashed it on the head as it was trying to get up. Considering it was only an early black core, he didn''t use much strength but winced when he heard a loud cracking sound. He had underestimated how much stronger he had become. Having grown so fast with the fruit and light affinity grey core, Adam never really had time to adapt and experiment with the strength and capability of his new superhuman form. The sloth lay limp on the ground with an indent at the top of its skull.

    Adam was now feeling even more guilty since he didn''t want to kill the guy, and would have let it go anyway after knowing if the broccoli tree was safe to approach. With the opinion that many hunters have about not wanting to waste any part of their hunt to respect the fallen prey, Adam decided not to harass the poor things friends anymore and simply took the dead sloth with him. He would test it on the tree but he didn''t expect anything to happen. He could simply have another barbecue when he got hungry again so nothing would be wasted.

    Adam made his way back up the beach and towards the cliff side but instead of heading into his cave, he turned left and followed the stone walls into the depths of the jungle. He continued until the stone''s cliff was no longer visible over the sea of trees and continued on. When he got to the small path that led to a clearing, Adam stopped and used his claw blade that he now had permanently tied to his side with some long rope-like plant. He cut down a long length of blue vine and tied it to the sloth''s waist. He approached the circular clearing and halted before stepping into the open. It looked as though that entire area around the strange lime-colored tree with dotted dark green leaves, was part of its domain. Adam was about to find out how it protected its miraculous fruits from would-be thieves. He grabbed the sloth by its two arms since he didn''t want them to swing back and slice him when he threw it. He sent mana into his muscles and spun the body around himself as if he were a hammer thrower. After turning in place for a few seconds and with the sloth having reached a rapid speed as it orbited around him, he let go and watched as it flew into the clearing and continued straight for the large tree¡­

    And absolutely nothing happened. The silence was deafening as the sloth landed at the base of the lime-colored trunk and bounced like a ragdoll for a few moments until it simply lay there. Adam was looking intently at the dott-shaped leaves. ¡°So no poison or acid being sent towards the closest mana core? I kind of expected it to be some sort of mana core triggered poison within a certain radius, but I guess not¡±

    He didn''t walk forward quite yet however since he finally got a good look at the closest fruit and noticed a striking difference. The last time he was here, it was daytime and the tree looked like a broccoli with heart-shaped blue fruit hanging high up in its branches. Now that he was here during the day, the tree was a whole lot creepier and the fruits seemed a whole lot brighter. They were now not only lightly humming a pale blue but were practically glowing as if someone had decorated the tree with some sort of heart-shaped lanterns which had somehow all been turned upside down. They seemed a lot brighter than before and not just because the sun had gone down. A thought then suddenly came to him. When he drank all the sweet water inside, the blue glow of the honeycomb-patterned exterior disappeared.

    Were these fruits not ripe perhaps? If the sweet blue jelly cherries he found in the fruit were the result of the liquid, then that meant that the fruit might have only been ripe when they exuded a strong blue glow and were meant to be devoid of any liquid, only the much denser mana fruit''s inside. It made him re-evaluate trying to pick one again. If he could get his hands on a ripe fruit then a single cherry might be enough for him to advance his core to middle. Hell, he might be able to evolve his core again simply by carefully consuming this fruit. That would mean he didn''t have to go find more dangerous monsters to hunt for their cores. He could just do what he did before to advance his core¡­ Just with more precautions than before. He decided to conduct one more test before stepping forward and claiming his ticket to higher power. He pulled back the dead sloth with the long vine he attached it with and started infusing its core with mana.

    One of the big reasons he wanted a living beast to test against the tree was because a mana core becomes inactive when the user dies. That¡¯s how it can be absorbed by others. Mana seemed to be intrinsically linked to the person that formed the core. He couldn''t ever control mana that came from another being''s core. The user¡¯s wishes and willpower shape the mana of the person. If the person dies, the core is left with no directive, it always does stuff even when not being directly controlled, like absorbing ambient mana to replenish reserves. When the person or beast dies, so does the core. It doesn''t decay or dissipate but it becomes completely inactive, like a heart stops beating upon death, so does the core. If the tree only attacked creatures with mana cores, then having an inactive mana core is no different from being a harmless rock.

    If Adam temporarily infused his own mana into the creature''s core however, then the core would be forced onto activity by the very nature of its mana. He wanted to trick the tree into thinking this was a living mana beast going after its fruit but unfortunately, the sloth monster didn''t have a light affinity. In fact, it didn''t have an affinity at all so no reaction came from the core. Taking inspiration from his mana missile practice, Adam pushed mana into the corpse to locate its core and started forming a mana missile around it. His goal was to simulate an active core with his own mana.

    He was constantly pumping mana into the body in order to get its form to light up in his mana sight and then another idea hit him. Since this wasn¡¯t a living being anymore, he could use the mana he pumped into the sloth in the same way as he did in his own body. Namely grabbing pieces of the core and dragging them to his own to be devoured. That idea suddenly overtook Adam¡¯s entire concentration as he almost forgot where he was and why. He used a string of mana to grab a morsel of the sloth''s core while it was still inside its body and he pulled it towards himself and into the palm of his hand where it slid down along his pathways and disappeared into his core. It was so silly and obvious in hindsight. What was the point in cutting out mana cores and physically swallowing them when he couldn¡¯t physically touch the energies inside anyway? Not to mention swallowing something that had been lodged inside a creature was pretty gross even after being washed in the small freshwater pond. The only downside was that some of the core¡¯s mana would dissipate on the long trip from one body to another. It was a minor issue however as the amount of time saved far outweighed the slight loss in the quantity of absorbed mana.

    He was ecstatic at this incredible breakthrough but knew that it was only possible thanks to his grey core¡¯s new ability to control mana in a limited way outside of his body. He almost continued to test the limits of his new discovery and absorb the rest of the core when he felt a sudden sense of danger at his back. He dove to the left and rolled over and out of the way as he produced his blade claw and turned to face the powerful foe that had come. Adam was confident in hunting anything in the outskirts of the jungle but he was currently further in than usual and feared the worst. Adam focused on the area he had just been moments before and his eyes widened when his opponent came into view.

    ¡°Oh shit¡­¡±

 11 - Evil broccoli

    Chapter 11 - Evil broccoli

    Adam¡¯s grey core augmented not only his muscles but also his mental capabilities such as his senses and reaction speed. His refined mana sight could use those heightened senses to warn him when a powerful mana beast was close even when Adam couldn¡¯t see them. This was especially useful right about now when some grey-cored creature had tried to sneak attack him while he was occupied. His mana sight had saved him by warning him of a powerful mana core right behind him and he was able to dodge to the left with a roll. When he looked for his attacker though, he couldn¡¯t see anything. An eerie feeling made itself known deep within Adam. A sudden rush of fear almost made him run away screaming but he instantly regained control of himself and peered through the beast''s camouflage.

    There it was, partially blended into the surroundings, a black void filled with countless teeth was extracting its head from the ground Adam was crouched down on only moments ago. It must have powered up its long body to attack him and that sudden spike in mana was what he had perceived. Adam was currently in a less dense zone of vegetation but not inside the few hundred meters or so of no-man''s-land around the huge broccoli tree. Despite the tree not showing any reaction to the dead sloth, something was telling him that if he got too close then it would notice his core and attack. But the mysteries of the broccoli-looking tree were only a fleeting thought at the back of his mind as he gripped the claw blade tightly and prepared for the inevitable follow-up attack. The creature was quite slow since he could outrun it so Adam decided to fight his fears and take it out once and for all. The memory of this hideous creature has been on his mind a lot as he explored the jungle. It was the main threat he was on alert against and now it was finally here.

    It only took a second for it to readjust itself and start rushing toward Adam once more. Adam hated its countless little legs as they looked like a sea of infant limbs that had been attached to a much bigger body. The freak hurtled toward Adam as its body lit up in his mana sight. Adam sidestepped away from the large lime tree to avoid the creature''s horrible maw and swung his weapon down with all his might onto the creature''s back. The top of its body was covered in some sort of shell that he couldn¡¯t even leave a scratch on. Despite his powerful swing, the creature barely reacted and it was the blade claw that received the most damage. The shell was hard to look at as it constantly changed color and shifted to blend into the environment. It wasn¡¯t something he could break with his blade claw even with his augmented physique.

    Since his counterattack failed on the centipede, it tried to double back and dive at him again. Adam dropped the blade claw as it had a large crack running down its length and enough hit like that would only shatter it. He instead focussed on running away. He may not be able to kill it but he could at least live to fight another day. Not to mention that he used every ounce of bravery in him to face it and now that his weapon was done for, his fear was steadily rising.

    He tried to run in the opposite direction to the tree but unfortunately found that the creature had predicted his move and had already moved to intercept him. The creature was about thirteen meters long despite its comparatively slim width of only a little over two meters. Adam had dodged to the left of the creature when it charged and now that the creature had come back around, he found that his escape route had been cut off. He could run back down the length of the centipede but he would only be blocked once again by its long form. He had just been surrounded and the centipede was tightening the space between them. The thing that freaked Adam out the most wasn¡¯t just its many legs but also its extremely flexible body that could bend and snake at nearly ninety-degree angles. That movement was just too extreme for such a large creature that it gave him a shiver he could feel shaking his very bones. The only saving grace in this horrible situation was that it could only use its legs to move and couldn¡¯t grab him and hold him in place. That wouldn¡¯t last for long though if the centipede continued to move closer and closer to itself. He would be crushed against its unbreakable shell and turned into paste.

    The centipede wasn¡¯t exceedingly tall so Adam was able to climb over the top of its long body, albeit with some difficulty. But as soon as he had made his way over and put a single foot on the ground, that section of the centipede suddenly moved sideways towards him despite its legs facing the wrong way. Since its little feet were all composed of what looked like small green two-toed lizard feet, they could move very freely. The downside was speed since the creature was crap in a race. Adam was now coming to realize that its terrible speed was the tradeoff for its insane agility and freedom of movement. Its natural environment is the dense jungle so being able to run fast is pointless if you get encircled by a giant armored centipede and crushed to death. After being unexpectedly pushed by the middle section of the centipede, Adam almost fell flat on his face.

    The only thing that saved him was that same fear now coursing through his body that told him to run, to get away, that if he stopped moving for even a fraction of a second, he was done for. That same fear that pushed into form his core while being chased by this thing was once again hard at work. Adam stumbled but stayed on his feet as he pumped more and more mana into his legs to regain his balance and run away. The creature''s head was once again coming straight for him after its failed attempt to corner him.

    Adam was running as fast as he could but it wasn¡¯t enough. The creature was gone, he glanced back when he couldn¡¯t sense its mana strengthening and it was gone. He didn¡¯t stop but kept running. The thing was definitely chasing him but it was impossible to tell where it was because of its camouflage. There was no path or trail to follow so Adam simply ran in the opposite direction to where the creature was last, as he avoided various plants and natural obstacles. He hadn¡¯t stopped infusing his legs with mana since he began running but had to abruptly stop after about a minute since he was back at the clearing to the broccoli tree.

    ¡°How the hell did I circle back?¡±

    He didn''t take any abrupt turns or even run for that long so he didn''t know how he got back here. Before he had time to fully stop, he glanced at a moving shape in the distance and knew that the centipede had finally caught up. Desperate and out of options, he cooked up one last hail mary and kept running towards the broccoli tree. He kept glancing back at the creature giving him chase and could see its camouflage trying to match the constantly changing background as it rushed him.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    Adam was heading straight for the tree''s barren perimeter at a slower pace in order to let the centipede catch up. When it was right on his heels, he ran straight toward the broccoli tree and made sure the creature was still following him. He had only made it a few meters when a huge sense of danger overcame him. The strange tree was very tall and everything in the clearing was covered by its dot-shaped leaves so stepping foot in its circular clearing was to step foot beneath its branches. Adam was now only about five meters into the barren perimeter when he noticed something approaching him from above. This must be it, it''s self-defense system, but he didn''t want to stick around to find out what it did. He abruptly turned to face his fear and pushed more mana into his feet than ever before as his muscles visibly expanded and his veins became enlarged.

    The creature was barreling towards him at an extreme speed when Adam, who was still sliding forward despite turning around, pushed off the ground and jumped straight for the semi-invisible freak''s head. The creature''s body was so long that despite following him into the lime tree''s perimeter, over three-quarters of its body was still outside of it. That didn''t matter though since he would have to trust the tree to be able to handle this terrifying beast. Adam''s last chance at surviving this was to use an untested method of escape he thought of when developing his mana missile spell.

    Time was now moving at a crawl as Adam pumped every bit of mana from his core to make this work. He was currently only about a meter above the head of the giant centipede, and his jump would only land him in its maw if he didn''t do something. Because he was running so fast, the momentum was still carrying him toward the tree even when he jumped in the opposite direction. The movement coming from above him was impossible to see but it felt like his end was imminent when whatever was coming arrived. Adam had no other options right now so this was do or die. He packed all the mana he could fit into his feet and released it in one huge burst right before he began to lose altitude. Like some sort of poor man''s ironman, he shot away like a bullet with his body twisting and then spinning through the air since he wasn''t balanced from the jump.

    He flew so fast that it would have killed a normal human from the sudden speed alone. Adam was sent flying through the air like a ragdoll and landed fifty meters outside of the broccoli tree''s perimeter and well to the side of the centipede. His landing was not a smooth one either as he smashed and skidded into trees and bushes until his momentum ran out. His body hurt all over and he was out of mana. If the centipede came for him now, there would be nothing he could do.

    When Adam managed to regain sight of the centipede, what he saw was so confusing to him that he had trouble understanding. Had something else joined the fight? No, that was the tree''s doing.

    What Adam was watching was a mass of long and dark green tentacles descending from the top branches of the broccoli tree and smashing into the tough shell of the beast as though it were paper. The beast had obviously had trouble slowing down as well since over two-thirds of its body was now being ruthlessly smashed by the tree''s powerful extending leaves. What truly horrified Adam wasn''t that if he hadn''t zoomed out of there in the split second after noticing movement above, he too would have been annihilated, the mind-boggling thing was that the centipede was disintegrating right in front of his eyes. The dark green tendrils of the tree didn''t let go to strike again after slamming into the beast, instead they remained and the centipede''s body began disintegrating around them. In a few seconds, the dark green tendrils stopped their attack but the creature was already unmoving. It had hundreds of long dark tendrils penetrating every part of its body that the tree could access. Then it simply started disintegrating. With mana sense, Adam saw that the tree was absorbing its mana but also injecting its own into the creature. Within seconds, only ash remained and the long tendrils slowly made their way back to the top of the tree from whence they came.

    The battered and bruised Adam was too shocked to even register the various pains all over his body as he replayed the scene in his mind. That centipede''s shell was completely unbreakable, he couldn''t even leave a scratch on the thing but this plant had completely obliterated it. Not to mention the fact that it seemed to suck the dead creature dry before it disintegrated. It reminded Adam of the blood-sucking vines from before. That was when Adam noticed something else, the fruits looked even brighter than only minutes ago and now exuded a refreshing aura that pulled at him. His bruised and tired body was trying to move forward to grab one of the fruits but his mind was now well in control and suppressed the desire.

    ¡°You bloody evil broccoli, so that''s your game. You''re a life stealer, aye?¡±

    When the centipede was killed, he assumed it was to protect the fruits, but now he thought he understood better. It didn''t have fruits, only bait.

    When he explored the jungle, he found many patches of fruit trees that worked just like on earth. The fruits contained seeds and when those trees produced them, it was to spread those seeds and eventually form small patches of jungle filled with those same trees. It''s how they reproduced. This tree on the other hand was unique. He couldn''t find any plant or tree even similar to it. That reminded him about the fruit he had detached. Unlike the other fruits in the jungle, those coconut hearts only looked like fruits, when in reality they can neither spread seeds nor even be picked. Their fruits contained a mana-dense liquid with healing properties but no seeds. The stem of the fruit was completely fused and impossible to remove. He had to cut the fruit''s top off completely in order to get it and now knew why. It was bait designed to attract mana beasts and feast on them. It must have life affinity mana or something similar. If it can absorb the creature''s mana and turn it into ash, it must have power over life itself. The fruits glowed even stronger now and the tree was growing at a noticeable rate. He had assumed it was an old tree since it had grown so big but maybe its peculiar mana simply allowed it to absorb everything that was previously around it and rapidly grow itself as a result.

    This tree was the answer to all Adam''s problems only minutes ago but now seemed to be an impossible danger. There was nothing he could do against it and it would likely only continue to grow and become even more dangerous. The fact that it didn''t attack him before he formed his core means that it has some sort of mana sight to detect prey. If he had eaten those blue cherries directly after getting the fruit, then would he have been killed too? Adam resigned himself to the fact that he would have no easy way to get stronger. In fact, this taught him that everything strives for strength and survival. No tree would produce the fountain of youth for any to enjoy, everything is only out for themselves. He could really have done with some healing fruit right now since the pain was starting to get to him. He didn¡¯t appear to have broken anything but he would definitely have blue and purple bruises for the next few days. Leaving the evil vampiric life draining tree behind, he stumbled his way back towards his cave while his mana core was slowly being refilled. He had absolutely overdone it with that final blast and his every step felt like his legs were on fire. But he couldn¡¯t stay this deep in the jungle while being so beaten.

    He had escaped death once more¡­ For now.

 12 - Preparing for the expedition

    Chapter 12 - Preparing for the expedition

    For the next few days, Adam took it easy as he couldn¡¯t really practice with his magic due to him burning his pathways in his last ditched attempt to escape the centipede and the tree. He still hurt when moving too fast and his body was sore all over, especially his ribs which felt as though they might have shattered if not for his reinforced form. He spent his time carving different types of plants and testing various materials for crafting. He used a rather thick branch to make a crude water bottle by hollowing out the rubbery branch with the blade claw he got from barbecuing that sloth monster. The rubbery material wasn¡¯t easy to carve but helped hold in the water because he closed it off with a champaign cork-shaped cap that was a little bigger than the hole at the top and made use of the flexible rubbery property of the wood to make sure the drinkable fresh water from the pond wouldn¡¯t leak out.

    The carved water bottle had a wonky elliptical shape since he was using the curved blade claw and could only have a single hole. It took a very long time to hollow out but he didn¡¯t have anything better to do. When all was done, he was very proud of his functional waterskin and it was purposely shaped in a way that the top of the bottle had a lip that let him tie a thin but sturdy vine around to attach to his waist. As a result, he now had his own water supply on him at all times and it was resistant to being pierced or shattered.

    With that out of the way, he now had a weapon and a waterskin. His goal was to venture further into the jungle than ever before in search of stronger mana beasts to hunt. He was still only early-grade since he hadn¡¯t been able to grow his core since he evolved it. Stagnating his progress was a surefire way to get killed. The tree was growing rapidly by absorbing the life force of its surroundings and would inevitably start attracting more and more powerful monsters to it, which in turn would help it grow and grow. It was only a matter of time until this relatively safe area would be swarming with creatures that could sense the enticing mana from the fruits of the evil tree.

    Adam couldn¡¯t venture beyond the cliff side since it acted as a natural wall and the fact that the giant birds seemed to have made it their nests was a big deterrent. He had explored the surroundings for a few kilometers from the cliffside to about five kilometers down the beach. The pond was located about three kilometers down the beach from his cave and a few hundred meters away from a large hill near the treeline. His goal was to explore beyond that area to see if the wasn¡¯t a better spot for hunting in a more open space than the dense jungle. Currently, the only sure source of prey he had were the magically weak sloth monsters that weren¡¯t too hard to find, as they all lived around the same type of fruit trees. Finding another more magically rewarding species to hunt in a more open and predictable environment was his main goal now.

    He would set out as soon as the sun had risen again. It wouldn¡¯t be long now as the entire area was constantly bathed in a very bright yellow light from the sun as it slowly made its way up the horizon. In a day or two it should be back in the sky looking like the same large ball of white light as when he first woke up on the beach all those days or weeks ago. Between his superhuman body not needing as much food, water, or sleep and the fact that he had no idea how much time passed when he was awake or asleep, it was truly impossible to accurately measure time.

    His body had recovered significantly when he was attempting to craft a waterskin and Adam was now finally able to circulate mana once more. Adam wanted to have a good weapon on him at all times but his blade claw simply wasn¡¯t up to par with the type of things he wanted to hunt. It wasn¡¯t something designed for slicing flesh but for cutting tough fruits after all. He wanted to use his mana to conjure swords but he knew very well that if he had so much trouble with a small ball of mana then creating weapons was out of the question. That was why he wanted to augment his sloth claw with his magic to strengthen it and make it more deadly than it otherwise would be. Of course, this was easy to imagine but harder to do. When Adam used mana missiles, it required his deep focus to form and control the white sphere. Forming something other than a sphere was already really hard but making it follow the blade was unfeasible. It was impossible to combine the two in motion since they didn¡¯t stick together. Adam tried to cover the claw blade with his condensed mana but the blade was far too big and his mana control was far too poor for such a task.

    Deciding not to waste his time upgrading his weapon, he instead decided to adapt his mana missile spell to have more penetrating power. Instead of a white sphere, he conjured a rounded cone. He couldn¡¯t make it too sharp yet but he was making progress in getting it into a more blade-like shape. It wasn¡¯t strong enough to cut anything but once he got it into a longer cone, he was able to extend it into a primitive spearhead shape. He was making great gains in condensing his mana rapidly and into his desired shape. He continued his training for hours, only stopping when his mana ran out. He considered making clothing but his body was so tough now that it wouldn¡¯t help him. He had become used to moving around silently in the jungle and wearing poorly crafted clothing would only dampen his abilities.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Adam hadn''t experienced any wind or rain so far and he had no real reason or need for clothes. He was alone after all and he had taken off his t-shirt when he got back from the broccoli tree since it was ripped and dirtied beyond repair. His hair was short and his clean-shaven face didn¡¯t need much attention so he could wash himself with water from the ocean without actually going in it. His hesitation mainly came from his lack of knowledge of what could be living in it. He glimpsed a tentacle of some kind when he first woke up on the beach and hadn¡¯t dared approach it since. He didn¡¯t want to go bathing in the pond since it was quite shallow and was his only source of drinkable water.

    It was a few days later when the sunrise had passed and was now shining bright above the horizon that his preparations bore fruit. He had been working on strengthening his body and mind with mana as well as forming blades from his magic. The majority of the work was done on condensing the mana into a physical form that could stab into the trees he was practicing on without immediately dissipating. It wasn¡¯t too hard to do, but he was trying to speed up the time needed to form good quality blades. The fastest he was able to conjure a blade that was durable enough to stab into the target tree without dissipating was around fifteen seconds.

    That was while also having mana strengthening active on his brain to augment his focus. He sent the hand-sized white spearhead-shaped blade shooting faster than ever before toward a poor tree. When it impacted, he called it back to him and it returned without dissipating. This was a huge milestone for Adam since it was the first time he had conjured a reusable weapon. A tingling in his mind told him that it wasn¡¯t just impressive to him but the system agreed too.

    Adam Hartwell

    Mana core: [grey - early - (???)]

    ??? (???): [???]

    Spells:

    - [mana sight - refined - common]

    - [mana blades - crude - uncommon]

    (???)

    ¡°What? Oh, yes, mana blades, that is what I call an offensive spell. Move over stupid spell for throwing white balls, knife conjuring is in the building!¡±

    The mana missile spell was replaced with mana blades. It was still only considered a crude spell but was now ranked as uncommon. He tested it out and found that he was still perfectly able to conjure the white spheres. In fact, the spell seemed to help him in his control of mana and the speed at which he could condense it. He formed another blade of white mana and was able to compress it in about ten seconds. It was sharper looking and could penetrate even further into the tough tree trunk. It didn¡¯t dissipate either meaning the difference between using a spell and simply manhandling the magic was quite significant. Conjuring two blades at the same time wasn¡¯t possible though. He could have his blade float around him while he conjured a second, but having to split his attention meant that the amount of damage they could do was drastically reduced. For now, he was better off simply conjuring a single solid blade of white mana, rather than his dream of being surrounded by a hundred magic blades while he heroically traveled throughout the wild. The fact that he now had a long-range attack spell did put his mind at ease somewhat but the real goal was always the body enhancement. If having a spell is so much more powerful than mentally commanding the magic at every step then he really needed it for his own body fortification.

    The sun was now well over the horizon and he knew that he had a tendency to stall in order to avoid difficult tasks. He got to his feet and reminded himself of his conviction, that when the sun rose once more he would make his way beyond the beach he had explored so far. Body enhancement spell or not, the time had come. He was happy with what he had gotten so far but the frustration of not knowing what he was doing wrong did slightly anger him. This stupid system would judge his control over magic and award him with slightly improved editions as a spell. Yet he had been using body augmentation more than any other spell and it still wasn¡¯t recognized.

    He didn¡¯t understand what this system was or what it actually did. It had somehow changed his pathways before and seemed to have done the same thing again to improve the speed at which mana could be sent through his pathways and condensed into his new blades. There was no way of learning anything about it right now so he tried to focus on something he could actually understand somewhat, magic.

    That¡¯s his main goal after all so he grabbed his waterskin and claw blade, which was still useful to him even with his new spell. For cutting his way through the jungle and carving meat and the like, his spell would only be used for hunting. With all his meager possessions strapped to him, he walked away from his cave not knowing when or if ever he would return.

 13 - Purpose

    Chapter 13 - Purpose

    The island was fairly flat for the most part. There were elevated sections of the jungle but nothing too uneven. The only barriers he had encountered within the jungle were the series of ever-larger hills close to the pond and the giant natural wall that sectioned off the jungle. His goal was to climb over the large hills near the pond and discover what lay beyond. It didn¡¯t take him long to make his way back to the pond but climbing over the many overlaying hills was a different story.

    The first hill seemed to be made of simple dirt and was the same as the rest of the jungle with many plants and trees. Once he made it to the top of that first hill, he saw that this was only the first step towards his goal as an entire mountain of overlapping hills lay before him. The higher he climbed, the more rock he started to see. Unlike the stone cliffs, this huge mountain of superimposed hills was as equal parts large as it was tall. From his previous vantage on the beach, he wasn¡¯t able to see any large mountains or other landmarks in the distance, the jungle was too tall and thick but that was obviously false since he had spent the better part of six hours climbing one hill after another.

    There were many trees and tall plants all around him so he couldn¡¯t properly tell how far up he had gone. His legs were aching from his constant uphill journey and Adam decided to rest for a bit. The trees were different from those near the beach as they didn¡¯t resemble the typical large palm trees he would see down at the beach. This tree had more branches and they were low enough that he could reach them. He hadn¡¯t seen any wildlife on his way up but this terrain extended far into the horizon so the was a high likelihood that some mana beasts were native to these hills just like those sloth monsters that inhabited the peer-producing fruit trees near the beach.

    He was moving higher and deeper into the unknown of the island since he could no longer even see the ocean from his higher vantage point. This was the furthest he had ever gone into the island and he was quite nervous, to say the least. Despite the many hours that had passed, he was still on high alert for predators lurking on the steep incline. Now and then, the steep hill would flatten out into a flourishing forest or meadow.

    The hills acted like giant rounded steps with a new dominant group of vegetation on every step. Sometimes a certain tree would be dominant or sometimes there were almost no trees and simply grass and bushes. The higher he went the less recognisable the plants would be to him. He was currently resting on a patch of grass surrounded by what looked like fruit trees. They looked very earth-like in their shape but the green trunk didn¡¯t let him forget that this wasn¡¯t Earth. The fruits appeared to be some sort of grapefruit in both appearance and surprisingly, taste.

    Adam used his mana blade to cut down a few of the largest fruits with ease. He was glad to have his new spell, as his legs needed rest, and climbing the tall trees would have been too annoying. He had been using mana enhancement on himself intermittently. Mainly focusing his magic on his feet since he didn¡¯t want to deplete his magic reserve too much in case he ran into something he would need to fight. The fruits were nice and refreshing but nothing magical. He couldn¡¯t sense any mana in them so the broccoli tree was probably a very rare phenomenon. He was about to continue his climb when he heard a rustling in the bushes quite a distance to his right.

    The somewhat flat area he was sitting on didn¡¯t extend all over. This wasn¡¯t like some sort of pyramid with a sure and defined platform on every level. The terrain was very bumpy and unmarked. He hadn¡¯t been walking in a straight line up the hills but had snaked his way to avoid large stone outcroppings and other natural obstacles like dense forests and unstable ground. As a result, he hadn¡¯t been aware of the situation beyond the large trees and dense rock and vegetation to his right. He had written it off as a natural obstacle and had planned to skirt around the patch of fruit tree and up onto the less dense path that led higher up the hill.

    The noise he had heard came from that dense and uneven terrain he had until now ignored. What emerged from the bush was what looked to be a sort of Ferret or Weasel. It had a black fur coat and white around its eyes, chin, and belly. Adam and the small dog-sized creature locked eyes and each examined the other. The creature had no fear in its eyes but rather an intelligent gleam. It looked at the fruit on the ground and back up at Adam then cocked its head. Adam wasn¡¯t sure what to do.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    It didn¡¯t seem to be dangerous and his mana sight told him it was likely only a black core. He simply awkwardly stood there and stared at the cute creature. He had no thoughts of attacking it nor did he think it would attack him. After seeing it look back down at the fruit on the floor, Adam decided to see if the cute thing wanted his grapefruit. He didn¡¯t want to scare it away so he moved slowly and threw a small chunk of the fruit halfway between him and the Weasel. He stepped back and raised his hands as he gestured for the thing to take it.

    The creature hesitated for a few seconds before carefully moving to eat the tossed fruit. It ate the piece of fruit in the blink of an eye and looked expectantly back over to Adam. For the first time in a long time, Adam smiled and let all his fear and dread wash away as he watched the cute weasel. Over the next few minutes, he would give the creature more and more fruit as he got closer and closer. Eventually, he reached over and lightly caressed the weasel''s black-coated fur. It didn¡¯t seem to mind at all as it feasted on the already cut and peeled grapefruit on the ground.

    It was like a pet, completely unbothered by the human stroking it. Adam thought back to the cat he had as a child when his mother was alive. It too was a black and white furball that let him snuggle it whenever he got back from kindergarten. The memory of his happy youth before his mother''s passing acted like a burst dam as all the emotions he had been working so hard to suppress suddenly came pouring out.

    He thought about his mother''s warmth and his father''s stupid jokes. His father became more distant as time went on but Adam knew it was because losing his mother broke him. He thought about his friends at school that he hadn¡¯t spoken to in years. He had isolated himself in his later teen years and took up drinking at an early age. He remembered his whole life and realized how stupid he was for wasting it. He never tried to make friends or travel the world. The only person who would know he was missing was his landlord when the rent was due.

    Sitting down next to the cute weasel, he remembered his crappy life choices and regretted how he always tried to isolate himself when things got tough. He never would have thought that he would miss seeing another person''s face. He used to actively avoid people even when working, but now he was alone with no one to talk to.

    His eyes were watering from the sudden overload of memories but it was bound to happen. He had been repressing his emotions and focusing on one goal or the other. His magic was a great source of distraction. But admitting he can¡¯t ever go back to Earth and facing the truth that despite his new powers, it wouldn¡¯t change anything was what he had tried desperately to avoid.

    Aam spent a few long minutes simply thinking everything over in his mind while occasionally stroking and feeding the weasel. When it stopped eating, he got to his feet and watched it gently stroll back the way it came. Adam couldn¡¯t help but smile at the adorable little thing. He had long since associated this world with death and horror, even the tree that grew healing fruits and first gave him magic was actually a monster of death. The giant centipede, huge ambush lizard, and flying death birds were all capable and willing to devour him without a second thought.

    But that isn¡¯t all that this world has, it has a beautiful sky that lights up the world even at night. Its plants are quite literally magical and produce all sorts of exotic fruits. Some of the creatures are predators but others are herbivorous and live off the plants and fruits. Just because this world has dangers doesn¡¯t mean it isn¡¯t also an amazing opportunity. The only thing left on Earth for him was sad memories and regrets.

    However he got here and for whatever reason, he was the first person to set foot on an alien planet and it has forever changed him. He has developed a magic core and even formed his own spells. He had to believe that civilization existed somewhere in this world. It was already so similar to Earth with trees and animals that having intelligent life capable of forming civilizations was a real possibility.

    ¡°If I suddenly woke back up on earth, what would I think?

    I guess I would want to come back here¡­¡±

    With his mind made up once and for all, Adam moved on with a new determination on his face. No longer would he occupy his mind with magic research in order to avoid thinking about home. Now he will explore and discover everything there is to know about this place including finding any traces of potential civilization. He would do this because he wants to know, this is his calling in life.

    He finally found a purpose for the first time in his life. One that would make his mother proud and that he is genuinely obsessed with. His problem-solving and adventuring traits would be put to full use as he explores where no man has ever gone before. Adam was no longer a victim of a bizarre event but was now a pioneer in this new world and would continue on with his first steps into magic.

 14 - The plains

    Chapter 14 - The plains

    Adam spent several days climbing the hills while eating the various fruits he found along the way. He stayed clear of any strange berries or sour fruits. The sweet-tasting fruits he picked from the trees didn¡¯t have any bad reaction to him so he didn¡¯t want to push his luck by eating other random berries that might be poisoned.

    He eventually made it high and far enough that he was no longer on an inclined slope since the hill had started to flatten out. For the first time since he started his journey up from the island, he saw not only grass but an open area with huge grass plains.

    The scenery was reminiscent of the great African savannas. He had climbed far and high from the beach¡¯s tropical jungle and the climate had become warmer and drier the higher he climbed.

    The tropical palm trees and vines were nowhere to be found up here. Replaced by denser, more solid wood with more common-looking shapes with multiple branches. Those huge trees weren''t as densely packed since the open fields extended as far as he could see. The tall yellowed grass was another factor that reminded him of the savannah, and also its wildlife.

    He could see a herd of some sort of bison or large brown cows. It was hard to make out from far away. They seemed to be bigger than cows and were eating the plentiful tall grass. This grassland extended for as far as he could see into the horizon. You have to understand that this place Adam had assumed to be an island was truly massive. It was still possible for this to be an island, but the more Adam saw his surroundings, the more he began to believe he was actually on an entire continent.

    Adam had spent several days making his way up and across the jungle and had watched the scenery gradually change right in front of his eyes.

    He had moved a lot faster than any normal person could. His magically reinforced muscles and already super human-level body made him as fast as a car without much effort. The time needed for a normal hiker to travel all this way was probably over a month.

    As a result, he was well and truly in a different climate and environment. The birds he would see flying above his cliff didn¡¯t seem to venture this far out. That was good news for Adam since he had only been protected from them so far thanks to the dense jungle. This open environment with only sparse tree coverage would be a perfect hunting ground for the flying predators.

    That then raised another question. If the birds don¡¯t hunt here and can¡¯t hunt in the jungle, then where do they find food? It was another reminder of how huge this place was.

    The path he took seemed to be a shortcut out of the jungle but he had only explored a tiny corner of the tropical environment.

    The other side of the cliff, or what lay above it was still a mystery to him. For all he knew, the cliffside was the true ground floor for most mana beasts and his little beachside spot was the lowest and most mana-poor region.

    Adam still had most of his water left since he had made use of the many juicy fruit trees for sustenance so far. That being said, he couldn¡¯t see any water anywhere in the grasslands. He would have to travel further in since the herd of mana buffalo had to have a way to drink water.

    He tried to avoid the tallest grass patches as he made his way closer to the herd. He didn¡¯t want to get jumped by some equivalent of a leopard or a pack of lions.

    When he was close enough to properly use mana sight, he looked at the large gathering of brown beasts in the distance and was surprised by what he saw. A sea of grey and red met his eyes as the herd lit up in bright colors.

    This was the first time he had ever seen a red-colored mana core. By looking closer, he could see that the smallest calves were all black, and the adolescents were grey. The bigger ones had red cores but he did also notice a handful of orange-colored cores.

    This was the most amount of magic core evolution knowledge he had gotten so far. Based on the amount and look of the red core beasts, red was the next step after grey. Orange was the rarest so that must be the evolution of red.

    The real question was how they all evolved their cores if they didn¡¯t hunt other mana beasts. The answer was obvious from their behavior.

    The fact that you can tell what level their cores are simply by observing their appearance suggests that they evolved in a constant and linear way. Their core level corresponds to their age and physical strength. They seemed to only be interested in eating the tall grass so they must be somehow absorbing mana from it.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    This was a surprise to Adam since he couldn¡¯t see any mana in the grass with his mana sight spell. He dialed up how much mana was used in the spell and was able to see that a small amount of mana was all over the place. The grass indeed had a very small amount of pure white mana in it, but it was only slightly more condensed than the ambient mana.

    The was no way that Adam could get anything from that tiny amount of mana even if he spent the rest of his life chewing the tall yellow grass.

    ¡°I guess magic isn¡¯t the only superpower in this world. Evolution is still as powerful as ever.¡±

    It was only natural that different species would develop different abilities for survival. It was the same on Earth and having magic only seemed to put evolution into overdrive since things that wouldn¡¯t be possible now became simple.

    Adam thought back to that perfectly invisible lizard in the jungle. It probably had an innate camouflaging ability, but injecting mana into that racial feature brought it to a whole other level of functionality.

    Adam assumed the grey core simply had a huge mana capacity, but that wasn¡¯t the case since he had already experienced its limits when using body reinforcement and even the mana blade spell would drain him when running for long durations.

    Having natural abilities augmented with mana was an obvious thing to happen but Adam hadn¡¯t thought about it before. He didn¡¯t have a huge biological advantage over the other animals. All humans had to go for them was their brains¡­

    ¡°Wait a minute, can mana beasts use a spell? Do they even have the system window?¡±

    He of course knew that they could augment themselves with mana just like him, but he had never seen anything use mana spells or attacks outside of their bodies.

    Was this his biologically given power? The ability to create new ways to use mana with his higher intelligence?

    The idea didn¡¯t seem that far-fetched. This would be a huge advantage for Adam. But then again, not all animals were dumb just because they hadn¡¯t built a worldwide civilization. The intelligent glim in the weasel''s eyes reminded Adam of the scary side of this theory.

    Adam remembered that dolphins had their own language and social structures. They were extremely intelligent and could learn faster than most humans. The same for octopuses, whose problem-solving skills were exceedingly better than those of us hairless apes.

    If the less intelligent beings can use mana as a boost to themselves and the more intelligent can use it in a more sophisticated and advanced way, then humans probably won¡¯t stand a chance. We are neither the most intelligent nor the strongest.

    He was broken out of his thoughts when a loud cacophony of noises could be heard off in the direction of the buffalo herd. He was still a distance away but the sight of the hundreds or even thousands of brown creatures stampeding was hard to miss.

    Something had gotten them seriously riled up and he soon found out what. A pack of what was probably the equivalent of lions in the food chain had emerged from behind the large herd and was chasing them in a weaving pattern, no doubt trying to split individuals away from the main group.

    These predators didn¡¯t resemble felines but instead looked more like dinosaurs. Their lizard-like heads with sharp pointed teeth reminded Adam of large velociraptors. They had striped white and yellow patterns across their bodies and were as tall as a person and as large as a car.

    Adam didn¡¯t worry about being in danger since he was still a few kilometers away even if the land was very flat and without much cover. It felt like he had been thrown back in time to the Jurassic period as the swift velociraptors ran between the young buffaloes and occasionally let out screeching noises to guide the stragglers away from the herd.

    He used mana sight to see how strong the new arrivals were and was surprised to see that they were only grey cores. Most of the adults of the herd were red so he assumed the raptors would have red cores too.

    After the initial panic from the herd, they stopped running away and instead packed closer together with all the red cores forming a wall of buffaloes with the grey and black cores at the center. The raptors weren¡¯t bothered by this since they had managed to get two unlucky grey cores to stray far enough from the herd that the dozen raptors were able to slash and bite them until they died.

    The raptors took their time since they had blocked off the escape route and had surrounded the distressed creatures. The herd didn¡¯t come to help and Adam even spotted the orange core from before standing at the vanguard of the buffalo wall.

    It seemed that the herd decided to abandon its two grey cores, instead of trying to fight. The raptors might not have the strength to kill the stronger buffaloes but they could easily run laps around them and slowly inflict more and more wounds on the bigger and bulkier creatures.

    Adam watched for many minutes as the raptors started slicing and feasting on the fallen buffaloes right in front of the herd. They remained in a defensive position for as long as the raptors were nearby. Neither side went anywhere near the other after the two grey cores were slain.

    The raptors did try to fight among each other, no doubt about who would devour the cores. The biggest raptors were the ones that ate them and a large portion of the flesh, leaving the others to eat what was left. This wasn¡¯t a great plan for the smaller raptors but they didn¡¯t get into any serious fights, a large screech and a showing of teeth being enough to put the other in their place.

    This scene was more than enough to help make up Adam¡¯s mind.

    ¡°Nope, I would get torn to shreds if I tried to take either side on¡±

    He needed something a little less dangerous to hunt. The trouble was that most of the weaker creatures like the black and grey cored buffalos were protected by the older and stronger of the species. Either he would need to get creative and use traps or he needed to find something else to hunt entirely.

    But this grass plain was huge and there was bound to be other mana beast further in. This wasn¡¯t the end of Adams'' journey of discovery, it was only the first step in the exploration of this continent and its inhabitants. He kept moving onward in a different direction from where the velociraptors and buffalo were.

 15 - Oasis

    Chapter 15 - Oasis

    Something Adam had noticed more and more since he left the site of the buffalo herd was the amount of small birds. Unlike the huge man-eating falcons of the beach, these birds were surprisingly earth-like in size and appearance.

    To the point that he almost began to think these birds also came from earth like him.

    The main distinction was their speed. He was almost sure they used wind magic to fly since they made absolutely no sound and moved in ways that would be impossible on Earth.

    It was like the wind didn¡¯t even exist for them as they moved around in seemingly random directions and occasionally swooped down to the ground.

    He couldn¡¯t see what they were eating but assumed that they were catching insects. He imagined the awe on the faces of any bird watchers if they could only see them. He began to follow them after they had stopped circling around patches of grass since they mostly went back in the same direction.

    He remembered something about following birds when lost in a desert or following a river to find civilization. He didn¡¯t see a river so he stayed with the bird one instead.

    This would turn out to be a good decision as the birds did indeed have a great spot in this endless sea of hot yellow grass.

    The sun was a lot hotter now with Adam¡¯s higher elevation. He had run out of water and his skin was starting to get red. He would have died of heatstroke or dehydration by now if not for his improved magical physique.

    He could go a lot longer without food or water but that didn¡¯t mean he was in good shape right now.

    ¡°Who was the absolute moron that thought that not having shoes was a good idea again? Sure I can move better without them in a dense jungle but how the hell am I gonna walk if my feet are melted off?¡±

    He had no idea what his journey would have in store for him but he never imagined it would be a desert of dried grass and boiling hot sandstone. Unlike the hot but soft sand of the beach, this savannah was filled with rough and dry sand and dirt.

    He tried his best to walk on the dried grass but the tall grass from the buffalo fields had slowly gotten shorter and shorter to only be the size of normal long grass and in sparse patches too.

    The birds all came from this direction so he continued on despite his red and blistering body. Time was stretched into an eternity as nothing was visible to him other than the same grasslands and dirt patches in all directions.

    He didn¡¯t know if hours or days or even weeks had passed since he made it up here but his stomach was running on empty now and nothing he encountered so far could be hunted.

    The landscape had started to become a little less flat as time went on and small mounds became visible. It gave him hope every time he got to the top of the small hills that he would see something different, like a forest, a river, or even a mountain.

    Anything over than the endless repeating scenery would be welcome. He had seen the odd tree standing out in the open but they always looked so barren and withered without any leaves.

