Chapter 281 - That would suck (Patreon)

I wonder how much my subclass affects my control over my mana, and even over my black mana.

Sure, it's obvious that it helps, but not being able to measure it properly is annoying. Is the effect stronger the more prideful I am? Is acting cocky boosting my control?

As always, the system likes to not share such information, and having had the subclass for months already, I find it hard to compare it to the time without it.

The only obvious effect it has is on my mana creations. My armor looks nice; the weapons are nicely made too.

Great.

Looking down at my arm, I finish creating temporary inscriptions that are made with mana conductive paint and also by inscribing them into my skin. It's sort of a single-use temporary construct. Sort of.

If I'm doing it properly, it should help me with black mana a bit.

What I'm working on is examining the black mana and trying to come up with a way to reduce the pressure it will put on my body the moment I use it. I have multiple ideas, and one of them is to try to change the frequency of black mana to match mine. The problem here is that it changes constantly; that's why I have created these inscriptions on my arm.

The inscriptions should help me with that, mostly doing a bit of work instead of me so I can focus on the rest.

I already tried it a few times with tiny bits of black mana and so far it's good, but I will know more when I use more of it.

The way I made them is mostly optimized to use black mana for strengthening my body. Using some logic, strengthening my body with black mana and then using more black mana for something else should work, but I'm sure the strengthening itself will strain my body. Even though that strain won't show immediately, I'm sure it will be immense.

That's when I will rely on my healing passive.

I have already cut off my pinkie, and after a few hours, it regrew back by generating thermal energy and sending it towards the location.

Unlike Lily's healing, it's not as good, but I can't be picky, and even that much makes me happy, taking into account how often I tend to lose my limbs.

“Master, I'm done,” Vega breathes heavily, and I remove the strain [Redistribution] has on her.

Similar to what Min-Jae did for me before, I'm making it harder for her to move, and that way we are strengthening her body. It's only a little bit, but she also practices moves I showed her that I learned back on Earth.

Released, she plops down next to me and examines my arms covered in inscriptions. I feel her senses examining it and I let her do so.

“When will we reach the place you mentioned?” she asks.

“Sometime tomorrow. There is no need to hurry.”

Vega nods, “I already learned a crotch kick, master showed me. The one against people that touch me without my consent!” she chirps innocently.

“Good job, how about a mana orb?”

“Just really small ones, but I'm putting a lot of stats into mana as master said!”

Good, it's all coming together!

The goal is simple: to make her build similar to mine. Just the fact I have reached Beyond with it shows how versatile it is, and most of the monsters, other than end bosses, do not cause me problems on the Floors.

“I also wanted to tell master something about my trait,” this time she starts carefully, “I wanted to keep it to myself, just in case, and master never asked so I didn’t lie.”

When I gesture at her to continue, she breathes out in relief, “A lot of demons and some half-demons are born with one trait. I heard there are some humans too, but I don’t know why.”

Huh, even humans too? Weren’t they limited to three traits? Are humans on her planet different, is there something else? Are they born with traits and can´t pick them themselves?

“I think most of the demons start with their demon heart,” she says, “I have one too. Everyone has a different one.”

“What is a demon heart?”

“The system calls mine a kinetic demon heart. It's weak and I never was able to use it.”

Okay, is the system playing favorites here? First, humans start with 3 traits only, then there are some demons with 4 and some more ancient bloodlines with 5? And how is she even alive with a kinetic heart?

“Minion, how are you not dead?”

“My name is Vega, master,” she says proudly, “I’m too weak to use it, and I think it's one of the weaker ones.”

I call bullshit; there is no way a kinetic mana heart or kinetic demon heart is weak. Mine is made by me and it's not a trait, so I’m sure it doesn’t reach the system standards and is weaker than the trait would be. It's annoying, but it would be straight-up silly if 3rd-floor Nathaniel replicated a Trait at its full power. I mean, I like that weirdo and all, but I need to be realistic.

As for the heart not generating kinetic energy and killing my disciple, well, that much could be explained by it being a trait as well. Unlike mine which is mostly an experiment and janky way to go about it, hers would be made by the system so it makes sense it's not made to kill her.

Another reason could be her still being low level.

“Minion…”

“It’s Vega.”

“Starting now, you ditch everything other than practicing [Mana Manipulation] at night. Spend the rest of your days trying to use your Kinetic Demon heart.”

“Yes!” she says eagerly, and then hesitates, “But how?”

How indeed.

I let my own heart generate some kinetic energy and then gesture my disciple to turn around.

Sitting in front of me, she turns her back to me and I put my hand on it, somewhere behind where her heart should be.

She is still low level, so her natural barrier that should stop me from affecting her easily is nothing for me, and I send the tiniest trickle of kinetic energy towards her heart. Focusing on it, I can sense the movement of her lungs, heart, and other organs through the kinetic energy I manipulate.

When the one I send to her heart reaches it, her own heart seems to change its rhythm, and a bit more mana radiates from it.

Fully concentrating, my disciple doesn’t say anything, and I sense her examining it together with me.

