Mana Devourer [LitRPG/Mana Cultivation]

[Mana Manipulation: Evolution unlocked. Please pick a single option from the list below.]

[Generation: The Grade of your generated mana will be increased. Spirit, Life, and Blood Mana generated from your body will permanently become a single Grade higher than they should be for your overall level. At this point in time, your Spirit Mana would upgrade to E Grade and be generated at the same rate. Mana generated from cores affixed to your body are also bumped up by a single Grade, unless their natural generation is already higher than that of your body.]

Well, shit. That would allow him to upgrade the Frost Mana he gained from his abominable core, as well as the Spirit Mana from the goblin core, and his natural bodily generation. He was pretty sure it wouldn't upgrade his third core, though, or the new one he hadn't slotted yet. Still, this seemed like a really solid choice, as it would continue to compound and keep him one step ahead even when he was potentially much stronger than he was now.

And an entire grade was a big deal. The difference between A Grade and anything he usually had access to was fucking staggering.

A strong initial benefit and a powerful tool for growth, plus something to bolster the mana he currently generated, when the amount of mana he could gain had already been greivously slashed by his Toxicosis. This seemed like a solid option.

[Connection: Your understanding of mana will increase. Certain mana types that are difficult or impossible for you to parse and differentiate currently will become easier for you to understand, and this understanding will occur faster. Manipulating your own mana will become simpler, making mana conversion and refinement less intensive. Your ability to sense mana will increase proportionately as you gain knowledge in different mana types.]

This sounded almost as good as the first option. Better, maybe, in some respects. Being able to understand different mana types could mean a lot of things, but he could only assume that it meant unlocking new types and growing within his usage of each of them faster. Plus, being able to sense mana sounded useful.

That said, other than the last one, these were benefits that perhaps could be overcame by trial and error. Connection didn't sound like a permanent boost to anything, more like a mental nudge in the right direction.

[Consumption: Your Devour and Essence Drain abilities will be bolstered. Devour's range will increase, and be castable on mortally wounded opponents through the use of Spirit Mana. Essence Drain will be castable against multiple targets (up to 3) simultaneously at a 50% effectiveness, or against a single target at 150% effectiveness for up to 1 minute per day. During this time, Essence Drain can be cast within a 10 foot range.]

This one might just be the best yet. Fuck, this was a hard choice.

A minute per day of his most potent and powerful combat ability by far being much stronger? Gaining range, enhanced single target damage, and even multi-target capabilities?

How long was a minute, anyways? Longer than he'd ever continually drained anything besides the trimander, or maybe the draconic worm. Long enough to completely finish an injured goblin or any other creature of comparable strength, and definitely long enough to do serious damage to the bulleater, or the giants he'd faced before, considering what he'd done with even less time previously.

He wasn't gonna instalock this choice. Not while he was sat in bed with no pressing reason to…

But he was pretty sure he knew what he wanted. The other options were powerful in their own ways, but having a means to bolster his main unique ability felt so incredibly valuable. He was sure he didn't want to pass it up.

That was just the beginning of his considerations…

His levels had skyrocketed.

Otherworlder had gone up by 15 levels, sitting now at 65…

Dark Knight, meanwhile, had shot from level 1 to level 21.

Twenty levels from a single fight. thirty-five if you counted Otherworlder's gains.

He wasn't sure if he'd gain anything remotely like that again any time soon…

But you could be fucking sure he was slamming the proceeds.

[Dark Knight: Passive unlocked! Enhance.]

[Enhance: Your spells and skills' potencies are increased by a percentage proportional to 2% of your Arcana score, capping at 10,000 Arcana and a 200% increase in potency. Using double the mana that any compatible spell/skill asks for, you may cast with a 50% potency increase once per spell, per day.]

Fuck. This was why Dark Knight. Took getting some levels in it to really see it. This kicked fucking ass.

That said, how did he know if a spell was compatible?

…they had little labels next to them now which told him. Nearly every spell or skill he still had was compatible with Dark Knight's potency.

One notable exception was his new skill…

Fuck You.

Markus sighed as he looked it over. Thinking about this thing was just a reminder of that fight. Made his whole body ache. Even his mind hurt to think of it.

Nonetheless, he read it. He needed to understand what it was about, in case he ever needed to use it again.

