Mana Devourer [LitRPG/Mana Cultivation]

Markus' eyes bugged. "Okay… the fuck's a faith point?"

"Did you ever have a stat you couldn't see the name of?"

"Yes. It's been bugging me for weeks, now."

Serena smiled. "Well, now you can see the name of it."

Markus blinked rapidly as he pushed through his menu screens in search of his stat sheet.

[Name: Markus Brown]

[Class: Champion (Earth): (Tier: Novice 1)/ Dark Knight: (Tier Novice 21)]

[Health: 3803/4110]

[Mana: 4734/9390]

[Strength: 190]

[Agility: 250]

[Arcana: 100]

[Constitution: 310]

[Spirit: 300]

[Faith: 15]

Hold the fuck on…

"Champion? Where the hell'd my class go?"

"It's what you are," Serena replied as if he were stupid. She poked his chest. "I've made you my champion. That overrides your previous governing class."

"Well, I used to be an Otherworlder… what's the difference?"

Shit. Had I just lost out on a bunch of potential benefits? Was this actually a negative for me somehow?

Serena snickered. "You still are an Otherworlder for all intents and purposes." She paused, tapped a finger against her chin. "Well, with one caveat. Your free point acquisition."

Markus froze. "Don't tell me I don't get them anymore."

"No! Nothing like that. The way you get them changed, is all. You'll get a free point for every twenty points in Spirit from here, rather than ten, but you can gain a ton more free points through quests, as well as faith points."

Markus side-eyed her through her explanation, then shifted as soon as she brought those back up.

"Yeah, speaking of which, mind clueing me the hell in? I'm still super lost here."

"Ask your system. The information should be available to you now that this contract's active."

Markus did as instructed, shifting back a little as he found that the text box before him was white and golden, rather than the usual blue.

[As a part of your contract with ??? and your newfound status as a Champion, you have unlocked the Faith system. Through claiming zones, unlocking titles, and completing quests for ??? you will be rewarded with faith points. Faith points may be accumulated to any limit, and may be consumed at any point by 'cashing in' and opening the Faith Menu, where you may spend your accumulated Faith points.]

Right as he'd finished digesting the first load of blinding shiny info, a second text box appeared.

[All accumulated Faith points must be consumed upon opening the Faith Menu. Opening the Faith Menu will not only allow you to access a store through which you may purchase boons, items, powers, and other upgrades, but will also award you with an additional random benefit of increasing rarity based upon how many Faith points are being cashed in.]

"Wait… so this is like…"

"It's kinda like a savings account," Serena said. "Except, if you choose to hold onto your money for a while, the bank gives you a bonus when you finally access it. Only, as soon as you access it, you have to spend it all. Neat, huh?"

"Sounds kinda neat…" It really did. Markus squinted at the text some more. "Why doesn't the system know your name?"

Serena frowned. "Eh, part of the issue of me being branded like I am." She pointed to the spot on her collar that she'd showed him before. "Lower systems don't fully recognise me. They know I'm a god from my mana signature, but don't seem capable of getting more specific than that."

"Right… I do sometimes wish I had a more comprehensive system. It tells me a lot of stuff, but it doesn't seem to understand Mana Manipulation well, and it feels kinda gated by my Identify skill for the most part."

Markus shrugged. Below, the bars seemed to be kicking out, and more and more, the streets were flooded with noise.

"Firrelian systems kinda suck, unshockingly. Then again, they're better to have than nothing. They're reliable information stores, and they do have some knowledge to help here and there. I'd recommend upgrading yours as soon as possible, though."

"Wait… that's a thing I can do now?" Markus stared at his new Faith points. They were like a trove of possibilities just waiting to be opened up and rooted around in. "Just how many is fifteen points anyways?

"Well, it's one more than fourteen."

Markus shot her an evil glance.

"And one less than sixteen," Serena continued, wholly unperterbed.

Markus sighed.

Serena laughed. "Okay, fine. Fifteen's like… it's quite a few Faith points. Striking that bond empowered me. It was an indicator of enacted change, which may as well be a battery for me in terms of my energy. I don't know if you'll even get offered a Seconnian system out the gate, but I don't think you'd be able to afford one with that many points. It wouldn't be far off, though."

"What do you think I should do with these?" Markus asked, still staring at the screen. Should I save or spend?"

"Spend these," Serena said. "You might find something that helps you in the short term. Any power is good right now. You can hold out for better stuff when you're not at constant risk of dying."

…you know what? Kinda hard to argue with that.

"Oh! I should mention. You can spend stat points on extra Faith points. You can't use free points to get them, but regular stat points can be converted. The higher the amount of Faith points you're already holding, the more expensive purchasing a Faith point will be."

Markus hovered over Faith to see how many regular points it would cost to tick the total over from 15 to 16.

…80 points. Eighty fucking points to go from 15 to 16 on Faith. On a consumable stat.

