Outside the dungeon, Amelia was chatting with Emmy because Lucas and Livia were still resting in the temporary camp that had been set up for them.
“When do you think he will come back?” Amelia asked as she ate a snack.
“It’s an exploration type dungeon, so maybe Young Master will take his time exploring four to five caves before coming back,” Emmy replied.
“Really? I mean, he was quite good during the duel, but fighting F-Rank monsters would take a toll on him,” Amelia said while chewing on her snack.
Amelia was quite comfortable with Emmy because, growing up, Emmy filled the spot of an elder sibling for her. She was like a big sister to Amelia, and Emmy would be her choice whenever she needed advice about anything. This was also the reason why Emmy made a blunder of not reporting Amelia coming together with the twins. Her perspective of Amelia was greatly different from Asher’s.
“Young Master defeated around 10 G-Rank Wolves when he was a G-Rank, and I believe he can do this much after his training,” Emmy said proudly.
“Hmm, you are quite proud of him,” Amelia said as she squinted her eyes a bit.
“Of course!” Emmy immediately replied.
“Hmph, he is just a mean bastard. I can’t understand how you and Damian even stay around him all the time,” Amelia said annoyingly.
“Well, I think Young Master might act a bit cold and not like others around his age, but…” Emmy was speaking when the safety device made a noise, alerting everyone present.
“Everyone, we are going in. Search for Young Master quickly!” Emmy commanded as she dashed towards the dungeon gate.
Following her, several guards also disappeared into the dungeon gate. Not all guards followed her as they needed to be there to protect Amelia and the twins, who were still sleeping in their tents.
“I hope he is fine,” Amelia said as she looked at the dungeon gate.
One hour ago, inside the dungeon,
Asher was still getting comfortable with his new sword art. His movements were getting more refined as he followed the scriptures that he remembered seeing.
“Hmm, the penalty is not as strict as I thought,” Asher said to himself.
Asher knew that he was getting better at the sword art, and completing the first mastery alone would be a great challenge for anybody who was new to swords. This meant that just like he retained his knowledge of basic swordsmanship, he still had his old instincts, which helped him correct his movements several times he imagined battling an enemy.
“System, will the features that were sealed be unlocked?” Asher worded his question in a way that the system could answer him.
[ Host can unlock it, but if the host wants to know anything other than this, you don’t have enough authority right now. ]
Asher continued his training as he got the answer he needed. It was not that he needed the features that were sealed. He was sure that his own knowledge was enough for him to carry out his plans. But he knew that whatever the system could have offered him would have been quite valuable.
ƥαṇdαηθνε|
“I still cannot remember the next scripture,” Asher stopped as he noticed that his mastery would not increase any further than this right now. He needed some time for his mind to stabilize what he had just learned and master it fully to move any further.
Getting ripped off of his sword art considerably weakened him. He was a swordsman in his previous life as well, and doping his mana to forcefully increase his ranks made him unable to become a mage. Asher’s bloodline ability would have made him a great mage if he had taken a natural path to increase his strength.
Asher was currently an F Rank and could feel he would soon become an F+ Rank. His body was still in the process of consolidating his E-Rank mana core completely with his body. This was also the reason Asher did not try any mana-related techniques that would burden his body. And now, after his new sword art, he was unable to recall them.
He also did not learn any mage-related spells because he knew that learning them in the World Academy would be more beneficial for him. During his consolidation period, he could focus on his sword. His knowledge of spells was only limited to some spells which he learned during his stay at the World Academy.
“Hmm, should I try the first method?” Asher questioned himself.
He vaguely remembered his mana doping methods as they were strongly integrated into his sword art. He wanted to test if he could replicate them now. Also, the fact that his bloodline ability had changed made him question if the new limits he could handle now were lower or higher than before.
Asher hesitated for a moment before deciding to try replicating his mana doping methods. He closed his eyes and focused on his mana core, feeling the flow of mana within him. He then tried to manipulate the flow of mana, pushing it beyond its natural limits.
As he did so, he felt a surge of power coursing through his body. However, he also felt a sharp pain in his chest, as if his body couldn’t handle the strain. He could feel the mana resisting him, not wanting to follow the directions he wanted it to move.
This was vastly different from Mana Circulation techniques because he was forcing the mana to move outside the mana veins, and doing this was the same as injuring someone with a mana-coated dagger. But Asher had found a way to strengthen his body by making his mana veins even stronger after damaging and healing them at the same rate.