I send a few weak pulses of kinetic energy to her heart, and after every one, its rhythm changes a bit and it uses slightly more mana. Then I stop. The rest is something she should figure out on her own. She needs to use her own head and effort. Otherwise, she would grow too reliant on me.

Vega doesn't even react to me and continues to sit there, her eyes closed and focused on her heart.

Just in case, I place an anchor nearby and keep an eye on her with [Perception].

The building we are currently staying in is one of the highest in the city and offers a view of a huge part of the landscape. The top floor is without any windows, yet vines reach even up here. As always, most of the furniture is broken or rotted away, but I don't mind it that much and just move towards a circular hole in the wall. The edges of this hole are extremely smooth, either caused by a skill or some weapon.

I sit with my legs hanging over the edge and I also train in a similar way to my disciple.

Slowly, I create an orb as big as my pinkie fingernail, and that orb turns black with specks of lights inside of it. [Mana Domain] encompasses it, and I slide deeper into [Focus].

As always, the black mana tries to fight against me, but my trait activates as well, and I gradually force it under my control.

Then I reach towards it, and my index finger touches it at the same time the inscriptions on my forearm light up. The black mana orb turns into a liquid or smoke-like substance, and it flows inside of my arm. As it does so, the inscriptions change their color, and it becomes harder to control it, but with such an amount of mana, it's currently doable for me.

Over a minute, I let the black mana seep into the entirety of my body, and then, when I feel ready, I use it to strengthen my body. One of the first uses I came up with for my mana.

Unlike doing it with usual mana, it feels different. Much stronger. My muscles twitch and spasm while my passive activates and starts healing me. I concentrate even more and change the way I do it. [Infusion] activates as well, and I attempt to do it more evenly.

[Infusion - lvl 22 > Infusion - lvl 23]

Even then, and while having inscriptions to help me with the process, I feel pressure on my body strengthen, and over a few more seconds, I spend the black mana.

When it's finally all gone from my body, I observe the damage and it's nothing to ignore.

I generate a bit more thermal energy and compress it more, and the passive intensifies, gradually healing the wounds.

Well, the progress is here, but it will still take some time. I wonder what would be needed for me to use it without any restriction. A substantial increase in my Constitution stat? A passive with its rarity above epic, that would work similarly to Mana Overload Absorption? Strengthening my Mana Circuit trait could help too.

Letting my body heal, I open the Community. Typing in, I don't even bother trying to write anything about the dangers of this floor. The system is extremely aggressive with its censorship.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - the system didn't joke, disciples are really similar to us.

TheStrongestOne (Hell, group 4) - yes! Mine has nearly the same skills as well. He uses them weirdly, so there is a lot for him to learn.

Izzy (Hell, group 4) - mine said she likes my flames. She also tried to eat them.

Soph (Hell, group 4) - Izzy, just stay somewhere safe and train with her. Do not risk anything, okay?

Izzy (Hell, group 4) - yes, yes (>_<)

TheStrongestOne (Hell, group 4) - how is yours, Noname?

Noname (Hell, group 4) - She has similar skills and fights similarly. Same as yours, there is a lot for her to learn, but the most important part is that she wants to and very enthusiastically.

TheStrongestOne (Hell, group 4) - not gonna lie, she sounds scary.

NotAaron (Hell, group 4) - Wanna bet in a few weeks she could beat your ass, TheStrongestOne?

NotDennis (Hell, group 4) - Yeah, if she is even a bit like Noname, lol.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Did you find out what happened to your disciples before they got summoned?

Sset (Hell, group 4) - Hello, Noname and everyone else. It's nice to see that you are here at scheduled times. As for you, Noname, so far we've come to think that the disciples were close to death before they got summoned.

NotDennis (Hell, group 4) - Mine was about to be eaten by some monster.

Izzy (Hell, group 4) - Mine too! She said some group attacked her village.

Knight (Hell, group 4) - Sorry for being late! Mine also almost died; he got attacked by some noble-like asshole and beaten.

Maya finally joins as well.

Grumpy (Hell, group 4) - I had to heal mine; he was close to bleeding out.

Looking at what they are saying, I think I will have to ask my disciple as well.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Do you think they are real? The system said they were taken from a database.

Sset (Hell, group 4) - I wouldn't be surprised if the system constantly updates that database, so they could easily be real. But that's something we can't say for sure for now.

Izzy (Hell, group 4) - I don't want mine to be fake.

NotAaron (Hell, group 4) - That would suck…

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Got to go, later.

I use an anchor and reappear near Vega, just in time to grab her head and stop her from hitting it against the floor as she passes out. She is unconscious and breathing heavily. There is barely any mana left in her body, and there are a few wounds under her skin.

Her heart is beating a bit differently now, and wildly, like that of a small bird.

Piercing through her natural barrier, I reach towards it and absorb some of its energy, carefully slowing the pace down to a normal level. For a few minutes, I help it beat until I feel it's fine and release my hold.

The young half-demon in my arms calms down as well, and the painful expression disappears from her face.

Reflexively, she moves in her sleep and her small hands grab the hem of my clothes, pulling herself closer to me like a small animal looking for safety and warmth.

This time, I agree with Aaron. It would really suck if the disciples were fake.

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