[Fuck You (Transcendent/Unique): A rejection of environment and self. Expels all mana in user's body down to 20% capacity, enabling a flurry of attacks made up of intersecting slashes of mana which line all opponents and surfaces in the target direction before exploding with energy. Expelling this energy sends the user into a state of pure spite, which can be as damaging to user's psyche in the short term as expelling so much mana in one burst. Ability can be used once per week.]

Well, that explained a ton. No wonder he'd felt so fucking livid after. There were gaps in his memory of the moments from his initial cast until now, but…

Yeah. That combined with what Randall had done to him… not good. Whole thing was a fucking mess and he was glad to be shot of it.

Even thinking about it made his lip quiver, his hands shake.

He inhaled hard through his nose and blinked twice. Those thoughts didn't serve him…

Focus on something. Points! Points, points, points.

He had points. Fucktons of them.

So many points.

No, seriously.

25 free points per level. Markus levelled thirty-five times, and at some point in the middle bumped his Spirit by 50.

So make that 925. Plus 300 regular because fuck it, why not have over 1000 points to spend?

That said, he'd spent 300 during his fight. He had around 700 free points and 200 regular points left.

Markus couldn't even begin to decide where the fuck those were going right now. It was so much. He could almost definitely hit a thousand breakpoint in a single stat with numbers like this, and he could raise Spirit past 500 easily, which would lead to so much compounding growth…

This was without even mentioning Paths, skills, hell, then there were titles—

[Title unlocked: Gone No More. You have died, and yet you live still. Whatever the means, you returned before more than glimpsing what lays beyond, and a part of that experience has, however unconsciously, stayed with you. Your Spirit has increased by 10, and you are able to both witness and harvest Death Mana.]

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Death Mana? That sounded… metal as fuck, honestly.

Also somewhat unsettling. Markus might've died countless times, but he didn't remember the actual sensation beyond the pain. He had no clue what laid beyond, and yet, apparently, a small part of him now did.

That was an existential crisis he'd find time for later.

[Title unlocked: Still Standing. You have taken over 100 strikes from an enemy with more than twice your physical strength and remained standing in spite of it. +20 constitution.]

Well, shit. Kinda cheated on this one, but fuck it. Markus deserved every ounce of benefit he could get for the fucking torture he'd gone through.

[Title unlocked: Apostle Slayer. You killed an apostle wielding Divine Mana, the servant of a Firrelian god. +10 to all stats.]

Well, yeah, that he fucking had earned. Gimme that +10. Thank you and fuck you.

Hell, he hadn't even checked out the core yet.

[C Grade Amalgam Apostle Wyrm/Altok Core absorbed!]

That was fucking wordy. Could it just be labelled as Apostle Core?

[C Grade Apostle Core absorbed! +10 to all stats. Core is corrupted, but may be cleansed and evolved if cleansed with Divine Mana.]

Huh, this system shit really was intuitive sometimes.

[Warning: Fixing uncleansed cores may result in poison, curses, spiritual shutdown, fatigue, insomnia, death—]

Okay, fuck. Cleanse before using. DO NOT instaslot. Got it.

…shame. Bet that thing had a kick-ass fucking passive.

Did Markus have any Divine Mana left after all of that?

He checked. He had a tiny bit. Enough to cleanse this core and slot it?

Ah, fuck…

Markus leaned back on his bed, head against pillow. Even if it was enough, attempting to maneouvre the mana right now was too fucking painful.

Still, he wanted it, so he'd figure it the fuck out. He wanted to know what that core did.

As for skills and passives?]

[Magical Affinity: 1.]

[Devour: 2.]

[Mana Control: 3. Path Awakens at 5.]

[Hemomancy: 7. Mastery awakens at 10.]

[Divine Sorcery: 2. Path Awakens at 5.]

[Glaive Mastery: 37. Mastery Evolves at 50.]

[Cyromancy: 15. Mastery Evolves at 50.]

[Frost Mastery: 7. Path Evolution at 25.]

[Regeneration: 32. Path Evolution at 100.]

[Pyrokinesis: 6. Mastery awakens at 10.]

[Evasion: 29. Mastery Evolves at 50.]

[Empower: 7. Path available.]

[Manifest: 8. Path available.]

[Diplomacy: 4. Mastery awakens at 10.]

[Mana Manipulation: 5. Next Evolution awakens at 10.]

[Frost Resistance: I.]

[Freeze I/II resistance.]

[Mana Generation reduced by 66%.]

Well, Glaive Mastery fucking skyrocketed.