    The birds had started to appear more and more often, flying at dizzying speeds in the sky above him. Wherever these birds came from, he hoped it was close as he had to take longer and longer breaks to recover his stamina. The lack of shade meant that he couldn¡¯t cool off even when sitting down.

    Adam had spent so long walking in this huge desert that he was almost completely on autopilot. It took a long time for Adam¡¯s heat-stricken mind to finally register the sounds in the distance enough to refocus his mind. He finally looked down and noticed that the once-dried and yellow grass was now a more vibrant green. The sounds of birds chirping could be heard in the distance and the air had a cooler sent to it.

    The was no wind so he didn¡¯t feel the difference on his skin, but his mouth could taste the water that permeated the air around him. He rushed forward towards the sounds.

    It was another small hill that he climbed at record speed. His wish had finally come true as he peered over the small mound to find a large pond with vibrant green grass and trees all over the area.

    It was an oasis, and he found it just in time since he was truly at his limit. His mind was still foggy as he used the last of his energy to waddle his way toward the alluring oasis. He didn¡¯t even have enough mental energy left to infuse mana into himself to get there faster.

    The birds looked to have made their nests in the tall trees near the pond and passing under those treetops felt like he had died and gone to heaven. Who could have known that a little shade could feel so good?

    He continued to stumble his way toward the water''s edge and lay on his stomach as he splashed the liquid onto his face and drank as much as he could before letting his whole body slide into the water.

    It was as though he was melting with pleasure as his red and burned skin finally got some reprieve from the intense sun. The waterskin attached to his waist was also refilled after he removed the cork. He then drank from the refilled waterskin to properly satiate his thirst.

    His mind started to come back online with every sip of water and the pain his body was in was slightly massaged by the rippling waves his body had formed.

    He stayed unmoving in the pond for several minutes as he recuperated from his almost fatal pilgrimage. The water wasn¡¯t deep at all as his head was still sticking out of the water when he was on his knees. It didn¡¯t appear to be a permanent pond but more likely a temporary occurrence.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    The trees surrounding this large but shallow pond probably had some role in its creation as their leaves were very vibrant but their trunks looked more like a cactus.

    They didn¡¯t have any fruits unfortunately for Adam but considering that the water was considerably dense with mana, they were doing something else. It didn¡¯t heal him when he drank and bathed in it but it was surprisingly cool considering the temperature.

    It was only after several minutes of calm recuperation that Adam suddenly thought of crocodiles. He got up with a sudden jerk and jumped out of the pond. He looked around for any sign of life both within the pond and also amongst the trees bordering the water.

    To his absolute shock, he wasn''t alone. There were of course many different small birds all over the place. But the most surprising and shocking discovery was a huge scaled lizard on the opposite side of the large pond.

    His heart jumped a beat when he first noticed it, but he was relieved when the creature''s details came into view. It did resemble a crocodile but its jaw wasn''t elongated like a crocodile¡¯s.

    It was sunbathing next to the pond without a care in the world. It was a grey core and either hadn¡¯t noticed him or it was sleeping. Adam needed food and mana cores and this was his first opportunity for both since his climb.

    Despite his confidence in killing it while it slept, he supercharged his mana blade into a weapon of absolute destruction that he sent bearing down on the unsuspecting beast.

    An exploded head later and he had himself his first mana core since reaching his core''s second grade.

    He refrained from absorbing the creature''s core since he really did put a lot into that spell and a large amount of his mana core had been emptied. While he waited for it to be refilled, he went to get some of that dried grass for a fire.

    Dried grass was great at starting a fire, but not so good at keeping it going. He got as much grass as he could and added branches from the trees in the vicinity. The branches were very wet so he needed to burn a lot of grass around them for them to be able to catch fire, when they eventually did, he had the beginning of a proper campfire and got to work cutting up the carcass while the fire slowly dried out the other branches he had placed close to the fire.

    It was ironic that he had to spend all that time and effort to make more heat when he himself had spent the last few days cursing the terrible temperature cooking him alive.

    But Adam was adamant not to have a repeat of the raw sloth monster incident.

    It took a while to cook the thin slices of meat so when he was done eating, he extracted the mana core from the creature.

    Based on his findings about mana cores and their need for a living host to control, he came to understand that he could absorb foreign mana without needing to swallow the core. This wasn''t as efficient, as it had to travel across an entire dead carcass before even reaching him but Adam found a compromise.

    He placed the grey-colored core on his palm and sent a tendril of mana up his hand to grab some of the stored energies. It worked so much better than when he first discovered he could do this. It wasn''t long until the entire core was absorbed but it wasn''t nearly enough to advance his own mana core.

    Despite his core being grey just like what he had just absorbed, he needed an exponential amount of mana to evolve it. When he had absorbed his first grey core, he was only a black core so the amount of magic in that grey core was incomparable. But now that he too had a grey core, he would need at least ten times that amount for an advancement. And each advancement would require more and more mana per level.

    It truly was an exponential requirement and each upgrade has an unmistakable moment where the core actually mutates and changes. He was able to accommodate that change each time it happened but if he hadn''t, he was pretty sure it would severely hurt his core and magical capability.

    Each advancement seemed to be similar to jumping up a step. If you miss or screw up the landing then the fall could cause serious damage.

    Of course, this wasn''t something he could test but he had a strong hunch it was true from the instinctual fear he felt when he evolved.

    As it stood, a single grey core wouldn''t even be enough to replenish his own partially depleted core, since the absorption rate wasn''t great and a significant amount simply dissipated back into the atmosphere.

    He used the cool and shaded spot to relax his aching and burnt body as he slept for many long hours under the tree cover.

    The birds came and left while chirping and bickering amongst themselves every now and then. It was a peaceful moment for Adam who felt like he was back home with the familiar noises.

    When he finally woke up, he heard footsteps getting closer and whipped his head around to search for its origin. A large and scaly lizard was approaching him while skirting the pond. He sprang to his feet as he prepared his mana blade spell for battle.

    The campfire had died out by now but the body of the grey-cored lizard was still close by. The new lizard might have come to take revenge or simply thought it could have an easy meal. Either way, its careful approach was now proven ineffective so the lizard''s body moved up as its legs straightened and it started into a sprint with shocking speed toward Adam.

    Despite having just woken up, he sprang into action as he took a step back in surprise at the sudden assault and threw his mana blade toward the lizard.

    Its speed and agility didn¡¯t seem possible for its body but it was able to avoid the white blade with ease as it rushed him.

    Fear started to creep into Adam''s mind as he reached for his blade claw. He didn¡¯t have enough time to conjure a new mana blade so he instead pumped his entire body full of mana and felt his muscles bulge and tighten.

    The armored lizard was upon him in seconds as its maw tried to clamp down around his waist. The creature''s jaw was similar to a lizard''s and it had sharp-looking teeth designed for shredding prey. He moved to the side of the lunging beast and used his claw blade to protect his body from the attack.

    The beast twisted its trajectory to follow him and collided with the weapon. It was shockingly powerful and Adam feared he might be outmatched. The other lizard he killed didn¡¯t have a chance to fight back so he had a certain confidence in overwhelming the creature.

    That feeling of victory was now well and truly gone as the true power of the lizard''s species was on full display. He used his other hand to try and strike the beast but its armored body was very tough.

    The lizard tried to reorient and strike again but Adam wouldn¡¯t give it the chance. It was faster and stronger than him so he needed to end things and fast.

    Adam kicked the lizard under its jaw in a risky move as the beast was a fraction of a second away from biting down on his foot. The gamble paid off as the creature was flipped over onto its back and Adam jumped at the chance. The moment it got back to its feet, he would lose. He pumped even more mana from his core and gripped the claw blade as hard as he could as he drove it down toward the beast¡¯s skull.

    Its skull cracked as the lizard''s brain was penetrated by the curved blade. It continued to spasm for a few more moments until its limbs stopped moving and the light faded from its eyes.

    Adam fell backward and panted heavily for a few long moments. That thing only got one good attack in but if he hadn¡¯t held it off with the blade then he could have had his stomach ripped open.

    The shock of the situation was wearing off and soon a smile plastered Adam''s face. He had finally done it.

    Adam Hartwell

    Mana core: [grey - early - (???)]

    ??? (???): [???]

    Spells:

    - [mana sight - refined - common]

    - [mana blades - crude - uncommon]

    - [enhancement - crude - common]

    (???)

 16 - Grinding

    Chapter 16 - Grinding

    The sun was scorching the ground as the young lizard made its way to the fresh waterhole. It had been navigating the subterranean passageways for weeks and only now emerged after finally evolving.

    All of the lizards were forced to fend for themselves after the first year. Therefore the rodents and insects that inhabited the expansive underground networks were equal parts an opportunity and a danger. A little under half of his generation had already fallen in their fight for evolution but not him, he had successfully evolved from his hunts and would vastly increase his speed and strength.

    All the lizards knew of the freshwater pond since they were born there as hatchlings. Unlike the muddy underground water sources, the fresh pond appeared and disappeared depending on the heat and the light¡¯s intensity. The lizard had only been there once but instinctively knew he now needed to return.

    Due to the individualistic nature of the lizards, they always tried to keep their distance from one another, except for mating season when the heat lessened and the pond glowed.

    As a result, the pond rarely had more than one lizard visiting at a time and the lizards only risked journeying out to the pond when they evolved, as the magically charged waters were ideal for solidifying their evolution.

    It was his first journey back to the place he was born and the burning heat and bright light were proving hard to deal with. He had spent most of his life in the dark, so the promise of shade provided by the trees in the distance was the only reason he didn¡¯t turn back.

    This newly evolved grey-core lizard was the length of a small person but its clawed feet designed for gripping cave walls weren¡¯t helping it move any faster in the open. It wasn¡¯t concerned about being attacked as it was no longer underground and nothing big enough to threaten the lizard would be out here.

    It reached the tree cover and looked around to make sure it was alone, but before it had time to continue any further toward the special waters, something grabbed it by the tail.

    In a split second, the lizard was soaring through the air and crashed into a tree. It didn¡¯t even have time to process the situation before something sharp pressed against its neck, a deep wound formed and a purple liquid started to gush out. The lizard tried to thrash about to retaliate against its attacker but it was already too late as it flailed around on the ground, its body not colliding with its attacker until it stopped moving forever.

    ¡°Number seven was the easiest so far¡±

    Adam had encountered several of the lizards wandering towards the pond and all appeared to have only just reached grey-core.

    He had discovered the best way to kill them as his fight with the second lizard warned him that they were a real threat.

    Using the element of surprise and his new enhancement spell, he was able to kill them all without sustaining any serious injury. He did get the odd scratch and bruise but his constitution was incomparable to his previous version since he watched them close up in realtime.

    After several fights, he found that attacking them from behind and making them off-balanced or flipping them over was the best way to deal with them. He only needed a few more cores before he could evolve to middle grade and his current source of mana beasts was the best situation he had come across since the coconut fruit.

    He had spent several days camping out at the pond and waiting for more lizards to show up. Under the shade of the trees and with the cool air coming from the water, he diligently practiced with his new spell.

    Since the system had awarded him with the enhancement spell, he had discovered a new change to his pathways. It was as if the lines that traveled through his body branched out into thin veins across his muscles. He had long since wondered why he wasn¡¯t given the enhancement spell before but it made sense now.

    He had always tried to pump more mana into his muscles to make them stronger when in reality, he needed to infuse his muscles on a more cellular level to make them stronger and not leak mana as much.

    With the new spell, not only was he nearly twice as strong but he also only needed about half the mana expenditure. Optimizing his pathways really did make a huge difference when it came to controlling mana. It also helped him with his other spell. Each new spell had an active function where the mana was used to form a certain function, but also a passive effect like elevating his control and power.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    He assumed that most people with magic would have learned a bunch of spells at the black core which would hugely compensate for their lack of mana. Meaning that his goal of growing his mana core wasn¡¯t the only path to power as using the mana in a smart way would allow people to wipe the floor with others even if they have a better core.

    That realization made him spend even more time focusing on his magic and spells in order to improve them. Mana sight was his only refined spell and it was the easiest to use but he needed to advance his others too.

    He spent several days hanging around the pond and hunting the occasional lizard when it crawled too close. He tried killing them with his mana blade but their tough armor protected them quite well. He needed to really over-crank the spell for it to be an instant kill.

    He practiced trying to make his blade fly faster and stab further but nothing obvious to refine the spell stood out to him. He would simply need to completely master it until he could control it without even thinking about it, like an extension of his body.

    Admittedly, that wasn''t something he would be able to do any time soon since the blade only lasted a few minutes before dissipating. He needed to stay still and completely focused for a few seconds to conjure another. He could make them more dense to last longer but he was trying to optimize them for battle.

    He wanted the blades to use as little mana as possible and last as long as possible. Since he was safe out here at the oasis, he decided to simply work on his spells until he advanced his core. He only needed a few more cores to do so and the oblivious lizards were never on guard when coming to the pond making them the perfect hunting targets.

    He had now consumed over twelve cores and felt as though he was close to advancing. It took longer than expected but today was going to be the day since he had just spotted another lizard in the distance. They were arriving less often now and he was worried that he was killing off an entire generation of lizards.

    He felt a little guilty but still killed the lizard in less than a second since he had gotten his method down to a science by now. He had piled up the bodies in a corner near a large tree after he had extracted and absorbed their cores.

    As he suspected, this core was the final push needed to advance himself to middle grade. He sat down cross-legged on the sand next to the pond and focused on his core.

    It was pulsating rather quickly and looked to be fighting under its own weight, like a ball of liquid splashing within itself. He felt the pressure intensify as the core began to grow and shrink in size at random intervals. It went on like this for a few long minutes until the grey core in his hand was completely absorbed. His core was now like a small raging sea of energy that threatened to tear itself apart with every passing moment.

    Adam lost the concept of time and space as his entire mind was focused on containing the rampant energies. The process of advancing his magic was akin to forcing more energy than his core could contain into his core until it either exploded or condensed into a stronger shell to the point that the excess energies would then be contained.

    It''s a process that he had done before but back then he only had a small amount of magic in his black core. His grey core had about five times as much magic capacity so the entire process was not only terrifying but also more likely to be deadly if he got distracted for even a second.

    Luckily, he was able to contain the chaotic energies long enough for them to be condensed and used to reinforce his core. After that, the magic calmed down as the pressure diminished. Finally, his core regained its solid shape and looked a lot stronger than before. It had also gained a slight tint to it as if the core had been stained in blood. Adam panicked for a second thinking that he might have injured himself from the advancement but soon calmed down again.

    The dark red tint wasn¡¯t smeared around the core but was actually emanating from inside it. It looked like small dark red dots were starting to become visible in the center of the ball and Adam remembered that red was the color of the next core evolution.

    This thought really excited him since he hadn¡¯t noticed this phenomenon when evolving from black to grey. Then again, those colors were hard to tell apart from his inner vision and his mind''s eye had become a lot clearer since he first gained his core. He once again refocused on his surroundings to make sure he was still alone but his eyes lingered on a specific spot.

    The pond had vastly reduced in the days he had spent here but its water was still very clear. What caught his eyes though was the magic that glistened within it. He still had no idea why or how the water had condensed magic but could tell that it did indeed have a certain property to it. It was denser and more complex than his own mana but other than keeping the water cool, he hadn¡¯t discovered anything else about it.

    Now that his core had advanced, his core should have started sending mana pulses to strengthen his muscles but it hadn¡¯t started yet. His core seemed to be waiting for something but he didn¡¯t understand what it wanted. He was about to poke it to get to work when he suddenly had an idea. He didn¡¯t know why the lizards all came here one by one but he had discovered that they weren¡¯t as strong as the one that first attacked him.

    That lizard''s core was also only a newly evolved grey core but its strength was stronger than the others. The only explanation he could come up with was that the pond was needed for them to fully evolve. If the property of the magically changed water is something that could help a newly evolved core then the reason his core was waiting must mean that the water would help him too.

    He slipped into the water and drank as much as he could before the mana pulses started. It wasn¡¯t an evolution but merely an advancement so the amount of strength he would gain wouldn¡¯t be enormous. The core began sending out the white mana throughout his body and the water really did seem to have an extraordinary effect.

    Whenever he used mana-strengthening, his body wasn¡¯t able to hold all the mana and would lose some of it during the trip. This was unavoidable even when using spells. He had such a huge trouble getting the enhancement spell for that exact reason. This water however acted like an insulation layer that trapped the mana.

    The mana pulses become almost twice as effective since they no longer lose parts of their payload when traveling through their body. This entire pond had been a gold mine and he almost hadn¡¯t noticed. It wasn¡¯t perfect and did notice that some of the mana was actually absorbed by the water but it was definitely a huge improvement from having his body tampered without it.

    He waited until the pulses stopped coming before emerging from the water to see what had changed. He hadn¡¯t expected much but with the assistance of the pond, his gains may have been almost as great as his grey core evolution.

 17 - Greater sight

    Chapter 17 - Greater sight

    His body was definitely stronger than before by almost half, which was truly remarkable considering how strong he had already become. He immediately activated his body enhancement spell, tried to recall what it felt like when the water trapped the mana, and attempted to replicate the effect.

    It was no easy feat but Adam eventually realized that by forming a dense magical perimeter just beneath his skin, it would act as a mana barrier for his body. It was impossible to properly cover his body in a dense layer of mana at the moment so he instead tried to localize the effect.

    If he could make himself even stronger with his enhancement spell and hold it for prolonged periods, then he would likely get it upgraded to a refined spell and help him cover his whole body with a layer of insulating mana like the effect of the water.

    He was now confident enough to venture further and leave behind his precious fading oasis. His extra strength would make hunting even easier and he had a hunch that he would find more mana beasts if he retraced the paths all those lizards came from. With his waterskin full of the pond''s water and his stomach filled with as much smocked lizard meat as he could keep down, Adam once again left his sanctuary for the open desert.

    After almost an hour of following the rough path across the wasteland, Adam came upon something new. It was a large stone outcropping and looked like swiss cheese. There were holes all over the place, some directly in the ground and others that looked like cave entrances. Most looked surprisingly round as if they had been carved by lasers.

    He assumed that this was where all those lizards lived since the only creatures he had seen live out in the open were the small birds. He was eager to put his new gains to the test but hesitated to go inside. The caves were home to the beasts so they would have the advantage. Not to mention that he didn¡¯t have a light. He tried to push more mana into his eyes but not to view mana. He instead focused on enhancing his vision without over-cranking mana sight.

    It was a difficult thing to get right since he was so used to controlling his mana sight spell since he had it active almost in perpetuity. He eventually managed to give himself better eyesight but it was hard to get just right.

    Mana was great but it wasn¡¯t perfect, he could enhance his eyes to be sharper and see clearer but his brain also needed to be enhanced to process that extra information if he wanted to have the pseudo nightvision up for long periods.

    He had been trying to augment his eyes to see in the dark without using the mana sight part of the spell with some surprising success. When he was happy with his current vision, he decided to see what would happen if he also turned on mana sight and was shocked at the result.

    He was standing at the entrance to one of the cave tunnels as he attempted to have his eyes gleam more details of the tunnel''s walls. It looked like the world was a mix of black and grey but it was enough to make out most of the important details.

    When he activated his mana sight on top of that out of simple curiosity, the entire tunnel lit up in a white light. It wasn¡¯t the flashbang effect from when he first discovered he could upgrade his eyes but rather like he was standing in a white laboratory room. His eyes were no longer struggling to see since the walls were now as clear as ever.

    The ambient mana was abundant in this world and many plants and animals depend on it for survival. Apparently, it also had a role to play in the formation of rocks and caves as the stone was filled with mana.

    His experimentation with upgrading his eyes also seemed to work on upgrading his mana sight as he could never see mana inside rocks before. Just as he was considering what this meant, a buzz sounded in his mind.

    Adam Hartwell

    Mana core: [grey - middle - (???)]

    ??? (???): [???]

    Spells:

    - [greater sight - crude - uncommon]

    - [mana blades - crude - uncommon]

    - [enhancement - crude - common]

    (???)

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Wait, my only refined spell is back to crude¡­ What madness is this you evil system.¡±

    The outrage of the situation soon died down though since he discovered how much better his eyes were. He could now seamlessly merge his sight and mana sight together but more importantly was that his normal sight was now incredibly more detailed and focused.

    He focused on a spot at the end of the tunnel and was surprised that his eyes seemed to zoom in on the spot the more he focused on it. It was like his eyes had gotten a telescopic lens to be able to see further. Not to mention that he was currently looking into a dark tunnel where no light could reach.

    His new augmented eyes could see mana as if he was watching dust float around in a sunbeam of a dark house. His previous mana sight let him see blurry white lights in various amounts of density. He had no idea mana could be so clear and beautiful before. The lights were dancing and swirling in the air.

    His new spell seemed to use his focus as the controller to see both the mana and the real world. If he focused on the small amount of ambient mana all around him, then the detail of that mana and its true abundant quantity would come into view and block out anything else.

    Inversely, when he focused on a spot in the open desert behind him, despite the light difference, his eyes adapted instantly without issue and he could see the individual blades of grass in the distance with extreme clarity despite his vision being entirely filled with the white mana only moments before.

    ¡°Okay system, I take that back. This is so much better than the refined spell¡±

    He noticed that the rarity of the spell had moved up from common to uncommon but didn¡¯t know what that ranking system was based on. He was alone with nobody to compare his status with and no standard knowledge of magic. One certain thing was that the uncommon spells were so much more powerful than the common ones.

    He now didn¡¯t think that refining a spell was as important as developing rarer spells since the stark difference between his refined common skill and a crude uncommon was enormous. This only left him with one common spell and that was the enhancement spell.

    He believed that recreating the effect that the water had was the key to upgrading that spell but that would have to wait as he now had no reason to drag his feet any longer and headed into a random cave.

    Getting lost and ambushed were his two main scenarios to avoid so he carved arrows into the walls the best he could with his blade claw. These claws had served him well but they were starting to struggle against the mana-infused tunnel walls.

    Adam once again tried to coat the clade of his weapon in a protective mana coat and this time, it worked quite well. He didn¡¯t want to blunt the blade by scraping it against the wall and fusing a mana blade onto his weapon was actually doable now with all his upgrades. It wasn¡¯t something he could fight with yet and required a lot more mana than it should but it at least helped carve his markers on the walls as he navigated the large and snaking tunnels.

    He hadn¡¯t seen any defining features or signs of unusual activity in the tunnels so he simply kept going in random directions whenever the tunnel split off.

    It was after over half an hour of carefully navigating the tunnel as it went up and down that he finally heard something in the distance. The tunnels weren¡¯t rounded like the entrance but more like mining shafts, with fairly even sizes but it looked like it was dug out by a giant worm since it turned and moved in a seemingly random direction.

    His upgraded sight was a little more magically draining than the previous version but he was still able to replenish his core rather fast down in the tunnels, meaning he could keep it up indefinitely and it would only eat up about a tenth of his mana. That left plenty for fighting or running away in the case of trouble.

    With his blade out and to the ready, he quietly crept forward toward the strange sounds coming from further down the tunnel. When he finally laid his eyes upon the beast, a shiver traveled through his entire body. A large tarantula spider was in the process of fighting a large armored lizard.

    The winner of the fight wasn¡¯t obvious to Adam as he observed the scene. Both creatures were red cores and moved with tremendous speed. The spider didn¡¯t use any webs but instead navigated the large tunnel with its eight strong legs that all had spikes on the end. It seemed to want to corner the lizard who was far larger than the grey cores Adam had seen before and a lot faster too.

    The fight went on for a few minutes until the lizard decided that fighting the spider wasn¡¯t worth it and managed to run away. The thought of killing the winner in a surprise attack in order to obtain two red cores was now completely shattered as Adam made his retreat away from the scene before the spider decided he would make a good snack.

    He went down a different passageway and this time he was in luck. An insect-like creature similar to an ant was making its way towards him and it was only a grey core.

    Activating enhancement and summoning a mana blade, he engaged the creature as soon as it got close to his intersecting tunnel. The grey-cored creature was about the size of a pony with six legs and two powerful-looking mandibles.

    He sent the white blade flying straight for the ant''s head as he emerged onto the creature''s path and started to charge it before the spell even hit its target. The giant insect reacted in time to avoid the fatal blow to its head but the mana blade still caused serious damage to the side of its face.

    Before the creature could process the situation, Adam was upon the injured and disoriented beast and rammed his weapon into its neck. He yanked it down and across in a smooth motion in an attempt to swiftly decapitate the creature.

    He was partially successful but only managed to sever half of its neck before his claw blade shattered and a powerful bite attempt from the insect forced him back. He hadn¡¯t realized how tough the ant''s skin was before but it was too strong for the magically lacking claw blade he had gotten from a black core creature.

    Its attempt to run away with its head barely attached to its body was a massive failure as it simply bumped into walls and ran in circles before it inevitably died.

    He lamented the loss of his blade claw but still had his last one left. He decided not to use it as a weapon but simply as a carving knife. Extraction of the core was surprisingly difficult since its skin was so tough. He debated simply absorbing its mana directly from its corpse but decided against it.

    He already had a portion of his mana core in constant use simply to see and the amount he would absorb from this creature would be diminished even further if he didn¡¯t extract it. He also didn¡¯t know if he was alone here. It made a loud shrieking noise when attacked and sent several rapid clicking noises when it was on the verge of death.

    Not wanting to be swarmed by an army of angry giant ants, he simply applied the same method for carving the markers on the wall to the tough shell-like skin of the dead ant. He grabbed the small grey core and made his way out of the tunnel as fast as he could in order to avoid any potential trouble.

 18 - Mushroom jungle

    Chapter 18 - Mushroom jungle

    He was in such a rush to escape the dead ant''s tunnel that he decided not to mark his way as he descended a different set of tunnels in the opposite direction.

    He was quite confident he could still make his way around as his evolved self had not only a better body but also a better mind. His better memory and navigational skills helped him navigate the tunnels, and speed was his number one priority right now.

    The sounds of clicking and tapping could be heard down the tunnel from whence he came so he boosted his legs with mana to run even faster. He was bolting down the large tunnels with the speed of a runaway train but was still careful about what lay ahead. The last thing he wanted was to run into another giant spider or any red-cored beast for that matter.

    Luckily for Adam, the next encounter he had was with several small black-cored bats the size of a bird of prey. They were hanging upside down on the tunnel roof and didn''t attack when he approached.

    He had nothing to gain by attacking them so he cautiously passed them by. The tunnels were getting even more uneven and damaged as he went. There were holes in the walls and floor as if giant moles had been randomly tunneling around.

    He saw a few other black-cored creatures of various spices, some that looked recognizable and others completely alien to him. He noticed that many of the mana beasts had either sharp claws or sticky frog-like feet. They didn''t seem to ever leave the caves so the lizards must have been the only ones to venture outside.

    That thought didn''t reassure Adam but actually made him even more vigilant. If all the creatures down here were fully adapted to the environment then he would be at a severe disadvantage against them. He wasn¡¯t exactly sure what he was looking for but he told himself that he would know it when he saw it as he continued down the tunnels.

    Nothing significant happened to Adam for a few hours as he explored different paths and encountered several weak creatures every now and then. He had come across a few areas that were more open and contained pools of water. He still had his pond water so he wasn¡¯t inclined to drink any, but where there¡¯s water there¡¯s life. It was in one such open cave that he discovered his next target.

    It was a large open space with roots and fluorescent mushrooms all over the place. He couldn¡¯t even see the stone walls any longer as the entire space was like an underground jungle. This was it, as long as nothing was too strong then he would be able to hunt here for a while.

    The mushrooms were mostly fluorescent and had different shapes. Some were as tall as trees with other smaller mushrooms growing on them. The entire cave had an alien aesthetic to it, which was logical considering where he was.

    His first prey was a grey-cored rodent-looking creature the size of a dog. It looked pretty agile so he wanted to deal with it in one blow. He summoned a mana blade but stopped before he threw it forward.

    He was hiding next to a clump of mushrooms on a small hill overlooking the rodent, which seemed to be chewing on an unearthed root. He didn''t think he could sneak attack the rodent with his blade considering how easy it would be to avoid it when it was launched.

    The giant ant was much less agile and much closer but he still missed the mark. He could aim the spell with great effect to a static target but he couldn''t readjust the projectile properly when it was launched.

    While thinking about a way to gain an extra boost of speed for the blade, his mind jumped back to the time he escaped from the life-sucking broccoli tree. Back then, he gathered a ton of mana at his feet and exploded it outward to propel himself forward. It wasn''t a very safe or effective method but it definitely sped him out of the way.

    He figured he might as well try it as he modified his spell. His mana blade was in the rough shape of a long cone similar to a needle. He had rounded the blade in order to get the strongest penetrative power possible. He could give his mana various effects with his thoughts, such as strengthening his body or condensing it into a solid.

    This time, however, he gave it two different properties on the same spell, that of condensing into a solid spike and adding a hollow section at the back of the spike. He filled that hollow cavity with as much gaseous mana as he could. It would usually simply dissipate into the environment but since it was confined in his construct, he was able to control most of it to stay put. He was trying to emulate a rocket for the process of acceleration mid-flight.

    He was doubtful that it would actually work but he might as well give it a try since he had come this far. He aimed the spike at the rodent and threw it forward. He felt his connection to the stored mana start to fade as the construct flew away from him. He almost instantly activated the blast function of his miniature rocket and was surprised to see that it did indeed work as intended.

    The small white spike the length of his hand had been jam-packed with as much mana as possible in both the dense spike and the rock fuel reservoir hidden inside. The sudden release of mana from the rear propelled it forward at a tremendous speed.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    The creature immediately noticed the blast of mana and surprisingly didn¡¯t run away. Instead, it started to dig into the ground at an unbelievable rate. All this took place in under a second as the accelerated spike slammed down into the rodent''s body.

    Half of the creature was already underground when the large needle struck and he would have missed if not for his higher vantage point. The creature died on the spot, as a large hole could be seen starting in its lower back with the spike presumably still lodged somewhere in its body. He assumed it must have struck its heart considering the rodent''s angle.

    He approached the lifeless body and struggled to extract it from the ground. The beast resembled more of a hamster than a rat as its body was rounder with a short tail. It had five small claws on each foot but its ability to dig as fast as it did was what was truly shocking to Adam.

    He had assumed it was a mouse-like creature rather than a mole. The ground was very tough to dig and extracting the body took longer than expected. His efforts were in vain however as when he finally managed to extract the rodent, he discovered that the projectile was a little too effective.

    The head of the rodent was pierced as the mana blade traveled throughout its entire body and exited by its skull. He was confused since the amount of damage done was far above expectations, but then remembered that he had recently evolved his core so the amount of mana that was packed into that one spell was far greater than anything he had ever done before.

    The disappointing thing was that he couldn¡¯t see its core anymore. The projectile was surprisingly well aimed considering it was a hail mary, but it unfortunately destroyed the mana core and caused the stored mana to dissipate.

    Mana cores were very interesting to Adam since they could become solid and liquid without issue. When it was in the process of advancing, the core would become a strange liquid but when he extracted one from a corpse, the core could be mistaken for a simple rock. Adam had absorbed a number of cores by now and was still no closer to truly understanding them.

    They were obviously more than simply condensed mana as the core could control the mana that it had devoured. A core will shrink when it is absorbed until the entire thing simply disintegrates, so he was truly confused as to how it actually functioned.

    These questions were added to the ever-growing pile of things he wanted to find out as he looked around for another creature to hunt.

    The mushrooms seemed to be not only the main source of food but also a shelter for the mushroom jungle inhabitants. Most looked to be some sort of rodent or another, he would see them scurrying in and out of the large mushrooms.

    He didn¡¯t have a very good chance of winning a fight against a creature that could disappear and reappear anywhere via the abundant mushrooms, so he continued deeper into the underground jungle.

    The fluorescent light emitted by certain plants made his enhanced vision look very different from before. It was like having hyper-detailed night vision when he looked in a dark area but his modified vision seemed to disappear when he looked at the glowing plants while still being active around it. It was a very weird sensation but also very convenient as his vision was never obstructed by the changing luminosity.

    He was carefully walking along when something moved under his feet and he jumped back out of reflex. He first thought that the ground had given way but realized it was so much worse when he saw a red color emerge from the ground. Something reached out towards Adam and cut into his arm. It was only a small cut but he jumped even further away with mana-enforced legs.

    Where he stood only moments ago was now emerging a human-sized creature with glowing red skin. Adam was terrified when the creature emerged from the ground as its head was formed of a mound of red tentacles that resembled hundreds of snake tails. Its entire head seemed to be a huge mouth as it had no obvious eyes or ears. Its scaled body was long and thick with six arm-like limbs protruding from its torso. It had no feet as far as he could tell but rather a huge snake''s body that continued into the ground that it was crawling out of.

    The arm it had used to strick at him moved towards the creature''s head before it revealed a disgusting purple tongue that curled around the claw and liked off the blood it had gotten from the shallow cut. Its many tentacles then stopped wiggling around in random directions and all locked onto Adam.

    This was a true eldriche monster and it had decided to make Adam its target. The only thought that appeared in Adam''s mind was run. He couldn¡¯t fight thing horrible creature, just get away from that thing, run away and don¡¯t look back.

    Before he could even consciously think, his body was already moving away from the monster as fast as he could. His legs were moving so fast that they looked like a blur as he ran through the mushroom jungle, occasionally smashing into the plants but always regaining his footing and running on. Wounds began to accumulate on his body as some of the plants acted like broken glass when he smashed into them but he kept going.

    The creature hadn¡¯t chased him as far as but it had first emerged from the ground so he kept an eye on the floor to avoid any further surprises.

    After running away for several minutes in random directions, he slowed down and took stock of his surroundings once more. He had run to a completely different part of the jungle where the mushrooms looked very different and glowed with a yellow light.

    The terrain was very uneven so running further in would be harder and he didn¡¯t know if he might run into something else if he continued running aimlessly.

    He caught his breath as his mind kept going over and over the horrific creature that had attacked him. His hands were shaking as the memory of the monster invaded his mind. It hadn¡¯t chased him when he ran and simply watched as he ran for his life.

    Out of everything he had seen so far, this was the scariest monster he had ever seen since it didn¡¯t act like a wild animal. It didn¡¯t charge at him with wild abandon but simply like his blood and stared at him with its many creepy tentacles.

    Adam looked down at his body and a sense of dread overcame him. He knew that a diet of blood was possible as the spiky viens back in the jungle had drained the lizard dry. This creature didn¡¯t have eyes but its tentacles locked onto him as soon as it drank his blood. Could it track him through his blood?

    He had considered the small cuts and bruises he sustained from running away as a necessary sacrifice to get away from that thing but what if he was wrong, what if these cuts were glaring beacons for the monster to follow?

 19 - Blood and magic

    Chapter 19 - Blood and Magic

    The realization that the creature would be able to find him no matter where he went hit him like a bucket of cold water. He assumed the thing had a limited range but he had no way to know. He could run all the way back and out of the cave systems and still not know if the creature could follow.

    No, he couldn¡¯t outrun this thing, he needed to stand his ground and fight. He had no way of knowing how or when the monster would attack him next so he reviewed his options.

    Since the demonic thing sprang out of the ground, he assumed that that was its preferred method of transportation.

    He would thus climb one of the many giant fungal plants to gain altitude and presumably, some added safety. His mana blade wasn¡¯t fast or controllable enough to be able to be of any use against that thing as even a rocket-boosted blade was unlikely to hit the elusive target. He was straining his eyes to be able to glimpse any sign of movement of any kind, both above and underground.

    The mushroom he had decided to climb was like an actual building with many different spiral levels. It must have been hundreds of meters tall and was home to a family of termite insects that were feasting on the spirals. They were all rather small considering the size of other insectoid beings he had seen but a quarter-meter-long insects were still dangerous looking.

    They were mostly without cores and didn¡¯t seem to even realize Adam was there when he passed them by on his journey higher up the spire. From his higher vantage point, he noticed that not many creatures were out in the open but rather seemed to be living inside the mushrooms.

    The main creatures he saw were insects and rodents and none would be considered very dangerous individually to Adam.

    Nothing like the eldritch monstrosity he was presumably being hunted by.

    He stopped climbing the spire when he got three-quarters of the way up and carefully looked down for any sign of the monster.

    He sat there for many long minutes as he explored his attack options.

    Since there was no grey in the middle of its body, he assumed that this thing had a red core. He had no idea what red cores were capable of so waiting for that monster to catch up was torture.

    Every moment stretched into an eternity as he conjured a different kind of blade. He probably wouldn''t be able to hit the monster with a spell, so he would simply let the creature hit him instead.

    He had never tried to form a shield before, but having it stay close to him allowed the white shield to be much tougher than his usual mana blade. He grew the shield around his right arm and formed multiple short spikes on the shield.

    Adam focused on making it tougher and denser than ever before. He continued to focus on his core as he formed the construct as he normally did. The construct didn¡¯t require much mana to stay fully solid, unlike his usual mana blade.

    He had never tried making a weapon out of pure mana after his advancements since using a blade to strike at a distance was a better solution at the time. Why would he want to get too close to a dangerous creature when he could simply snipe it from a safe distance?

    His mana blade spell was limited to how much mana he used when conjuring since it would hover over him at a distance. He could technically refuel it with mana mid-air but that would be equivalent to tossing a bucket of water at a water bottle several meters away in hopes of refilling it.

    This wasn¡¯t the case for mana constructs that have direct contact with him like the shield he forged around his arm. He therefore didn¡¯t need to use his mental energy to move the white construct and maintaining its integrity was very cost-effective in terms of mana efficiency.

    Playing around with and optimizing his magic was a huge distraction from his current situation since he was secretly hoping he was wrong and he had indeed outrun the blood-red monster. His subconscious hopes were dashed however, when the ground below the spiral mushroom began to shake and move.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    He once again saw that disgusting creature as it emerged from the ground and immediately looked up at Adam. All of its many tentacles were pointed straight at him and the shield he had crafted from dense mana felt as frail as paper in the presence of the demon.

    It once again simply stood and stared at Adam for a few long seconds without making a move. He knew that he couldn¡¯t kill it with his usual techniques so he planned to use his high elevation on the mushroom to force it to climb up to him, where he could then use his shield and push the monster over the edge and to its death.

    His plan wasn¡¯t amazing but it was the only thing he could think of that might work. He didn¡¯t know how tough the creature was but assumed it wouldn¡¯t come out unscathed from a fall of this height.

    When the creature finally began to move, it indeed headed for the base of the giant spiral fungus but stopped before getting on and climbing up. It looked back up at Adam who could still see it from his spot at the edge of the rounded spiraling platform.

    To Adam''s horror, it began excreting blood from its pours that would then flow down its arm and towards its long claws. It had six arms and moved them all in front of it as it bent its head forward forming an arrow shape.

    In his mana sight, he saw a bright red color coating all its hands and claws as the creature began to move. The first two hands pushed forward and then pulled back in a motion similar to swimming. Then the second set of hands moved forward to take the place of the first set and repeated the motion.

    In no time at all, the six arms of the red monster were moving in a rapid piercing drill pattern as it plunged into the base of the mushroom. It disappeared the next second but Adam could hear digging noises climbing up the base of the spiralling mushroom.

    ¡°So much for the plan¡­¡±

    His fear was now at an all-time high similar to when he was running for his life from the giant centipede. Currently, however, he had nowhere to run. He had stranded himself up there in the assumption that the creature wouldn¡¯t be able to easily get to him.

    He had fucked up big time and the noise of digging was getting closer and closer. His shield was now basically useless and he had sacrificed about half of his mana to conjure it. He was in a real fight for his life so he would need to use everything he had.

    Less than five seconds after the creature began its assent through the base of the spiral mushroom, it emerged from the solid stem as if it were paper. The platform they now both stood on was about the length of a bus but the creature had the advantage since its back was towards the tall trunk of the mushroom that extended high up and connected the spiraling stairs of fungal platforms.

    The red demon pulled open a hole in the stem with its six long arms and Adam could see green liquid covering the creature''s claws. It contained practically no mana, unlike the red blood of the creature so it must have belonged to the colony of large insects that lived in the trunk of the mushroom.

    It was a real monster, capable of plowing through an entire colony of creatures without even noticing them or needing to adjust course. It cocked its head at Adam as it slowly opened its large jaw to reveal all its sharp and pointy teeth.

    Adam raised his shield and simultaneously conjured two long mana blades on either side of his shoulder. He had never used up so much mana on so many different constructs simultaneously but what would be the point of having mana in reserve if he died here.

    The blades weren¡¯t very dense so they wouldn¡¯t last long. He didn¡¯t attack yet, taking as much time as the creature would allow him to prepare his spells even further.

    After a few seconds of silent staring, the demon made its move. It moved towards him with insane speed as its body slithered in a waving pattern. Adam¡¯s terrified mind considered simply jumping over the edge to escape and hope he survived the fall.

    He shook off the idea the moment it popped into his mind.

    He wasn¡¯t going to die today, he wouldn¡¯t allow it. Not now, not ever, he simply had too much to discover and so much to explore. His mind was filled with determination and his heart with rage for this hideous creature for thinking it could end him and take away the only thing that made him feel truly alive.

    Adam banished all the fear out of his mind as he raised his shield and fired the dual blades towards the approaching demon. Everything happened so fast that he couldn''t even think. He pushed out every last drop of magic he could find in his core. He wasn''t even looking at the demon who was a few meters away but focused inwards as time slowed to a crawl.

    Everything in his core was being ripped out all at once creating a shockwave around Adam. His core was pushed to the edge of what it could endure as his magic pathways lit up with power.

    The creature wasn''t deterred by Adams actions as it continued towards him in slow motion. He knew that the dumping of his entire magic reservoir wouldn''t work and his blades had both been avoided by the monster, he knew his shield wouldn''t work against such an agile foe.

    He was still releasing shockwaves of mana around him when he saw something different about his core. His mind was in a weird place right now as he saw time slow to a crawl and despite knowing there was nothing left he could do, he wasn''t scared.

    Adam peered at his core and saw something different inside it. It had been there the whole time but he had never noticed it. A silver flake flickering around his core, only just about visible with the current near death state his mind was in.

    The demon''s claw was now only a hand''s length from his face. Adam latched onto that flickering spark with everything he had left as his mana was almost completely depleted but he still managed to grab hold of the silver ember and pushed and pulled it out as his final attempt to survive.

    The silver ember grew and multiplied as he focused on it until it was expelled out from his body along with the last of his mana in a large burst that shook the surroundings one last time.

    His mind was still numb to any feeling when the creature jumped back from his attack. He simply stared blankly as the red demon¡¯s tentacles stopped locking onto him and flailed about as if in agony.

    He watched with distant eyes as the silent world turned white and he collapsed forward onto the ground.

    ¡¯I''m dead.¡¯

    Was his last emotionless thought before unconsciousness claimed him.

 20 - A meeting with God

    Chapter 20 - A meeting with God

    His eyes slowly refocused as his awareness returned. Adam was no longer in the fluorescent underground fungal jungle but instead, the world around him was replaced with an endless white. He was standing on nothing and his mana sight had deactivated. In fact, he had no mana at all, he couldn¡¯t even see his core.

    He looked around but found nothing. When he turned back, a person was standing a few meters in front of him. Adam took a step back in shock but his mind soon turned to joy since this was the first person he had seen since arriving in the new world.

    ¡°Hello?¡±

    The man had long grey hair tied behind his back and a long grey beard. He wore a blue and white robe reminiscent of Japanese culture and his eyes were a piercing silver color.

    ¡°Adam Hartwell, you have a fascinating soul. The universe has truly created something incredible with you.¡±

    ¡°You know me? Where are we? And who are you?¡±

    Adam''s joy in finding a fellow human was quickly replaced with dread after hearing the old man use his name and spouting random cultish crap about the universe.

