Hu…. Liam let out a long breath in exhaustion.
Several minutes had passed now and Liam was still continuing to harvest all the moss covering the walls and feeding it to the egg.
The continuous slow manipulation of mana was exhausting, especially in a place where the mana concentration had already thinned down.
He didn't know how long he would be able to keep this up.
"Are you feeling better now, Luna? How much more are you planning to eat?"
Liam chuckled wryly and looked behind to see the bald tunnel walls that looked weird without the layer of moss that was covering them previously.
He had fed all of that to the egg and she still needed more apparently. However, he did not mind.
"This tunnel has loads of this crap. Eat to your heart's content but please be okay." Letting out another long sigh, Liam took another step and repeated the whole process again.
This continued for a few more minutes when the first signs of the problem arrived. The mana concentration became so thin that Liam could no longer replenish his reserves.
He drank a bottle of mana potion, but he was running low on those as well. Previously, he had used a lot of potions while fighting against the death knights.
He had done all the hard work only for someone else to steal away the final prize and in this process, he had also exhausted a lot of his reserves.
Without enough mana potions and no mana in the air, he would definitely not be able to keep this up for long. He would soon run dry.
"Damn it." Liam cursed his bad luck. Earlier he had mana, but he didn't have enough herbs. Now he had the herbs, but he did not have mana.
He truly did not think that Luna would still need more herbal essence after feeding her this much. Not that he knew what he was doing.
He only roughly hypothesized that this herbal essence was healing her bit and bit and helping her regain her strength back.
But this was just his theory. In reality, she might still die in the end after all of this. This thought terrified Liam.
"Let's not think about that now. I will first try everything that I can." Liam calmly looked around, sensing the thick wisps of nether swirling around.
On the contrary, the mana present around him was practically non-existent.
So how to get more mana in this situation?
"Hmmm… " Liam's gaze wandered around aimlessly. In reality, the solution to this problem was right in front of him.
The only issue was that he did not have the confidence to try it. He would be risking a lot because the time he used to attempt this method could cause the egg to crack further.
On the other hand, if he did not try this, then he wouldn't be able to extract anything in a few minutes when the last 10 mana potions also ran out.
He needed to do something. He simply did not have any choice. He had to try this.
Liam nervously held the egg in his one hand and as soon as the patch of herb dried out, all the essence contained within it completely absorbed, he immediately acted.
Sucking in a deep breath of air, he tried to pull in the nether swirling around him.
He didn't have to worry about controlling both mana and nether at the same time.
There was no mana present around him right now and his mown reserves were also completely exhausted.
So he did not worry about this aspect and simply focussed on pulling in the nether and absorbing it into himself.
He hoped that this would be simpler than trying to balance two different types of energy at the same time.
Liam gritted his teeth and gave it his best shot.
Because he was only able to sense nether after so long, he did not have any confidence in being able to absorb it or manipulate it.
But… as soon as he willed it… the energy casually rolled into him like oxygen filling his lungs.
Liam was shocked. He had expected it to be at least a bit more difficult than this?
How could it be… so easy? Was he doing it wrong?
However, now was not the time to dwell on this.
He hurriedly circulated the nether through his body just like mana and the energy as well moved according to his will and wish.
He wanted it to go right and it went right. He wanted it to go left and it did that as well. It was almost as if it was ready to bend over backward for him.
Liam held his breath and then willed the energy to pool in his palms.
And just like he commanded, the next second thick wisps of nether swirled around his palm.
This as well was easily accomplished…
Everything exceeded his expectations and went smoothly but the important part was still left.
Even though both mana and nether were types of energy, they were inherently different. So when mana could be used to extract herbal essence, could nether be used as well?
Or would it bring about some other effect? Perhaps it would simply destroy the herb itself like fire?
Anything could possibly happen but Liam was still hopeful because of one main reason. This moss reeked of nether. It was as if it was filled to the brim with nether.
He had no idea what the herb was before or even if it was a herb but now that he could sense nether, he was able to see things more clearly.
It was probably something the master of this tunnel used every day, a herb with a nether attribute. This was the only reason he was positive that this might work.
He calmed himself down and slowly willed the energy coiled in his hand to circulate around the moss stuck on the wall.
But once he did so, the process seemed convoluted. It was as if he had the access to the entire sea and he was using only one cup of water.
A sudden thought popped up in Liam's mind.
He abruptly stopped moving his hand and stopped channeling the nether through his body.
Instead, he directly willed the nether swirling around.
"No. This is ridiculous. This can't possibly work. Without a mana core or what a nether core? How could I command such a huge quantity of nether?"
Though he spoke these words, Liam still ignored the obvious flaw and tried to feel and command the nether swirling around.
He did not try to take it in and simply willed it to gather around the moss.
Almost instantly something unimaginable happened. Liam staggered, taking a step back in shock. He even almost dropped the egg on his hands.
"What the hell is this?"
"Why is it behaving like this?"
He stared at the scene in front of him with his jaw on the ground. Not just him but no matter whom... they would have reacted in the same way.
It was because... as soon as he had called... almost every single wisp of nether in the vicinity ran over to Liam as if they were his...
In fact, so much had gathered that a small tornado was beginning to form, one that was made purely of nether.
Seeing this, Liam snapped out of it and quickly tried to focus all of this nether on the wall in front of him.
Now all he had to do was to use this energy to draw out the herbal essence that was within the moss.
"Extract it. Bring it out. Slowly. Steadily." He was so focused and tensed that he did not even realize that he was mouthing out the words loud.
But the next second... something even more blasphemous happened.
It looked like... this time also... he did not even have to try.
He didn't have to lift a finger or bat an eyelid.
As soon as he simply thought about it... just willed it... the entire wall in front of him glowed and sparkled!
It was dazzling as if they contained millions and millions of diamonds!
Countless specks of light started slowly appearing on the moist muddy wall of the tunnel and flew in towards the egg.
The egg as well sucked in everything like an insatiably hungry vortex.