Merchant Of Yliaster

Neivor watched the flying figure of Ellie as she was tossed away by the wolf. It was apparent that she would be badly wounded, so he started to move towards the woman to check on her.

He moved with considerable speed, and it helped that the woman was not that far away from him, so he was able to reach her pretty fast.

He could only take a glimpse of the woman's condition before he was suddenly filled with a sense of terror. He reflexively turned towards the battle and expelled every single point of his mana to form a shield. The scene he saw a moment later, for only a single instant, was etched in his mind for a long time.

Merchant stood just a meter away from the wolf, and he still held his weird puppy with one hand against his chest. Both the puppy and the man seemed unnaturally calm, creating an eerie scene.

The scene was interrupted as Neivor felt his attention pulled to something. The eyes of the Merchant were glowing, and he felt like he was looking at something more than simply a person. It was even similar to the feeling he got when he was praying.

The next instant, a flash of light appeared from his eyes for a single moment and disappeared as if nothing had happened.

Then the explosions started. Neivor saw the alpha's body bloat out, as the tough outer shell of the creature tried to contain what was inside.

An explosion immediately consumed the world, as the explosion was immense. Neivor closed his eyes as he put everything he had into reinforcing his shield.

They were almost thirty meters away from the explosion, but Neivor could still feel the heat through the shield.

He released a scream as he met the immense wave of mana. Praying that he had enough strength.

Erne was an average archer. He was obviously strong due to his level, and he certainly could release some strong attacks occasionally, but that was hardly his strongest point.

What made him special was something simple. He was a damn good scout. And his danger sense was unmatched among his peers.

The said danger sense, though, was now giving confusing feedback. He could clearly see that the alpha was approaching the Merchant, and the situation seemed hopeless. He would expect to feel some danger, as he would probably die if the merchant lost now, but the feeling was insanely strong and felt immediate.

It was so strong, actually, that he found himself activating one of his trump cards. His body erupted with mana, and his figure blurred, looking like it was merging with the air.

The next second, he disappeared, appearing almost a hundred meters away. He toppled to the ground immediately as he appeared. Everything ached, and if it wasn't for Neivor's buff, he would have probably died due to the skill.

He was not very surprised to see an orange flash in the direction he came from, followed by a wave of heat. He smiled, assured that his skill was as reliable as ever, before fainting as he let the exhaustion consume him.

Blueberry watched her human fight against the wolf, standing on a wolf's head. This wolf was unfortunate enough to be the last one standing, so she took it as a prize.

She was not really concerned that her human could lose. She would never forget what she felt when she was evolving. Back then, she saw what his fragile figure concealed.

She smugly thrust her chest out, feeling the same mental aura spreading from him, giving her a heavy feel. Something big would follow this, she knew, as the world would follow his command.

She glanced at the wolf she was standing on; it seemed like it would serve as a great shelter. Her figure blurred, and she entered the creature's mind, leaving the material plane.

The wolf gained its awareness only for a moment, and before it could understand what was happening, it was consumed by a wave of mana.

Maxwell felt lost, as he never expected to trigger the etherium soul with the command he gave. The command was heavy, almost making him want to explode himself. The real problem, though, was his concerningly close proximity to the bolt.

He only had a moment to turn his back to the explosion, as he hugged Felix tightly. He activated the compendium and prepared to try to absorb a volatile explosion.

The last time, the mana wave was way too fast for him to feel the process, but this time, he would concentrate as the situation was far more serious.

Stolen story; please report.

He felt Felix wiggle in his arms, and the feeling was wrong, somehow. Looking down, he almost lost his concentration when he saw the reason.

The puppy didn't look like a puppy at all. A dark green goo, resembling the shape of a puppy, was in his arms. The only visible part was his eyes, as they watched the world as innocently as before.

The fuck? Maxwell thought as he resisted the urge to throw the puppy away. Luckily, he didn't need to resist much before the explosion reached them.

In the slowed world, Maxwell immediately directed the mana towards the compendium, finding the process pretty easy as the mana was his.

He still felt a strain, almost feeling the momentum of mana when he slowed it before absorbing it, but in the end, he managed to block his side of the explosion pretty well.

It was not like the mana was higher than he could manage to begin with, it was just that it exploded much too enthusiastically due to unexpected magnification by the etherium soul.

In the chaos, he also noticed something surprising. Apparently, he was not the only one absorbing mana. While still being low level and thus absorbing only a little, Felix also absorbed some of the mana made docile by Maxwell.