    ¡°My name is Nafritese and I make an effort to know all I can about those who walk my path. As for where we are¡­ It''s a place of my own creation, out of reach of all of existence.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about? Was it you who put me on that island? Are you some sort of god or something?¡±

    ¡°I had no hand in that anomaly, though I must say, you are the luckiest being I have ever encountered. Not only to be born a Divine patriarch but also with the Soul affinity. Less than a million beings have ever been gifted with that affinity in the entire history of the multiverse and none of them were ever Divine patriarches from birth.

    You then just so happen to fall through space onto a livable mana-rich world, where you took your first steps on the path to godhood before your old world''s mana core was even formed. If I weren¡¯t a God myself, I would think one had planned it all along.¡±

    ¡°YOU''RE A GOD? But Gods aren¡¯t real are they?¡± His mind was racing as the old man''s words sank in.

    ¡°Ah yes, you come from a world at the edge of the multiverse where magic is but mere myth and legend. Shouldn¡¯t your time here have taught you that the multiverse has many paths to power? Your old world''s technology, despite being limited, is a potential path to godhood in itself.

    But I am no true God. I will admit that I am the closest being to true omnipotence and omniscience in the known multiverse but I was once mortal just like you.¡±

    ¡°Wait, so Gods are just people who have a bunch of magic? If this multiverse thing you keep talking about is what I assume it is, then shouldn''t there be countless Gods by now.¡±

    Adam was so confused and out of his depth with this whole interaction, so he defaulted back to doing what he always did these days when something overwhelmed him¡­ he focused on his magic and uncovering its mysteries.

    ¡°You are right in a sense. Mana has allowed countless beings to obtain incredible power and immortality. But all that was mainly through my edict. It is a long and complex tale that isn''t important for you to know right now.

    What you must know is that your soul has been touched by the heavens. The multiverse has mutated your magic into something more primordial than any other magic. You carry with you the path to absolute power, the same as I once did. If you survive to godhood. Then we will meet again.

    I may be called the creator of gods and the father of the multiverse but even I have limited power when it comes to the lower realms. All powerful gods borrow the universe''s power, but for one who has merged and shaped it like me, the price for using such power outside of my edict is astronomical. Even now I can feel reality trying to break its way into my domain and stop our unnatural meeting.¡±

    His mind was now even more confused, if this was a God that created the system and allowed others to gain godhood with it, then why was he talking about this abstract concept of the ¡®universe¡¯ or the ¡®heavens¡¯ as if it was an actual God to him?

    ¡°When you say that the heavens have changed my soul, what do you mean by that? And what''s a Divine patriarch?¡±

    ¡°Every living being in the multiverse has a soul. It is what forms the inner mind and what allows beings to interact with the various ethereal arcane energies of the universe. The soul is something that determines one''s lifespan and magical capabilities.

    Some species are born with powerful souls that give them longer lives. Some are born with souls of better quality which gives them great control of the arcane. Others still, make use of the abundant energies of their souls to heal themselves at incredible speeds.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    All souls are created by the universe itself through a complex net of actions and reactions that weave in and out of the tapestry that is the magic-based multiverse and all its possibilities. Countless atoms form countless effects and create unfathomable elements and energies.

    Sometimes in that complex chain of existence, an oddity occurs. It isn''t too uncommon for souls to inherit certain aptitudes for specific concepts or elements. That is how magical affinities are formed. This can often be influenced by environmental factors or racial abilities.

    Even rarer is when a soul retains an essence or a concept of reality directly in their souls when passing through the veil and into existence itself. I call these souls, Divine patriarchs, those whose connection with the universe is stronger than any others who use the magical elements as a conduit to bend reality to their will. Divine patriarchs didn''t take their divinity, it was given to them, and therefore aren''t opposed by the universe when using it.

    You, Adam Hartwell, are one who has a gifted divinity so powerful that it has given you control over a higher plane of existence. An ability few have even possessed, I myself do not ever possess this divinity as my power was taken and not given.¡±

    ¡°So how do I use this power that you think is so great?¡±

    ¡°That, I cannot say. I have seen too few wielders of powerful gifted divinity and I sense that none were as potent as yours. I assume your soul affinity is responsible for this, which makes me even more curious as to what higher plane you will be able to access.

    Alas, our time is up. I hope you unlock the true potential of your unique opportunity and will look forward to seeing how you progress. I may not be able to interact with the multiverse outside of the edict anymore but I will still do my best to aid you. I have a feeling you will become exactly what I have been searching for all these eons.

    Good luck Adam Hartwell, and follow your soul, it is your strongest tool and safest asset. It will never betray you nor hold you back¡­ how would you say it on Earth¡­ the sky''s the limit, so reach for the moon.¡±

    Adam''s mind went blank once more as the white world around him disappeared. The first thing that he felt after that was pain. A kind of pain that ran through his entire being as if every fiber of his body was screaming.

    He gritted his teeth as he flexed his muscles and wiggled his fingers. His eyes slowly regained focus as he reconnected with his screaming body. He tried to move his arms but they refused to budge.

    He looked inward to see what was happening and was shocked by the change. Whereas before he could see his bright core and his pathways when he circulated mana, now he could see a bright silver flame enveloping his entire body. His core appeared to have become a part of that silver fire as it had become semi-transparent and ethereal.

    ¡°Is this my soul?¡±

    Adam tried to look around, to see where the monster had gone, and after a few moments of extreme pain, he was able to move once again.

    He pushed himself up with his arms and nearly had a heart attack when he saw the red demon''s ugly face only a meter away. It was dead but had no signs of any wounds.

    Adam wondered if this was the work of that self-proclaimed God as he tried to remember what happened before his conversation with the old man in the white void.

    His mind felt so distant back then so it was hard to tell but he vividly remembered the silver ember that he latched onto and pushed out toward the creature in his final act of rebellion.

    That spark he had found only moments away from death must have been his soul magic or whatever the old man called it.

    He was still a little confused about everything going on and most of what the old man said sounded like jibberish to him.

    He remembered that he was apparently special in that he was given something by the universe when his soul was born which makes him something called a Divine patriarch.

    He focused on the silver flame inside of him and found that he could see lines running across it.

    He hadn¡¯t touched his core since he woke up so this pathway shouldn¡¯t be illuminated by his mana. His silver fire was filled with veins-like lines running throughout it. Was this why he couldn¡¯t see his pathways before, they were a part of his soul.

    This then raised the question of that God and his system. It had modified his pathways and therefore apparently altered his very soul somehow. He opened his status window to see what it could tell him.

    Adam Hartwell

    Mana core: [grey - middle - (Soul)]

    Divine patriarch (???): [???]

    Spells:

    - [greater sight - crude - uncommon]

    - [mana blades - crude - uncommon]

    - [enhancement - crude - common]

    Nafritese¡¯s Edict: Opens the path for magical growth.

    (???)

    His magic was now listed as having the soul affinity and he at least now knew what all those question marks were about. His divine ability was still unknown but he was one step closer to uncovering that mystery.

    There he was too, that old man who called himself Nafritese. His edict must be what let him change his pathways to improve his spells.

    ¡°I guess there really was a God behind this system¡±

    His core was looking like a silver ghost currently so he focused on it and imagined it returning to how it was.

    His core then began to materialize once more into the real world back to how it was. His silver flame slowly faded in his mind''s eye as he focused on what his magic felt like before.

    Adam was rather shocked to see that after a few moments, everything returned to how it used to be as all the silver disappeared and his core became solid once more. He tapped his core to extract a small amount of mana and it looked and felt the same as before.

    A white line then streamed from his core and up to his eyes to reactivate the greater sight spell that stopped when he fell unconscious.

    The low light from the fluorescent mushrooms did help him see but using his spell allowed his vision to improve exponentially.

    The red demon was lying on the fungal platform only a few meters in front of him. It was most definitely dead as its previously glowing red body had faded and only a single red point could be seen at the center of its body.

    Adam had completely emptied his core when fighting for his life so his mana reserve had only replenished a small amount when he was unconscious.

    His body was still hurting all over but he could now better identify the pain as coming from those lines he saw all over his silver flame. His soul affinity must have strained his soul when he pumped it out of him in that final blast.

    He hoped it would fully heal on its own as he moved to harvest the red core. His shield had dissipated and all his weapons were gone. He had nothing to cut into the monster with as his last claw blade was missing. He didn¡¯t know when he lost it but simply placed his hands on the body and began sending tendrils of his mana to retrieve the red core¡¯s mana.

    It was very dense and reminded Adam of the light affinity lizard mana. It must have had the blood affinity since it could track his blood and seemed to control and modify its own blood to empower itself.

    As Adam sat there trying to ignore his hurting soul and simply focus on controlling his magic to absorb the dense red energies of the once terrifying predator, far away and unbeknownst to him, his existence became known and his legend began.

 21 - A ripple across space

    Chapter 21 - A ripple across space

    Yacova missed her lavish life in the Muhyuang family''s service but knew that she could never go back. She was forced to spend the rest of her life in hiding. Seers like her were rare in her sector and were extremely sought after, sometimes for her abilities but also simply to remove her to protect their secrets and shady actions.

    She had fled with her husband after she evolved into an orange-core mage. This was when she would begin to truly glimpse the future and therefore would become sought after by all the major factions of her sector.

    The Muhyuang family promised her parents to protect and guide her when her talent was discovered but the house had grown weak after the combined attacks from their opposing forces.

    She had glimpsed a fragment of the future that awaited her and refused to let it come to pass. She wouldn¡¯t be used as some bargaining chip to save a falling house, so she fled to a small backwater mining world with her red-cored husband.

    The two had met when she was but an infant on homeworld and grew up together as best friends. Their species is the dominant one in their world, as the Involpose are a highly intelligent species that resemble small humanoid foxes. Their brown and white fur acts as a protective armor against both physical and magical attacks which allowed them to become very resistant creatures.

    Their high intelligence allowed them to build a great civilization in their relatively small world. They are multitalented and pursue many different types of magic as their affinities tend to be extremely varied.

    Yocova had been transported off world when her core had become red and her affinity discovered. She was married at that time but didn¡¯t want to have pups until she had lived a longer life. She wanted to live a hundred years before starting a family, after all, Involpos have a relatively short life and even her red core would only extend her life for another two hundred years.

    This ended up becoming the correct choice as she now found herself on the run from giant families with blue and even purple cultivators at the helm. Being born a black core, she had no chance of reaching yellow in her lifetime unless she came upon an incredible encounter.

    She was reflecting on her past and possible future while curled up in her round bed. Orange cores don¡¯t usually need much sleep but her mind was very important to her ability, and mental exhaustion would be a death sentence for her. Glimpsing beyond the veil of time could easily fry her mind if she isn¡¯t able to resist it.

    Her husband had taken a job at his friend''s crystal carving shop, not far from her new home, which made her feel guilty. He had been following her around the sector without complaint, but she still hated what her ¡®gift¡¯ had done to them.

    As kids, they would run around the village and talk about what they would do when they grew up. But because of her, both their lives were ruined.

    Before she could sink any deeper into regret over the past, she sensed her connection with the universe grow stronger. This had never happened before.

    She immediately sat up and focused her mind on the sensation, as she moved her magic in the usual pattern she had discovered after countless attempts to activate her clairvoyance ability.

    She had always fought against the heavens to glimpse into the future but now the heavens were opening up to her as if inviting her to see something.

    Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and her body spasmed as she sat upright on her bed.

    Her mind however, was transported through time and space as reality bent and twisted around her, forming a long twisted tunnel of space and magic. A moment later, she saw a light. A single light in a sea of darkness.

    The light was growing stronger and brighter before small pieces of that light broke off from the whole and drifted away from the large white ball.

    Space distorted and bent around the smaller lights and rips in the fabric of space began to swallow them up. The lights weren¡¯t eaten but rather seemed to control the opened rifts for their own purposes.

    Each time a light broke off from the whole, the main light grew stronger and brighter. This sped up incredibly fast until Yacova couldn¡¯t even see the darkness of space anymore, the light was all-consuming and ever-present.

    Suddenly, she was pulled back the way she came and was thrown back into her shaking body. Her mind was screaming and her muscles were twitching uncontrollably.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Whatever she had just witnessed, it was unlike anything she had ever seen before. It was like watching the birth of an Absolute. Her mind went blank after that since the vision had pushed her to her limits.

    Elsewhere, seers and diviners from across the nearby sectors also received some sort of message or another. Many weren¡¯t visions as vivid as Yacova¡¯s but all knew that their universe was headed for a major event, one that would threaten the order of things even for the most powerful of beings.

    _ _ _

    Adam spent many hours siphoning off the red mana from the dead demon''s core but was very disappointed that he didn¡¯t have anywhere near enough to advance his core again. Despite the unusually red mana he had absorbed, the red dots in his own core didn¡¯t change much at all.

    He had never absorbed a core of such high grade before and it seems like he wouldn¡¯t be able to get much from it.

    Unlike the grey cores he had absorbed, this red core wasn¡¯t as easy to deal with, as the amount of time and effort needed for him to process the foreign mana meant that most of it was lost to the inefficient process.

    Combined with the ever-growing need for greater quantities of mana it became obvious that consuming higher-grade cores wasn¡¯t a viable way to rapidly increase his magical power.

    The pain in his body had disappeared and he was relatively safe on the giant mushroom spire so he delved back into this new affinity.

    It wasn¡¯t fire, unfortunately, but apparently, it was an incredibly rare affinity so maybe that was for the best. As long as rarer meant stronger, he would be happy.

    Adam focused on his core until he noticed the silver ember. Just like he did before, he focused on the silver spark until his entire body lit up with silver flames. Seeing what was apparently his soul was a weird feeling.

    People had debated whether humans had souls for millennium but here he was, starting right at the slowly pulsing and flowing silver flame.

    It was significantly distinct from his white mana which looked a lot like clouds of white dust simply floating around. Soul mana, on the other hand, had a deep and primordial feeling to it. As if he was observing an ancient energy that should only exist in myth.

    It also had a very different texture to it. Standard white mana could be equated to a liquid in its movements and feel, soul mana was then closer to a gas that would float around and was hard to touch and move.

    It was ethereal by nature and he couldn¡¯t condense it into a solid like he could unattuned mana.

    His enhancement spell therefore couldn¡¯t use this mana since it wouldn¡¯t travel to, and strengthen his muscles.

    But since it won¡¯t work to enhance his body, could it instead enhance his soul?

    He had no idea what this meant but he had a hunch that he was onto something. The God told him that all living beings have souls and that the stronger their souls, the better they can control the arcane and the longer they can live.

    Adam didn¡¯t know what he was supposed to do to enhance his soul but knew that it was the key to everything. He pushed out some soul mana from his core and was surprised by how hard it was to control. It was slow and weak like it would dissipate at any moment. But it never did, it seemed to be completely invisible to all other forces and energies around him.

    When he controlled his standard white mana, he would have to condense it down and keep a strong mental control over it or it would be destroyed by the surrounding energies and returned to being ambient mana. The air, physical obstacles, and even his own body would all impede its integrity as he fought against the world for his mana to stay under his control.

    His silver mana didn¡¯t have any of those negative encounters as it traveled from his core and into the darker lines across his soul. His pathways would simply act as a navigational aide for his standard mana but when his soul mana traveled along his pathways, it caused his silver flame to light up as if fuel was poured onto it.

    He felt more awake and focused than ever before as his silver fire lit up in his vision. This must be what the God meant when he said that the better the quality of the soul, the greater their control over the arcane.

    His fatigue was also lessened as his body felt more invigorated.

    He wasn¡¯t sure why that was, as he hadn¡¯t put any mana into his body. In hindsight, his soul was an essential part of his existence so of course it would affect his body.

    Adam wanted to make use of the durable nature of the mana as he tried to recycle the silver energy traveling across his pathways. He made it loop around until that small piece of soul energy was completely absorbed by his silver flame.

    His soul had eaten the silver energy to fuel itself and had become a little brighter. It wasn¡¯t as bright as when he was actively circulating mana but its default state had slightly improved.

    He tested using the silver mana in his vision spell but didn¡¯t notice anything different.

    The amount of silver mana he could extract from his core was very small. A single drop in the ocean of standard mana that made up his core. As a result, he had to wait a long time for his core to form more.

    Soul mana was so completely different from his standard white mana that he had a feeling that they were entirely different energies.

    He had encountered different mana affinities before, the light affinity lizard and this blood affinity demon for example. Those mana types were very different and had wildly different effects, but they were all built with standard white mana as their base. He could still see the foundation of white mana that those creatures used.

    If they were using entirely different energies then he would never have spotted the light mana lizard or the blood-red demon monster.

    He focused back on his white mana and let the sight of this silver soul slip out of focus. He then pumped more mana out of his core and sent it back up to his eyes to activate the greater sight spell.

    Using soul mana meant that he had to essentially adjust his inner vision from the layer where his magic operated to the deeper and usually invisible layer where his soul functioned.

    It was similar to putting a finger in front of your face and focusing either on the finger or the background. His soul mana was the key to showing him that the was more in his metaphysical body than just mana but to access it, he would need to focus beyond the finger, metaphorically speaking.

    But since his soul magic wasn¡¯t built on the foundational energy of standard white mana, he couldn¡¯t simply have his core absorb and convert it at will.

    He had much to learn about his new power but considering even a God thought he had an incredible opportunity, he was more determined than ever. Not simply because he was now considered special by a being that is no doubt worshiped by countless people, but also because he now knew that the truly are entire civilizations of magic users out there and that it extends to multiple universes.

    His goal had crystallized even further, from uncovering everything that there¡¯s to know about magic, to discovering everything there is to know about magic and get off this uncivilized world and explore the vast multiverse and somehow become as powerful as a god.

    Seems like a pretty achievable goal for someone reaching for the moon.

 22 - The Rahama council

    Chapter 22 - The Rahama council

    A few days after Yacova¡¯s vision, a meeting at the Rahama council. It consisted of the strongest and most knowledgeable beings of the Gesha sector, some that were even at odds.

    Many species were present, some were humanoid creatures very similar to earthlings but others were more animal-like with coats of fur or sharp claws and powerful senses. All came to Rahama¡¯s palace with heists once the ¡®invitation¡¯ was sent.

    None would dare offend the only god of Gesha and all desired to curry favor with the powerhouse.

    The great haul was full of extravagance but not because that was the gods will. In truth, Rahama hated politics and war and simply desired to live in peace as he had done for thousands of years while watching over his homeworld. It was the only truly prosperous world in Gesha as it was the only place Rahanna ever cared for.

    But when the universe shook and all the diviners reported a great disturbance in the sea of whispers, he had no choice but to convene a meeting to discover what threat may lurk on the horizon.

    He never met any of the powerful beings his priests had invited but he didn¡¯t let this intimidate him. He could overpower all the elites from the various species of Gesha with little effort, thus was the power of a god. The great doors opened on their own and in he walked.

    He let his aura leak out in a show of force as he recognized the looks on the faces that had all turned to him. They all knew that they had no chance of surviving if he wanted them dead. Many heads of powerful families didn¡¯t come personally but sent their sons or daughters in their stead, thereby still complying with his ¡®invitation¡¯ but not directly risking their own lives.

    Rahama didn¡¯t know who even half of these people represented as he was immediately focused on the white-robed priestess seated next to his throne. She was the greatest seer in the entire sector and had helped him countless times through her divinations.

    She was incredibly weak despite her high magical level, that was irrelevant though since she was the most well-protected person on this side of the sector. Rahama himself even swore to protect her from anything that may threaten her, ever since she warned him of a plot to assassinate his descendants in retribution against him.

    He retracted his aura once he got himself seated and nodded to his great-grandson who stood to his right. The middle-aged representative of the god stepped closer to the large table where all the various representatives were now sitting.

    ¡°On behalf of his lord Rahama, welcome to the great world of Al-zaro, the greatest and most powerful world of the sector.¡±

    The man''s voice was amplified with magic as all could clearly hear him despite how incredibly large the room was. He was visibly ecstatic that he was able to brag about their own superiority to all these great powerhouses without repercussion.

    ¡°You are all aware that something has disturbed the tranquil waters of the sea of whispers. A great catastrophe is coming but our information is sparse. We are all here today to discuss and share our findings to properly understand the looming threat.¡±

    Most of the gathering nodded along as many eyes drifted from the throne and towards his right side where the priestess sat clade in white.

    The man too looked over to her as he stepped back once again.

    The woman in white looked mostly human except for her unusually long limbs and tall stature.

    ¡°As many of you know, I¡¯m the head cardinal of the Vashiva temple and the most gifted diviner in service to our lord. A few days ago, the ripple of space became known to most of you but we diviners are more connected with the whispers.

    A power has been discovered, a being that shouldn¡¯t exist has caused our great lord to react in surprise at its discovery.¡±

    ¡°That''s preposterous, are you saying that the lord caused that disturbance just because something spooked him? You sound like a dawm heretic, not the head cardinal of Vash...¡±

    Before the angry young man sitting at the back of the hall could finish, his head exploded as if hit by a train. Blood was splattered everywhere but none reacted with great surprise. The man was a deeply religious person who was exceedingly jealous of the Vashiva temple and would use any opportunity to undermine the head cardinal.

    Silence fell as the god readjusted his position on his throne and sighed.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember ever asking for his opinion and yet he so brazenly insults the great mistress. Marbo, what house did he hail from?¡±

    ¡°He was the grandson of the Tulis family my lord, a small backwater family of no importance to us¡± He replied without any emotion about the sudden death.

    ¡°Then I declare the head of the Tulis family is to bow down in apology to the great mistress and beg her forgiveness for the great offense his grandson has caused. That is if he wishes to live of course.¡±

    The man and woman who came with the now-dead young man nodded deeply before the man turned to scoop up his master''s torso and as much of the destroyed pieces of his head as he could before making his exit.

    ¡°Please continue, great mistress of Vashiva." said the god after a few moments of tense silence. The other guests stood perfectly still and locked eyes with the ground.

    ¡°As I was saying, the ripple was most definitely a direct result of our lord Nafritese, but this rarely happens. In our recorded history, a ripple in the sea of whispers has never before manifested to the point that any powerful mage can feel it.

    However, I have noticed something peculiar about this ripple. It appeared to be a mistake, as if the great lord was blocking our ability to see its source or its meaning.¡±

    The god furrowed his brows as he looked at her.

    ¡°Are you telling me that even though all the seers and diviners felt this ripple, none know of what it warns nor of its origin?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry my lord but we have had no visions or premonitions of any kind and it is as if the entire ripple never happened. I attempted to open back up the path in the sea of whispers but the waters were silent as if it had never happened. The only way for that to happen would be because our great lord doesn¡¯t wish this event to be known¡­ At least for now¡±

    A large green-scaled person that resembled a humanoid dragon only without wings then carefully spoke up.

    ¡°If you would, Head Cardinal of Vashiva, could you please explain to us about the sea of whispers you speak of and the reason for its disturbance to bring such worry?¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course, the sea of whispers is the realm we seers and diviners use to glimpse the future. All predictions and premonitions come from the sea of whispers and any event grand enough to affect the whole of the cosmos would cause a ripple in the sea. This ripple isn¡¯t a premonition of what could be but a shock to the fabric of space. According to records, our noble host himself caused a significant ripple in the sea of whispers when ascending to godhood.

    But it has also long been recorded in the great libraries of ancient realms, that eons ago, there was a great ripple in the sea of whispers, and all our lord¡¯s believers were shown a vision of the destruction that the dark order had created and would continue to do if not stopped.

    The reason that the ancient guardians of the past were able to stop the dark order from corrupting the multiverse was because of the ripple in the sea of whispers.

    But the Absolute has never sent visions like that unless to warn of imminent danger for all of existence.¡±

    ¡°If that is the case, why do you believe that Nafritese doesn¡¯t want to warn us about another incursion like the dark order?¡±

    ¡°That is simple, none of us were given any information or vision about what could have caused this ripple, and the Absolute himself has stopped all our seers from being able to dig any deeper.¡±

    The lizard nodded and looked down in thought.

    ¡°And this is why you are all gathered here today.¡± said the god as he looked across the room at the many different faces.

    ¡°Have any of your seers been given a vision or glimpsed any clues about the coming threat?¡±

    The room was silent for a few seconds as the different factions looked at each other. In this place, none could harm each other as the god forbade any violence in his world. But revealing sensitive information about their most valued information gatherers was not something any of them wanted to do. Many of the different factions present were at odds or even in direct conflict with each other and this valuable information would definitely be leveraged later on.

    But lying to the god was a death sentence in of itself.

    ¡°All four of our strongest seers lost consciousness after they were expelled from the sea of whispers before they could see anything.¡±

    Said a woman dressed in an elaborate and colorful dress.

    ¡°We too feared for our seers when half became unresponsive or shook uncontrollably. They have all recovered but none had glimpsed anything.¡± Replied another person.

    ¡°A few diviners received a strong feeling of surprise and awe from the ripple but none were granted a vision¡±

    ¡°Then there is hope.¡± Said the head cardinal.

    ¡°The very fact that some had time to sense anything from the ripple before it was erased means that the origin of the shock was closer to them than to us. As a result, we can begin to narrow down its location.

    My lord Rahama, I believe that a few seers must have more information about this ripple but they are likely in hiding. I believe that the best way to learn more about this threat and its origin is to seek out those unaffiliated seers. As such, I would be most grateful if you would give them protection on Al-zora.

    Seers are most sought after in Gesha and protection is vital for these talented individuals. If one such seer was close enough to the origin of the ripple, then they may have even been given a vision but won¡¯t be able to relay that vital information for fear of their identity being disclosed.¡±

    The god nodded along before getting up from his throne.

    ¡°Very well, from now on, any and all vagabond seers are guaranteed protection on Al-Zora in exchange for information about the ripple. Any attempt to harm or prevent a seer from seeking out my protection will have their worlds destroyed and all blood relatives and factions annihilated.

    I trust the great mistress will inform me of any plot or attempt to hide such a person.¡±

    The tale woman in white nodded with satisfaction before the god disappeared without revealing a trace.

    Most of the guests looked around wearily before they made their way to the great doors and returned to their respective homes and would no doubt relay the entire council meeting to their faction leaders.

    Rahama was very frustrated with the lack of information about the ripple and was now a bit on edge about what sort of threat was looming overhead. He liked the great mistress but all the others were less than pathetic in his eyes. He had no idea why his grandson had insisted on inviting them all as they had nothing of value to provide.

    Marbo had assured him that they needed to remind them of the true ruler of Gesha and that he needed to demonstrate his power and authority every so often in order to dissuade any foolish behavior like the assassination plot from a few centuries ago.

    Rahama was tempted to simply go out looking for the anomaly where the seers had more luck but knew that he would have no way of covering all that area even given a million years.

    The only thing he could do was trust the great mistress once again and wait for the right time to strike.

 23 - Soul feeding

    Chapter 23 - Soul feeding

    Adam spent a long time on that spiral mushroom. He absorbed the red demon''s core but felt as though his own core had indigestion after he absorbed a certain amount.

    It seemed as though he couldn¡¯t properly digest the foreign mana.

    It reminded him of the dense magic of the light affinity lizard. It wasn''t as hard to absorb then, but it was definitely more challenging.

    He had assumed that it was due to its different affinity but now realized that consuming the core of a higher-grade beast with a different mana affinity is like trying to eat someone''s hat. It''s tough, takes a lot of chewing, and you probably aren''t meant to be doing it in the first place.

    His fascination with his core and its multiple functions had given him many ideas about its possible purpose and features. He thought about it as a second stomach, used for magical energies. It allowed him to store mana but also convert it into his own. It would digest foreign mana by stripping it down to its most basic.

    Ambient mana was the only mana it could naturally consume as its magical energy was at its most basic. Adding an affinity to that pure white mana is building on that basic magic by having the core regurgitate the mana it had absorbed and adding its own unique flavor to the mix.

    The trouble about that for Adam was that he had no idea how it was doing that. What steps were happening between the mana going in and it coming back out again?

    These were questions he really wanted to be able to ask someone like that Nafritese fella but he didn''t sound like he would be coming back any time soon.

    The reason he really wanted answers about the core was because he didn''t know if what his core was doing right now was normal.

    You see, ever since he found that he could see his soul when looking inwards, he noticed that his core had two different states. One solid where it looked like a small stone was lodged in the middle of his torso, and one that looked as though it was a small ghostly ball of silver flame at the center of his soul.

    His core hadn''t changed when using his normal mana, but as soon as he pressured his core to give him soul-attuned mana, it simply ignored his commands and continued to provide him with standard white mana.

    He had to switch to his inner soul sight in order to access and use that mana. And there was very little of it.

    For the past few hours, he had alternated between absorbing the red mana core and testing his own core and his new soul affinity but he never had more than a drop of that silver magic.

    Despite not interacting with any other energy, his soul mana also didn''t dissipate. He had spawned a few silver clouds outside of his body and used his soul mana on his eyes in order to observe them. He found that, despite his poor control over the small flames, they didn''t dissipate at all but rather simply stopped existing after being outside of his body for a few minutes.

    All mana constructs dissipated bit by bit back into the environment but his soul mana didn''t do that. He had no explanation for it other than it simply stopped existing. Like a fire without any oxygen left to burn, the flame didn''t even leave a smoke trail to mark its presence after it faded out.

    The pitiful amount of soul mana he could produce meant that he still couldn''t use it in place of his standard unattuned mana. That wasn''t necessarily a bad thing as he didn''t know what happened the first time he pulled on that silver spark. It was able to somehow kill the red demon but it did cause him to pass out and wake up in extreme pain.

    Adam noticed that his soul looked a little more stable and flowed a little less chaotically after he circulated his soul mana along his pathways and allowed his soul to absorb it, so he decided that it would be his best course of action for now, at least until he could learn more.

    The old man in the white space had told him that stronger souls provided some species with an advantage in magic and even healing so it was the logical thing to try and strengthen his soul.

    Every time he fed his silver flames, the amount of new soul mana he could regenerate seemed to increase incrementally.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    He didn¡¯t have any of the red demon¡¯s core left to absorb but could tell that most of its mana was simply wasted anyway since it took too much effort for his core to purify it and only a fraction would be usable after the process was complete.

    He therefore decided to finally leave the giant spiral mushroom he had been on for several hours or maybe even days. He couldn¡¯t tell when he was above the surface but now that he was hundreds of meters underground, time was even harder to keep track of.

    He saved a small apportion of his soul mana and sent the rest to be slowly absorbed by his soul. His soul mana was his final trump card against stronger foes but he would still like to avoid any further encounters with red-cored monsters again.

    He stuck to his standard mana as he attempted to make his way back the way he came when running for his life. He wasn¡¯t moving very fast as he retraced his steps and used his mana-enhanced sight in order to carefully watch for any unwanted creatures lurking in the fungal jungle.

    Every few hours, he would stop at a safe place and switch his core to his soul mana version in order to circulate it within his soul which required complete focus inwards and made him vulnerable to attack. He would only regenerate a teaspoonful of the silver magic every hour so he spent most of his time still using his standard mana, mainly for his greater sight spell. After many hours of walking, he finally found the entrance to the underground jungle that he had used to enter.

    He was sick of the endless jungle of fungi and decided to head back to the surface. He would much rather go back and look for those lizards than aimlessly wander around the underground tunnel system, waiting until he inevitably stumbled upon something far out of his league once again.

    He did notice the occasional rodent scurrying about and large insects digging into the giant mushrooms but nothing like what he had hoped to find down here.

    He had believed that an entire ecosystem of mana beasts was living down here when he first arrived, but nothing he saw was even worth the effort of catching.

    But it wasn¡¯t all bad news. His new affinity had given him a few well-needed advantages. He once again checked the spell section of his status.

    Spells:

    - [greater sight - crude - uncommon]

    - [mana blades - crude - uncommon]

    - [enhancement - crude - common]

    - [soul circulation] - crude - epic]

    He was ecstatic when he first discovered he had a spell that helped him better circulate soul mana through his pathways. This meant that the time needed to have his soul absorb his silver magic by having it travel across his pathways had significantly reduced.

    He was also able to regenerate nearly twice as much soul mana as when he first started and the time needed had also significantly reduced.

    The fact that it was ranked ¡®epic¡¯ echoed his own thoughts about the new spell. He wasn¡¯t even mad that it wasn¡¯t an offensive spell like what he had been aiming for since he first discovered how to create spells. The faster he could have his soul grow by feeding it his soul mana, the more useful it would become.

    It reminded Adam of the old clicker games he used to play on the family computer, where you needed to click to gain points and then spend those points to buy upgrades and optimize how many points you could gain per click or buy different boosts and the like.

    You always had to reinvest the points you gained into gaining more points faster, which was remarkably similar to what he was doing now.

    Each time his reserve of silver mana was refilled, he could spend it on strengthening his soul, which would provide him with slightly faster soul mana regeneration and the cycle continued.

    He hadn¡¯t marked the passages he took when running from the ants but recognized a few of the tunnel walls he had passed on his descent. He was a little more confident in hunting those ants individually now that he knew they were his best option for a constant stream of mana cores like the lizards used to be.

    Adam walked the various tunnels for hours but didn¡¯t encounter a single thing. It wasn¡¯t too surprising since the tunnels were barren and stretched for kilometers without change. The only creatures that lived in the underground seemed to prefer to stick to their own territories. There were of course exceptions, like the giant red-cored tarantula he had seen fighting a giant lizard and of course that demonic red monster straight from the fires of hell.

    He never saw anything like it before so he was hoping it was the last of its species. Unfortunately, he doubted that very much and only wished never to cross paths with another ever again.

    After a few wrong turns, he came upon a different section of tunnels that had small white crystals lining the walls. They appeared to be formed from pure crystalized mana to his greater sight spell. And that may actually be precisely what they were.

    Adam inspected the wall but something else stood out to him when he placed his hand on the cave wall. It was vibrating as if a drill was being used close by.

    This made him tense up as he took a step back and examined the tunnel for threats. Anything that can dig through this incredibly tough mana-infused rock is bound to be extremely dangerous.

    He didn''t notice any immediate danger but the now audible sound of grinding warned him that something big was coming. He didn''t want to go back the way he came so he instead pushed further into the tunnel lined with white crystals in order to find out what lay beyond. He had a trump card now and was sick of running away. Not to mention he was a bit lost so he steeled his nerves and pushed forward.

    The best defense had always been a strong surprise offense for Adam.

    This would be a little more complicated since he couldn''t dig around in the walls but he would make it work.

    He hadn''t used up his soul mana yet and decided not to use soul circulation bit to hold onto it for now as it was his only effective tool right now¡­ And he wanted to test it out so bad.

    It was eating at him that he had no idea how he was able to kill that terrifying red monster and he needed to learn how to weaponize this new magic. He had always believed that magic was his only chance of surviving in this place and this new ethereal silver energy reinforced that idea a hundredfold.

    The vibrations were getting louder and more numerous as he went and even the floor was starting to shake.

    He slowed his steps and began to evaluate if he was doing the right thing. Ultimately, his stubbornness won out as he soldiered on until he finally found the source of the now deafening noise.

 24 - Rocky jungle

    Chapter 24 - Rocky jungle

    The tunnel Adam had used was only one of many new passages, and it appeared significantly narrower than the average. He also had to watch his footing, as the floor and walls occasionally contained jagged rock and small clumps of white crystals. As he moved further down, he noticed that the was an opening at the end of his tunnel.

    The vibrations were definitely coming from beyond that tunnel. When he arrived at the end, he saw a large opening resembling a quarry. He was still very much underground but the enormous cave he had arrived at boggles the mind in its size. Even with his enhanced eyes, he couldn¡¯t see the end of the cave, nor its roof.

    Large pillars were jutting up from the uneven rocky ground which was littered with small debris and broken rocks.

    The were many different gaps and holes in the walls with his tunnel being only one among many. The real surprise to Adam though was the creatures responsible for the huge vibrations.

    His tunnel wasn¡¯t on ground level but rather situated several meters above the cave opening bottom. The was a pile of rocks forming a slope under his feet and from his stop, he could see a large silhouette in the distance.

    It looked to be the size of a two-story house and had a rounded shape. He strained his eyes and utilized his greater sight spell to its maximum.

    The creature wasn¡¯t a giant ant, like what he was expecting but rather an enormous crab. He seemed to have lost track of the ant''s tunnels since he hadn¡¯t encountered them ever since he ran to the mushroom biome to escape them. Or at least ran from some noise behind the ant he had killed and simply assumed it was a swarm of ants.

    This huge crab had a huge pincer on one side and a smaller two-pronged fork-shaped pincer on the other. It was digging into the walls with its huge pincer.

    Adam wasn¡¯t sure what it was looking for but knew that this thing was extremely strong. Its core was a bright red, a lot brighter than that demon so it looked to be on the cusp of evolving into orange.

    He noticed movement next to the huge crab and was surprised to see several dog-like creatures sitting or prowling around nearby.

    The crab didn¡¯t seem to pay them any mind and the dogs also didn¡¯t look bothered by the titanic creature. This was good news for Adam since he didn¡¯t stand a chance against such a huge monster. If it simply ignored him too then he might be able to find something useful down here.

    The dogs appeared to be a pack and most were either black or grey with only a single red core. He really needed some black cores to absorb and if this pack was able to grow all the way down here, then there must be some sort of species that these predators can prey upon without risking death with every encounter like fighting other predators.

    He of course had come across the rodents in the fungal jungle but they were exceedingly alert and hard to catch. He had only ever caught the one when he tested out his rocket-propelled mana blade, but that was mostly simply luck since he couldn¡¯t repeat that feat.

    He was tempted to try his luck against the buffalo he found right after climbing up from the tropical jungle but didn¡¯t like his chances against a huge herd. They were willing to sacrifice one of their own when the raptors attacked but he didn¡¯t think that would work for a single human attacking.

    No, he needed to find a safer but still abundant source of mana cores as he had with the lizards at the pond. The fungal jungle may have been a bust, be he had a good feeling about this place.

    Adam carefully and quietly made his way down from the tunnel and onto the floor of the huge cavern. It wasn¡¯t very solid since a lot of loose rocks made up most of the ground. It was like trying to walk on a pile of fist-sized gravel without making any noise. Needless to say, he wasn¡¯t very good at it.

    The rocks would slide and tumble away from his feet with every second step and he would struggle to maintain his balance while wincing at the noise every time.

    Luckily for him. There was abundant cover since this giant cave was definitely no open space like his home on the beachside cliff.

    The sound of rocks crumbling from the walls where the crab was working and the loud vibrations it produced also echoed across the many large pillars in the cave to help mask his presence.

    He had noticed the pack of dog-like creatures far in the distance by temporarily over cranking his greater sight spell, meaning that they were a few kilometers away and on an elevated portion of the ground. Most of the cave was filled with large rock protrusions and large craters in the ground. He also noticed many small tunnel entrances all over the place.

    It seemed that the tunnels he had been navigating for the past few days weren¡¯t naturally formed at all. He had guessed as much from how smooth and uniform they were at the original entrance up top but now realized that this entire labyrinth of tunnels was probably the work of countless different species over thousands or even millions of years.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    He was currently making his way in the opposite direction to the loud noise and therefore the pack, since he wasn¡¯t planning on taking on a dozen opponents in this treacherous environment, or ever if he could help it. So far he had been lucky enough not to have been ambushed by a group of predators and he wanted to keep that streak going.

    Adam hated the mushroom jungle after his encounter with the horrible red demon and might have a little PTSD from it. The main reason he left that place was because he had no way of knowing what was lurking around every corner. He could come face to face with another monster like it and would have to way of stopping it. That claustrophobic feeling was now coming back once more as he scanned the many hiding places in the rocks around him.

    There were caves inside the large pillars or simply holes in the ground of various sizes. Some might lead to more underground caverns while others were simply dead ends. His vigilance paid off after a few minutes since he noticed what appeared to be a curled-up snake made from rocks.

    He would have completely overlooked it if not for the fact that it was curled into a strange cone shape while on top of an almost perfectly round boulder, which he found peculiar as a rock formation until he looked closer.

    The creature had no visible mana core as its white outline merged seamlessly into the outline of the rock below it. Despite that, with his enhanced sight, he could see the shape of its jagged head and its open black-green eye.

    One thing that he missed about the fungal jungle environment was the glowing bioluminescent plants that grew there. It wasn¡¯t enough for a normal person to be able to properly see but it was adequate for his mana-enhanced vision. The pitched black tunnels he had navigated and now this large open cavern both were visible to him thanks to mana sight. The rocks all had a certain degree of mana infused into them, so he could see their white outline with ease with his mana sight.

    Mana sight must be the default method for ¡®sight¡¯ with most creatures living down here. At least as far as he could remember from the documentaries he watched, creatures like snakes could use heat vision and others like crocodiles were extremely sensitive to detecting vibrations.

    Assuming that the creatures here also evolved with different ways of ¡®seeing¡¯, mana would only elevate those natural abilities to the next level. Just like he had done with his own eyes, to be able to see in the darkness of these caves. And he ruled out the possibility of sensing vibrations since the crab was constantly creating loud vibrating noise that would cause any vibration-based creatures to get as far away from that titanic crap as possible.

    The snake didn¡¯t move from its position but nor did he. Adam had no idea what it was capable of since it had somehow hidden its core and was looking straight at him so he wasn¡¯t likely to be able to escape.

    Both simply stared unmoving at each other since Adam was afraid that turning away would give the snake the idea that it had to pounce at the fleeing prey and getting closer would also provide it with an opportunity. The thing wasn¡¯t exceedingly large but it would be able to swallow him hole if it was similar to a python.

    ¡°Guess this is it, sorry buddy but I ain¡¯t gonna be your dinner¡±

    He looked inwards for the silver flames and pushed some up towards his eyes. His vision went black for a horrifying second as his eyes were no longer being augmented by his magic. Then a small silver orb appeared in front of him. It wasn¡¯t very bright but shifted after a second as an appendage appeared at the top of the orb.

    ¡®This must be that snake¡¯s soul¡¯

    It looked so very different from his own. At least, as far as he could tell since he was simply feeding his eyes with mana using the same channels he had formed when first augmenting his sight into a spell. However, it didn¡¯t exactly work as intended since that pathway was designed to be used to feed standard mana into his eyes and not his strange silver soul mana. As a result, the small blurry ball in front of him might only look like that because of his subpar soul mana control.

    The interesting thing was that the snake had moved. To Adam, it appeared as though a hand had risen from the silver ball but in reality, he knew it was its head. Adam hadn¡¯t moved a muscle out of fear since he was effectively blind currently but it seemed that his hunch was correct.

    He believed that the creatures down here evolved ways to utilize the abundant mana energies of this world in order to sense their environment down here and as soon as he switched his core to his ethereal soul version, the snake must have lost sight of his mana presence.

    The snake must have been surprised when he disappeared in its eyes as it stopped pretending to be a rock and lifted its head to search for Adam. He was feeling rather confident now but still didn¡¯t move or make any sound, after all, it probably had more ways of finding its prey than just mana sight. If it has similar heat vision abilities like earthly snakes, then he could still be discovered once the snake deactivated its mana sight.

    But Adam wasn¡¯t idle, he wasn¡¯t trying to hide from the snake anyway, he simply wanted to be able to see what happened when he threw a soul mana blade at the thing.

    He pulled a significant amount of his soul mana reserve and attempted to quickly push it into a spike shape. That was easier said than done though since the silver mana was almost impossible to shape. It resembled a sparse cloud of burning silver fire and any attempt to form it into a certain shape was like blowing on a candle. He felt that it was about to disappear if he blew on it too much or too fast.