Fuck, man. These things better be worth the price tag they carried.

Markus noticed there was a new button in his stat menu labelled 'redeem'. He hovered his finger over the button, then pressed into it.

[Congratulations on redeeming your Faith points! You are redeeming 15 points. Rolling for a B tier reward.]

[...]

[Congratulations! You have been rewarded with kraken meat, alongside a Lesser Kraken Core.]

Markus watched as a massive tentacle materialised in front of him.

Well, watched was an understatement. Markus jumped and yelped like a bitch as said tentacle slammed down only a few feet away.

"Wh-what the…"

"Ooh!" Serena exclaimed, staring over the tentacle. "I love this stuff!"

[Kraken meat contains active components that increase the strength and virility of the user, as well as emitting a powerful pheromone that attracts nearby monsters. The cooking of kraken meat has moderate aphrodisiac effects. Consuming cooked kraken meat sharpens the mind of the user, as well as providing a powerful stimulant effect.]

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Huh… shit. That sounded pretty useful.

Wait, aphrodisiac?

Markus gave Serena a funny look as she marvelled over the huge tentacle, looking as if she wanted to take a big bite out of it.

"So this is useful for…"

"Baiting out every monster in an area!" Serena announced happily. "I've used it to take census and study creatures before. It's one of the more expensive delicacies on Forthos. Really tasty, too. Served at swanky parties, usually."

"Wait, krakens aren't a Firrelian creature?"

"Nope! You won't find them anywhere but the third or fourth world. Firrelia has octopods, which are kinda like the primative cousins of krakens, but they're not the same, and nowhere near as tasty."

Well, shit. At least there was enough meat here to last him…

"How am I meant to preserve this?" Markus asked. "This is probably enough meat that I could live off it for weeks. Isn't it gonna go bad?"

"Okay, I'm not generally gonna tell you how to spend your Faith points, but please buy an inventory."

Inventories were a fucking option? Say less.

He'd check out the kraken core later. Right now, Markus was becoming acutely aware of the fact he'd been ignoring the latest system screen to pop up in front of him, and when he actually began to stare at it, he found that what he was looking at was in fact a shop of some kind…

The options were utterly insane. Some of them were things he hadn't even considered being available to him until now.

[Faith Menu: Tier 1. 15 faith points available.]

[Folded Wings: An ability with 5 uses, allowing the user to fly at maximum speeds of 30mph for up to 20 minutes after activation. Wings are intuitive and easy to use in combat. Cost: 5 Faith Points.]

Flight? That was fucking crazy. Markus couldn't even imagine being able to fly. It'd surely beat the shit out of trying to manifest ramps whenever he needed to get to a high place. This seemed like the kind of thing that could save his life multiple times over, even with only five uses.

[Guardian Angel: A safeguard against death, capable of restoring 60% of your health and 40% of your mana when fatal damage is suffered, as well as pushing enemies of less than twice your level thirty feet away from you. Cost: 14 Faith Points.]

Why did this one have to be so damn expensive? While Markus wasn't exactly revelling in the idea of dying and coming back to life again, as he felt he'd done enough of that for a full eternity, he couldn't deny the use of something like this. This was gonna basically bankrupt him if he took it, though. He needed to be careful about picking this one, and he had a good feeling it was gonna end up being something he passed up for now.

Planning around dying surely wasn't as good as trying to prevent death in the first place, after all. If he could do both, he happily would, but by his logic, anything that could kill him once could very likely kill him twice. The altok had proven so hundreds of times.

[Inventory I: An inventory space capable of storing up to 24 squares of objects. Small objects take up 1 square, medium objects 2, and large objects take up 4 squares. Identical small objects can be stacked on a square up to 50 times, medium objects can be stacked 5 times, and large objects can only be stacked twice. Cost: 3 Faith points.]

This one was real fucking useful. Hell, if he didn't take this one, Markus was pretty sure he was an idiot. That meant Guardian Angel was out for now, but there was no denying that he needed something like this if he wanted to be able to do the adventurer thing. There was so much beneath the arena that he still hadn't explored, not to mention the collection of items he already had. Being able to store them in an inventory would be so much more convenient than having to pick and choose between what he could manage to stuff into his pockets on every excursion.

Yup, there was no contest here. He spent the three Faith points immediately. As soon as he did so, he got a little notification that he'd unlocked an [Inventory] for the first time, and found himself able to open it. When he placed his hand against the invisible barrier, which had the same outline as the text boxes he usually saw, it disappeared.

Markus initially freaked, yanking his hand back out only to find it was totally intact.

Weird… he couldn't feel it at all when it was inside, he was sure.

He briefly pushed his fingers, then half his hand inside, before getting too freaked out by the feeling and retreating once more.

"Having fun over there?" Serena asked.

Markus felt his cheeks flush as he realised how stupid he likely looked. He didn't say anything, just went back to checking out the vast menu.