He stared at the dog, placing him on the ground slowly. The dog looked completely normal once again, but he seemed sleepy.

Is he full or something? He thought, before observing the dog to see if anything had changed.

Felix - Puppy - Level 8

Three levels? For a second, Maxwell was not sure how the animal leveled up, but it was probably due to the mana he absorbed.

And here I am, searching for things to kill, Maxwell lamented as he looked at the puppy. He was a bit envious of the dog's ability, but he also realized that the compendium would be better for him in the long run.

He glanced at the battlefield, not managing to spot Erne, but he could see Neivor alright. The guy was standing, albeit barely. His clothes were in tatters, and his arms were up as if he was holding something from reaching him.

He managed to block the explosion? Maxwell thought in surprise. He felt a bit guilty, having forgotten about the others as he gave the explosion command, but he had hardly any time for consideration at the time.

He approached the guy to see Ellie on the ground in a sorry state. Her throat was a mess, and her chest was bleeding once again. The fact that she was still alive was a testament to her strength.

Maxwell knelt before the woman. He was partially guilty of the woman's condition so he felt a bit guilty.

Ellie gazed at him slowly, and that was promising. As it meant she was not yet dead. She tried to say something, but only a garbled sound came out due to her blood-filled throat.

"Can you heal her?" he asked Neivor. But the man looked far from his optimal conditiıon. The guy was startled by his voice, as if he were in a trance. He lowered his hands slowly and glanced at Ellie.

"I would be able to, if I had any mana left," he said, his voice coming out a bit strained. He still got to work, though. He knelt beside the woman, and he started releasing the golden light from before. Maxwell stared at the mana for a couple of seconds, considering whether he should guide more to the area.

A couple of seconds later, though, he realized that he actually couldn't. The mana didn't exist in the atmosphere at all. He decided to start with something familiar, and injected a ton of vitality mana into the woman, giving her a vitality boost.

The similar effect of crossing 100 vitality appeared, and her wounds started to close at a visible rate, but this was only true for the smaller ones. The neck wound would still kill the woman if they didn't do anything. He gazed at Neivor, and could see the man was doing his best as his forehead was covered in sweat.

"Send some of your mana towards me," Maxwel said, as he prepared to try something. He long realized that the man could at least manipulate his own type of mana. Neivor looked at him startled by the weird request, but after a moment of hesitation, the man sent him some of his mana.

Maxwell focused as he prepared to try something other people would see as impossible. He focused on the mana and tried to guide it towards the woman's neck. The mana was by far the most disagreeable he ever tried to guide though. It moved slowly and without a care towards the spot he was imagining.

Neivor, meanwhile, looked at him, shocked. Maxwell was not sure which part shocked the man, but he had worse problems.

"Can you relax your control over it?" he asked, as he continued to try giving the mana the shape he wanted. Soon, he could feel that controlling the mana was getting easier as Neivor tried to intentionally ignore the mana.

With some difficulty, Maxwell managed to form a shabby amplification rune on the woman's neck. To his senses, it looked like a tattoo. He turned to Neivor, pointing at the specific spot.

"Use your skill here," he said, sounding a bit tired. That mana was incredibly hard to guide for some reason. It felt like trying to convince someone their religion was the wrong one. He could already guess that the affinity had some divine origin, so he wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. That was probably why Neivor looked so shocked just now.

The man was just looking at him dumbly at the moment, totally taken aback by the phenomenon. He looked like he had many things to ask, but he just shook his head before doing as he was asked.

Maxwell watched with prima sense as a stream of mana left the man's hand and entered the rune swiftly. The effect was immediate, as Ellie's wound started healing at a visible rate. Maxwell, though, was looking at the phenomenon thoughtfully.

From what he could see, the mana did nothing very complicated, so this was probably not a skill but just the man injecting the mana into others. He was really curious to see how an elemental spell worked, so he was a bit disappointed.

He was still happy that his experiment worked, though. It was a risky bet, as it was not a guarantee that the rune would amplify healing, but it seemed that Neivor's mana had enough of the concept to amplify it after all.

The wound got smaller and smaller until it was a red streak across the woman's neck. Neivor, seeing that the woman was out of the critical zone, let himself fall to the ground with a small smile on his face.

Maxwell was startled for a moment as Blueberry landed on his head, once again using it as her nest. She was completely unharmed by the explosion, making Maxwell a bit curious about how the bird managed to do that.

Ultimately, though, the day was saved, and Maxwell again managed not to kill anyone with his experiments.