    This all took place in a single second which felt like several to Adam. Not only was he in complete darkness but the only thing in his vision that wasn¡¯t black, was a predator only meters away from him that could decide to pounce at any moment.

    Adam gave up on trying to shape the silver flame and instead mentally pushed it forward at the dim ball of light in front of him. He watched with held breath as his cloud of fire charged at the unsuspecting snake.

    It looked like a small wave of fire had smashed against the dim orb of light which seemed to fuel the clashing flames as both lights merged into one as both shook and whirled for a few moments. The orb flung itself around in an attempt to escape the invading flames. But it was no use as the fire had caught and nothing would stop its consumption until all the fuel had been burnt.

    It only took a few seconds before the silver fires stopped raging and twirling and returned to their previous cloud-like state, only a lot smaller and sparser in size, revealing the absence of the second orb of silver light. Before it too simply vanished and the world became black once more.

 25 - Inner eye

    Chapter 25 - Inner eye

    His eyes, newly bathed with white mana, adjusted to the dark environment as he continued to stand as still as a statue. The rhythmic shaking of the rocks all around him was the only constant when the world around him went black and it was still present when the rocks became visible once more.

    The body of the snake was stretched out along the ground beside the large bolder. It still blended into the rocks with its natural camouflage but now its core was visible. It was a reddish-grey color similar to his own. Adam got closer to the dead snake and began to absorb its mana by placing his hand on its body.

    He sighed with relief when the mana got absorbed without any issue by his core. This snake didn¡¯t have a special type of magic so he could devour its magical core without having to worry about his core struggling to process it. The amount of mana was considerable so it took several minutes to fully consume.

    This gave Adam plenty of time to reflect as he sat beside the dwindling white ball of mana inside the corpse. What this encounter had shown him was that not only do creatures have their own ways of hiding their mana cores but also that he was currently a beacon to any predator that could see him since his core was completely visible to any creature''s mana sense.

    This would definitely be a big problem as time went on since many stronger predators would be more than willing to engage him compared to when his core was lower grade and therefore not as appealing. He would definitely need a way to hide his core in the future but for right now, the second thing he learned was far more exciting.

    His silver flame not only looked like a fire but also acted like it towards other souls.

    ¡°Well, I guess that answers how I killed the red bastard. Burnt his bloody soul¡­ Seems like a fitting death for that monster, I¡¯m more surprised a monster like that actually had a soul, haha.¡±

    It was good that he was getting some sort of answers for his new magic but it also brought with it all sorts of questions.

    If the mana burns souls, then was he wrong for sending his silver magic into his soul these past few days?

    No, that can¡¯t be right. His soul was feeding off that magic and growing more stable.

    He kept thinking back to the first time he noticed the silver spark and how it felt like his entire body was in pain when he regained consciousness. He had assumed it was because he met with the guy who claimed to be a God, but now he was rethinking that.

    The more he thought about the pain he was in, the more he recalled how the snake¡¯s soul had been ravished by the flames. But then he remembered how much better he felt when he used soul circulation.

    This contradiction meant that he was missing something. How can the exact same energy do two entirely opposite things?

    The answer was obvious of course. Him, his will shapes mana, and his wish and mental power are the driver even for his soul mana. It may be a completely different energy from standard mana, but it is still an energy under his control.

    He had considered his white and silver magic to be completely different since, well, they are. Except they also aren¡¯t at the same time. It''s like a cat and a lion, both are felines, yet they are entirely different from each other.

    But they still share a similar feature, the ability to be shaped by a person''s will as if there is some sort of mental energy connecting his brain with the energies. But that energy seems to be the soul energy once again. It wasn¡¯t the kind of soul energy he could make with magic, but something that seemed more intricate and complex.

    It would make sense that his small fraction of soul affinity mana is only a drop of the grand structure it could become. His soul had a distinct shape and texture to it as it flowed slightly within him.

    Adam stared at the flowing silver flames of his soul for a long time, almost forgetting his situation and surroundings, only waking from his trance when his soul slowed its movement, and he suddenly remembered what he was doing.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    The snake''s core was completely gone so he quickly removed his hand from the dead snake and got to his feet. He looked around but everything was black. Then he realized what he had just done. He was so transfixed on the silver flames of his soul that he hadn¡¯t even realized that he had unintentionally switched his core to his soul version, but had still continued to absorb the creature''s mana.

    His brain started racing for answers since he didn¡¯t know he could use his soul mana to absorb standard mana. He didn¡¯t switch his core back to its solid state but instead looked inwards at his core and repeated what he had been doing for the past few minutes.

    And there it was, standard mana streaming out of his semi-transparent core. He had unintentionally solved one of the biggest downsides of his new affinity, he had managed to use both at the same time.

    Well at least, he was able to use standard mana while observing his soul. He still couldn¡¯t directly use the two quite yet but this was the first step on that path.

    Observing one¡¯s mana and core is very simple. Ever since Adam had accidentally formed his core when running for his life on that beach, he had discovered the ability to ¡®see¡¯ his magic inside his body. Now this didn¡¯t mean he had some sort of X-ray ability to scan his body for his magic.

    It was more akin to imagining, he could close his eyes and sort of ¡®feel¡¯ his core and magic inside himself. If he had to explain it, Adam would describe it as a sort of third eye that could see his body from an outer body perspective.

    He could focus on manipulating magic inside his feet or traveling across his head like when he developed the mana sight ability. Using his internal third eye was like having a digital version of himself on a computer that he could zoom in and out on as well as use the different mental controls like a keyboard for directing and commanding his mana.

    That being said, he didn¡¯t think he used up mana in order to use his third eye. It was simply an added magical organ, maybe even a function of the mana core itself. As a result, using his inner sight to view his soul didn¡¯t require him to use his soul mana.

    The reason he was able to discover his soul probably wasn¡¯t because he had awakened his soul mana but actually, because he knew what to look for. It¡¯s like asking a blind person to point out a specific color. It would be completely impossible for them to do so unless you give them sight and show them what red looks like.

    That was what the God did for him. Both in their talk and in the status window. Therefore, using his core¡¯s standard mana while also utilizing his inner sight to observe his soul wasn¡¯t ever impossible.

    The reason he had assumed it to be so was because of the inherent difference in the energies. How could he ever use standard mana with his soul affinity state core since the soul magic doesn¡¯t seem to interact or recognize the presence of anything other than itself?

    That fact and his misunderstanding of inner mana sight led him to believe it wasn¡¯t possible, but now he knew what was possible might be far greater than he had ever imagined. After all, he now knew that when he ¡®switched¡¯ his core¡¯s state, he wasn¡¯t completely changing it but rather how he and others perceived it.

    It wasn¡¯t very useful currently since he was simply controlling his white mana while being blinded by his soul. But it was the first step to being able to use his soul and standard mana at the same time. The biggest benefit this would give him is the ability to bypass all camouflage.

    Mana is great for discovering the location of mana beasts, but it is also something that creatures like that snake have learned to hide from. Souls, on the other hand, can¡¯t be hidden or disguised. If he was able to combine both his soul and mana sight, then the likelihood of something getting the jump on him would drastically diminish.

    He reactivated his greater sight spell and continued his way further in while now being more careful around rocks with odd shapes and paying closer attention with his normal augmented sight.

    The uneven and rocky terrain never changed much so he relied more on the rhythmic vibrations from the crab. They were growing weaker and more distant as he got further away. The white rocks to Adam¡¯s eyes were suddenly tinted a darker shade as a shadow passed along the rocks.

    Adam immediately froze as the shadow passed along the rocks and away from him. He didn¡¯t understand what it could be since there was absolutely no light down here. Not even any fluorescent plants lived in this large cave. Not to mention that the shadow only appeared in his mana sight. It didn¡¯t look like the shadow had noticed him as it had passed by in front of him, moving in the direction of the vibrations.

    He really wished he could figure out how to get a soul vision spell since he really had no idea what kind of creatures lived down here in the dark. He based most of his assumptions about these creature¡¯s abilities on animals that had evolved back on Earth, but magic was a really powerful tool for increasing natural abilities to the point that he had no idea what to even expect.

    He had seen a killer tree, giant birds that shouldn¡¯t ever be able to fly, ants the size of a car, and even a glowing red Eldrich monster from hell. None of these creatures should ever exist and yet they are given life thanks to this strange and ever-changing energy of magic.

    Who¡¯s to say what some special type of magic might provide to an alien being, like the power to blend and travel in the shadows?

    A truly terrifying ability for Adam since he was currently in an underground cavern without a single light source and no real way to defend himself from a surprise attack.

    It was his biggest weakness, he was still only in his underwear might I remind you. And he had absolutely no defensive magic of any kind. His only victories until now have been surprise attacks.

    Adam continued his hunt in the opposite direction to the vibrations but knew that he would need to make a breakthrough in his magic soon if he wanted to get out of there alive.

    He still hadn¡¯t come across anything that he could consistently hunt for mana cores and was beginning to get worried. He was honestly lost down here in this maze and knew that he had to get to red before he could attempt to make his way back up past the red-cored creatures like the tarantula he had managed to avoid when carefully traveling the tunnels.

    And so he continued his search with a little more speed than before. If he could be attacked from any spot at any time, then he would need to get a lot stronger and fast.

 26 - Shadow hounds

    Chapter 26 - Shadow hounds

    Questions were all Adam had left. It was the main factor in his decision-making these days, and his new life''s goal was to answer them all. Ever since he woke up on that warm beach, unanswered questions flooded his mind.

    These questions sometimes steered him on the path to survival like his pursuit of magic but others built upon the growing doubt and insecurities that lay within him.

    When you spend months on a deserted continent with only yourself for company, things start to get weird. His fascination with magic was genuin, but the reason it had become an obsession was a more complicated situation. Being completely alone in a world where nothing is as it should be would no doubt break most people. Magic was the raft that just barely kept Adam¡¯s mind afloat.

    But his journey into the underground mines was probably his most mentally challenging event so far. It was a depressing and dark atmosphere as sound echoed around him and the walls seemed so close, like they would crush him if he got too close.

    There was never any wind up on the surface but it was nothing like the damp and heavy air of the cave. That is to say that this environment was really pushing his mind to its limits. His recent discoveries about magic and the soul definitely helped him cope, but regretting venturing into this labyrinth was one of his most frequent thoughts.

    He questioned why he even left the beach to begin with. Sure, it was dangerous but so was everywhere in this world. He traveled across an endless desert of dirt and dead grass and almost died in the process. He found one good spot with that oasis. Then in his infinite wisdom, he decided to continue hunting the lizards in their natural environment but had only come across a single one so far.

    Not to mention how much more dangerous it was down here since he couldn¡¯t even see his way around without constantly using his magic, thus slowly draining his core.

    As soon as he discovered the potential of his soul magic, he was so excited to return to the buffalo herd that he would be on his way there right now if not for the small issue of him being completely lost.

    ¡°I don¡¯t need to mark my path, I have a better memory now and I will definitely find my way back¡­ Sure, Adam, you''re a fucking morron¡±

    He eventually heard a commotion in the distance and ran towards the noise. The terrain had started to become more and more covered in those white crystals the further he went.

    It didn¡¯t take long to see what was causing the noise since not far ahead of him was a group of spider-like creatures attacking a larger group of giant ants.

    Both sides had a mixture of grey and red cores but the spiders seemed to have the upper hand in the fight. The ants appeared to have come from a hole in the ground which the spiders were blocking off. These spiders were considerably smaller than the tarantula he had seen before but they obviously made up for their smaller sizes with numbers.

    The ants were of a similar size but looked to lack the agility of the spiders as the two groups battled. The ants were in a circular formation with one larger ant at its center. The creature wasn¡¯t fighting but simply stood unmoving while the others protected it.

    The creature had a white tint as its entire stomach and back glowed with a white light that illuminated the battle. Adam was a few hundred meters away but had no cover to hide behind. He was excited at this encounter since this large group of mana creatures who were all distracted fighting each other was the perfect opportunity. However, he had no intention of getting any closer so he would have to wait until the fight was nearly over before revealing himself.

    The thought of using his soul magic from here to kill them off one by one did cross his mind but he thought better of it. His amount of soul mana was limited and his aim wasn¡¯t great.

    He also didn¡¯t know if it would be able to reach the fight and even if it did, it was inherently slower moving than his standard mana so his aim would be terrible. Not to mention that he simply didn¡¯t have enough soul mana to kill them all anyway.

    So he simply crouched down and observed for the time being. He didn¡¯t dare move his mana for fear of his presence being discovered and nor did he switch to his soul affinity since he would lose visual.

    Half of the beasts had died since Adam started observing the fight and most were ants. They simply couldn¡¯t compete with the greater speed and agility of the taller spiders who fought in a coordinated way. The ants did inflict some heavy injuries to the legs of the spiders but only one of the spiders had actually been killed so far.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    Curiously, the spiders only attacked the guardian ants and not the larger glowing ant in the center. But Adam¡¯s silent viewing of the events was suddenly interrupted when his mana sight noticed a familiar shadow traveling towards the conflict.

    He stood up in surprise at the new arrival but then noticed that it wasn¡¯t alone. Several black shadows traveled in a straight line for the fight but the first one he noticed had already arrived, where once the was a shadow, now stood a large black wolf with sharp white claws and whisps of black smoke emanating from its body.

    The creature jumped at the large white ant in the center but was intercepted by one of the spiders. Adam didn¡¯t see anything further as a large spike in mana and a faint noise behind him caused Adam to jump to the side while activating his shield construct on his arm.

    A large shadow wolf appeared out of nowhere right behind where Adam was standing as its jaws clamped down on empty air. Adam fell onto his side with a badly crafted shield of white mana around his arm. The shadow beast didn¡¯t give him the chance to react again as it pounced for his neck without even landing from its initial attack. It was as though it jumped again while in mid-air as it adjusted its trajectory.

    Adam raised his arms over his face to protect himself as the beast collided with his shield. The construct immediately shattered on contact with the fiend able to bite down on his arm.

    Adam pumped his body full of mana as he used his free right hand to punch the beast in the face to get it to release its grip. His arm was quite tough with his evolved body but this beast still buried its teeth deep into his flesh and was likely to hit bone if he didn¡¯t get it off.

    He didn¡¯t feel any pain from the attack as his brain was pumped full of adrenaline and he repeatedly struck the fiend with his free fist. After the third heavy strike to its skull, the wolf released its grip as he tumbled backward slightly. The creature shook its head before turning its attention back towards Adam with a mix of determination and anger in its black eyes.

    Adam didn¡¯t wait around for the beast as he immediately began to put some distance between himself and the shadow wolf by running away from the passageway.

    The wolf was back on his trail in no time but this time not in the form of a shadow. The creature was fast and only a little shorter than a human. Adam couldn¡¯t use his soul mana since switching his mana affinity would take a second and he couldn¡¯t risk losing focus right now.

    He conjured a weak mana ball that he threw behind him without even aiming or looking to see if it hit. He could hear the creature''s heavy and rapid footsteps as it approached and therefore also heard it when it jumped to the side to avoid the harmless projectile.

    ¡®Interesting, so he avoids all my attacks no matter how weak¡¯

    Adam continued to toss magic orbs at the creature simply to slow it down as he continuously strengthened the blade in his hand. He didn¡¯t dare throw any real mana blades at the wolf since they would take too much time and have almost no chance of hitting such an agile beast.

    His attempt to buy time wasn¡¯t enough though as the beast caught up to him in a few seconds and threw itself at him, once more aiming for his neck. Adam''s left arm was bleeding profusely but it simply felt numb to him. When he heard the sound of the creature''s powerful jump, he abruptly turned around and crouched down as the shadowy fiend passed above him.

    In a single powerful thrust, he pumped his arm with as much mana as possible as his conjured white blade traveled up and pierced the leaping creature in its chest, its momentum and Adam¡¯s powerful strick caused the creature''s torso to be sliced open as it fell back down to the ground with blood and guts spilling out from the wounded beast.

    It thrashed for about a moment before its limbs straightened and shocked before going limp.

    Adam¡¯s mana blade had been shattered after slicing the creature''s torso up so he began condensing another blade. When he noticed that the creature wasn¡¯t getting back up, he looked up at the ongoing fight and was surprised to see that almost all of the spiders had fled up rock sides and stone pillars while the last two ants were being shredded by the shadow fiends.

    The largest of the shadow wolves was currently eating the large glowing ant whose light seemed to have drastically diminished since he last saw it. But the more concerning thing was how close he was to them now.

    His escape from the shadow wolf had required him to run towards the insect conflict since the natural layout of the rocks didn¡¯t allow him to run in any other direction without encountering a stone boundary. But with the insect fight over and the wolves the victor, all the attention turned to Adam and the dead fiend at his feet.

    ¡°Shit¡±

    The shadow wolves all charged at him with some even disappearing into shadow. The was no way he could outrun or outmaneuver all these beasts and his mana wouldn¡¯t be enough either. He didn¡¯t have a choice anymore, he needed to use his ace.

    Adam closed his eyes as he desperately pulled at his core to give him his precious soul mana. His heartbeat was the only thing he could hear as it sounded like a jackhammer in his chest. He looked for that silver spark and yanked at it as soon as the faintest silver color was visible. He couldn¡¯t even see his soul yet as only the smallest hint was revealed before he gripped it and pushed it out of his body.

    The shadow beasts were extremely fast and bloodthirsty after having massacred the ants and spiders and after witnessing one of their own die. At least seven of them had charged at him with only the larger red-cored fiend staying back to eat the glowing ant.

    The pack leader didn¡¯t care much for the death of one of his pack and simply feasted on the mana-rich carcass of the harvester ant. But a sudden shockwave made it lift its head from its meal as all of its pack lay dead on the ground.

    Confusion overwhelmed the leader''s mind as the weak creature he noticed before was barely at the level of a single one of its pack members. It was only luck that the strange being had survived the attack from the young shadow hound but to think it could kill its entire pack, inconceivable.

    The large red-cored creature no longer cared for its meal as it sprinted for the strange hairless creature that had murdered his family. Four generations of pack members were now dead, which had never happened before. His duty as pack leader was to grow strong and provide for the pack but this being had destroyed everything. He would devour it as revenge for the fallen pack but only after inflicting as much pain as possible to the murderous creature.

    The leader¡¯s speed was incomparable to its younger brethren as it charged the unarmed man sitting slumped at the center of a semi-circle of corpses. But as soon as the leader reached the first bodies of its fallen pack, another shockwave appeared as the man''s body fell backward and a second shockwave reverberated around him.

    The leader''s body felt as though it was on fire as its magic ignited within him. The pack leader tried to howl in pain but he was dead before he had the chance. His lifeless body fell to the ground and continued to slide towards his enemy before coming to a stop only centimeters away.

 27 - Out of body experience

    Chapter 27- Out of body experience

    Adam¡¯s mind stretched as he was pushed towards the charging pack of shadow wolves. His mind screamed of danger but the wolves all fell limply to the ground the next instant, a wave of silver mana was pushed out of his body alongside himself and continued on to consume the wolves'' souls. Adam''s mind was a mess and the world around him seemed tense and constrained, with his vision elongated.

    He looked behind him to where he sensed the pull and found his soul had been stretched into a thin cord attached to his floating form and back to his body. He had somehow been pushed out of his own body as he floated in front of himself.

    The world around him was black and confusing since he could see his soul from two different angles simultaneously. His soul had been partially separated, only connected by a thin silver line, and his mind had trouble trying to process the two separate visions.

    He looked at himself while floating a few meters away from his main body and noticed that his core was gone. He floated in the void of darkness for a few moments as he tried to regain control over himself.

    He was able to control his projected soul as if he were controlling his soul mana. Being able to float around outside of his body and experiencing what it was like to be sentient soul mana was extremely bizarre. He couldn¡¯t hear or feel anything as if his soul was in an entirely separate dimension.

    But he noticed a silver light approaching him in the distance. He was scared that this was the light at the end of the tunnel people would talk about when close to death but then he recognized its owner.

    The larger red-cored shadow beast was currently barrelling towards his defenseless body. He tried to return to his body in hopes of being able to reach his mana core before the beast caught him.

    When he attempted to return he remembered the thin silver line that tethered him to his body and he pulled at the line in a desperate attempt to return faster.

    Before he knew it, he was being sucked back into his body like being pulled forward by a black hole. It was instantaneous as soon as he pulled on the line. His main body was able to watch himself float outside himself when his soul had split, but his real body was completely frozen, his limbs and even his mana were completely inaccessible.

    His mind twisted and whirled once more as the piece of his soul he had dislodged returned once more. His minds and visions merged back into a single entity and he immediately regained control over his body. But moving his limbs or standing back up wasn¡¯t his priority. He felt his body fall backward from the jolt and ignored it.

    He pulled on his core and pushed out the rest of his soul mana in the general direction of the charging silver flame. The soul mana collided with the pack leader¡¯s and ignited his vision in an explosion of silver. It only lasted a moment before the soul was consumed and the light disappeared.

    He lay down on the ground as his mind continued to spin. His brain felt as though it couldn¡¯t remember up from down as the darkness he lay in seemed to somehow spin and stretch.

    A heavy pain could be felt behind his eyes as he slowly tried to regain his vision with his greater sight spell. The process took several long seconds as he attempted to send the white mana up to his eyes instead of down to his feet.

    ¡°What the hell was that? I¡¯ve never done drugs, but that felt super trippy¡±

    As the spell gave him back his vision, he sat back up and attempted to see his surroundings.

    The large black wolf was lying lifelessly on the ground extremely close to him, so he backed up in the middle of getting to his feet. The action almost caused him to fall back on his ass but he stabilized himself at the last moment.

    His soul mana was depleted but his standard magic was still at a decent level. He only used the mana sight feature of his great sight spell since forcing his eyes to process more information wasn¡¯t helping his growing headache.

    The scene in front of him was one of eerie death as an entire pack of tens of giant black wolves lay dead around him. The large pack that he had purposely avoided by staying away from their nest near the giant crab, this large pack which outnumbered and outmatched him ten to one, all dead by his hand¡­

    He felt a shiver down his spine as he reexamined his power. The old God had told him that the soul affinity was extremely rare, he mentioned something about a million people having it during his life, and who knows how long that guy has lived for.

    He had wished for a fire affinity ever since he discovered he could use magic since fire magic was awesome in all fantasy media. But he was instead able to use the exotic silver fire that no one without the affinity could even see. So much for flashy spells.

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    But his silver magic now seemed to be much more powerful than he had ever imagined. In hindsight, the fact that some actual god had pulled him into a different realm and told him that he would keep an eye on him did make his soul affinity seem very powerful.

    But he hadn¡¯t differentiated between normal magic and the silver kind. He could see his own soul and that of others but so could he see his own mana core and that of others. The uniqueness of his power hadn¡¯t dawned on him since everything magic was already new and mind-boggling for a lost human who had no idea magic was real for his entire life.

    But now, standing amongst the dark cave with corpses littering his feet, he finally realized what he was doing this whole time. He had been messing with his soul. Like an actual real nonmythical soul, he had almost subconsciously lumped it in with the rest of his magic as things to look into later.

    The memory of him floating outside of his body came to mind as he realized what the soul truly was. It was him, the real him, everything that made Adam Adam.

    He wasn¡¯t playing around with some shiny new magical energy, this was his very essence. Without his soul, he couldn¡¯t be who he was. He had messed with his soul believing it was possible to upgrade it like a mana core, but what if he messed up? What if he accidentally changed something he shouldn¡¯t have? Would he change who he was forever? Would he lose all his memories or revert back to the mental age of a child?

    All these new uncertainties and fears arose in his mind since the gravity of his power became evident. Souls are an ethereal version of yourself with all your memories and experiences. We misunderstood the purpose of the brain. It was never the thing responsible for our consciousness, at least it wasn¡¯t entirely.

    Minds and souls have a complex and intertwined function, they are two sides of the same coin. You can¡¯t have one without the other and here he was changing his soul at will, without even thinking about the consequences.

    He was lucky that he was able to get back to his body in time. What would have happened if he couldn¡¯t return? Or if he pushed all of his soul out of his body? Would he simply drift about in the void, unable to interact with the real world ever again? Would he die? Or simply exist on forever until the end of time, a ghost cursed to darkness for eternity.

    He recalled how he no longer had his magic when floating outside of his body and how powerless he felt. He had gone almost his entire life without these incredible arcane powers but now that he knew what they were, he could never go back.

    He took a long minute to think these things over as he tried to reorganize everything he had learned about the new reality he had been tossed into. He realized that his soul mana allowed him to essential reach into his chest and grasp his own beating heart¡­ or soul in this case. Being able to directly modify something that no one should ever be able to access.

    Despite how dangerous this all was, he ultimately came to a very different conclusion than one might expect.

    ¡°Sure, this might turn me into a mutant freak or a vegetable, but anything meaningful has risks. Magic is dangerous but also the only reason I''m still alive. If I can control my soul like I can control magic¡­ the possibilities are truly endless.¡±

    He still had too little information about the soul and its many uses but a longer life span and better magical capabilities were benefits outlined by a literal God. If his soul could be projected out of his body like he had accidentally done, then could he eventually figure out how to use mana outside of his body?

    Hell, if he figured out how to replace other creature''s soul''s with his own, could he start possessing beasts like a ghost? He knew it was a long shot, but the truth was that magic was insane in what it made possible, like turning into a bloody shadow for one.

    That thought returned his attention to the many corpses and their juicy mana cores. Despite the horrifying experience of throwing himself outside of his own body in the middle of a fight for his life¡­ He was actually starting to feel really optimistic about his situation as he got to work extracting and consuming the many cores.

    He lost track of time as he devoured the mana of one core after the other. He actually started off with the ants and spiders that had died before since their cores were all grey and of pure mana. Many had lost their cores in the fight but enough remained that it pushed his middle-grade core to its maximum.

    He could now notice more red spots than ever at the center of his core and by the time he was absorbing what was left of the larger white ants core, he was pushed over his limit and began to upgrade his core. It pulsated and shifted as the mana compressed and fought itself but he had grown used to the process by now.

    It took a dozen minutes longer than his last upgrade but the amount of mana involved had also increased exponentially. By the time his core had resolidified, the red dots in the center of the sphere now seemed to join together and form small glowing red cracks.

    The familiar feeling of the white pulses then began as his muscles were refined and strengthened once more.

    He didn''t even bother checking his status because he knew he had upgraded his core to late stage as the red cracks were foreshadowing his core''s upcoming evolution.

    An evolution he was hoping would be even closer after he had absorbed all the mana available including the shadow wolve¡¯s. This was actually not an entirely simple process which is why he had left them to last. But first, the large white ant seemed to have a significant reserve of pure mana trapped in a condensed cloud inside various flesh sacks across its back and torso.

    Many of them were torn open during the attack but some still remained. Adam wasn''t sure how it processed its mana but assumed these sacks were the ants'' equivalent of transporting pollen back to its hive. He filed that information away as useful tidbits to look into.

    His improved core allowed him to process the mana at a much faster pace but when all the pure mana was absorbed, it was time to move on to the shadow wolves. He had never encountered their weird mana before as it seemed so light and ethereal.

    He had seen light affinity mana before and remembered it being dense and refusing to be absorbed without a fight. The shadow magic was similar but in the opposite way. It was a slippery mana that acted like a magnet when attempting to absorb.

    If he attempted to push it one way, the magic would go the opposite direction. It wasn''t moving in a smooth motion either but rather slipped from side to side. When he tried to push it into his core, it would jump around to the other side of the sphere while never getting close enough to be absorbed.

    This black mana didn''t fight against him by exploding his core unlike the light magic, but rather by making itself impossible to absorb by any non-show attuned core.

    ¡°Well, this is going to be a pain¡­¡±

 28 - Crystals

    Chapter 28 - Crystals

    His acquisition of an entire pack of mana cores was an incredible haul but also infinitely frustrating. He couldn¡¯t absorb the elusive shadow magic no matter how hard he tried. And so began a long and tedious process of trial and error as he did everything he could to devour the black mana.

    He attempted to saturate his entire body with the black magic but discovered how incredibly hard it was to contain. The fact that he was in the dark depths of a cave probably had something to do with why his body was acting like a leaking sieve. He could see black wisps of magic smoke emanating from his body as he struggled to contain the foreign mana.

    His goal was to push huge amounts of the mana toward his core in the hopes that at least some of it would be sucked in. But this unfortunately didn¡¯t happen as most of the magic continued to elude his control or simply dissipated back into the air.

    He even swallowed the grey mana core from the wolf he had sliced open, as a way to get the creature''s core close to his own in order to minimize the dissipation rate. But even that was a failure as the mana continued running about his body and never getting close enough to his core.

    Next, Adam remembered fishing nets and how fishermen would trap many fish in them by simply waiting for the creatures to get close before pulling the net back up. He tried to achieve the same effect by constructing his own mana net around his core like a cage. The shadow mana was his fish, so he opened a gap in the net and pushed his mana until a portion ended up in the white net. He was then able to close back up the cage with the shadow mana inside. The mana didn¡¯t react but simply stayed unmoving at a safe distance from his core.

    Adam smirked at his genius plan before shrinking the cage around his core and forcing the shadow mana ever closer. When the black mana was moments away from being sucked in, however, the black magic somehow flipped sides and appeared on the opposite side of the construct.

    Adam was puzzled and outraged at the ridiculously elusive magic and expelled it all from his body in anger. He had spent at least an hour trying different approaches to absorb the shadow mana, but none had succeeded, and he had actually lost the mana of an entire grey core by now. This wasn¡¯t the end of the world since he still had many other cores, but it was still a significant loss considering how valuable these cores were.

    He sighed in frustration before lowering his head to the ground in defeat. All these cores and he couldn¡¯t even use them. Sure, he had already upgraded his core to the late stage but all this supply would get him very close if not push him to his next core evolution.

    As he stared at the ground in defeat, he noticed a flickering light at his feet. This caught his eye since the were no small bugs or fluorescent plants down here to emit the light. But instead of some small firefly, he found a small patch of those white crystals that were spread out across the cave.

    This was the first time he had seen one change brightness so he focused his mana sight on the strange crystal. Adam was surprised to see the black shadow mana he had expelled from himself was reacting with the crystal.

    His exploration of the newly inhabited cave had been at the forefront of his mind ever since he came upon these white crystals. The vibrations that now couldn¡¯t really be felt anymore, had forced him to ignore the strange crystals at the time.

    But now that he was alone and out of ideas on how to make use of the shadow mana, he returned his attention to what these strange crystals could be.

    He knelt down and touched the slowly flickering light but nothing happened. He could tell that it was made from pure mana but couldn¡¯t extract that mana like he could an idle mana core. This crystal was something entirely different.

    He watched carefully as the black mana surrounding the crystal was slowly absorbed without issue and only caused some small flickering in the white color of the crystal.

    He almost burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation. He had tried everything he could think of to absorb that mana and here this little crystal was, drinking up the black mana without issue.

    Adam easily removed the crystal from its spot in the rock but still wasn¡¯t able to extract the mana from the crystal. It was a strange thing, he assumed that it was similar to his core but it appeared to be completely formed out of solid mana, unlike his core which he now was fairly certain had a soul component involved.

    Since this strange magic crystal was somehow able to absorb the shadow magic, he intended to make good use of it. He found a flat bolder and began to smash a stone against the white crystal to crack it open.

    It seemed like the obvious thing to do since he couldn¡¯t extract its mana from the outside, but he was unfortunately reminded of an important ability of the mysterious magic. That of strengthening its host, in this case, the small white crystal.

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    His now upgraded late-stage grey core made him superhumanly strong so smashing small rocks wasn¡¯t an issue in the slightest. The issue was that the rocks would always smash without ever doing any visible damage to the crystal. After turning several increasingly large rocks into powder, he resorted to striking it with his bare hands and feet but nothing worked.

    It wasn¡¯t helping that the crystal was only the size of a finger, meaning that it was far more compact than anything he had seen before. He was beginning to doubt if these crystals actually had a softer inside or were simply pure condensed mana all the way through.

    His mind had gone on a rollercoaster of emotions these past few hours, from near-death encounters to huge discoveries of his abilities, then from a large upgrade to his core to the realization that all these mana cores were useless to him. And when he finally discovered a way he could remove the annoying shadow affinity from the wolves'' cores, the crystals are then proven unbreakable.

    Adam once more collapsed to the ground in defeat. He had really hoped to avoid this, but it truly seemed like he would have to waste all those precious mana cores simply because of their affinity. This was a serious issue for Adam because he assumed that the stronger creatures would also have specialized mana to help them survive. If he didn¡¯t find a way to absorb their cores, then he would no doubt stagnate and never manage another evolution.

    The thought darkened his already foul mood as he sat down surrounded by the many corpses. The smell was starting to get to him and he knew that he would soon have to leave this place.

    The shadow wolves definitely appeared to be the dominant predators around here but he knew that they weren¡¯t the only ones. A couple of spiders had survived the encounter and he figured that they would be back sooner or later to retrieve the spoils.

    The ants too would probably come looking for their lost brethren, especially since that big guy looked important to them¡­

    Before he could finish his thought, he suddenly had a realization. The larger white ant that glowed with white mana before it was killed had some sort of thick gasious mana clouds in its body.

    Could those sacks of condensed mana be the result of these mana crystals? If the ant had managed to digest the crystal and extract the mana, then those ants might actually be his ticket to victory.

    His mind was once again filled with excitement and anticipation, completely forgetting the depression that controlled him only moments ago. His mood swings aside, he really believed that he had cracked the case. He would simply have to lure out another group of ants to devour the crystals made from the mana cores of the shadow hounds and let them convert the mana into pure clouds of white magic before taking it for himself.

    It was the perfect plan, except that he had no idea where the ants lived and if only the larger white ones could consume the crystals.

    But those were questions he could ask later. With newfound enthusiasm, he formed blades of white mana and extracted the cores from all the remaining mana beasts.

    He then went looking for as many loose crystals as he could. He stacked them both into piles to see if the crystals would absorb the passive cores automatically if they were close enough. This, unfortunately, ended up not being the case. The crystals were pretty good at absorbing the mana clouds, but not when they were encased in a solid shell.

    As so began yet another hours-long mission of extracting the shadow mana and releasing it toward the pile of crystals. It was slow and repetitive but at least this time he was advancing.

    The crystal''s brightness changed with every cloud of shadow mana sent their way. He couldn¡¯t tell how much of the mana was being absorbed but knew that at least some of it was definitely getting sucked in. Most people probably wouldn¡¯t waste their time on such a speculative task, since he wasn¡¯t even sure if the mana he would receive if everything went according to plan would even be worth it or not.

    But Adam had come too far to give up now, he would see this through to the end if only to prove his own conviction. He refused to stay weak in this new world of his. He had promised himself to live a better life and not to drift to the background again. Even if he needed to convert all the mana cores, he would ever get into a terrible conversion ratio crystal to then feed to an insect to be able to finally harvest those cores as pure mana, then he would do just that. Whatever it took to keep getting stronger.

    Adam lost track of time as he emptied core after core into his surroundings in the hopes that a decent amount would be absorbed by the crystals. He used their changing brightness as a guide to how fast they could absorb the shadow mana. He still didn¡¯t understand why the slippery black mana didn¡¯t fight back against the white crystals but refused to allow him to absorb it.

    Finally, after many hours, the time came when only the larger red core of the pack leader remained. He had saved it for last as higher-grade cores were always harder to deal with but with all the other cores dissolved, its turn was up.

    The core was heavier and emanated a stronger power than the others. Using his own mana to manipulate the shadow affinity residing inside was similar to dunking a paper boat in a stormy ocean. His own mana was completely destroyed as soon as he attempted to invade the core.

    He had experienced a similar effect with the other cores but could simply brute force his way with little trouble. The red core, however, had such a large amount of foreign mana that he wasn¡¯t able to use his usual method. Each time his tendrils entered the core, they were displaced at such a speed that the construct fell apart.

    A sudden stroke of genius then overcame him as he used this mana¡¯s innate property against itself. The shadow mana always hides from the light. It thrives in the dark, and therefore, he simply needed to make it so that the core would willingly release its mana.

    He used the previous mana net construct to encircle half of the core before shrinking the construct down until it entered the red core. The shadow mana wasn¡¯t able to disperse this larger and more durable construct so it instead sled to the opposite side to escape.

    After a few tries, he was able to empty out the core by gradually pushing his mana further and further into the core and letting the shadow affinity seep out in an attempt to escape and be absorbed by the nearby pile of crystals.

    At last, he had done it, he had finally converted all those shadow mana cores into admittedly still unusable crystals but that was where part two came into play¡­ Time to find the ants.

 29 - Pants and ants

    Chapter 29 - Pants and ants

    Being vastly under-clothed and with no pockets, Adam would have a hard time transporting the dozen bright crystals. As such, he decided to create a pouch from the beast-hide of the dead shadow wolves. His makeshift water bottle was half empty by now and the vines he used to tie it to himself were worn and weak.

    He used his mana blade to skin the largest grey-cored wolf he could see, since the even larger pack leader was much too tough for him to work on. The fur was unique and odd, it looked and felt like smoke as the pelt was incredibly soft and light. The flowing black fur didn¡¯t offer any protection to the creature but rather seemed to act like a mana sponge.

    This was all only a guess, but he now believed that the strange fur of the shadow creatures must have helped them either absorb or somehow elevate their magical ability. The ambient mana in the air seemed to get pulled towards the fur but only rested on the coat. Adam assumed that this must be the wolves'' equivalent to breathing in ambient mana in order to replenish their cores.

    It was a good reminder that magic and biology can work together to build some truly monstrous creatures. He was very much limited by his mana capacity and would be defenseless if it ran out. But what if some creatures don¡¯t have that issue? If mana beasts can attract and devour ambient mana using their entire body, then their supply of mana would be refilled a lot quicker than his measly breaths.

    After lamenting his poor biological adaptation to magic, he cheered himself up by reminding himself that they were all dead and he was alive. Better evolutionary traits or not, his soul mana would level the playing field.

    The clothing he was making out of the wolf''s fur had two main purposes. Firstly, he had been running around in his same worn boxer shorts for months and it was a miracle they hadn¡¯t been ripped by now. He would therefore make himself some new shorts to make him a little less exposed and also create some pockets.

    To do this, he simply used his mana to make small holes in his new pants and a spare piece of hide in the rough shape of a pocket. Then he used a long and thin strip of the wolf''s skin as thread and weaved it in and out of the holes to attach the added piece of fur as a pocket.

    He did the same for the other side and even punctured a hole at the top of the pocket and into the fabric of his new shorts, to be able to thread some more makeshift thread though the two and tie the top of the pockets shut temporarily, thus protecting the crystalline contents even if he needs to run or jump.

    Unfortunately, despite how proud he was of his new clothing, it was a little loose fitting with the added weight of the crystals.

    He also knew that simply adding a belt on top of the fur clothing wasn¡¯t going to cut it since the soft fur was very light and would gradually slip down when he moved.

    To solve these issues, he took inspiration from adjustable sweatpants and used a long strip of pelt as an adjustable lace, and got to work stitching his masterpiece. It took a while but it was a nice break from dealing with magic. Even though he was literally using his magic as a needle to puncture several holes in the folded-over top part of his shorts in order to form his waistband.

    After he threaded the long strip of pelt into the waistband, he had just created this world''s first size adjustable shorts that he tightened to himself and tied into a bow.

    His new stylish clothing fitted and his crystals loaded and secure, he set off on his hunt for the ants once more.

    ¡°Man this fur is awesome, it would definitely create a wave in the fashion world if someone from Earth saw me now¡±

    He smiled to himself as he imagined the looks on the faces of people if he walked out into the street like this¡­ A muscular body with wild hair and wearing nothing but a pair of pants so black that not even daylight can properly illuminate it, he assumed the fur would look like a smoky black shadow.

    His smile faded slightly when he got to the large hole in the ground that the ants were attempting to get to, when they were ambushed by the spiders.

    He strained his eyes to peer down into the darkness and something strange happened to his eyes. He had no idea how long he had spent down here in the underground but definitely a dozen days already. Spending all this time in pure darkness means that he had to use his greater sight spell in perpetuity in order to see and it had become second nature to him by this point. It was like watching an old black-and-white film, at first you can¡¯t help but notice the lack of color but as the movie progresses, you completely forget about the color and your mind simply accepts the black-and-white movie as normal.

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    A similar thing was happening to Adam as the new black and white colors he had been seeing no longer registered as unusual to his mind as he entirely forgot about the sight spell and let his mind work on autopilot. But this changed when he suddenly got a huge upgrade to his vision as the once slightly blurry white walls of mana-infused rock became vastly more detailed.

    The stone walls he had seen for hours on end all had a somewhat smooth look to them as smaller details were lost to him. It wasn¡¯t something that bothered him much as noticing the small bumps in the wall had no relevance in finding his way. What had changed significantly, was his ability to see further than ever before.

    As he looked down into the large hole from whence he ants wished to return, he found that his ¡®telescopic¡¯ vision had more than doubled in its ability to see into the distance. He wondered if this was what eagles saw, but then realized that eagles likely had even better eyesight. The thought of an eagle with mana brought back memories of the large falcons flying over the beach and what kind of strange abilities they might have evolved.

    Adam Hartwell

    Mana core: [grey - late - (Soul)]

    Divine patriarch (???): [???]

    Spells:

    - [greater sight - refined - uncommon]

    - [mana blades - crude - uncommon]

    - [enhancement - crude - common]

    - [soul circulation - crude - epic]

    Nafritese¡¯s edict: Opens the path for magical growth.

    (???)

    He was excited to have once more upgraded his sight spell to refined. It was the only spell he could use permanently without draining his core and as such, also the spell he was the most familiar with.

    He hadn¡¯t opened his status screen in a while and was happy to see the mana core section about having upgraded his core to the late stage. Seeing the ¡®edict¡¯ also made him wonder about the benefits of the system.

    It claims to open the path to magical growth but he didn¡¯t need the system to tell him he had upgraded his core as the red cracks at its center were a good indicator. It obviously helped with perfecting spells like it had just done but that didn¡¯t seem to fit with the edicts description.

    But what really caught his eye was his soul circulation spell. He hadn¡¯t touched his soul mana since his out-of-body experience, but the reminder of his only epic spell forced him to make a decision about how to proceed.

    Until now, the system has been nothing but helpful in forming spells. None of his spells had any evident drawbacks or negative effects so his soul-related spell also presumably wouldn¡¯t have been awarded to him if it was harmful to his soul.

    He also supposedly met the entity responsible for the system and that old man told him he would help as best he could, but that his edict was the only way he could interact with the multiverse. So he decided to trust the mysterious God and use the spell to augment his soul.

    It would be stupid not to use an epic grade spell to improve himself since he was given the opportunity. The thought did scare him a little as he wondered if the spell he was given was because of the God himself or because he deserved it based on his magical achievements. Was that what the God meant when he said he would do his best to help him?

    That he would be able to upgrade or gain new spells faster than most? Or that he would bend the rule a little to give his stronger spells than he might deserve?

    Either way, he was grateful for any assistance. Maybe he was just delusional and dreamt up the whole encounter or maybe the God simply meant to wish him good luck and wouldn¡¯t actually give him handouts. That seemed like the more probable situation based on the guy''s personality anyway.

    ¡°Fuck it, half-half¡± He now knew how powerful his soul mana was so he would split it up and use half for defense and the other feed to his soul.

    Adam descended into the large hole with better visibility and growing confidence as the tiredness that had built up in his body during the long travel and fights was washed away by the feeling of his soul burning brighter as the silver mana circulated in his soul¡¯s pathways.