He was making his core forcefully extract the mana to damage himself, and making sure the mana did not go wild inside his body, carefully maintaining the amount he was forcing outside the mana veins. This meant he was forcefully consolidating his body to his mana, while at the same time trying to strengthen the amount his mana veins could handle by making them go through a process of repairing after injuring them.
His first method was not that harmful to him the first time, but repeating this would have damaged his core a little bit, and he could only replicate it because of his passive skill that allowed him a certain amount of mana manipulation inside his body.
[Warning Host is advised to stop!]
Asher ignored the system, knowing that this much harm would heal in a month or so completely. This method for the first time would not give him a permanent injury that would not heal.
[Warning Host is advised to stop!]
[Warning Host is advised to stop!]
Mana around his body was going rampant, and this made the security bracelet activate itself as the mana it was reading outside the mana veins counted as a critical injury. The one who invented this safety device never considered someone who would harm themselves to such degrees to increase their power.
Cough
Asher spurted blood and got on his knees. The rebound he received from this made him feel weak.
“Cough It seems that I cannot use this method in my current condition,” Asher said as he saw the blood he coughed on the ground.
“F+ Rank,” Asher could feel that he had ranked up to the peak of the F Rank, and his injuries were not too critical as well.
He only did this because currently, his mana core rank was higher than his current rank, and he estimated that he could handle it with his current Mana Flow skill. But the rebound was more than he expected, and this made him aware that his doping methods would do him more harm than he thought.
“Status,” Asher spoke,
—————–| Fate Devourer System |——————-
[Name] : Asher Von Raven Greville
[Level] – 10 (EXP 0/10,000)
[Bloodline] : Devil’s Absorption Rank SSS
[Blessing] : Goddess of Time(Sealed)
[Body Constitution] – Mana Core Rank E
[Shop] [Quests] [Synthesis]
—————————————————————
[-Attributes-]
Strength: 55+5
Agility: 30+6
Endurance: 55+3
Intelligence: 105
Mana: 66+10
Stamina: 47+8
Charm: 60
Fate: 6730
[AP]: 45 [SP]: 18
————————————————————–
[-Skills-]: Time Dilution (Rank S) Lvl 1, Absorption (Rank S) Lvl 1, Mana Flow (Rank C), Mana Circulation (Rank A), Rune of Eirdin (Rank E), Node-Art Rank SSS
He looked at his status, noticing some of his stats had gone up due to him ranking up. He did not get any notification because his Mana Core was currently at E Rank, so the system did not consider it a true rank up for him.
“YOUNG MASTER!!” Asher heard a scream, and he knew whose voice it was. He turned his head and saw Emmy, who sensed his mana and immediately appeared in front of him.
Emmy stopped as she saw Asher, who was on the ground with blood around his mouth. She was confused how Asher got hurt, but she arrived near him to check his condition first.
“Young Master, are you fine? Why are you so deep into this dungeon?” Emmy questioned, but she brought a healing potion from her storage ring at the same time.
“It’s fine, I hurt myself trying a new technique that I learned with Grandfather,” Asher said while his indifferent eyes looked at Emmy.
“But- Wait, this cave,” Emmy stopped and noticed the cave she was in was surrounded by mana crystals.
“A Mana Crystal Mine!!” Emmy was shocked as her eyes looked around her.
Her mind was all over the place as too many things were happening at the same time. Asher was too deep into the dungeon and he got hurt in what seemed like an empty cave, and the numerous monster carcasses she saw on the way made her wonder how Asher managed to do it.
“Yes, and there are two caves inside this dungeon. I have already cleared the boss of this dungeon, so tell the guards to make sure nobody enters this dungeon.” Asher got up from his place, but he did not take the potion Emmy offered to him.
“Oh, okay. Wait, what? You cleared the boss?” Emmy’s eyes widened from the shock as she looked at the indifferent face of Asher, who was clearing the mud off his clothes.
“I did, and I want to rest now. Take the guards that followed you out of this dungeon. Make sure nobody does anything fishy.” Asher moved past her.
“Okay,” Emmy said, but there were many questions in her head. However, it was not her job to ask Asher such things. She knew her limits, and the angry face of Asher was still fresh in her head from when they arrived in the mountain range.