He noticed there was an option to upgrade his inventory for another 6 Faith points. Markus held off for now. It wasn't like had tons of stuff right now, after all, and doubling his storage capacity likely wasn't his greatest concern right now.

What next…

[Spirit Ties: Learn to form a psychic bond with a consenting party, allowing for the crossing of thoughts and words between you and another regardless of the other party's magical affinity or distance. Spirit Ties are permanent and can only be active with one other creature. Cost: 25 Faith points.]

That one was expensive, but it was hardly a short term miracle either. A permanent bond… hell, that sounded kinda invasive. Could you turn it on and off? Would the other person just be able to peer into your head whenever they wanted, and vice versa?

He'd put that one in the probably never section and move on.

[Appraisal I: Forced evolution of Identify, allowing you to closely examine creatures' elemental affinities and levels at range, as well as their attribute scores within a margin of error, decreasing with skill rank and closeness to user's level. Cost: 4 Faith points.]

Strong consideration. Markus had gotten to the point where he didn't cast or pay attention to his Identify findings on creatures he faced because it gave him so little information to work with. That said, a more detailed checklist to go against might just prove a distraction in combat.

Being able to scan creatures like Drathok sounded like it'd prove useful, but then again, it sounded as if creatures far from Markus' level would be difficult for him to get definitive information on, especially when he was still growing used to the skill.

He'd hold off on that one and see if something better came up.

For the next little while, Markus looked through and dismissed options. Body cleansing magic sounded good, but he saw it more as a luxury than a survival tool. A spell allowing him to summon a piece of energy-infused fruit sounded enticing, but Serena assured him that it tasted absolutely terrible, despite its stimulating effects.

He was about ready to spend 6 Faith points upgrading the shop, as that was something he could apparently do, when he found an option he actually liked the look of.

Thing was, it was expensive.

[Soul Slinger I: Burn unconsumed Mana Cores in your possession to either gain a high-potency ability on a temporary basis or summon a ghost fighter for twenty seconds containing 60% of the power of the creature the core originally housed. Using cores in this manner depletes them, making them unfit to be affixed for 7 days. Using them a second time before 7 days have passed will destroy them entirely. Depleted cores can still be combined normally. Cost: 11 Faith Points.]

Nah, this was it. This had to be it. This was literally made for him. It almost felt as if Serena had slipped this one in with him in mind.

He still had a fair few options left. He scanned them just to make sure he wasn't missing out on anything even more amazing.

He not only found himself not finding any better options, even when combining multiple cheaper ones, but he also managed to find something he actually wanted to spend the one remaining Faith point on.

Namely, a small slab of something called tetricite. Apparently, this was a fourth world material that conducted electricity super well, as well as boasting incredible durability.

That fit pretty well with Markus' damage profile. He was in need of something sturdier, too. Really didn't like the idea of his glaive breaking like that again…

When he'd been through his options an entire second time and was still happy with his choices, Markus selected Soul Slinger and his slab of tetricite.

"Ah, you're done. Awesome. Good choices."

"You can see what I picked besides this?" Markus asked, staring at the glinting, lightweight metal in his hand.

"Of course. We're linked now, remember? I can look at your system, and I can put quests in your new quest menu… why don't you take a look?"

Markus did just that and opened his quest menu for the first time.

There was a single quest sat there waiting for him. He stared at it and laughed.

"Walk ten paces? How is this worth anything?"

"It isn't. I'm kinda taking a loss on this one, as you completing this won't empower me much at all. This is more just me showing you how it works."

Well, Markus wasn't gonna argue with a free point. He did as he was bidden and took ten steps. As soon as he did, his system flashed up, informing him that he'd completed the quest and been rewarded 20 silver pieces, which had been sent straight to his inventory, alongside a singular Faith point.

"I won't be giving those out like candy," Serena noted. "Anything you buy from them comes directly from my power. That means I need you to generate me power."

"And how exactly do I do that?"

"Do real quests. They'll either give it to me directly or make it easier for me to seize on my own."

"You gonna give me a real quest?"

"I've just given you six."

Markus clicked his menu to check.

…oh.

Over half of these were kill quests.

One for Elasar, which promised over two hundred Faith points as reward.

One for King Magul, who apparently controlled this region.

One for Drathok… hell, would these have been mandatory if he hadn't gotten the assurances that he had before signing? Would he have been forced to try and kill these people?

Markus wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but it sure as hell wasn't this.

And then, finally, one for…

"Randall?" Markus announced, sounding as if he was choking on something. "How the fuck am I gonna kill Randall? You couldn't kill Randall!"

"Good question! How would you kill me, Markus?"

Markus' blood froze.

That wasn't Serena's voice.

Serena wasn't speaking.

Markus turned.

The man himself was stood right between them.

The smile on his face was every bit as disturbing as Markus remembered from before.

He fought every urge he could to scream.