    The tunnel had a visible downward curve as he followed the path into what he presumed was the way to the ant nest. He had no intention of actually making his way to the heart of the nest but simply wanted to get close enough to the ants to be able to use one of their small scout groups as his test subjects in his ¡°Mana crystallization conversion experiment¡±¡­ Patent pending

    The tunnel soon reached a cross-section with three possible directions. He learned his lesson about getting lost in a maze of tunnels and used a mana blade to carve a mark in his tunnel for future reference. Then he randomly picked the tunnel heading left and continued on his way.

    The path further down seemed to open up into a much more trafficked road as he could hear eerie pattering noises in the distance. He turned the corner to see a large open space with several ants guarding what looked like the same large white ant from the fight above.

    He grinned maniacally as his ridiculous plan was all coming together. He simply needed to get one of those white ants to devour his crystals before slaughtering them and taking back his precious processed mana.

    The only thing stopping him from doing so was the twenty or so soldier ants that walked alongside the glowing large white ants. It seemed that each white ant had ten personal bodyguards and this group had two white mana-processing ants.

    He wouldn¡¯t be able to deal with all twenty soldier ants at the same time and using his soul mana blast would likely only kill the white giants too. Not to mention they would simply run away¡­ Or would they?

    One thing he found odd about the fight between the ants and spiders was the inactivity of the giant white ant. Even when it was being attacked, it didn¡¯t fight back or run off, it simply stood still and forced the guardian ants to throw themselves in danger, using their own bodies as meat shields to protect the white giant.

    If the same was true for these two giant ants, then he might actually make this work. He stopped using his soul circulation spell as he watched the ants waddle down the large tunnel to the right of him. They were moving at a snail''s pace, probably to stay close to the white giants moving in slow motion. The tunnels had several turns in them so it was the perfect spot for an ambush while they were alone. He simply needed to pick them off as fast and quietly as possible.

 30 - White ants

    Chapter 30 - White ants

    Adam stood motionless as the world faded to black. He didn¡¯t need to lay eyes on the group of ants since his soul energy ignored any physical obstacles made of non-soul energy. Therefore, as he stood hidden in his tunnel, he watched several lights appear in the distance. The souls of the ants were rather distinct, at least in size as two clearly larger and denser souls were visible to him compared to the smaller and thinner silver flames surrounding the two.

    He remarked on how poor his sight was compared to his newly now crisp and detailed mana sight. He didn¡¯t notice it before as both his vision methods were somewhat blurry and his soul vision didn¡¯t give him much to compare against considering the darkness that surrounds him in this state. But the difference between having a spell and not is night and day.

    Vision enhancement has been his most successful area for magical augmentation and yet he still hadn¡¯t got a soul-sight spell.

    But he quickly turned his attention back towards the moving silver lights in the distance. He summoned his soul mana and attempted to shape it into a spike. It was still very difficult to shape but not as hard as the last time he did this. It seems his core advancement had helped somewhat in that regard.

    He didn¡¯t think he would be able to kill enough of them before they scattered to look for him if his soul mana only killed one ant at a time, so he wanted to avoid burning their soul entirely.

    He had considerably little experience in the effects of soul mana against other souls but knew that its effects could vary based on his will. He wanted to make it act closer to standard mana and puncture the soul of the ants like a bullet, thus allowing him to kill several of them with a single blast.

    He had never tested this before but he didn¡¯t really have a choice. He focused on condensing the silver mana into the shape of a needle and slowing the flowing nature of the mana. He constantly imagined the shape and effect of a laser while shaping the mana in hopes that that would somehow inform the magic to the effect he wanted it to have.

    The result wasn¡¯t as different from last time much to his disappointment, but he did manage to significantly slow the waving and burning effect of the silver mana, and that allowed him to condense it much more than he would otherwise have been able to. The only thing left to do was hope it didn¡¯t burn up when colliding with a single soul.

    Adam launched the condensed silver flame toward the group of souls marching some distance away. He didn¡¯t need to worry about the thick stone wall that separated them since the soul mana passed through all things without issue. He couldn¡¯t even see the world outside of souls so he didn¡¯t even know that his silver magic traveled straight through five-meter thick mana-infused rock, a feat impossible for any mana.

    The speed of his magic weapon was slower than his standard mana but now much faster than before his core advancement. It moved uncontested between the void of emptiness to Adam¡¯s eyes at the average speed of a thrown rock. He was somewhat mesmerized at the movement of the light since it appeared to simply glide through space without even recognizing air or gravity as forces that should be interacting with it. Or should they?

    The soul attack reached the first small soul a moment later and Adam tensed as the projectile collided with the soul of a soldier ant. Adam had hoped for the best but still somewhat expected the worst when the two lights merged.

    His connection to the launched energy hadn¡¯t visibly diminished, unlike standard mana which is impossible to control once it leaves the user''s perimeter of control. The ant soldier''s soul didn¡¯t completely spontaneously combust, instead, a large hole appeared in the center of the silver light.

    A loud screech could be heard as soon as the injury appeared and he watched as the light squirmed for a second before the soul''s previously rounded shape became twisted and morphed into a dim gaseous cloud. His attention didn¡¯t linger on the strange outcome but instead focused on the silver projectile that hadn¡¯t been destroyed yet.

    It actually appeared to be a little brighter after the collision with the first soul. Through his connection with the silver mana, he felt it grow stronger as the piece of soul was slowly consumed to intensify the spell. The projectile didn¡¯t stop on the first soul either. He smiled in victory as the projectile continued to travel toward the second soul on its trajectory.

    A domino effect ensued as soul after soul was pierced. He couldn¡¯t properly control the spell after it had burned a hole through several souls. The silver flames consumed a small portion of the foreign soul as energy, but in doing so also expanded the flame and caused it to lose its more compact shape.

    The rapid and frequent change in the ethereal silver projectile caused it to lose its shape and become uncontrollable. He formed a second soul projectile to replace it and sent it out again. The ants didn¡¯t seem to understand what was happening, their souls all simply froze, and only a couple actually moved away from the attacked ants.

    It only took four more soul projectiles before he had gotten all the ant soldiers, all in under a few seconds.

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    He switched back to his standard mana as his eyes refocused. The ants'' souls hadn''t burnt up like that of the wolves, but they were still dead either way.

    He turned the corner once more and lay eyes on the scene he had created. Bodies were lying all around the unmoving white giants. He had been correct about the passive nature of the larger white ants. The smaller soldiers were all slumped over with none left alive.

    He was a little confused about what happened to their souls after he pierced them. He saw the souls morph from their previous shape and turn into an amorphous silver cloud similar to his soul mana.

    He momentarily reactivated his soul vision in order to scan the corpses and was surprised to see three of the souls still hovering close to their corpses.

    ¡°Wait, are they ghosts now?¡±

    He felt bad about doing that to these ants, but he had come this far already.

    While he was at it, he stretched out his hand and touched the closest floating blob of the dead ant''s untethered soul. He obviously couldn''t actually see his hand but rather his own soul following the rough shape of his body. The energy of the silver ghost reminded him of his own out-of-body experience. Was this what the dead ant was experiencing?

    But it was also distinctly different, more chaotic and wild than his tamed and controlled soul. He could also see that the soul was shrinking at a visible rate. Before it disappeared completely, he pushed out a tendril of soul mana and infused some mana into the floating soul. By doing that, he was able to slow the decay of the soul and actually gained some command over it, allowing him to shape it slightly. He calmed its rapid and erratic movement and made its shape a more spherical form compared to the mess it was before.

    What really struck him, however, was the feeling of sadness he felt when touching the soul. It wasn''t something he could describe other than a heavy feeling that emanated from the silver ball.

    His mind refocused on the two large ants still alive when one of their souls moved. He reactivated his mana sight and was greeted by the white ants staring right at him. They appeared lifeless as if they were robots rather than living beings.

    He didn''t question it too much though since nothing he had seen in this world wasn''t weird in some way. He took out a handful of crystals from his new pocket and tossed them on the ground in front of the first giant ant.

    The creature still seemed to move in slow motion as if deep underwater as it looked down at its feet. Several moments of awkward silence passed as nobody moved. Until the large ant actually moved its head down and began swallowing the white crystals.

    The large white ant''s body began to glow in rhythmic patterns as the light intensified and calmed over and over again. It was somehow digesting the mana from the crystals so he emptied the rest of the crystals onto the ground where the other slow-moving ant could also reach.

    The giant white ants illuminated the space around them as their bodies worked to presumably process the crystals. They only ate a few but the rhythmic light emanating from them showed no sign of slowing. Nor did the large ants seem to notice him or the soldier ants'' corpses littering the tunnel.

    Adam was curious about their nature and behavior but didn''t want to push his luck. From the light the white giants were emitting, it seemed that his process of imbuing the crystals with all those cores had actually had an effect.

    Despite the large quantities of mana inside the creatures, they were surprisingly weak. Simply from their movement, you could tell that they weren''t strong, but the true surprise was their lack of a mana core. He didn''t know if it was simply hidden by the large quantities of mana in its body, but it made sense in a way.

    If these white giants were truly processing machines, then having a core would actually be a negative. After all, they had bodyguards for fighting and protection and he assumed having a core would be bad for the transport of mana back to their hive since it would naturally consume mana reserved probably for the queen or elites.

    Adam had seen many different species and various adaptations for survival, some tap into a resource others can''t instead of hunting. Like the grasslands of the buffalo or these ants and the crystals. It wasn''t too surprising that not growing one''s personal strength in favor of nurturing the more powerful for protection is a valid survival strategy.

    He picked out the best mana cores from the dead ants while he waited for the white giants to finish their task. It didn''t appear to be something they could accomplish rapidly so set about using his mana blade to extract the early grey cores from the guards. Half had only been black cores so the combined mana from all these ants wouldn''t be much to him. He would probably need hundreds of late grey cores to evolve into a red core and the strongest ant was a single middle grey core.

    Since he had nothing better to do and the ants were showing no signs of movement, he decided to practice optimizing his absorption rates and his body enhancement spell. He had discovered his poor mana conductivity thanks to the oasis and its magically charged waters and now understood how inefficient his mana handling was.

    The various available cores that all contained pure mana were therefore a great source of practice. He pumped mana from his core and had it circulate through his body. After a few minutes, his mana had saturated his body so he moved on to the next step. He pushed the abundant mana within him from the center and towards his skills.

    He had to repeat his entire process several times since he would accidentally push the mana too far and have it exit his body. Once he got it working, a thin barrier of dense mana was present across his upper body. He eventually decided against including his head and legs in the construct since they were too difficult to include and would always cause significant mana leakage.

    With his mana barrier in place and surrounding the inside of his torso and arms. He placed a mana core in both his palms and began absorbing the mana. The change was significant as he could sense the mana accumulating on the barrier. All that mana that would otherwise have dissipated out of him was now mostly locked inside and ready to be absorbed.

    Despite his optimizing method, it did cause a significant mental drain as his mind was required to focus constantly on repairing the damage to his barrier as well as having his core absorb the new mana.

    He lost track of the large rhythmically illuminated tunnel as he focused entirely on the absorption process¡­ Until a loud cacophony of nightmarish tapping and screeching woke him from his concentration.

 31 - Ant army

    Chapter 31 - Ant army

    His strong concentration had blinded him to the coming of another large group of ants that arose from deeper within the tunnel. He noticed them too late as his sense of safety close to the unmoving white giants had blinded him to this possibility.

    The ants were now all higher graded with most being strong grey cores. He got to his feet in a flash and let the inner barrier construct crumble as he opted to use the already abundant mana in his body to strengthen himself. The first of the ant wave was upon him a second later.

    He had no time to conjure any weapon and simply used his mana-infused fist to strike the closest ant in its head. He knew that his soul mana hadn¡¯t had time to replenish yet and even if he had enough, switching would take too long while being swarmed. Adam took a step back after his first punch since the creature didn¡¯t seem to be damaged from his attack.

    He glanced behind the ant and saw a line of insects all charging towards him. They appeared to have formed a wall with their bodies that blocked his ability to sidestep them. Within another second, two more ants broke from the line and joined the attacking ants while the position they held was immediately refilled.

    Adam knew that he would have trouble escaping with these three ants attacking him so he fused his muscles with all the remnant mana in his body and pushed off the ground in a rapid leap. He jumped up at the first ant who was a little taller than a human and struck its neck with his knee while grabbing an antennae on its head to swing his body onto its back. He felt something break on impact with his knee and the ant''s head swung downwards, causing him to be flown to the left of the creature''s body. He seized the unexpected opportunity as he used the momentum to empower his fist aimed at the second ant.

    The punch was definitely powerful thanks to his mana-empowered arm, but it failed to hit a vital point and instead landed on one of the creature''s front legs after it moved to the side to avoid him. It wasn¡¯t ideal but would definitely encumber its future movement so he didn¡¯t attack it further. He landed back on the ground and turned to the third giant ant. As he did so, he noticed a change in the wall of ants that covered the width of the tunnel.

    The closest ants at the front of the formation were rushing him while maintaining their line. As a result, they resembled an arrowhead aiming straight for Adam.

    Adam''s mind suddenly cleared as if he had been in some sort of trance this whole time. He glanced at the fallen ant with its neck broken before turning and running in the opposite direction. He was confused about what just happened, he didn¡¯t like fighting and always used long-ranged spells when he needed to do so. Fighting a creature much stronger than him up close had never been appealing to him, but in that moment, while taken off guard and unprepared by the ants, his blood had screamed at him and his body had moved on its own.

    He was never very acrobatic but just now, he had lunged at a deadly predator without hesitation and performed a feat he would have believed himself incapable of only minutes earlier. His soul mana had proven extremely deadly at devastating mid-ranged attack so the feeling that had overcome him was strange.

    He didn''t think about it too hard though as he ran up the tunnel in hopes of escaping from the overwhelming number of ants on his tail. His mana-boosted legs made him about as fast as the six-legged creatures so he wasn''t gaining much distance. He formed two floating mana blades as he ran and sent them flying behind him without even aiming. He heard a screech amongst the loud stampeding noises after his spell impacted the creatures.

    He didn''t have time to conjure any more before he was pushed to the side by a powerful leg swipe. The third attacking ant from before had caught up to him. He stumbled to the side as fear crept in, if he fell now, he would die. Adam found himself in a similar life or death situation as with the giant centipede on the beach but refused to simply run away infest. He had gotten stronger and survived so much already. He reached for his soul mana but couldn¡¯t commit to the move as the second attack of the ant was upon him.

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    He abandoned the thought of using his soul mana as he locked eyes with the attacker. Before he knew it, he was leaping to the side without really knowing why. His body reacted automatically to an unseen threat but a millisecond later, the ant''s mandibles slashed with unusual speed at the spot he was standing at before his leap.

    He used the opportunity of a missed strike to counterattack as the stone beneath his feet cracked from the force of his jump. He practically teleported in front of the recovering ant as his fist descended on the creature''s head. Once again, a strong warning resounded in his mind as he flung himself backward into a backflip while still hurtling toward the ant.

    The creature''s antenna narrowly passed in front of him. The ant had obviously been better at boosting itself with mana since two mana-enhanced attacks had almost got him. He wasn¡¯t scared at that moment but rather angry. Angry that this ant had been so close to killing him. It was just an overgrown insect, unlike the true fear he felt from the vastly stronger red demon. He forced a blast of mana out of his hand to readjust his position mid-air as he clobbered the big insect with a mana-fused punch to its eye.

    A wet sound could be heard as his arm went straight through the ant''s bulging black eye with no resistance. He once more blasted himself backward with a mana burst from inside the ant''s eye which caused him to be blasted backward but also the ant''s head to suddenly inflate as its body suddenly tensed before the creature collapsed.

    Adam landed on the ground and heard the ever-closer sound of the wall of ants charging at him. He once more reached for his soul mana but stopped short of switching his core to the ethereal mana. Instead, he conjured a blade of mana in his right hand and faced the coming charge, fear had all but vanished as a fire burnt in his chest. He had just discovered something fascinating and needed to test it further.

    If someone had been watching the following scene, they would likely be extremely confused, as Adam''s actions seemed completely out of left field. Ever since arriving on this world, he had been running and cowering from any direct confrontations, he appeared to be a lost human desperate for survival, and he of course was to a certain extent but what he was doing now upended all those trends.

    He ran head-first into the small army of giant ants with only a simple mana blade in his hand. One would assume that he had lost his mind and that a horrible death was the only thing that awaited him. But as Adam reached the line of ants barring him access to the path further into the nest, he spun and dodged seemingly at random as no attack was aimed at him, or at least, the dodge wasn¡¯t a response to an attack, it was an anticipation.

    From an outsider''s perspective, it would look like Adam could see a second into the future as his evolved body jumped and twisted from and to the different ants as his blade stabbed and slashed the creature''s necks and other vital points. He looked like he had been possessed by the spirit of a ninja.

    Adam''s mind was working overtime processing information at a dizzying speed, it would have caused him a migraine if not for his magically enhanced mind. He could sense the ant''s intentions and planned attacks before they happened. It was like reading the body''s movement to anticipate their actions but scaled to eleven.

    He felt a strong feeling from the giant ants, a familiar sensation that he had once desperately tried to suppress. No longer, he embraced the sensation and listened to its warnings as he used his superhuman strength and agility to outmaneuver the large insects. Each movement of his foes revealed more about their intentions than any person should be able to deduce.

    The ant wall had been broken as he evaded and counterattacked. The insects no longer stayed in formation but rather all lunged at him in hopes of crushing him with numbers. Adam wasn''t even thinking about techniques or tactics as he fatally injured ant after ant. Despite the seemingly overwhelming numbers encircling him, he couldn''t help but smile.

    The ants had powerful limbs, their mana infused strikes would definitely break a bone or two if they landed. He used his main advantage to avoid being encircled, he leaped into the air and jumped from back to back since the ant''s couldn''t do much to him other than attempt to grab him with their mandibles. His mind warned him of their every intended movement before a single muscle on the creatures had even moved.

    A clarity that he hadn''t felt since a child had filled his mind as he moved through the air. Several ants had died and their formation had been broken but yet they continued to rush at him with no consideration for their own safety. The ant he was currently clinging to was stabbed in the back by its neighbors in a failed attempt to kill Adam.

    Twenty minutes passed as Adam picked off the large insects one by one until all of them were dead. He was low on stamina and breathing heavily but otherwise perfectly fine. An unpleasant yellow liquid covered most of his body and the ground as it leaked from the corpses. He had to conjure a couple different mana blades after they shattered or weakened but mainly he used his mana for constant strengthening. However, simple mana enhancement of his mind and body wasn''t the reason for the event that had just unfolded, the real reason was the faint buzzing feeling in the very back of his mind, a feeling not too dissimilar to the one he gets when his status screen changes.

    He stayed crouched down while catching his breath but wasn''t really paying much attention to his breathing, instead, memories of his childhood flashed in his mind. The words of the God and his new understanding all merged together into a single truth that changed everything about his life. A single truth that he had always known in the back of his mind but done everything to suppress.

    ¡°It was my fault, It was all my fault¡­¡±

    For the first time in decades, he slumped over and began to cry. He didn''t cry for himself or his situation, nor did he do it for his mother specifically. He cried at what could have been, the life he could have lived with his family, if his mother hadn''t died and his father had not changed. He internally cursed himself before screaming aloud into the dark tunnel.

    He had spent so long burying his memory, his mind had buried this feeling so deep and that now that the floodgates had opened, the simple truth of what happened that fateful day threatened to destroy his mind with guilt and sorrow.

 32 - The incident

    Chapter 32 - The incident

    Two decades prior, Adam was a young ten-year-old boy living a rather normal life. He had friends at school and enjoyed playing games and reading. His mother was a nurse and would spend weekends with him at the park or on trips.

    Three days after his eleventh birthday, it was Saturday, and therefore his parents were off work. It was his belated birthday treat to be able to go out to the amusement park a few hours away. His father drove them there but couldn¡¯t stay since he was called away by work almost immediately when they arrived.

    It was disappointing for Adam since he looked forward to the fun ahead and wanted his father to be there too. But the excitement of the amusement park soon engulfed him as he and his mother went on various rides. Several hours passed and they ate lunch in the lakeside picnic area.

    ¡°Mom, I want to do the pirate sword fighting next.¡± Said a very enthusiastic Adam who had recently spotted the activity on their way to the picnic area.

    ¡°Okay, but be careful now, you don¡¯t want to hurt the other kids¡±

    Adam responded with a large smile as he imagined himself winning in sword fighting against all the other kids.

    Little did he know, this was the last genuinely happy moment he would experience.

    The pirate activity was a foam arena with different costumes like eye patches and pirate hats with curved foam swords. Most of the kids played in different sections of the area based on age group. He played with the kids around his age as he thrust and slashed his foam sword, imagining the game to be a real pirate battle. He moved with unexpected agility and rarely got hit by the other kids.

    The parents all stayed on the outskirts of the area as they watched over their respective children. Most would talk amongst themselves and Adam''s mother called to him a few times to tell him to take it easy. He was a true ninja in her eyes and easily the most athletic child there. Yet she didn¡¯t want him to go too far and upset the other kids, she could see their frustration at constantly losing against him and refusing to play with him one by one.

    Adam didn¡¯t care about the other kids as his pride and superior ability made him feel like the pirate king he was pretending to be. When the kids his age stopped playing with him, he moved to join the group of older boys. Even the young teenagers he was now sword-fighting with couldn¡¯t seem to land a hit on him despite their more developed bodies.

    He would roll on the ground with front and backrolls like he had learned in gym class, and to his delight, he could accurately predict the opponent''s moves and evade like a real ninja. In sports, he didn¡¯t like running or wrestling, but intuition about his opponent''s movement was his specialty. As a result, the older boys started to get more and more frustrated that this young kid kept getting the better of them, but unlike the younger kids, they didn¡¯t back down when outmatched.

    The older boys had slowly surrounded him, all with their own respective frustration at his talent in swordplay. Even if it was all pretend, getting outdone by an eleven-year-old hurt the pride of the older boys. A plump black haired boy in particular was swinging at him without restraint. The toy sword wouldn¡¯t usually hurt when used by a playful kid, but this boy seemed like he had entered puberty with large red spots adorning his face. The teenager was using his superior size to try and corner Adam who was far too happy at the unfolding events, the anger and frustration on the faces of the older boy proving how great he was.

    But despite how nimble he was, Adam was ultimately limited by his stamina, and it was running low now. He was a kid full of energy but had already played with the younger kids before coming over. The spotty boy took advantage of that to finally get revenge on the kid who had humiliated him by smacking the toy sword at Adam¡¯s face with unrestrained force.

    Adam was struck a few times as he covered his face and laughed. But the strikes didn¡¯t stop, he then also realized how hard the boy was hitting him and glanced up. The expression on the black-haired boy was one of anger with no sign of stopping. Adam instinctively knew that the older boy wouldn¡¯t stop hitting him as hard as possible unless Adam begged him to stop or if he started crying. The thought enraged Adam, he had only been playing but this boy was taking things too far, and even worse, he was looking down on the young Adam.

    Rage engulfed his mind as the expression he now dawned mirrored the older boy, a face of anger and resentment. He felt the same as the boy as if he had mirrored his emotions. The urge in the back of his mind always got louder when he was playing games like football and it had been whispering to him even now as he played pirate. The tingling in his mind intensified as he matched the boy''s mood. Suddenly, he shifted his head back to avoid the descending strike. He thrust forward and to the side to pass by the attacking sword, and he flung his own at the boy''s face.

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    The other older kids around him had stopped playing and simply watched as Adam attacked like an enraged animal, slashing and stabbing his sword at the bully''s face. The sign had warned not to target the face but the older boy had started it by repeatedly striking his head. In his mind, the game was over, this was war.

    The escalation was rapid and intense as the older boy dropped his foam pirate sword and tried to grab Adam. He wanted to thump him but so did Adam, their feelings were one and the same as of fighting a reflection. He had never given in to the urge in his mind as much as now and the anger he felt was intoxicating. The reason was, that he knew it was what this previously unknown boy felt towards him except instead of anger at himself, he targeted the teenager''s anger back at him, this snowballed into a mad rage as he felt the bully desire to cause him severe harm, a feeling that built and grew with his own desire for retribution and to prove his superiority.

    In short, Adam''s rage grew out of control as he clawed and punched the larger boy. It was only seconds earlier that all the kids were simply having fun, but his sudden violent brawl caused all the kids to stop and turn in the direction of the scene. A few adults were already making their way to break up the fight including his mother.

    The scene would have shocked most parents, not only at the sudden violence but at the fact that the much smaller child was absolutely dominating the bigger teenager. The child was mostly unharmed as he expertly avoided desperate kicks and swings from the teenager. His agility and reaction speed far surpassed what any child should be capable of, but the sheer amount of blood coming from the black-haired boy''s face also demonstrates his ability to cause severe damage.

    The teenager''s anger was more intoxicating than ever as he was forced back by the uncontrollable young boy. His nose was broken and his eye had been punched so hard that he struggled to open it. He didn''t know if he had lost any teeth but tasted blood in his mouth. The child didn''t only target his face though as his pinky finger had been bent backwards after he failed to punch the little shit. One might assume the teenager would feel a level of fear at the savagery performed in only a few seconds, but the older boy had never understood fear. He was mainly familiar with a single emotion, anger.

    When the adults reached the fight after a few seconds, the older boy was grabbed and dragged away. Many things would anger the emotionally unstable child, minor inconveniences would cause him to fume with anger. He usually took out this anger against classmates he disliked and often got in trouble because of his usually irrational tantrums. As a result, the fight with the eleven-year-old caused him severe anger, not only for losing to him in a play fight but also for being unable to beat him up like he was used to at school. He was even more angry that the adults immediately took him away as if it was his fault despite the crazy boy causing him to bleed.

    As Adam saw the older boy being led away and several adults blocking his path in between the two, the feeling in his mind exploded far beyond anything prior even during the fight, mainly because this wasn''t simply anger, it was true unfiltered hatred. Adam dodged away from adults attempting to restrain him as his mind was overloaded with uncontrollable emotions. Adam was no longer in control as the world around him became distant. Something else had taken over, a demon copy of anger seeking the destruction of everything and everyone.

    The world seemed distant as the previously almost unperceivable feeling at the back of his mind that could tell him how honest his friend was being or how his football opponent would move, had now risen to become an almost audible noise that seemed to grow louder with every second while pushing his consciousness further and further away.

    He didn''t register his name repeatedly being called¡­ he couldn''t really hear anything anymore as if he had been submerged under water. His body moved on its own when a hand grabbed his shoulder. The demon of hatred and destruction that was possessing his mind was the one who reacted as if watching a movie, he emotionally observed from the farthest confines of his mind as the alternate version of Adam, a being of pure hatred and destruction, lashed out at the hand''s owner.

    A scream finally pierced the deafening noise that had overtaken his mind and the demon of hatred vanished instantly as he recognized the voice. Once more at the helm of his own body, he looked out and to the side at his screaming mother. She had grabbed his shoulder but now fell backward while shaking. Her scream wasn''t even a full screech as it abruptly cut off when she was halfway to the floor. By the time she landed, she was dead.

    Adam''s father was called to inform him of an incident by the police, but the face he made when he arrived as well as his mother''s final moments haunted Adam''s nightmares for years afterward. Her mother was declared to have died from a heart attack brought on by shock. The fight wasn''t pursued any further in light of the older boy''s known behavioral issues and the death of Adam''s mother.

    Ever since that day, he had forced the feeling in his mind to go away. The anger he felt scared him, not because he lost control, but because it wasn''t his anger. He was only a kid and he didn''t know what happened so he associated everything bad about that day with that tingling in the back of his mind and crushed it whenever it resurfaced. He would take headache medicine to dull his mind for years until he discovered drinking.

    Despite only being a teenager, he would often ¡®borrow¡¯ some of his dad''s alcohol since he wasn''t around much after the incident. He never did return to his former self and Adam wouldn''t ever see him smile again. Admittedly, that was mainly because he wasn''t around much, but he didn''t completely abandon Adam, as the teenager still lived at home and ate the food his father bought. But in the back of his mind, he probably knew that Adam had a significant role in his wife''s death¡­ A role that was far more direct than either had previously been aware of.

    Adam balled his eyes out in the dark tunnel as the past blended with the present. His sharper mind made the experience even worse as the previously locked-away memories all came rushing out of him clear as ever, like a raging flood that threatened to drown him with his own tears.

    He hadn''t understood what made him so angry or why his mother had died so suddenly but now he realized. She was the first person whose soul he had destroyed.

 33 - Moving on

    Chapter 33 - Moving on

    Time slowly slugged by as he sobbed for an eternity in his mind. And when the tears stopped coming, the memory of his mother''s final moment pinched him like a dagger to the heart. He fell into a catatonic state as he lay curled up in the fetal position. The painful memories then turned sharper as the innocent incomprehension of the events turned to horrific realization.

    The urge in the back of his mind that he would spend the next two decades ignoring and suppressing, along with the related incident, was the manifestation of his soul ability. He recalled the God claiming him to have been gifted a Divine power from the universe or whatever kind of nonsense the old man was spouting, but what if that was true? He had this soul magic long before he ever got transported to this alien world. He didn¡¯t know it at the time, but in hindsight, it was as clear as day.

    He treated soul mana like he had gotten used to doing with the standard mana, but it clearly wasn¡¯t correct. He was doing the equivalent of driving a tank the same way one rides a bike, and that led to terrible results. He now understood that the world probably shouldn¡¯t go black when he used his silver mana, it was no doubt the result of him forcing it to do something it wasn¡¯t meant to do.

    Since his soul abilities had manifested at a young age, he assumed them to be normal. When he listened to the feeling, it helped him predict and generally provided him with better intuition, which he assumed to be special but not overly uncommon, after all, many kids were better at some things than others, like that skinny kid in middle school that always got full marks in math and that eventually jumped a grade.

    What he hadn¡¯t known was that his own unique talent was far more powerful than he ever knew, he had literally used that same power to kill an entire pack of shadow fiends and other terrifyingly strong opponents with little issue. He was actually surprised he didn¡¯t cause more damage as a kid. Mana helps grow his soul magic, but not in the normal way mana is converted by the core.

    His silver magic came from outside his core, as if lurking on the periphery, and wouldn¡¯t replenish his reserve no matter how much mana he breathed in. That means that it had been there long before his core was formed and operated in a unique way with its almost imperceptible ghostly soul mana core that overlapped with his standard one.

    It was evident that his soul mana reserves had grown, so the standard mana must be somehow feeding his soul indirectly to grow his soul reserve. He thought back to the day he discovered his soul mana and remembered the magic affinity theory he had developed. He assumed that an affinity would manifest when one evolved the core to a high enough grade. But the first time he ever opened his status window, it showed Mana core: [black - early - (???)]

    Based on the fact that new information only showed up when he unlocked or discovered it, it was now obvious that his soul mana was with him from the very beginning; he simply wasn¡¯t aware of it, so it was displayed as [(???)].

    His childhood memory of that day confused and terrorized him for the longest time as the intense anger he felt didn¡¯t seem to make sense. Now, however, he understood that he had been sensing the older boy''s soul, unaware that the emotions he felt weren¡¯t his own, he wasn¡¯t able to contain them as they took control of him. That absolute rage was what allowed him to unconsciously create the most amount of destruction he could by unknowingly pulling on that dormant soul energy that he flung at the person who had grabbed his shoulder.

    If he could describe the feeling he felt at the understanding of the events of that fateful day, he would say shame. Absolute disgust at his own lack of control, to have believed that anger coming from the tingling in the back of his mind was his own feelings¡­ For not having recognized the truth and pushed back against the foreign emotions. If he had simply controlled his soul ability the slightest bit, then his mother would still be alive, and his life wouldn¡¯t have collapsed around him.

    He hated the older boy for the longest time¡­ He didn¡¯t even know his name, but he always blamed him for that day. But as he lay curled up on the dark and cold stone floor, the words of the God resonated repeatedly in his mind.

    ¡°Good luck, Adam Hartwell, and follow your soul, it is your strongest tool and safest asset. It will never betray you nor hold you back¡­¡±

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    If the God was speaking the truth, then everything he thought he knew about that day would hurt even more. If the overwhelming emotions he felt that pushed him to the edge was his own doing, like a man willingly jumping off a bridge, then he could no longer blame the boy. Even if it were his emotions that drove him to devastation, it was ultimately Adam''s fault for allowing it to happen. After all, he could have listened to his mother and not gone all out, he could have walked away when the bully got angry¡­ But instead, he let himself fall into a maddening rage.

    His soul was definitely his strongest asset¡­ But not necessarily always for the better, it had enormous destructive capabilities.

    He had no tears left to shed when he finally got back to his feet after possibly hours of reliving the past. His mind suppressed the sadness as determination slowly took its place. He couldn¡¯t change what happened all those years ago, but he can still make up for his mistakes, he can live a life with purpose, striving for power to help others. He would definitely return to Earth one day. He would figure out a way home and help others. With great power comes great responsibility they say, well, he didn¡¯t have any responsibility here other than survival. But when he finally figured out a way to use magic to get home, he would stop being a self-isolating loser and make something of his life.

    His mother raised him to be kind and help others, and he had done none of that since she passed. Magic was his personal obsession and discovering its secrets was his drug. But the power that came with it wouldn¡¯t be used for harm or for the sake of gaining more power.

    Adam finally realized the reason he didn¡¯t want to go home despite the fact that he was literally alone in a hostile alien world, it was the same reason he locked himself away for all those years as he hid from the world. He was ashamed of himself for what he had done. But the time for self-loathing was over, now was the time to strive to make things better. It only took him two decades but he had finally come to terms with his past.

    He made his way back to where the white giants used to be before the attack. The giant ant corpses littered the tunnel with yellow blood covering the floor in an inch of putrid liquid as he navigated the battlefield of carnage he had created. It was the first time he had listened to the feeling in the back of his mind since the incident but this fight didn¡¯t cause him to lose control, it simply allowed him to read all these enemies'' moves before they even made them. Another piece of evidence that losing control wasn¡¯t a normal outcome when listening to the sensation.

    He was still barefoot so it took him a few minutes to walk back across the decimated insect army. When he arrived at the spot, only one white giant remained. Its torso was punctured as it lay dead on the ground. He saw no sign of the second white ant and assumed it left during the battle. He vaguely recalled launching a couple of mana blades behind him without looking and assumed that it was one of them that killed the white giant. It wouldn¡¯t have been enough to kill the grey-cored soldier ants but the white giant didn¡¯t have a reinforced body or a mana core so the spell passed straight through the creature without issue.

    It was unfortunate since he didn¡¯t think that the white ant had had time to fully digest the dense mana crystals but he had plenty of corpses with grey cores to absorb. He didn¡¯t even remember why he had thought it was a good idea to go through all that effort simply to absorb the shadow hounds in the first place. He recalled feeling shit scared at the encounter and desperation to grow stronger to not be stuck at the bottom of the food chain drove him down a rather illogical path. I mean, he had literally crawled into a giant ants¡¯ nest with creatures at the same magical level as himself.

    The only reason he made it out was his rediscovery of the supernatural intuition sensation he had buried in his childhood that allowed him to escape countless near-fatal strikes.

    The next few hours were spent absorbing as much mana as possible with the knowledge that another wave of assaults could come at any moment, as a result, he didn¡¯t craft the internal mana barrier construct but simply accepted that some of the mana would be lost in the process but that the many available corpses would make up for the losses.

    The were at least a hundred corpses all included, now littering the tunnel. He ignored the older black-cored ants after he had absorbed all the mana he could from the white giant. It was a large amount, but actually rather underwhelming as his core was not any closer to evolving into red.

    He spent most of his time absorbing two mid-grade cores at the same time with one in each hand. This provided him with a flood of mana but still not at the limits of what his core could endure. He spent many hours watching for any future attacks while extracting and absorbing the mana from within the many cores, but when he finally got the last grey core, he knew that advancement wasn¡¯t in the cards for today.

    Despite the hundred corpses and the fact that all of their cores were pure mana, he still didn¡¯t have enough mana to push his core to evolve. The red cracks had grown stronger with the red gleam brighter than before, yet still it held strong.

    Adam now had a choice, to continue his hunt of the mana-filled white giants and their soldier ant protectors¡­ Or return back up the tunnel to the open cavern above. Down here was the ant''s home turf so he was more likely to get swarmed, however, up top held many unknowns that could strike at him from anywhere with unknown abilities, he didn¡¯t even know if he would be able to get stronger off their cores if they had an affinity.

    Ultimately, his goal was to evolve to a red core and learn to use his soul mana properly. He suspected that this so-called Divine patriarch ability was somehow being partially fused with his soul mana, which caused unusual things to happen like the world turning black and his limited control over the silver energy. As he had just experienced in the fight, soul mana is a lot more complex than he expected so discovering what the Divine patriarch power was and how it worked was a top priority for him to be able to properly understand his magic.

    And so he decided to stick to what he could better predict as he continued on down the tunnel. Considering the amount of mana he had absorbed so far, he didn¡¯t think evolving his core would be anywhere near as ¡®simple¡¯ as the previous times. But he knew for a fact that these ants were his best shot. Now he simply needed to figure out what the hell a divine power even was.

 34 - Yacova

    Chapter 34 - Yacova

    The short fox girl shook uncontrollably as she was led towards a large opulent golden door. It was the first time she had ever been to Al-Zora, but the riches on display hadn¡¯t done the stories justice. As an orange-cored seer, her abilities lay in magic rather than strength so control over her body wasn¡¯t as strong as her mind.

    The two guards opened the large doors and she was led in by a servant. The atmosphere was heavy with power. All eyes turned to her as she stepped foot into the large chamber with countless visibly powerful individuals to either side of the chamber and a golden throne straight ahead. Her feet struggled to keep her upright as she approached.

    ¡°Welcome child of Involpo, your presence here is much anticipated¡± Said a tall woman dressed in white robes.

    Yacova didn¡¯t recognize her at first, but understanding soon came to her as the figure was clearly a priestess of some sort. The only person who would be able to speak openly in this chamber was the famed head cardinal of Vashiva, the temple world protected by the being sitting on the throne straight in front of her.

    Yacova''s legs finally gave in as she dropped to her knees.

    ¡°I am humbled to have been welcomed by your greatness¡±

    ¡°Please raise your head child, you reportedly have important information to share with us in exchange for permanent protection here in the great world of Al-zora.¡±

    She still had trouble believing this to even be real. It was only a few days ago that she was in hiding, when the message came to their backwater mining world that any information on the ripple would be rewarded with untold riches and personal protection from the great Rahama, she almost fainted on the spot.

    For most who know of the stories of Gesha¡¯s one and only god, having him swear protection meant that entire worlds would burn before a single hair on the protected person''s head could be touched. Such a prospect was the stuff of impossible fantasies in the minds of most, usually not for the protection, but rather the unquantifiable wealth that came with being associated with the god¡¯s homeworld. As for herself, this unprecedented opportunity would perfectly fix her entire situation. After all, if she gained the protection of the only god of Gesha, the comparatively insignificant house that sought after her would be absolutely powerless over her.

    She raised her head and locked eyes with the god on his throne. A shiver of fear ran through her body as she immediately averted her gaze. Despite no one leaking any auras¡­ mainly for her own safety, the power emanating from the void was practically visible as the air seemed to ripple around him.

    ¡°Out of all the seers in all of Gesher, you are the only one to have discovered anything about the incident. Would you please recount everything you experienced on that day my child?¡±

    Yacova nodded without looking her in the eyes as she recounted being on the run and hiding out in the small crystal mining world. She explained the experience of having her psyche sucked into the ripple.

    ¡°When my mind was pulled from my mortal body, the universe showed me a vision. I saw a small light in the blackest darkness. At first, it struggled against the encroaching void, but soon it began to grow. Then the light split off a small piece of itself that disappeared within a rift the fabric of the darkness.

    Each time the lights fragmented, the light as a whole got stronger. I saw the light grow so powerful and radiant that no matter how many pieces it split off, the main source always grew brighter as if nothing could suppress it.

    At that moment¡­ I felt like I was watching the rise of something that defied the heavens. The strength it emitted to fight back the pure darkness seemed to surpass anything I could have imagined. In all honesty, it felt as though I was watching the birth of another absolute.¡±

    The room was silent at her words but many faces scrunched up when she mentioned a second coming. To many, proclaiming to be an absolute was not only blasphemy but also completely ridiculous. In all of the multiverse and in the time that countless universes have been born and died, only one Absolute had ever come to be. The thought of a second was so ludicrous that even the legendary Godkings of the highest realms would laugh at such claims and proclaim it to be beyond impossible.

    And they would of course be correct, after all, the Absolute wasn''t simply a strong mortal who obtained godhood and immortality through mana¡­ he was thought to be the creator of mana itself. He was the one who gifted the multiverse with magic, so who could possibly use the absolute''s own creation to become his equal?

    ¡°This vision of a growing light that drowned out the darkness¡­ Did you get a feel for its intent? Or was it representing a natural yet powerful event like a cosmic merge?¡± Asked the god, speaking up for the first time.

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    ¡°I believe it to have been the representation of an entity my lord. It felt powerful and intelligent, deliberate in its actions. When I was pulled out from the vision, I felt a feeling of awe and disbelief from the ripple, as if this entity had shocked the great Absolute that resides over us all.¡±

    Murmurs erupted from the hall as mentions of ¡®so it was true¡¯ and ¡®they were right¡¯ could be heard being exchanged.

    The man to the left of the golden throne stepped forward and addressed the members of the chamber.

    ¡°It appears that the theory that an event that shocked the Absolute has truly taken place, this reaction therefore unintentionally caused a ripple in the sea of whispers. But it also means that the great Nafritese deliberately covered up the disturbance and blocked access to any further divination.

    If your vision is to be believed, then a being capable of growing stronger by dividing or multiplying itself has been born.

    Great misstress Yong, you have direct authority over the old Gesha records, what do you suppose this threat could represent?¡±

    All eyes turned to the tall white robbed woman by the god¡¯s side.

    ¡°There are two main possibilities as far as I am aware. Either the corrupted have made their way to Gesha, a scenario I find the least likely considering that they were pushed out of any nearby sector eons ago and no sign of them has been seen since.

    The second option is the emergence of a hive.¡±

    The god''s eyes flicked from side to side as he stared at the ground, his mind clearly processing her words.

    ¡°No, you must remember that a ripple like this has never happened in recorded history. No simple hive could shock the great absolute, they can definitely be formidable but overwhelming numbers with no divinity or conjuration magic will always limit any invasive hive.¡±

    The crowd all nodded along to the god¡¯s words and silence beheld the room for a few long moments¡­ Until Yacova hesitantly spoke up with a shaking voice, still at her spot kneeling two dozen meters from the throne.

    ¡°Wh, what if that was no longer the case¡­ My lord¡±

    All eyes jumped to her as she somehow sank even deeper into the floor.

    ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous, everyone knows that no hive can use heaven''s powers, they are but mere mindless puppets with no individual will.¡± Declared an old man in a flamboyant robe decorated with many jewels and intricately carved mana stones that exuded barely restrained magical energies.

    ¡°It is unlikely¡­ yet also the most likely.¡±

    ¡°My lord, what do you mean? You yourself said it would be foolish to believe a mere hive can create such disturbance¡± Argued the old man, his tone much calmer and speaking without raising his voice.

    ¡°The reason everyone here had been on alert since the incident was because nothing of its like has ever happened before, as such, one can assume that something truly impossible has appeared. Something that can multiply and grow itself through its smaller minions, is most likely a cosmic hive. Beings that travel from world to world, devouring everything in their path.

    Such beings are restricted to simply swarming the worlds with their powerful yet disposable minions in a war of attrition. The queen usually controls their subordinates either through a hive mind or by having them as simple puppets. Many realms use them as a golden opportunity to grow stronger by hunting them for sport.