Hell, everything was up. He had a Path to select in Empower, too.

Damn. Time to see what the fuck that might lead to.

[Please select a Path for Empower. Path slots remaining: 2/4.]

[Renew (Common): Allows the user to refund 30% of the mana poured into Empower's casts, plus 1% per 100 Spirit.]

[Mix (Rare): Allows the user to empower a strike with three mana types at once for the duration of a single attack. Twenty second cooldown, modified by Arcana/Spirit.]

[Reflect (Rare): Allows the user to passively empower strikes with opposing mana types to the last strike used against them. Mana is automatically utilised and burned in this process.]

Okay, shit. All of these sounded like they had their uses. Three mana types in a single strike sounded powerful for sure, especially if the types mixed were right, and so did reflect's passive, but…

Markus couldn't help but notice that Renew's cap didn't seem to exist. 30%, plus 1% per 100 Spirit…

Could that go over 100%? Sure, he'd need 7100 points in Spirit for that to actually happen, but…

Markus was pretty sure taking a Path just for that was a bit too far deep in the prospect of playing the long game. Still, the 32.5% refund on Empower might be fairly useful, what with how much lower his Mana Generation was than usual. He had no idea how long this Toxicosis was gonna stick with him, and Markus might find it that if he still had to fight and spend mana, he'd need to find ways to either generate the resource faster or hang the fuck onto it when it was beginning to run low.

What a weird predicament… He'd spent so long trying to keep his Mana Capacity low and manageable, and now, all of a sudden he was having to worry about what might happen if he ran out. Weird how that happened.

Still, with Greater Meditation and his other tricks, he might find ways around the lower natural generation in time.

Speaking of which, Markus had a brand new ace ever since he'd ticked Mana Manipulation over to 5… Mana Refinement.

[Mana Refinement I: Allows the user to upgrade Mana of any type the user has the ability to generate, at a rate of 100 G Grade Mana > 70 F Grade Mana, 100 F Grade Mana to 40 E Grade Mana, or 100 E Grade Mana to 25 D Grade Mana per hour. Rates are modified by Arcana. Speed of conversion is modified by Spirit.]

This was really solid. Each mana type had its value and potency increase fairly substantially, so there was no question that making his mana both more powerful and more compact was in every way a good thing if he needed to pack more of a punch.

That said, despite it being more powerful, using an ability like this did leave less overall mana in Markus' body in terms of sheer volume, and as someone who was likely to be dangerously low on the stuff often, constant refinement might not be the way to keep himself conscious, or alive for that matter.

He had plenty to consider here. This was without even looking at his weapon. His weapon which desperately needed some tender love and care after what had befallen it during their last fight.

Still, if there was ever a faithful tool out there it was that metal glaive. That thing had gotten him through hell even with its blade snapped and mangled, and if he wasn't set on keeping it before, he was doubly set now.

He wondered where Ember was. He hadn't seen here since the arena. She'd been okay, he was sure?

Right?

He tried to put the thought out of his head. He had points to spend. Decisions to make. He needed to—

"Hey," a voice came from ahead of him.

Markus shifted off the wet, drooled-on pillow to address the voice, his head whipping, only causing another bout of vertigo and nausea.

"Hey…" Markus recognised the voice. He also recognised that he felt queasy.

He also recognised that it wasn't Rika.

"Planning to lay there all day, are we?" Serena asked, hovering in the doorway of his cell, a smirk tugging at her lips.

"If the gods have any mercy, fuck yeah."

"Are you trying to drop a hint?" Serena asked coyly, twisting a strand of silver hair. "I suppose I can come back in an hour or so."

"Honestly, I'd really appreciate that—"

"But that might be too late."

Oh, for fuck's sake. She just had to say something like that, didn't she?

Reality had returned in all its unapologetic glory. It had no care or interest over whether Markus wanted it to. It came because it was time, and that was about as much fucking say as he had in the matter, full stop.

Oh well. He had to ask. He pursed his lips. The question forced its way out…

"Too late for what?"

Fuck. Screw you, Serena. How often do I get to just lay in fucking bed, huh?

"There you go, now you're curious." She smiled.

"I'm more worried than I am curious. What is it?"

"Let's just say we're overdue another chat, and you're gonna wanna hear me out."

Markus scratched his head. Stretched his aching bones.

He'd earned a break after all that torment…

Fuck it. Straight back into the shit.