NOVEL NEXT Chapter 444: Jungle Lord's Mana Core?
After Lillian fell into the Jungle Lord's throne, having caught the viridian mana core from the sky, everyone who had been spectating her battle was left with gaping mouths.
Viesta, who was already used to Lillian's incredible abilities, was still in awe.
This was especially so with Emilio and Jon, who were shocked at the events of the battle.
In a few minutes, there were high-speed blurs, then in the next moment, the Jungle Lord suddenly transformed into a vine-covered entity.
Following that were the appearances of undead monsters, an entire wall of vines that blotted out the sky, the flooding of the entire arena, and lastly...
The plasmatic heads that were clearly reminiscent of the Twin-headed Seawater Leviathan, which reduced the entire Jungle Lord's body to ashes.
"She's... Incredible..." Emilio muttered under his breath, his hands shaking from the presence of the battle and the lingering aura of the Jungle Lord in the air.
Jon nodded along with his young master. He had known that Lillian was strong, but to this extent... Although he had seen her battle the Leviathan, she still had help from Captain Righthook.
But after today, his impression on Lillian only skyrocketed.
The two then watched as Viesta leapt from the cliff they were standing on before climbing down with one of the vines still around.
"H-hey!" Emilio shouted as he watched her descend, "We don't know if these vines are still dangerous or not!"
"The monster had already died! Now get down here and help me check on Lillian's condition!" Viesta shouted back as she quickly dashed over to Lillian's direction.
Both Emilio and Jon looked at each other before nodding. The young master climbed onto the back of his Bodyguard and made Jon carry him down.
Viesta soon reached Lillian's location and immediately checked her for injuries.
While the Cowgirl had managed to discover countless stains of blood on the girl and damage in Lillian's clothes, she ultimately saw no injuries that could be found on the girl.
This stumped her for a moment, but then she remembered that Lillian always had been able to recover quickly—although she wasn't entirely sure if it was the work of a Trait or Item... Or possibly even an Element...
Viesta, quickly noticing she was getting off track, shook the distraction out of her mind before placing a hand on Lillian's shoulder with a proud and amazed look on her face.
"Hey, Lillian! Great work out there, really! I didn't know you could move so fast...!" Viesta shook Lillian's shoulder, trying to celebrate the girl's deserved win.
However.
She then noticed that no response came back...
At the angle at which she was looking, she couldn't see the girl's face entirely, due to Lillian's head being tilted down.
This caused the woman to worry a bit as she shook harder, trying to get a reaction out of the girl.
"Lillian? Lillian...?!"
Sensing something was amiss, Viesta shouted:
"Hey! Are you alright?!
The Cowgirl then instantly fell onto one knee, looking for an angle so she could see the girl's face.
And what she found was the girl's eyes completely closed...
After holding a hand just before Lillian's nose and placing a finger on her neck to check for a pulse, Viesta had concluded that Lillian was alive and was just...
Fast-asleep...
"Haa..."
The breath she was holding in escaped from her mouth with relief.
Lillian was just sleeping...
After both Emilio and Jon came over, the entire group, besides Lillian—obviously—decided to make this their camp until the girl inevitably woke up from her nap.
***
"N-... Ngh..."
Lillian let out a groggy groan before yawning loudly.
"Did I... Did I fall asleep?"
After letting out yet another yawn, Lillian stretched her body and rubbed her right eye before looking around.
And what she found was something she could only describe as both familiar and unfamiliar... Was she inside one of Jon's tents?
She did remember that the Bodyguard had several tents within his spatial ring for a majority of reasons.
'So, I guess that's where I am...'
Sitting up, Lillian glanced to the side and found the Mana Core of the Jungle Lord lying beside her. She smiled softly, recalling her victory over the Wendigo.
If she had to be honest... The battle was extremely close at the start.
After reaching over and grabbing it, Lillian scrutinised its appearance.
It was a dark green glass orb, closer to the viridian colour. And although it appeared glass-like, it would be more accurate to say it had a crystalline appearance to it, with its jagged but still sphere-like appearance.
The core also seemed to be condensed and layered over several different times—5 times to be exact—by the exact same crystalline material, but of a different thickness each time, as if it was keeping whatever was inside secure and protected.
These were the Mana Shells of the Mana Core.
As Lillian got a closer look inside, staring at it with keen interest and curiosity, she couldn't help but notice something slithering within the Mana Core.
It was a sea of snakes, but instead, there were vines that moved on their own. If one were keen enough to see, they would even see entities amidst the sea, enroached by the vines.
"So this is what the Mana Realm of the Jungle Lord looks like in person..."
Enthralled by the sight of it, Lillian continued to gaze upon the magical crystalline core, as if she had developed a severe case of ADHD.
Eventually, she managed to pull herself back into reality and move on to what she wanted to do.
She summoned its description.
==
[Mana Core's name: The Vines that Wear our Skin]
[Previous Owner: Jungle Lord]
[Number of Shells: 5]
[Quality of Mana: C]
[Core's Description: "In an endless sea of vines, nothing remains unchanged. No stone unturned, nor no life unconsumed. It is creeping... And it is piercing... Soon enough, it will wear what it would have devoured and allow the vessel to forever live with the permission of remaining... Unchanged..."]
[Main Property: Vines]
[Sub Properties: Living, Parasitic, Pierce]
==
Lillian hummed as she read through it, looking at the properties of the mana core.
'The Main Property, if I remember correctly, is what it appears as, while the Sub Properties are the traits of it.'
The Quality of Mana influenced how many Sub Properties the core could have, which was also the same for humans, as the higher-ranked your core was, the more abilities you had.
'And... The Number of Shells is related to how many times they can be used for enchantments before completely disappearing.'
By destroying the outer shells of a Mana Core and turning it into dust, you can imbue it into an Inscription Stone, which was the key Item used for enchanting an Item.
After looking over the Mana Core one last time, Lillian tossed the Mana Core into her spatial ring and moved into her next acquired Item.
The Jungle Lord's Shard.
With a mental pull, Lillian willed it into existence and watched as it dropped into her hand.
And what she found... Was a reflective glass shard the size of her entire palm.
Her eyes immediately shot wide open as she turned it around, only to be "jump-scared" at the sight of the Jungle Lord's skull face, which stared at her with glowing eyes.
This...
This was a Monster Shard!