    But if the great Nafritese were shocked after discovering the existence of such a hive, they must have somehow overcome their limitations. A new hive, maybe even capable of conjuration magic for all of its countless minions.¡±

    Color drained from the faces of all the people in the room, and even the god seemed the have become uncomfortable at imagining his own hypotheses.

    Yacova couldn¡¯t sweat since she was covered with tough flat fur, so she was inhaling and exhaling at a rapid speed as if hyperventilating.

    ¡°Seer child,¡± Exclaimed the god after a few silent moments of contemplation. Her entire body froze as her heart jumped a beat. It was hard enough being in this room surrounded by all these powerhouses, but to have the god of Gesh address her directly, she wanted to run away but her body wouldn¡¯t listen to her even if she tried.

    ¡°Your service was most helpful, I will guarantee your and your family''s safety here on Al-Zora as promised. In return, you will join the great mistress at the Golden Eye Temple, where you will work discover the whereabouts of this potentially multiversal threat. You may be young and inexperienced, but you are the only one to have not only successfully seen through the veil of whispers, but even returned unharmed, you have heavenly talent. You will be under direct tutelage from Yong.

    As for the rest of you, I declare that this threat is likely to be the greatest Gesha has ever faced his the blood ages.

    Each and every one of you is to form elite factions of all your experts and search the entirety of Gesha if needed. If this new being is truly as powerful as the great Absolute believes, then we must find and kill it no while it is young.¡±

    The people nodded along gravely to the god''s words but the god''s right-hand man seemed to have a confused look on his face.

    ¡°Great Rahama, if this threat is as great as you believe, why not ask for help from the Allgard if this being will become so powerful, multiversal threats are their domain after all¡±

    The god¡¯s face turned to a look of disgust for a fraction of a second before he turned to his grandson.

    ¡°Foolish child, what do you suppose the Allguard would do if word of this was to reach them?!¡± Said Rahama, his voice not quite a shout but still louder than he would have liked

    He composed himself with a deep breath before continuing

    ¡°Those fools only ever do one thing, they destroy entire sectors to punish individuals and commit countless genocides simply because a single god offends them. If they were to descend to our small realm, only death and destruction would follow

    Why do you suppose the great Absolute silenced his ripple in the sea of whispers? If he wanted to warn the Allguard of a threat he wouldn¡¯t have done such a thing. No, he wanted to warn us in hopes that we can deal with this matter without having our entire universe purged.¡±

    The god¡¯s middle-aged grandson looked like a terrified child as the god''s aura leaked out slightly. He apologized and bowed deeply as the room was filled with a heavy atmosphere. To everyone here, it was a simple yet terrifying fact.

    They needed to find the source of the ripple and destroy the eldritch being that had been born before it grew strong enough to attract the attention of the higher realms. Failure to kill the being meant death, and so was failing to locate it. And for that very same reason, the always beautiful and graceful head cardinal of Vashiva suddenly squealed Rahama¡¯s name with her hands covering her mouth.

    When the god turned to her, he rapidly sucked back in his leaking aura as he momentarily locked eyes with the tall priestess, before she dashed somewhat clumsily towards the now unmoving Yacova who had fainted after the god''s small aura leakage.

    Rahama felt a little embarrassed at his actions, as he watched the priestess lift up the unconscious seer he had promised to protect only a few dozen seconds ago.

    ¡°She is fine, simply unconscious. I will take her to rest.¡± Said the tall Yong as she walked out of the chamber.

    Best not accidentally kill the poor girl before she can ever get settled in he thought to himself as the god watched the beautiful diviner walk away with her newly appointed disciple.

 35 - The cusp of evolution

    Chapter 35 - The cusp of evolution

    Adam was covered in yellow blood as he extracted himself from the corpse of the large red-cored ant. He had now annihilated several groups of the giant insects as he made his way deeper into the tunnels. He was trying to understand his soul mana and its strange effects on his intuition by only using his mana to reinforce his body.

    Where once he would have cowardly launched spells from a distance, now he ran straight for danger with a smile on his face. The near invincibility he felt reminded him of his innocent childhood, but it also allowed him to let off steam under the guise of ¡®studying¡¯. His adrenaline would shoot through the roof and he found himself enjoying the fights rather than simply surviving them.

    He did discover that his heightened intuition only came into effect when he was in a certain state of mind. Intense battle would awaken the tingling in his mind but he couldn¡¯t get it to activate when he wasn¡¯t in action. Therefore he had gone from one group to another in order to learn more about the strange feeling.

    His constant fights also allowed him to improve his fighting style against these opponents while also improving his use of mana for body enhancement. Despite this, he wasn¡¯t suddenly some battle-crazed maniac who enjoyed bathing in the blood of his enemies or anything like that.

    His interests were more practical than chasing a high. He was actually more interested in the outcome of the battles. After all, all those lovely mana cores shouldn¡¯t simply go to waste now, should they? He was shocked at just how many he had absorbed so far and how little change it had on his core. He never quite had enough to push it over the edge and evolve to red.

    That did make him think about all these other creatures and how they grew their cores, he hadn¡¯t seen them actually hunting anything or dragging back food. It was actually rather frustrating that they were all so high leveled despite not seeming to do anything other than guard the white insects that would always be present in these groups of twenty or so ants.

    His intuition had gotten stronger since he once again began to listen to it, but it also required immense focus in battle for it to function, meaning he had trouble understanding it and questioning how it worked, since he was too busy heeding its warnings and escaping critical attacks.

    One thing he discovered with certainty was that this was indeed an effect of soul magic as that same intuition was completely silent when he was almost crushed to death from some falling rocks. It only warned of danger when a living being was behind the assault, therefore he made a mental note not to rely on it too much and rather use it in tandem with his other senses.

    The ants were fast, strong, and would often swarm him but one thing they weren¡¯t good at was surprisingly, fighting in a group.

    The large insects would gang up on him but usually only end up harming each other rather than the smaller and more nimble Adam. As a result, they would wound and occasionally accidentally kill one another while Adam tried to use his powerful body to leap above the insects and attack the back of their heads and necks.

    When they were all dead, he would rest up and consume all their mana cores. He had discovered that the ant groups were rather regular in their movements as he would have a few hours between each new group arriving. He continued exploring the many branching tunnels and found them suspiciously empty. They were not only devoid of life but also barren of any sort of crystals or minerals. All the tunnels were filled with the exact same bland rock and the ants that appeared here were always simply traveling through.

    This wasn¡¯t necessarily a bad thing though, he was pretty sure the ant''s overwhelming tactic would be more effective if there were hundreds rather than two dozen.

    He once again continued his now almost routine exercise of switching to and from his soul mana state in rapid succession. The detached souls of the dead ants would still linger behind for a while even after their deaths, but they didn¡¯t appear to be conscious of this as the silver energies lazily swirled in the air.

    He had successfully reduced the amount of time needed to flip states as the black world he would be plunged into when accessing his soul mana was beginning to be less intense. For the first time ever, he could now see a glimpse of a soul without the world turning black.

    This may seem marginally useful but you have to remember, his vision down here in the dark depth of the tunnel labyrinth was completely black and only using his eyesight enhancement spell could he see anything. The fact that he could still see soul energies at the same time as his surroundings meant that he was able to use the two distinct magics simultaneously for a moment.

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    His mind raced at the possibilities as he practiced his exercise in a lotus position on the tunnel floor, while also consuming two grey mana cores in each hand. His core was now truly shining as the red glow had grown to encompass almost the entire core. It looked like the grey skin of the core could shed itself off at any moment to reveal the blood-red sphere beneath it.

    If only it was that simple. In reality, the red color wasn¡¯t his would-be second-core evolution slowly growing but rather a concentration of veins like mana that was being compressed by the ever-growing weight of his mana. It was essentially being crushed into diamonds so to speak. The vein-like pattern was actually due to his mana flow in and out of his core which had formed current-like shapes.

    He could feel his core beginning to struggle with the internal pressure as he sat in concentration. It wouldn¡¯t be long now until the time was right, the real question was would his hypothesis be proven true?

    But before he got to that, he wanted to create some sort of soul-sight spell, perhaps even integrate it into his existing greater sight, after all, if he could get that effect for a split second it proved it was possible with enough effort.

    He continued to cycle through his mana states while carefully observing the movement of his own soul when he switched to that state. It was hard to see, but he did eventually find that his soul would shift in a specific pattern when he switched his inner sight to and from it.

    Adam had been confused about the souls'' purpose and function for a long time now. Ever since he experienced the split sensation of half of him floating outside of his body, he knew that the mind was a huge part of the soul. Yet magic also had a complex and intricate connection with the ethereal silver energy as the pathways his mana would follow were located in his soul.

    He still didn¡¯t understand how that worked as soul energy couldn¡¯t interact with anything else as far as he could tell, so it was added to the endless list of ¡®Things that seem really important but that I probably won¡¯t be able to find the explanations too.¡¯

    Yes, he actually had a mental list called that. Since looking for answers to questions so massive and complex was a surefire way to make him either go mad or simply lead him down the wrong path, he opted to discover aspects of his magic that he could realistically understand and control for now.

    Adam could now categorize his soul mana into two camps.

    Light and Dark.

    He defined light as ¡®simple¡¯ soul mana that could be controlled and fed to his own soul like with the soul circulation spell. It was pretty simple to tell since it was the stuff he could do with it without having the world become a dark void around him.

    Therefore, the dark was everything that involved soul mana outside of his body like forming soul weapons and seeing others'' souls.

    He had no illusions that this was in any way correct since he himself was able to see the remaining souls of the dead ants for a moment without the world turning black so his own categorization was already disproven, yet he still classified it like this for now. His main reason was that he had no reference to what a soul actually was or what soul mana could realistically do.

    The lack of reference meant that he had no clear line of demarcation between his silver mana and divine ability. He had an incline that the dark void he would see had something to do with his divine ability and that was accidentally being partially used when he attempted to use his soul mana.

    His running theory was that he was partially using both abilities at the same time and therefore none was being fully actioned. Like trying to have two large people exit a door at the same time, each might fit an arm or a leg but none would fully fit through.

    In an attempt to remedy this situation, he had practiced using his soul mana without having the world turn dark. His soul-sensing intuition was his only success so far in that regard but it gave him hope that once he separated the two abilities enough, he might be able to both see and sense the souls at the same time. That would no doubt multiply his ¡®premonition¡¯ ability since the soul seemed to move and flow in distinct ways based on his own experience.

    He recalled the steady flowing pattern his soul had taken on when he absorbed a mana core while in his soul state for the first time. It was practically hypnotic and also proved that the soul had its own distinctive rules and behaviors. This was important to understand since it would need to be applied for any future soul vision spells. Unlike standard mana that can simply be pumped into whichever body part needs the most enhancement, his soul had no distinct sections.

    When he had his accidental out-of-body incident, his soul had basically pushed his soul''s equivalent to a head and shoulders outside of himself, yet his soul still kept his body''s rough shape. It had dimed in brightness from what he remembered but his disembodied soul version didn¡¯t have that same shape. It was rather similar to the now-dead ants, a simple spherical ball of ethereal energy.

    The interesting thing was that his mind was still intact in both versions. His soul didn¡¯t have specific portions that served different purposes, it was rather his entire soul that served the same purpose and could therefore be divided and still function as long as its energies didn¡¯t dissipate. His detached soul piece was still tethered to himself via a thin soul link and therefore he no longer believed he would actually have died if he stayed like that for longer back then, at least not from his soul''s condition anyway.

    It did raise some questions about what sort of power that was. If it was his divine patriarch ability then he might be better off trying to replicate that situation to better separate the two powers, yet he hesitated to do so. After all, if that was genuinely a freak accident that was the result of the two supposedly rare and powerful powers clashing, then he didn¡¯t want to risk permanently crippling his soul by having it break into pieces. He didn¡¯t know much about its real purpose, but he figured that that outcome would be pretty bad for him. He also was in the middle of an ant tunnel with regular new waves of giant insects coming across him every so often.

    But all those ideas and theories running rampant in his faster and clearer mana-infused mind were suddenly pushed aside as a strong sensation could be felt within his chest. Adam dropped the two cores he was absorbing as he smiled in a mix of nervousness and anticipation. The time had come for his little experiment, and to finally evolve his core to the next stage.

 36 - Soul ascension

    Chapter 36 - Soul ascension

    Adam struggled to steady his breathing as his body pulsed and burnt with pain. The core in his chest threatened to tear him apart as it became unstable and churned in on itself. This evolution was incomparable to his last as the sheer quantity of energy flooding him was like nothing he had ever experienced.

    Adam jumped into action as he enacted his plan. He had realized this the last time, but his core needed time to solidify itself and reform into a more potent and dense form of mana. If the evolution process affected his core, then could its energy be harnessed and used elsewhere¡­ Like on the soul for example?

    He pushed the excess magical energy from his core into his pathways. It made him scream in agony as his body felt as though his blood was replaced with liquid fire. His body began to glow with white lines that illuminated the empty tunnel as he did his best to ignore the pain. Pushing as much as he could into his pathways he didn¡¯t even register the ear-shattering scream he was making as his body exploded with volatile energies.

    His core was no longer a solid sphere but rather resembled a swirling lake of red and grey. His entire body was on the verge of ripping apart when he looked deep at his soul. It was in a terrible state with tears appearing all over the silver flames. He simultaneously held his core together the best he could as he was essentially blind after switching to viewing his soul, while also keeping his soul in one piece by flooding it with his silver mana. For the first time, he discovered that his soul mana could heal his soul.

    Adam tried to hold his soul together by using his silver mana as ducktape, but to his shock, the mana integrated itself into his soul and pathed up the rips and tears that appeared because of the dense mana in his pathways.

    He didn¡¯t have time to think about what that meant or how it worked as the pain was so intense that he was surprised he hadn¡¯t passed out yet. He was quite literally watching his soul rip itself apart as he worked as best he could patching it up.

    His core was swirling at dizzying speeds but he blindly held it together somehow. His pathways were beginning to expand and strengthen to hold off the overwhelming magic traveling through his soul. But he didn¡¯t hesitate to push more mana into his pathways every time his soul absorbed some of it. His soul was growing at a visible rate, but he was having trouble keeping up with all the damage being caused.

    Time slipped by unnoticed as Adam lay spasming on the ground. He didn¡¯t even remember falling flat on his face as his entire being was straining to hold his literal soul together. His core was probably not going to evolve today as the amount of mana he stuffed into his pathways was ridiculous. His soul had become incomparably dense and bright, unlike its previous state. Whereas before it could be compared to a ghost, now his soul almost had a tangible look with a lot more density.

    His pathways had grown in size and strength as the mana he had circulating in them no longer ripped them apart and leaked mana. His soul had benefited from this tremendously as it had undergone its own evolution instead of his core. Adam¡¯s mana core had so much of its energies siphoned that it had calmed down significantly. He had little soul damage happening anymore and the pain had diminished tremendously.

    A single decision still had to be made though. When he thought up this crazy idea of using the abundant energies to reinforce his soul instead of his core, he had no idea it would actually work, and nor did he know how it worked. All he knew was that his soul was much stronger than ever before and that if he wanted to learn the true nature of his soul magic and divine ability, he would need to take a leap of faith.

    Adam covered his hand and fingers with his silver mana and silently scolded himself for not thinking of this sooner. He had not understood how he had managed to pull out a piece of his soul during the shadow wolves'' attack but now understood. His soul magic-coated hand didn¡¯t need much effort as he simply needed to activate the mana on top of his soul, since his soul was attached to his body it moved with him and therefore he essentially created a soul magic glove.

    Using that special glove, he reached into his soul and grasped a portion of his chest¡¯s soul. Gripping it tightly, he braced himself for the coming pain before yanking his hand back out of his soul with the portion he gripped still within his fingers. Once again, he noticed his vision stretch and twist, he now found himself outside of his body, floating in an amorphic blob of energies only linked back to himself by an almost unperceivable tether.

    His vision had turned black except for his own now dimmer but still intact main body¡¯s soul. Before he could take a second to take everything in though, his own soul moved and tossed him high into the air until he could no longer see his main body. Unlike the last time he had this strange out-of-body experience though, he didn¡¯t see any more souls nearby to help him mark his position.

    He floated silently through the silent and unchanging void of nothingness as time seemed both unimaginably long while simultaneously inconceivable short. His senses he relied on his entire life had all disappeared. He could not move or simply had no concept of whether he was moving or not. Despite all this, he had no fear or any emotions actually, it was as if he had become a robot, simply analyzing the situation without bias.

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    A sudden jolt of confusion was the first emotion he felt as he realized something was wrong. As a human, he naturally sought out light and feared the unknown of the darkness. Realizing that his mind wasn¡¯t how it should be, he quickly tried to look around, to find something, anything other than the void he was in.

    A single dim light was the first thing to catch his eye¡­ Or soul sight technically, as he concentrated on that single point of grey in a world of black. Soon, the tiny dot began to grow and grow as the spot got brighter and closer. He was fascinated by the light, the only thing he had seen in years, or was it seconds? The light grew to be bigger than himself and it slowed down as it got closer.

    He tried to inspect the blurry light and was overcome with joy when the light turned to the side since he now knew that it was actually he who was moving and not the light. As a result, he focused on getting away from the light and watched as it began to shrink once more. He looked around for any more of the lights while still staying close to the first.

    As soon as he thought it, another light appeared in the distance, then another, and yet another. Soon dozens of lights were appearing all around him. Some were brighter than others, some had strange shapes while others were just as gaseous and shapeless as himself.

    He inspected some more of the souls and eventually tried to touch one. This wasn¡¯t possible however as the closer he tried to get to them, the harder it became to get any closer. It was as though the was a force field of some kind blocking him from reaching out.

    He continued to go from soul to soul but each wouldn¡¯t allow him to get any closer. Eventually, he found something different, it was a dim soul that was flickering and seemed to shrink with every passing second. Adam reached out to this light like how he did to all the others, but this light didn¡¯t push him away, rather it dragged him forward like a magnet.

    His vision shifted and got pulled as his soul morphed and changed as if being pushed into a mold. His soul was currently only a fraction of the size of what it had recently become but he still had all his memories as far as he could tell. That being said, he remembered his latest advancement on his soul-sensing front and therefore knew that the feelings he could feel weren¡¯t his own but rather the emotions of the soul he had just touched.

    A wave of fear and dread rushed at him, it reminded him of the intense anger he felt from that boy all those years ago. Yet this time, he did what he should have done back then, he let them wash over him without letting them influence him. The other light was fading fast as his soul was stretched into place.

    When his soul settled down, it was as though a switch was flipped and the previous soul completely disappeared leaving Adam in its place. He felt strange like he could feel something. This was bizarre considering he didn¡¯t have any limbs or even a body at the moment. Yet something slowly came to him, at first it was slow like a silent whisper and a light breeze, but then it got louder.

    Adam opened his eyes to see what was going on but his mind hurt and the world around him felt so strange after not having any senses in that weird darkness. He tried to rub his forehead but his arm felt like it was frozen stiff and he couldn¡¯t raise it to his face. Then realization dawned on him.

    ¡°Wait, I have a hand¡­ And eyes?¡±

    He was a floating soul drifting in the darkness only moments early yet now he had his body back? His didn¡¯t make sense, the last time he merged back with his body, it was like two minds colliding and merging back together. Not something he could just miss and besides, he had no idea where his body was anymore.

    Squinting, he let his eyes adjust before looking around. He found himself surrounded by green trees. Now he was really confused, was he back on Earth?

    He looked inward but couldn¡¯t see his mana, in fact, his soul was the only thing he could see and it was different from what it used to be. He quickly looked down at his own body in the real world and discovered that he had fur.

    For some reason, he was on all fours and could see blue and black fur covering his legs in striped patterns similar to that of a zebra. He wondered why his soul looked so much different but now he understood why he felt himself morph and squish before, it was because he was squeezing into a different body.

    His mind was simultaneously burning with questions while also completely frozen in shock. He had actually possessed a creature, like actually taking over a different living being''s body. He had no idea that was even possible. His bewilderment at his situation was shaken when an intense pain crept up his hind legs.

    He turned his head to look behind himself and found that his back leg was definitely broken. His new feline leg was bent in an unnatural angle and blood stained his fur. As he was looking behind him, he also noticed a pool of blood on the ground. A stone cliff was stretching above him.

    ¡°Ah, I get it. This poor fella must''ve fallen into this ravine and died¡±

    His soul had changed to take on the form of the last soul since his pathways had been recreated somehow but they didn¡¯t look anything like they did before. They now truly resembled small veins that traveled across this four-legged creature''s body.

    The core of this feline didn¡¯t look like anything he had ever seen before as it appeared to be a slimy blue color. He didn¡¯t recognize it at first since it didn¡¯t look like a core, yet the power it exuded was evident. It had almost a sweet taste to it when he mentally prodded it, it traveled all throughout his body and caused his body to go into overdrive. His mind began to race before being filled with memories.

    Memories of running through the wilderness and hunting prey, memories that weren¡¯t his own yet memories that felt just as real as any other. He recalled the creature''s attempt to catch its fleeing prey and the fall into the ravine after a failed attack. He remembered the pain in his body as his legs broke on impact.

    Adam¡¯s soul jerked back in reflex as the stream of memories stopped. He had just accessed the memories of the creature from its brain but also discovered that he wasn¡¯t trapped inside the creature. He couldn¡¯t push his soul out of it at will but he could disconnect his mind slightly from the creature. As a result, he didn¡¯t feel the pain of his broken leg anymore but could still move.

    He found that a portion of the strange slime ball of a core had traveled through his host¡¯s body and been ingested by its flesh.

    It was only a small amount but its effect was clear, this was some sort of drug-like energy that boosted its abilities for short but intense periods.

    Then an idea came to him¡­ Could he still access his status despite not being inside his own body?

    Adam Hartwell

    (soul fragment)

    Divine patriarch (reincarnation): [soul realm]

    Spells:

    <ul>

    <li>[Berserker - lesser]</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>[Venom fang - lesser]</li>

    </ul>

    (???)

    His jaw almost hit the ground as he saw his status screen. It didn¡¯t mention the name of the species he was possessing but clearly showed its skills. But of course, the biggest new surprise was the discovery of his Divine ability.

 37 - A childéˆ¥æªš laughter

    Chapter 37 - A child¡¯s laughter

    Adam watched with wide eyes as the piece of his soul he had extracted from himself flew away and completely disappeared. Unlike before, he could no longer even see the tether linking himself to it anymore, which was a worrying sign. His soul was a lot stronger now than before so the missing soul fragment surprisingly didn¡¯t seem to be an issue. One might think that having a portion of your soul disappear out of you might be damaging, but he felt completely fine.

    At least, fine in terms of the missing soul fragment, as his body was still racked with pain. His core had reverted to its previous state since the released energies weren¡¯t refined into a better core this time. However, it did look noticeably different as the core no longer had red cracks at its center but was rather an entire shade of reddish grey. The fact of having his core mix up during the evolution seemed to have merged the energies together. He briefly wondered if that would be an issue if he tried to evolve to red the next time.

    His status window hadn¡¯t changed at all so he had no idea if his far-fetched idea had worked or if his soul fragment was now lost forever. A flash of regret overcame him as he imagined floating about aimlessly in the void for eternity. He really wished he hadn¡¯t just subjected a piece of himself to that fate.

    He had to wait and see if the soul fragment ever returned but he didn¡¯t hold out much hope. Instead, he wanted to find out what sort of effects a stronger soul would have on a person. After all, his own soul had grown immensely recently, and figuring out the power of soul magic was the main purpose behind his risky experiment.

    When he had recovered enough he attempted to feel how much soul mana he had available. It wasn¡¯t easy since what he believed to be his soul mana core was overlaid with his solid mana core. He could usually tell how much magic was in his core thanks to a general feel, it was a strange new sense he had developed since he got his core.

    It wasn¡¯t exactly a feel, sight, or smell but rather a mix of all his sensations into something new and too complex to describe. Like describing color to a blind person, he could simply tell without being able to explain how exactly.

    As a result, it was almost impossible to know how much soul mana he had, since it was masked by the new magic sense of his core, similar to trying to see the paint color of a wall covered with wallpaper. And therefore like wallpaper, he needed to remove it to peer beneath. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t exactly as easy as that though since he wasn¡¯t able to move his core at will, magic was relatively simple to move about his body but that reddish core wouldn¡¯t so much as budge no matter what he tried.

    It was as though his core was locked in place and he was therefore completely unable to accurately estimate his soul mana capacity except for a vague sense that it existed¡­ Extracting it directly until none was left was his only way of knowing how much he possessed for sure, yet he didn¡¯t want to do that since it was his trump card in this dangerous environment and he didn¡¯t know enough to frugally expend that precious resource.

    Luckily for him, there was likely to be another group of those giant ants crawling about in these tunnels. He circulated mana through his body and reveled in the feeling of the power engulfing his muscles and making him feel so much lighter. It appeared that the process of soul augmentation had worked wonders on his magical pathways since the mana now flowed like water with minimal mental strength needed to guide it. With his body coursing with arcane energy, he made his way even deeper down the large tunnel in search of his new prey to use as test subjects in hopes of discovering the advantage of a stronger soul.

    ¡ª

    Meanwhile, a limping striped blue and black feline continued its struggle through the tall and narrow ravine. The towering rock faces created a snaking passageway occasionally littered with tall trees resembling large oaks with thick branches spreading across the rocks and uneven terrain.

    The creature left a small trail of blood as it practically dragged itself across the ground. Adam''s control over the exotic tiger was awkward and clumsy at first, after all, walking around in a different body tends not to be the simplest thing to get used to.

    His soul was strained as if something was pulling at him every time he took a step. The injury was severe since it had literally killed the poor creature. His soul''s arrival hadn¡¯t changed that, in fact, it was actually harming his soul. His control over his soul was sufficient to resist the pull but he had no soul mana anymore and therefore couldn¡¯t repair the damage his soul was incurring from the pull that was trying to pry him from the heavily injured creature.

    He felt rather disoriented and not because of the creature''s mind either. Currently, he was barely connected to the beast''s body, like playing a VR game without putting the headset on. He could see through its eyes and move its body, but the creature''s senses were locked out from him to avoid the intense pain and disorientation that came with connecting to the creature''s mind too deeply.

    He could tell that he was on a timer as he limped along, he didn¡¯t know where he was going but was rather wandering aimlessly. This entire situation was so strange to him, despite this not being the most bizarre place he had woken up in.

    He managed to drag himself out of the ravine and exited a thick patch of forest that seemed to be on a mountainside. The entire terrain was very uneven so he didn¡¯t know if he was on an elevated section of ground or if the open area in front of him was yet another ravine.

    As he got closer, he noticed wind hit against his¡­ fur, and only now realized how much he missed the effect of a cool breeze. It had been so long since he had felt it that he almost forgot it existed. This unexpected sensation caused him to loosen his grip on his soul and slip a little deeper into his host. He did the equivalent of a wince as he felt the jolt of searing pain coming from his leg.

    He didn¡¯t retreat immediately however since a little pain was a worthy price to pay for breathing some fresh air for the first time in ages. Simply doing his best to ignore the pain was a better solution anyway as it allowed him better control over the creature''s body. His first deep breath took him by surprise as his sense of smell was incredible.

    His mind once again linked up with the memories of the beast but this time, he didn¡¯t fight against them but rather embraced the flow of information. He closed his eyes as he looked through the important events of his host''s life. It was not too dissimilar to watching a movie at a really rapid speed except that every time he saw something interesting, related memories would immediately surface.

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    Considering most of the things in this creature''s memory were all new and therefore interesting to him, he got a lot of memories popping up one after another in rapid succession.

    He remembered the tall flightless birds the creature would hunt, he saw its mother and siblings when it was a cub, and he witnessed the death of many of its brethren while on hunts. Each memory led to the next in a never-ending stream of information. Adam began to be overwhelmed as he stopped focusing on the past and instead focused on calming his racing mind with another deep breath.

    The air was filled with many different scents and flavors, more than he had ever known existed. It was as if he could see colors simply from the smells in the air. A fresh scent of wood came from next to him, but soon, something far more shocking made itself known. He found the distinct smell of smoke drifting from far away and being carried on the air currents rushing up the open area ahead of him.

    It was a strange smell to find out here and he wondered if the was a forest fire happening. The thought dragged up yet another memory from his host''s brain and he was about to ignore it before he froze.

    In this creature''s mind, clear as day to him, he saw a small group of wooden huts with several fires burning in and around them.

    Adam now no longer even noticed the pain in his new body as he looked through all the creature''s memories of this place.

    It was a complete shock to Adam since this was the first sign of civilization he had found since he left Earth. The new memories he saw were rather new and likely took place only a few days ago. In them, he watched from the beast''s perspective as it descended a steep hillside and stealthily crept towards the only lights in the valley below the creature''s rocky home.

    As it got closer to the yellow fires burning brightly in the dead of night, he saw why the beast was so interested in the small village. Or more accurately, he remembered the smell coming from those fires. Meat, and lots of it. Juicy and irresistible to his feline sense of smell, the beast snuck all the way to the boundary of the village.

    Calling it a village might actually be an overstatement, it had two dozen huts made primarily of wood with or discernible pattern of structure to the encampment. The settlement wasn¡¯t protected by any walls or fortification but rather reminded Adam of roaming native americans except with wooden huts and stone fireplaces.

    The creature made its way to one of the fires closest to the extremity of the encampment and that was where he finally saw its inhabitants. A group of five humans sat around the fire with some sort of meat being cooked above it. This was so exciting that he didn¡¯t bother pursuing the memory further to see how it ended but rather focused on the environment around the camp.

    The memory was dark so he didn¡¯t have a good view, and it was hard to see details of a memory anyway. This wasn¡¯t like watching a video where you could pause and zoom in at will, this was more complicated. The memories he was accessing were rather blurry to begin with, and they didn¡¯t usually come as a single uninterrupted package. As a result, it was hard to determine where they were located.

    Before he had time to think about it further, his highly sensitive ears picked up a distant yet extremely recognizable noise.

    It was unmistakable and Adam found his new body dragging itself closer to the cliffside almost instinctively. After a few seconds and the reminder of his hind legs'' terrible state, he reached the cliff¡¯s edge and almost fell over when he peered at what lay below.

    Down in the valley beneath the cliff, a small village with wooden huts stood. The were no fires this time but he knew this was the same place. The noise he heard once again drifted across the winds before being deposited in his feline ears. The laughter of a child was unmistakable as he stared down at the valley. Small figures could just about be made out, running around the encampment while giggling.

    They were running to and around a group of adults who appeared to be gathering into a group, all with long spears in their hands. The group was clearly preparing to go out hunting or something of the like.

    Adam felt immense relief at not only having found civilization but also humans in this new world of his. He smiled almost unintentionally but it would have appeared terrifying on the tiger''s face if anyone had witnessed it. His smile didn¡¯t fade for a few moments as he observed the human village from his spot above the valley.

    His smile only faded from his feline face when he felt his soul finally begin to lose in its fight to keep him in this body. It was then that he realized that he was about to die. A sudden thought then popped into his mind.

    ¡®What if I just go back to the soul realm?¡¯

    His status clearly showed that his divine ability was still accessible despite him no longer having access to his mana or spells. He assumed he was trapped here when he arrived since he no longer had access to his magic or even his body. The tether that linked him back to his body wasn¡¯t visible when he left the soul realm, but maybe it would appear if he returned there.

    Adam looked up with his feline eyes as he stared up at the sky like it would somehow answer his query. But it only made him even more lost as he noticed what the sky looked like.

    It was a bright blue with a few small whisps of clouds, he would have assumed it was Earth''s sky if he hadn¡¯t known better. Yet now he knew it wasn¡¯t his sky either as it lacked something crucial that he hadn¡¯t noticed until now.

    He had spent so long lost in the enormous underground labyrinth that he forgot about the unmissable planetary ring that extended across his new world, a feature that was distinctly absent in this open sky. Adam then suddenly remembered the wind and how no wind existed in his new world. All this added up to a startling conclusion.

    ¡®I¡¯m in another world¡­ again¡¯

    With that final thought, his body collapsed and his soul no longer had the strength to hold on to life as he drifted into oblivion. Yet death didn¡¯t come as he found himself aware of his surroundings once again, or rather the never-ending darkness that encompassed his very being.

    This time, however, he didn¡¯t go looking for a different light but rather spun in place. He turned around and found what he wished would be there, a thin but clearly visible silver line that was attached to him. He focused on moving in the direction of the tether in hopes of returning to his own body once more.

    Adam felt weak and slow as he followed the silver cord back to his original body. His memories were growing blurry and things began to slip from his mind, things like his birthday or the faces of his school friends were no longer visible to him. He feared that he had damaged his soul too much from fighting to hold on to life yet, he reassured himself that he wasn¡¯t the original version of Adam, he was merely a piece of him so those memories wouldn¡¯t be lost.

    The only important information he needed to have right now was his discoveries of this soul realm and his incredible transmigration power. His original body needed to know so he focused on all he had learned since being ripped from his main soul and pushed aside anything else. His mind repeated all the events that had transpired over and over again while he raced forward in darkness, constantly following the tether that extended seemingly endlessly into darkness.

    It could have been minutes or years, Adam''s soul fragment was completely unaware of time as his mind repeated the same thing as if stuck in a trance.

    ¡®Remember the people, the tiger, and the different world¡¯ was repeating endlessly in his mind as he followed the silver line forward and onwards, his only lifeline in the all-consuming darkness of oblivion.

 38 - Return and departure

    Chapter 38 - Return and departure

    The tunnel shook with an unprecedented intensity as Adam sprinted as fast as his legs would carry him. His wish to find new ants to test his magic on had proven to be a very bad idea as he boosted his body with magic. Due to his experiment in enhancing his soul, he missed out on the chance to evolve his core and therefore also missed out on having his body strengthened like it would after every other advancement.

    These missed opportunities were really coming back to bite him now, in the form of a small army of red-cored ants chasing him relentlessly down the wide tunnel. The stronger creatures were gaining on him since they were all much faster and had more legs. He had fought red-cored ants before but always only while surrounded by weaker ones. This ant squad was entirely filled with red cores and not the weak ones either.

    Adam probably should have guessed that the queen or whoever runs this colony would have noticed entire squads of insects disappearing and sent out elites to investigate. But he was too engulfed in his own victories over the more numerous foes that he arrogantly assumed he would be able to handle anything.

    This stupid mentality was what caused him to arrive face to face with over a hundred middle and late red cored creatures. Adam had spent a long time searching the tunnels but hadn¡¯t encountered anything. It was as if the ants had abandoned these tunnels completely, so he had made his way further down, and that was where he came upon a terrifying number of mana ants. He didn¡¯t even have time to react before they spotted him and began their chase.

    His body was flooded with white energy that gave him boosted speed yet he still wasn¡¯t going to be able to outrun them. The terrain wasn¡¯t very level and therefore he needed to jump and zigzag across the wide tunnel to not fall over.

    The ants on the other hand were clearly a lot better suited for fast travel on this terrain as their many long legs gave them a bigger stride and removed their need to carefully avoid small obstacles on the uneven terrain.

    His mind was screaming at him to run faster and soon the feeling in the back of his mind made itself known. He first thought it was one of the faster ants that had closed the distance but then realized that it wasn¡¯t a warning of an imminent attack, but rather a signal of a different kind.

    <ul>

    <li> Enhancement - refined - common</li>

    </ul>

    Adam smiled as his legs began to move a little faster and his body became significantly lighter. He had been pumping mana into his body to boost his muscles but now that energy was being used more carefully by his body as the spell optimized the energy consumption while still squeezing a lot more power from that energy than before.

    He didn¡¯t dare look back but could hear the screeching noises and felt the ground vibrate from their stampede. The issue was that despite the welcome news of his body enhancement spell¡¯s level-up, he still wasn¡¯t able to outrun the insect army.

    He considered conjuring mana blades or even a blast of soul magic but dismissed them for now as concentrating on the body enhancement spell was already taking all his focus. Diverting magic from that spell would definitely slow him down.

    It was then that his new senses picked up something different approaching from above. His soul sense felt a feeling of urgency and determination hurtling towards him as a silver cloud passed through the roof of the tunnel and slammed into Adam.

    The shock alone almost made him fall but the feeling of something colliding with his soul was the true reason that he lost balance and tripped.

    His mind was in immense pain as if his head was being smashed together with someone else''s, as the ethereal cloud fighting to cling to his soul. Adam was sent flying head-first across the tunnel''s uneven ground at tremendous speed with the ant army rapidly catching up to his ragdolling form. But internally, he was fighting off this piece of soul that was attempting to push him out of his own body.

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    He was confused and angry since this stupid thing had caused him to fall at a critical moment but also that it was trying to take over his own body. He was about to fight back and push out the smaller soul when he once again felt a connection with the silver energy.

    It didn¡¯t want to harm him but to merge with him. Adam ignored his body enhancement spell now that he was careening across the ground and used his soul mana to flood his soul and the smaller fragment together in hopes of having it act like glue to remerge the two.

    He had used its ¡®healing¡¯ effect before when he held his soul together during the evolution process and it worked the same now. The smaller soul began to sink into the larger one as the two joined together like a droplet in water. Ripples could be seen across his soul, and with that, memories joined together.

    His brain had been in overdrive as this all happened while his body was still skidding across the tunnel, so when his body finally lost its momentum, the merging had completed but the ripples were still going strong.

    Adam''s mind was split in two as two separate memories spread alongside each other, one of his search for more giant ants, wandering the empty tunnels. And another of an endless darkness dotted with a few silver lights. He remembered what happened when he touched the light and remembered the tiger, but all these memories weren¡¯t clear to him but rather images flashing in his mind. The last flash he saw was of a small settlement inhabited by humans.

    He wanted to chase that memory, to extract it from the wave of information entering his mind, and to examine it closely. But a loud noise and strong vibration woke him from his rush of excitement as he returned to the real world.

    His mind was still confused as the new memories continued to flow into his brain, yet he reluctantly pushed them aside for the moment. The ants had caught up and his body was hurt from the intense fall.

    He knew that running was no longer an option and that he would die if he tried to fight them as he did the other ant groups. These ants were bigger, faster, and stronger than any he had seen before, he wasn¡¯t even sure he would be able to injure them enough to cause a fatal wound.

    That meant that he only had one option left, his trump card. He pulled at his soul mana and threw a cloud of silver flames at the charging insects. He didn¡¯t bother trying to shape it but simply focused on creating a cloud of ethereal flames between himself and his attackers.

    The sparse cloud of silver fire was sent forward as he got to his feet and tried getting away from them but his body was injured from the nasty fall. A second later the first ants reached the cloud only a few meters away from him.

    The creatures were running at such a fast pace that when the silver mana engulfed their souls, their bodies didn¡¯t stop but rather continued their sprint straight for Adam. That wasn¡¯t the only shocking thing however as for the first time ever, Adam could see both the ants and their souls simultaneously.

    The darkness that always used to envelop him when using his soul mana externally had not appeared this time. As a result, he watched for the first time as the creature''s large silver outline was ignited and set ablaze. It looked like a ghostly fire clinging onto the giant ant as it charged at him.

    He reacted a little too late to move out of the way due to his bruised leg and was therefore slammed into by the first falling ant. He was pushed backward and to the side and only afterward did he notice that the fire was still burning the creature''s soul.

    When he used his soul magic offensively to destroy, it acted like a match to his opponent''s soul and caused it to ignite and burn up into nothing. As a result, it was now obvious that some materials are harder to burn than others. The creature''s soul was the densest he had ever seen until now and it was probably a late-stage red core.

    He tried to pump out more soul mana to reinforce the now even sparser cloud of silver energy in front of the ants, but movement from the first ant caught his eye as he noticed it shift and groan. It was the first time that anything had lasted so long when exposed to his soul flames and it seemed like the fire had died down without having killed the giant ant.

    His heart sank in his chest as he watched the large ant get back to its feet and turn to him.

    The other insects were only a dozen meters away but had slowed down after the two other insects had screamed in pain and collapsed after passing through the invisible cloud. They eyed the injured Adam with caution as the giant insect that had caught up to him first, got to its feet.

    His mind was still unfocused and he felt disconnected from reality as his soul slowed its ripples and his memories synced up. He remembered what his divine ability had been called after possessing the tiger and remembered the missing rings in the sky that indicated that he had once again left his alien world.

    Two worlds existed simultaneously for Adam and two realizations came to him from each of them. He couldn¡¯t fight these giant ants and not even his trump card would be effective on them, he had assumed himself invincible with his special magic but now only felt despair and fear.

    At the same time, a portion of his mind that had linked up with his experience passing through the soul realm and discovering humans living somewhere out there in another world filled with magic gave him hope and excitement.

    Two parallel feelings coexisted in his mind for a brief moment.

    Then his chest exploded and the worst pain he had ever felt snapped him back to reality. The large red-cored ant had crushed his chest with its large mandibles and had partially bisected him. He tried to scream but his lungs had been destroyed. He felt his soul tense and tear along with his body as the creature bit harder until his body was completely severed and his upper body fell to the side.

    His eyes were still shifting wildly as his torso lay motionless on the ground. For a few seconds, he saw the ant devouring his body as he realized what had happened.

    Then oblivion took him, and this time, the were no silver lights.

 39 - Rogue spirit

    Chapter 39 - Rogue spirit

    Have you ever had a nightmare about falling?

    Most would wake up in shock after such a nightmare, but for Adam, it was quite the opposite. He felt himself falling endlessly, without sound or any other sensation. He had no idea where he was since he couldn¡¯t feel his body, and no light met his eyes.

    One thing he knew for certain, he had died. As he was plunged into oblivion, his soul was all that remained of him now, his very essence in its ethereal form. Then something changed.

    What was left of his barely aware consciousness stopped falling.

    He felt himself being surrounded by something but did not know what it was. Then, a sensation of warmth made itself known. This warm feeling seemed to seep deep inside him and nurtured his mind back from the brink, as clarity slowly returned to him.

    After an unknown amount of time, he remembered his final moments and, the battle that cost him his life, the soul fragment that returned at the worst possible moment. A sense of cruel irony built up inside him as he remembered all that he had accomplished. The beach that had nearly killed him so many times, his exploration of the enormous grass planes, and his struggle for survival against the many creatures in the underground labyrinth.

    It all made him feel so special, like the hero of a fantasy story who was summoned to another world to become overpowered before going home as a superhero. He had grown his magic and worked for countless hours to perfect his spells and mana core.

    Now it all felt like a cruel joke. How can you give someone all that only to take it away without giving them a chance to even show off?

    Adam didn¡¯t feel anger despite that being what he would have expected to feel. Instead, he felt a detached sense of resignation. He had been inexplicably transported to another world and discovered magic. Only to meet a god who told him he was a special boy and made him feel like a god in the making.

    His previous thought felt ridiculous in hindsight. He was no hero, he wasn¡¯t even competent with magic. After all this time, he still couldn¡¯t do anything remotely impressive.

    ¡®WOW, I can make my body a little stronger¡­ So can anyone with magic even without a common ranked spell¡¯

    His mind flicked to the tribal humans his soul fragment had seen during its trip. They likely also had magic and despite looking like a tribal group, would no doubt be able to utterly destroy him if they met face to face.

    He remembered his thoughts when he found out that he was the cause of his own mother''s death and how he had felt a sense of purpose to help others to atone for that terrible action. As if he would even actually see or speak to anyone ever again. He now saw all his actions for what they truly were, not noble or heroic but idiotic and egotistical. He didn¡¯t want to return home to help others with his new power for his dead mother''s sake, he wanted the glory and attention.

    He felt sick at himself for not even realizing his own subconscious thoughts. He had noticed it before when he tried to feed those shadow mana-infused crystals to the white ants. It was stupid and illogical but he couldn¡¯t see it at the time. He had spent all that time making those stupid black-furred shorts to transport the crystals in¡­ But that was just yet another lie he told himself. In reality, he wanted to look cool to impress the people back home, and his pride at killing the dangerous creatures made him want to wear their fur as a trophy.

    His entire life had been one of misery and loneliness and now that he observed it openly without any filters, he didn¡¯t like what he saw. His emotions were still there but they were suppressed, as if enclosed deep within himself. In an almost emotionless state, he analyzed why he behaved the way he did, why he took so many risks and did so many illogical things. It all boiled down to one thing.

    He was going to return home as a superhero. That was the thought that he had never truly managed to dismiss from his mind. Ever since he woke up on that alien beach, he believed that any time he went to sleep, he might wake back up on Earth once more. It wasn¡¯t that far-fetched either, if it can happen one way for an unknown reason then it can also happen the other.

    His now unbiased analytical mind scoffed at the unrealistic thought but it was one that he had unknowingly carried around with him this entire time. His mind wandered to the God, the only person he had spoken to since his journey began, and now also the last person he would ever speak to.

    That old man had given him most of the information he had on magic and the multiverse, and he had been the one to inform him of his unusual inborn ability. Yet that had only emboldened his subconscious belief in his own importance which therefore made him the protagonist that would return home and impress the entire world with his magical power and superhuman feats.

    He felt the warmth soothe him as his mind became sharper and more focused. His memories no longer came as blurs and his emotions began to resurface slightly. He recalled the incredible discovery of his divine power, to enter something called the soul realm that was apparently linked to reincarnation according to his Divine patriarch description.

    He had no time to properly digest and marvel at that incredible new information as he had died before he could properly review it. Once again, he felt loathing towards his past self as if it was an entirely separate person who had done him wrong. But when the memories of the harrowing journey through darkness and the small soul possession of that recently deceased tiger came back to him, he wondered if that was where he had gone now that he had died.

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    If his unique talent was linked to reincarnation, then was his lingering consciousness actually floating inside that same soul realm?

    The thought ignited the emotions that had been slowly working their way up from within him as hope finally began to replace the cold disappointment he had previously felt.

    He couldn¡¯t see anything though. But this was different from the void of the soul realm he remembered. No, this was more akin to him having his eyes closed¡­ Or missing in this case.

    He tried to look inwards at his core but found nothing. A hint of anger and longing appeared as he realized that the core would have been eaten by that stupid overgrown insect just like he had done to so many other mana beasts. He had worked so hard to get that magic core and those spells, yet now they were gone.

    ¡®The cycle of life I guess¡­¡¯ he thought bitterly.

    His hope wasn¡¯t dashed however as despite his magic being lost, his soul was still visible. It was in a terrible state with pieces barely holding together and huge rips all over but it was still there.

    The incredible thing was the sensation he got from the small ghostly ball where his core used to be.

    A small amount of silver mana was released from his barely visible core as the magic was sent across his soul and worked to pull the pieces back together once more. His mind became clearer and his emotionless and calculating mindset rapidly faded as emotions returned to him.

    He felt somewhat vindicated at this, as he had previously hypothesized about the existence of a second core directly over where his physical one lay. Now that his normal core was gone, he could actually see the silver knot of energies that were now visible.

    Once his soul had begun to fuse back together, he realized that he felt something around him. The was a warmth enveloping him but it was more pronounced at some spots than others. The warmth was somehow feeding his soul as it energized the portion of his soul that came into contact with the feeling. He knew that the soul realm hadn¡¯t had anything like this so it momentarily confused him.

    He still didn¡¯t know where he was, but now knew that it probably wasn¡¯t the dark soul realm. But that didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t necessarily go back to that place. But first, he wondered if he could have been saved from total death by that God since he did say he would do his best to help, although he was apparently only allowed to interact with him through his edict.

    As he thought of the God and if it was his doing that he was still ¡®alive¡¯ despite his body clearly being bitten in two, a screen appeared in front of him. But he didn¡¯t have eyes, rather, it became visible in his mind''s eye. He was completely shocked at this but it did make sense in a way, after all, he had seen his status screen when possessing the tiger and it hadn¡¯t exactly been visible through the tiger''s eyes since his soul was only loosely in control of the feline''s body. It was like having the status screen appear in mid-air while playing a tiger simulation game in the background.

    He hadn¡¯t noticed at the time since the contents of the screen were far more important, but as his soul was bathing in the warmth, his memories and mind seemed to become sharper.

    Adam Hartwell

    (Astral spirit)

    Status: Rogue spirit - Level 3

    Soul mana: Level 2

    Divine patriarch (reincarnation): [soul realm pioneer]

    Spells:

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Soul circulation - crude - epic</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Soul blaze - crude - epic</li>

    </ul>

    (???)

    Adam would have gaped at the screen floating in his mind if he had a body with which to do so. ¡®Talk about a drastic change¡¯

    He immediately noticed the Astrel spirit under his name, just like it had called him a soul fragment when he had possessed that tiger.

    A new line had been added, calling him a rogue spirit at level 3, but his mind couldn¡¯t even ponder that enormous revelation before yet another came.

    ¡®What the heck is Soul mana Level 3?¡¯

    He understood that his body was destroyed and that he had become a ghost or a ¡®spirit¡¯, but none of this provided any clarification on all this new information he was seeing.

    His mana spells had disappeared, which was very upsetting considering all the time he dedicated to creating and improving them, but the additional ¡®Soul blaze¡¯ spell had appeared. He hadn¡¯t noticed it before, so it must have been awarded right before his death. The memory of that giant ant¡¯s soul being set ablaze by his soul magic flashed in his mind, but so did the fact that it hadn¡¯t been enough to kill it.

    It gave him mixed feelings, on one hand, this was an incredible second chance to properly learn about his soul magic, and this may actually prove to be beneficial for him as the standard mana in his physical core was clearly a completely different energy from his soul mana. His silver mana was harder to use to begin with so having it hidden under his standard white mana probably didn''t help him. And if he learned how to use soul energy in conjunction with his reincarnation ability¡­

    That thought brought his mind to that incredible Divine patriarch ability that seemed impossibly powerful. His normal magic up until now had been piss-poor compared to that. The old God hadn¡¯t said much about it, only that it was a gift from the Universe and that it was incredibly powerful. The old man basically told him that magic was a medium to bend reality and that innate divine abilities are traits that one must be born with.

    That likely meant that this ability was possible to achieve with soul magic directly, but he would have no idea how one turned a small cloud of ghostly silver energy into some sort of teleportation to a ¡®higher dimension¡¯. It was completely inconceivable to Adam with his best-created spell being condensing mana into a crude blade.

    But that was in the past, his job now was to get back to the real world¡­ But to do so, he would need to reincarnate using his innate ability.

    His experience on that front could be counted on a single finger, and it hadn¡¯t gone well that time, to begin with. Most of the souls he saw were inaccessible, and the one that let him close enough was dying. He had no way of knowing the state of the host but he could theoretically still live if the host died of old age instead of injury. But he would still be stuck with the body of a frail old person.

    The fact that he had no way to know what soul belonged to what creature was also a problem. He might end up reincarnated as a rat or an insect rather than a person. That being said¡­ How would he even reincarnate since he obviously wasn¡¯t in the soul realm? After all, his soul had pretty much been glued back together during his long pondering and the warmth that surrounded him invigorated his essence. The soul realm had actually been dangerous to travel as his soul was very weak from straining to hold onto the dying tiger. If this warmth had been in that realm then he might not have rushed back and killed himself by merging back while in a dangerous situation.

    White and blue surroundings began to come into focus somehow despite only his soul remaining. He would usually only perceive soul energy when in that state so seeing color was new. Wherever this was, it was definitely not the unfeeling dark space of the soul realm but more importantly to where he was currently¡­ Was it even possible to return to the soul realm now that he was dead?

 40 - Astral plane

    Chapter 40 - Astral plane

    His surroundings slowly came into view as his essence was nurtured by the warmth. He found himself floating in a blue-and-white space. The more he looked around, the stranger the space appeared. A colorful jellyfish was slowly drifting a ways off, but the most shocking thing was a ghostly form around himself.

    He didn¡¯t know how he could see anything without his body, yet it was somehow reforming around him. His arm, skin, and muscles looked like a transparent hologram around himself that was slowly becoming more opaque as time went on.

    He was still circulating soul mana but his soul had been healed sufficiently by now. He had trouble moving in this strange space, it resembled an endless ocean but with a healing energy rather than water. He could see a layer form around his soul, a blue-hued wave at first, but soon it turned into the holographic-looking image of himself. Some parts were more transparent than others, and he found that he was still wearing those black fur shorts he crafted.

    Confusion was mounting in him as he took in his condensing image. His soul was still visible and he knew that this body he was looking at wasn''t real flesh and blood but rather an illusion of some sort. He wondered if that nearby jellyfish was a spirit like him, and if so, this transparent form must be linked to him becoming an astral spirit. He tried to will his soul to return to the soul realm for a while as his essence was healing but nothing seemed to happen.

    He didn''t know how he got to that place the first time so he wasn''t sure how to return. The thought that it was no longer possible to get back there since he had died scared him, but his status window still displayed that ability unlike the mana spells, so if he couldn''t use it, it probably wouldn''t show up like those missing spells.

    He was now floating adrift in a strange space but now had a sort of spiritual body encasing his soul. Despite it not being real, he still felt a little less naked and vulnerable. He could move his ¡®body¡¯ and flex his limbs like he would a real body, but he was still motionless in this white space.

    He looked back towards the floating jellyfish as it seemed to expand and deflate its main body in slow motion as it slowly drifted away.

    Adam tried to wave his arms in a swimming motion as he kicked his feet. He looked like a flailing child as he unsuccessfully tried to swim in mid air. He had no concept of distance here other than the lone pulsing yellow and purple jellyfish that was incrementally moving away from him.

    When flailing about did nothing, he tried to use his soul mana to propel him forward with small blasts.

    To his surprise, that didn''t work either. He had assumed that if this was the spirit realm, his soul magic would definitely be of use, yet it had no effect other than continuing to waste his efforts.

    He stopped moving when that failed as he once again looked around. It was a strange feeling to be motionless in an empty space. He had of course been in that dark void dimension where souls were visible, but that was a different experience altogether. Here, he could see a ways into the distance and color was visible. He tried to focus on what lay deeper but discovered that this place was actually covered in a layer of mist all around him.

    It was very thin so he didn''t notice it at first, but while observing the jellyfish as it moved ever further away, he noticed a light blue haze beginning to obscure its form. The realm as a whole was a mix of white and a faint blue color so it became clear to him that what he could see probably wasn''t all the was to this place. If he could move, maybe he could find other things here like that exotic pulsing yellow and purple jellyfish.

    Since he couldn¡¯t do anything other than float idly for now, Adam focused on the sensation of that thin mist enveloping him and the warm sensation it provided him.

    He discovered that it was indeed being absorbed by his soul but it wasn¡¯t growing the soul any stronger so that must be the reason this strange holographic image of himself before his death was being overlayed over his soul.

    In truth, he didn¡¯t really care about having an image of himself reform around him since he was planning on reincarnating anyway. The only issue was that the method he used to do so would be very annoying and he wanted his entire soul to reincarnate rather than a single fragment.

    He feared what might happen to him if he was once again wounded from the process. His soul may have been pulled back together but it was in no way anywhere near as strong as it was after his soul augmentation experiment. Attempting the fragmented reincarnation now would only give him a few minutes before his soul would be destroyed by any potential dying hosts.

    What he really needed was a way to heal souls and flesh¡­

    He knew that soul magic had a healing property for both the soul with his own soul circulation spell and the body since it had rejuvenated him when he flooded his essence back in the tunnels. If he could only bring his soul core with him, he would have a much greater chance to successfully reincarnate.

    His human form finished condensing as he pondered his next possible moves, and that was when a shift happened.

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    The hazy energies around him didn¡¯t stop getting absorbed now that both his soul and outer image had been finalized but rather continued to feed his silver essence.

    He stopped reviewing his options when he noticed this and focused on the reaction his soul was having to this energy. It reminded him of his mana core, once it was full, it could still absorb more and go over its limit and the result of that would inevitably be a core evolution.

    His eyes opened wide as he took in this new information. Perhaps this place was actually rather beneficial to him. If he can continue to evolve his core as he did during that experiment, then he would be fit to attempt another reincarnation attempt. After all, the last time he possessed the tiger, he only damaged his soul by trying to hold on to life. It was akin to repeatedly injecting dopamine into oneself while driving to stay awake. It would work for a little while but eventually, all those injections would cause serious damage.

    But if this place can help him improve his soul, he wouldn¡¯t have his fragment be on the verge of destruction after every attempted reincarnation but would be able to essentially take a peak at the dying host''s general condition and species and he simply wouldn¡¯t force himself to stay if the conditions were bad.

    This was the best plan he had come up with so far except he still hadn¡¯t tested if the reason he couldn¡¯t get to the soul realm was truly because only a fragment could be sent. Therefore, he would put that theory to the test right now.

    He didn¡¯t want to attempt to reincarnate now since that would likely drain everything from his weakened soul fragment, but would instead simply remove a piece of his soul and send it to that soul realm and have it return directly if he succeeded.

    The jellyfish was no longer visible by now as the haze had completely obscured it. Adam floated without any way to orient himself as he willed his silver magic into action. He briefly wondered if this was the result of him only possessing an ethereal form or if his previous mana core had actually been negatively impacting him since his ghostly mana felt a lot smoother and easier to control.

    It was yet another thing he wished to talk to another magic-wielding person about, how do people generally go about gaining mana cores? He now presumed that he had possessed a soul mana core since childhood, perhaps even from birth. So was eating that coconut heart fruit the reason for his ¡®standard¡¯ mana cores creation and was that actually a good thing or not?

    He dismissed those idle questions after adding them to the long list of unanswered questions in his mind and began to coat his hand with that silver magic. He attempted to repeat the same action as the last time since he knew that it had worked back then.

    He obviously didn¡¯t have a hand anymore but you wouldn¡¯t have believed it if you saw him now. He didn¡¯t understand how but a perfect copy of his body was covering his soul. Even the deep blackness of the fur around his waist was reproduced as he drifted about in the white space.

    When his hand was covered in the magic, he carefully plunged them into his stomach clenched his fingers, and pulled out a silver ball of flowing flames within his grasp. A small piece of his mind separated from him along with that soul fragment. It felt weak. The weakest his soul had ever been since he discovered its existence¡­ Though I suppose death would do that to you.

    The portion of his mind that was separated from the fragment was linked to him with a thin tether like before. With everything in order, he completed the process by lobbing it as high as he could. Obviously, he had no idea if he threw it up or down due to his disorientation, and nor did the momentum propel him in either direction. At least, as far as he could tell, he remained still and the soul was sent flying away at a rapid pace.

    He watched it get smaller and smaller in the distance until he could no longer see it through the haze. His connection to the sparse ball of soul energy disappeared soon thereafter.

    The consciousness within that lump of soul energy felt weak, or maybe old would be the correct term. Adam''s fragment didn¡¯t have a hurting back or arthritis, but rather a sense that his life force was reduced to a tiny candle in the open, where even a soft breeze could blow it out. He found the primarily white world around him bend and invert as if reality itself was bending in on him. Then darkness engulfed him as the white world was swallowed.

    The fragment didn¡¯t have any noticeable loss of function despite his weak condition so he hoped traveling in and out of this realm didn¡¯t cause his soul any further weakening. Everything has a price after all but he couldn¡¯t figure out what triggered or fueled his innate reincarnation power.

    His soul hadn¡¯t appeared to change between both realms so it likely didn¡¯t use this soul fragments¡¯ energy as a power source but he wondered if it pulled on his main body¡¯s¡­ or currently only his main souls¡¯ soul magic. It would be worth checking when he returned and merged with his soul.

    He knew that the plan was simply to test the waters to see if he could indeed return to this realm, but that change in his status screen had gotten him curious.

    [Divine patriarch (reincarnation): [soul realm pioneer]]

    The God he spoke to had claimed that his innate ability gave him direct access to a higher dimension and the title seemed to confirm that. But if this place truly was off-limits to all others, being a pioneer also meant that all the hidden treasures of this place were his for the taking.

    This was a realm of souls after all, as a soul magic user, the had to be something that would be incredibly useful to him. The were of course many lights beginning to appear, but he was too weak currently to even attempt a reincarnation. What this test had given him however wasn¡¯t negligible.

    He had proven that accessing the soul realm was indeed still possible and that this place in combination with his main souls¡¯ current location in that white place, no doubt called the astral realm, might prove to be the perfect combination to not only regain his soul''s strength but also surpass it as he prepared for a second chance.

    Ever since he had discovered the existence of magic, he had wanted to know more. That desire hadn¡¯t changed but rather deepened greatly. His entire life had been turned upside down with everything he thought he knew about the world completely upended. Not even death, the final destination of all living beings had proven constant enough to withstand this monumental upheaval of the natural order¡­ Or maybe it was humanity''s fault for foolishly believing they had a single clue about what the hell they were talking about.

    Either way, as his soul fragment floated in a dark void surrounded by dozens of silver lights, each representing another life, he felt excitement at the opportunity to discover all those new worlds that awaited him. All those experiences and civilizations that might exist, unfathomable beings of godly abilities¡­

    And who knows, it might just be his ticket back home.

 41 - Spirit jellyfish

    Chapter 41 - Spirit jellyfish

    Time no longer mattered to Adam as his spirit floated in the endless astral space. His fragment had proven that reincarnation was possible, but he would need to regain his strength before attempting it. To that end, he was intensely focusing on the effect of the strange haze surrounding him.

    It had helped fuse his soul back together and had been responsible for creating his spiritual body. Yet he knew little of it, the biggest hint he got was that he was able to see it while he was simply a remnant soul, that had never happened before, so it was clearly a spiritual energy that can nurture one soul.

    With that idea in mind, he tried to observe its effects on himself and eventually noticed that it wasn¡¯t actually being absorbed by his soul, rather, it was disappearing before it even reached his silver essence. This strange discovery seemed to explain a little more about the metaphysical.

    Despite him literally being a soul magic user, he knew surprisingly little about the soul. He knew that it had something to do with controlling magic and had complex connections with the mind, yet now he knew that the was so much he was missing. When he ¡®observed¡¯ his soul, it appeared as a blurry light with flowing patterns as if covered in a heat-wave effect.

    His soul clearly had several layers to it, and one must be this spiritual form encompassing him. If the soul is a small flame, then the spirit is the smoke around it.

    This new path of questioning enabled him to be able to somewhat sense the outer shell of his essence. It wasn¡¯t as clearly visible as his soul, but he could sense that something was there, just out of reach yet intrinsically linked to himself.

    Adam might have spent days or even weeks in a trance-like state as he became one with his surroundings. He had no heartbeat to ground him or any markers to orient himself, so he simply watched and felt the effect of the haze on his essence.

    Time passed and one might think he was an unmoving statue floating adrift in the astral sea. But eventually, something clicked. Adam had been so entirely and singularly focused on that strange warmth and the invisible part of him lingering just out of view, that he finally managed to understand it.

    It was similar to observing the rotation of a far-off sun and determining the planets in its orbit based on its slight rotations and tilts as the planet passed by it, invisible to us yet leaving a barely visible effect on the far-off sun. His soul was indirectly fueled by this mysterious haze but the real effect wasn¡¯t happening in his soul, yet the trickle-down effect proved that something else was at work.

    And so after all that time, he moved.

    Slowly at first, he mentally grasped the invisible edge of his spirit and dragged it forward. He had become a lot more in tune with the haze by now and could see patches that were denser than others. They appeared to be wavy clouds with the barest hint of a blue tint to them.

    Having learned the equivalent of crawling along in his spirit form, he pushed himself towards the patches with the highest density of warmth and mentally grinned as he felt the energy getting absorbed and fed to his soul. It was a lot denser than before and it was having a clear impact on his silver essence.

    He continued to navigate the white space as he pushed himself from cloud to cloud every time the density of that nurturing energy depleted. The was no up or down in this place and he had no idea where the most effective haze was located so he simply navigated at random.

    The more he absorbed and moved around, the better he began to feel that edge of his blurry soul. It was different from his silver essence, it seemed more solid and constant. Perhaps it was what contained his soul''s essence like a jar. Or perhaps it was a protective layer like a metaphysical body for the metaphysical laying beneath, after all, it had literally formed his spiritual body around him. He had no way of knowing, but you don¡¯t need to know how something works in order to use it.

    Therefore, after all his effort and hard work, he was healed enough to truly attempt his escape from this empty place. His soul had not ¡®evolved¡¯ like he had felt during his experiment but it had visibly grown in density and brightness. He no longer felt on the brink of dispersing, so the time had come.

    He covered his hand in that silver magic and extracted a portion of his being that could enter that place. He had only done that as a test on his first try, after all, he knew that the soul had a more uniform function so every piece had the same information, whether he used a portion of the soul extracted from his leg or head, the entire soul was like a circular flowing river, each part of his essence could travel all over the place so it was all the same essentially.

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    He thought of it like a hard drive, no matter how many processors you add, the information on the hard drive would stay the same, only the processing power would change.

    He once more extracted a piece of himself, this time a rather larger one than before. It was about a fifth of his soul, a daring thing to do considering he still hadn¡¯t properly recovered from the damage his death caused. But no use only sending a tiny fraction if he wanted his reincarnation to succeed. The glaring issue, of course, was that even if it worked, he still wouldn¡¯t be free of this realm.

    His soul couldn¡¯t entirely enter the soul realm as of yet and he didn¡¯t know if it would ever be able to. So even if his fragment succeeded, it would live its life in the body of another, no doubt also in another world, and he would be stuck here. He didn¡¯t want a clone of himself to go live out in the world, he wanted a way to properly reincarnate or at least escape this place and return back to the land of the living.

    After all, he didn¡¯t want to walk around in someone else''s body, but right now, it was his only chance to learn about his magic and the magical worlds in general. Without any understanding of this power, the was no way he could hope to properly utilize it. His innate reincarnation ability was a mystery to him. It was incredible yet also unfathomable.

    He paid close attention to his soul mana reserves as he launched the large portion of silver energy into the distance. On his last trip to the soul realm as a fragment, he had pondered on what could be fueling the ability, yet as he felt his connection with the fragment disappeared, he found no loss of magic or change to his soul.

    It had of course spread out and become a lot less bright since a fifth of it had been removed, yet like a pond, it simply became less deep rather than a large hole appearing in it.

    When the fragment vanished, he wondered what would happen if he managed to rebuild his soul''s density before the fragment returned, hopefully with some useful information.

    Status: Rogue spirit - Level 2

    Soul mana: Level 2

    His status as a rogue spirit had diminished a level after extracting the fragment so if he managed to get back up to level 3 by feeding off the haze, could the return of his soul boost him to level 4? And what does a higher spirit level even mean?

    That was when he noticed his soul mana hadn¡¯t diminished at all. His mind churned with ideas as he pondered what using soul magic could do to help him currently.

    Until now, his ethereal silver magic had been his trump card against normally undefeatable enemies, yet burning their souls clearly wasn¡¯t its only function. He had a spell that helped him feed his magic directly back into his soul which is similar to what the haze was indirectly doing.

    It didn¡¯t take that much magic to extract his fragment despite its larger-than-usual size, so he decided to go all out on growing his soul using all the resources available to him in hopes that his fragment would return with information usable with a stronger soul.

    He continued to awkwardly push himself in different directions, mainly working his way through feel in order to determine the best spots in the haze.

    He spun his body upward when he felt the warmth becoming stronger and for the second time since his arrival in this place, saw a jellyfish swimming above him.

    He had no idea if it was the same creature as before, but he struggled to move closer to it either way. As he got closer, he noticed that it was indeed a spirit creature like him. Its body was semi-transparent but he presumed that it wasn¡¯t because it hadn¡¯t absorbed enough of the haze but rather that that was its natural state.

    The creature was about the size of a person with multiple tendrils floating behind it. It pulsed with a yellow color every time its body inflated and returned to a purple color when releasing the built-up haze. It moved in small bursts as it navigated the white space but didn¡¯t seem to even notice his jerky approach.

    ¡®You''re a lot better at swimming than me¡¯ He thought as he neared the large spirit.

    At this distance, he could see the creature''s soul flowing calmly under its fluorescent spirit body.

    It was a new discovery that he hadn¡¯t been able to properly unpack after returning from the soul realm the first time. Back then, his soul magic and divine ability had been intertwined somehow, so neither was working the way they should. When his soul returned with new information and discoveries, souls became visible to him without conscious thought.

    It was strange to see since the soul was clearly connected to the spiritual body of the jellyfish. It meant that he now mostly saw them as a single entity rather than a silver light hidden behind a wall.

    The jellyfish was able to move through fairly vast distances with every jump, so he struggled to keep up with it. Every time he managed to catch up, it would have built up enough energy to release its yellow pulse and be propelled forward once more.

    And so he continued his game of cat and mouse with the spirit being. He was happy to simply have a friend to hang out with since this place was rather desolate. The spirit would sometimes orient itself on different angles as he moved along, and everywhere it went a more concentrated cloud of spirit energy would be left behind.

    He found that simply following the jellyfish provided him with a denser spiritual haze than trying to locate denser patches himself. Since gravity wasn¡¯t a thing in this place apparently, he followed the spirit as it moved with mesmerizing pulses.

    His soul was beginning to noticeably refill the density it had lost from the soul extraction when something new finally appeared. Following the jellyfish seemed to have been a good call, not only for the dense spiritual energy it was emitting but also because it had led him to what looked like solid land.

    His mind raced as the low fog cleared to reveal the ground beneath him. He was finally able to use it to orient himself as he was actually facing the ground head first.

    The jellyfish didn¡¯t move towards it but rather continued on its way as it passed by. He was thankful for the spirit for bringing him here, unknowingly or not. It trail of thick haze it created as a product of its movement was useful to Adam but not as invaluable as reaching the ground.

    As his feet touched down, they thankfully didn¡¯t pass straight through like a ghost but rather made contact with the ground as one would expect.

    It was as if he hadn¡¯t been floating about in the air only moments ago when he took his first steps. He didn¡¯t fly off back into the air but simply walked forward as expected. He tried jumping as high as he could and found that he could indeed lift-off back into the air as before.

    His movement in this place was jerky and awkward. If he were to navigate this realm, he would need to be able to learn to walk instead of crawl, and solid ground was the best place for that. With his feet touching the flat grey matter, he now had a reference point, he put his discoveries about the outer shell of the soul into practice as he worked on controlling his new spirit form.

 42 - Reincarnation sucks

    Chapter 42 - Reincarnation sucks

    Adam moved from light to light, looking for a soul on the brink of collapse. Flickering lights and a pull towards it were his only clues as to which souls were healthy and which weren''t.

    He inspected a dozen souls before one finally caught his eye. He had noticed it move in a wild warping pattern as the light started to dim. Jumping on the opportunity, Adam''s soul fragment approached the waning light. When he was close enough to reach out and touch it, an unknown force pulled him in.

    Just like he experienced the first time, his soul was squeezed and morphed from its spherical shape into something bigger and longer. It only took a second but he was able to feel the dying soul get pushed out as his own took its place. It was like a switch had been flipped as his soul connected to the dying host and its senses linked up with the new soul.

    That was Adam''s great mistake, since as soon as he connected with the new body, intense pain overcame him. It felt like his entire body was being melted by fire. Memories flashed in his mind, a giant creature with thick scaly skin that breathed fire in his direction, a mad dash to escape the pain of his burning fur. And seconds later, collapsing to the ground with flesh turning to liquid. The creature''s senses screamed in pure agony, and Adam''s soul recoiled in horror.

    Being burned alive was a terrifying experience, and he had only felt it for a split second. He did not attempt to cling to the dead creature and instead tried to get his soul away from the poor beast. A moment later, he was back inside the soul realm and the light had vanished.

    ¡°I have a feeling this is going to be traumatic.¡±

    The entire ordeal took under a second, yet his soul wasn''t visibly changed after his failed possession, so he was correct in his assumption that his soul would only get damaged if he fought to stay in a dying body.

    He did the equivalent of shaking his head as he tried to forget the split second of absolute agony he had experienced through that poor creature. It was probably made worse by his inability to feel while as a loose soul fragment. Having felt such intense discomfort without warning, followed by absolute numbness was jarring.

    He looked around for another potential soul with a little less excitement and more apprehension now. That probably wasn¡¯t going to be the last time he felt incredible pain on this journey, but he still hoped he would find a host that didn¡¯t die a horrific death.

    Lights appeared and disappeared almost inexplicably as he focused on his surroundings. The next flickering light he found simply blinked into existence beside him. His mind couldn''t properly process how this place worked. Space seemed to fold and stretch, hiding and revealing souls as if in some sort of incomprehensible 4th dimension.

    The memory of pain fresh in his mind, he opted to observe the failing light first before approaching any closer. It was mostly spherical and despite it looking rather blurred, he could tell that its flowing pattern was disrupted. The same was true for the previous creature, yet this faltering light was calmer, like a wind that lightly blew on the light at random intervals. Each time it flickered, the soul would shrink and destabilize.

    After several seconds, the light had dimmed significantly so the owner of this soul clearly hadn''t died an immediate and horrific death like being burnt alive. Adam roused up his courage and reached out for the now extremely faint light.

    A second later, he had arms and legs, he had human proportions and it appeared that he finally managed to find a human body to reincarnate into¡­ the only problem was that he was underwater and out of breath.

    ¡®You''ve got to be shitting me¡¯ he thought as he used his new arms and legs to kick and swipe his way to the surface. The water was dark and heavy, his lungs were filled with water and his body felt weak but he kept going.

    He lamented his luck as he literally fought for his life. This was the best reincarnation chance so far. He was finally back into a human body and he wasn''t mortally wounded. If he could make it to the surface and breathe he would survive. He felt stupid to have waited for the light to get dimmer before approaching, had he jumped in directly, he probably wouldn''t have sunk so deep to begin with.

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    His new body was on the brink of no return when he finally took control, and it took a lot of effort and straining to hold on. He momentarily considered not fighting it and simply returned to the soul realm, but this was too good of an opportunity. He was finally back in a human body and only a few meters separated him from the surface now.

    His soul tensed as it anchored itself on his new body. His limbs regained thinner control as he steeled into the mold that was this new host. His movements became stronger and more precise as he committed to his decision. This was do or die and he had already died too many times for his liking.

    The dark waters were calm as the large boat traveled across the waters. The only sounds that echoed across the waters were the shouts and cries of people on the boat. Their fear and concern were directed toward the child who had slipped and fallen overboard during the Niorbo attack. Shouts led to confusion as no one would risk entering the waters to help a child who may already be dead.

    The captain was looking out over the dark waters for any sign of the fallen child, but the eerie calmness of the waters reminded him of what lay beneath. After a minute, it was clear the child was dead, drowned, or devoured. He had just turned his back to the waters as he prepared to instruct his crew to continue on and knew that he would have to calm the distraught passengers down.

    Just as the captain was about to give the order, the passengers screamed in unison, and many pointed fingers in the direction where the boy had fallen. The experienced captain spun around as his eyes widened in shock. Splashes in the water were followed by the child¡¯s coughing and spluttering head as he breached the surface.

    His mind was filled with relief and dread at the same time. The child may be alive now but with the disturbance he was making in the waters, it would be seconds before the Niorbo found him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t make a move, stay as calm as you can.¡± He shouted at the boy, but he knew that that child''s survival would be determined by his actions and luck rather than anything the kid could do.

    An experienced hunter himself, he had witnessed many others being devoured by the Niorbo even before becoming a captain. His honor forbade him from turning a blind eye to another in danger as he grabbed his trident and leaped overboard. The weapon wasn¡¯t ideal when used in the water, but it had served him well during his years as captain and it was close at hand.

    Gasps could be heard as the bulky captain plunged into the waters. He moved with superhuman speed that would put any Olympic athlete to shame. It took him only a few seconds to reach the boy who was still barely afloat and coughing up water.

    Grabbing the kid''s arm and pulling it over his left shoulder, he tried to push the kid further onto his broad back and out of the water. As he was about to swim back to the ship, he noticed the telltale sign he had long since learned to detect, the darkening of the water that indicated the incoming attack of a Niorbo.

    His trident at the ready, he gripped the kid on his back as tight as he could. The Niorbo reached the two in mere seconds. The captain was a veteran hunter, having spent decades protecting his people from the Niorbos, refining both his body and technique. Fighting one in the water, however, put him at a severe disadvantage.

    Aquatic Niorbos ruled the waters and fighting them in their own domain was madness. But now that he was here, what other choice did he have?

    The boy had stopped spitting up water and was vacantly looking around, a confused expression on his face. Blood dripped from his head from his tumble during the assault. But the captain had no time to care for the kid, if he wasn''t careful, both of them would die.

    The experienced captain thrust out his weapon at tremendous speed despite the water surrounding him. It impacted the dark patch of water and he felt it pull back and down almost immediately thereafter. Capitalizing on the momentum, he kicked forward back towards the boat, knowing that he only had a few seconds before the second attack.

    Despite the kid clinging onto his back and his hand gripping the trident, he closed the distance incredibly fast. Seizing the opportunity, he grabbed the kid and threw him up onto the deck in a throw that no ordinary person could ever hope to replicate.

    His assumption was correct as mere moments after he saved the kid, the Niorbo struck from below. He had been expecting this yet it still caught him a little off guard. His first priority was to save the kid, but now that he was out of danger, his mind changed to that of the veteran hunter. The trident plunged straight down as his body was pushed up and partially out of the water from the force.

    The creature''s maw was impaled by the descending weapon but its tough body wouldn¡¯t yield from such a minor injury. But killing a Niorbo alone was not considered heroic or brave in these lands. Only the elders of the great cities could accomplish such a feat and attempting to replicate them would only be met with scorn and disdain. For the Niorbos were fierce and extremely dangerous, fighting one alone had a great risk of death.

    Grabbing his trident with both hands, he struggled to push the creature up to the surface. It wriggled and splashed to reach him, but the weapon piercing its throat held it at bay. Despite its injury, it continued to push forward, worsening its wounds but inching closer to the captain. But it would never get the chance, three surprisingly long spears descended from above and impaled the thrashing beast.

    Each thrust would form a severe wound but the attackers didn¡¯t stop there, they repeatedly stabbed the dying creature without giving it a moment''s rest. It was relentlessly punctured for a few seconds before all three spears jabbed deeper into the bleeding creature and this time, they didn¡¯t retract.

    The captain left his trident in the creature''s maw and climbed back up his ship. The crew was experienced in their jobs and knew how to deal with the Niorbos living in the waters. Fighting in the waters was a fairly new experience for the captain as most could simply get swarmed and devoured if they attempted it. Luckily, this night was calm and the Niorbos scarce.

    The captain shook his body as he stood on deck drenched in water. The kid he saved was being hugged and inspected by his family and friends, and the crew had begun to hoist up the fallen beast. The Niorbo that had attacked them minutes earlier¨CThe one that had caused the kid to be knocked overboard¨Cwas laying dead on deck and the one they had just killed was being hoisted up now. Despite how dangerous they were, their flesh was very useful.

    The captain nodded at his crew and looked over at the child he had rescued. It was a dangerous situation, but one that he was now very proud of. His deed would no doubt go down as one of his greatest heroic acts, something he could brag about at taverns with other sailors. After all, if not for him, that kid would have died.

 43 - A boy named Dorian

    Chapter 43 - A boy named Dorian

    Like most things that had happened to him in recent memory, confusion was the main emotion dominating his mind. He had reached the surface of the waters and managed to spit out all the water, only to find himself being grabbed by some large man and thrown like a ragdoll in the air.

    Disorientation was muffling his mind as the world slowly came into view. He was lying on a wooden floor with several worried faces looming over him. As the water drained from his ears, he heard his name being called and locked eyes with a distraught girl cradling his head.

    It took him a full second to realize that it wasn¡¯t his name that was being called.

    ¡°Dorian, Dorian are you all right? Speak to me, brother!¡± He recognized her voice as his older sister Ellio. Memories slowly trickled in as the pieces were put together.

    He couldn¡¯t focus on viewing the memories like he did with the tiger as the external noise and distraction were too great.

    ¡°I¡¯m okay, I¡¯ll be fine¡± He replied, trying to buy time to ground himself in this new reality of his.

    His soul was stable now, and more notably, it had settled deeper into this body than any other before. He was truly a part of this new vessel now and probably wouldn¡¯t be able to reduce pain by distancing his soul anymore. He had fully committed to this reincarnation, and as a result, he was alive again¡­ Inside the once-dead body of a young thirteen-year-old boy, with his sister and friends surrounding him and calling his host''s name.

    A lump appeared in his stomach as that truth settled in. It was great news that he was alive once more, but how would he explain to these people that the person they knew minutes ago was actually dead and that he had taken over his body?

    They would probably think him crazy. He touched the back of his head and winced at the pain. His fingers were wet with blood and now the picture of this boy''s death started to come into focus. Memories of a journey across a sea, boarding the ship, a sudden boarding by a sea monster, and a fight that caused him to fall and hit his head before falling overboard. It began to make sense why the kid drowned, he was knocked out and drowned to death.

    But now, his body was being recycled by Adam, as a vessel to gather knowledge and resources that could help him learn about all the insane shit that happened to him, and eventually find a way to bring his true soul back to life. As he lay on the wooden floor of the ship, he made up his mind about how he would act moving forward.

    This wasn¡¯t his life, yet he would need to pretend it was for the time being. He would use everything at his disposal to learn about magic, and when he has discovered enough, he would return to his main soul to relay the information. He wouldn¡¯t lose focus of his true identity and purpose. He wasn¡¯t this kid, and nothing that mattered to his host''s former self would apply to him.

    As he started to get up, he once again looked around at the ship and the many faces around him. This wasn¡¯t the new life he was aiming for, this was a mission, and despite needing to play the part of the dead kid for now, he would stick to his real goals no matter what.

    ¡°How are you feeling, boy?¡± The voice came from the bulky older man who had helped him before.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine, thank you for your help, sir¡± He replied.

    Ha, you''re one lucky kid, you should be more careful. The South is dangerous even for veteran hunters like me young hunter candidates.

    Adam frowned at the man''s words and not because of their contents. He only now realized that he didn¡¯t know what language they were speaking, yet he understood them and even replied in the same language. He had experienced a host¡¯s memories before but nothing like this.

    When he possessed that tiger, the memories were distant, like watching a movie on a screen, yet as he spoke, words he had never even heard or pronounced before came out of his mouth with practiced ease. It was a surreal experience, yet it also made sense. His soul and this body had fused far better than any other reincarnation before, so his host¡¯s brain was perfectly relaying his oral intentions into this foreign language since it wasn¡¯t foreign to this body at all.

    It seemed to work like a filter, his soul would dictate his intentions, and his brain would link him to the different words that correspond to each intended word. His muscle memory then took over as years of speaking the language allowed Adam to fluently speak a completely foreign language as a native.

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    This was all stuff he had never even thought of before, yet the fact that everything simply fell into place after literally swapping out someone''s soul did frighten him. How would anyone know that someone had been replaced if they looked, talked, and remembered everything the previous person did?

    He felt frightened of his own ability to impersonate people, but snapping out of his thoughts, he looked the captain in the eyes.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be very careful to stay out of trouble from now on, sir.¡±

    The older captain smiled before turning his back from Adam and walking over to where the large sea beast was being manhandled on deck.

    ¡°Come on Dorian, let''s get you inside before you get thrown overboard again. Do you know how worried I was, what if the captain couldn¡¯t get to you in time?¡± Dorian''s older sister was forcibly dragging him by his arm as she made for the ugly wooden box of a shelter at the center of the ship.

    The boat was in the shape of a canoe but was vastly bigger. At least a hundred meters long, with both ends ending in sharp tips. There were no sails or rows, and the only structure was the rectangular shed that served as refuge onboard.

    As he was dragged away by Dorian''s surprisingly strong sister, Adams rummaged around in his new host¡¯s brain in search of information about his new world and relationship with his apparent sister.

    Soon, a few things became very clear. This was not some magic-filled world like where he died. He learned that the new continent of the south was the only place where magic thrives. The north is occupied by humans and most have never even seen magic before. He was born in the north and had been sent to the south in search of a better life. His sister and he were both on their way to a southern city called Malder, but unlike the human-inhabited north, the south was filled with monsters of various types, referred to as a whole as Niorbo.

    According to Dorian¡¯s memories, the creatures are believed to be the spawn of an evil god sent to destroy their world, and fighting them grants one the strength to rise against that evil deity and protect humanity. But crossing the Caspien sea was often the most dangerous part of the journey south for anyone traveling to the land of danger and opportunity.

    No humans in the north had magic, but they would tell stories of the great heroes of the south, who fought off the evil Niobos in heroic tales while huddled around campfires.

    From Dorian''s memories, these humans seemed to be a lot more unified than any on Earth, to the point that it was almost hard to believe. His new host and his sister grew up in a small close-knit community where all the kids were raised together by the adults. Crimes and disputes over land and power were seemingly not a thing as far as Dorian was aware, as all his memories were of stories of fighting off evil creatures and getting stronger to protect mankind.

    That may simply be the naive mind of a young teenager, yet it proved that crime wasn''t so prevalent at least. He couldn¡¯t help but crack a smile at the wholesome memories of the past, but the release of his wrist by his sister pulled him from his thoughts.

    ¡°You really need to be careful, I¡¯m not a hunter yet and can¡¯t protect you all the time.¡± She declared with tears still in her eyes.

    A pang of guilt rose in his chest but he squashed it down the moment he felt it.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry Ellio, once I become a hunter, I¡¯ll be able to kick any Niorbos butt.¡± It was the truth, from this young boy''s memories, ¡®hunters¡¯ were the infamous protectors of humanity who became stronger by killing the Niorbos.

    It wasn¡¯t explicit in Dorian''s memories, but a little deduction from his past life, and the answer was obvious. These Niorbos were magic beasts and the hunters were magic core welders. If he wanted to learn more about magic, he would definitely need to become a hunter at one of the cities that have been protecting humanity from the Niorbos for hundreds of years.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get too ahead of yourself, even if you can become a hunter at fourteen, I¡¯ll still be stronger than you, I always win in an arm wrestle.¡± Came his sister''s response, she was clearly trying to lighten the mood, misinterpreting Adam''s silent and distant expressions for shock after a near-death experience.

    He smiled at her as he sat down against the wall.

    ¡°I¡¯ll stay close to you if we ever run into some nasty Niorbo then¡±

    Just watch, I¡¯ll kill them so bad they''ll beg for mercy. She joked while flexing her arm muscles.

    He may have just arrived in this world and life, but his body was spent from literally dying. He felt sleep coming for him, but first had to check his theory. He had no mana core in this body but he still attempted to open his status window. It was something that he could do in his spirit form but he was still wondering how it worked.

    When nothing appeared, his lips lifted in a small grin.

    ¡®So I need a core to access the system¡­ Does that mean I can start over from scratch the right way? I''m sure I screwed everything up on the beach. This is going to be a great opportunity to learn the basics from an actual magic civilization.¡¯

    This wasn''t how he was expecting it to go, but this was what he dreamed of when he was wandering around blindly in the uninhabited magical world that eventually claimed his life. Despite his complex emotional state and situation, he couldn''t help but feel a sense of excitement at being able to finally find out the answers to all the magical questions that had stumped him when he first started on his journey.

    ¡ª

    Meanwhile, sitting cross-legged on a surface of solid liquid. Adam''s spirit continued his deep focus on soul circulation. It was his first soul magic spell but he felt it had become useless to him now. He had used it to fuel his soul in a cycle that helped both strengthen the soul and increase his magic soul core.

    Except now it was evident that it had minor effects on his soul compared to simply absorbing the ambient haze around him. Yet the spell acted more directly on the soul, unlike the haze which nurtured his spirit body mainly. Therefore, he had spent most of his time since he sent off the soul fragment split between handling and moving around in his spirit form and working on incorporating his soul magic into further growing himself.

    Using soul blaze on himself was obviously a bad idea, so when he felt himself flying through the air more smoothly during his spirit control practice, he would switch to focusing on using his soul mana to further grow his soul''s strength. He had repeated these two practices over and over again until something finally clicked.

    Looking up at his status screen, his eyes widened and a smile filled his face.

 44 - Hunter candidate

    Chapter 44 - Hunter candidate

    His sole focus on increasing the health of his soul had led him to make several discoveries about the Astral realm he found himself in. For one, the spirit body surrounding his soul acted like a physical object to the haze energy of this spirit realm.

    Absorbing the haze was like sweating in reverse since the mist would get slowly absorbed when it collided with his astral form. This gave rise to his second conclusion. The thing he was currently sitting on was either an enormous creature or a concentrated amount of spirit energy combined into a flat solid.

    Ever since the jellyfish had unintentionally guided him to the ground level, he had stayed close to it in order to orient himself. As a once normal person who was born into a world with gravity, floating around weightlessly felt very disorienting. But no matter how far he explored, the ground never revealed anything new or different, it was perfectly flat and desolate.

    He had tried punching and digging through it, but it acted like a stone floor. But just because he couldn''t break it currently, didn''t mean that that would be the case forever. After all, even with that soul fragment sent out, he had finally regained and surpassed his previous soul''s level.

    As he was sitting in meditation once more, he saw a drastic change in the way he used his silver magic to heal his soul. It was a change similar to when he finally managed to upgrade his body enhancement spell and the impressive improvement in performance and mana consumption it brought.

    Adam Hartwell

    (Astral spirit)

    Status: Rogue spirit - Level 5

    Soul mana: Level 3

    Divine patriarch (reincarnation): [soul realm pioneer]

    Spells:

    <ul>

    <li>Soul circulation - refined - epic</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>Soul blaze - crude - epic</li>

    </ul>

    (???)

    He grinned at the screen as he admired his soul. It had started to become more focused and refined as it grew stronger. It only started truly growing when he figured out how to improve his soul circulation since the haze only brought minuscule changes.

    Simply having the spell upgrade did feel really good though, it was like a tingling in his soul as his pathways sprouted smaller paths and channels all over his soul. Funneling soul mana into his soul now was so easy he didn''t even need to really think about it. His ethereal core would almost independently grab the magic it needed and circulate it around his pathways and into his soul.

    Each time his soul grew denser and more stable, his core seemed to grow too. He was now basically just in a waiting game. Either his soul mana would be able to push his soul into the realm where it is strong enough to explore what lay beneath this floor, or his soul would return with new information for him.

    As Adam''s spiritual body stood, he stomped down on the ground once again. But this time, a small crack appeared where he hit it. His hunch was correct, this empty realm isn''t the real spirit realm¡­ It''s purgatory, a waiting room for the weak souls before being able to move on to the real deal.

    He eyed the floor with anticipation as the cracks slowly healed. When his soul became strong enough, he would crack through this solid spirit energy barrier and see what lies beyond. He had a feeling it was going to be very good for him.

    ¡ª

    The trip across the Caspien sea usually took a few days. Aquatic Niorbos attacks make traversing the sea a dangerous journey for civilians, so hunters always accompany the trips. Many candidate hunters travel south every year in hopes of joining one of the southern cities'' hunter guards. They are referred to as the last line of defense and only the marine Niorbo can elude them.

    Each year, thousands perish in Niorbo assaults, most of which are hunters. Therefore each city welcomes and trains the new generation of humanities defenders to fight back against the monstrous invasion. Gender and class are culturally nonexistent in these lands.

    A war for the survival of humanity has created a human race patriotically devoted to defending their race as a whole. Here, there are no nations or creeds and factions. Only cities that work together to form a wall of defense.

    But it wasn''t always like this. According to Dorian''s memories, the used to be nations and fighting amongst humans. People would regularly kill others for profit or selfish reasons.

    Then came the Niorbo, some believed them to be the envoys of the devil, others the retribution of god. But when all of the world''s countries fell one by one, humanity seemed doomed to perish.

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    One day, hundreds of years ago, a great warrior discovered he could get stronger by feasting on the flesh of the dead Niorbo. He gained superhuman powers and the strength to rival the invading beasts. He rallied a small group of tough men and women to fight and eat the Niorbo to take their power and use it against them. That was how the hunters came into being.

    Adam had rested his new teenage body and gone over the relevant memories of the young boy. He was still a little shocked at how selfless and protective these people were. Based on all of Earth''s history, such great unity like this was almost impossible for him to imagine. Abusing and mistreating others in these lands is the greatest crime, anyone who threatens or harms another person here is considered an enemy of mankind and exiled to Niorbo territory.

    It was shocking but also very interesting to him. After all, even the government once had plans to fake an alien invasion to force all the world''s countries to pull together in the face of a greater common enemy.

    It was interesting to see that this strategy had actually worked here, and it had become both a cultural and survival method over the generations.

    His arrival in the south should lead him to become a hunter, which meant learning about magic from an established organization that has fought the Niorbo for centuries, while also being a safe place from crime and gangs.

    He first assumed that the south would be a lawless area where ¡®might makes¡¯ right¡¯ behavior, yet it seemed that even on the border with literal monsters, this planet''s culture of protecting all of mankind might be the perfect planet for him. After all, if having as many powerful hunters as possible is the goal, people are less likely to hoard the secrets of their strength.

    ¡°Where coming up on Malder, young hunter candidates¡± Shouted the captain.

    Ellio woke up from her nap next to Adam. They both made their way out of the wooden cabin in the center of the boat and approached the side of the vessel.

    Two stone beams were sticking out of the water with large metal doors connecting the two. The large doors began to open in the waters, revealing the doors to have wavy metal panels that let water in and out, but nothing else. There were piles of stone around the rest of the area that also served to block access to the city ahead.

    Adam watched in awe as the boat passed through the gate before it was closed behind them. It was a pretty good system to stop the sea monsters from getting to the shores of the city, similar to a reef that would stop sharks from coming too close.

    ¡°I can¡¯t wait to awaken as a hunter, I wish I become a fire mage!¡± Excailed Ellio with barely contained excitement.

    Adam looked over at his strangely familiar new sister. ¡®I really feel like she has always been my older sister.¡¯

    He cracked a smile at her. ¡®Great minds think alike, '' he thought, but it quickly faded as the familial bond he felt was suppressed. This girl wasn''t his sister; she was Dorian''s sister. He reminded himself not to get too close. He wasn''t planning to stay here forever; he was on a mission.

    The boat arrived at the dock and the passengers began to disembark. He walked side by side with Ellio as they moved down the stone street and followed the crowd. All the other passengers were new hunter candidates like them, here to awaken as protectors of humanity.

    Wooden street stalls lined the busy city, as the almost medieval-styled streets bustled with life and noise. The smell of cooked food wafted over from various stands and shouts and calls from merchants resonated through the streets.

    ¡°Where are we going?¡± He asked his sister.

    ¡°To the hunter candidate office, we need to get ourselves registered for the awakening.¡±

    He didn¡¯t know what ¡®the awakening¡¯ entailed but assumed it was the creation of the mana core. They walked the bustling streets for a while until they came upon a large stone building that looked rather imposing.

    Making their way inside, they had to wait in a queue for a while before telling the person at the desk their information and getting inscribed into some sort of hunter bootcamp. They called it the Awakening camp.

    Adam and Ellio were then directed to relocate to an area beyond the busy city streets they had just walked through. The large stone building served as an office and an entrance into the ¡®Hunter school¡¯ section of Malder city. Beyond the building, a large expanse of training grounds and several large buildings extended out in front of them.

    The hunter''s training school was enormous and they were only seeing a tiny corner of it. This was the waiting area for all nonhunters who wished to proceed with the awakening. His sister looked like she would jump out of orbit with pure joy, as she hurriedly moved towards the group they were supposed to join with up ahead.

    Most of the young teenagers on the boat were also in the group now gathered in a wide open space beyond the city''s public area. According to the clerk at the desk, they would have to wait until tomorrow for the awakening, but they needed to get their compatibility measured today.

    ¡°How do we know if we are compatible with becoming hunters anyway?¡± Asked a tall boy in the group.

    A middle-aged man was in charge of guiding their group of twenty young hunter candidates through the process.

    ¡°Everybody listen up¡± He exclaimed, and all the previous chattering died down. Adam and Ellio had been among the last to arrive, so they shuffled forward to hear what he had to say.

    ¡°As of this moment, you are all Hunter candidates. This means that you have all volunteered to help fight for the survival of the many cities of humanity. For this, you are honorable and should feel very proud. But, despite your bravery and determination, you still don¡¯t have any power with which to do so yet.¡± The crowd held onto his every word as he delivered his speech with practiced ease.

    Today, you are hunter candidates, but those with talent will become apprentice hunters by tomorrow.

    The crowd cheered at those words as many had been waiting for the awakening for weeks. It happened once every few months, and the new arrivals on the boat from the north arrived just in time to qualify as candidates before the awakening. Adam felt great relief at not having to wait months before he could regain his magic.

    ¡°However, some of you might not have the talent needed to be able to awaken as hunters. Many of the population will unfortunately never be able to awaken as hunters. This is what we will test today.¡±

    The crowd fell quiet at this. Many had the shadows of tears flash in their eyes for a moment as they considered if their dreams of becoming hunters would end today in some cruel twist of fate.

    Adam also scrunched his brows at those words. He hadn¡¯t realized that magic was only usable by certain people. A small voice in his head told him that this might not be the same magic he knew of.

    After all, the core of the tiger he first possessed was completely different from the pure mana core he had once formed.

    He pushed the thought aside, it was probably just that some people couldn¡¯t cultivate magic very easily and therefore couldn¡¯t develop cores. After all, the similarities with his old world were clear. The powerful creatures that grant the hunters strength after defeating them. It was exactly like what he had done back in his own world to become a peak grey core wielder.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry too much, even if you can¡¯t become a hunter, the are many other invaluable jobs. Hunting keeps people safe, but it isn¡¯t the only thing that keeps people alive.¡±

    His words were spoken with kindness and understanding, yet no one wanted to accept them.

    Becoming a hunter was a sign of great prestige and honor in this world. Becoming anything else would be unacceptable to most people gathered here, including Adam who was now beginning to fear for the worst.

    ¡®What will they do to determine our compatibility with becoming hunters? Would my weakened soul affect that?

    Will I actually not become a hunter? But I need to learn about magic, what is the point of all this if I don¡¯t learn magic? I can¡¯t become a merchant for the rest of my life, I need to return to my soul with a foundational understanding of magic, nothing else matters.

 45 - Hunter test

    Chapter 45 - Hunter test

    ¡°Each of you will come forth when your name is called and you will place both your palms on these stones.¡± Announce the middle-aged man who was in charge of their twenty-person group.

    All eyes shifted to where he was pointing, and most of the kid''s faces started to get a little pale. The single most important event in their lives so far would be decided in a few minutes. Many of the teens had shaking hands and rapidly beating hearts by now.

    ¡°The black stone will light up depending on your talent. If the stone doesn¡¯t gain color, you will not be able to become a hunter and will be unable to participate in the Awakening tomorrow.¡±

    The crowd was silent as they stared at the two stones that would decide their fate. Each was about the size of a bowling bowl, both on small white pillars carved to cradle the stones and resembling small Roman pillars.

    Those who pass will be able to stay and use the candidate facilities as well as find a room over at the dormitories. Those that do not qualify, however, will not be able to return as becoming a hunter is unfortunately impossible for you.

    After a tense moment, the man called the first name on his list and a young boy stepped forward. He walked in between the two small pillars and froze for a moment.

    Stretching out his arms, he put one hand on the vibrant red stone and one on the black stone. His body jolted slightly for a moment before he tensed. The black stone began to glow a faint red color, it grew in intensity from the center of the black orb until it was half red.

    ¡°Congratulations, you have the talent to become a hunter.¡± The man didn''t leave people time to take in the sight before another name was called.

    The first boy went to stand to the side while another went through with the test.

    The first person not to pass the test was a skinny girl with greasy dark hair. The black orb didn''t turn red in the slightest, her face worriedly looked at the man and she knew this was bad. She tried taking her hands off and putting them back on again, but nothing changed.

    The man tried to console her but she was balling her eyes out after that. She was led away, and the sense that that could happen to anyone here gave the air an almost physical presence.

    Adam and Ellio both arrived last so they were at the end of the list. Five more people didn''t light up the black orb and were sent away before it was Ellio¡¯s turn. She glanced at Adam who gave her a reassuring nod before she stepped up.

    Her hand was shaking as she placed it on the red stone. She took one last deep breath before placing her other hand on the black orb.

    Her body stiffened as the black orb rapidly grew in intensity. But the red light didn''t stop growing stronger as it surpassed the halfway mark most others managed to achieve.

    Gasps could be heard in the group as the black orb became almost completely filled with light. Adam was just as shocked as the rest of them.

    He figured that this process was basically measuring mana conductivity by forming a sort of mana circuit with the person acting as the conductor. Similar to measuring electrical conductivity. But she was making the black orb glow redder than any other.

    ¡°It seems we have a possible genius on our hands.¡± Said the man who now looked genuinely excited about Ellio¡¯s result.

    Her grin was practically splitting her face apart as she skipped over to the side and turned her eyes to Adam. He was now the last person not to have passed the test. His sister''s excellent showing gave him hope that he too would have excellent mana conductivity, but the knowledge that his soul was a weakened fragment made him fear not being able to use magic.

    As the last person, all eyes turned to him with greater intensity now. Everyone was wondering the same thing, would the younger brother be just as strong, or would he be a dud?

    He stepped up and placed his hands on the stones immediately without the usual slow movements the others had. He had no time to waste, if he really couldn¡¯t use magic, he would need to leave this realm and return to his main soul empty-handed. It wasn¡¯t what he wanted, but he had no reason to wait around idly.

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    As soon as his hand made contact with the red stone, he felt a barely noticeable tingling on his hand, but as soon as his other hand reached the black stone, it was like static electricity jolted his entire body. It wasn¡¯t painful, but rather just a split second where the energies raced across his body to fill the circuit.

    He could feel the mana traveling through him from the red orb and landing in the black orb. This was the first time he felt mana since he died, it was a distinctly different feeling from before. This time, it felt so foreign, like having electricity coursing through his body.

    He used to be able to control mana at will but this energy was completely untouchable to him. Moreover, it traveled randomly around his body rather than in the predefined pathways that his own magic used to take. It made sense since his core wasn¡¯t formed yet but he still tried to reach out and guide the mana.

    His mission was to learn as much as he could about magic, so controlling magic without a core was something he wanted to prove was possible or not. He assumed not for most people, but Adam had a little trick, he could control his soul energies at will.

    The soul and soul mana were made of the same thing after all, the only difference was that the soul was already in use, while soul mana was blank soul energy that he could use as he wished.

    Therefore, despite not having the mana pathways one would form alongside their core, he could still nudge the mana in certain directions using his own on-the-fly makeshift pathways.

    He had closed his eyes and concentrated on the feeling of the mana traveling through his body. Unlike before, he couldn¡¯t sense it like he could when he had his core since he currently didn¡¯t have his inner mana sight. Yet he still remembered the feeling he got when the mana traveled across his pathways.

    Narrowing in on that feeling, he squinted his mind¡¯s eye until his silver soul started to become visible while still feeling the mana coursing in his body. He didn¡¯t need to recreate the complex web of paths that had once resided within him, instead, he focused on a single channel. One stretching across his chest and connecting his palms on either side.

    He reached out for his soul, pulled silver energy from his soul fragment and started forming a tube. He had never really understood why souls could channel mana since they seemed to ignore all energies normally, yet as he started forming the small silver tube, he felt the mana begin to follow the path.

    His grin was tense as the pain of directly manipulating his own soul was similar to having his guts squeezed. It was very unpleasant, but with no available soul mana, directly altering his soul was the only way. His spontaneous experiment was starting to pay off as the mana was clearly using the direct root he created through himself to connect the mana between the two stones.

    It was a dozen seconds since he had placed his hand on the stones and his sister smiled when the black stone started to glow a red color. She saw her little brother Dorian close his eyes in concentration and sweat started to appear on his brow before the light really started to increase at a rapid pace.

    It usually took about ten seconds before the black stone stabilized at the maximum brightness it would achieve with each person. But it took half a minute before it stopped growing for Ellio. She assumed her brother had the same great talent for being a hunter as her when the orb continued growing in intensity after ten seconds.

    After twenty seconds, the orb rapidly increased in the speed at which its red color increased. By now it was the same brightness as Ellio, but it didn¡¯t stop. It was fully red after thirty seconds and she saw Dorian¡¯s eyes shut and a pained grimace on his face. Soon, the group wasn¡¯t looking impressed and congratulating Dorian, but went silent and closely observed the orb with confusion.

    For some reason, the orb wasn¡¯t slowing down, in fact, it was rapidly increasing in brightness now that the entire black of the orb had been replaced with red. The red orb itself didn¡¯t change color but the black orb would always rapidly return to its former black self when the hunter candidate removed their hand. But now, it was as if they were both red orbs.

    The red orb was a little larger than the black, yet now they appeared identical in brightness and color. Adam had struggled through the pain of creating a single mana path across his chest and it was working just as intended, his experiment was a success so he at least now had some important information to send back to his main soul if this trick was a failure and he failed to become a hunter.

    Adam opened his eyes for the first time in almost a minute as he looked over at the black orb. He saw the red orb so he looked over at the other one, and once more saw the red orb.

    ¡°Oh, oops¡± Was the only thing he could think of saying as he looked over at the group of hunter candidates and their group guide. All of them were staring at him with open mouths.

    He felt stupid for forgetting himself and delving into this experiment without thinking of what it might look like to others, but to be fair he believed that his weak soul might prove detrimental in obtaining magic here. The spontaneous soul pathway test was his last ditch effort to obtain something useful to prove this trip wasn¡¯t a complete waste.

    Turns out, this might not be the end of his mission after all. In fact, it looked like he might have just marked himself as an anomaly. Which might be a good thing if he wants to learn the secrets of magic from some wise old wizard. It would have been hard to do if he was just another random hunter.

    ¡°Do I pass?¡±

    He asked with his best innocent face after removing his hands from the stones. The bridge he had formed out of his soul had now reverted to its previous amorphic shape once he had released control over it.

    ¡°How did you do that?¡± Asked the group guide. He was in stunned shock like the rest of them but had shook himself out of it when Adam spoke.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I just leaned into the feeling I guess.¡± He replied with a shrug, trying not to act like he knew what he had just done.

    ¡°Oh, well, I mean, yes you pass. I¡¯ve never seen anything like that before¡± He was clearly thrown off his game by Adam¡¯s stunt, but he quickly told the other candidates to go find a room and explore the different training rooms available.

    His sister stared at him in shock before following him to the dorm building. She had assumed her results to be the highest in the group, yet her brother had had such a massive result that the black orb had still not returned to its original state, it took five minutes for it to fully return to black, compared to the seconds it usually took for the others.

    But his odd showing hadn¡¯t only caught the eyes of his fellow hunter candidates, the middle-aged man who had guided them through the test and marked down their results was equal parts shocked and suspicious. He had seen this process hundreds of times, yet that boy had been different from any he had seen.

    He might not like that old man, but this was definitely part of the ¡®unusual behavior¡¯ the old monster had said to look out for. He couldn¡¯t stop the hint of fear that flashed through his eyes as he recalled their conversation. He hoped the kid wouldn¡¯t be in trouble with such talent, yet he also knew that if he reported him to that person, he would likely never be seen again.

    ¡®Of the boy is equally unusual during his awakening, I''ll have to send him to the old man¡¯ He thought with a grimace. Hopefully, he won¡¯t hurt the boy too much, if he survived, he would definitely become a great asset to Malder city.

 46 - Dorianéˆ¥æªš awakening

    Chapter 46 - Dorian¡¯s awakening

    Time passed quickly for Adam after the test confirmed that his body had a strong aptitude for magic. He was still unsure about the soul''s role in the use of mana, but he was already thinking up ways to further investigate the topic.

    But that would have to wait since his host''s sister, Ellio, was constantly bombarding him with questions.

    ¡°How do you do it, Dorian? You didn¡¯t cheat, did you?¡±

    ¡°Of course not, I just felt the feeling of the power going through my body and tried to push it in the right direction. I¡¯m just as shocked as you are. Besides, you did great yourself.¡±

    ¡°I know I was brilliant, but your test was so weird, the black orb never measured the hunter''s talent in such an irregular fashion before. It has always grown brighter in a smooth fashion until the talent had reached its limit.¡± She was looking at him suspiciously in their new dorm room.

    Being siblings, Ellio had insisted they shared a room, but he knew that she just wanted to extract some sort of secret to his success during the test.

    ¡°You just need to feel the power when it enters your body and try to force it to your will, like controlling your heartbeats.¡± She looked at him with a calculating expression before relenting.

    Fine then, but don¡¯t think I¡¯ll forgive you for stealing my spotlight today. I swear that tomorrow, I¡¯ll awaken as the greatest fire mage Malder city has ever seen. Then I¡¯ll go kick some Niorbo ass and become a senior hunter. You can become your dream warrior hunter, although you might need to put on some weight before you can face Niorbos by yourself.

    She said in a teasing tone.

    ¡°Actually, I think being a mage is a better. I prefer fighting from a distance rather than up close and personnel.¡± He replied without thinking.

    She grew more serious as she looked him in the eyes

    ¡°No, you always wanted to be a warrior, why would you suddenly want to be a mage now? You always said you wanted to be like the warrior Ballak.¡±

    Adam looked at her in confusion for a second before his mind caught up. He hadn¡¯t looked through Dorian''s childhood memories so he didn¡¯t know what games or stories he liked. He winced at having to lie to this person who he felt a strong familial bond with, yet he didn¡¯t have a choice.

    ¡°I decided that I would actually like¡­ Hunter powers, rather than becoming a super strong warrior.¡± He tried to explain without calling mana magic since these people didn¡¯t call it that.

    The day passed rather uneventfully for the new hunter candidates as they nervously waited for awakening day to come. Many had used the training facilities outside in the various yards for training to pass the time. Adam decided to go exploring the local cuisine as he explored the cafeteria building. His sister was sticking to his side more than usual after his stunt with the test orb as the two got their first meal in Malder.

    The food wasn¡¯t necessarily bad but was definitely bland. He didn¡¯t need to pay for it since it was part of the hunter school resources, so at least he wouldn¡¯t have to start working for cash. He was scared he might have to go back to working at construction sites again since he only arrived in Malder city with his sister and the clothes on his back.

    He nevertheless enjoyed simply walking around and seeing other people going about their business. It was something he had missed when stuck on that alien planet and being here reminded him of how incredibly weird his journey had been. He didn¡¯t complain about the food as much as his sister, since it was the first real meal he had eaten since that old microwaved pizza he ate on his last day on Earth.

    He continued to chat with Ellio for the rest of the day, mainly about her hopes and fears for the upcoming awakening, and Adam used this to probe for more information.

    According to what Ellio knew, the awakening ceremony took place every three months and was presided over by the right-hand man of the city Lord. He was supposedly in the Grand Master rank and therefore was tremendously powerful. Since the city lord rarely stopped fighting at the front, the Grand Master was usually the main authority in the city.

    Supposedly, the people of this world ranked power levels a little differently. They seemed to really enjoy the word hunter and added it to all their ranks. He was already considered a hunter, albeit only a hunter candidate.

    If the awakening goes well tomorrow, he would develop his ¡®Hunters¡¯ Heart¡¯ and become a Junior hunter. At which point he would be able to go fight the Niorbo after some basic training.

    After several years, some people are able to advance to senior hunters, but even middle-aged hunters can still remain at the junior stage. Their guide during the candidate test was apparently a junior hunter himself since most of them didn¡¯t have the power to fight the Niorbo head on.

    He had experienced the power of the various mana core stages but didn¡¯t have a good way to measure the changes they brought to him. Back then he was able to punch, move, and think at much faster speeds than ordinary people, yet everything around him was already abnormal so there was no way to compare. Here, however, most people weren¡¯t hunters so they didn¡¯t possess magic.

    That brought him to one more question, what about the system? His sister had not mentioned it, and they had clearly made up the names of the various stages by themselves. Does that mean that the system doesn''t exist here? He didn¡¯t know why but he assumed that the system would appear everywhere where magic was present. Perhaps people simply didn¡¯t talk about it or considered it a trade secret?

    Either way, night had come and he made his way to his new dorm room. He would hopefully find out the answers to his questions tomorrow.

    Ellio was sharing a room with him, considering he was only thirteen, and that did make him feel very uncomfortable. He knew that this was the norm for siblings here, yet since he wasn¡¯t actually Dorian, he felt like a massive creep. Pushing the thought aside, he drifted to sleep on a soft bed for the first time since Earth.

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    Many things might have happened to him since then, but a warm, cosy bed truly was a gift from heaven after a long and tortuous journey, through alien worlds and even resulting in him dying a few times. Truly, it was a nice break. But like most things that happened to Adam recently, it was simply the calm before the storm.

    The next day came and Adam enjoyed his breakfast in the cafeteria before going out to the training yards. He hadn¡¯t used any of them yesterday but decided to try lifting some weights. He was in a rather weak body and his muscles were small, yet his strength was noticeably greater than when he was a young teenager himself. At least, he believed so. Despite his smaller frame, his muscle strength allowed him to lift several pounds and perform two dozen push-ups with relative ease.

    It made him ponder the fundamental differences between his own human world and this one. Apparently, Niobo had invaded their territories for centuries, yet most humans have no magic. He wondered if magic still had some underlying effect on a population despite it not being enough to naturally form mana cores.

    If the small level of mana brought over by the Niorbo is enough to increase his body''s capabilities like this, then would living in a mana-rich environment allow him to breeze through the various early stages of cultivation simply by breathing? It was something to think about, after all, if he reincarnated again, it would be a good idea to look for such an environment.

    He didn¡¯t push himself too much and simply got used to his body''s new strength and its limits. He wanted to get accustomed to moving around as a teenager once more since he felt himself moving awkwardly at times. Getting more comfortable in his new body would likely also be beneficial with the upcoming ceremony.

    Dorian¡¯s sister came to get him in the courtyard when mid-afternoon came. She told him that they needed to gather at the large tower across from the hunter candidate quarters. Their entire group of fourteen young boys and girls made their way together in a small group, headed by the middle-aged guide from yesterday.

    Minutes later, a small crowd of people of all sorts had gathered around the wooden platform that led into the tower. It was tall, but its ground floor was also a wide open space like a tennis court. The large floor was furnished with a matted red material and the walls were made of thick wood. The group was shown inside and a few people lined the walls of the room with passive looks.

    ¡°Welcome hunter candidates, today is the day you have been waiting for. I am Grand Master Keroul and I will be overseeing your awakenings today.¡± Said an older man who was sitting at the back of the room.

    Two staircases could be seen on either side of the large room as the group was led inside and instructed to sit. Ellio looked as pale as a ghost as the old man talked. Both she and Adam had sat down cross-legged on the soft red mat.

    ¡°Some of you might be aware, but awakening requires several things. Firstly, you need the help of an experienced alchemist to extract the power from the Niorbo and form it into an awakening pill. Second, you need to swallow at least three of these pills to form your hunter¡¯s heart.¡±

    The group looked equal parts delighted at finally being here and also completely petrified.

    ¡°It is true that this process might fail or can even cause the candidate severe harm, but if you are able to push through, you will leave this room a junior hunter.¡±

    ¡°Many of you have great talent and have the potential of becoming powerful hunters, some of you are even truly outstanding¡­¡± He said, while looking in the direction of Adam and Ellio. He heard his sister take in a sharp breath but didn¡¯t feel too surprised. It wasn¡¯t too surprising that he and his sister¡¯s unusual test results were relayed to the Grand master.

    ¡°Now let the awakening commence¡­¡± At his words, several people descended from the staircases in the middle of the room and each carried leather pouches on wooden trays.

    The group was each given a pouch, and inside was three red balls that resembled marbles.

    ¡°Do not worry, it is very rare that candidates that pass the first test fail the awakening. Simply swallow one of the pills and let its energy envelope your body. Each pill will gradually give you the power you need to form your hunter¡¯s heart. These pills are crafted from the remains of powerful slain Niorbos and their essence extracted and remolded for you. Take them one at a time when you feel the effect of the previous pill reduces. If you take them too fast, you are likely to injure yourselves and potentially die, so take your time. It isn¡¯t rare for this process to take up to an hour.¡±

    All the young teens nervously reached into the pouch and grabbed one of the three pills. Adam did the same and swallowed the small red ball. Immediately, it reminded him of the sensation he felt when he used to swallow mana cores back when he was a black core.

    The energies flooded his body and travelled to encompass his entire body. But something stood out to him, unlike the pure mana he felt back on the alien world, this one felt different. It felt like it was mixed with dirt, unlock the pure mana he would absorb from the mana cores.

    Most of the teens had gone still as their bodies adjusted to the energies invading their beings. It''s like a sloshing flood of energy that raced around their bodies and they all tensed as it struggled to settle down. Waiting for the energy flood to settle was all they could do as they sat in unmoving silence.

    Adam wasn¡¯t as new to magic as his fellow candidates, as he sensed the flowing energy. It was definitely fundamentally different from the standard mana he was used to. This wasn¡¯t to do with an unsanitary pill either, but rather the actual mana circulating in his being. It was heavier and darker than standard mana and resisted as he tried to force it to obey his will.

    This may have been the body of a young boy full of dreams and hopes two days ago, but today, it was Adams. He was the new owner of this form, and anything within his new body belongs to Adam. As a result of his concentrated effort over the energies, he was able to calm them down a lot faster than any of the other candidates.

    His eyes were shut in concentration as he focused on controlling the energies like he had done back when he had a core. He had formed his mana core spontaneously, so creating it again was no easy task. Yet the energies had calmed a lot faster than normal and his body was ready to up the ante. He reached for the second pill, but the bearded Grand master was standing right in front of him when he opened his eyes to grab it.

    Adam almost jumped back in shock as the old man¡¯s surprised face met his. He didn¡¯t say a word and Adam didn¡¯t know what to say so he opted to simply ignore the old man and push his body''s mana saturation up a notch. He grabbed the second pill and swallowed it, the energies were a lot easier to control with the second pill as he had gotten the knack of it now.

    He felt the second pill seep into his body and radiate power across every muscle of his body. It seeped into his bones and flesh until the pill was dissolved. Adam was going to grab the last pill when he noticed something odd. He couldn¡¯t actually see anything of course but rather felt a slight warm pull into the center of his body.

    His chest was beginning to feel like a tinywhirlpooll that sought to attract all the mana in his body. He scrunched his brows as he investigated the feeling. It wasn¡¯t painfull but rather felt like someone was trying to suck up the mana in his body using the world smallest vacuum cleaner.

    He capitalized on the discovery and tried to exert his will over the mana in his body. It wasn¡¯t easy since this wasn¡¯t his own mana but he had enough experience now that he was able to nudge the energy towards the center. It operated like a mana black hole, as each piece of mana it devoured made its pull stronger.

    Before long, the pull towards his lower chest had grown so large that even the mana in his extremities were pulled towards it. Before he knew it, the miniature black hole was beginning to reveal a clump of mana that seemed to pull in all the mana of his body. He quickly downed the third pill in the blink of an eye without even looking to see if the grand master was stilltherer or not.

    The explosive amount of mana contained in the pill erupted in his body but was pulled towards his core before having time to rampage around first. But the amount of mana in the pill was too great compared to the pull so some of it was sucked towards his core but wasn¡¯t pulled into it.

    A sudden pain struck Adam in his chest as the pill dissolved and released all its volatile energy. The forming core¡¯s suction was trying its best but it wasn¡¯t strong enough to capture the fast-moving mana. Adam tried not to panic at the sudden pain and instead repeated what he did before and focused on manually calming the torrent of energy being released from the pill.

    It took at least a few minutes before the energies were fully under control and the core was now a lot bigger than before and still attracting the remnant mana. It was now a lot clearer to Adam as he could sense its presence inside him. Several minutes later, and Adam¡¯s core had grabbed all the mana it could possibly find and jammed it into a brand new core.

    Surprisingly, the mana itself wasn¡¯t the only thing that seemed different as the core wasn¡¯t the usual black, but had a mucky dark reddish brown color to it. It looked like a mix of Coca-Cola and orange juice that had crystalized into a small marble in his chest.

    Adam opened his eyes for the first time in a while and noticed yet another difference to his previous mana core.

    This one didn¡¯t come with a status window hovering in front of him¡­ Only the wide-eyed face of an old bearded man still staring at him.

 47 - Hunter talent

    Chapter 47 - Hunter talent

    Adam was shocked to find the Grand master staring right at him after he had formed his core. The process had taken several minutes and he had his eyes shut in concentration for most of them. He had noticed the old man staring at him when he stabilized his first core and was creeped out at the thought of the guy staring at him silently for several minutes without him knowing.

    The bearded guy was a few feet away from Adam¡¯s cross-legged position on the carpet and simply nodded at Adam when their eyes met. Adam was confused at this, but decided to look around at the condition of his group rather than dwell on the creepy old man.

    Surprisingly, most of the others still had one or two pills left in their pouches as they sat on the soft red carpet. He saw that his sister was on her second pill and sweat was appearing on her forehead as her body periodically tensed.

    He only now noticed that the people lining the walls were probably making sure nobody did anything stupid or overdosed on the pills, as they were staring at the people who had the most pained expressions on their faces.

    He didn¡¯t get up since he was clearly the first to finish, and instead decided to probe his fancy new muck colored core. This mana sense was now much better at sensing his core as he tried to extract a drop of mana.

    Adam¡¯s confusion only mounted as he probed the core since he didn¡¯t see any pulses arriving to reinforce his body like they would do at every advancement on the alien world. Coupled with his inability to extract any mana from his new core gave him a sinking feeling.

    He didn¡¯t have access to the status window to confirm if the core was properly formed, and nor did he have any reason to believe that this world had access to such a thing. The Grand master could probably have told them if a screen would appear in their vision if they were successful, yet nobody ever mentioned it.

    He didn¡¯t have any pathways either, so his core wasn¡¯t connected to his soul and therefore couldn¡¯t send mana along its pathways. He didn¡¯t dare do anything further with the core and opted to simply wait for further explanation.

    His sister was the second person to open her eyes and look around with a wide grin on her face. She had also managed to form a hunter¡¯s heart and appeared to want to scream with excitement as she looked at him with sparkling eyes. Those eyes turned to confusion when she saw Dorian look right back at her, but she wasn¡¯t too disappointed at not being the first to succeed, since becoming a junior hunter was too great of an achievement for a petty sibling rivalry to spoil it.

    Adam couldn¡¯t but smile as he saw the pure joy in Ellio¡¯s eyes. It helped alleviate the mounting worries in his heart, after all, hunters were clearly magically enhanced people. Just because their magic was slightly different didn¡¯t mean it was useless to Adam. He simply had to wait for further explanations about how to use it. And of course, hope that it wasn¡¯t due to his soul issue.

    After a while, most of the other candidates managed to form their cores, and the only one who was not able to do so was carried away after he began to groan in pain. With everyone done with the awakening, the Grand master walked up once again.

    ¡°Well done, as of now you are no longer simply candidates, but true junior hunters of Malder city. Now let us test your talents to discover what path you will follow to protect humanity.¡±

    The room''s atmosphere had completely shifted, from nervous silence to unbridled excitement. Even Adam was eager to discover what came next. In front of them all, long wooden tables adorned with several different objects were facing them. The bearded man stepped up to the table and grabbed a flat stone slab the size of a sheet of paper.

    ¡°As you all know, awakening as a hunter entails taking the dangerous power of the Niorbo and injecting it into one¡¯s body. Those compatible would therefore inherit the powers of the slain Niorbo. Yet these creatures have all sorts of diverse abilities, and the pills you have used to form your hunters¡¯ hearts are made with the essence of several different Niorbos.

    As a result, your powers can manifest differently, some will become warriors with superhuman bodies that can punch through solid stone, while others can manipulate the elements and bend the world to our will.¡±

    He waved his hand in the air in a precise and controlled pattern, that left small red lines. Moments later, fire sprang to life above his open palm, it was the size of a fist and rounded. The flame danced about for a few seconds before he closed his fingers around them and snuffed them out.

    ¡°I am a fire mage, I use my hunter''s heart to ignite my flames of rebellion and burn the Niorbos alive. I may not have the strength to crush the skulls of the Niorbos with my bare hands like the city lord, but I¡¯m still the absolute best fire mage in the entire city.¡± He was clearly happy to show off and brag, and he deserved it. Even Adam was impressed, fire magic was always something he had wanted to have, and this guy had just performed it.

    Ellio¡¯s excitement about meeting the Grand master of Malder was now making more sense. She had always dreamed of being a fire mage and this person was now standing right in front of her. She was clearly meeting her hero and from the look in her eyes, she was loving every second.

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    The others in their group were also wide-eyed as the old man clenched his fist over the flame. But Adam¡¯s main amazement wasn¡¯t necessarily the conjuring of a flame but rather the strange sigil he had drawn in the air beforehand.

    ¡°Listen carefully now, your new heart can manifest all sorts of powers, but to discover which you possess, perform the final ritual of your awakening. The blood trial.

    Each of you will draw a few drops of blood onto this tablet. The power you have will then manifest itself by moving towards the closest gem.¡±

    He lifted the stone tablet he had in his other hand and showed it to the gathered group. Although the back was a flat grey stone, the front of the tablet had several multicolored gems indeed in it. There were various interconnecting pathways on the surface that all originated from the center of the tablet, which was adorned with a small rounded spike the size.

    ¡°There are thirteen of you, so this time, there are enough tablets for everyone,¡± Said the old man with a smile as he placed the tablet back on the wooden table behind him.

    ¡°So who will go first?¡±

    The group was silent before a voice spoke up.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go.¡± Said Ellio, shocking Adam and the rest as they simply stared at her.

    ¡°Good, brave and talented, come then. It isn¡¯t too painful, simply press your thumb to the spike in the center and let a few drops of blood flow. Then you will know your hunter heart power.¡±

    She walked over to the Grand Master''s side and reached out her thumb. With a final deep breath, she pushed down on the spike and winced as blood dribbled down the spike and onto the board below. Ellio and the entire room held their breath as the blood began to move down, borrowing several paths.

    The board had a multitude of different carved paths with some having a slightly different color than others. They all interconnected and overlapped like the shadow of a ball of spaghetti. Her blood dripped onto several of the different colored paths as it seeped down and slowly grouped into a gradually larger red pool at each intersection.

    After several seconds, the blood was spreading around the shallow carved paths. It had formed into two groups with the largest descending down to one gem on the tablet and the other smaller group heading to a different gem. She clearly didn¡¯t know what it meant since she glanced over at the Grand Master with a questioning gaze.

    ¡°How interesting, let me explain how this little device measures your hunter talents. You see, now that you have formed your heart, your body has taken on the powers of the Niorbo. As such, your blood contains a hint of this power and even a single drop is enough to estimate what one''s powers are. This young lady has two main powers resonating with her blood.

    You should remember the candidate test you undertook before your awakening today. This is a similar process, the gems you see on the sides of the device are similar to the black orb used in the hunter candidate test. These gems each attract a certain Niorbo power, and the paths carved in the center are covered with particles of the same type of crystal.

    As the blood flows across the pathways, it''s dragged along by the path covered with the gem most attracted to the power in your blood. In this case, the young lady has a strong affinity with the lightning power.¡±

    Ellios'' face darkened at the enthusiastic old man''s words as she looked down at the device. Adam felt bad for his host¡¯s sister since she had been so excited to become a fire mage. He grimaced at the outcome and hoped Ellio wouldn¡¯t be too upset.

    ¡°Why the long face missy? Is it not what you wanted?¡±

    ¡°I was actually hoping to become a fire mage like you, sir¡± She replied with her bottom lip starting to quiver. The Grand master must have noticed her mood too as he moved closer.

    ¡°Hey now, did you know that I always wanted to be a lightning mage myself.¡± Ellio looked up at him in confusion as if he had just said something outrageous.

    ¡°It¡¯s true, fire is good and all but lightning is incomparably better. It is fast and packs a real punch, it is a much rarer power than fire which is why I always envied people with it.¡±

    Ellio didn¡¯t seem convinced but her tears had been pushed down for the moment as she seriously considered the words of the Grand master.

    ¡°And look at that, your blood has a strong affinity for lightning but also a lesser affinity for metal. You are quite the lucky girl. The two powers can work brilliantly together and they are both mage powers rather than one mage and one warrior, which is more common for dual talent.¡±

    Their group was impressed at that and they now seemed a lot more eager to proceed with their own blood tests.

    ¡°Good job young lady. You have a promising future ahead as a hunter. Steel and electricity go well together and if used properly, can cause destruction far more powerful than anything a fire mage could be capable of. You should consider yourself very lucky.¡± He said as Ellio walked back towards Adam. Her mood seemed to have flipped now, as not even having her childhood dreams could be crushed when her hero was congratulating and encouraging her.

    ¡°See that Dorian, I¡¯m a lightning and metal mage. Now it''s your turn to see what power you got.¡± She said with an excited and slightly arrogant tone. After all, now she was back in the spotlight and her little brother wasn¡¯t. He simply smiled and congratulated her before moving forward to get himself a tablet.

    Five people had moved towards the large wooden table and were all given an identical tablet placed in front of them. Adam reached over and pressed his thumb onto the spike and watched as the blood dripped down. The Grand master was walking along the table and observing each of the teens.

    Then the blood started flowing down into the pathways and Adam held his breath. Similarly to his sister, the blood separated into two groups as it traveled along the overlapping paths and towards the gems at the edges.

    ¡°Ah, look at that young hunter, you seem to have become a muscle warrior. It is the best power for fully controlling one''s body and extracting all the potential inside oneself. Both strength and regenerative powers are heightened.¡± Remarked the old man to one of the teens performing the test.

    ¡°Look at that, you have the talent of a water mage, young huntress.¡±

    He went down the line and explained to the various teens what the gems corresponded to. He arrived back at the end where Adam was located. He peered over at the tablet and grinned.

    ¡°Another duel talent, young hunter, your talent is both one of a warrior and a mage. Surprisingly, they seem to be evenly split between the two. You have both the talent of a muscle warrior and a fire mage. Not too rare a duel talent, yet your lack of a primary talent is intriguing.¡±

    Adam looked at the Grand master with shock as he explained the results of the test. Becoming a fire mage was something he had always wanted ever since he discovered magic was real. Now this old guy was telling him that he had both the power of a fire mage and a warrior?

    The kid down the line had shown an aptitude for being a muscle warrior and it was apparently just a straight upgrade to one¡¯s body. What he was actually interested in was the fire magic part.

    ¡°Good job young hunters. Once everyone has done the test, we will explain how you can learn to use your various powers.¡±

    Adam walked back over to Dorian¡¯s sister as he pondered this revelation. He had no status screen here, but if his core actually allowed him to augment his body like normal mana, perhaps his experience with the enhancement spell would come in handy.

    He had worked on it extensively back in the alien world. If he could push any further training on that aspect out of the way, he might be able to fully dedicate himself to the truly exciting part of his new reincarnation¡­ He would finally become an archmage of hellfire.